Ring is terminating its partnership with police tech provider Flock Safety, the Amazon-owned company announced Thursday.

The partnership between Flock and Ring came under scrutiny after the Amazon doorbell company ran an ad during the Super Bowl that touted a “Search Party” feature that uses AI to help locate lost pets. When a user initiates the feature, it activates a network of participating Ring cameras, which scan footage for images resembling the missing dog. The Electronic Frontier Foundation called the feature a “surveillance nightmare.”

Flock, meanwhile, operates a network of automated license plate readers, and sells access to that software to customers that include law enforcement agencies.

Ring’s decision to cancel its partnership with Flock comes as tech companies face growing pressure to reexamine their work with federal agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Earlier this week, Salesforce employees pressed CEO Marc Benioff to cancel “ICE opportunities,” CNBC reported. More than 900 Google employees also asked their company to divest itself from ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    • cRazi_man@europe.pub
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      7 hours ago

      Maybe now the public will care more about online privacy and security. Now that the issue is smacking them in the face.

      • otacon239@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        I tried to get one (1) friend to move from Windows because he’s constantly experiencing crashes, but “needs” his competitive shooter games with kernel-level anti-cheat. I’ve all but given up trying to fix his crashes.

        I also suggested he move away from Discord, and they just went and found instructions for how to fake the age verification. Most people just can’t be convinced.

        They are the only person I know that I could imagine even considering the switch away. These platforms have our social interactions and our friends’ service by the balls.

        • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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          4 hours ago

          I also suggested he move away from Discord, and they just went and found instructions for how to fake the age verification. Most people just can’t be convinced.

          They are the only person I know that I could imagine even considering the switch away. These platforms have our social interactions and our friends’ service by the balls.

          i’m been struggling to understand why people keep going back to reddit despite my government releasing proof that they’ve being manipulated by it and having us by the balls was the first thing i settled on too.

          however i came to realize it’s just games, content and interaction. in other words, it’s bread-and-circuses mixed w the core reason for the social atomization that makes us incapable of fighting back against the epstein illuminati.

          we’re choosing to put our balls in their hands because we want to be entertained and/or distracted and/or because we don’t want to talk each other directly.

          • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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            2 hours ago

            in other words: the people who should be revolting were bought by jay-z. they want the hip cars and hip music.

            • eldavi@lemmy.ml
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              2 hours ago

              i think that the russia narrative proves that it’s more than just jayz

              • ☂️-@lemmy.ml
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                2 hours ago

                i dunno how that’s relates to russia, but “jayz” can stand in for whatever trendy new slop the media machine produces, really.

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
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      7 hours ago

      I bet they only cancelled long enough to rewrite in terms more favorable to Bezos.