Amazon’s Ring is canceling its partnership with Flock, a network of AI cameras used by the Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement and police.

Ring, the Amazon-owned home security company, announced Thursday that it will no longer partner with Flock Safety, the maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras that share footage with law enforcement.

The two companies announced a deal in October that would allow Ring Doorbell users to share footage with Flock and its network of public safety agencies to help with “evidence collection and investigative work.” As reported by 404 Media, the Flock footage has been used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Secret Service, and the Navy, all of which have access to tens of thousands of Flock’s AI-enabled cameras. (Flock confirms that it does not explicitly work with ICE.)

Ring wrote in a blog post that it made a joint decision with Flock to cancel the partnership because the integration “would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated.”

The news comes less than a week after Ring’s Super Bowl ad aired, which showed how its AI-powered Search Party feature can use a network of neighborhood cameras to find missing dogs. The ad sparked controversy among viewers, who expressed concern that this technology could be used against humans.

A Ring spokesperson stated that this technology is “unable to process human biometrics.”

But this technology is no different from Fluke technology. Using footage from Fluke cameras, Fluke government and police partners can perform natural language searches on their video footage to find people who match specific descriptions. When this AI-powered technology is used by law enforcement, it has been shown to exacerbate racial bias.

Ring even rolled out a facial recognition feature last December called “Familiar Faces,” which lets users catalog the faces of people who visit their homes often — that way, they might get a notification that says “Mom’s at the front door,” instead of “There’s someone at your door.”

This technology is being marketed to consumers during a period in the United States where people are particularly aware of the dangers of mass surveillance. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses the same type of facial recognition technology, powered by companies like Clearview AI, to locate people in mass deportation efforts.

Although its partnership with Flock won’t come to fruition, Ring has existing procedures in place that enable users to share footage with law enforcement if they choose. The company achieves this in part by partnering with Axon, a company similar to Flock.

Ring has also historically had trouble keeping customers’ videos secure. In 2023, the FTC ordered the company to pay $5.8 million over allegations that employees and contractors had unfettered access to customers’ private videos for years.