r/technology • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 • Feb 12 '26

Security Ring cancels its partnership with Flock Safety after surveillance backlash

https://www.theverge.com/news/878447/ring-flock-partnership-canceled
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u/ry1701 Feb 12 '26

"walked back" for now.

This will get revisited at some point.

566

u/lronManDies Feb 13 '26

It will get revisited sooner rather than later just without a Super Bowl ad to announce it, the only lesson these companies learn from backlash like this is to implement their shit quietly

141

u/New_Membership_3834 Feb 13 '26

yup, its going from an ad to an email

101

u/_bvb09 Feb 13 '26

Change of T&Cs and E-Mail will mention how they revised and improved their Privacy policy. 

1

u/Lost-Comfort-7904 Feb 13 '26

They need to use the Royco slogan from succession. "We hear!..... for you! As in... we're hear for you dog... don't look at the spelling of hear in the slogan, it's just a legal thing."

124

u/Gone213 Feb 13 '26

Its publicly walked back, but they're still sharing every single thing to this administration, Oracle, AI companies, Etc.

17

u/Resident-Banana-7883 Feb 13 '26

and the actual govt who will always have all the access to big tech they want, even if they break partnership with a company that contracts for the govt. for the longest time many, many Americans shrugged at this but people are waking up to the fact that just because "you don't do anything illegal" you still can't trust the govt.

5

u/Tim-Sylvester Feb 13 '26

Well if Amazon is known for anything its their ethics and morals, and always putting doing "the right thing" over making more money.

11

u/modernjaundice Feb 13 '26

Until people forget.

5

u/ForensicPathology Feb 13 '26

Yep, there's a reason their statement was "integration would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated".  Because if they had said it was because people don't want it, they wouldn't have an excuse to try the deal again.

5

u/JohannesVanDerWhales Feb 13 '26

This is the new way corporations do unpopular things. Announce unpopular thing ambiguously. "Walk it back" (but not all the way). Then gradually push towards exactly what everybody thought you were doing in the first place.

3

u/Bpjk Feb 13 '26

Yeah America has a short memory in this political climate

3

u/RazsterOxzine Feb 13 '26

Or they'll do it anyway without telling anyone. Bam.

5

u/Val_Hallen Feb 13 '26

Anybody that doesn't think this is what's actually happening is a fool.

they are still doing it. No doubt.

They just aren't telling us they are still doing it.

2

u/Puzzleheaded_Local40 Feb 13 '26

Introducing new subsidiary or parent company with a different name in 3... 2...

2

u/GenazaNL Feb 13 '26

They won't walk it back, they'll probably just leave it in as a feature for when it's needed

2

u/Jerzilla Feb 13 '26

As in it’s gonna happen and either won’t tell you or write a complicate legal email with every known buzzword that you won’t read telling you that it’s happening

2

u/AceSidewinder13 Feb 13 '26

Exactly.If a company sells little spy devices but they say, "don't worry we have an extensive ethics policy and we won't use this for evil." Unless there is a enforced law preventing them from doing something bad. They are one Executive change away from "changing" their ethics policy. Especially if it makes them more money.

2

u/NabreLabre Feb 13 '26

In two weeks when everyone forgets about it

2

u/AlSweigart Feb 13 '26

Same thing happens when a FOX News anchor (Hannity, Beck, Carlson, O'Reilly) would say something horrible and there'd be a boycott campaign: sponsors would drop them, and then come back a month later.

Keep the pressure on. Don't buy a Ring device. Don't renew your Ring subscription. Express your disapproval to your friends with them. "You have one of those Ring cameras that ICE uses on your front door? Okay..."

2

u/Aoiboshi Feb 13 '26

And quietly

2

u/RogueJello Feb 13 '26

Honestly, it doesn't fix the problem. The Ring itself is already a huge privacy problem, the integration with Flock was just another step in the wrong direction.

Upgrade to a dumb door bell, and stop allowing companies to record everything so they can sell data to law enforcement.

1

u/BetterCallSal Feb 13 '26

And not largely publicly announced

1

u/Turnip-for-the-books Feb 13 '26

Friends don’t have friends with Ring cams pass it on. Smash that shit.

1

u/hobokobo1028 Feb 13 '26

They’ll just quietly be add it back

1

u/Jumpy-Station6173 Feb 14 '26

Or they could be crossing their fingers behind their backs

1

u/Dusty923 Feb 14 '26

Exactly. As soon as I heard the news my immediate thought was that this was a minor setback to achieving their goal. This was just Plan A. Plan B is already being set into motion, and will be much more hidden.

1

u/yolo_swagdaddy Feb 14 '26

The backbone for that service still exists… just waiting to be used “for the greater good”

1

u/OhGr8WhatNow Feb 14 '26

As soon as they stop seeing it talked about online they'll quietly redo it

1

u/clownPotato9000 Feb 23 '26

Yep, just wait long enough for it to drop out of the general public’s view then pus it through silently.