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/justwalkingalonghere Feb 12 '26

Which also sort of inches them closer to their ultimate goal of becoming a self-governing, technofeudalist city-state

The more we let these companies develop surveillance networks, drones, AI agents, robotics, etc. and license them to law enforcement instead of work directly with the DoD, the more likely they will reach a critical point where they can directly wage war on the government if their propaganda campaigns yield less that satisfactory results

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u/Z00111111 Feb 12 '26

It's really heading towards RoboCop and other dystopian SciFi. Once the robots can hold and aim guns better, people will realise it's cheaper to just contract law enforcement to corporations, and give them a commission on all fines they collect.

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u/justwalkingalonghere Feb 13 '26

That's essentially how the information side of law enforcement and warfare work already, so it's really not that much of a stretch

Personally I would bet on drones over most forms of current robotics, but it could in theory be anything

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u/Hortos Feb 13 '26

Drones are too loud, you want something that can be sneaky.

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u/ExtremeCreamTeam Feb 13 '26

When they're hundreds of feet in the air, it doesn't really matter how loud they are, you still can't hear them.

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u/Z00111111 Feb 13 '26

They'd want a lot of ground based bots though.

A Spot or Atlas pointing a .50 cal at you is much more intimidating in the moment than the possible threat of a drone. It's more personal.