Ring kills Flock partnership amid surveillance scrutiny

Ring has cut ties with Flock, citing resource constraints, mere months after the pair announced a partnership.

The pair spoke of their intention to work together on Ring's Community Requests feature back in October, but Ring said this week the integration "would require significantly more time and resources than anticipated."

The Amazon-owned smart home company made no mention of it in the announcement, but the cancellation comes at a tricky time following backlash over its recent Super Bowl ad.

Ring had used its 30-second slot to highlight its AI-powered Search Party feature, which recruits Ring devices in a neighborhood to activate when someone triggers a lost pet alert. All the devices switch on to locate the animal and reunite it with their owner.

It's a cute idea in theory, but when depicted in video, many viewers said they saw Search Party as dystopian, and questioned whether this technology ...