---
title: 'Use an Amazon Ring doorbell…? Senator Wyden reveals that their partnership with Flock empowers ICE and other fed surveillance'
date: '2025-10-17T05:38:39-07:00'
type: post
word_count: 657
char_count: 4879
tokens: 855
categories:
  - Portland
---

# Use an Amazon Ring doorbell…? Senator Wyden reveals that their partnership with Flock empowers ICE and other fed surveillance

I’ve written about [Senator Ron Wyden](https://www.wyden.senate.gov/) any number of times. Not just because he’s our senior senator for Oregon, but because he’s one of the few people at the federal level with a [deep and long standing commitment to the Internet and its use](https://siliconflorist.com/2017/01/03/senator-ron-wyden-laid-groundwork-internet-today/). Without puffery, he’s one of the reasons you’re even able to read this right now. So when he digs into something like [Ring camera footage being used by ICE through Flock](https://www.wyden.senate.gov/news/press-releases/wyden-slams-surveillance-tech-company-for-ineffective_protections-for-oregonians-against-abuses-by-federal-agencies-and-out-of-state-law-enforcement), I pay attention.

> Flock deceived its state and local law enforcement customers about sharing data with immigration enforcement agencies. News reports earlier this year revealed that Flock gave U.S. Customs Border Protection (CBP) access to the company’s systems. Wyden’s investigation revealed that additional federal agencies, including Homeland Security Investigations (the investigations arm of ICE), the Secret Service and Naval Criminal Investigative Service, also had access to Flock cameras. Finally, Flock revealed that it does not proactively audit how its cameras are used, how data is searched, or whether agencies are complying with requirements to state valid reasons to search its database.

“I now believe that abuses of your product are not only likely but inevitable, and that Flock is unable and uninterested in preventing them,” Wyden wrote. “In my view, local elected officials can best protect their constituents from the inevitable abuses of Flock cameras by removing Flock from their communities.”

And guess [who Flock partners with](https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-expands-community-requests-to-additional-community-safety-partners/) to get some of their data? [That’s right. Amazon Ring](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/amazons-ring-to-partner-with-flock-a-network-of-ai-cameras-used-by-ice-feds-and-police/).

> Amazon’s surveillance camera maker Ring announced a partnership on Thursday with [Flock](https://techcrunch.com/2025/03/13/y-combinators-police-surveillance-darling-flock-safety-raises-275m-at-7-5b-valuation/), a maker of AI-powered surveillance cameras that share footage with law enforcement.
> 
> Now agencies that use Flock can request that Ring doorbell users [share footage](https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-expands-community-requests-to-additional-community-safety-partners/) to help with “evidence collection and investigative work.”

[And that’s where ICE comes into the picture](https://techcrunch.com/2025/10/16/amazons-ring-to-partner-with-flock-a-network-of-ai-cameras-used-by-ice-feds-and-police/). And your inadvertently empowering ICE by allowing them to use the footage from your Ring devices, thanks to this partnership.

> Ordinarily, HSI is focused specifically on criminal cases, such as child abuse, human trafficking, or cybercrime. But the distinction between HSI and its umbrella agency ICE is largely meaningless in the second Trump administration. HSI has reassigned at least 6,198 agents, or nearly 90 percent, to assist targeted operations with Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), the part of ICE that handles immigration enforcement, according to internal ICE data [published by the Cato Institute in September](https://www.cato.org/blog/ice-has-diverted-over-25000-officers-their-jobs?ref=404media.co). Cato subsequently obtained more data showing the number of diverted HSI employees is even higher. Including both agents and non-agents, 12,353 HSI personnel are supporting ERO, according to Cato. HSI [also performs worksite enforcement](https://www.ice.gov/features/worksite-enforcement?ref=404media.co), which has been a major focus of this administration.

“The only way to guarantee that the massive troves of data these systems generate won’t be abused is to enforce the Fourth Amendment and require police to get a warrant before they can track people. Otherwise, there will continue to be a steady drip of stories showing these systems are being used and accessed in ways that local communities don’t want or expect,” Michael B. Soyfer, an attorney at the Institute for Justice, told [404 Media](https://www.404media.co/ice-secret-service-navy-all-had-access-to-flocks-nationwide-network-of-cameras/).

There’s also a robust — can I say “robust” here? — [conversation going on Hacker News](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45614713).

If you also find this concerning, it’s probably best to check if you opted into providing video data to Flock. Or considering moving away from Amazon Ring devices altogether.