Ring’s partnership with Flock is sparking renewed online backlash this week, with influencers calling for people to smash their Ring cameras and claiming the company is part of the surveillance state amid heightened concerns over ICE actions.
Technology
Ring claims it’s not giving ICE access to its cameras
Flock is an AI-powered surveillance camera company that has reportedly allowed government agencies — including ICE — to access data from its nationwide camera network. Amazon-owned home security company Ring announced a partnership with Flock last year as part of its new Community Requests tool. This allows local law enforcement agencies to request footage from nearby Ring users when investigating an active case.
“Ring has no partnership with ICE … and does not share video with them.”
According to reporting from Futurism, activists are pushing a grassroots campaign across social media, including TikTok and Bluesky, telling Ring users to get rid of their cameras to prevent footage from being used by ICE. However, Ring spokesperson Yassi Yarger told The Verge in an email that “Ring has no partnership with ICE, does not give ICE videos, feeds, or back-end access, and does not share video with them.”
Yarger also said that the Flock integration in question, which was announced last October, is not yet live. Meaning Flock does not have access to Community Requests.
“As we explore the integration, we will ensure the feature is built for the use of local public safety agencies only — which is what the program is designed for,” she said. According to Ring’s support site, local agencies are limited to city and county organizations.
Still, once footage is in the hands of local authorities, it’s out of Ring’s control. Ring founder Jamie Siminoff has told The Verge that he believes widespread cameras can prevent crime. But once deployed, the potential for such a large-scale local surveillance system to be used for other purposes is very real.
Since returning to the company last year, Siminoff has leaned into his belief that more cameras lead to safer communities, launching Community Requests last September.
This is essentially a rebrand of Ring’s controversial Request for Assistance feature, which was discontinued in 2024. Only, instead of direct partnerships with law enforcement, Community Requests works through integrations with “third-party evidence management platforms,” such as Flock and Axon, a Taser and body-cam company.
Any local agency partnered with either company can request users’ footage through the Ring’s apps. According to Yarger, currently, only the Axon partnership is live.
According to Ring, Community Requests sends a request from the local agency to both the Ring Neighbors app and the Ring app’s Community Feed. The request appears to all users in the area of an active investigation, and a user can choose to share footage or ignore the request. Ring says no one will be notified if you ignore a request.
How to disable Community Requests and enable E2E
If you don’t want to participate in Community Requests, you can disable it in the Ring or Neighbors app. Go to the app’s settings page, find the Neighbors Settings, then scroll down to Neighborhood Settings, click Feed Settings, uncheck Community Requests, and click Apply.
However, Ring — like many security camera companies — may provide footage to law enforcement without a warrant in what it deems an emergency.
To prevent anyone from accessing your Ring footage, you can enable end-to-end encryption (E2E) in the Ring app.
While your footage is still stored in Ring’s cloud, with E2E turned on, only the mobile device you set up the camera with can view the video; it cannot be accessed by Ring or used for Community Requests.
Enabling E2E means you lose several features, including person detection, rich notifications that show a snapshot of activity, and Ring’s new AI-powered descriptions, all of which rely on the cloud.
While most cloud-based security cameras encrypt footage in transit and at rest, they need to access it in the cloud to analyze it and enable those features.
Alternatives to cloud-dependent cameras
If you want to avoid cloud-dependent cameras entirely, there are several other options for keeping your camera footage private and secure.
As mentioned, Ring cameras use the cloud to process footage for features like person detection; however, some security cameras can process video locally and fully encrypt it before sending it to the cloud. Generally, this requires a hub to process the footage.
If you are an iPhone user, Apple’s HomeKit Secure Video service is fully E2E encrypted. Video analysis is done locally on a home hub, such as a HomePod or Apple TV, and stored in your iCloud account. It requires compatible cameras, including models from Eve, Aqara, and Eufy.
Anker-owned Eufy is another company that offers local storage and video processing for its wide selection of cameras and video doorbells. The company had some serious security breaches involving the cloud in 2022, but its newer HomeBase hardware can run locally.
TP-Link’s Tapo, Aqara, and Reolink recently launched local hubs for storage and processing of footage from their cameras, and these companies also offer cameras and video doorbells with onboard local processing and local storage via microSD cards.
The new Matter standard now supports security cameras, which could open more options for local, secure storage and processing of camera footage.
Ultimately, any camera connected to the internet comes with the risk that it could be accessed by someone other than you, no matter what the company says. So it remains important to think carefully before adding any type of surveillance to your home or your neighborhood.
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Tenways just launched its new CGO Compact electric bike in Europe that’s designed to fit into tight spaces like car trunks, apartment hallways, and train compartments.
To achieve this, the CGO Compact is fitted with small 20-inch wheels, folding pedals, and a handlebar fitted with a twistable stem to create a slim, wall-hugging profile. The adjustable steering column and low-step through frame also make it suitable for a wide range of rider heights, so it could be a good shareable e-bike for families. And its MIK HD rear carrier system is good for hauling up to 27kg (almost 60 pounds) around town, with mounting points for additional accessories like a crate or child seat.
Tenways might not be a household name globally, but the Chinese e-bike company headquartered in the Netherlands is making a name for itself in Europe thanks to aggressive pricing, sleek designs, and over 1,500 shops and service centers. And while the CGO Compact’s €1,999 (about $2,365) price tag isn’t cheap, it’s well below the €2,681 average for European e-bikes.
The company does sell e-bikes in the US, but the CGO Compact is only for sale in Europe as of today. It features a 250W rear-hub motor connected to a Gates Carbon belt drive for maintenance-free propulsion. It promises a range of up to 100km from its 500Wh removable battery, but its single-speed drivetrain produces only 45Nm of torque so it’s best suited for relatively flat cities. If your commute does stray from asphalt then the suspension seat post should help absorb bumps. There’s also an integrated torque sensor to ensure the smooth delivery of pedal-assisted power, and Tektro hydraulic disc brakes should keep any sudden stops under control.
The CGO Compact lives up to its name regarding size, but it’s not all that lightweight. Stripped down it weighs 19.8kg (almost 44 pounds), or 22.1kg (almost 49 pounds) with all the accessories you’ll want in wet urban environments. That makes it heavier than many full-sized e-bikes, even from Tenways, and less versatile than the excellent 20-inch Brompton G foldable which also weighs less but costs more than twice as much.
President Donald Trump’s administration is tasking an AI “tech force” to modernize systems. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:
– Inside Trump administration’s AI tech force designed to modernize government
– Elon Musk slams Anthropic AI models as ‘misanthropic’ and ‘evil’ in scathing social media post
– AI power players pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up
‘TECH FORCE’: Inside Trump administration’s AI initiative designed to modernize government – FOX Business reports on the Trump administration’s latest initiative to overhaul federal efficiency, detailing an internal AI “tech force” tasked with modernizing antiquated government systems and streamlining operations.
TECH ALLIANCE: War Department to partner with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT, GenAI for military use – The Department of Defense is reportedly strengthening its technological arsenal through a strategic partnership with OpenAI, aiming to integrate ChatGPT and generative AI capabilities into military operations to maintain a strategic edge.
SCATHING POST: Elon Musk slams Anthropic AI models as ‘misanthropic’ and ‘evil’ – Tech billionaire Elon Musk took to social media to unleash a scathing attack on rival AI firm Anthropic, characterizing their models as “misanthropic” and “evil” in a post that highlights the intensifying ideological rift within Silicon Valley.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer of Tesla Inc., during the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
POWER PLAYERS: AI execs pour cash into competitive primaries as 2026 midterms heat up – With the 2026 midterm elections on the horizon, deep-pocketed investors and executives from the artificial intelligence sector are pouring cash into competitive primaries, hoping to shape the regulatory landscape for the booming technology.
OPINION: AI raises the stakes for national security — here is how to get it right – In this opinion piece, OpenAI’s Chris Lehane argues that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence has dramatically raised the stakes for American national security, outlining a strategic framework to ensure the U.S. maintains its dominance without compromising safety.
OPINION: The 2028 election will be a referendum on our future in an AI-dominated world – As technology accelerates, this op-ed contends that the 2028 presidential election will serve as a critical referendum on humanity’s future, forcing voters to decide how the nation should navigate an increasingly AI-dominated world.
Children forming deep emotional connections with AI companions is raising questions among parents. (StockPlanets/Getty Images)
BATTLE FOR DOMINANCE: AI wars begin in new Super Bowl commercials – The battle for artificial intelligence dominance has moved to the advertising stage, as tech giants unleash a wave of new Super Bowl commercials designed to capture the public imagination and assert their position in the “AI wars.”
BOT TO THE FUTURE: Humanoid robots are getting smaller, safer and closer to home – Recent advancements in robotics are making humanoid machines smaller, safer, and more viable for domestic use, suggesting that a future where robots assist with daily household tasks is getting closer to reality.
MOYA’S DEBUT: ‘Warm-skinned’ AI robot with camera eyes is seriously creepy – A new development in robotics featuring “warm skin” and camera eyes has sparked a mix of fascination and unease, with many observers describing the lifelike yet artificial creation as “seriously creepy.”
Moya’s humanlike appearance is intentional, from her warm skin to subtle facial details designed to feel familiar rather than mechanical. (DroidUp)
DIGITAL DANGER: AI companions are reshaping teen emotional bonds – A growing trend of teenagers forming deep emotional connections with AI companions is raising questions among parents and psychologists about the long-term impact of synthetic relationships on social development and mental health.
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To close out its February 2026 State of Play presentation, Sony revealed God of War Sons of Sparta, a new prequel 2D side scroller in the God of War franchise, and announced that it’s out right now on PlayStation 5.
”God of War Sons of Sparta is a 2D action platformer with a canon story set in Kratos’ youth during his harsh training at the Agoge alongside his brother Deimos,” Sony says. Over the course of the game, Kratos will “learn deadly skills using his spear and shield, as well as harness powerful divine artifacts known as the Gifts of Olympus to take on a wide array of foes.”
Sony’s Santa Monica Studio collaborated on the game with Mega Cat Studios. It costs $29.99, with a Digital Deluxe version available for $39.99.
Sony also announced that it’s working on a remake of the original God of War trilogy, with TC Carson set to return as the voice of Kratos. However, the project is “still very early in development, so we ask for your patience as it will be a while before anything else can be shared,” according to Sony. “When we can come back with an update, we aim to make it a big one!”
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