A leaked email has revealed the dystopian vision for a search feature meant for missing dogs from one of the nation’s leading home security companies.
The founder and CEO of Amazon-owned Ring, Jamie Siminoff, told staff in an email obtained by 404 Media that ‘Search Party,’ a feature that links Ring cameras and harnesses AI technology to locate missing dogs in a neighborhood, had potential beyond its primary function.
Siminoff’s email, sent in early October last year, said Search Party was introduced “first for finding dogs,” but that it could be used to “zero out crime in neighborhoods.”
“This is by far the most innovation that we have launched in the history of Ring. And it is not only the quantity, but quality,” Siminoff wrote. “I believe that the foundation we created with Search Party, first for finding dogs, will end up becoming one of the most important pieces of tech and innovation to truly unlock the impact of our mission.”
Siminoff continues, “You can now see a future where we are able to zero out crime in neighborhoods. So many things to do to get there but for the first time ever we have the chance to fully complete what we started.”
Siminoff’s email comes after the home security company was forced to part ways with surveillance technology firm Flock Safety following a Super Bowl ad intended to be heartwarming, but alarmed some viewers.
The companies partnered to create “Community Requests,” a function that allows people in a neighborhood to help with local police investigations by granting access to their Ring footage.
The commercial centers on a lost dog being reunited with its family with the help of the feature. The outlet 404 reported that the ad was “criticized as dystopian,” and said that the technology “demonstrates functionality that could be easily expanded beyond looking for lost dogs.”
After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed at a university campus in September, Siminoff suggested that Ring’s features could have helped find the killer, according to 404. In another email obtained by the publication, he reportedly said, “It just shows how important the community request tool will be as we fully roll it out.”
Ring also recently rolled out “Familiar Faces,” a feature that uses facial recognition to identify specific people in the doorbell camera’s view. It also released “Fire Watch,” a feature that harnesses AI to warn users about nearby fires.
A Ring spokesperson told The Daily Beast the same thing they told 404, insisting that the company’s mission is altruistic. “We’re focused on giving camera owners meaningful context about critical events in their neighborhoods—like a lost pet or nearby fire—so they can decide whether and how to help their community," they said.
On the specific features, they added: “For example, Search Party helps camera owners identify potential lost dogs using detection technology built specifically for that purpose; it does not process human biometrics or track people. Fire Watch alerts owners to nearby fire activity. Community Requests notify neighbors when local public safety agencies ask the community for assistance. Across these features, sharing has always been the camera owner’s choice. Ring provides relevant context about when sharing may be helpful—but the decision remains firmly in the customer’s hands, not ours.”
