Ring CEO Envisions Broader Use for Search Party Tool Beyond Finding Pets Internal emails from Ring CEO Jamie Siminoff suggest the company’s Search Party feature, initially marketed for locating lost dogs, is envisioned as a foundational technology for a much wider surveillance network. The emails, obtained by a media outlet, reveal Siminoff’s ambition to leverage the tool for broader security applications. In one email to staff, Siminoff wrote that the foundation created with Search Party will become one of the most important innovations to unlock the company’s mission. He projected a future where the technology could enable the company to zero out crime in neighborhoods, calling it a chance to fully complete what they started. The phrase zero out crime has raised concerns among privacy advocates. These emails were written in October when Search Party launched, months before significant public backlash against the feature began. Search Party allows Ring camera owners to voluntarily share footage to help neighbors find lost pets, creating a networked search system. Siminoff’s vision appears to align with other Ring developments. The company recently launched a tool called Familiar Faces, which uses facial recognition to identify recurring individuals captured on camera. Privacy experts note that combining the networked search capability of Search Party with facial recognition from Familiar Faces could create a powerful system for tracking specific people. In another email, Siminoff suggested Ring technology could have assisted in high-profile criminal cases by using its Community Requests feature. This existing tool allows law enforcement to request footage from camera owners through a partnership with police tech company Axon. Ring had planned a significant expansion of its police collaboration through a partnership with surveillance firm Flock Safety. That partnership was canceled following public outcry triggered by a Super Bowl advertisement that spotlighted the Search Party feature. Ring stated the cancellation was due to the integration requiring more time and resources than anticipated, not public sentiment. In response to inquiries about the emails, Ring stated that Search Party does not process human biometrics or track people and emphasized that sharing footage is always the camera owner’s choice. The company did not comment on future plans for its tools. Ring’s mission has been closely tied to law enforcement since its early days. When Amazon acquired Ring in 2018, Siminoff stated that reducing crime in neighborhoods was at the core of everything the company does. The recent internal communications indicate this mission may be pursued through increasingly advanced and networked surveillance technology.
