Digital Rights Group Tells Amazon Ring Owners to Turn Off Cameras This Halloween

Fight for the Future, a digital rights group, has issued a warning to Amazon Ring owners, urging them to turn off and cover their cameras during Halloween. The safety advisory comes in response to Amazon’s recent partnership with Flock. 

Flock calls itself “a public safety technology ecosystem” that develops security hardware and software systems, including automated license plate recognition software and security cameras. The company has faced increasing opposition from human rights organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, for its collaboration with local police departments.

Fight for the Future specifically highlights Flock’s involvement in releasing surveillance footage to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has been escalating raids and deportation operations under the direction of the Trump administration. Flock has also provided data to law enforcement to assist in investigating people traveling out of state seeking abortion medical care. 

The digital rights agency says it’s issuing this advisory before Halloween so everyone “can take action to protect the privacy and safety of all trick-or-treating children and families.”

In battleground cities like Chicago, Halloween weekend has become particularly ominous for Latino, Black and migrant households. JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, wrote a letter urging Homeland Security and ICE to pause their immigration crackdown: “No child should be forced to inhale tear gas or other chemical agents while trick or treating in their own neighborhood.”

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Outside of the Halloween advisory, Fight for the Future also suggests taking the following actions to avoid privacy violations or unintentional data-sharing with federal officials: 

Amazon did not provide a statement by the time of publication.