Amazon workers have been fighting back against corporate surveillance long before Ring paid millions to advertise its so-called pet finding tool during the Superbowl. The public backlash to that dystopian ad was swift and fierce, leading Amazon-owned Ring to cut its partnership with Flock Safety.
And the public was right to protest, as emails leaked after the big game revealed that Ring never planned to limit its “Search Party” tool to finding cute lost puppies. The fight against surveillance belongs to all of us, which is why we need to stand with the folks who are already on the front lines, like the members of Amazon Labor Union-IBT 1.
Read on for a message from ALU President Connor Spence to learn more about Amazon’s surveillance empire and how you can support the fight. –The Labor Force
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Have you heard the news?
Amazon’s Ring ended its partnership with Flock Safety after backlash to a Super Bowl ad that raised national concerns about surveillance. The deal would have further linked home camera footage with law enforcement, and critics warned that Ring’s AI “Search Party” tool (marketed to find lost pets) could easily be used to monitor people. As pressure mounted, Amazon backed down. That happened because people spoke up. When the political and reputational costs grew too high, Amazon recalculated and that matters.
But Amazon’s surveillance empire extends far beyond public partnerships. Inside its warehouses, workers have been tracked, timed, monitored, and disciplined by algorithm for years through cameras, quotas, and automated write-ups enforced by systems they didn’t design and cannot challenge. Surveillance in our neighborhoods and surveillance in our workplaces are the same model of power. A small group of executives decides how technology is deployed for profit and control, while workers and communities live with the consequences. That’s why this moment matters.
In 2026, Amazon Labor Union–IBT Local 1 will launch a comprehensive campaign on workplace technology, surveillance, automation, and AI. We will fight for worker governance over technology, demanding transparency, enforceable limits, protections against automation-driven harm, and democratic input into technological change. Innovation isn’t the problem. Deployment without transparency, consent, or accountability is. Right now, this landscape is a regulatory and moral wild west, and we intend to change it. But we cannot do it without infrastructure.
We need support to build our new Worker Training Center: a union hall for mass meetings, a worker center for education and legal support, a training hub for stewards and organizers, and a cultural home for Amazon workers. Permanent space transforms a campaign into a durable institution capable of sustaining long-term struggle.
In solidarity,
Connor Spence
President/Campaign Director
Amazon Labor Union–IBT Local 1