Flock CEO Garrett Langley has stated that the controversial surveillance company would “immediately” stop partnering with any clients who abused its systems, including law enforcement agencies. However, he also claimed that Flock has not yet found any cause to do so, arguing that all incidents thus far have been the fault of a small number of bad actors within organisations.
Speaking at TechCrunch Disrupt on Wednesday, Langley attempted to allay widespread concerns that Flock could be facilitating mass surveillance and violations of privacy. There have been multiple instances of U.S. law enforcement officials being charged with abusing Flock’s system, using it to stalk, harass, and surveil people without just cause. However, Flock has not cancelled its partnerships with any clients, Langley taking the view that such incidents were due to individual actors within organisations.
“Most of the debate is nuanced into ‘what if two officers out of 50 were caught?'” said Langley. “Today, we haven’t fired any customers, but it’s not off the table in the case of some pretty drastic law-abiding issue.”
According to the public interest law firm Institute for Justice, there have been over 240 incidents of U.S. law enforcement abusing automated license plate readers such as Flock’s since 2021. Many cases involve officers tracking women or former partners.
Earlier this month, a U.S. federal judge found earlier this month that an officer conducted an unconstitutional warrantless search of a driver after using Flock cameras to track their recent movements. Flock appeared to stand by the officer’s use of its technology, a spokesperson stating that they expected the ruling would be appealed and overturned.
Flock CEO claims microphones detect gunshots, not voices
Langley also spoke about Flock’s surveillance microphones, stressing that they are targeted at detecting gunshots and do not monitor people’s conversations. Formerly known as Raven, Flock’s Gunshot and Audio Detection system is designed to recognise the sound of specific types of events, including gunfire, street takeovers, and car crashes. It can also differentiate between fireworks and gunshots, preventing false alarms. However, according to Langley, it cannot identify and does not record human voices.
“We said, ‘OK, great, it’s just going to do gunshots, plain and simple’,” Langley said, as reported by TechCrunch. “If a gun goes off, we’ll notify, and if not, that’s all it’s going to listen to.”
Though Langley stated that Flock’s system only detects gunfire, a spokesperson later clarified to TechCrunch that this is merely its primary focus, confirming that it also picks up fireworks, street takeovers, and vehicular accidents.
Flock had advertised its Gunshot and Audio Detection system as being capable of picking up human screaming and distress when introducing the feature last year. The company subsequently removed this feature following objections from privacy advocates, who voiced concerns about Flock listening in to every loud public interaction — a function that could enable mass surveillance.
“Gunshot Detection is designed to recognize specific sound events, not people,” Flock wrote in a July blog post announcing that it was removing human screaming detection. “The system cannot understand speech, analyze language, or identify voices. It doesn’t now, and it never has.”
According to Flock, its Gunshot and Audio Detection system works by constantly analysing ambient audio on-device in three-second windows. The audio isn’t saved if there is nothing of interest, but if there is a sound that matches what it’s looking for, such as a gunshot or tyres screeching, the system will record the audio and send an alert to the relevant parties.
Despite such assurances from Flock, widespread concerns remain about its systems’ implications for privacy and mass surveillance. Distrust toward the company has prompted activists to protest, map camera locations, and even vandalise Flock’s hardware.
Source: https://mashable.com/tech/flock-ceo-gunshot-audio-detection-mass-surveillence
