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Flock CEO Says Its Audio Sensors Detect 'Just Gunshots,' but Company Website Lists Crashes, Fireworks and Sideshows
Flock co-founder and chief executive Garrett Langley told a conference audience that the company's gunshot-detection microphones pick up "just gunshots," a narrower description than the one Flock's own website gives for the same audio product.
Langley defended Flock's audio-collection product, called Gunshot Detection, while speaking onstage at a technology conference. The system listens for gunshots and other ambient audio across nearby neighborhoods in order to deliver "earlier awareness" of possible public safety events, according to the company.
Flock's website describes a broader set of capabilities for the same technology. It says the audio systems can pinpoint gunfire instantly while also detecting street takeovers early "to stop chaos before it escalates," and identifying severe crashes in real time "so help arrives faster."
The site further states that the systems "expand awareness beyond gunfire with alerts for car crashes, fireworks, and sideshows," language that goes well past the CEO's characterization of the product.
His remarks arrived amid mounting scrutiny of Flock from privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union, and from members of the public who are concerned about misuse of the company's technology.
Gunshot Detection was announced last year and drew immediate pushback. At launch, Flock said the technology would listen for sounds of "screaming," prompting privacy groups to condemn the company for listening for human voices. Flock subsequently amended its website to say the system detected "sounds of human distress" instead.
The company later said it pulled the ability to detect "distress" altogether from customers who had tried it.