- Flock abandons plans for ‘human distress detection’ feature
- It had previously been rolled out as a small trial
- Consumer groups say it’s evidence of ‘mission creep’ by the company
It’s fair to say that Flock isn’t the most popular tech company at the moment, with major consumer concerns surrounding surveillance and privacy in relation to its widespread number plate cameras – but at least it has now retired one of its most controversial features.
This feature is ‘human distress detection’, which was recently tested on a small scale and used Flock’s network of urban acoustic detectors to listen for sounds of human screams and panic. If these sounds were detected, the police would be alerted, potentially giving law enforcement a head start on responding to an incident.
After “careful consideration and community consultation”, Flock says it is now removing the human detection element. The acoustic detectors remain in place and continue to listen for sounds, including gunshots and vehicle crashes – but the experiment with “human distress” elements is over and will not be rolled out more widely.
In a detailed defense of its technology, Flock says “the system cannot understand speech, analyze language or identify voices”. Audio is not recorded by default, but a five-second rolling window is continuously processed. If a matching event is detected, the clip is processed, encrypted and stored.
A ‘victory’ for campaigners
Consumer rights and privacy groups welcome the decision. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has declared the move a “victory” for campaigners, although the organization still has many concerns about the existing gunshot and collision technology that the microphones are still set up for.
“Microphones that detect gunfire eventually being used to listen for screams is exactly the type of mission creep that we’ve seen happen with other pieces of surveillance technology, including Flock’s license plate readers,” said Matthew Guariglia, senior policy analyst at the EFF.
The reaction online to the feature being pulled is less triumphant—most commenters simply don’t believe Flock will limit these acoustic detectors in the ways it says it will. “I don’t believe it for a second,” is one Reddit response typical of the general sentiment amid lingering privacy concerns.
What doesn’t help Flock’s reputation is that its representatives have apparently lied before about what its devices can do and what data is collected — making it difficult for citizens to fully trust its privacy stances, though this latest move seems like a victory.
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