Flock首席执行官称其麦克风仅能识别枪声，但其网站说法不一。

Flock CEO says its microphones detect just gunshots — its website says different | TechCrunch

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Flock CEO says its microphones detect just gunshots — its website says different

Flock CEO Garrett Langley said the company’s gunshot-detection microphones detect just gunshots, but Flock’s website paints a far broader picture of what other ambient audio also gets picked up.

Speaking onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt, the co-founder of the surveillance company defended Flocks audio-collection product called Gunshot Detection, which listens for gunshots and other ambient audio across nearby neighborhoods to provide earlier awareness to potential public safety events.

Flocks website says that the companys audio systems can pinpoint gunfire instantly, while also being able to “detect street takeovers early to stop chaos before it escalates,” and “identify severe crashes in real time so help arrives faster.” It also says they can “expand awareness beyond gunfire with alerts for car crashes, fireworks, and sideshows.”

The companys Gunshot Detection feature, announced last year, faced immediate pushback. In announcing the feature, Flock said the technology would listen out for sounds of screaming. Privacy groups condemned the company for listening for human voices, prompting the company to amend its website to instead say sounds of human distress. Flock later said it pulled the ability to detect distress altogether from its customers who tried it.

During the interview, Langley pushed back against what he described as misinformation about his product, arguing that many of its critics misunderstand how its products work. The comments come as public opinion continues to shift against Flock and other license plate reading companies amid growing unease about mass surveillance — sentiments that were visible in San Francisco, where protesters gathered to voice their opposition outside the venue as Langley took the stage.

Image Credits:TechCrunch (screenshot)

“Most people dont call 911 when they hear a gunshot, and so thats why we built the product,” Langley told TechCrunch editor-in-chief Connie Loizos onstage. “And then some of our customers said, ‘Oh, we have these in parking lots. It would be great if we could get alerted if someone was being abducted, if someone was being harmed.’

Langley said that the idea seemed logical, so the company prototyped it and rolled it out to a couple of customers, but said that some people then had a lot of concerns. Langley conceded to making mistakes but that he was listening to his customers.

Theres only a couple customers that were prototyping it with us, and we said, ‘OK, great, its just going to do gunshots, plain and simple.’ If a gun goes off, well notify, and if not, thats all its going to listen to, said Langley.

When asked about the contradiction between his remarks and the company’s marketing materials that say the audio systems can detect more than gunshots, he responded, “Its just gunshots.”

When reached by TechCrunch, Flock spokesperson Paris Lewbel said: Flock’s gunshot detection technology is primarily used to detect gunfire but is also capable of detecting fireworks, sideshows, and potential car crashes. CEO Garrett Langley’s remarks were intended to emphasize that Flock’s Audio Detection technology is not designed to monitor conversations or analyze speech and does not currently detect human screaming or distress.

An FAQ section of the website notes that “in addition to gunshots, Flock Gunshot and Audio Detection can detect fireworks, sideshows, and other disruptive community events.” It goes on to state that the company’s “detection library is continually expanding to include emerging threats that are relevant” to customers’ specific needs.

Langley stated that the number of Flocks microphones is comparable to ShotSpotter, which as of 2024 had about 25,000 microphones, per reporting by Wired.

Langley’s comments come amid mounting scrutiny of Flock from privacy advocates, including the ACLU, and members of the public who are concerned about the misuse of its technology, with some going so far as destroying the surveillance cameras. The remarks also come as Texas and Florida have moved to end their relationships with Flock, and Amazon’s Ring has ended its partnership with the company.

AI, Flock, Security, TechCrunch Disrupt

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Aisha is a consumer news reporter at TechCrunch. Prior to joining the publication in 2021, she was a telecom reporter at MobileSyrup. Aisha holds an honours bachelor’s degree from University of Toronto and a master’s degree in journalism from Western University.

You can contact or verify outreach from Aisha by emailing [emailprotected] or via encrypted message at aisha_malik.01 on Signal.

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