Microphones

The "no audio" answer skips the 31 gunshot microphones.

CGPD says the cameras do not record audio.

That's true, but misleading.

The handout answers "Do the cameras record audio?" with "No," then lists the plate cameras, the video cameras, and the drones. The 31 gunshot-detection devices are missing from that list. Those are microphones.

One page earlier, the same handout says the gunshot system detects "gunfire and other critical public safety events." Flock has announced that these microphones will start listening for human "distress" sounds. Like the people-sorting features in Flock's patent, it is a capability the briefing never mentioned.

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31

The 31 gunshot-detection devices are microphones. A microphone cannot detect a gunshot without recording the sound around it, and Flock plans to have them listen for human distress.

The claim and the record

Read the list again. The microphones are not on it.

The city told the council

“Do the cameras record audio? No. ALPR, PTZ, and DFR cameras do not record audio.”
Chief's agenda document, page 3

The record shows

Read the list again. Plate cameras, video cameras, drones. The 31 gunshot-detection devices are missing from it. Those are microphones.

One page earlier, the handout says the gunshot system detects "gunfire and other critical public safety events." A microphone cannot tell a gunshot from a scream without listening to everything.

Flock has announced that these microphones will start listening for human "distress" sounds.

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gunshot microphones left off the "no audio" answer

Graphic warning that Flock gunshot detection microphones may listen for human distress sounds.

Flock has opened early access to "distress monitoring," which expands the gunshot-detection microphones toward listening for human distress sounds. For a microphone to catch distress, it has to be listening for events. That turns these devices into always-listening stations around the city.

Source: EFF, Flock's gunshot microphones will start listening for human voices

See it yourself

Whenever a promise says 'ALPR,' ask what the same promise looks like for the microphones.

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Next

Keep reading

All the evidence →

Patent

5

Flock's own patent describes sorting people by sex, race, clothing, height, and weight.

The patent describes identifying people, assigning attributes like "male, female, race," and searching video for them by location.

Read the patent excerpts →

Cost and results

73

240 devices for 60,000 people. 73 arrests in 26 months.

Arrests from camera hits in 26 months, for about $1 million a year. About 3 a month. Four were violent crimes.

See the numbers →

Hackable

30 sec

Camera feeds were left open on the internet.

Researchers documented exposed Flock camera streams and debug pages online. A movement database is only as safe as its weakest login.

See the security record →

Bottom line

Ask what sounds the 31 devices classify today, and who can listen to the audio.

A microphone cannot tell a gunshot from a scream without listening to everything. The council should know what these devices hear before they are switched on.

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