Flock scraps 'human distress detection' microphone feature after privacy backlash

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Flock is abandoning plans for a 'human distress detection' feature

It had previously been rolled out as a small trial

Consumer groups say it's evidence of 'mission creep' from the company

It's fair to say Flock isn't the most popular tech company at the moment, with major consumer concerns around surveillance and privacy in regards to its widespread license plate cameras — but it has at least now pulled one of its most contentious features.

That feature is 'human distress detection', which was recently trialed on a small scale, and used Flock's network of urban acoustic detectors to listen out for sounds of human screaming and panic. If those sounds were detected, then the police would be alerted, potentially giving law enforcement a head start in responding to an incident.

After "careful consideration and community consultation", Flock says it's now removing the human detection element. The acoustic detectors remain in place, and continue to listen out for sounds including gunshots and vehicle crashes — but the 'human distress' element experiment is over, and won't 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 isn't recorded by default, but a rolling five-second window is continually processed. If a matching event is detected, then the clip is processed, encrypted, and stored.

A 'victory' for campaigners

One of Flock's license plate readers (Image credit: Flock) Consumer rights and privacy groups are welcoming the decision. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has declared the move a "victory" for campaigners, though the organization still has many concerns around the existing gunshot and collision technology the microphones are still set up for.

"Gunshot-detecting microphones eventually being used to listen for screaming is exactly the type of mission creep that we've seen happen with other pieces of surveillance technology, including Flock's license plate readers," says Matthew Guariglia, a senior policy analyst at the EFF.

The reaction online to the feature being pulled is less triumphant — most commentators simply don't believe that Flock is going to limit these acoustic detectors in the ways it says it will. "I don't believe that for a second," is a Reddit response typical of the general sentiment, amid ongoing 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 being collected — making it difficult for citizens to fully trust its stances on privacy, even if this latest move does seem like a win.