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 Flock’s 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.

Flock 首席执行官 Garrett Langley 表示，该公司的枪声检测麦克风“只检测枪声”，但 Flock 的网站却描绘了一幅更为广阔的图景，显示其还会捕捉其他环境音频。在 TechCrunch Disrupt 大会的舞台上，这位监控公司的联合创始人为 Flock 名为“枪声检测”（Gunshot Detection）的音频采集产品进行了辩护。该产品通过监听附近社区的枪声和其他环境音频，旨在为潜在的公共安全事件提供“更早的预警”。

Flock’s website says that the company’s 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 company’s Gunshot Detection feature, announced last year, faced immediate pushback. In announcing the feature, Flock said the technology would listen out for sounds of “screaming.”

Flock 的网站称，该公司的音频系统不仅能瞬间定位枪声，还能“及早发现街头非法聚集活动，在混乱升级前予以制止”，并“实时识别严重车祸，以便更快提供救援”。网站还表示，这些系统可以通过针对车祸、烟花和非法飙车活动的警报，“将感知范围扩大到枪声之外”。该公司去年宣布推出的“枪声检测”功能立即遭到了抵制。在宣布该功能时，Flock 曾表示该技术会监听“尖叫”声。

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.

隐私保护组织谴责该公司监听人声，促使该公司修改了网站内容，将其改为“人类痛苦的声音”。Flock 后来表示，已从尝试该功能的客户那里完全撤销了检测“痛苦”的能力。在采访中，Langley 反驳了他所称的关于其产品的错误信息，并辩称许多批评者误解了其产品的工作原理。

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.

这些言论发表之际，公众对 Flock 及其他车牌识别公司的舆论持续转向，人们对大规模监控的担忧日益加剧。这种情绪在旧金山显而易见，当 Langley 登台时，抗议者聚集在会场外表达了他们的反对意见。