- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
Flock Safety, the police technology company most notable for their extensive network of automated license plate readers spread throughout the United States, is rolling out a new and troubling product that may create headaches for the cities that adopt it: detection of “human distress” via audio. As part of their suite of technologies, Flock has been pushing Raven, their version of acoustic gunshot detection. These devices capture sounds in public places and use machine learning to try to identify gunshots and then alert police—but EFF has long warned that they are also high powered microphones parked above densely-populated city streets. Cities now have one more reason to follow the lead of many other municipalities and cancel their Flock contracts, before this new feature causes civil liberties harms to residents and headaches for cities.
What would I look for to know where one would be?
They have solar panels and once you know what to look for they’re quite apparent. Typically on every major route in/out of your town along the edge bordering adjacent towns.
Are they those ones with the flashing blue light? I see those a lot at dealerships, not sure if they’re related.