# EFF - Flock ended pilot audio distress / human-voice detection > *Audited source extract. The dossier was used only as a lead; the underlying source was independently acquired and checked on 2026-07-20.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher:** Electronic Frontier Foundation - **Original dossier URL:** https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/victory-flock-ends-rollout-audio-distress-detection-human-voices - **Resolved/canonical URL used:** https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/victory-flock-ends-rollout-audio-distress-detection-human-voices - **Publication date:** 2026-07-17 - **Underlying event or version:** 2026-07 - **Archived:** 2026-07-20, from unauthenticated public access; no cookies, tokens, or login state retained - **Wayback snapshot:** save failed on 2026-07-20 after the archive service returned HTTP 403; retry pending ## Verification verdict **supported with narrower wording** — EFF's July 17, 2026 report corroborates that Flock ended the human-distress rollout. Flock's own July 10 explanation is the direct source for the vendor's description of the pilot and removal. ## Claim boundary This source is authoritative only within the source class and limitations stated above. ## Extract **Extracted-text lines 1-3:** > Victory! Flock Ends Rollout of Audio “Distress Detection” of Human Voices | Electronic Frontier Foundation > Skip to main content > About **Extracted-text lines 96-100:** > Other Ways to Give > Membership FAQ > Victory! Flock Ends Rollout of Audio “Distress Detection” of Human Voices > DEEPLINKS BLOG > By **Extracted-text lines 118-122:** > that Flock was rolling out a new feature called “Distress Detection” that would be deployed through their acoustic gunshot detection devices (formerly known as Flock Raven, now called Audio Detection). This feature purported to use high-powered microphones scattered throughout a city to search for sounds of human distress, with original advertisements from the product indicating it would search for “screaming.” (Since the publication of our > original blog post > , Flock quietly amended the ad on this > webpage > to say “distress” instead of “screaming.”) **Extracted-text lines 139-143:** > community disruption > ,” which includes “non-violent” threats like car sideshows and fireworks. > Flock’s failed attempt to roll out Distress Detection teaches us a few important lessons about the current state of police surveillance. First, we should not assume that just because these companies are large and well-funded, that does not ensure that they are complying with local privacy laws before floating new products to customers. Second, companies roll out and police adopt invasive technology under the justification that it will be used to address our society’s very worst crimes. However, both the companies and police will leverage deployed surveillance infrastructure to introduce new uses without necessarily seeking the consent or approval of the public. 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 > . Finally, gun violence is too serious and complex of an issue to purport to solve with one flawed piece of technology. It has become too easy for police and cities to listen to the **Wayback failure**: The bounded Save Page Now pass stopped after the archive service returned HTTP 403 on the first request. This source was not individually retried; retry pending. ## Notes - Tier: 3 — Tier 3 authoritative secondary. - The excerpt is bounded to the claims audited here; consult the preserved original for full context. - Cited by: see `citing_pages:` frontmatter; populated after wiki integration.