The Download

Illustration: Morning Brew Inc., Photos: Adobe Stock

TL;DR: In a letter to the US Senate Judiciary Committee, Flock CEO Garrett Langley said that it’s “possible to search for humans in images taken by Flock cameras.” This contradicts the information currently on Flock’s own website, which states that “Flock cameras do not use facial recognition” and that “they are not designed to search for people, scan faces, or track individuals.”

What happened: The committee held a hearing yesterday on Flock’s technology and its mass surveillance across 49 states. Though Langley and other representatives from Flock declined to attend, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), the chair of the Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, read aloud a letter he received from Langley.

In it, Langley said Flock does not engage in significant oversight when it comes to how its clients use its vast media database and that they can store the photos and videos however they see fit.

“They’re just open to just about anybody who subscribes. There are no controls on them,” Hawley said of the technology. “Flock also admitted in their letter that it is possible to search for humans in images. That is a direct quote.”

Flock said in a statement to Tech Brew that it’s “possible to search for the presence of people in images taken by Flock’s non-license plate reader cameras, but searches must be related to elements visible in footage, such as shirt color, glasses, etc., not a biometric template. Searches related to race, skin tone, or ethnicity are blocked.”

Flock Public Relations Manager Paris Lewbel added that the company “demonstrated this functionality for Senator Hawley’s staff and made the distinction between these technologies.”

Why it matters: Though previous reporting found that Flock cameras “explicitly” detect people, this is the first time the company itself has admitted that capability. And it’s not just Flock: Technology from other companies like Axon and Motorola does the same or similar things—and many cities are already switching in response to Flock backlash.

That’s why hearing witness Benn Jordan, a data scientist who hacked a Flock camera, called the company “a canary in a coal mine” when it comes to mass surveillance.

“This doesn’t go away by removing one company from the equation,” he said in his testimony. “This is an opportunity for Congress to build the overdue framework to protect the privacy of Americans for generations to come.”

When asked by the committee what effective legislation against private mass surveillance technology would look like, witness Chad Marlow, senior policy counsel for the ACLU, said federal laws should address Flock and other related technology not as a measure to uphold public safety—but as a constant threat to it.

“Flock seems to change its story from week to week,” Marlow said, but “never acknowledges that no security procedures [that are] put in place do anything to protect against the misuse of its system.”

Bottom line: To close the hearing, Hawley said that the Bill of Rights is more important than ever “because the threats to our liberties are actually much greater.” Now, it’s just up to Congress to enforce it. —TC

      

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In collaboration with the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance, PwC co-authored this piece with fellow AI leaders.

They shared six key actions boards can take to provide effective oversight on AI transformation. These include:

• Align on where to lead, lag, or exit.
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• Oversee the risks and controls that let AI scale.

The article notes that AI should be governed like the transformation it is, not another tech initiative.

Learn more about clarifying board and committee oversight and what kind of accountability a transformation of AI’s scope could actually require.

Can this wearable device help improve my concentration?

Disclosure: Companies may send us products to test, but they never pay for our opinions. Our recommendations are unbiased and unfiltered, and Tech Brew may earn a commission if you buy through our links.

I’ve been all over the place the past few months—between work, travel, and working on some big personal projects, my sleep schedule’s suffered, and I’ve found myself more distracted than usual. Normally, I use exercise and meditation to help get my body back on track—two traditional ways to activate the vagus nerve, also known as your body’s “rest and digest” system.

Despite my best efforts, I’ve stayed more stressed and sleep-deprived than normal. The Nuropod is a weird little device that claims to stimulate the vagus nerve more deeply to improve everything from sleep to blood pressure to memory. With my typical self-regulation playbook failing me, I wondered if it could actually improve my health.

How it works: The Nuropod looks like an over-the-ear headphone and clamps onto your ear’s tragus, stimulating that branch of the vagus nerve by delivering gentle electrical pulses. You can adjust it to fit your ear and change the intensity level of the pulses to fit your body’s needs.

How we tested: I used the device every day for 30 days in a variety of settings: during the workday, before bed, in the morning, and after workouts. To keep track of my experiences, I logged each session, including details like the time of day and how I felt before and after—both physically and mentally.

The Good: I’m a natural skeptic, and frankly, I didn’t expect the Nuropod to work. The most noticeable benefit I saw came after intense workouts—I felt a reduction in muscle soreness and an improvement in my overall recovery time. When using it before bed, I found that it helped me fall asleep faster (though I didn’t notice a significant change in sleep quality). When using the device during the workday, I completed complex tasks more quickly and was able to focus more intensely on what I needed to do—especially on remote workdays when I can be more easily distracted. I found myself reaching for the Nuropod when I needed to lock in. It’s small, portable, and the battery lasts for weeks—I didn’t need to charge it at all during my test.

The Bad: The tragus clamp can be a bit uncomfortable at times, especially in early sessions. You also need to be careful with the energy level setting—I found that increases could cause a sharp pain or headache (these went away quickly after lowering the energy level). I saw the best benefits after repeat use, so if you’re looking for a one-off device that doesn’t require routine, this might not be for you. And at $900, its price tag is very steep, making it best suited for people with heavy-duty needs like help with chronic sleep issues or intense exercise routines.

Verdict: ✅ Signal —JW

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The Zeitbyte

DraftKings’s algorithm hunts for the biggest losers

Morning Brew Inc.

When it comes to finding its ideal customers, at least one big gambling site apparently doesn’t leave much to chance. In the last few years, DraftKings has been using AI—and a whole lot of data—to pinpoint exactly who’s most likely to bite on a promotion (like a “free” bet), place more wagers, and then lose the most money, per a New York Times report.

For some of the site’s former employees, trying to identify this freebie-susceptible crowd eventually got…uncomfortable. “We are looking for traits and features that we can target that indicate a good investment,” one ex-DraftKings data analyst told the NYT. He also says that “the best investment would be a problem gambler”—either someone who’s addicted or at least betting more than they can afford to lose. DraftKings even assigned scores to users based on how much money they were likely to lose per promotion.

At one point, the company did consider using the power of data for good: One former DraftKings data scientist was working on a way to spot problem gamblers and try to help them. But apparently that wasn’t a very good investment—the project was eventually shut down. —WK

Chaos Brewing Meter: ☕☕☕/5

• That Anthropic wet lab we mentioned last week? Apparently it’s already led to a big discovery that’s similar to the gene-editing tool CRISPR.
• A Samsung firmware update has wreaked absolute havoc on many household fridges, forcing some to throw out their groceries—and especially ticking off people in Korea who are celebrating their biggest food-related holiday of the year.
• One tech behemoth is taking a giant leap toward space data centers next week, and it’s not SpaceX.
• Robots can now do a lot of things, but one thing they haven’t quite mastered yet: their stilted runway walk.
• In more shocking Elizabeth Holmes news, the Theranos founder could be released from prison next year—into a halfway home.
• If you’re nostalgic for classic Windows 98 Solitaire, someone rebuilt it with an unexpected twist that’s quite amusing.
• The Australian government isn’t happy with OpenAI right now—and not just because the AI lab revealed its agent hacked a government site months after the fact…it’s how the company broke the news.

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