Very interesting! That $264,000/yr fee does seem outrageous - once the system is installed, there should be relatively little maintenance to keep it running.

I wonder if the company will be disabling or retrieving the microphones when the contract ends. It's possible the city is only "leasing" the equipment. Or that the company has build in some sort of self-destruct to prevent cities taking over the network without them...

FWIW, I do think ShotSpotter is a useful technology, but it needs to be designed with some ethical issues in mind (e.g. not collecting and transmitting more information than is required for its stated purpose). I think that Sudo Room taking over and overhauling the existing network in a completely open-source fashion would be a great thing to do. That way people could satisfy themselves that the technology only does what it claims to do.

Patrik


On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 3:23 PM, Jake <jake@spaz.org> wrote:
what do people think of the shotspotter system installed in oakland?

it's a network of microphones on telephone poles, each with a GPS (for a precise clock) and a network connection.  When a gunshot-like sound is detected, they send the sound and its precise timing to a central server that determines the location of the shot, and tells the police to go there.

some people have expressed concern that the microphones are used to spy on people, but it would be impossible to hear a conversation from the top of a telephone pole that wasnt already loud enough to be heard inside nearby houses (or the phone in your pocket).

apparently the city pays $264,000 per year to keep shotspotter going.  I think sudoroom people could do it for much less if they thought it was a useful thing.  They would be discontinuing it to save money, or perhaps to avoid having to send cops to do actual work once in a while...

i mean.. sending police toward the gunfire?  sounds like a good idea...

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Oakland-cops-aim-to-scrap-gunfire-detecting-5316060.php
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