It’s the stuff of George Orwell’s 1984. A new iPhone app — aptly named Heard — allows users to “capture audio after you’ve heard it,” up to five minutes later, company executives say.
It works on a 5-minute loop that constantly rotates, the Daily Mail reported. It works like this: Say something happens that you wished you recorded, but didn’t. Well, now you can — going back 5 minutes in time.
All with the simple press of a “save” button on the app, the Daily Mail said. The webpage of the app describes it this way: “With Heard installed on your iPhone, you have a powerful time-shifting app that lets you grab that otherwise missed audio. The Heard app runs silently (and seamlessly) in the background and — with a push of a button — the instructions/driving directions/jokes/stories/first words/laughter you would have previously missed are now captured and available on your iPhone.”
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Reaction so far has taken an alarming tone.
One commenter on MyFoxNY said: “There is absolutely no good reason for this app. Anyone who downloads it and doesn’t expect that they’re being listened to is a fool.”
Another said: “Silly me, I thought the NSA already had that app on everyone’s phone.”
And one more: “Many states have laws prohibiting recording of conversations without the express consent of those being recorded. Look for iArrests coming to a town near you.”
Interested app users can sample a 12-second version of the technology for free. The full 5-minute version costs $1.99, the Daily Mail reported.
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