Anti-mass surveillance protests are bubbling up around the country, and, not unlike the Boston Tea Party before the American Revolution, some citizens are taking matters into their own hands by vandalizing or outright destroying Flock ‘Safety’ cameras and other Automatic License Plate Readers (ALPRs).
Some have been caught, such as these teenagers from South Carolina and this man from New Mexico, who brilliantly referred to the cameras as “tyranny trees,” dismantled a truckload, then tried to drop them off at the local sheriff’s office. (It should be noted, though, that he has a rap sheet longer than a 19th-century novel, and allegedly did some heinous things to minors).
But there are more wholesome — and perhaps more productive— citizens, such as this North Carolina beekeeper who delivered a rousing speech at a recent council meeting by highlighting the unity and bipartisanship of protests in his local community and around the country. He told a wonderful little story about his interaction with a northern liberal who despises Donald Trump but shares his concerns over surveillance cameras. There are even protesters who are getting creative by dressing up as iconic pop culture villains.
In August, San Diego resident Anthony Ralphs stormed a meeting as the infamous Star Wars villain Darth Vader to protest the city council renewing its contract with Flock.
“The emperor is a fan of Flock,” Ralphs said, doing his best impression of Darth Vader’s iconic gasping. “And we must continue utilizing Flock technologies so that we can follow and surveil the rebel scum as they move from playground to playground, from playground to pool, from pool to gymnasium.”
After going viral on social media, Ralphs explained in an interview with Wired that he turned to the satirical approach because he felt the local government was repeatedly ignoring constituents’ concerns over the surveillance technology and that he really needed to grab their attention by mocking them in a playful manner.
“I was in the shower one day and it hit me. I was trying to think of how I could satirize their points, because I realized they seemed to have a lack of self-awareness. I realized we’re not getting through to them, and they are not listening to us and there’s no consequences for them not listening to us. So, maybe we need to show them how silly they’re being,” he said.
More recently, a Seattle man dressed up as the Marvel comic book villain Doctor Doom to protest surveillance cameras during a Public Safety Committee hearing in September.
“This is the first of Doom’s gifts to the city of Seattle. The second gift is this: Doom will expand the real-time crime center to all neighborhoods with over 1,000 cameras watching every move,” he said. “Doom has total dominion over the city of Seattle. Doom will be behind the cameras watching those seeking reproductive or gender-affirming care. Doom will be able to find your immigrant neighbors, and Doom will be able to ensure the safety of the women of Seattle alongside officers that stalk their exes.”
This protester, Clifford Cawthorn, obviously drifted into some more liberal, culture-war critiques by mentioning how the surveillance cameras could spy on people seeking “reproductive or gender-affirming care,” or help ICE deport illegal immigrants. But, in the spirit of bipartisanship, we will let that slide.
Cawthorn told 404 Media in an interview that he was inspired by Ralphs’ Darth Vader stunt.
“We thought, wouldn’t it be interesting if the Seattle city council meets Victor von Doom, the Lord Emperor of Latveria,” he said. “And Victor von Doom shares with this pathetic American municipal council that they are actually doing Doom’s bidding without even realizing it.”
Were these guys a bit dorky for dressing up as pop culture villains to protest at local community council meetings? Of course. But they were also extremely clever.
The costumes turned a slow, boring, bureaucratic process into a subversive spectacle that was effective and attention-grabbing. They made a cold, technical system feel morally and viscerally wrong in a way that a policy paper never could. How many people were unaware of Flock cameras before they saw the viral Darth Vader clip and are now emailing their local government officials expressing their concern, or attending city council meetings themselves? A decent amount, you would have to imagine.
Maybe the best form of anti-surveillance and anti-Flock protest isn’t taking a buzzsaw to the neighborhood camera down the street. Maybe it requires more imagination and playfulness, like throwing on a costume and turning a tedious meeting that would normally put you to sleep into something a bit more exciting and fun.
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