Smile for the Flock - Samaze
The short version: Samaze turns Flock Safety's ALPR network into dark satire with 'Smile for the Flock,' and the joke lands because the surveillance is real.
Our Take
Credit where it's due: Samaze took a genuinely creepy piece of infrastructure — the license plate reader on your street corner — and turned it into a darkly funny anthem. Satire works when it's aimed at something true, and the premise here barely needs exaggeration. Flock Safety's cameras really are logging your plate, your location, and your travel patterns, often without a public vote or a sign telling you it's happening.
The "smile for the camera, it's for your safety" framing is the actual marketing pitch these companies lean on, and the song's humor cuts because that pitch rarely comes with details about retention windows, who gets database access, or how often the data gets shared with agencies far outside your town. A catchy chorus is a good way to get people who'd never read a city council agenda to start asking those questions.
If the song gets you curious about whether your own neighborhood is wired up, check our camera map to see what's nearby, and if you want to push back locally, our take-action page has concrete steps for raising it at your next council meeting.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Samaze, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.