Michigan data centres fight back
The short version: A Michigan community pushback against data center buildout highlights how local resistance can slow the infrastructure that powers mass surveillance.
Our Take
The channel Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency has built a niche covering the unglamorous plumbing of the surveillance state — server farms, digital ID schemes, and the policy fights that rarely make the evening news. This video on Michigan residents organizing against new data center construction is a good reminder that the fight against surveillance isn't just about the cameras on the pole, it's about the warehouses full of hard drives storing everything those cameras capture.
Flock Safety and its ALPR network don't run on vibes — they run on massive, energy-hungry data infrastructure that quietly expands in towns that often have no idea what's being built in their backyard until the zoning hearing is already underway. When a community pushes back on a data center, they're pushing back on the physical backbone that makes dragnet license plate tracking, facial recognition, and data retention possible at scale. That's worth paying attention to, even if your local fight looks more like a city council meeting about a Flock contract than a fight over a server farm.
We'd credit the creator for keeping an eye on these less-visible battles, and we'd encourage readers to zoom back out to the cameras themselves. Check our camera map to see what's already watching your streets, and hit up our take-action page if you want to start pushing back locally before the next contract gets signed.
This is DeFlock The USA’s original commentary. The video above is the work of Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency, published on YouTube — full credit to the creator.