Laser gun destryoing a CCTV camera
The short version: A viral clip of a laser 'frying' a CCTV camera is satisfying to watch but says nothing about how to actually roll back networked surveillance like Flock's ALPR system.
Our Take
The channel Digital ID, Mass Surveillance and Digital Currency has built a following by poking at every corner of the surveillance state, and this clip taps into a very human urge: watching a camera get zapped feels like a small act of justice against a system most of us never consented to. We get the appeal. We just don't think a laser pointer is a realistic answer to the problem.
Here's the thing — torching one camera, even dramatically, does nothing to the network behind it. Flock Safety's ALPR cameras aren't isolated boxes bolted to a pole; they're nodes feeding a searchable, shareable database that police departments, HOAs, and sometimes federal agencies can query. Destroy one unit and the system routes around it, logs the outage, and a replacement goes up. The actual fight isn't physical, it's political and legal: public records requests, city council pushback, state privacy law, and just knowing where this infrastructure actually lives in your community.
That's the boring-but-effective version of 'fighting back' — and it's exactly what we try to make easier. Check our camera map to see what's already deployed near you, and if you want to do something with more lasting impact than a viral video, our take-action page has real steps for pushing back on ALPR expansion in your town.
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.