Be prepared if communications are lost
The short version: A mass-surveillance watchdog channel urges viewers to prep for communication blackouts, a reminder that ALPR networks thrive on the infrastructure we take for granted.
Our Take
We can't verify every claim made across this channel's 400-plus video catalog, and we won't pretend to have watched all of it. But the core premise behind a video titled "Be prepared if communications are lost" lines up with something we think about constantly at DeFlock: modern surveillance, including Flock Safety's ALPR network, depends entirely on connectivity. These cameras aren't passive film reels in a box — they're networked nodes constantly phoning home, uploading plate scans, GPS data, and timestamps to cloud servers that police departments and now federal agencies can query. When the creator talks about communications being lost, it's worth asking: lost for whom, and who still has access when the lights go out for everyone else?
That asymmetry is the uncomfortable truth under a lot of "be prepared" content. Ordinary people losing phone or internet service face real vulnerability. But centralized surveillance infrastructure, backed by corporate and government money, tends to have redundancy civilians don't — generators, backup cellular, dedicated data pipelines. The result is a society where the watchers stay online even when the watched go dark. Independent channels like this one, whatever you make of their broader editorial angle, are doing useful work just by keeping that power imbalance in public view.
If this kind of content has you thinking about what's already watching you on your own streets, check our camera map to see how close the nearest ALPR is, and visit our take-action page for concrete steps to push back on surveillance creep 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.