Darth Vader ❤️’s Flock Cameras

Our Take

WPBF 25 News ran this one for laughs — a Darth Vader bit paired with Flock Safety cameras, complete with Empire references. Cute premise, and credit to the station for finding a fun hook on a topic that usually reads like a privacy-law brief. But jokes about surveillance cameras "loving" vehicles are funnier when you remember these systems don't care whether you're Vader, a Jedi, or just someone driving to the grocery store. They log every plate, every time, regardless of costume.

That's the real story buried under the gag: ALPR networks have become so routine in American towns that local news can riff on them like weather segments. Normalizing the tech with a punchline doesn't change what it does — build a searchable record of where you've been, shared across agencies with little public oversight. The Force doesn't need a warrant; neither does Flock in most jurisdictions.

If you want to know whether the Empire has set up shop near you, check our camera map, and if you'd rather not be tracked like a Rebel fleet, see what you can do on our take-action page.