By Connor Boyack | Commentary, Washington Examiner
On the morning of July 4, someone in Houston, Texas, cut two surveillance cameras in half and draped an American flag over the wreckage. In New Bern, North Carolina, police asked the public to help identify two men filmed destroying a camera — the public responded with hundreds of tips identifying the suspects as Batman and Robin.
Since April 2025, Americans in at least five states have dismantled these devices from Flock Safety, a $8.4 billion company whose over 100,000 AI-enabled cameras now photograph passing vehicles in more than 6,000 communities.
Yes, the vandals are committing crimes, and laws apply even when cameras annoy. But a nation’s lawbreaking, like its laws, contains information. For example, Americans defied the 55 mph speed limit so universally that Congress eventually conceded the point and repealed it. Prohibition-era juries often refused to convict bootleggers, sending a clear message about their perception of the law’s injustice.
The camera saboteurs, one of whom, a Virginia engineer facing 25 charges, says he acted for the Fourth Amendment, and the crowds applauding them are conveying information of the same kind: that this surveillance was built without consent. Prudent legislators will receive the message rather than merely prosecute the messengers.
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