In their News Trends & Stories, Part I discussion this past week (published on July 21), Catherine and Dr. Joseph Farrell discuss Story #5, “Mr. Global in Your Street: Citizens Say No to Control Grid Hardware.” Story #5 focuses on the pushback against Flock surveillance cameras, data centers, other AI infrastructure, and unconstitutional and uneconomic enforcement.

The gratifying takeaway is that from a trickle of local anti-surveillance opposition a few years ago, we are now seeing a flood. Last November, we started to inventory the growing pushback in our post, “Pushback against Local—and Locally Funded—Surveillance,” which we have continued to regularly update. If you want inspiration and ideas about how and why to make your voice heard locally—and make it clear to local officials that you do not want your tax dollars building a digital prison—then this collection is a great place to start. As Catherine says, “We’re now beginning to see shared intelligence go to work.”

In a humorous video satire shared in the News Trends & Stories episode (titled “Guys Who Invented AI Data Centers”), the two satirists, playing the role of data center henchmen, pompously scold the audience, saying “Mass surveillance isn’t free!” This is one reason why it’s important to heed the message that Catherine has been emphasizing of late: It is not just tax dollars that are going toward the control grid build-out—it is also the money in people’s 401(k)s and other retirement funds. While we applaud the large turnouts at town council meetings and the determination of local groups to reverse the surveillance trend, effective pushback will also require that each of us stop financing technocracy with our investments.

The video satire also touches on the prospect of the rolling blackouts that are likely in the common man’s future due to the strain that hyperscale data centers are putting on the power grid. Dr. Farrell says there is a silver lining: During the blackouts, Mr. Global won’t be able to surveil anybody!