Darth Vader Cosplayer Satirizes San Diego Surveillance Cameras

A man dressed as Darth Vader addressed the San Diego City Council Public Safety and Livable Neighborhoods Committee on Wednesday to satirize the city's deployment of Flock Safety surveillance technology. Using the character's voice and a persona aligned with the Galactic Empire, the speaker mockingly urged officials to expand automated surveillance to track "rebel scum," while simultaneously criticizing the use of license plate readers near schools and parks.

The cosplayer used sarcasm to claim the technology could be used to follow children or for personal stalking. He further mocked the council's use of "doublespeak" to describe the police department as humanitarian and sarcastically argued that municipal funds should be prioritized for surveillance over libraries and homeless shelters. He concluded by questioning public trust in a council that votes for technology that "imprisons them."

San Diego currently employs over 550 Flock cameras featuring license plate readers and audio detection. The technology has faced increasing backlash from privacy advocates and civil rights groups. In response to these concerns, Flock recently reduced its default data retention window from 30 to seven days, a move the American Civil Liberties Union dismissed as a "thinly-veiled PR attempt."