Hundreds of freedom lovers are rallying behind a US Air Force engineer accused of chopping down over a dozen AI-integrated surveillance cameras last year.
According to local channel WAVY, Virginia-based Air Force engineer and mechanic Jeffrey Sovern is facing 13 counts of destruction of property, as well as six counts of both petit larceny and possession of burglary tools related to the destruction of Flock license plate cameras.
These automatic license plate readers, or ALPRs, are starting to blanket the United States, spreading across small towns and bustling cities alike by the thousands. While ostensibly framed as crime fighting tools, the AI-powered spy devices have raised significant privacy and social policy concerns, especially as innocent citizens get caught up in the dragnet. Like AI data centers, they’ve become a hot political issue at the local level, fueling public outrage and organized campaigns from coast to coast.
There’s also no shortage of citizens who prefer a more direct-action approach. Armed with garbage bags, spray paint, and even chainsaws, a not insignificant number of privacy vigilantes have taken the fight to Flock, using any means to free their neighborhoods of the ominous surveillance poles.
On a GoFundMe page to raise money for his legal defense, the 41-year-old Sovern explained that this kind of privacy-minded vandalism has far more support than would outwardly appear.
“My name is Jeff and I appreciate my privacy,” the Air Force engineer writes. “I appreciate everyone’s right to privacy, enshrined in the fourth amendment. With the local news outlets finding my legal issues and creating a story that is starting to grow, there has been community support for me that I humbly welcome.”
“My support system and I have seen the social media comments of support, and we greatly appreciate the sentiments, as this process has been negative on our mental health to say the least,” Sovern continues. “Seeing multiple comments about a gofundme have encouraged me to create this.”
Sovern kicked off the campaign late in December of 2025, where he encouraged his supporters to “reach out to the local governments and demand that these systems are taken down.”
The Virginia resident initially set his funding goal to $8,500. As news of his case has spread across the web, the amount of support has far outpaced those already-hopeful aspirations: at the time of writing, Sovern’s legal fund currently stands at $15,440 from over 400 donors.
“Thank you to those that had the time to show support this week!” Sovern wrote in a late-June update following a preliminary hearing in the Fifth Judicial District Court. “We have seen a huge uptick in awareness of the system and this case. Continue to do what you can to preserve privacy and roll back the pervasive data infrastructure taking the joie-de-vivre away from enjoying life.”
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