미국 샌디에이고에서 앤서니 랄프스(Anthony Ralphs)가 자동 번호판 인식 카메라 기업 Flock의 도시 내 설치에 반대하며 1년간 시의회에서 발언해왔으나 묵살되자, 다스베이더 복장으로 발언해 전 세계적으로 화제가 되었습니다. 그는 'DeFlock 샌디에이고'를 설립하고 프라이버시 단체들과 협력하며 시민들이 아무리 반대해도 프로그램을 강행한 시의회에 대한 운동의 활력을 되살리려 하고 있습니다.
번역된 본문
앤서니 랄프스(Anthony Ralphs)는 1년째 샌디에이고 시의회 회의에 참석해 자신의 도시에 들어온 Flock의 존재에 반대하는 발언을 해왔다. 처음에는 공개 발언 시간에 비즈니스 캐주얼 차림으로 단상에 올랐다. 와이셔츠, 바지, 정장 등 '무난한' 옷차림으로 이 감시 기업과의 도시 계약에 대한 우려를 표명했다. "저는 다 올바르게 했어요. 정장을 입었고, 올바른 논점을 말했고, 설득력 있는 주장을 모두 펼쳤죠." 랄프스가 전화 통화에서 말했다. 그는 경찰이 휴대폰에서 위치 이력 데이터를 수집할 수 있는 지오펜스 영장의 위헌성을 다룬 샤트리 대 미국(Chatrie v. United States) 같은 대법원 판례를 인용했다. "제가 아무리 판례를 들고, 이 기술이 헌법을 위반한 사례를 아무리 제시하고, 아무리 많은 시민과 단체가 나서고, 옷을 잘 입고 논점을 잘 정리해도 그들은 듣지 않았어요." 그는 말했다. "그때 깨달았죠. 행동주의(activism)에는 '행동(act)'이 들어가잖아요? 그래서 뭔가 다른 방식을 시도해보기로 했습니다."
8월 19일, 랄프스는 다스베이더 망토와 마스크 차림으로 시의원들 앞에 섰고, 기계 호흡음과 음성 변조기까지 완벽히 갖췄다. "황제는 Flock의 팬입니다."라며 발언을 시작한 그는 다크 로드의 목소리로 제국이 Flock의 영장 없는 자동 번호판 인식 카메라(automatic license plate readers)와 감시 카메라 네트워크에 어떻게 의존하는지 3분간 설명했다. 해당 영상은 극적으로 확산됐다. 우리가 랄프스의 발언을 보도한 후 지구상의 모든 언론이 이 미스터리한 샌디에이고의 베이더에 대해 기사를 쓴 듯했다. 그의 연설 보도는 싱가포르에서 게재되었고 스페인어와 아랍어로 번역되었다.
랄프스는 이벤트 프로듀서로, 지난 13년간 이 지역에서 레이브 파티와 음악 페스티벌을 개최해왔다. 그는 도시에서 약 1시간 거리에 이벤트 공간 '에덴 아트 가든(Eden Art Garden)'을 설립했다. 최근에는 'DeFlock 샌디에이고'를 시작했고, 샌디에이고 투명·책임 감시기술 사용 연합(TRUST SD Coalition) 및 기타 반감시·프라이버시 권리 단체들과 협력하며 시민 교육과 더 폭넓은 조직화를 진행하고 있다. "하지만 이제는 음악가들이 필요하고, 아티스트와 화가, 배우, 연극인들이 필요해요. 이것을 하나로 모아 운동에 바퀴를 달아 추진력을 얻게 해야 합니다." 그는 말했다. "공감을 얻는 캐릭터라고 생각해요. 베이더는 악의 원형이자 제국의 원형이죠." 랄프스는 말했다. "베이더는 항상 제국의 하수인이잖아요? 그러니 [Flock]은 제국 하수인들의 도구일 뿐이에요. 이런 맥락으로 구도를 잡은 것이 이 대화를 연극적이고 전 세계적인 것으로 끌어올리는 데 필요했어요. 선악 대결의 프레임이죠. 이렇게 오웰적인 기술이 만화책 속 악당 세력에 의해 사악한 일에 사용되고 있는 겁니다."
랄프스가 처음 참석한 시의회 회의 중 하나는 2025년 12월로, 수백 명이 직접 발언하거나 줌으로 참석하거나 온라인 의견을 보내 Flock에 반대했다. 6시간의 심의와 토론 끝에, 그리고 시민 발언의 압도적 다수가 Flock 퇴출을 원했음에도, 시의회는 프로그램 계속을 결정했다. "그 회의에서 시의회가 주민 의견은 아무것도 아니고 자기들 하고 싶은 대로 투표하겠다고 결정한 후... 운동은 크게 실망했고, 우리 모두 기가 죽어서 계속 밀고 나갈 집단적 에너지와 활력을 모으기가 정말 힘들었습니다." 랄프스가 말했다. 일주일 뒤 다시 시의회 회의에 갔을 때, 공방에 일반 시민이 완전히 비어 있는 것을 보고 "충격을 받고 정말 실망했다"고 그는 말했다. 그 순간 그는 될 수 있는 한 많은 시의회 회의에 참석할 기회가 있다는 것을 깨달았다. 2주에 한 번, 그리고 매주 한 번씩.
Anthony Ralphs has been showing up to San Diego City Council meetings to speak against Flock's presence in his city for a year. At first, he took the podium during public comment in business casual — dress shirts, pants, suits, "respectable" clothing — to voice his concerns about the city's deal with the surveillance company. "I did all the right things. I wore the suits. I said all the correct talking points. I made all the compelling arguments," Ralphs told me in a phone call. He cited Supreme Court precedent, like Chatrie v. United States , which challenged the constitutionality of geofence warrants where police could collect location history data from cell phones. "It seemed like no matter how many cases I brought up, no matter how many violations of the Constitution this technology breaks, no matter how many constituents, no matter how many organizations, no matter how well I dress, no matter how fine my talking points, they weren't listening," he said. "That was when I realized, you know, you can't spell activism without 'act,' right? And I decided, well, maybe I'll try something different." On August 19, Ralphs stood before city council members in a Darth Vader cape and mask , complete with mechanized breathing and voice changer. "The emperor is a fan of Flock," he began, and, speaking as the Dark Lord, laid out in three minutes why the Empire depends on Flock's warrantless network of automatic license plate readers and surveillance cameras. The video went extremely viral; after our coverage of Ralph's comments, every news outlet on the planet seemingly wrote about the mysterious San Diegan Vader. Coverage of his speech was published in Singapore and translated to Spanish and Arabic. Ralphs is an event producer and has been hosting raves and music festivals in the area for the last 13 years. He founded an event space, Eden Art Garden, about an hour outside of the city. He recently started DeFlock San Diego and works with the Transparent and Responsible Use of Surveillance Technology San Diego (TRUST SD) Coalition as well as other anti-surveillance and privacy rights groups to educate people and organize more widely. "But now we need the musicians, we need the artists, we need the painters, the actors, we need the thespians to bring this together and get some wheels on the movement to help it gain traction," he said. "I think it's a character that resonates. He's like an archetype for evil. He's an archetype for the Empire," Ralphs said. "Vader is always a servant of the Empire, right? So [Flock] is nothing but tools for the servants of the Empire. Framing it into that context, I think was what was needed to bring this conversation into like a theatrical global component is really framing it in that kind of good versus bad framework. It is such an Orwellian technology being utilized by such comic book villain forces of evil trying to do dastardly things." One of Ralphs' first city council meetings was in December 2025, when hundreds of people spoke in person, attended via Zoom, or sent comments online opposing Flock. After six hours of deliberation and debate, and despite the vast majority of public comment coming from constituents who wanted Flock out of San Diego, the council voted to continue the program . "After that meeting, where city council decided that none of their constituents' opinions mattered and that they were going to vote how they wanted to vote regardless... After that, the movement was so discouraged, and all of us were so deflated that it was really hard to summon the collective energy and to muster the kind of the vitality that we needed to keep pushing forward," Ralphs said. He came back to another city council meeting a week later, and was "shocked and really disappointed," he said, to see the chamber was completely empty of members of the public. In that moment, he said, he realized he had an opportunity to attend as many city council meetings as he could — once every two weeks, then once a week, then twice and week and eventually every council and subcommittee meeting by spring 2026. "Then by May and June, I was so familiar with the process of giving public comment, of looking at the agenda items ahead of time to know what was going to be discussed, knowing how to cede time and get time ceded to you, I started organizing people to join me to speak to city council." After Vader's appearance went viral around the world, Ralphs wondered if he'd let the character remain anonymous or take ownership of it. "But I think that it's a good time now to follow up with what the intention was, and what the reason and method was behind it," he said. "I think it's important for people to know this wasn't just some antic from somebody who just decided to show up one day and make some noise. This was a thought out plan that was exacted only after cumulative frustration from hundreds of people being ignored and months and months and months of trying things quote unquote the right way and it not working." On Monday afternoon, Ralphs returned to San Diego City Council. He carried the mask to the podium with it wheezing on its own, and sat it down on the table. "I think we know who the bad guy is now. But I think what the whole world wants to know is who wants to be the good guy," he said. "I have requests to be interviewed this entire week. And what I would like to ask is, of the five council members that voted for Flock: When will this end? When will you listen to the vast majority of your constituents?" About the author Sam Cole is writing from the far reaches of the internet, about sexuality, the adult industry, online culture, and AI. She's the author of How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex. More from Samantha Cole