We crawl back from the zombie plague with a fever-dream catch-up that somehow turns into a sharp conversation about power, autonomy, and who gets to make the rules. We dig into our HOA annual meeting; a real-life "Survivor" moment where alliances formed around one loaded question: do we leave each other alone, or do we pile on rules to control what neighbors do on their own land? From petty bylaw enforcement to short-term rental panic, we trace how community governance becomes a proxy war for fear, control, and NIMBY instincts.

Then we pull the thread from our previous Apocalypse Tech episode and go deep on surveillance capitalism, degoogling, and the creeping feeling that the internet has shifted from a decentralized commons into a centralized control mechanism. We cover data brokers, AI as a "truth gatekeeper," always-on vehicle tracking, and why your "free" apps aren't free. We end on a hopeful note: LoRa radios, Meshtastic mesh networks, DIY cyberdecks, and the case for physical media ownership as a practical act of digital self-defense and zombie preparedness.

Relevant Links:

• Meshtastic (off-grid mesh networking): meshtastic.org
• Privacy Guides (degoogling & privacy tool recommendations): privacyguides.org
• r/degoogle (community): reddit.com/r/degoogle
• DuckDuckGo (private search engine): duckduckgo.com
• Cyberdeck Cafe (the hub of the Cyberdeck community, FAQ, build guide, curated parts list): cyberdeck.cafe
• r/cyberDeck (Reddit community — builds, inspiration, troubleshooting): reddit.com/r/cyberDeck

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