Colonel Panic sells open-source, ESP32-S3 based counter-surveillance hardware that passively detects drones, body cams, license-plate readers, and other monitoring devices. The flagship OUI SPY board ($85) runs "Unified Blue" firmware with six modes, including Sky Spy for FAA drone Remote ID, a multi-target BLE scanner that flags axe-on body cams and Taser 7/10, a headless AXEOFF beeper, a Foxhunter proximity tracker, Flock-You for Flock camera detection, and raw Wi-Fi/BLE capture for Wireshark. The mesh-detect v2 ($110) pairs a Seeed XIAO ESP32-S3 with a Heltec LoRa 32 V3 for 5–15 km distributed drone detection and real-time web mapping over Meshtastic. The project has drawn significant press attention—from EFF, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and Hackaday—after being credited with spurring local council action against Flock Safety cameras and being featured on the DEF CON 34 main stage.
- A Nerd Nite talk in Asheville is credited by the WSJ with directly prompting the city council to vote against Flock Safety.
- AXEOFF detects axe-on body cams, Taser 7/10, and Signal devices without a UI—just proximity beeps.
- A transparent flexible PCB patch version of the OUI SPY ($75) is sewable onto clothing as a punk art statement.
- A "Flock-You" mode exists but the site admits Flock rapidly changes firmware, so detection coverage is limited.
- Skull earring PCBs ($25) are sold as artistic DIY kits compatible with XIAO ESP32-S3.
- A Nerd Nite talk in Asheville is credited by the WSJ with directly prompting the city council to vote against Flock Safety.
- AXEOFF detects axe-on body cams, Taser 7/10, and Signal devices without a UI—just proximity beeps.
- A transparent flexible PCB patch version of the OUI SPY ($75) is sewable onto clothing as a punk art statement.
- A "Flock-You" mode exists but the site admits Flock rapidly changes firmware, so detection coverage is limited.
- Skull earring PCBs ($25) are sold as artistic DIY kits compatible with XIAO ESP32-S3.
