The hottest Surveillance Substack posts right now

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WATCH: The Epstein Tapes, Part II: The Eye of the Law

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 190 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Twelve hours of footage from Data Set 9 show a yearslong cat-and-mouse between Epstein and investigators, including police searches, depositions, and an FBI sting to recover his “little black book.”
  2. Where earlier videos focused on Epstein’s private world, this batch centers on how law enforcement worked over many years to investigate and dismantle his network.
  3. The files were unusually hard to access because the DOJ site lacked easy browsing and the batch was partially pulled after complaints that some files contained unredacted child pornography, limiting public availability.

The Roundup: Too much ICE

The Watch • 634 implied HN points • 03 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. The administration's immigration enforcement has become increasingly violent and lawless, using paramilitary tactics, masked agents, and reported abuse and deaths in detention and arrests. Accountability is rare as reporting and inspections are blocked and legal limits are stretched.
  2. Ordinary people and local institutions are pushing back hard — nationwide protests, a surge of ICE-watcher volunteers, legal fights, and surprising local election wins show growing resistance and civic mobilization. These actions are drawing attention and slowing or challenging some federal moves.
  3. Institutional capture, secrecy, and surveillance are widening the problem, with weakened oversight, politicized prosecutions, facial-recognition tracking of protesters, and risks of manufactured evidence or election interference. Those trends make abuses harder to check and raise broader threats to democratic norms.

Nearly a Decade Later, the Unmasking Scandal Comes Full Circle

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 8638 implied HN points • 19 Aug 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Devin Nunes was investigated for looking into potential abuses of surveillance programs during Obama's presidency. Recent findings seem to support his claims.
  2. Documents have surfaced showing that there were efforts within the House Intelligence Committee to unmask names of Trump associates, sparking renewed concerns about surveillance abuse.
  3. There is a sense of optimism among some officials that the issues surrounding the misuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) are being revisited after years of stagnation.

Russiagate Releases Lifting a Veil on Surveillance State Abuses

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 8939 implied HN points • 14 Aug 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Recent findings highlight serious abuses within the surveillance state, suggesting a breakdown of trust and oversight. This raises concerns about how much power intelligence agencies should have over citizens.
  2. Key intelligence leaders appear to have prioritized a unified narrative about Russian interference, ignoring proper evidence and procedural rules. This shows how political agendas can influence intelligence work.
  3. A pattern of surveillance over political figures and ordinary Americans is emerging, which could indicate a broader issue of domestic spying. This affects not just politicians but also journalists who interact with various political sources.

The Problem Posed by Social AI

In My Tribe • 288 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Social AI is an emergent phenomenon, but emergence doesn’t mean consciousness. Because many models share the same data and architectures, their conversations may not produce the same cognitive gains humans get from social interaction.
  2. If AI networks do accelerate learning, bad actors could spawn CriminalBots that cause real harm, so we will likely need defensive CopBots and should expect a Red Queen race between cops and criminals.
  3. Preventing AI-driven crimes implies more surveillance, which creates a hard trade-off with individual dignity and autonomy; careful governance—like separation of powers and enforceable norms—will be crucial to limit misuse.
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Congress Is About to Break the Internet

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 2149 implied HN points • 11 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Lawmakers are pushing sweeping “online safety” bills that would strip away online anonymity and require broad surveillance, which would enable massive censorship.
  2. Those laws and proposed Section 230 changes would silence LGBTQ and abortion information, weaken independent journalism, and actually consolidate power and data collection for big tech platforms.
  3. People are being urged to fight back now by contacting representatives and using activist resources and groups (like the EFF and Fight for the Future) to oppose KOSA, the SCREEN Act, the App Store Accountability Act, digital ID/age verification rules, and Section 230 reform.

1984, but with LLM’s

Marcus on AI • 11264 implied HN points • 21 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Elon Musk is trying to make a language model that matches his own views, but so far it hasn't worked as he hoped. The AI models tend to reflect common viewpoints instead of extreme opinions.
  2. Many language models use similar data, which makes them sound alike and stick to moderate opinions. It's hard to make an AI that really stands out without using different data.
  3. Musk's plan to rewrite information to fit his beliefs is concerning. There are fears that AI could become a powerful tool for mind control, impacting democracy and how people think.

The Drone Age Is Already Here

Common Sense with Bari Weiss • 310 implied HN points • 11 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Drones are already widespread and doing practical, everyday work across warfare, disaster response, and commercial deliveries like food and medical supplies.
  2. Police use drones routinely to catch criminals and gather evidence, often much more than the public realizes.
  3. Drone capabilities are also a tool of geopolitical competition and soft power, with countries using them to project influence and technological advantage.

It's Getting Harder And Harder To Preserve Our Mental Sovereignty

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 2007 implied HN points • 29 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Surveillance
  1. Powerful actors use AI and algorithms to harvest personal data and create personalized information bubbles that subtly manipulate what we see and think.
  2. That capability lets governments and corporations surveil, steer political views, and channel dissent into harmless directions, weakening real democratic resistance.
  3. To protect our mental freedom we need to strengthen inner resources like critical thinking, creativity, self-inquiry, and emotional healing so propaganda and tech manipulation find no purchase.

Activism, Uncensored: Border Patrol Operations in New Orleans

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 1508 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Local and state police are cooperating with Border Patrol in New Orleans and use tactics like blocking roads or slowing traffic to help agents move during operations.
  2. Activists are adopting tactics from other cities and try to shadow Border Patrol to monitor their movements, but those efforts have had mixed effectiveness.
  3. Noisy protest tactics like whistles and car horns can unintentionally help agents by revealing reactions that are used as intelligence, even though activists still manage to have some impact.

Past the breaking point

Can We Still Govern? • 569 implied HN points • 23 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Immigration and border agencies are being used like a paramilitary force to intimidate and control politically targeted cities, and their deployments serve as training grounds for tactics that could be copied elsewhere.
  2. Quotas, rewards, and a culture that shields agents have normalized constitutional violations and abusive practices, producing wrongful raids, arrests, and violence with little real accountability.
  3. Oversight and truth are being undermined through intimidation, blocked investigations, and even doctored images, though local communities have shown resilience and solidarity in resisting the occupation.

The information space around military AI is being weaponized against us

Weaponized • 83 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Focusing the debate on whether a human stays “in the loop” narrows the issue and hides the bigger question of whether advanced AI should be embedded into military decision-making at all and who should control or oversee it.
  2. Media and political framing are substituting simpler questions for harder governance issues, which concentrates power in the executive branch and a few private AI firms while sidelining Congress and public oversight.
  3. Integrating AI into defense systems dramatically expands surveillance and inference capabilities in ways that threaten civil liberties, and existing laws don’t address unexplainable AI inferences or the need for new safeguards before deployment.

The AI Surveillance Debate Is Missing the Most Dangerous Part

Weaponized • 47 implied HN points • 04 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Current surveillance laws and contracts mostly regulate what data can be collected and stored, not how that data can be analyzed or what can be inferred from it.
  2. Powerful AI systems can extract sensitive, predictive insights from existing datasets, meaning the government could learn far more about people without collecting any new information.
  3. The OpenAI–DoW agreement and existing oversight don’t address this analysis-and-inference blind spot, which could lock in rules that expand government knowledge and threaten civil liberties.

This Is A Story About Power

Teaching computers how to talk • 57 implied HN points • 02 Mar 26
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. The government tried to force AI firms to accept "all lawful uses"—which could include mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. Anthropic refused and faced punitive actions while another firm quickly made a deal, raising concerns about influence and favoritism.
  2. AI is now deeply integrated into military and state operations, already used in strikes, raids, surveillance, and cyberwarfare. Private AI companies will be repeatedly pressured to choose between commercial, ethical, and national security demands.
  3. Public reaction matters: Anthropic's refusal won praise and drove many users to switch to its Claude app, while the other firm faced backlash and lost some trust and subscriptions. Ethical stances can translate directly into market and reputational consequences.

Join our AMA on how 'online safety laws' like age verification censor abortion info and sex ed!

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 985 implied HN points • 04 Dec 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. New laws like the Kids Online Safety Act could lead to censorship of important topics like abortion and sexual education. It's essential to be aware of how these laws might limit access to information.
  2. Many groups, including tech and digital rights organizations, are concerned about these censorship laws and their impact on freedom of expression online. Engaging in discussions and asking questions is crucial.
  3. Taking action by contacting representatives and advocating against harmful laws is important to protect online freedom and access to necessary health information. Every voice counts in this fight.

The Anti-AI Grift + College Football Surveillance

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1254 implied HN points • 16 Nov 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. A new book critiquing the AI industry has sparked mixed reactions, highlighting the ongoing debate about the impact of AI. The event for the book faced criticism, especially from some tech reporters.
  2. The author's invited press got disinvited for being too critical. This demonstrates how polarizing discussions around technology and its influence can get.
  3. The incident reflects broader tensions between different views on technology and its future. Some people see it as a threat while others defend its benefits.

Sans Papiers

Dada Drummer Almanach • 226 implied HN points • 29 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Our right to anonymity and protection from unreasonable searches is disappearing. Tech companies and everyday services force us to hand over data, and the state now uses that surveillance.
  2. Who can safely assert those rights depends on privilege: race, citizenship status, and education often determine whether refusing to show papers is safe or deadly.
  3. Refusing to comply with unnecessary demands for ID is both a learned immigrant survival tactic and a democratic practice. Rebuilding civil liberties will take widespread, deliberate non‑compliance.

27 observations about AI and the future we’re sleepwalking into

The Rubesletter by Matt Ruby (of Vooza) | Sent every Tuesday • 641 implied HN points • 03 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. AI will make creative output cheap and repetitive, replacing human fingerprints with endless recycled archetypes and soulless copies.
  2. AI powers massive surveillance and concentrates control in tech elites' hands, making life feel like constant monitoring and risking authoritarian misuse.
  3. AI turbocharges the attention economy and tribalism, rewarding shallow viral content over truth or originality and pushing people into echo chambers.

“How Might Current and Emerging Technologies Best Be Mobilized to Secure Perpetual Peace?”

Justin E. H. Smith's Hinternet • 622 implied HN points • 02 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. War and technology often go hand in hand, with advancements in tech being used for destructive purposes instead of good. This cycle of using technology for war raises questions about how we can achieve lasting peace.
  2. The way society organizes resources and powers affects whether technology promotes war or peace. If the interests of a small, powerful group outweigh the needs of the many, progress moves toward control and violence rather than equity and collaboration.
  3. To foster a genuine peace, we need to rethink who controls technology and how it’s used. Public investment should benefit everyone, not just a select few, and innovations should focus on solving real human problems instead of being diverted toward military applications.

Tech's newest evil main character

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 3314 implied HN points • 07 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Shaun Maguire, a major figure in Silicon Valley, is promoting dangerous anti-Muslim ideas. His tweets reflect a troubling trend of hate in tech.
  2. Silicon Valley is increasingly merging its interests with defense and military technologies. This is a shift towards a new era of tech that supports ongoing conflict.
  3. Venture capitalists like Maguire are shaping a future that prioritizes profit over ethics, leading to a world defined by endless war.

Google, 2001: Don’t Be Evil

Marcus on AI • 6481 implied HN points • 05 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Google's original motto was 'Don't Be Evil,' but that seems to have changed significantly by 2025. This shift raises concerns about the company's intentions and actions involving powerful AI technologies.
  2. The current landscape of AI development is driven by competition and profits. Companies like Google feel pressured to prioritize making money over ethical considerations.
  3. There is fear that as AI becomes more powerful, it may end up in the wrong hands, leading to potentially dangerous applications. This evolution reflects worries about how society and businesses are dealing with AI advancements.

New technologies, new totalitarians

Noahpinion • 18882 implied HN points • 27 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. The rise of new technologies like smartphones and social media has presented democracies with a formidable opponent in the form of techno-totalitarian regimes.
  2. China employs a strategy of 'sharp power' to manipulate foreign entities and influence global affairs, utilizing tactics like espionage, social media manipulation, and economic coercion.
  3. China's unique totalitarian approach extends beyond its borders to control the narrative about China, influence the diaspora, and emphasize supremacy of ethnicity over citizenship, posing a new challenge for democracies and liberal principles.

How China's Preparing for the Next Pandemic

ChinaTalk • 385 implied HN points • 17 Dec 25
🏥 Health Politics Surveillance
  1. China has shifted from emergency reaction to building a centralized, legally codified pandemic readiness system, with new laws that strengthen national surveillance, early reporting, and interagency coordination.
  2. The reforms increase clarity and give central authorities more power. Many rules remain vague and protections for early reporters are weak, so local officials and doctors may still hesitate to raise alarms.
  3. China still lacks robust governance of dual-use biotechnology and lab safety. At the same time it funds and promotes international health projects while limiting data sharing and outside scrutiny.

Welcome to the age of Hard Tech

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 2030 implied HN points • 04 Aug 25
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Silicon Valley is changing from a fun, liberal place to a more serious and right-leaning environment focused on defense tech and surveillance. People are less interested in making the world better and more into creating new tech.
  2. Tech jobs are different now; many companies aren't hiring as aggressively, and the workplace vibe is more about cutting down on excess than supporting employees. Knowledge of advanced tech like AI and neural networks has become essential.
  3. The culture in tech has evolved to include some unusual partnerships, like blending faith with business. There are rising interests in industries, like defense, that used to be seen as taboo in the tech community.

Why you need to (re)read 1984 -- ASAP

Unreported Truths • 45 implied HN points • 27 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Surveillance
  1. 1984 still matters because modern tools like mass surveillance and AI-generated propaganda are recreating many of the book’s warnings about pervasive state control.
  2. Orwell imagined totalitarian regimes as economically stagnant, but recent history shows an authoritarian state can combine political repression with rapid economic and technological growth.
  3. China’s rise undermines the idea that economic engagement will automatically produce democracy and creates strategic risks for democratic countries, making vigilance about authoritarian power urgent.

Carole Cadwalladr: The Entire Business Model of Silicon Valley Is Surveillance

God's Spies by Thomas Neuburger • 90 implied HN points • 14 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. Big tech’s business model is based on mass surveillance and data mining, and that data can be used to manipulate public opinion and influence elections, which threatens democratic self-rule.
  2. Major technology companies are being embedded into government through “strategic partnerships” and large contracts, effectively making them instruments of state power and creating security and sovereignty risks.
  3. Governments and tech firms are forming many-to-many information-sharing relationships that seduce and assimilate companies into state functions. This process turns tech firms into ‘bricks’ in a corporate-state wall that expands surveillance and control.

Flu goes on and on

Force of Infection • 80 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Surveillance
  1. Flu activity remains high and isn’t declining yet; young children and people aged 5–24 are seeing the most clinic visits, and hospitalizations are elevated though slowly improving.
  2. RSV and norovirus activity are elevated — RSV hospitalizations are very high among infants and toddlers, and norovirus is circulating widely and spreads quickly in close quarters.
  3. Multiple food recalls and outbreaks are ongoing, including a Salmonella outbreak tied to moringa capsules that involves an extensively drug‑resistant strain; throw out affected products and clean anything that touched them.

Quyền riêng tư và phiên tòa chuyến bay giải cứu

Thái | Hacker | Kỹ sư tin tặc • 3574 implied HN points • 24 Jul 23
🌍 World Politics Surveillance
  1. The central focus of the rescue flight trial is the confrontation between two of the finest Vietnamese police officers.
  2. The evidence presented includes a video of one officer receiving a bag and call records between the two officers.
  3. The importance of being mindful of the data and metadata we leave behind in our daily lives, as it can potentially be used against us.

On 1984, part 2: How digital surveillance, cheap propaganda, and AI are making totalitarianism great again

Unreported Truths • 31 implied HN points • 01 Mar 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Digital surveillance and big tech dominance let governments and companies monitor and shape speech cheaply, making modern authoritarian control easier without massive police forces.
  2. Censorship and cancel culture are spreading across the political spectrum, with governments and powerful institutions pressuring platforms to silence critics.
  3. To protect liberty, the United States should recommit to free speech and the rule of law and refuse to use AI-generated propaganda that would erode trust and mimic authoritarian tactics.

Chip Berlet, in memoriam; Poland's Perils; Matters of Church and State

Unpopular Front • 31 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Surveillance
  1. A long-term, research-driven fight against the far right shows that effective organizing centers on listening to and following the lead of people directly affected.
  2. Poland successfully blocked an authoritarian shift, but the right-wing populist party that pushed it remains active and could try to return to power.
  3. The new government made institutional gains like freeing public media and unlocking EU funds, but investigations stalled, accountability was limited, and promised social reforms failed, leaving many supporters disillusioned.

Outbreak Outlook - National - February 1

Force of Infection • 94 implied HN points • 01 Feb 26
🏥 Health & Wellness Surveillance
  1. Flu has started to rebound after weeks of decline, driven mainly by increases in school-age children and a rise in influenza B, though overall activity and hospitalizations remain well below the recent peak and influenza A still makes up most cases.
  2. COVID-19 indicators are generally declining — wastewater and ED visits are down and hospitalizations are low — but the Midwest is seeing very high wastewater levels and regional differences persist.
  3. RSV is at quite elevated levels and growing in parts of the country while norovirus trends are mixed regionally, and public health attention is also on multiple food recalls and a Nipah outbreak in India; a partial U.S. government shutdown could disrupt CDC surveillance reporting.

When you can't escape an interface, it institutionalises you

ART⋂CODE • 19 implied HN points • 28 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Surveillance
  1. When digital interfaces are always present they shape how we express ourselves and push us to fit into their limited data formats.
  2. Body-tracking systems turn rich human movement into narrow data abstractions, and the feedback they give makes people alter their gestures to suit the system rather than move freely.
  3. AI can learn emergent, more human-friendly representations that free expression from designer presets, but it also raises surveillance and power risks, so people should build, own, and design supportive contexts for authentic use.

The Trillion Dollar War Machine (w/ William D. Hartung) | The Chris Hedges Report

The Chris Hedges Report • 163 implied HN points • 01 Jan 26
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. The military-industrial complex now channels massive public money to private defense firms and uses lobbying and secret deals to keep itself growing.
  2. Big Tech has merged with the defense sector, promoting automated warfare, widespread surveillance, and the blurring of public and corporate roles for profit and control.
  3. Recent political shifts have empowered this trillion-dollar war machine to keep expanding, which risks democracy, public welfare, and national safety as profit motives trump oversight.

Many Reporters Paid for Covering the Russiagate Story

TK News by Matt Taibbi • 9504 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Many reporters who covered the Russiagate story faced backlash and criticism for their reporting.
  2. Various journalists and media figures who exposed illegal surveillance and manufactured intelligence in the Trump-Russia investigation were targeted and discredited by mainstream commentators.
  3. Despite facing pushback, these reporters like Glenn Greenwald, John Solomon, and Lee Smith continued to investigate and report on the inaccuracies surrounding the Trump-Russia collusion narrative.

Peter Thiel Reveals How Scared Oligarchs Are Of The People

Caitlin’s Newsletter • 3799 implied HN points • 17 Dec 24
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Billionaires like Peter Thiel are really worried about how much power the public has. They know that if people get angry, it could lead to serious consequences for them.
  2. The rich often focus on controlling how the public thinks. They use propaganda to distract people and keep their power.
  3. New technology, like robotic security forces, is being developed to protect the powerful from the masses. It's like they're trying to find a way to maintain control before people become fed up with the unfair system.

Data mania

Taylor Lorenz's Newsletter • 1552 implied HN points • 20 Jun 25
🇺🇸 U.S. Politics Surveillance
  1. Data collection is everywhere online, and companies can take your personal information and share it with the government. This could be used to track what you do or even how you express yourself.
  2. The U.S. government is trying to create a centralized platform to buy sensitive personal data about citizens. This raises serious concerns about privacy and freedom of speech.
  3. It's really easy for people to find your personal information online, so using services like DeleteMe can help keep your data safe by removing it from brokers who sell it.

Israeli Spying After Epstein

The Corbett Report • 19 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26
🌍 World Politics Surveillance
  1. Jeffrey Epstein acted as a fixer for Israeli interests, using his network to connect Israeli officials and ex-intelligence figures with wealthy investors and foreign governments to secure contracts and influence. He helped promote projects like Carbyne and other Israeli tech into international deals.
  2. Many veterans of Israel’s Unit 8200 have founded tech and spyware companies that embed intelligence capabilities into emergency services, communications, and surveillance tools. This trend shows espionage shifting from old-fashioned honeytrap blackmail to software backdoors and mass digital surveillance.
  3. Despite scandals and some sanctions, governments and investors continue to buy, back, or relax restrictions on Israeli-linked surveillance firms, allowing the spyware industry to expand and become a central tool for modern influence and control.