#surveillance-technology
18 episodes
#3893: The Teddy Bear That Shut Down a Daycare
How Israel's 1979 wiretapping law made a camera-stuffed teddy bear legal — and what happens next.
#3272: Can Your Walk Really Identify You?
Gait recognition is leaving the lab. But is your walk actually unique, or just a handful of patterns?
#3052: The Boring Art of Professional Surveillance
Real surveillance is boredom by design, grey man theory, and choreographed teams — not Hollywood van work.
#3036: Plainclothes Police vs Facial Recognition: Inside London's Protest Ops
How do plainclothes officers actually operate? From covert earpieces to unmarked vans, here's what happened at London's May 16 protests.
#3016: Sleeping with Strangers: Medieval Inn Life
Medieval inns weren't dirty hotels—they were legally regulated public utilities where you shared a bed with strangers.
#2760: How China's Overseas Police Stations Actually Work
MI5 footage confirms what investigators have tracked for years: a global network of unregistered Chinese police stations.
#2696: How Pegasus Silently Hijacks Your Phone's Microphone
How NSO's Pegasus achieves silent mic access on Android through zero-click exploits, kernel privilege escalation, and DMA buffer reading.
#2678: How IMSI Catchers Actually Track Your Phone
How fake cell towers intercept your phone, from GSM flaws to 5G fixes. Separating spy-thriller hype from real engineering.
#2373: How Facial Recognition Maps Your Face—And Your Rights
The same AI that organizes your photos can track you in a crowd. How does facial recognition work—and why is it so hard to evade?
#2225: The Physics of Eavesdropping: Nation-State Listening in 2026
From laser microphones to keystroke acoustics to the Great Seal Bug, what remote listening actually looks like when physics becomes the bottleneck—...
#1865: The Emergency That Never Ends
Emergency powers from 2022 are still active in 2026. Here's how wartime measures become permanent state furniture.
#1676: The State's Spiritual Filter: Controlling Faith in China
China is officially atheist, but 100 million people practice Christianity in secret. Discover the five state-approved faiths and the shadow network...
#1645: The Basij: Iran's Eyes and Ears on the Street
The Basij isn't just a militia—it's a pervasive surveillance network embedded in everyday Iranian life.
#1181: Can North Korea Survive High-Resolution Reality?
In an age of high-res satellites and digital leaks, the world’s most reclusive state is becoming its most transparent.
#985: Banking on Surveillance: The Secret History of KYC
How did opening a bank account become a security clearance? Trace the evolution of KYC from the 1970s to the age of AI surveillance.
#823: The Non-Linear Physics of Nuclear Breakout
Explore the technical reality of Iran’s nuclear program and why the jump from 60% to 90% enrichment is faster than you think.
#567: When AI Sees Through Your Lies
How do you hide a nuclear site from a satellite that sees everything? Explore the high-tech game of orbital cat and mouse and the AI that tracks it.
#213: Eyes Everywhere: The Hidden World of Modern Surveillance
Explore the tech behind professional security and the "iceberg" of hidden sensors watching our every move in the modern age.