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Anna Baydakova

@baidakova.bsky.social
56 followers 111 following 81 posts

Investigative journalist: technology, politics, humans rights. Previously: CoinDesk, Novaya Gazeta

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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
The latest in digital censorship and surveillance: - OpenAI’s human reviewers can read users’ dialogues with ChatGPT; - Hackers stole and breached a Flock camera, analyzed the software; - UK cops are not liking Palantir; ... and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/modes-of-r...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Modes of resistance
The ways people stand up to mass surveillance are getting interesting
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Last week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Police across America used Flock to search for people loitering; - U.S. Border Patrol is running predictive policing units that monitor Americans’ financial activities; and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-black-...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The black box
AI-powered predictive policing is here
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Last week in digital censorship and surveillance: - New details of how Flock's AI surveillance system works; - AI puts digital surveillance on steroids; - Dating apps love facial recognition; - Norway may ban sales of smart glasses, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/a-new-chap...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
A new chapter
We’re one year old and growing!
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - What AI chatbots can infer about you from your prompts; - Google Maps deleted reviews of ICE prisons; - Anti-facial recognition glasses, anyone?.. ... and more. Subscribe to stay posted! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/flooded
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Flooded
How much technology is too much?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - OpenAI is working on a smart speaker that will connect with users “on a humanlike level”; - Period tracking app Stardust is sharing users’ health data with a data analytics company, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/containmen...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Containment issue
An end-to-end encryption promise is not enough anymore
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance around the world: - Meta patented a system that would analyse users’ emotions to recommend workout routines; - Waymo reported drunk teens riding in a self-driving car to the police, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/what-comes...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
What comes online, goes AI
Trying to navigate the world of limitless surveillance, data accumulation, and AI training
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - UK police has been working on predictive policing algorithms; - Meta puts AI workplace surveillance program on pause; - FBI used Cellebrite to extract phones of anti-ICE protesters, and more. Suscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-beauty...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The beauty of the (un)predictable
Can the entirety of human experience be digitized and used to govern us?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - ICE is buying taxpayers’ data from a private broker; - How the FBI got into Minnesota activists’ chats; - Europe is reconsidering its relationship with Palantir, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-infere...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The inference machine
Surveillance technology is not just watching anymore – it’s judging
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Pokemon Go geolocation data may be used by military drones; - Meta deletes facial recognition code from its AI app; - UK wants tech giants to automatically scan devices for nudity; and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/interconne...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Interconnectedness
Getting accustomed to a world where any data can be used for anything
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
Have I had a single day of certainty and security on the past 1,5 years? No. Have I been stressed out of my mind? Yes. Have I been bored though? No. A win is a win.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
This week in digital surveillance and censorship: - Meta has deployed code for its smart glasses’ future facial recognition feature, although it’s not live yet; - China is building an AI mechanism to predict online dissent; and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/feeling-seen
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Feeling seen
Would you embrace the world of watching and listening things or would you rather not?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Thousands school buses in the U.S. may turn into automated license plater readers; - Workplace surveillance at the New York Times; - Inside China’s emerging predictive policing tech; Subscirbe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/a-shadow-o...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
A Shadow of a Monster
Technologies of AI surveillance are developed and deployed locally, but they can spread beyond their initial playgrounds
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Listening about the future of journalism in the era of AI at @columbiajournalism.bsky.social Many things I’m hearing make my blood curdle. Or boil, not sure yet.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Meta might be able to read users' WhatsApp messages; - Chicago activists are suing the DHS for unwarranted DNA gathering; - DHS wants location data of a Canadian who criticised ICE, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/a-tale-of-...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
A tale of two worlds
When surveillance becomes omnipresent, is there a way out?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - DHS will equip ICE agents with smart glasses; - AI is coming for your work emails and Slacks; - Apple has fixed a bug that allowed extracting deleted Signal messages... and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/humans-sur...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Humans, surrender
The rise of AI needs surveillance capitalism like your phone needs charging
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
So now AI can fell things... www.wired.com/story/anthro...
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 17/04/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Delivery robots are using geo data from Pokemon Go; - Media outlets are barring Wayback Machine from archiving them; - Another U.S. woman jailed because of a faulty facial recognition. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-quiet-...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The Quiet Watcher
AI hasn't even reached its full potential – but it's already defining policies, strategies and choices
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
This week in digital surveillance and censorship: - OkCupid has settled with the FTC for sharing user data with an AI startup; - Starlink resellers are getting arrested in Iran; - Russia wants internet providers to charge users for VPN traffic. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/going-digi...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Going digital Luddite?..
The tech that rules our lives – and witnesses way too much
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Police uses web cookies to identify suspects, according to recent warrants regarding a false bomb threat; - An AI startup is quietly recording and publishing invite-only Zoom meetings; Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/surveillan...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Surveillance everywhere
The things that monitor and watch us, big and small
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 20/03/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Leaked government contracts reveal DHS' new surveillance tech purchases; - A DOGE member allegedly took Social Security data to his new job; - Russia is in a mobile internet shutdown. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/no-price-t...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
No price too high
Controlling the internet is expensive, but nothing is too costly when you try to stay in power.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - A Tennessee grandma spent 6 months in jail due to facial recognition tech failure; - Palantir is building "bossware" for the USDA; - Iranians are threatened with punishment for using VPNs. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-antidote
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The Antidote
Privacy-minded citizens are the only obstacle to mass surveillance
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Reposted by Anna Baydakova
Amanda Mull @amandamull.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Most people also won’t finish your 500-word article. So write at whatever length is appropriate for the subject.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 07/03/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - CBP is buying cell phones’ locations data from private brokers; - EFF and ACLU ask court to prohibit searches of phones at the border; - Iran bough facial recognition tech from Russia. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/first-blood
ctrlspydel.substack.com
First blood
Do tech companies have the will and resources to stop the emerging AI surveillance in its tracks?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 27/02/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - DHS is seeking to combine all of its agencies’ biometric systems into one. - A hobbyist developer created an app detecting smart glasses around you. Subscribe to stay informed! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/small-batt...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Small battles
Every way of fighting mass surveillance hits differently
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Amazon Ring's Search Party has been created to track people, not only lost dogs. - DHS is trying to deanonymise users that criticise ICE en mass. - How to protect your privacy while planning a protest. ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-power-...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The power of the kill switch
Freedom and privacy can be taken away slowly or quickly — just wait until no one is fighting back
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Salesforce, Google and Palantir employees ask the companies to stop their work for ICE. - U.S. State Dept is deleting its own pre-Trump tweets. -U.S. smuggled Starlink terminals into Iran. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/get-used-t...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Get used to it
Tech surveillance and censorship hit close to home
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - TikTok users could not share anti-ICE videos last weekend. - Dozens of US public health databases haven't been. updated for months. - Amazon Ring integration with Flock is on hold. ...and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-many-f...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The many faces of censorship
In the world of big tech and big dictatorships, freedom of speech is a moving target
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
This week in digital surveillance and censorship: - U.S. retailers are now using facial recognition in their stores. - DOGE misused social security data. - Iran might stay cut off the global internet permanently. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/panic-at-a...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Panic at the grocery store
Retail chains are joining the biometric surveillance dragnet
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 19/01/2026
How does AI surveillance work in U.S. schools? I talked with Sal Mani from VOLT AI about privacy, false positives and how to get it right. Subscribe to my newsletter to learn more about AI surveillance and other technologies of control. ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/exclusive-... #AI #surveillance
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 16/01/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Iran is on week 2 of the internet blackout. - Tech activist published search logs of Flock's license plate readers and exposed API keys for the company's customer data. ...and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/blacked-out
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Blacked out
Nothing good happens under internet shutdown
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - security test of ten internet-connected toys for kids, - how to protect your phone from searches at the border, - how to avoid surveillance during a protest, ... and more. Subscribe and support! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/a-practica...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
A practical issue
Some timely tips on how to protect your and your family's privacy
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
This week in digital surveillance and censorship: - AI surveillance system in a U.S. school mistook a clarinet for a gun; - Customs and Border Protection is seeking light-weight, desert-resilient drones to patrol the border; ... and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/dispatch-o...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Dispatch or not dispatch
Surveillance technology makes mistakes – do we want it to be perfect?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
This week in digital censorship & surveillance: - “City brains,” “smart courts,” “smart prisons” and other wonders of AI surveillance in China; - U.S. prisons inmate are unknowingly training AI tools; - Russia blocks FaceTime and Snapchat. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-great-...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The Great Algorithm
The future of AI surveillance is already here, and yes, you can take a look
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 28/11/2025
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Workplace surveillance tech can lead to harmful mistakes, - U.S. human rights organizations demand that ICE stop using its facial recognition app, Mobile Fortify, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/your-ai-hr...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Your AI HR is on duty
Do workplace surveillance tools know too much about us – or not nearly enough?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 18/11/2025
"As AI becomes more intelligent, general, and especially autonomous, it will less and less bestow power — as a tool does — and more and more absorb power. This means that a race to build AGI and superintelligence is ultimately self-defeating." control-inversion.ai
control-inversion.ai
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - Big-time police surveillance is coming to college football games; - ICE hiring bounty hunters to locate undocumented immigrants for $180m; - Americans taking down Flock cameras, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/big-brothe...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
Big Brother goes to school
What do immigrants and college students have in common? They're gong to feel the power of the surveillance state first.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
Exploiting underpaid workers to their last drop of sweat before making their jobs obsolete is definitely the AI revolution the humanity needs. www.forbes.com/sites/iainma...
forbes.com
Mercor Contractors Allege The AI Company Slashed Their Wages
Mercor allegedly canned an AI training project with thousands of contractors just weeks after hitting a $10 billion valuation.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Is anyone here using AI health apps? How is it?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The way tech billionaires are increasingly turning into self-proclaimed messiahs is another proof that extreme wealth makes people lose their minds. Taxes are a mental health tool, y'all.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
First, Peter Thiel's Antichrist tour, now Alex Karp's weird interview. Are people at Palantir ok?.. gizmodo.com/palantir-ceo...
gizmodo.com
Palantir CEO Says a Surveillance State Is Preferable to China Winning the AI Race
He also had strong opinions about people's
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 07/11/2025
This week in digital censorship and surveillance: - USCIS to get more biometric data from immigrants – and citizens, - U.S. police now has a mobile facial recognition app similar to what ICE has, - How to opt out of TSA's face scan, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/the-overflow
ctrlspydel.substack.com
The Overflow
Surveillance has to start somewhere but does it end?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 05/11/2025
Scandinavia is the last remaining bastion of human sanity in this world www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
theguardian.com
Elon Musk’s $1tn Tesla pay deal to be rejected by huge Norway wealth fund
Carmaker’s seventh biggest single investor will vote against package at annual shareholder meeting
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Reposted by Anna Baydakova
Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
🔎🩺INVESTIGATION: Doctors stripped of their licenses for serious misconduct can move and keep practicing abroad. Reporters found over 100 cases where banned doctors were relicensed in other countries—most of them are still treating patients. #BadPractice @vsquare.bsky.social @occrp.org
vsquare.org
Bad Practice: How Banned Doctors Find New Jobs Across Europe - VSquare.org
Failed warning systems, complacent officials, and a lack of accountability mean doctors who have lost their medical licenses due to serious wrongdoing can relocate and practice in different countries ...
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Reposted by Anna Baydakova
Rachel Maddow @maddow.bsky.social · 02/11/2025
www.404media.co/you-cant-ref...
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
This week, someone sued the New York City over the NYPD surveillance practices, and the lawsuit reads like a Halloween story. Also: the latest on the ICE surveillance expansion, some _almost funny_ hiccups of the spyware industry, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/youre-bein...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
"You’re being watched"
This week in digital censorship and surveillance
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
Wow, Russia's "toll farms" have been considered a viable business model and are now being emulated by "startups" in the U.S. www.404media.co/a16z-backed-...
404media.co
a16z-Backed Startup Sells Thousands of ‘Synthetic Influencers’ to Manipulate Social Media as a Service
Andreessen Horowitz is funding a company that clearly violates the inauthentic behavior policies of every major social media platform.
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
Would you trust an AI surveillance system to be in charge of your children's security at school? That is already happening in the U.S. Also in this week's newsletter: Amazon on a quest to become police surveillance one-stop-shop, and more. Subscribe! ctrlspydel.substack.com/p/ai-nanny-b...
ctrlspydel.substack.com
AI nanny, be kind to us
This week in digital censorship and surveillance
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
NYC people! Are there any mayoral debate watch parties tonight?
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
Blue collar jobs will be devoured by AI and we all are funding that feast www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/t...
nytimes.com
Amazon Plans to Replace More Than Half a Million Jobs With Robots
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Anna Baydakova @baidakova.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
What a complete incompetence www.lawfaremedia.org/article/anna...
lawfaremedia.org
“Anna, Lindsey Halligan Here.”
My Signal exchange with the interim U.S. attorney about the Letitia James grand jury.
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