User Mag

User Mag

Share this post

User Mag
User Mag
Data mania

Data mania

+ I.C.E. TV, alert fatigue, Hedi Boys, Cluely parties, bro shows, a real life adblocker, Booners, the private equity Matcha boom, AI gender gaps, and a tabloid for the social media age

Taylor Lorenz
Jun 20, 2025
∙ Paid
46

Share this post

User Mag
User Mag
Data mania
8
6
Share

Every moment that you're online, you're feeding a vast, invisible machine called the data harvesting industry. Corporations can collect and sell your data to the government, allowing them to potentially target you for online speech, protesting, and more. Now, the government wants to build a single, centralized platform where U.S. spy agencies and the government can easily buy highly detailed information about millions of Americans.

Documents obtained by The Intercept reveal that the U.S. is looking to establish a "one stop shop" for the U.S. government to buy our most sensitive data. This sort of surveillance is a massive threat to free speech and expression. I broke down what’s happening in my latest YouTube video, and you can read Sam Biddle’s reporting here.

User Mag is a 100% reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, become a free or paid subscriber.

sponsored

Get your data off the internet!

One thing I’ve learned from covering tech and internet culture is how insanely easy it is for someone to find your personal info online thanks to data brokers. They collect your address, your email, your phone number, even your relatives’ names and put it all up for sale to the highest bidder. Bad actors can get a complete picture of your life in seconds.

That’s why I use DeleteMe. It’s a service that actually finds and removes your personal data from hundreds of these broker sites. It’s not just a one-time thing, they keep monitoring and taking it down all year.

If you care about protecting yourself, especially if you're even slightly public-facing, go to JoinDeleteMe.com/Taylor20 and use my code Taylor20 for 20% off. Protect your privacy today.

What I’m reading

This post is for paid subscribers

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2025 User Media, LLC
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share