Hi, I’m Linda. Thanks so much for checking out the October 2025 edition of my Linda Be Learning newsletter. If you are just discovering me, I encourage you to check out my website and my YouTube channel to learn more about the work I do in the field of learning technology and innovation.

Before branching out on my own with Linda B. Learning, LLC, the last employer I worked directly for as an FTE was a digital identity tech company. They offer automated identity proofing and fraud detection solutions, powered by a proprietary machine learning platform, that are leveraged by companies and industries around the world. Prior to, during, and since my time there, I have learned a TON about spyware, fraud and fraud detection algorithms, deepfakes and the technology used to create them, identity verification, and of course, the ultimate goal, surveillance. I even developed my own biometric algorithm that, sadly for me, worked TOO well and had too much potential for harm for me to feel comfortable unleashing it on the world - which, incidentally, is why I couldn’t go work for OpenAI back in 2022 when they came a-callin’ shortly after I was laid off from said previous company.

Since October is spooky season, I’m going for real-life horror by exploring some of the tech involved in the dark world of spyware and surveillance. This month, I’m giving you a taste of what’s really going on (both in the real world and in cyberspace), as well as what you can do to protect yourself, your sanity, and your hope for the future.

Let’s dive in, starting with this delightful tidbit from my former boss, Uncle Larry.

Did that freak you out a bit? It should!

But don’t worry, I got you…

Tech to Be Concerned About

I usually talk about tech I’m discovering and excited about in this section. But given the theme of this month’s newsletter, concern is more appropriate.

This month, we’re going to look at the latest version of a particular form of wearable technology. It was just released at the end of September 2025, brought to you by this creepy android in a flesh suit.

Meta Ray-Ban Display AI Glasses

Meta’s newly released AI Glasses are being touted as “the next revolution in wearable tech.” Coupled with the Meta Neural Band, you use subtle hand movements to discretely navigate the glasses’ in-lens display, privately message, translate, take pictures, capture audio and video, and then “collaborate” with Meta AI —all without anyone really noticing what you’re doing.

Let’s start with Marques’s review, since I find his reviews are generally on point and less hype-y than a lot of other influencers out there.

If you listen to influencers like the one below, you too might be enamored with this “cool, new tech.”

@rillotok

Everything you need to know about the new Meta Ray-Ban Display #meta #tech #techtok #metadisplay #metarayban

What could possibly go wrong?

Invisible surveillance has always been sold as an innovative solution: playful, frictionless, cool, disappearing into everyday life. But what else disappears with it?

• Personal privacy - anywhere in public, in classrooms, in bathrooms, in locker rooms. Everywhere, since these glasses can take prescription lenses. Can you really ban people from wearing glasses?

• Consent - once again, we have auto capture and opt-in by default. Would you even be able to tell if someone is wearing regular Ray-Bans or these AI glasses? Would you be able to detect a visible signal of being recorded?

• Safety and your right not to be surveilled - how are classrooms, labs, conference rooms, restrooms, and private offices protected? Is this new tech opening up a legal minefield of labor laws, privacy, and recording consent?

This tech has been publically available for less than a month, and, as Marques predicted, yeah, people are talking about it.

And it’s not good…

But wait, there’s more…

​What are your thoughts? Cool tech or nightware not even waiting to happen?

Technology for Not So Good

But it doesn’t stop with creepy individuals secretly recording and sharing your likeness and data without your consent. It goes much deeper into how those data are aggregated into decision-making engines that ultimately impact your daily life, what you get access to, what opportunities are approved or denied, and even your basic rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

While I typically write about machine learning and other technologies used for social good, in this edition, I’m going to pull the curtain aside and share with you some of the technology that most certainly ISN’T being used to promote social good. Instead, it appears the goal is to force compliance and silence dissent.

Palantir

Depending on how deep your experience is with the tech industry, you may or may not have heard of Palantir. But if you are a citizen especially of the United States, it is in your best interest to acquaint yourself with this company and the impact what they are doing has and will have on your future life and well-being.

Palantir offers two primary platforms: Foundry and Gotham. Private sector corporations use Foundry to manage global operations. Gotham, on the other hand, is an investigative platform primarily used by governments. Built for police, national security agencies, public health departments and other state clients, the platform takes fragmented data, scattered across various agencies and stored in different formats, and transforms it into a unified, searchable web.

Palantir’s platform has enabled these departments to rapidly assemble and profile individuals based on aggregated data, mapping their social networks, tracking their movements, identifying their physical characteristics, reviewing their criminal history and even flagging individuals in specific regions with a particular immigration status. While providing magnitudes of efficiency for investigators, Gotham also alters the relationship between the state and the people it governs.

Since the latest administration took office in January, Palantir has significantly deepened its influence and reach across the government. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Defense, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Internal Revenue Service, and local police departments like the New York Police Department have collectively spent billions on Palantir contracts for data integration projects.

Even more concerning are the facts that the public and elected officials have no visibility into how Gotham’s algorithms weigh certain data points or why they highlight certain connections. Gotham is a propietary platform, making democratic oversight difficult. Its broad scope and wide deployment ensures that errors or biases can scale up rapidly to affect many people. And the conclusions it generates can have life-altering consequences, such as inclusion on a deportation list or identification as a security risk.

This kind of integrated analytics is standard practice in the private sector. But public sector’s political and social stakes are different from the private sector, and this platform has created the capacity for mass profiling. Even with the best of intentions, we’re already seeing that this kind of system normalizes surveillance of entire communities. It isn’t just that the government is collecting and corroborating more data. It’s that decision-making is increasingly influenced by what these integrated data platforms reveal. Rather than requiring specific evidence linked to an event or eye witness testimony, now suspicion can stem from patterns in data defined by proprietary algorithms, meaning that government officials can use potential future risks to justify present action, what some scholars call “preemptive security.” This in turn erodes traditional legal safeguards that require proof before punishment.

As Palantir and government deepen their partnerships, civil liberties implications and the potential for abuse are also magnified. Whether legal safeguards and transparent oversight constrain these tools for integrated data analysis will depend on the political might to do so. Given the current administration, this should give us significant pause and cause for concern.

Here’s where one expert predicts it is going…

Tech Retrospective: Spyware and Surveillance

So how did we get to the current dystopian level of spyware and surveillance? Let’s take a brief peek at the history.

Spyware

Sure you’ve heard of spyware, but where and when did it first enter public consciousness?

According to Usenet, the first instance of the term “spyware” occurred in October 1995, in an article about Microsoft's business model. As time went by, spyware also came to be used to refer to tech like Meta’s AI glasses with their tiny, hidden cameras. In early 2000, the term was used in a news release for a personal firewall product, and it officially became a common term in the tech lexicon.

When tech creates a problem, it also creates a “sorta” solution to that problem, in that snake-eating-its-own-tail vicious cycle we’ve come to know and loathe about the tech industry. When Steve Gibson of Gibson Research detected advertising software on his computer and suspected it was stealing his confidential information, he decided to counter-attack and develop the first-ever anti-spyware program, OptOut.

Modern spyware, such as Pegasus, is not so easily detected or stopped. And despite significant investment in educating corporate employees about cybersecurity, data breaches are more common than mass shootings in the US, and every bit as serious.

Surveillance

As one might imagine, surveillance has a LONG history in the US going back to Lantern Laws in New York City in the 1700s. And even though the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights supposedly restrict invasive information gathering and seek to protect the rights of the individual, limit the role of government in American society, and reinforce the importance of private property for exercising individual liberty, we’ve already witnessed the erosion of all four in recent years and with government partnering with companies like Palantir.

The University of Michigan put together this History of Surveillance Timeline, which briefly describes critical events leading up to our current state, including the enactment of the first census, the Alien and Sedition Acts, slave patrols, the formation of the FBI and CIA, wiretapping scandals, the formation of the US PATRIOT Act, and more.

Learning Theory: Protecting Yourself

If you’ve participated in required cybersecurity compliance training at some point in your career, you’ve probably be made aware of the laundry list of suggestions to counteract spyware and surveillance:

• Install reputable anti-malware software.

• Keep all operating systems and applications updated.

• Use secure tools like VPNs and encrypted messaging.

• Practice cautious online behavior, such as avoiding suspicious links and downloads.

• Enable security features like multi-factor authentication and high-security browser modes.

• Limit administrator access and set permissions to require confirmation before running apps.

• Only use official app stores and avoid downloading apps from third-party stores, which can be a source of malware.

• Use secure connections (i.e., only visiting HTTPS websites whenever possible).

• Monitor your device and pay attention to signs of compromise, such as a device overheating, a battery draining quickly, or unexplained network usage.

• Reboot daily, which can disrupt certain types of spyware that may reside in the device's memory.

• Disable unnecessary connectivity, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, when you are not using them to reduce your device's attack surface.

• Power down devices, especially when crossing borders and going through customs.

So beyond our usual privacy, security and compliance training most of us are required to take if we work for an employer, what else can be done? In this case, knowledge most certainly is power.

Spyware remains a persistent threat that has been growing and spreading across sectors in 2025. Thus, knowledge about what spyware is, its history, the stages of its infiltration, and the proper measures to take help you to recognize the signs of infiltration and counter it. Scanning, user awareness, and segmented architectures together make it difficult for infiltrators to gain access, while short-term usage models guarantee that any remaining processes cannot establish themselves. Most importantly, cyclical review of suspicious logs and changes in the scanning thresholds prevent infiltration angles from sneaking back.

In an effort to combat spyware and surveillance technology, Freedom House launched a new reporting tool designed to help civil society inform regulators about harmful products and practices.

Several experts have also joined the fight for freedom - check out some of these perspectives.

Have an iPhone? You’ll definitely want to watch this one.

And finally, from earlier this year, here’s Democracy Now’s interview with Ronan Farrow and Matthew O’Neill discussing the HBO documentary "Surveilled" - if you haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth watching as well.

Upcoming Learning Offerings

Did Kamala Harris really lose the election? Could spyware, surveillance or other tech-related subterfuge have played any role in the outcome? I’m not the only one who thinks that the math ain’t mathin’…

Join us on Saturday, October 25, 2025 for a rousing discussion of Kamala’s new book, 107 Days.

If you missed my Linda B Learning Open House earlier this month, you can catch a replay of it on my YouTube channel.

Before signing off for this month, I wanted to leave you with this quote from a real one who recently joined the ancestors:

"Nobody in the world, nobody in history has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them." - Assata Shakur

… and this call to action from Natasha Lyonne.

See you next month!