Privacat Insights | Carey Lening | Substack

How Big Tech Becomes Ungovernable

Big Tech companies like Google, SpaceX, and Meta aren't just monopolies—they're becoming ungovernable through tech extensivity. Why €4B in fines went…

Feb 17 • Carey Lening

Can LLMs Unlearn? Part 3: The Technical Complexity of it All

This is part of my machine unlearning series. Since it's so long, I have broken this up into sections.

Nov 14, 2024 • Carey Lening

The Ladder to Nowhere: How OpenAI Plans to Learn Everything About You

ChatGPT Health is a small part of a much larger plan to learn everything about you. In this post, I talk about what's driving them and how they might…

Jan 25 • Carey Lening

I'll Be in London For a Week

Also, a few thoughts on what I'm thinking and writing about

May 24 • Carey Lening

On Censorship, Friction, and John Perry Barlow

Why wanting a little tech friction != equal censorship.

May 16 • Carey Lening

Most Popular

The Ladder to Nowhere: How OpenAI Plans to Learn Everything About You

Jan 25 • Carey Lening

Privacy Disasters: A Depressingly Regular Series

Mar 19, 2024 • Carey Lening

18,000 words. Four Questions. Much Delegation. Little Guidance

Dec 20, 2024 • Carey Lening

Did AI Kill Publius? Replicating Kelsey Piper's Anonymity Experiment

May 4 • Carey Lening

privacy disasters

We Should Not Have to Prove We're Human to Sam Altman

Worldcoin, Sam Altman, privacy, and why I hate being right sometimes.

Apr 21 • Carey Lening

Agentic AI Browsers are Privacy Disasters

Researchers expose the privacy disaster that is Agentic AI Browsers. I break it all down.

Nov 4, 2025 • Carey Lening

Using Microsoft Recall? Welcome to Hell

Microsoft never reads my blog posts, but really they should, because Recall is a Privacy Disaster

May 2, 2025 • Carey Lening

Dear Tech Companies: Please Stop Stepping on Your Own Dicks

Forcing users to decipher what you do with their data is a terrible idea.

Feb 1, 2025 • Carey Lening

Privacy Disasters: The Privacy CESspool

So many terrible ideas, so little time to rant about CES 2025.

Jan 8, 2025 • Carey Lening

Privacy Disasters: Microsoft Keeps Stepping in It

Microsoft releases the Torment Nexus v. 2.

Dec 17, 2024 • Carey Lening

Privacat Insights

Privacat Insights

I explore what happens when big tech companies, billionaires, and the systems they create become too entangled to regulate or unwind. This is a blog about tech extensity, surveillance, power, and policy.

Recommendations

Experimental History

Adam Mastroianni

Sasha's 'Newsletter'

Sasha Chapin

Serious Trouble

Josh Barro and Ken White

Gary Marcus

The AI Architect

Matija Vidmar

AI

Did AI Kill Publius? Replicating Kelsey Piper's Anonymity Experiment

Re-identification of a pseudonym isn't new. It's just become frictionless.

May 4 • Carey Lening

How I Vibe-Coded Myself Into a Better Researcher

I improved on my AI-powered research assistant to handle the toil while I focus on the insights. Here's what I learned along the way.

Mar 17 • Carey Lening

Anthropic Will Probably Survive Trump's Tantrum, For All the Wrong Reasons

I like Anthropic a lot, but I worry about whether its extensity makes it too big to govern.

Mar 9 • Carey Lening

Technology Is Destroying Friction.

And That's a Huge Problem

Nov 1, 2025 • Carey Lening

In Defense of Smart Weirdos: What I Learned at an AI Safety Law-a-Thon

I forgot just how much I miss that kind of crazy nerd energy.

Oct 28, 2025 • Carey Lening

Recent posts

Did AI Kill Publius? Replicating Kelsey Piper's Anonymity Experiment

Re-identification of a pseudonym isn't new. It's just become frictionless.

May 4 • Carey Lening

We Should Not Have to Prove We're Human to Sam Altman

Worldcoin, Sam Altman, privacy, and why I hate being right sometimes.

Apr 21 • Carey Lening

Mythos, Leverage, and Tech Extensity

Mythos is the leverage that Anthropic will use to get Trump to TACO out

Apr 19 • Carey Lening

Ring and Flock are Trying to Create a Sensorveillance State

Free and subsidized doorbell cameras and facial recognition systems leave everyone less free in the end.

Apr 15 • Carey Lening

Why I'm 78% Confident that the EU Will Reform the AI Act

... But probably not before August 2, 2026

Mar 25 • Carey Lening

Subscribe

I explore what happens when big tech companies, billionaires, and the systems they create become too entangled to regulate or unwind. This is a blog about tech extensity, surveillance, power, and policy.

About Archive Recommendations Sitemap

Privacat Insights

#nojs-banner { position: fixed; bottom: 0; left: 0; padding: 16px 16px 16px 32px; width: 100%; box-sizing: border-box; background: red; color: white; font-family: -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol"; font-size: 13px; line-height: 13px; } #nojs-banner a { color: inherit; text-decoration: underline; } This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. Please turn on JavaScript or unblock scripts