#TBOT Show 7: The Significance of Dorsey’s Bitchat, Worlds First eSIM Hack, Mexico’s Digital ID, New Show Source Insights

Took a week off and now I’m back. 😎 (with a new addition to the show?!) (also - big sorry for the show being 40 minutes)

WATCH THE SHOW ON SUBSTACK

https://odysee.com/@takebackourtech:f/tbot-show-7:6

Here’s the stories for the week:

Jack #Dorsey’s #Bitchat - The Real Story: The tech mogul Jack Dorsey released a censorship proof messaging app in late June - named Bitchat. It runs a #bluetooth #mesh network, end to end #e2e #encryption, and rolling IDs and is picking up traction. I share my thoughts on the app, and concerns I have - but that’s not even the real story. I think Jack has a bigger message than just the app.

World’s First #eSIM Hack: A security lab out of Poland just demonstrated a hack on one of the largest SIM providers for IoT devices. We’ll get techy in our understanding and ask the question, could this impact our phones?

#DigitalID, Coming Soon To #Mexico: The Mexican government has signed a new #Biometric #ID law, known as the CURP. How is this enforced and what does it mean for Mexican residents? Find out today.

Decentralized #Video Conferencing: Recently I’ve been relying more on video conferences instead of calling people, especially while traveling. Good thing I’ve got the #Jitsi app, I’ll show you my setup!
#videocall

New Show, “Source Insights”: You follow #TBOT to stay informed on tech freedom. Now go deeper with a new weekly show “Source Insights”, where Hakeem shares his tools, lifestyle and productivity tips, entrepreneurial advice, wisdom from guides, and personal experiences.

Go deeper, join me as a Source Seeker. Unlock access with a paid subscription.

UNLOCK ACCESS

🪄 We aim for our show to be well-researched, well-informed and focused on the most impactful stories

⭐️ PLUS - Each story comes with recommendations and there’s one cool tech trick or open-source solution every week.

We’ll be publishing full posts and clips of each of these stories soon.

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👩‍💻Get private phones, laptops, and tablets
📲SIM Swap Survival Guide Webinar

Looks like the attack on XMR is warming up, if you assume anonymous solo miners are Qubic. Right now it doesn't seem close.

Still - this is a good time to learn how to mine.

If you have a gaming computer, you'll be surprised how much mining power you can contribute to the network.

This is the easiest way to start mining:
https://gupax.io

⚡ Understanding Electromagnetic Fields

From our webinar: Stress-Free Approach to Electromagnetic Radiation

Everything in the universe gives off an electromagnetic field - from the Earth beneath your feet to the sun in the sky. But not all EMFs are created equal.

In this clip, we explore the difference between natural vs. artificial EMFs, how our devices—like phones and cell towers—emit these fields, and most importantly, how they’re received and translated by the human body.

Start here to understand what EMF really is—and how it affects you.

🎥 Full webinar replay.

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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A recent leak got my personal email spammed. I realized how important it was so I went deep into email aliases.

James Corbett was nice enough to have me on to chat about how these systems work and how we can better our email etiquette.

We even built our own email aliasing tool for Above Suite, which should be released in the next several weeks.

Check it out:
https://corbettreport.com/how-to-set-up-an-email-alias-solutionswatch/

And give me some love in the comments ❤️

#TBOT 9: Monero Update, EU Age Verification Forces Google, AGPL Not FOSS?, Plastoline Inventor Missing

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Here’s the stories for the week:

Monero Attack Update: We passed the date of the attack and I think it surprised everyone involved.

EU Age Verification Forces Google On Its Citizens: The EU just released an open-source age verification app that’s supposed to be private. Only one problem - it forces use of Google services.

AGPL Is Not FOSS - The AGPL license is commonly used in open-source projects, but it imposes a requirement on its users.

Inventor of Plastoline Missing - 21 year old inventor Julian Brown turned plastic into gasoline, in his backyard. Now he may be in danger.

Solution: Get more productive with SuperProductivity

We’ll be publishing full posts and clips of each of these stories soon.

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🎙️ Follow the show
🛡️ Back to School Tech Awareness Webinar. Register here.
➡️ Learn about Above Share

⚡️#TBOT 10: Meta’s Content AI Abused By Governments, Police Surveillance at Your Hardware Store, Build Your Own Pay Phone, Private FOSS Keyboard

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Here’s the stories for the week:

Meta’s Content AI Abused By Governments: An anonymous group has release Pt 1 of their data leak and analysis from Meta’s Integrity Labs.

Your Favorite Stores Surveil for the Police: A recent records request indicated that “Flock” license plate cameras have been installed at 171 Lowe’s and Home Depot hardware stores across the country.

Build Your Own Pay Phone: Electrical engineer Patrick Schlott installed 3 free pay phones for anyone who wants to use them in his town.

Solutions: Want a private FOSS keyboard? We take a look at Heliboard and some upgrades like voice typing, swipe, and more.

We’ll be publishing full posts and clips of each of these stories soon.

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Follow the show:

https://takebackourtech.org

https://tbot.substack.com

📲 Get privacy gear

Wow - we're actually winning. Google is scared, they're going to attempt to ban 'side-loaded' apps on all Android phones. Unless the developer hands over an ID.

https://web.archive.org/web/20250827023411/https://developer.android.com/developer-verification

I will cover this on next week's #TBOT show.

⚡️Should We Pull Water from the Deep Sea?

Water shortages are pushing companies to look not inland—but deep into the sea. 🌊

A new technique called deep-sea desalination is gaining traction, with the first massive plant planned for 2026 off the coast of Norway.

Desalination isn’t new, but it comes with a cost. A 2018 study showed that 16,000 plants worldwide produced 95 million cubic meters of fresh water daily—but also 141 million cubic meters of toxic brine. That brine, filled with heavy metals and pollutants, gets dumped right back into the ocean.

Flotion, the company behind deep-sea desalination, says their approach could reduce these harms. But is this really a solution—or another industrial-scale problem?

🪧 Read the full article on Substack

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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⚡️Enoch AI for Real Information: Free Access

Finally, an uncensored AI trained on knowledge that’s often buried or ignored by mainstream engines. #Enoch #AI, built by #Brighteon, brings you real information on natural health, nutrition, permaculture, self-reliance, history, and more.

It’s trained on GreenMedInfo, Children’s Health Defense, Mercola, Natural News, Decentralized TV, and even hundreds of survival and off-grid living books from around the world.

I tested it for myself. Enoch AI is fast, practical, and actually useful.

Try it for free:
👉 brighteon.ai (email answers)
👉enochvip.consumerwellness.org (real-time chat)

And soon, a self-hosted version will be available on Above Phone and Above Book—no internet connection required!

This solution is from #TBOT Show Episode 12. Watch the full episode.

📲Grab privacy gear.

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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#TBOT 14: China’s AI+ Plan Goes All In, MIT’s AlterEgo Reads Your Lips Without Speaking, 1,500 Engineers Have Access To WhatsApp Data, StackWallet - Private and Easy Multi-coin Wallet

Watch on Substack

Here are this week’s stories:

China’s AI+ Plan Goes All In: China outlined its 10-year plan to integrate the entire country with AI across all sectors. I read their report to find out what’s planned for the second most populous country in the world.

MIT AlterEgo Reads Your Lips: New MIT Media Lab startup attempts to let you communicate without speaking with their Silent Sense tech. How does it work? Find out.

Insider Look at WhatsApp’s Security: WhatsApp’s head of security sues Meta for alleged retaliation after he called out WhatsApp for not knowing how much data it collected and who had access to it.

StackWallet—Private and Easy Multi-coin Wallet: I recently talked with the founder of StackWallet, and now I’m convinced it’s the best wallet out there. Find out why.

🪄 We aim for our show to be well-researched, well-informed and focused on the most impactful stories while being concise

Full articles soon.

Join the Digital ID Report Waitlist

StackWallet

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⚡️MIT Media Lab Lets You Talk Without Speaking with AlterEgo

MIT Media Lab unveiled a new demo of AlterEgo, a wearable device that lets you communicate without opening your mouth.

It doesn’t read your mind—AlterEgo detects subtle electrical signals in your jaw triggered by your “inner voice.” With 7 skin electrodes and AI models, it can turn silent speech into words, numbers, or even commands for apps.

The device is aimed at people with speech impairments, but it also pushes us closer to transhumanist territory—where even face-to-face communication may run through machines.

Is this assistive tech… or a step toward merging with AI?

🪧 Read the full article on Substack

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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⚡️Stack Wallet - Open Source

Our community has been pining for a reliable wallet that respects people’s privacy. I’m happy to say StackWallet fits the bill.

I spoke personally with the founder and learned it’s a wallet that is doing things properly. It’s completely open-source, non-custodial, and privacy-preserving by default. You can choose StackWallet official nodes or pick your own, and it has a custom backup to restore all your wallets if needed.

The UI/UX is excellent, making it a friendly wallet that supports Monero, Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, and others—with proper support for Monero. It also has a built-in exchange for quick in-app trades, plus a private mode that turns off connections for coin prices (no third-party connections).

Check it out today: https://stackwallet.com

🪧 Read the full article on Substack

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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#TBOT 15: Justice for victims of undercover cops, US & UK’s AI Plan, Attack on Crypto Privacy, The New FreeNet Has One Privacy Problem

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Dating an Undercover? SpyCops Victim Tells All: Environmental activist Kate Wilson fell in love with an undercover cop who was investigating her in their 2 years together. Almost a decade she breaks her anonyminity to discuss her win against the Met UK police.

US & UK’s AI Plan: With US President Trump’s visit to the UK, the Tech Prosperity deal was hurried through. New data centers, a supercomputer, and I think they just copied China’s plan. Find out why.

Crypto Privacy Makes You Suspect: Hakeem reviews new FinCEN rules which may make basic crypto privacy suspicious, and the upcoming CLARITY act which forces any mixing services or exchanges to register with the government.

The New Freenet: Freenet is a fully decentralized peer-to-peer network that allows for distributed computing. It attempts to tackle the reputation problem with Ghost keys. But there’s one big problem.

🪄 We aim for our show to be well-researched, well-informed and focused on the most impactful stories while being concise

Full articles soon.

Show Links:

📋Join the Digital ID Report Waitlist
📲 Get privacy gear

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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⚡️Are You Dating an UnderCover Cop?

Kate Wilson thought she had found a partner in activism. For two years she lived with “Mark Stone,” they shared a life together, even family dinners. In reality, he was undercover officer Mark Kennedy—sent to sabotage her work.

Every detail of their relationship was monitored and logged, down to whether she would “have dinner with her boyfriend that night.” Kennedy later exposed a coal plant operation, leading to the largest preemptive political arrest in modern UK history.

Kate fought back. After a decade-long legal battle, she forced the Met to hand over 5,000+ pages proving police used intimate relationships as a strategy. She tells her story in Disclosure: Unraveling the SpyCops Files.

🪧 Read the full article on Substack
📲 Get privacy gear

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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⚡️US-UK AI “Tech Prosperity” Deal Mirrors China’s AI+ Blueprint

The “Tech Prosperity Deal” turned heads during Trump’s visit to Britain. Besides a Memorandum of Understanding that reads almost like China’s AI+ plan, all we’ve seen are Silicon Valley pledges to build data centers and a partnership with the UK military.

Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, Salesforce, Oracle, AWS, and BlackRock signed on. Projects include Britain’s largest AI supercomputer (£22 billion with Microsoft and Nvidia), Google’s new data center in Waltham Cross, and CoreWeave’s “green data centers.”

Palantir is investing $2 billion, with $750 million going to supply its Gotham software to the UK military and navy—embedding US intelligence software directly in Britain.

The MoU commits the US and UK to cooperate on AI, nuclear power, fusion, quantum, and 6G R&D. The language and priorities closely resemble China’s AI+ plan, suggesting a coordinated global push.

🪧 Read the full article on Substack
📲 Get privacy gear

#TBOT Solution of the Week: The New Freenet, One Big Privacy Problem

Freenet has been rebuilt as a decentralized network that could one day rival the web. It’s fast, scalable, and lets apps and data live entirely on the network without centralized infrastructure.

But its new reputation system is tied to “Ghost Keys” verified through Stripe payments. This means Stripe can link donations to users—undermining the privacy Freenet promises.

Freenet is a powerful tool and a real alternative to the centralized web. But if it wants to stay true to its principles, it needs to offer more payment options—crypto included—so users can remain private.

🪧 Read the full article on Substack
📲 Get privacy gear

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🫶 @takebackourtech
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📚 How It Happened

Why did Chromebooks become the default choice in schools?

Low cost, bundled features like screen readers and voice typing, and easy-to-use platforms like Google Classroom made them irresistible to school districts under pressure to save money.

But cost savings came at a price: mass adoption of monitoring tools that track student behavior, not just in classrooms but at home. What started as accessibility and convenience has opened the door to constant surveillance and data extraction.

Schools may believe they’re protecting students, but the hidden trade-offs tell another story.

Parents and educators deserve to understand this shift—and there are better ways forward.

📺 Watch the full Back to School Tech Awareness Webinar for solutions.

🪧 Protect your kids, protect your data. Check out Above’s privacy gear and resource’s.

—
🫶 @takebackourtech
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The New #Freenet, One Big Privacy Problem
#TBOT Solution of the Week

Freenet has been rebuilt as a decentralized network that could one day rival the web. It’s fast, scalable, and lets apps and data live entirely on the network without centralized infrastructure.

https://odysee.com/@takebackourtech:f/Freenet:0

@takebackourtech