Watchman Privacy

Gabriel Custodiet
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Aug 27, 2025 • 21min

Privacy and Utopia: A History - Audiobook Available

Dive into the intriguing paradox of privacy in a world increasingly marked by surveillance. Discover how the late 19th and early 20th centuries shaped our understanding of personal freedom and governance. Uncover the connections between utopian ideals and privacy, revealing the tensions that arise when individual autonomy confronts centralized power. This exploration of literary influences and societal shifts will challenge your perceptions and spark thought on the future of privacy in a high-tech landscape.
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Aug 25, 2025 • 1h

194 - Confessions of a Private Investigator

Gabriel Custodiet speaks with a private investigator based in the United States. GUEST → Email me and I can connect you with the guest. MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html TIMELINE 00:00 – Introduction 3:00 – What this private investigator does 9:00 – Licensing for private investigators 11:35 – What are red lines that he won't cross? 14:14 – What access do PIs have that "civilians" don't have 16:30 – OSINT vs private investigator 18:20 – ALPR database 25:00 – How to escape the ALPR nightmare 29:12 – How do you vet clients? 33:10 – Relationship with police 35:20 – How to hide from private investigators 40:30 – How widespread is hiring of PIs 42:50 – Stories from the field 54:30 – How common are workers' comp investigations? 56:20 – Final thoughts Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Aug 22, 2025 • 48min

193 - Privacy Postmaster # 1

Beneath a crimson sky, a specter approaches. The Privacy Postmaster rides... THE PRIVACY POSTMASTER → https://privacypost.io MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Aug 20, 2025 • 1h 8min

192 - Richard Turrin: China's Digital Currency Revolution

Gabriel Custodiet speaks with Richard Turrin, author of a book on China's rapid transformation to a cashless society. GUEST → https://richturrin.com/ → https://www.amazon.com/Cashless-Chinas-Digital-Currency-Revolution/dp/1949642720 → https://x.com/richardturrin → https://substack.com/@richturrin → https://www.linkedin.com/in/turrin/ MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html TIMELINE 00:00 – Introduction 1:30 – Guest background 3:20 – China's rapid cashless transformation from 2010 – 2018 7:00 – Did China have a plan to create this cashlessness? 10:40 – What is the reality in 2025? 13:00 – What is WeChat like at the user level? 19:50 – Are Alipay and WeChat sandboxed? 21:25 – Scams on Alipay and WeChat 26:45 – How do foreigners use Chinese payment apps? 30:20 – How will China transition to a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) 39:07 – Banks in China had to get on board 48:40 – Fees for Alipay and WeChat are essentially zero 50:50 – How often can Chinese use apps outside of China? 52:30 – Are Chinese allowed to use other payment methods? 55:05 – China data sovereignty 1:04:00 – Final thoughts Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Aug 18, 2025 • 50min

191 - AfriForum: Restoring Order in South Africa

Gabriel Custodiet speaks with Jacques Broodryk, Chief Spokesperson for AfriForum Community Safety, about the decline of South Africa and what an organization called AfriForum is doing about it. GUEST → https://x.com/JacquesBroodryk → https://afriforum.co.za/en/ (AfriForum) → Financially support AfriForum: https://sluit-aan.afriforum.co.za/en?campaign=RoepToepCMO&leadSource=600060509 RESOURCES → https://www.amazon.com/Kill-Boer-Government-Complicity-Africas/dp/0994715978 → https://www.youtube.com/@ConsciousCaracal/videos MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html TIMELINE 00:00 - Intro 1:45 - How dangerous is South Africa overall? 4:00 - Cable theft and what it symbolizes 8:15 - What is the cause of this third-world criminality? 11:00 - South Africa ranks high in organized crime and corruption 11:30 - Car theft 13:35 - Spike traps 14:50 - South Africa has NO borders 19:15 - Is government incompetent or complicit? 21:10 - What OPSEC does a person need to take in South Africa? 24:55 - Are farm attacks being encouraged? 30:50 - South African government stopped publishing farm murders statistics 32:00 - Trump forces South African president to watch video about farm murders 34:00 - South African government encouraging attacks? 35:30 - Radio jammers and other advanced equipment 37:20 - How inept is South African police? 39:15 - Parallel societies in South Africa 43:45 - Will South Africa balkanize? 45:45 - Final thoughts Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Aug 15, 2025 • 40min

190 - Start Mining NOW: Monero is Under Attack

Gabriel and Urban dive into the alarming attempt to 51% attack the privacy cryptocurrency Monero. They explain what a 51% attack entails and the potential risks involved, including censorship. The discussion reveals how attackers attempted to control Monero through clever strategies like merge-mining. They also touch on the psychological tactics at play and the importance of community preparedness. Listeners are encouraged to join the fight by mining at home and considering economic countermeasures against potential threats.
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Aug 13, 2025 • 35min

189 - Bitcoin Optimism in Riga

Gabriel and Urban debrief a recent privacy-focused Bitcoin conference in Riga, Latvia. Is there hope for Bitcoin? GUEST → https://x.com/realUrbanHacker MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Aug 11, 2025 • 1h 18min

188 - Amir Taaki: Let There Be Dark

Gabriel Custodiet speaks with Amir Taaki, hardcore cypherpunk with a wild curriculum vitae: working on Bitcoin in the early days, developer of Dark Wallet, fighter against ISIS, and developer of DarkFi privacy-focused communication platform (among other things). GUEST → https://x.com/Narodism → https://x.com/DarkFiSquad → https://dark.fi/ → https://t.me/darkfichat MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html TIMELINE 00:00 – Introduction 2:20 - What is the difference between a criminal and a forest rebel? 3:20 - How did Amir discover anarchy? 15:15 - Amir Taaki's thoughts on how Bitcoin got to where it is 27:15 - Work on Dark Wallet 41:15 - Does Amir regret creating the BIP process? 50:50 - Why did Amir Taaki go to fight ISIS? 1:03:40 - Amir Taaki gets onto The List after fighting ISIS 1:12:05 - DarkFi 1:14:00 - Final Thoughts Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
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Aug 8, 2025 • 10min

Orange Utopia: Bitcoin Business Failure

For similar articles, make sure you're subscribed to the Watchman's Torch Newsletter in one of the following two places: → https://watchmanprivacy.substack.com/ → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/product/watchmans-torch-newsletter/
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Aug 4, 2025 • 1h 1min

187 - Seth for Privacy: Monero Unveiled

Gabriel Custodiet speaks with Seth for Privacy about Monero, its competitors, and its many challenges. GUEST → https://x.com/sethforprivacy → https://sethforprivacy.com/ → https://optoutpod.com/ → https://cakewallet.com/ MY PREMIUM NEWSLETTER → http://watchmanstorch.com → Join my exclusive privacy community MY PRIVACY TUTORIALS → https://escapethetechnocracy.com/ (including consulting) → https://watchmanprivacy.com (Gabriel's personal site) → https://twitter.com/watchmanprivacy SUPPORT INDEPENDENT GONZO TECHNO-ADVENTURE JOURNALISM → No sponsors. No ads. Just truth. → https://watchmanprivacy.com/donate.html TIMELINE 00:00 – Introduction 1:30 – Update on Cake Wallet 5:50 – Challenges of developing on iPhone 11:10 – Difficulties of running a Monero company 17:30 – Do Bitcoiners at conferences secretly use Monero? 23:10 – What does price mean in Monero? 28:40 – Monero changing from ring signatures to full-chain membership proofs 32:25 – Who develops Monero? 38:20 – Ross Ulbricht huge Bitcoin donation from darknet market 44:55 – Has Bitcoin failed? 49:45 – Can Monero learn from Zcash? 56:50 – Final Thoughts Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio

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