
The surveillance vendors you have never heard of
Face recognition, plate readers and worker monitoring now reach from a parking lot to a deportation file. The contracts say who is paying, and who is being watched.

Sam digs into the data economy and the markets that prefer to stay invisible. Their investigations have prompted two FTC referrals; they work in documents, court filings and patience.

Face recognition, plate readers and worker monitoring now reach from a parking lot to a deportation file. The contracts say who is paying, and who is being watched.

Your driver's license, your résumé, your voice: a documented chain runs from the thing you lost to the model that learned from it — and you are not allowed to know where it stops.