New mass surveillance system introduced in America
“If you thought flock cameras are bad, law enforcement now has a system that identifies you based on the signals coming off of every single device you have”
“It collects your Bluetooth, your Wi-Fi, your RFID signals from your phone, your smartwatch, your headphones, your car, your car's radio, absolutely everything. Then it builds what they call an electronic fingerprint, and their website gives an example of this.
So picture 70 cars drive by one of these systems. Every car has an iPhone, but not every car has the same iPhone model, same smartwatch that's on you, same headphones, same everything else. So they build a profile based on you, not just your car's license plate anymore. So that combination is unique to you.
They don't just need your license plate anymore. They don't even need a picture of your face. They just need the signals that your devices are already broadcasting. Can work in malls, subways, any public place, pretty much anywhere this can work. And then all of that information is gonna get stored on a server where it could be searched for later.”
This isn't some random theory, it's real and I researched the details
It’s called SignalTrace, its commercially available law enforcement tool. It extends beyond traditional Automatic License Plate Recognition by capturing publicly broadcast radio signals from everyday devices
Signals Captured: Bluetooth from phones, watches, headphones, car systems, Wi-Fi, RFID like tags, key fobs, luggage and other local device emissions
It creates a Electronic Fingerprint unique profile by correlating multiple device signals that travel together with a vehicle and person. This includes your specific iPhone model + smartwatch + car infotainment + headphones
This is a massive mass surveillance tool
tracking profiles without needing faces, plates, or warrants in many cases. Networks of these sensors could map movements across cities
It builds persistent tracking profiles without needing faces, plates or warrants. Networks of these sensors could map movements across cities
We have to stop this type of technology for being normalized. This is unlawful surveillance without a warrant
Mathematically and spiritually, this kinda checks out for women. Edtwt type chicks can live off $20 a day worth of yogurt and protein bars, and get higher quality men by being hotter
You just ordered a pepperoni pizza and a 2-liter of coke.
You put WWE SmackDown on TV.
There’s no school tomorrow, your parents don't care if you stay up late..
It's a perfect night, you're 30 years old, the year is 2026
Amazon had a secret code name for the Prime cancel button.
They called it Project Iliad.
The Iliad is a Greek poem. It is about a war that lasted ten years. It has 24 books and almost 16,000 lines. Amazon picked that name on purpose. They wanted canceling Prime to feel like a war. They wanted you to give up.
Here is how it worked.
You hit "Cancel my subscription." Amazon did not cancel it. They sent you to a new page. The page asked if you were sure. It showed you all the things you would lose. It put a yellow warning sign next to the cancel button. Then it asked you again.
You clicked "Yes, cancel." Another page. New offer. Maybe a discount. Maybe a pause. Maybe just turn off auto-renew. Anything to stop you from leaving.
You clicked through. Another page. Then another. Then one more.
By the time you reached the end, you had clicked six times. You had scrolled past four pages. You had said no to fifteen different buttons. Only one of those buttons actually canceled. The other fourteen kept you in.
The FTC has an official name for this. They call it the "Four-Page, Six-Click, Fifteen-Option Iliad Flow."
It worked. After Amazon rolled out Project Iliad, cancellations dropped by 14 percent. Hundreds of thousands of people gave up and kept paying.
Then somebody leaked the internal documents.
In 2021, the Norwegian Consumer Council found the same trap on Amazon's European site. They filed a legal complaint. Business Insider got the leaked emails. In June 2023, the United States FTC sued Amazon. They named three of Amazon's own executives in the lawsuit. They said the executives knew about Iliad. They knew it was hurting customers. They blocked changes that would have made it easier to cancel because the changes hurt the bottom line.
In September 2025, Amazon settled. They paid 2.5 billion dollars. One billion as a fine. One and a half billion in refunds to 35 million customers. It is the biggest fine in FTC history for breaking the agency's rules.
Amazon did not admit they did anything wrong.
Now think about this.
Every subscription on your bank statement was designed by people who studied Project Iliad. They watched what worked. They copied it.
Streaming services hide the cancel button under three menus. Gym apps make you call a phone number that no human ever answers. Newspapers offer you a "pause for three months" instead of a real cancel. Software trials switch to a paid plan the second your free week ends, with no warning email. Apple and Google make you cancel through their app store, not the app itself, so most people never find the right place.
The average American pays 219 dollars a month for subscriptions they do not actively use. That is 2,628 dollars a year. Most of them remember signing up for maybe three of them.
The rest are ghosts.
Apps you forgot. Free trials that turned into paid plans. Services your ex signed up for on your card. Streaming bundles you got for a movie six years ago and never canceled because the cancel button is buried inside an Iliad of its own.
Here is the fix. It takes 15 minutes. Do it tonight.
This is the Subscription Autopsy.
Open your bank app. Open your credit card app. Open Apple Pay or Google Pay if you use them.
Go back twelve months. Yes, twelve. You will be shocked.
Write down every recurring charge. Every one. Big and small. The 4.99. The 1.99 you do not even remember. Even the ones that say "Apple. com" or "Google" — those are subscriptions hiding behind the store name.
Now look at the list. Be honest with yourself. Three columns.
Column one: I use this every week.
Column two: I have not opened this in a month.
Column three: I do not even remember what this is.
Cancel everything in columns two and three. Tonight. Right now. Before you put the phone down.
If a cancel button leads you into an Iliad, do not give up. Search for the company name plus "how to cancel." Some states now have laws that force one-click cancellation. If a company makes it impossibly hard, you can call your bank and ask them to block the charge.
You will find money you did not know you had. Most people find between 50 and 200 dollars a month on the first autopsy. That is between 600 and 2,400 dollars a year.
Money that was never going to a product you wanted. Money that was going to people who designed a trap and gave it a Greek name and laughed about it.
The trap is still legal. The company that built it just paid 2.5 billion dollars and did not admit anything was wrong.
The only person who can close the loop is you.
Send this to one person whose bank statement is full of charges they do not recognize.