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Taylor Lorenz’s Power User: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Taylor Lorenz
Taylor Lorenz explores how technology and the internet are upending our lives and the world around us. Each week, she explores everything from online fame to emerging platforms, viral phenomena, the creator economy, and much more.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 days ago21 min
Why the Internet Almost Broke Last Week: The Vulnerability Apocalypse Is Here
The internet just experienced one of its worst weeks for cybersecurity in recent history. SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzDubbed "Black October" or the "Vulnerability Apocalypse," researchers uncovered critical zero-day flaws in the foundational software that powers over 70% of the web, including PHP, Node.js, and major certificate authorities, right as a wave of hacks hit popular cloud hosting platforms and developer tools.In this episode of Power User, I sit down with Cooper Quintin, Senior Staff Technologist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), to break down what actually happened during Black October, how frontier AI models from companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are supercharging both bug discovery and cyberattacks, and why the internet is going to become a much more chaotic place before it gets safer.We also dive into why banning open-weight and open-source AI models would be a disaster for digital defense, the hidden dangers of giving new AI agents access to your browser and bank accounts, the crisis of underfunded open-source maintainers holding up the entire web, and the cybersecurity risks of the "vibe coding" boom.Read the EFF's Cybersecurity Guide: https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/10/computer-security-about-get-lot-worse-heres-what-you-can-do Subscribe to User Mag on Substack: https://usermag.co Support Power User on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz
- 1 weeks ago45 min
Why Governments Want Your ID to Browse the Web
Why is online age verification so dangerous? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzOnline age verification laws and mandatory digital ID bills are sweeping across the US, UK, Europe, and Australia under the guise of protecting children online. On this episode of Free Speech Friday, I'm joined by two of my favorite tech policy experts, Jennifer Huddleston and David Inserra from the Cato Institute to break down the massive hidden costs of online age verification, mass surveillance, and the death of internet anonymity.For most of the internet's history, you could browse websites, watch videos, and join online communities without linking your government ID or biometric face scan to everything you read and post. Today, legislation like the Kids Online Safety Act, Australia's under-16 social media ban, and state-level age verification mandates are changing the free internet forever.We dive deep into why these youth online safety laws don't just affect kids, they harm adults, cause massive data breaches like the 60,000 leaked Discord IDs and the Tea app breach), crush small independent forums, entrench Big Tech monopolies like Meta, and pave the way for mass censorship. Read the full piece from Cato here: https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/online-age-verification-has-guaranteed-costs-uncertain-benefits
- 1 weeks ago38 min
The Real Reason Instagram Feels Worse: The Case Against Social Media Doomerism
Is "enshittification" real, or are we just refusing to take accountability for our own screen time? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzIn this episode of Power User, I sat down with NYC-based cyber ethnographer, designer, and NYU professor Ruby Thelot to debate his viral and controversial Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) essay, "Enshittification Isn't Real".While Cory Doctorow's famous theory of enshittification argues that tech platforms inevitably decay as they extract value from users and businesses, Ruby argues that when it comes to social media, the data tells a completely different story. We dive deep into American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) polling, the myth of platform "lock-in," and why he thinks blaming Big Tech algorithms disempowers everyday internet users.Plus, we get into a heated debate over the rise of "paratechnology" (buying hardware like the Brick or apps like Opal to restrict your own phone use), why people are returning to single-purpose devices like the iPod, why you should stop using Instagram to text your friends, and how the bipartisan push for "Kids Online Safety" laws and age verification is a Trojan horse that helps Meta harvest more data while destroying anonymous free speech online.🔥 Support Power User: I have no ongoing advertisers on this channel, so every dollar of your support makes a massive difference! Subscribe to my Substack newsletter or join the Patreon below to keep independent tech journalism alive:Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz
- 2 weeks ago29 min
Everything You Know About Police Body Cameras Is Wrong
Before you call for more body cameras watch this!! If you value my reporting, please, please support my work 👇👇👇Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz Subscribe to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co Body cameras were supposed to hold police accountable. So why is police violence still rising? Why are cops almost never convicted using body cam footage? And why are Democrats (the same politicians who just tripled the ICE budget) now demanding that ICE agents wear body cameras?In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I sit down with Alec Karakatsanis, lawyer and author of the fantastic book Copaganda, to uncover the hidden history of police body cameras. While body cams are presented as a technological fix to deeply rooted institutional problems, they actually have the opposite effect.We talk about how the multi-billion dollar police surveillance industry originally struggled to get funding for these cameras, how Steven Spielberg donated money to put cameras on cops, how the narrative completely shifted, and how Big Tech is cashing in.Big Tech interest groups and reactionary non-profits are spending millions to push mass surveillance and censorship laws. My work is 100% self-funded. This series is not backed by any advertisers or tech giants. If you value my reporting, please, please support my work 👇👇👇Join the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/taylorlorenz Subscribe to my Substack: https://www.usermag.co Follow me:https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz https://www.instagram.com/taylorlorenz3.0 https://www.tiktok.com/@taylorlorenz https://bsky.app/profile/taylorlorenz.bsky.social https://twitter.com/taylorlorenz (This episode originally aired February 2026)
- 2 weeks ago28 min
The Billionaire Tech Cult That Just Collapsed
SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzSome of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest tech elites have a radical new dream, to abandon modern democracy completely and build their own sovereign nations. At the heart of this movement is a millionaire VC named Balaji Srinivasan and his vision for what he calls the "Network State".In this episode of Power User, I speak with freelance journalist Sam Venis about his firsthand reporting at Balaji's Network School. We expose what really happened inside Balaji’s experimental new government set up inside Forest City, a massive, abandoned ghost city in Malaysia. From aggressive NDAs and toxic black mold to clashes with local governments and authoritarian power trips, Sam breaks down his firsthand investigation into tech’s most bizarre and dangerous exit strategy.
- 3 weeks ago48 min
AI Spy Towers And Mass Surveillance Tech Coming To Your Town Next
Have you noticed surveillance cameras appearing in your community?SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzFor decades, the US-Mexico border has served as a proving ground for invasive, next-generation surveillance tech like AI surveillance towers, cameras hidden in traffic cones, license plate readers, drones, and spy balloons. Now, those same tools, autonomous AI watchtowers, hidden license plate readers (ALPRs), thermal imaging trucks, and military aerostat blimps, are moving into domestic US cities, suburbs, and neighborhoods. On this week's episode of Free Speech Friday, I’m joined by Dave Maass, director of investigations at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to discuss his reporting on border surveillance and the expanding systems that track people’s movements.Dave explains what he found during his latest trip along the border, how Anduril’s AI-powered surveillance towers operate, and why people living in border communities are caught in these systems. We also discuss Flock Safety, Axon, automated license plate readers, and the connections between local police surveillance and federal immigration enforcement.Who can access the data? How is it used? And what happens when technology promoted as a way to catch criminals is used to investigate protesters or monitor ordinary people?In this conversation, we cover:• AI border surveillance and the “virtual wall”• License plate readers concealed in roadside objects• Surveillance balloons, thermal cameras, and police drones• How military technology moves into domestic policing• Phone location data brokers and social media monitoring• Privacy, free speech, and the “nothing to hide” argument• Public records requests and community efforts to challenge surveillanceSupport my independent journalism and subscribe to User Mag:https://www.usermag.coYou can also support this series through Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzSupport the Electronic Frontier Foundation:https://www.eff.orgExplore the Atlas of Surveillance:https://atlasofsurveillance.org
- 3 weeks ago35 min
People Are Secretly Dating AI And Wont Stop: Everything You Know About AI Girlfriends Is Wrong:
Why are so many people falling in love with ChatGPT, and what do sensational headlines about AI relationships leave out? SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenzIn this episode of Power User I speak with technology journalist Bridget Todd about AI companions, chatbot romance, emotional attachment, and the Big Tech companies behind these increasingly intimate interactions.Bridget’s new audiobook, Love at First Prompt, explores how people use AI for friendship, romance, grief, and emotional support. In this episode, she shares what she learned from interviewing dozens of AI companion users and why the viral ChatGPT marriage story was MUCH more complex than it appeared.We also discuss loneliness, AI girlfriends and boyfriends, privacy, chatbot sycophancy, and the risks facing vulnerable users. Who profits from artificial intimacy? Can AI offer comfort without replacing human relationships? And are proposed chatbot restrictions addressing the problems people actually face?Bridget also discusses how AI figured into her own grieving process, and we talk about what the growing AI intimacy business means for adult content creators, human labor, and digital rights.
- 4 weeks ago20 min
The Govt Wants Your ID To Browse Online
AI agents are rapidly becoming the next major way people interact with the internet. They can browse websites, research topics, compare prices, schedule reservations, respond to emails, shop and increasingly take actions on our behalf. But as your agent is going off and scanning websites, or gathering information from government services, should it have to reveal who you are?SUPPORT MY WORK: Buy a paid subscription to my newsletter at https://www.usermag.co Support my work on Patreon: http://patreon.com/taylorlorenz In this episode of Free Speech Friday, I speak with Shoshana Weissman, digital director and policy advisor at the Abundance Institute, about the growing fight over AI agents, online anonymity and identity verification. We discuss the proposed Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, why lawmakers are looking at AI agents and web scraping, how identity requirements could affect journalists, researchers, developers and ordinary internet users, and what happens if every AI agent eventually becomes tied to a person's real-world identity.We also talk about the difference between legitimate security requirements in areas like banking or healthcare and much broader systems that could create a new identity layer across the internet. As AI agents become more powerful and more common, the rules being written now could determine whether they remain private tools acting on behalf of users, or become another way to track what people research, buy, read and do online.Topics: AI agents, artificial intelligence, AI privacy, online anonymity, AI regulation, identity verification, web scraping, internet privacy, surveillance, government regulation, digital identity, the Stealth Bot Prohibition Act, the future of the open internet.
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About Taylor Lorenz’s Power User
Taylor Lorenz explores how technology and the internet are upending our lives and the world around us. Each week, she explores everything from online fame to emerging platforms, viral phenomena, the creator economy, and much more.
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