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From the FBI's Most Wanted to Privacy Advocate: They Own You
From the FBI's Most Wanted to Privacy Advocate: They Own You
When a former hacker who spent years on the FBI's Most Wanted list teams up with his daughter who started college at 13, the conversation about digital privacy gets real fast. Jesse "Hackah Jak" Tuttle and his daughter Reesë join us for a raw discussion about surveillance capitalism, the death of childhood freedom, and why we're sleepwalking into a Chinese-style social credit system.
Jesse's journey from basement hacker to federal intelligence asset to convicted felon reads like a cyberpunk novel - except it's all true. Meanwhile, Reese represents a generation that came of age watching their privacy disappear in real time. Together, they run a cybersecurity company that exposes how scammers operate, but more importantly, they've become unlikely advocates for digital rights in an age when most people have given up the fight.
The uncomfortable truth they reveal: We're not just losing our privacy - we're losing our ability to be human. When every mistake is recorded forever and every moment of exploration is surveilled, we create a generation of "sterile character" that never learns to take risks, never develops resilience, and never discovers who they really are.
Key Conversations:
0:00 - Welcome and introductions
02:00 - Jesse's origin story: From dial-up bulletin boards to Code Red virus
08:00 - The FBI raid: "I thought you would've been here two weeks ago"
15:00 - Becoming a federal informant: When they won't let you confess
22:00 - The local vendetta: Four years of house arrest for being inconvenient
29:00 - Starting the family cybersecurity business
35:00 - The Palantir problem: Why consolidating all data is terrifying
42:00 - The Eric Loomis case: When AI decides your prison sentence
48:00 - The quantum threat: Why today's encrypted data won't stay private
52:00 - Lost childhoods: When cameras end bus floor sliding forever
57:00 - Behavioral control and the attention economy
1:07:00 - The 47-second attention span apocalypse
1:19:00 - What we can actually do about it
The Big Questions:
What happens when all your data lives in one place? Jesse breaks down why Palantir's vision of consolidated information is a hacker's dream and a citizen's nightmare. Spoiler: There's no such thing as a system without bad actors.
How did we train an entire generation never to pay attention? Reese explains how short-form content literally rewired our brains to avoid cause-and-effect thinking. When Marvel movies become too boring to watch, we have a problem.
Why is wanting privacy now considered radical? Both guests argue that the shift from seeing privacy as a right to seeing it as suspicious represents one of the most dangerous cultural changes of our time.
Can we actually do anything about it? Their answer involves constitutional amendments, European-style data rights, and something they call "digital self-defense."
Most Chilling Moment:
Jesse described how the police told him they had all the power, and they'd hound him until he gave in.
Most Hopeful Moment:
Reese's conviction that her generation can still choose to walk away from the attention economy: "They can't keep making money off of us if we don't let them."
The Bottom Line:
We're at a crossroads. We can accept the convenience of total surveillance and watch individual agency disappear forever, or we can fight for the right to be imperfect humans who learn through trial and error. But we have to choose soon - because the infrastructure of control is already being built around us.
Resources Mentioned:
European GDPR regulations
The Eric Loomis case and COMPAS AI sentencing
China's social credit system
Ring camera security issues
Quantum computing threats to encryption
Connect with the Guests:
Reese Tuttle runs AP2T Labs, focusing on cybersecurity awareness training and scam prevention. Jesse speaks about his experience as both a reformed hacker and an intelligence asset.
This episode contains strong language and discusses themes of government overreach, digital surveillance, and the erosion of privacy rights. This is the real world, so if you can't handle that, find some sand to bury your head in. Listener discretion is advised.
Get full access to Masters of Influence at mastersofinfluence.substack.com/subscribe
View all episodes
By Jeff LoehrFrom the FBI's Most Wanted to Privacy Advocate: They Own You
When a former hacker who spent years on the FBI's Most Wanted list teams up with his daughter who started college at 13, the conversation about digital privacy gets real fast. Jesse "Hackah Jak" Tuttle and his daughter Reesë join us for a raw discussion about surveillance capitalism, the death of childhood freedom, and why we're sleepwalking into a Chinese-style social credit system.
Jesse's journey from basement hacker to federal intelligence asset to convicted felon reads like a cyberpunk novel - except it's all true. Meanwhile, Reese represents a generation that came of age watching their privacy disappear in real time. Together, they run a cybersecurity company that exposes how scammers operate, but more importantly, they've become unlikely advocates for digital rights in an age when most people have given up the fight.
The uncomfortable truth they reveal: We're not just losing our privacy - we're losing our ability to be human. When every mistake is recorded forever and every moment of exploration is surveilled, we create a generation of "sterile character" that never learns to take risks, never develops resilience, and never discovers who they really are.
Key Conversations:
0:00 - Welcome and introductions
02:00 - Jesse's origin story: From dial-up bulletin boards to Code Red virus
08:00 - The FBI raid: "I thought you would've been here two weeks ago"
15:00 - Becoming a federal informant: When they won't let you confess
22:00 - The local vendetta: Four years of house arrest for being inconvenient
29:00 - Starting the family cybersecurity business
35:00 - The Palantir problem: Why consolidating all data is terrifying
42:00 - The Eric Loomis case: When AI decides your prison sentence
48:00 - The quantum threat: Why today's encrypted data won't stay private
52:00 - Lost childhoods: When cameras end bus floor sliding forever
57:00 - Behavioral control and the attention economy
1:07:00 - The 47-second attention span apocalypse
1:19:00 - What we can actually do about it
The Big Questions:
What happens when all your data lives in one place? Jesse breaks down why Palantir's vision of consolidated information is a hacker's dream and a citizen's nightmare. Spoiler: There's no such thing as a system without bad actors.
How did we train an entire generation never to pay attention? Reese explains how short-form content literally rewired our brains to avoid cause-and-effect thinking. When Marvel movies become too boring to watch, we have a problem.
Why is wanting privacy now considered radical? Both guests argue that the shift from seeing privacy as a right to seeing it as suspicious represents one of the most dangerous cultural changes of our time.
Can we actually do anything about it? Their answer involves constitutional amendments, European-style data rights, and something they call "digital self-defense."
Most Chilling Moment:
Jesse described how the police told him they had all the power, and they'd hound him until he gave in.
Most Hopeful Moment:
Reese's conviction that her generation can still choose to walk away from the attention economy: "They can't keep making money off of us if we don't let them."
The Bottom Line:
We're at a crossroads. We can accept the convenience of total surveillance and watch individual agency disappear forever, or we can fight for the right to be imperfect humans who learn through trial and error. But we have to choose soon - because the infrastructure of control is already being built around us.
Resources Mentioned:
European GDPR regulations
The Eric Loomis case and COMPAS AI sentencing
China's social credit system
Ring camera security issues
Quantum computing threats to encryption
Connect with the Guests:
Reese Tuttle runs AP2T Labs, focusing on cybersecurity awareness training and scam prevention. Jesse speaks about his experience as both a reformed hacker and an intelligence asset.
This episode contains strong language and discusses themes of government overreach, digital surveillance, and the erosion of privacy rights. This is the real world, so if you can't handle that, find some sand to bury your head in. Listener discretion is advised.
Get full access to Masters of Influence at mastersofinfluence.substack.com/subscribe