Many perceive Russia as a country that has triumphed over the "digital gulag": the state possesses all of its citizens' personal data, knows what they do online, who they call, and who they communicate with—and uses this data to control the population and suppress dissent. In reality, the situation is more interesting and complex: modern Russia is a country where cyberpunk has triumphed. Thanks to corruption and official incompetence, not only security forces but also corporations, fraudsters, journalists, and anyone else can gain free access to the most sensitive data. For little or no money, you can find everything from flight statistics to bank statements. Some people need them to identify soldiers committing war crimes in Ukraine, while others need them to spy on a woman they like or develop an extortion scheme.

How did former KGB officers develop software to exploit stolen databases from the Gorbushka supermarket chain? How did the author of a book use leaked databases to find Vladimir Putin's illegitimate daughter? How did Moscow programmers, hoping to develop an astonishing technology of the future, end up creating a total surveillance system for Muscovites? How do security forces and activists find the creators of anonymous Telegram channels? A book by one of Russia's leading investigative journalists, Andrei Zakharov, brings together these astonishing stories and dozens more into a single narrative that offers plenty of reasons to be horrified, but also hope: despite the state's years-long attempt to bring the data market under its complete control, Russians are successfully resisting and undermining the Kremlin's efforts.

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