The internet Putin always wanted

Visa denials. Frozen grants. Whispers of disloyalty. It all feels strangely familiar. This week: the story of Qian Xuesen—an exiled Chinese scientist who once helped America win a war, only to be driven out in a season of suspicion. His exile isn’t just history. It’s a warning. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For decades, the U.S. has led the world in cyber innovation. But when it comes to resilience — the ability to withstand and recover from an attack — we’ve fallen dangerously behind. Anne Neuberger, former deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, explains how AI-powered “digital twins” could help us catch up — and maybe even get ahead. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Scams aren’t always loud. They don’t always come with pop-ups, typos, or promises of instant riches. The most effective ones whisper and tap into our better angels. And once they’re done that… they have us. In this CyberMonday crossover with WAMU’s 1A, we return to a Click Here episode and take your calls—on scams that prey not on our wallets but on our humanity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Kremlin has mastered controlling the message online. But now, tens of thousands of soldiers are coming home from Ukraine with stories the state can’t erase. Kateryna Stepanenko, a Russia analyst with the Institute for the Study of War, explains why those voices scare Vladimir Putin — and how far he’ll go to keep them quiet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The Kremlin claims it’s slowing mobile internet to keep Ukrainian drones at bay. But that’s just the cover story. What’s really happening is Vladimir Putin’s long-imagined plan for a walled-off Russian internet — a plan that’s fast becoming a model for strongmen around the world. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The A.I. boom is reshaping our world—and quietly guzzling power. This week, sustainable code advocate Stuart Clark explains how the race to build smarter machines is heating up our planet—and how we can code our way to a cleaner future. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

For years, companies have been collecting our data—tracking what we search, where we go, what we buy. But now, empowered by AI and fewer government protections, that data is being used to do something unsettling: personalized prices. We look at how it works. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What happens when a government erases a people’s digital past? This week on Click Here’s Mic Drop, the story of China’s quiet purge of the Uyghur web—and the lone coder determined to bring it back to life.ERASED is a four-part investigation into how China is wiping Uyghur culture from existence — one law, one app, one person, one website at a time. From shuttered schools to vanishing websites, ERASED uncovers an authoritarian regime’s campaign to delete a culture — and the unlikely rebels racing to stop it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Ekpar Asat dreamed of building a digital home for his people—a place where Uyghurs could share music, stories, and a sense of belonging. Beijing saw that dream as a threat. They erased the network, and then they erased him. But what happened in Xinjiang wasn’t only about one man or one community. It has become a blueprint for how repression spreads—far beyond China’s borders.ERASED is a four-part investigation into how China is wiping Uyghur culture from existence — one law, one app, one person, one website at a time. From shuttered schools to vanishing websites, ERASED uncovers an authoritarian regime’s campaign to delete a culture — and the unlikely rebels racing to stop it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

China’s surveillance of Uyghurs has leapt from the physical world to the digital one. No longer just QR codes on doorways, it’s now hidden in cloud services and software updates. This week on Click Here’s Mic Drop, how digital tools meant to protect identity are being used to erase it.ERASED is a four-part investigation into how China is wiping Uyghur culture from existence — one law, one app, one person, one website at a time. From shuttered schools to vanishing websites, ERASED uncovers an authoritarian regime’s campaign to delete a culture — and the unlikely rebels racing to stop it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices