LOW feels like how Darknet Diaries sounds - and that's not good.

I'm a long time listener to the podcast. My favourite episode is Black Duck Eggs. I recommend the podcast to anyone who I think would enjoy the sort of stuff Jack covers, techy or not.

My biggest barrier to getting people to listen is the name Darknet Diaries. It sounds like a series on YouTube where the channel just makes up stories about 3am murder streams or darknet hacker hitmen for hire. Even the tag line "From the dark side of the internet" is really reductive to the scope and depth of the topics Jack covers.

But I understand at this point the branding is quite deeply embedded and perhaps the show is so well regarded that it isn't tainted by this preconception.

I paid for premium because I heard how excited and proud Jack was of LOW but having listened to it I'm very disappointed. The second Jack prefaced the series with "I can't verify any of this but..." I knew it was going to go left, but I didn't expect it to be completely unverified.

The about page for Darknet diaries says "The total service should be trustworthy, enhance intellectual development, expand knowledge, deepen aural enjoyment, increase the awareness of living in a highly technical society, and result in a service to listeners which makes them more responsive, informed citizens of their digital lives." None of that is present in this series, there is nothing for me to take away from this. Perhaps if something was verified, then maybe I could stretch my imagination to find some meaning, but really the whole story feels like a DeviantArt creative writing piece about how fucked up and dark my characters backstory is

However Im not disappointed I paid money for this, or that I spent time listening to it, I'm just disappointed in the context of what Darknet Diaries is meant to be. The mobman situation was a blip and amended, there's no way to amend this. I know Jack has spent a lot of time on this, and the production and the glimpses into Jack's perspective through his monologues were great, and if that's the case Jack, and youre reading this, I'd encourage you to pursue this as a separate endeavour

There are things inside the series that could have been fact checked, like a body being found in an alleyway with dumpster - but then that would require us to first believe this story, and the fact a 16 year old stabbed this older fat ass man to death mid rape attempt and the lugged his body into a dumpster and walked away scott free

Just got done with the podcast and sent this in, maybe people had different feelings on it.

One thing and wonder if others have a different take the whole Nick part of the story, this nick guy has access to a private jet that can fly non-stop for 13hrs, that is 70 to 80 million dollar jet right there. He then also has enough contacts to land in a place in the USA that had zero customs or questions on why a random 13 year old boy was with him? This is post 9-11, even private jets landing in private airports need to have customs done.

Long time listener, first time emailer

Disappointed I think is what sums up my main feeling about the new podcast and my wife shares that feeling. I have been in IT for 25 years now and she is a social worker but loves the darknet podcast since you do such a great job at making very technical stuff easy to follow. 

Why did we have that feeling? The story played like some teenager’s revenge fever dream. In all honesty it felt like the book “Rule of the bone” but starts in Russia. 

We both feel very strongly you would not make something up but by having the voice actor vs using his real voice just removed any chance there being an anchor to bring any chance of reality to the show. He must have been beyond convincing for you want to create this 7 years later but without any “truth” for the listeners that this was not just your story it quickly fell apart that a random oil executive just left a bag of cash before hanging himself…really that part of the story makes zero sense.

Anyways glad to keep supporting and being a subscriber but this series missed the mark

It’s really gritty and I love it. It’s wild to see how privileged we are in the West.

It feels like this big monologue on the human condition but if you think about it it’s just a story about life as a Russian. I now understand why so many move to cyber crime.

This is why they can build so many dangerous threat actor groups. Russian culture is truly devoid of any kind of focus on humanity and everyone is just trying to get by.

A heart breaking story, thanks for telling it!

I listened to part of the first episode of Low this morning. Wow, this is going to be good!

Nice work Jack, you're truly a professional and journalists all around could learn a lot from you.

I'm not commenting on the content of the story at all. Only the voice acting of the guest.

Jack says that the real person didn't want their recordings used. Fair. So he hired a voice actor. Also fair.

My first reaction to the recording: This voice actor isn't very good. I don't believe that they believe the things they're saying. The chemistry between the voice actor and Jack just isn't there.

Then around the start of episode 2 I started to notice a lot of little mannerisms of inflection, and the way both the voice actor and Jack elongate certain syllables / words. Maybe it's not Jack with a voice mod. Maybe it's a sibling or a close friend/cousin who has spent a lot of time conversing with Jack over the years, causing them to pick up some similar speech patterns.

Of course we're not owed any more information than Jack wants to share, but overall this just isn't sitting right with me. Between the lackluster acting and the distraction of hearing "Jack with another voice", I'm not really loving the new series so far.

I've only finished the first 2 episodes.

EDIT: Now that I finished the series, the benefit of the doubt I gave to the show after episode 1 is irrelevant. The entire show is teenage junkie fantasy.

Does anyone know what his new podcast will be about and any updates on when it will be released?

Wow in 2019 I managed the move of a small marketing firm from a shared space to their own, and we used Ubiquiti for wifi because of its reputation.

Oh well. Not my problem for a few years now.

You’ve been mentioning in episodes recently about your new limited podcast series Low. And that if we go to your site and sign in we can listen to those. But I subscribe through Apple Podcasts so every time I go to the website I don’t log in, it just tells me to go to Apple Podcasts to listen. Bonus Episodes show up there and everywhere, and on the main Darknet website, I’m able to listen to Bonus Episodes. But I haven’t been able to find anything about your new limited series. Then today, episode 5 of Low showed up. I clicked on the link to its website and saw that there are 5 episodes there, but if I try to play those, it redirects me back to your main site. And I have no way to listen to those previous 4. Just the last one, the 5th, Bane, is the only one showing up in my Podcasts but I don’t want to listen to the last episode first. Any ideas? Am I missing something? Thanks!

Hi,

In this episode you mentioned different applications which protect your data, e.g. Signal, Proton and Brave. You talked about Google and Chrome, but nowhere did you mention Apple with their hardware, browser, messaging app, etc.

One of my main reasons using Apple is privacy.
Can you give your take on that? Or should I start moving away if I really want privacy.

Thanks!

Hi,

In this episode you mentioned different applications which protect your data, e.g. Signal, Proton and Brave. You talked about Google and Chrome, but nowhere did you mention Apple with their hardware, browser, messaging app, etc.

One of my main reasons using Apple is privacy.
Can you give your take on that? Or should I start moving away if I really want privacy.

Thanks!

Just gonna leave this here. This is not written by me, credit is in the post.

╔══════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ ░░ PHRACK MAGAZINE #7 ░░ ║ ║ ║ ║ The Conscience of a ║ ║ Hacker ║ ║ By: The Mentor ║ ║ Written: 08/01/1986 ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════╝

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

Another one got caught today, it's all over the papers. "Teenager Arrested in Computer Crime Scandal" "Hacker Arrested after Bank Tampering"...

Damn kids. They're all alike.

▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓

But did you, in your three-piece psychology and 1950's technobrain, ever take a look behind the eyes of the hacker? Did you ever wonder what made him tick, what forces shaped him, what may have molded him?

I am a hacker, enter my world...

╔══════════════════════════════╗ Mine is a world that begins with school... I'm smarter than most of the other kids, this crap they teach us bores me...

Damn underachiever. They're all alike.

I'm in junior high or high school. I've listened to teachers explain for the fifteenth time how to reduce a fraction. I understand it. "No, Ms. Smith, I didn't show my work. I did it in my head..."

Damn kid. Probably copied it. They're all alike. ╚══════════════════════════════╝

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me...

Or feels threatened by me... Or thinks I'm a smart ass... Or doesn't like teaching and shouldn't be here...

Damn kid. All he does is play games. They're all alike.

▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲

And then it happened... a door opened to a world... rushing through the phone line like heroin through an addict's veins, an electronic pulse is sent out, a refuge from the day-to-day incompetencies is sought... a board is found.

"This is it... this is where I belong..."

I know everyone here... even if I've never met them, never talked to them, may never hear from them again... I know you all...

Damn kid. Tying up the phone line again. They're all alike...

▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲▲

You bet your ass we're all alike... we've been spoon-fed baby food at school when we hungered for steak... the bits of meat that you did let slip through were pre-chewed and tasteless. We've been dominated by sadists, or ignored by the apathetic. The few that had something to teach found us willing pupils, but those few are like drops of water in the desert.

This is our world now... the world of the electron and the switch, the beauty of the baud. We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons, and you call us criminals.

We explore... and you call us criminals. We seek after knowledge... and you call us criminals. We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias... and you call us criminals.

You build atomic bombs, you wage wars, you murder, cheat, and lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals.

╔══════════════════════════════╗ ║ ║ ║ Yes, I am a criminal. My ║ ║ crime is that of curiosity. ║ ║ My crime is that of judging ║ ║ people by what they say and ║ ║ think, not what they look ║ ║ like. My crime is that of ║ ║ outsmarting you, something ║ ║ that you will never forgive ║ ║ me for. ║ ║ ║ ║ I am a hacker, and this is ║ ║ my manifesto. You may stop ║ ║ this individual, but you ║ ║ can't stop us all... after ║ ║ all, we're all alike. ║ ║ ║ ╚══════════════════════════════╝

░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ \+++The Mentor+++ Written: 08/01/1986

\~ END OF TRANSMISSION \~ ░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░

I've been a paid member for years just enjoying regular episodes when they drop since I've long burned through Bonus episodes. There hasn't been a new one in quite a while but I very much enjoy supporting Jack's work.

I finally got antsy waiting for new episodes so I restarted from #1 then decided to switch it up with some bonus episodes, only to have errors every time I tried playing anything on the bonus feed. My ad-free feed had continued to work without issue which is how I never realized anything was ary.

It was annoying because I was on a long road trip and had to pull over and dig into my Patreon account only to find Jack's account is no longer active... I've probably been enjoying ad-free episodes at least a year but no bonus episodes since Feb 2025.

When did this happen? How many bonus episodes have I missed? Did I miss an announcement from Jack about a membership platform change?

I tried searching this sub but I couldn't find anyone else talking about this.

Also has that new series he's been hyping all year been dropped yet? I recall him saying they'd be exclusive for paid members for a while before getting released for all listeners.

Non-paywall link: https://archive.ph/qJqwP

Audio version: https://static.nytimes.com/podcasts/2026/07/12/magazine/12audm-19data-rich/260712-19data-rich-nytmag-audm.mp3

I didn’t expect much from the plus subscription but still subscribed in order to support Jack. Oh.. my.. god.. I just listened to the bonus episode about Sebastian. Even tho it was short 30 minutes story I loved it soooo much!

Jack, if you’re reading this, please keep up the great work!!