Reveal: Exposing a Global Surveillance Empire

Podcast: Reveal (The Center for Investigative Reporting & PRX)
Host: Al Letson
Date: October 18, 2025

Episode Overview

This gripping episode of Reveal unveils a hidden global surveillance network, focusing on the little-known company FirstWAP and its powerful tracking software, Altimedes. In collaboration with Lighthouse Reports and 12 other outlets, the investigative team breaks down how this tech has enabled states, private companies, and even individuals to secretly monitor thousands of people across 160 countries—including journalists, political dissidents, business executives, and ordinary citizens. The episode blends data analytics, first-hand victim testimony, undercover reporting, and expert insight to expose a surveillance industry operating beyond regulation and accountability.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Discovery of a Shadowy Surveillance Data Trove

Timestamps: 02:07 – 11:01

• Gabriel Geiger (investigative journalist) accidentally discovers an unsecured data set tied to "FirstWAP," a little-known surveillance tech company whose outdated name references a long-abandoned internet protocol.
• The data: 1.5 million lines spanning 8 years, covering 700,000 tracking points in 160 countries.
• Matched numbers include high-profile figures like Italian journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, known for exposing Vatican corruption.
• Quote:

  "It's like the Kraken... you can measure it, you can weigh it, you can count how many tentacles it's got, but you don't have a guide."
  — Gabriel Geiger (09:25)

2. What is Altimedes and How Does it Work?

Timestamps: 11:01 – 12:54

• Altimedes (Advanced Location Tracking Mobile Information and Deception System) allows users to track virtually any phone number with no trace on the device—unlike spyware such as Pegasus.
• Exploits insecure global telecom signaling protocols, not requiring installation on the target's phone.
• Features include live tracking, intercepting calls/texts, accessing encrypted messaging platforms, and geofencing areas.
• Quote:

  "You can type in virtually any phone number and it will be able to track it anywhere in the world with no trace on the phone."
  — Gabriel Geiger (12:05)

3. High-Profile Victims: From Journalists to World Leaders

Timestamps: 13:34 – 16:45, 21:44 – 22:11

• Altimedes was used to track Gianluigi Nuzzi days after his Vatican expose published, coinciding with a Vatican leak investigation and arrests.
• Data reveals tracking of politicians, entrepreneurs, entertainers, and business executives:
  • Jared Leto
  • Erik Prince (Blackwater founder)
  • Anne Wojcicki (23andMe)
  • Adam Siralski (Netflix, ex-CIA lawyer)
  • The Prime Minister of Qatar, Assad’s wife, Red Bull executives
• Quote:

  "It's this sort of dizzying number of important people from all over the world."
  — Gabriel Geiger (21:44)

4. Ordinary People Targeted – The Unseen Toll

Timestamps: 22:30 – 27:13

• Many unknowns: a British therapist, a teacher, a softball coach in Hawaii—all inexplicably tracked.
• "Sophia", a Russian-born corporate executive in the UK, was tracked for nearly a year. Suspects espionage or corporate intrigue.
• Abuse reaches personal realms: Employees with system access used it to track romantic interests, spouses, even children.
• Quote:

  "This software became a sort of plaything of some people who had access to it, and they used it to track people they were romantically pursuing or harassing... It's really alarming."
  — Gabriel Geiger (26:04)

5. Relational Targeting & Political Killings Abroad

Timestamps: 27:36 – 34:28

• By analyzing data clusters, the team uncovers widespread “relational targeting”—tracking the family and associates of primary targets.
• Focus on Rwandan exiles and dissidents in South Africa; opposition leader Patrick Karagaya, later murdered, was surrounded by contacts targeted with Altimedes.
• Used by oppressive states such as Rwanda to pursue enemies beyond their borders.
• Quote:

  "You have a principal target in mind... You track them collaterally. We see it in just about every case that we investigate."
  — Ron Deibert, Citizen Lab (31:50)

6. FirstWAP’s Ties to Authoritarian Regimes

Timestamps: 34:28 – 37:38

• Evidence suggests FirstWAP peddled its services to governments with abysmal human rights records, including Belarus, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE, and Uzbekistan.
• FirstWAP executives, including founder Josef Fuchs, traveled to drum up business in countries experiencing political unrest (i.e., Thailand).
• The company denies wrongdoing and direct involvement in client usage.
• Quote:

  "This is essentially despotism as a service."
  — Gabriel Geiger (36:52)

7. Undercover Reporting: How the Industry Sells Surveillance

Timestamps: 39:02 – 47:08

• Lighthouse Reports sends Emanuel Freudenthal undercover as “Albert,” a shady business broker, to ISS World Europe, a key industry conference.
• The meeting with Gunter Rudolf (FirstWAP sales director) reveals willingness to:
  • Demonstrate WhatsApp account takeovers
  • Satisfy clearly unethical client “red flags”
  • Discuss sales to private companies targeting protesters
  • Explain how to circumvent international sanctions via their Indonesian office
• Standout Moment:

  "We will never know about this project, quote, unquote."
  — Gunter Rudolf, describing how to route deals through Jakarta (46:04)

8. The Confrontation: Facing Down FirstWAP

Timestamps: 47:08 – 49:43

• Emanuel reveals his real identity as a journalist coalition member on a follow-up call; FirstWAP execs fall silent, then deflect, denying wrongdoing.
• FirstWAP later claims “misunderstandings” and insists they only sell to governments, not corporate clients.

9. Fallout and Broader Implications

Timestamps: 50:04 – End

• European telecom company suspends FirstWAP partnership after the reveal.
• U.S. Senator Ron Wyden highlights weaknesses in global phone security and calls for reform.
• The story demonstrates how easily surveillance technology escapes supposed regulatory and legal safeguards, being used by both states and private actors to devastating effect.
• Closing Reflection:

  "It redefines who uses these tools. It redefines who can get targeted by them."
  — Gabriel Geiger (50:04)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the chilling effect:

  "You can really tell over the course of that interview that he's genuinely disturbed... He felt this showed the chilling effect this type of technology can have on the work of journalists like himself and other journalists all around the world."
  — Gabriel Geiger, on Gianluigi Nuzzi (19:02)

• On the surveillance industry:

  "These are companies that are facilitating human rights abuses and some pretty horrible, egregious practices. So we're dealing with the facilitation through this service of transnational authoritarianism."
  — Ron Deibert (37:04)

• On regulatory gaps:

  "It underscores the glaring weaknesses in our phone system, which the US Government and phone companies have failed dismally to address."
  — Al Letson quoting Senator Wyden (50:34)

Section Timestamps Guide

• [02:07] Start of core reporting and world map metaphor
• [04:27] Discovery of FirstWAP and the data set
• [11:01] Explanation of Altimedes’ operation
• [13:34] The Gianluigi Nuzzi (Vatican) case
• [21:44] List of high-profile monitored individuals
• [22:30] Ordinary people as victims—Sophia's story
• [27:36] Relational targeting & Rwandan dissidents
• [34:28] Authoritarian regime client list
• [39:02] Undercover operation at ISS World Europe
• [47:08] The reveal/debrief with FirstWAP execs
• [50:04] Aftermath and implications

Conclusion

This episode exposes a vast and underregulated surveillance-for-hire industry, a world where powerful tools leap from government hands to corporations—and sometimes private individuals—without oversight or consequence. The story demonstrates the ease with which power can reach into anyone’s life, reshape relationships, and stifle dissent, leaving urgent open questions about privacy, accountability, and the future of investigative journalism.

For more details or to explore the full investigation, visit revealnews.org.