Benn Jordan longs for the days of tech that didn’t spy on you
Benn Jordan has shifted from synth reviews to tech investigations, with a focus on surveillance and security flaws.
Intelligence analysis by GPT-5.4 Mini
The Verge profiles Benn Jordan, a YouTube creator who moved from music gear videos into investigations of surveillance tech and security failures. In a questionnaire, he describes a deep dislike of devices that harvest data and a preference for tools that stay simple and private.
Benn Jordan used to talk about music gadgets, but now he checks whether smart devices are sneaky. He likes tools that do one job, like an old watch that just told time, instead of ones that act like a hidden spy camera.
Analysis
A creator who changed lanes
Benn Jordan first became known for music as Flashbulb and later for reviewing synths and effects pedals on YouTube under Benn and Gear. About five years ago, he began steering his channel toward science and technology investigations, and the article says he later turned the whole operation into a nonprofit. The shift did not end his music coverage, but it did change the center of gravity of his work.
From gear to surveillance
Jordan’s recent videos are presented as direct challenges to modern surveillance and insecure hardware. The article cites his coverage of flaws in Flock camera systems, his demonstration of how easy it is to hack a Ring camera, and his work around Unitree robot dogs that seemed to send data back to servers in China. The framing is clear: he has become a creator who tests the promises made by connected devices, especially when those devices can watch, record, or report back.
What he says he values
In the questionnaire, Jordan repeatedly returns to the same theme: he prefers tech that is useful without being invasive. He says he wants phones to be easily unlockable and rootable. His favorite gadget is the original Pebble Watch because, as he describes it, it did not harvest data, tracked nothing, and only did the basics he wanted from a watch. By contrast, he calls the Amazon Echo Show a laggy device that exists to spy on users, show ads, and push paid features.
The broader picture
The profile also shows the playful, experimental side of his work. He names Ninite as the first app he installs on a Windows PC, likes Strudel.cc for in-browser music coding, and says his current obsession is spectrometry and interferometry. Even so, the article’s throughline is that Jordan has moved from reviewing tools to questioning the systems behind them. His work now treats privacy and surveillance as design problems, not side effects.
Key points
- Benn Jordan started out as a music creator and synth reviewer, but he has increasingly focused on technology investigations.
- The article says he turned his YouTube operation into a nonprofit as his work shifted toward science and security topics.
- He has recently covered surveillance and security issues involving Flock cameras, Ring cameras, and Unitree robot dogs.
- In the questionnaire, he says he values simple, private tools and dislikes devices that harvest data or push ads.
- His answers repeatedly point back to privacy, control, and the appeal of older or more transparent tech.
Jordan’s shift could keep shining a light on security problems that companies would rather ignore. If his investigations keep reaching people, they may push more buyers to care about privacy before buying connected gadgets.
The same surveillance and security problems he highlights may continue to spread across consumer devices if companies do not change course. His work can expose flaws, but the article shows a tech world where many popular products still trade convenience for data collection.
