Michael Bazzell from IntelTechniques was a unique and irreplaceable resource. He specializes in OSINT and gave invaluable information through his podcast and books on how people can avoid revealing their data in the first place, rather than only trying to “minimize” how much of your data is publicized (which will still inevitably leak and remain available to those skilled in OSINT). Unfortunately he abruptly ended his podcast in 2023 and has also since discontinued his books due to piracy.
Since then no one has filled the void he left, but he’s finally making a reappearance through his UNREDACTED Magazine. In September they were aiming for donations but didn’t receive enough, so they’re now offering paid early access to magazines. I only had time to skim through the previous issue but by the looks of it he is touching on OSINT-related subjects which aren’t usually addressed (or at least not very well) elsewhere and I think we can expect more in future issues.
I’m not sure if his books or podcasts will ever return but I’m happy to see he’s exploring ways to make sharing his expertise worth his while. For those who can afford it, I’d suggest subscribing and paying for UNREDACTED Magazine so we can give him a reason to stay. If this subscription model works, I wonder if he’d also reconsider starting up the podcast with paid early access. I can only hope!
He discontinued his books about a year after the podcast. It’s stated on the website in these sections:
(Quotes from Release Schedule & Books F.A.Q.)
Release Schedule
OSINT Techniques (11th Edition Paperback and Digital) was originally published in November 2024. There are no plans for a new edition. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
Extreme Privacy (5th Edition Paperback and Digital) was originally published in August 2024. There are no plans for a new edition. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
This Book Was Self-Published (Digital Edition) was originally re-released in June 2024. There are no plans for a new edition. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
The Leaks, Breaches, & Logs PDF is no longer available for purchase. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
The Ultimate Virtual Machine PDF is no longer available for purchase. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
The Mobile Devices PDF is no longer available for purchase. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
The macOS Devices PDF is no longer available for purchase. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
The Linux Devices PDF is no longer available for purchase. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
The VPNs & Firewalls PDF is no longer available for purchase. The final digital revision is 2025.04.02. Any content updates will be posted to the Blog.
Books F.A.Q.
Q: Are you planning any future books, guides, or editions?
A: Unfortunately, no. We have finally reached the point where downloads of illegal pirated books severely outnumber legitimately purchased copies. Most people would now rather download free ebooks than support the work and research of independent authors. We are not mad, that is just where society is. As a business, we can simply no longer justify the expense and time required to put out new books when so many readers are choosing to post them online or steal them from hundreds of piracy websites. Therefore, we have scrapped the plans for any future books including the upcoming self-hosting and second passport guides. We will focus our efforts on our magazine, online training, live events, and clients, which will always receive the benefits of our latest research. The goal of the books has always been to offer an extremely affordable way to replicate the services we offer. That model worked for several years, but it seems broken today. All good things must come to an end, and we had a great run over the past 15 years. Thank you to all who supported our silly ideas!
Ahh I missed that! Thanks! I had thought he was still going to keep doing a annual OSINT Techniques.
Anyway if someone wants to use my discount code for UNREDACTED version 9, I’m happy to forward the email. I don’t plan on using it. Otherwise it will eventually be released for free.
Ummm…I’d gladly send him $10 for the latest issue of Unredacted, but his payment processor (something called payhip) only accepts credit cards, which kind of floors me, because, well, that’s neither private nor anonymous, and quite traceable even if you use mysudo or virtual credit cards that may or may not even work with this payhip thing. C’mon Michael. Give us a crypto address or something. I’d gladly pay for Unredacted if I don’t have to risk giving you my identity. Has anyone tried to pay for this with a Vanilla VISA gift card? It seems like half of payment processors block payment from these now too. After you enter the card info, you get “Something went wrong. Try again later” etc etc
They should display it more prominently but it seems they do accept both Bitcoin and Monero according to the Magazine FAQ:
Q: Do you accept virtual currencies for payment?
A: Yes. Email us for the BTC or Monero payment address. We only use locally-stored wallets, never exchanges. We cannot accept cash.
If you end up emailing them to make the purchase I’d also include a suggestion for them set up a cryptocurrency payment processor like BTCPay Server (which can also integrate Monero if they wish) so that they don’t have to manually reply to emails for each transaction and can readily display it as a payment option equal to Payhip.
I misspoke in that I should have said that Payhip only accepts credit AND debit cards. Hence my question about whether anyone has successfully used a Vanilla VISA debit card to pay. But when you go in to pay, there’s no other option listed other than Visa, MC and Discover. Nice to know you can email them to pay by XMR or BTC. I’ll try that.
I’m curious if $10 per magazine is worth it. It only takes 5 editions before you’re at the cost of one of his books. Will these have a better value than the books? I guess the only way to know for sure is to drop the $10 and see what happens. I’ve been a huge MB fan for years and his podcast was the first I found when I started my privacy journey. Maybe I’ll bite the bullet for everyone here and write a review on if its worth it or not.
It’s critical to consider that because he is no longer updating his books, over time more and more of the information will go stale. I’m not sure if we could compare the value of 5 magazine issues vs 1 book, but even if it wasn’t worth the same for that cost it is still a uniquely valuable resource as no one else has filled the “extreme privacy” niche since.
Victims of persistent stalkers and other highly targeted people wouldn’t get by with the privacy advice from organizations like the EFF, Privacy Guides, etc. It’s not a knock at them since countering OSINT requires specialization, plenty of resources, and real-world clients to actually test what works. As far as I can find, Michael Bazzell is the only person offering in-depth counter-OSINT advice (which may otherwise be gate-kept or underutilized by private security companies) to the public who cannot afford private security.