Salutations from the shadows,
One of the old Moscow Rules warns us to “Leave no trace.” In the Cold War, those traces were physical. A KGB surveillance team could track a CIA case officer through footprints in fresh snow, the smudge of a handprint on a door, or a cigarette butt tossed carelessly into the gutter. If you wanted to survive in that environment, you learned to erase your presence, to move through the city without leaving a trail that could be followed. Today, the environment has changed. You might not be trailed on foot through icy streets, but your movements are tracked in a way that would have made the KGB salivate. Every purchase, every click, every swipe leaves a mark.