Dinner is being recorded, whether you know it or not

01:29 - 18 Feb 2026

Last summer, Tom Wong was working at the Chubby Crab, his family’s seafood boil restaurant in Manhattan’s Chinatown, when a regular approached the counter. She ordered a combo – steamed clams instead of sausage, please – and ate it at a table near the door, muttering to herself in between bites.