At first it was simple: a pulse of progress bars, the hum of a browser working overtime, the thrill of something moving where it shouldn’t. Files slid across an invisible bridge—music, glossy magazines from years ago, a half-forgotten indie film—each transfer a tiny theft of time and attention. The leech wasn’t just a script or a bot; it felt like a nocturnal creature siphoning bits of culture from servers and dumping them into my lap.