comStar Firewall alert - PhaseThrough

Matrix overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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in Seattle (like we saw last year with the technomancer hysteria).
Your favorite virtual store could be based down the street or on a
different continent, but your purchase arrives just the same. Your
employer could have an office building and a thirty minute commute,
or, just as likely, you could log on to a virtual office where
your boss is based in England, your secretary in Kolkota, and your
favorite “coffee break” buddy is in NYC. A college professor could
be based in LA and be lecturing to kids in Madrid.
Ask most people in Seattle how far away Neo-Tokyo is, and
they’ll shrug and reply, “about 3 seconds.” Most commlinks come
with an automatic time-zone adjuster, which lets you know the
time of the place you’re calling, just in case you forget that the
sun doesn’t rise in Neo-Tokyo at the same time as in Portland. For
many people, that small digital time display blinking at the uppermost
corner of their commcall is the only reminder they have
that their best friend lives an ocean away.
That means that people become concerned about things
that would never before have touched them. The media’s constant
broadcast of global news brings home even remote threats, if
they’re sensational enough. The Seattle ork slasher murders has
orks in cities across the globe jumping at shadows, as if the murderer
will fly across oceans to skulk in their alleyways. The recent
disappearance of twenty children in New Orleans has parents
across the globe flocking to the KIDNetwork to protect their own
offspring. A tense terrorist standoff in London will have viewers
tuned into the streaming newsfeeds 24/7, hanging on the realtime
developments. Public interest is held by the shocking and
the scandalous, not necessarily the relevant.
The interconnectedness that the Matrix allows also provides
like-minded individuals the ability to connect in ways unimaginable
a few decades ago. Patients suffering from extremely rare
diseases can connect virtually and exchange advice and commiseration.
Chess competitions can draw players from around the
globe. Conservationists interested in the fate of the three-toed
sloth can meet for virtual conferences and organize virtual sit-in
campaigns to raise awareness among local officials.
reLigion
Religious and spiritual organizations—those that don’t
condemn it out of hand—use the Matrix to bring congregations
together. Muslims around the globe can subscribe to Mecca-
NET, joining a global community, having the ability to attend
virtual (or AR) services in a Mosque, and synchronizing their
clocks to the prayer times in Mecca itself. Catholics, attempting
to revive a flagging interest in their religion, have embraced the
advantages of wireless technology, broadcasting live AR feeds
from the Vatican, allowing AR confessions and absolutions, even
providing entirely virtual masses. Other religions have declared
the Matrix anathema, but those religions are finding that their
members have a hard time dealing with the modern world.
> And many of those radical religions have a tendency to show up
on corporate watchlists as potential terrorists. The thought being,
of course, that you are either for or against … no middle ground.
> Fianchetto
> Some groups have actually managed to avoid being upgraded
to the wireless world without being labeled terrorists. Quakers
in UCAS are one group, bunch of farmers that live like they’re
in the 19th century still. Actually ride horses, if you can believe it,
and grow their own food. They’ve got a special exemption from the
UCAS gov’t to live outside the rules.
> Mika
> At the opposite end of the spectrum are new religions—or cults—
like the Virtual Purists. They believe that the Matrix is the next step
in human development, a realm where they can shed the limitations
and temptations of their flesh and live a purely spiritual life.
Adherents attempt to live in a purely VR state. Some even commit
SeaSoUrce SearcH:
Sousveillance
The recording and scrutiny of authority figures by
those under their authority, particularly those who
are the subject of surveillance. Also, the recording of
data from metahuman point-of-view at metahuman
eye-level.
Do you want to watch sousveillance videos? [Link]
Do you want to enter a sousveillance Chat Room?
[Link]
Do you want to post your own sousveillance video?
[Link]
Do you want to join a sousveillance forum, social network,
or mobile social network? [Link]
Unwired
Simon Wentworth (order #1132857) 9