@peter.benjamin

[thwipandrelease]

So I know I can't be the only one who's had the unexpected pleasure of coming into possession of messages that aren't intended for my consumption. I'm not talking about you getting someone's private love letters or metaphorical cat video links, which I've gotten and deleted.

If I were back home, I'd be sliding this info to my nearest and dearest investigative journalist type. Since I'm not, well, I guess I've got to take matters in my own hands.

It's an interesting read, so, I'm just going to include the unedited details for all.

[what follows is a copy of the message that peter had received earlier, sent from lydia gill-jade, which seems the sort of thing that would come up in a current headlines search if it weren't presumably a secret. well, so much for that, huh?]

Maybe it's just me, but do people usually name successors for campaign donations?

Comments

@ziggy.stardust

[transuniversal]

I did not think I would miss the postal service but now seems like it would be extremely useful to have analog leaking infrastructure.

[ It's those little things of 500 years ago that really get you down. Where's Ben Urich and the Bugle when you need them? ]

The only thing that surprises me about the message I received was that they were not already using the implants to mine for this kind of corporate stalking.

[ Followed by a copy of this depressing message. ]

@goro.akechi

[impede]

It's not dated.

[transuniversal]

True. But wouldn’t it be strange for this to be an old message when the others seem to be contemporary?

Though if it is delayed, or an old-message being resent, that raises interesting questions about what is actually taking place here.

[impede]

Would it be strange for there to be a few curveballs? There was another that I can recall.

[transuniversal]

Would it? I do not know that any of us outside of our hosts know this place well enough to know what is or isn't strange here.

[impede]

We don't need to know about this place.

These messages were meant for those among our number.

[gravemistake]

Now we're talking.

[transuniversal]

You've been expecting something like this?

[gravemistake]

What else would they use these things for?

@jack.miller

[personalwar]

If they can track what people buy and predict buying habits, who knows what else they're poking their noses into?

[transuniversal]

I already assumed they were tracking things like location data, social circles and general purchasing trends. Even if they say they aren’t, since it might still be some kind of faux pas to admit it, it is hardly like they weren’t trending in that direction centuries ago.

Similar corolary: I am also unsurprised to see them put such thoughts to text, even when it would be smarter not to. Some things about people do not seem to change.

[personalwar]

For all we know it's become so widespread that the public practically expects it.

But it rubs me the wrong way that we have no feasible way to do anything outside of the government's view. This might be a message from Vyonation, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're selling it all to the highest bidder.

[transuniversal]

I would be able to circumvent the surveillance state if I hadn't been nerfed. Or if I could recover some of my gear. But five hundred years ago there was a saying. Something about fish?

[ "IF wishes were fishes", and they've all got plenty. ]

It could be both. Or some combination. It is not necessarily of government interest why you did not buy one toothpaste over another, but it would be useful to track certain patterns and correlations.

[personalwar]

Circumvent it? How?

And I think we both know they're tracking a lot more than just buying habits, so yeah, I'm guessing at least some of it is going to be of interest to the UNA.

[thwipandrelease]

You and me both. There's something to be said about the usefulness of paper.

[peter's not exactly endorsing j jonah here but at least it'd be something]

That IS surprising. Maybe other uses were considered of higher priority as far as the neural implants are concerned.

[transuniversal]

I never appreciated paper before quite like I do now.

[ Not the same way he misses things like vinyl, but still. He'll never look at it the same way again. Apart from the theory that this is not contemporary, maybe it became more relevant recently?

[thwipandrelease]

I wonder how feasible it might be to come up with some kind of analog substitute for occasions such as this.

Maybe not paper per se but there's gotta be something between that and impractical clay tablets of ancient times.