Algorithm

Good Morning

I'm Agent Peterson. And this is Agent Wallace

Yeah. He's new. But, he's learning, so cut him a little slack for now.

Tell me your name.

...your real name, for the record.

Charles Drake.

What... what do you want from me?

What do we want? What do we want!?

You the motherfucker who likes to steal shit from the government! Huh? Huh!?

Not yet. Be Patient

See what I mean?

What do you do for a living, Charles?

I teach math, at Berkley.

Nice cover, asshole.

noun. a set of rules to be followed in problem-solving operations, especially by a computer.

A month ago I was a god.

Most people have no idea what a hacker can do.

I make the world you live in...

...and I can reshape that world if I feel like it.

When I look around I don't see borders walls or locks.

I see puzzles...

...games that entertain me while I do bigger things.

Things like breaking into the phone company to rewrite the code on their servers…

...and give myself free unlimited service.

Swapping out my pre-burned SIM cards everyday at 6pm is a small price to pay.

I don't care about privacy.

or social status or accumulating stuff. I don't care about privacy.

or social status or accumulating stuff.

I don't care about the law or who makes it.

I live by one rule: information should be free.

And everything can be simplified, encoded and understood as information.

We call this the information age for a reason.

Companies and governments don't get it, so they are powerless against me.

You think there are rules?

You treat computers like you do everything else...

...like it's an immutable fact of life and because of that…

...your worldview is antiquated.

Get ready for a serious paradigm shift.

The geeks have inherited the earth... the rest of you just don't know it yet.

For your consideration, exhibit A.

I just hacked every computer within 20 feet of me.

I own them now.

Thanks for coming.

I think my wife is cheating on me.

So ditch her.

California's a No Fault state. She gets half regardless.

I want proof.

What for? Just call it "irreconcilable differences" and bail.

I want proof for myself.

I need to know.

What kind of proof?

You want video of her playing another guy's skin-flute?

'cause that's not what I do.

No, no, no, no, no. Look around.

If you find anything you send it to me.

Either way you still get paid.

That's the deal. You know my fee.

Why would I hack all these computers...

...including the laptop of a man who just gave me five grand?

I don't care what he does for a living.

And if your wife finds out...?

She won't.

I understand the need for discretion, Mr...?

It's LU$er

I collect computers. Most of them don't lead anywhere interesting

so I just add them to my botnet

a massive set of computers I use to do whatever I feel like doing at the time

mostly, to cover any trace of the big hacks that I do that might lead back to me.

I can write the code I need to break into Dempsey's network.

But he lives in a very expensive neighborhood.

I can't just sit on his curb, outside his house, brute-forcing my way in.

I need another Can-of-Worm.

How soon do you need it?

Two days?

Are you coming?

Hackers come in two basic models: coders and makers.

Bitchan is a maker.

She has a degree in electrical engineering.

In other words, she's a lightning god, controlling and manipulating electricity to do her will.

As a side job, she modified gaming consoles...

...so they'll played copied discs or games from anywhere in the world.

It's not to break the law.

That isn't even a factor.

She does it for the same reason I do. It's about information.

And region encoding is just another puzzle blocking the way.

So, is this the gig Decimate hooked you up with?

Yeah. It's residential. He lives in St. Francis Wood.

So, do the TV, the Wi-Fi, and anything else you can think of.

What about the firewall?

That too. They just upgraded to smart-meters.

If the worm doesn't get through in five hours

just reset the power to the house... force a reboot.

And when the can works?

How big?

It'll fit.

Can I spend the night?

When did you start asking?

I'm going to be here until morning.

We're not ADHD.

We just don't care that wind-speeds on Saturn can get up to 3,000 miles per hour.

I remember it because I collect information.

But it's worthless to me until I decide to build a probe to land on Saturn,

which doesn't even have a surface to land on anyway.

It's 5:55pm and Bitchan sent me a text letting me know

that the Can-of-Worm will run for 4 days passive, or 12 hours at full-power.

We like things that make us think.

Like, what's the most efficient way to run a Linux computer off of a battery?

How fast can I get this program to run?

What's the best way to break into a network?

What's the best time to launch an attack against a home network?

Between the hours of 3:00am and 5:00am everyone's asleep.

Even the police who normally patrol are sitting in their cars

in secluded parking lots, filling out drunk-driver arrest reports.

The first and probably easiest way into any home network is the TV.

All new TVs come with Internet-capable software

usually Wi-Fi enabled by default.

Most people don't keep their TV software updated with the latest security patches.

Of course, that doesn't always work.

There are two easy hacks to get past most firewalls.

The first is to use a vulnerability in the default security setup

in almost all routers built between 2009 and 2012.

The other is to turn the power off and back on.

For 60 seconds, while the hardware reboots, the entire home network

is completely insecure because the firewall software loads last.

The point isn't the method. It's the potential.

There's always a way in.

It might be a bit of a moral grey area to use one of the few

socially promoted bastions of free information to hack.

Or, it might be perfectly inline with the ideas of the librarians.

Who knows? I don't ask.

The point is, I'm not doing this from home.

I'm not destroying Mrs. Dempsey; she did that on her own.

I'm just exploiting the vulnerability her carnal excesses created.

Do you know where the weakest link in any security system is?

It's you, with your shitty passwords

and how you share every part of your life online

from geotagging everything you do, to a photo you post of your new ATM card.

And your willingness to click on links that promise something you want.

And now I own Sam Novak's computer.

Whoever he is.

Arthur C. Clarke wrote that any sufficiently advanced technology

is indistinguishable from magic.

This is where we make the magic.

Anyone heard of Emergent See?

Emergent See.... Big. Ugly. Nasty government contractor

Data-mining. NSA. CIA. Hardcore combinatorial math.

Is that it? Just data-mining?

What's your interest in Emergent See?

Oh. Just a side project I'm working on.

Tell me that you're using the neighbor's Wi-Fi.

Uh, yeah. Tell me that you're using the neighbor's Wi-Fi.

Uh, yeah.

I need a drink.

Anybody else?

So, what's the uh... great LU$er up to tonight?

Finished with that client Decimate sets you up with?

This afternoon. How did you know about that?

Bitchan told me.

She a cheating slut?

Yeah. Something like that. She a cheating slut?

Yeah. Something like that.

But, you'll never guess with who.

Does it matter?

Sam Novak.

Don't know him.

CTO of Emergent See.

No shit!?

I rooted his office computer this afternoon. I'm searching their network right now, as we speak.

Oh, no. Will, no, no.

I told you I wasn't.

It's too heavy for Backdoor.

I'm not using your network. It's too heavy for Backdoor.

I'm not using your network.

Yeah. And Hash told you what Emergent See does.

Large-scale data-mining. That means NSA. They'll find the intrusion.

If anyone sees anything, they're just going to think that Novak has his own botnet.

Fine. I think you can do it.

And I think you can get away with it. But, not here.

What is your problem?

Not. Here.

I don't go on dates. I don't go clubbing.

I don't care about celebrity hookups or which sports team just won.

My universe exists entirely within computers.

The moment we come up with a way to not have to eat, or sleep

or any of the other things required to stay alive... I'll be the first in line.

And by in line, I mean online, breaking in and reading about it.

Then, Bitchan and I will get together and bootstrap a homebrew version for ourselves.

Because copyrights, patents, trademarks, and all the other

ephemeral concepts of ownership are a time-bomb.

Animal trainers teach a dog by giving the dog some treat it likes.

They call this paying the dog.

I do what I do for love. Anything else is a form of slavery

a reduction of my humanity. I do what I do for love. Anything else is a form of slavery

a reduction of my humanity.

Which is why I feel the moral liberty to search through Emergent See's

network and download all of their recently developed programs.

After all, they are a government contractor. In this country, that means they work for me.

Ownership is an illusion. I don't value money.

I acquiesce to social norms only in so much as it's required

to keep myself alive... and connected.