Communications in 2032
The World Wide Web was already beginning to take shape in the early 90s, and by the 2000’s it was in full swing and fast changing the political, social and economic landscape. In the early 2010’s, a second generation of global digital connectivity started to come into wide use. Simply called the Net, this was an entire virtual reality created by a landmark algorithm that translated the digital architecture of the network itself into virtual buildings, highways, creatures, and people.
Then, in 2014, technology emerged that allowed individuals to plug their brains directly into the Net, and Netrunning was born. Netrunners are computer programmers and network architects that do the majority of their work in the virtual reality of the Net, their minds surfing across the world while their bodies stay in their office or home.
Netrunning changed the face of the planet drastically in a very short time - the entire Third Corporate War in 2016 was fought inside the Net, with Netrunners from rival corporations frying each other’s brains out in attempts to steal or protect company information.
In 2028, a famous Netrunner named Rache Bartmoss was killed during a raid. This had completely unforeseen, worldwide consequences, as two weeks later a dead man’s switch he’d planted over a decade before went off, unleashing a fast-replicating and incredibly destructive computer virus through the core structure of the Net. Within six months, the Net was utterly destroyed. Global connectivity was shattered, leaving behind pockets of abandoned infrastructure that don’t connect to anything any more.
In the wake of this virtual destruction, in the last 5-7 years, a new type of Net has arisen. Owned by municipalities, corporations, and individuals, these virtual islands are completely localized and isolated. Data has to be transferred between these data islands via physical media or cellular connection; a new industry is rising to do exactly that.
Globally, the cellular phone networks are still technically working, but connections are unreliable and service is insanely expensive, running around 1000 eb a month for very limited service. For this reason, cell service is a luxury for the upper class, a necessary business expense, or available on a pay-per-use basis from special cellular cafes.
Cities and other major urban centers maintain the largest networks, collectively referred to as Data Pools. These are not at all like the Nets of old, as they are isolated from each other, but completely open to the public. They are more like public joint databases than anything else, and it is fully expected that anything uploaded to the Data Pool has zero chance of remaining private. These are publicly maintained and available by wireless connection anywhere within range, and are used for dissemination of media, storage of public information, and communication. The downside, of course, is that if someone has not uploaded certain information to the Data Pool, then getting ahold of it can be really difficult.
The average person has replaced their cell phone with an Agent, a personal device that acts as a window into the local Data Pool. Agents can make and take audiovisual calls from within the city, record, display, or play back audiovisual data, act as personal organization devices, and more. Agent service subscriptions cost about as much as the old cell service subscriptions used to, but are only good within that city.
For visitors and those who don’t have Agent service, there are public DataTerms scattered around the city that allow access to the Data Pool for a rate of about 1 eb per minute. These usually have cheap printers attached so visitors can print out maps, guides, and news.
Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
Comments