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where you don't have to do

2:14

the reading because I do it

2:17

for you. I'm your host Margaret

2:19

Kiljoy and my guest today to

2:21

talk about tech security as relates

2:24

to this piece of speculative fiction.

2:26

Is Greg. Hi, Greg. Hi, nice

2:28

to see you again. Yeah, nice

2:31

to see you. I think we

2:33

called you an anarchist technology enthusiast,

2:36

I believe. I'm still enthusiastic, I

2:38

think. That's great. I'm a lake.

2:40

I'm of two minds at all

2:43

the time about technology. I'm both

2:45

very interested in it. It's like

2:47

one of my hobbies since I

2:50

was very young. And I also

2:52

think it's bad that we should

2:54

just distort through all our laptops

2:57

in the ocean. I go back

2:59

and forth about these several times

3:02

a day. It's very expensive to

3:04

go back and forth about it.

3:06

It's spent a lot of money

3:09

on laptops. And the ocean probably

3:11

doesn't appreciate it much. car batteries

3:13

in the ocean that's what I

3:16

hear. What does that actually do?

3:18

Putting a car battery in the

3:21

ocean? Well I imagine it leaks.

3:23

Does it like electrify the ocean?

3:25

Is there like a mass of

3:28

water at which it can no

3:30

longer electrify? I think that electric

3:32

yields probably take care of that

3:35

enough for us. I think a

3:37

single car battery is not going

3:40

to do much. I mean you're

3:42

the one who told me that

3:44

you could just touch car batteries

3:47

and I was like, oh yeah

3:49

you can. Oh, that's right. Yeah.

3:51

I like 12 volt DC electricity

3:54

or even 24 volt DC electricity

3:56

in general. That's the stuff I

3:59

like. I mean DC is the

4:01

is the one that Tesla approved

4:03

of right? And AC was the

4:06

bad guy, right? Or did I

4:08

mix that up? So much. I

4:10

think Edison and Tesla had a

4:13

pissing match and I am going

4:15

to lose all of my long

4:18

lost sepunk red that I don't

4:20

remember which one was with. Yakes.

4:22

Well, I know that Edison electricated

4:25

an elephant and he's an asshole.

4:27

He also filmed when Shogash got

4:29

executed. Oof. Anyway, so we are

4:32

reading from a piece called Escape

4:34

put out by Crime Think, just

4:36

an anarchist publishing collective, and it's

4:39

a piece of speculative fiction by

4:41

an anonymous author. We started with

4:44

Part One last week. You should

4:46

really go back and listen to

4:48

it. And it is based on

4:51

the idea that... All of anarchists

4:53

and presumably a lot of other

4:55

sort of political and desirables are

4:58

suddenly raided and declared illegal within

5:00

the United States of reasonably near

5:03

future sort of a could happen

5:05

tonight kind of timeline. And I

5:07

brought Gregon because this piece talks

5:10

a lot about a lot of

5:12

different technological solutions to various problems

5:14

and I wanted to talk through.

5:17

how realistic those different solutions are,

5:19

if there's other solutions, and, but

5:22

not necessarily. I like this piece

5:24

because I like that people are

5:26

writing pieces like this, and I

5:29

think that this is a kind

5:31

of conversation that we need to

5:33

be having more and more. I'm

5:36

actually sort of hoping I get

5:38

to run more book clubs talking

5:41

about kind of similar things in

5:43

the near future. Or I'm hoping

5:45

that everything bad goes away, and

5:48

I'm just writing about the bad

5:50

old world. Anyway,

5:52

where we last left our

5:54

heroes, there's three different groups

5:56

of people, and they've all

5:58

gone on the run. and

6:01

they're all kind of going

6:03

now what now that they've

6:05

all just barely escaped. So

6:07

this section, chapter as it

6:09

might be called, is called

6:11

communications. Jake doesn't have to

6:13

trust the new app everyone's

6:15

using while signals down. Long

6:17

ago, everyone in his affinity

6:19

group created GPG key pairs,

6:21

then verified each other's keys

6:23

and signed them. They also

6:25

created... private backup email accounts

6:27

on other platforms only to

6:29

be used in emergencies. Jake's

6:31

rise-up account may be down,

6:33

but his GPG keys were

6:35

in the encrypted folder on

6:37

his cached USB, along with

6:40

the list of backup email

6:42

accounts of his comrades. He

6:44

goes through each one, encrypting

6:46

a message to that person's

6:48

public key and sending it

6:50

to their backup email. After

6:52

a couple hours at the

6:54

cafe, One of them sends

6:56

a message back to him.

6:58

Ethan is still free. Jake

7:00

asks to know if he

7:02

knows anything about Big C's

7:04

supposed posts. Ethan says he'll

7:06

check with someone in Big

7:08

C's crew. He's also in

7:10

contact with Ash. Ash emails

7:12

back with a public key

7:14

for Big C's. She signs

7:16

his key with her own.

7:18

Ethan checks it and sees

7:21

that it matches the public

7:23

key for Ash that he's

7:25

signed. Then he signs Big

7:27

C's key and sends it

7:29

to Jake. Jake messages Big

7:31

C on the new app

7:33

everyone is using. I'm just

7:35

gonna interject here. See how

7:37

that's confusing? Anyway, it's hard

7:39

to follow. Okay, anyway, back

7:41

to it. On the other

7:43

hand, I end up writing

7:45

meetings, so I can't really

7:47

talk shit. Writing meetings and

7:49

the fiction is very complicated.

7:53

Ash emails back with a public

7:55

key for Big C. She signs

7:57

his key with her own. Ethan

7:59

checks it and sees... that it

8:01

matches the public key for Ash

8:03

that he's signed. Then he signs

8:06

Big C's key and sends it

8:08

to Jake. Jake messages Big C

8:10

on the new app everyone is

8:12

using. Instead of sending anything in

8:14

clear text, he encrypts a message

8:16

to the key he has for

8:18

Big C. He adds his own

8:20

public key. On that same app

8:23

in the general channel they're all

8:25

using, someone's screaming that another account

8:27

is a honeypot. People stop posting.

8:29

If they move to a different

8:31

channel or a different app, they

8:33

never send Jake anything about it.

8:35

But that doesn't matter, because Big

8:37

C responds, his message likewise encrypted

8:40

using GPG and then pasted within

8:42

this new app. Jake decrypts and

8:44

checks that it was signed by

8:46

the same key for Big C

8:48

that his friend Ethan certified. There's

8:50

a time and location. Back room

8:52

of a donut shop, a couple

8:54

punks work at 11 p. Jake

8:58

spends most of the day at

9:00

the cafe trying not to attract

9:02

attention. Then he scarves down some

9:04

fast food and gets a bus

9:06

across town to the donut shop.

9:08

He gets off a couple stops

9:10

early and circles around it on

9:12

back streets, looking for any car

9:14

or person that could be staking

9:16

things out. He decides to wait

9:18

a little longer in an alley.

9:20

But the alley isn't empty. Ethan's

9:22

there, smoking a cigarette, and also

9:25

scoping things out. They hug. You're

9:27

the first person I've seen in

9:29

like two days, man. Ethan's heard

9:31

a rumor about some kind of

9:33

legal defense committee being set up,

9:35

but he can't stand one of

9:37

the people he thinks is in

9:39

it. Jake quietly regales him with

9:41

the saga of his nearly nude

9:43

escape. They look at the donut

9:45

shop down the street. If it's

9:47

a trap, maybe only one of

9:50

us should go. I'll go. If

9:52

it's chill, I'll come back out

9:54

and get you. Maybe they raid

9:56

us only once we're all inside.

9:58

Do you want to wait out

10:00

here all night? Fuck, man, I

10:02

don't know." Jake goes in. A

10:04

punk he doesn't know, ushers him

10:06

through the employee's side door. It's

10:08

just three. Big C, usually known

10:10

as Cookie, the unknown punk, and

10:12

Ash. Ash is chowing down on

10:15

donuts nervously. Cookie gets up and

10:17

extends out a hand, then turns

10:19

it into an awkward hug. They

10:21

don't really know each other like

10:23

that, but Jake accepts, surprisingly eager

10:25

for physical touch. Are we waiting

10:27

for anybody else? Who'd you share

10:29

this with? I don't fucking know.

10:31

I told Ash and Sydney, and

10:33

Sydney said she just told her

10:35

ban, but like, I don't trust

10:37

them to... Hey, Mitch is cool.

10:40

Yeah, sure, Mitch is cool. I'm

10:42

just saying I don't trust them

10:44

not to tell someone random, you

10:46

know? Jesus, says the punk Jake,

10:48

doesn't know, looking out the cracked

10:50

open employee door. What? It's Zoe.

10:52

She's down the street, but she's

10:54

coming this way. Some shared glances.

10:56

No one wants to let Zoe

10:58

in. Well, let her in. Half

11:00

an hour later, the tiny donut

11:02

store back room is swampy with

11:05

seven nervous anarchists, Ethan included. What

11:07

are we fucking doing? Besides running

11:09

and hiding? I say we make

11:11

distractions. Make them feel like they

11:13

got the wrong folks. They're not

11:15

the threat. So what? They've already

11:17

grabbed everyone. It's not like they're

11:19

going to let them go to

11:21

get us instead. They'll just keep

11:23

them detained and then use all

11:25

their resources on the few of

11:27

us. Now, the last thing we

11:30

need to do right now is

11:32

remind them they didn't get all

11:34

of us. To what fucking end?

11:36

Solidarity means attack. Look, if you

11:38

think of some way to bust

11:40

people out, I'm all for it,

11:42

but like, right now we can't

11:44

even keep ourselves safe. We bust

11:46

people out. We have no way

11:48

to house them. They have no

11:50

way to house them. They're just

11:52

raiding random, totally a political squatsts.

11:54

Look, you can run and hide

11:57

if you want, honestly. Honestly I

11:59

mean that. I don't judge. But

12:01

I know if I was captured

12:03

right now, the number one thing

12:05

I'd want to see in this

12:07

world would be cop cars on

12:09

fire in the county jail parking

12:11

lot. The meeting ends a couple

12:13

hours later. They have sorted into

12:15

two groups and a lone individual.

12:17

One group will focus on risky

12:19

active strikes. The other group will

12:22

try to build an underground capable

12:24

of keeping people safe. Ash

12:26

is going to run a clearinghouse

12:28

email account to take submissions and

12:31

push out notifications. Only people within

12:33

the signed network of GPG keys.

12:35

If they shut down her email,

12:37

she'll just pivot to a different

12:39

one using the same keys and

12:42

sending to the same recipients. They

12:44

can't shut down email wholesale. Too

12:46

much of capitalism runs on it.

12:48

She'll try to maintain a public

12:51

counter-info site for certain announcements marked

12:53

to be public, but no promises.

12:55

Two of the punks present are

12:58

going to be showed how to

13:00

use GPG. Jake and Ethan head

13:02

out into the night. Ethan's got

13:04

a van they can sleep in.

13:06

Cat said that Vera could stay

13:08

as long as she needed, but

13:10

they've never actually lived together before.

13:13

And as the weeks go by,

13:15

little frictions keep coming up. Vera

13:17

forgot she sided with the bandmate

13:19

of Cat's old boyfriend that one

13:21

time, but Cat hasn't. Cat doesn't

13:23

approve of the lengthy showers Vera

13:25

takes. Vira had no idea that

13:28

Cat was such a morning person.

13:30

Normally, these would be nothing, but

13:32

the isolation and background stress is

13:34

taking a toll. Vira feels like

13:36

it's hard to keep her head

13:38

together. Hard to be her. Without

13:40

the reference points of her normal

13:42

life, she feels unmoored and frazzled,

13:45

always a step behind. Saying things

13:47

she would have thought through more.

13:49

Cat doesn't have a Netflix account

13:51

and Vera has nothing to do

13:53

all day, but pace around Cat's

13:55

basement and read Cat's books. Cat

13:57

doesn't use the internet much. and

14:00

Vera is trying not to suddenly

14:02

flood Cat's router with a ton

14:04

of activity. Every morning, around the

14:06

time Cat said she sometimes checks

14:08

her work email, Vera takes the

14:10

new laptop Cat bought for her

14:12

and connects to the internet. Insofar

14:15

as the raids are getting attention,

14:17

it seems to be mostly because

14:19

some prominent journalists got detained too.

14:21

It joins the background shrieking about

14:23

journalists' rights being under attack. But

14:25

the news outlets mostly just want

14:27

to use that narrative to bolster

14:29

their subscriptions. With social media effectively

14:32

gone, there's little coverage of the

14:34

mass detentions of anarchists, save some

14:36

conservatives chorling that it was about

14:38

time, and see, the old establishment

14:40

was deliberately choosing not to fight

14:42

terrorism the whole time. She's careful

14:44

to build a profile of internet

14:47

activity that doesn't match her prior

14:49

use. She chooses different websites for

14:51

news. even to check weather reports.

14:53

She doesn't want to deviate too

14:55

far from Cat's previous activity. If

14:57

Cat used Bing for searching about

14:59

mushroom harvests, so will she. If

15:02

Cat didn't use an ad blocker,

15:04

she won't add one. The goal

15:06

is to slowly build up Cat's

15:08

internet usage, so she can use

15:10

it more frequently while stuck at

15:12

home. She holds herself back from

15:14

checking radical websites. In the last

15:16

three weeks, Vera has almost never

15:19

left Cat's house. One afternoon, there

15:21

was an unusual car parked all

15:23

day within view of the front

15:25

door. Even Cat was convinced it

15:27

was sketchy. Cat's home cooking is

15:29

very human and vegetables oriented, but

15:31

she picks up the Thai food

15:34

Vera loves a couple times with

15:36

cash, not card. Vera is hesitant

15:38

about booting tails off the USB

15:40

she had on hand and connecting

15:42

on the home network. because she's

15:44

worried that will draw attention. Instead,

15:46

she gets cat to go to

15:48

a nearby cafe during the day

15:51

and write down the Wi-Fi password.

15:53

Then, in the middle of the

15:55

night, she goes out with Cat's

15:57

crusty old laptop, sits behind the

15:59

cafe's dumpster, boots, tails, and connects

16:01

to the open internet. A lot

16:03

of anarchist websites are gone, and

16:06

the foreign ones are thin on

16:08

substantive report backs. Meaningful news or

16:10

how-two guides are overshadowed by essays

16:12

that triumphantly advocate one or another

16:14

grotesque alliance and declare the time

16:16

of principles to be over. This

16:18

provokes in turn angry evocative screeds

16:21

that fetishize death. To survive is

16:23

a betrayal of our fallen, says

16:25

one. It's our duty to die

16:27

beautifully together. Someone else is aggressively

16:29

promoting a patron. In her backup

16:31

email account, there's an encrypted message

16:33

to her, signed by her old

16:35

comrade Matthew. He survived the raids

16:38

that got every other anarchist in

16:40

their town and has taken formal

16:42

sanctuary in the basement of a

16:44

Quaker house. The cops seem to

16:46

know he's there though, or at

16:48

least suspect it. They keep a

16:50

squad car parked out front at

16:53

all hours and have followed the

16:55

two old Quakers who come and

16:57

go. He's heard from a friend

16:59

who escaped the raids in another

17:01

city and has been riding the

17:03

rails. Matthew has a normy friend,

17:05

a former movement lawyer who has

17:08

fallen off the radar doing corporate

17:10

work for a decade, but who

17:12

he is certain would put his

17:14

other friend up. It's just that

17:16

he's got no way to contact

17:18

him. He has another friend who

17:20

made it down across the southern

17:22

border, but his penniless needs a

17:25

money transfer to get an apartment

17:27

and look for a job. It

17:29

could be cryptocurrency, even a mailed

17:31

check. Is it possible to get

17:33

an anonymous money transfer? When Cat

17:35

gets home, Vera is ready with

17:37

questions. In the middle of the

17:40

night, Julie and Maggie have to

17:42

leave the farm. They drive out

17:44

with six of their friends lying

17:46

flat in the back of their

17:48

truck. supplies and blankets packed on

17:50

top of them. Every time they

17:52

swerve around a bend on a

17:55

back road and see headlights, they

17:57

flinch. waiting to see if it

17:59

is the cops or the local

18:01

militia who promised to kill all

18:03

of them. The sudden collapse of

18:05

two major cities from back-to-back environmental

18:07

disasters has killed thousands, but it

18:09

has also resulted in the establishment

18:12

of an immense internal refugee camp

18:14

in the South. The rumor is

18:16

that the authorities can't demand ID

18:18

because so many people have lost

18:20

theirs. There are enough white people

18:22

in the vast camp with enough

18:24

friends and family outside. that it

18:27

looks unlikely they will be purged,

18:29

like so many immigrants had been,

18:31

if they just keep their stories

18:33

straight and avoid speaking with an

18:35

accent. They should be safer there

18:37

than at the farm where they

18:39

have lived for the last year.

18:42

The roads are too chaotic, the

18:44

internal border checkpoints too overwhelmed. The

18:46

eight of them make it south

18:48

intact, intact, and donuts along the

18:50

way. When they get

18:52

to the camp, the armed guards

18:55

shake them down, pilfering whatever they

18:57

think might be of value. From

18:59

the shoddy posters everywhere, they quickly

19:01

discover that there are out leftists

19:03

in the sprawling camp, the kind

19:05

that want to be an armed

19:08

gang and won't countenance any organizing

19:10

that isn't under their umbrella. Every

19:12

few weeks, one of the men's

19:14

up dead, and it's rarely from

19:16

the guards or conservatives. The better

19:18

relief organizations are all fatigued and

19:21

thin on resources. They keep getting

19:23

squeezed out by Christian groups and

19:25

political organizations looking to gain contracts

19:27

or legitimacy. It's unclear to what

19:29

extent this is the rulers' accolades

19:32

cannibalizing a federal project in an

19:34

orgy of corruption, and to what

19:36

extent the powers that be here

19:38

deliberately inflicting pressure on the refugees.

19:40

Buses with corporate branding on the

19:42

sides promise quick work contracts to

19:45

those in the camps. People come

19:47

back bone weary, but they do

19:49

come back through the security cordins

19:51

and fencing. that surrounds the camp.

19:53

The ruler brags at this program

19:55

as finally providing jobs for real

19:58

citizens. It said that Amazon is

20:00

restructuring its national supply chain to

20:02

center around the concentrated cheap labor

20:04

that the refugee camp provides. Julie

20:06

and Maggie keep their heads down,

20:08

forming a tight circle with their

20:11

friends from the farm. When administrators

20:13

try to split them up into

20:15

separate tracts of tin sheds, they

20:17

find a way to meet up

20:19

again. When the guards took their

20:22

jewelry and cash, They left them

20:24

with their bulk filtration system, chemical

20:26

water purifying tabs, and beaten laptop.

20:28

These turn out to be worth

20:30

more than gems within the camp.

20:32

Being able to purify gallons of

20:35

water every day makes their crew

20:37

self-sufficient. What remains of the internet

20:39

in the rest of the nation

20:41

isn't much to speak of, but

20:43

there's almost nothing in the camp

20:45

besides a single app that takes

20:48

over your phone charges you dearly

20:50

and pronounces news headlines from a

20:52

single source. Julie

20:54

and Maggie ignore phones entirely, sticking

20:57

to Maggie's Cassio watch and their

20:59

laptop. They disable the Wi-Fi on

21:01

it, and pretend it is just

21:03

for showing pirate it shows. Electrical

21:05

power is available in the camp

21:07

for a hefty charge, but folks

21:10

rig up DIY tin can and

21:12

magnet turbines in the river that

21:14

can recharge batteries if you wait

21:16

long enough. Once you're in camp,

21:18

you can't leave. But smugglers promise

21:20

to get letters or even packages

21:23

to and from the outside world.

21:25

Rumor has it that many of

21:27

them steal whatever you entrust to

21:29

them and turn anything incriminating over

21:31

to the cops for rule wards.

21:34

Julie and Maggie have signed GPG

21:36

keys with everyone they lived with

21:38

at the farm and those who

21:40

didn't flee with them to the

21:42

camps are now vital relays to

21:44

a wider network. The uncle of

21:47

the three girls, they saved, has

21:49

left the adjoining farm to join

21:51

up with the family further east.

21:53

His white father's name and address

21:55

is above suspicion so far. They

21:57

operate a rudimentary onion network, mailing

22:00

USBs out with the... smugglers. First,

22:02

they encrypt a message to the

22:04

final recipient. Then they encrypt that

22:06

encrypted message plus a note about

22:08

how to relay it to them,

22:10

to a friend, like the uncle.

22:13

This encrypted file they hide is

22:15

a malformed gift among other memes

22:17

and similar drunk of the sort

22:19

that has passed around the internal

22:21

refugee camp. If the smugglers or

22:23

anyone else inspect the USB on

22:26

its way to the uncle, they

22:28

just see some memes in a

22:30

broken gift. It's crude, and not

22:32

every message makes it, but enough

22:34

do. Soon enough, Julie and Maggie

22:36

are writing reports on the camps

22:39

that are getting to anarchist journalists

22:41

and infosites in other countries. One

22:43

of the companies that oversees the

22:45

camp's most hated enforcement drones gets

22:47

its supply lines attacked in the

22:50

Mediterranean. The CTO is assassinated at

22:52

a gala. When news

22:54

reaches the camp, even

22:57

conservative grannies who are

22:59

always on about race's

23:02

conspiracy theories are suddenly

23:04

praising those anarchists. A

23:07

communique from distant comrades

23:09

makes its way back

23:12

through the laborious series

23:14

of U.S.B. exchange. Solidarity,

23:17

it reads, means attack.

23:19

It's when I shift

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to advertisements. Like now

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It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was

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a recent social media trend which consisted

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of flying on a plane with no

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music, no movies, no entertainment. But a

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39:22

everybody, so when you get asked what

39:24

is O-Doo, what comes to mind? Well,

39:26

I'll tell you, O-Doo is a bit

39:29

of everything. O-Doo is a sweet of

39:31

business management software that some people say

39:33

is like fertilizer because the way it

39:36

promotes growth. But you know, some people

39:38

also say that O-Doo is like a

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magic beanstock because it grows with your

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company and is also magically affordable. Oh,

39:45

but then again, you could look at

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O-D in terms of how its individual

39:49

software programs or a lot like... It's

40:30

actually pretty hard to live in

40:32

the forest. Jake and Ethan knew

40:34

it would be when they drove

40:37

their van far off an abandoned

40:39

logging road and began burying it

40:41

with dirt and branches to avoid

40:43

detection by overhead drones. But they

40:46

couldn't live in the city anymore,

40:48

not after the attack on City

40:50

Hall. Every night they laugh about

40:52

the video of the supposedly progressive

40:55

mayor, but one who had approved

40:57

the executions of so many of

40:59

their friends and black sights or

41:01

ditches. screaming as he emerged from

41:03

the burning ruins. Every night we

41:06

are still alive to cherish this

41:08

as a gift, they tell each

41:10

other. It makes freezing on a

41:12

punctured air mattress and throwing centipedes

41:15

out of their bedding a little

41:17

more tolerable. Before they had escaped

41:19

the city in their increasingly suspect

41:21

van, stencils had started appearing of

41:24

the dying mare's face on the

41:26

newsreel. Printed underneath was no pity.

41:28

Food is a problem, though. They

41:30

rapidly pick the surrounding valleys clean

41:33

of dandelions, miners' lettuce, chickweed, and

41:35

blackberries. After they almost get caught

41:37

raiding a dumpster for something with

41:39

calories in it, they realize they

41:42

need a better system. Once a

41:44

month, they make their way through

41:46

the forest to the outer suburbs

41:48

of the city. Cookie leaves two

41:50

plastic bags of food and stove

41:53

gas canisters for them to pick

41:55

up in a forested nook just

41:57

outside an army graveyard. peanut butter,

41:59

chocolate, granola, olive oil, instant rice,

42:02

chili. Sometimes there's also... a book

42:04

or a board game. There's never

42:06

any tea for Ethan, though. It's

42:08

impossible to get hormones for anyone

42:11

these days. Back at the buried

42:13

van, they carefully ration their laptop

42:15

use, laboriously rebuilding battery charge from

42:17

a damaged solar panel. They hook

42:20

up to the Baufang radio at

42:22

specific times. With email effectively banned,

42:24

Ash is now running communication bursts

42:26

in the region via radio. About

42:29

once a week she bikes out

42:31

to random locations around the edge

42:33

of the city and fires off

42:35

a blast of noise over ham

42:37

radio before taking off. A few

42:40

drones now circle the city taking

42:42

pictures, triangulating her signal each time

42:44

she sends it. She's in a

42:46

race against time with them. This

42:49

noise is encrypted, of course, and

42:51

decrypted via private keys now shared

42:53

by a wider set of anarchist

42:55

survivors. Each communication bursts includes the

42:58

time of the next burst, though

43:00

not the place. Jake and Ethan

43:02

connect their radio to a program

43:04

on their laptop each time, waiting

43:07

to read and decrypt. Most nights

43:09

it's just news from the wider

43:11

world, ferried in via underground networks.

43:13

Warnings of systemic sweeps planned for

43:15

certain neighborhoods or local highways being

43:18

closed by militias. But one night,

43:20

it's something new. The

43:22

ruler of the new regime is coming

43:24

for a photo up. They're going to

43:27

drag out one of the comrades that

43:29

kept alive from the original raids and

43:31

execute her as the mastermind of the

43:34

attack on City Hall. There will be

43:36

a ton of security, but maybe not

43:38

enough for six different shooters. It's dangerous

43:40

to keep connecting to the Wi-Fi in

43:43

the middle of the night at the

43:45

same cafe. So Vera rotates cafes, making

43:47

sure that Cat doesn't get the Wi-Fi

43:50

password on the same days, and doesn't

43:52

bring a phone or device when she

43:54

does go. With Tor blocked, Vera knows

43:56

that every time she uses the internet,

43:59

at a cafe to check sketchy websites.

44:01

It's a signal to the authorities there's

44:03

a radical still running around her town.

44:06

She tries not to check sketchy websites

44:08

the same night at the same cafes

44:10

where she checks the backup email account.

44:12

She's been using to message with Matthew.

44:15

She writes most of her emails ahead

44:17

of time to minimize time on the

44:19

ground. No more than three minutes connected

44:22

than back into the night. The cops

44:24

could catch her if they really put

44:26

resources into it, but she's banking on

44:29

their laziness. Then one

44:31

day, her emails are blocked. All email

44:33

seems to be blocked. There's new ID

44:35

legislation that's gone into place. This is

44:38

the last night Vera goes out to

44:40

a cafe. But by that point, she's

44:42

already helped build a relay network across

44:44

town. Every Monday, Matthew hands a USB

44:47

to one of his Quaker hosts, who

44:49

slips it down the side of a

44:51

bench while sipping coffee in a park.

44:54

Cat checks on the side of the

44:56

same bench a couple hours later and

44:58

brings it home to Vera who decrypts

45:01

it. Relay points and drop spots now

45:03

exist across town because Matthew's efforts to

45:05

rope in the former movement lawyer have

45:08

succeeded. There are now two anarchists hiding

45:10

out on the lamb from other cities

45:12

in his house. One lives in the

45:15

attic. The other has changed her hair

45:17

color, removed some piercings, added a full

45:19

face of makeup, and is working a

45:22

job under the table. A

45:24

month ago, they helped relay the

45:26

complete archives of a major anarchist

45:28

collection that had supposedly been purged

45:30

from a university. It went south

45:32

with an anarchist backpacking along Mountain

45:34

Trail. Hard drives with copies of

45:37

the collection are now squirreled away

45:39

in various places. Another anarchist that

45:41

their new network loosely knows has

45:43

set up a hidden camp on

45:45

an island in the river, taking

45:47

a little canoe back and forth

45:49

into a national park in the

45:51

wee hours once a week. and

45:53

getting supplies. Cat and the lawyer

45:55

finding ways to slip an extra

45:57

hundred a month to him. Conservatives

46:01

have been screaming about demolishing

46:03

the little libraries on people's

46:05

lawns because liberals stuck a

46:07

few banned books in them. They

46:09

have no idea that Vera's network

46:11

uses them as flags to notify

46:13

couriers about drops. A pulp sci-fi book

46:15

with a spine turned inward placed on

46:17

top on a certain little library means

46:20

to surreptitiously pick up a USB from

46:22

a Burger King bag and a trash

46:24

can down the street. They're getting

46:26

a whole system going. Vira

46:29

doesn't need to know the network

46:31

beyond her immediate circles. With her pre-existing

46:33

GPG public keys for certain

46:36

distant comrades, she can just send

46:38

encrypted messages with a distant city

46:40

as a public destination and

46:42

wait for couriers and swaps to

46:44

copy and circulate it until her

46:46

recipient can decrypt it. Messages

46:49

get lost, but some get through. Through the

46:51

network, distant strangers trade tips and

46:53

tricks they have learned keeping their

46:55

local networks up. With

46:58

so much of the internet down,

47:00

normies have started engaging in wider

47:02

swap networks for saved files. It's

47:04

almost like the Libbs are making their

47:07

own little really really free markets.

47:09

It doesn't matter that Cat doesn't

47:11

have a Netflix account because now

47:13

Vera has access to every show

47:15

once tormented by local nerds. She

47:17

keeps the new laptop that accepts

47:19

such USB's air gapped from everything

47:21

else. Even if it's not the

47:23

shows she'd prefer, Vera can watch

47:25

TV again. have something to do,

47:28

knowing they can make a difference,

47:30

helping other anarchists, as Cat and

47:32

Vera in a much better mood.

47:34

Their city is a locust point

47:36

in an emerging national underground railroad.

47:38

That friend of Matthew, south of

47:40

the border that Cat sent cash

47:42

to, he has a job now,

47:44

and his apartment is packed with

47:46

anarchists who have survived the dangerous

47:48

trek across the border. They still

47:50

have internet down there. As Vera's little

47:52

sneaker net develops... Folks begin

47:54

to loop in around the edges. Certain

47:56

liberals from the pirate networks have proven

47:59

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