Freedom TM

manifestations disappear along with it. This is what Operation Exorcist is designed to accomplish, and why it will succeed where the government effort failed.”
    DARPA: “No one has ever successfully exterminated a botnet.”
    EndoCorp: “Technically that’s true, but what we’re contemplating is disrupting its key communications to render it defenseless. In particular the Destroy function of the
Ragnorok
module. The logic that initiates a corporate data destruction sequence on demand.”
    NSA: “Which would take away the Daemon’s claws.…”
    BCM: “Precisely.”
    DIA: “It’s interesting that Sobol designed online game worlds. Worlds with millions of players buying and selling virtual objects. I just never realized how similar his game economy was to our own.”
    BCM: “The chief difference is that
our
world is real—with real consequences. And unless we preserve faith in capital markets, alleconomic activity ceases. Society disintegrates into anarchy. And millions perish.”
    Silence prevailed as the others digested this. Finally their host spoke.
    NSA: “There’s one more item we need to discuss. A new development.”
    He picked up a remote and turned off the video screen.
    NSA: “Not all corporations are fighting the Daemon.”
    BCM: “What do you mean?”
    NSA: “Sixteen lawsuits were filed by Daemon-infected multinationals yesterday in federal district courts.”
    Now the corporate side of the table fell into stunned silence for a moment.
    BCM: “Which companies?”
    NSA (handing over a list): “They’re filing suit against the U.S. government. Its lawyers claim that the Daemon has a constitutional right to exist under the precedent of corporate personhood.”
    CSC: “Holy hell …”
    BCM: “The Daemon has
lawyers
?”
    NSA: “And it’s retained lobbyists. We’re negotiating with the courts to keep these cases classified; however, we can’t be certain what the judicial branch is going to do about them.”
    BCM: “This is insane. The Daemon is a computer virus, not a corporation.”
    NSA: “But it’s not the Daemon that’s filing suit. These are multinational corporations that
host
the Daemon. Their management feels that the Daemon gives them an advantage.”
    BCM: “What advantage?”
    NSA: “Survival, for one. They feel that the Daemon has a better handle on cyber security and might help them weather an anticipated period of coming chaos.”
    BCM: “This is extortion. The Daemon will destroy their dataif they don’t comply. RICO statutes cover this. And I see several firms on this list that some of our clients hold significant stock positions in.”
    NSA: “But not a controlling interest?”
    BCM: “It doesn’t matter. The management of these firms has no right to defend the Daemon.”
    NSA: “They cite their right as ‘artificial persons’ granted in an 1886 Supreme Court ruling on the fourteenth amendment …” (he flipped through documents)”…
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad
. You’re a lawyer. You tell me if the courts will throw it out.”
    EndoCorp: “These attorneys are agents of the Daemon—a known terrorist organization.”
    NSA: “Maybe. Or maybe the attorneys are just following instructions from the corner office. We don’t know yet. Either way, we should be able to get the courts to close a nineteenth-century loophole that has unanticipated twenty-first-century consequences.”
    BCM: “Wait. Let’s just wait a second. There are complex considerations relating to an entire body of legal precedents on corporate personhood, and the rights of free speech to corporate interests have a necessary and guiding effect on policy. Let’s not do anything rash. We should let these cases run their course. We’ll have neutralized the Daemon before they get their day in court, and then these companies will be back in the fold.”
    CIA: “Is there something about that 1886 ruling we should know?”
    BCM: “We don’t want to rehash established precedents. This is part of the Daemon’s effort to sow chaos.”
    CIA (writing notes): “What was the name of that case again?”
    BCM: “
This
is a perfect example of why government isn’t nimble enough to deal with the Daemon. It’s using our own laws and government institutions against us. To divide us. We should be helping one another.”
    NSA: “Wait a minute. Nobody’s dividing anyone. Does corporate personhood expose us to danger?”
    BCM: “That’s not the point. What I’m saying is