View Single Post
Old 02-11-2010, 12:53 PM   #38
Lord Carnifex
 
Lord Carnifex's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Default Re: The cost of Zeroed

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darekun View Post
IIRC it appeared in Neuromancer(1984), but I'm not sure; it doesn't appear Gibson had a name for it.
Gibson references the basic idea in Mona Lisa Overdrive, calling it "being SINless" - lacking a Single Identification Number.

He actually gives a couple of good examples in that book, too. Mona is zeroed because no one ever entered her into the system in the first place. She has no birth record, no government ID, and hates interacting with suits (and probably government workers of all pay grades. She pays cash for everything, or gets it through her boyfriend. When they travel, they do it by car, bus, or train.

OTOH, there is Molly. Molly probably had her identity wiped from the system at some point. She interacts with bureaucracy through temporary fake ID's (none of the robust enough to be GURPS Alternate Identity, which IIRC negates Zeroed). Running her face or fingerprints through the system turns up nothing, and none of her IDs will stand up to too much scrutiny, but they'll pass for a while. She maintains her Zeroed status by mostly working through cutouts, cash, and numbered accounts. If she's thoroughly investigated, the authorities will have to try and figure out what aliases and temporary identities she's used in the past to try and pin anything on her.

That's really what it takes to stay Zeroed, at least in a cyberpunk context. The zeroed character has to avoid doing anything that will create a record attached to their permanent ID. That means either paying cash and staying off the grid, or using a lot of blinds, cutouts, and fake documents.
__________________
An ongoing narrative of philosophy, psychology, and semiotics: Et in Arcadia Ego

"To an Irishman, a serious matter is a joke, and a joke is a serious matter."
Lord Carnifex is offline   Reply With Quote