[003] text BACKDATED JUST A LITTLE TO BEFORE THE HOLIDAY

[epimethean]

Survey time!

I need a few reasonably intelligent individuals who can take direction and know how to not be idiots on the internet. Raise your hand if you know how to not be an idiot on the internet! Great! I'd like your help with a thing that may or may not involve the recent interrogations and the results of said interrogations. Fill this out:

<b>Name:</b> I don't really care if you use an alias; I just need something to call you. Don't screw with me because I'll know. <b>Age:</b> No teenagers with attitude, please, the entire point of this is to not be an idiot on the internet. <b>Are you a frequent user of social networks?</b> Yes/No <b>Do you consider yourself well-versed in technology?</b> Yes/No, elaborate if necessary. <b>Define 'proxy' in the context of not being an idiot on the internet:</b> No hints.

That's it, that's all you have to do! Easy, right? Also, if anyone has any knowledge of how much technological fire/brainpower the "enemy" is packing (i.e. do they employ hackers!? How good are the hackers?! etc. etc.), that's a thing I'd like to know.

I'm sure there are some of you who might find this incredibly vague and possibly suspicious, so hello, I'm Wheatley, I've been on this network for a few months now and I haven't done anything stupid with regards to keeping it a secret. I do computer things, if anyone ever needs any computer things.

Comments

[epimethean]

[When she sits down, he does the same, pulling his laptop a little to the side so that she can better see anything he might need to demonstrate.]

Was there anything in particular you were wondering about, or--?

[hustru]

Is it dangerous?

[As much as she would like to help, if it would be sure to put her or her family in danger... or a certain Swede... she might have to pass.]

[epimethean]

Well, no.

[He appears to consider this for some time.]

Not if we're sensible about things. Which we will be, of course.

[hustru]

Good.

That's it.

[For the moment. If something else crops up, she will ask then.]

[epimethean]

Right, so...

[With that taken care of, he adjusts his laptop and flexes his fingers over the keyboard.]

It is--it is helpful, to me, to, ah. Sort of know where you're coming from, and if there's anything specific you--you'd like to know.

[hustru]

I'll ask if necessary. Now I want to help.

[She shrugs.] But I haven't echoed abilities yet. [So she feels like she's rather useless on the larger scheme of things.]

[epimethean]

Oh, that's okay. Neither have I.

[He doesn't seem too broken up about it, because some of the most obvious side-effects of echoes are being unable to do many things that you used to, simply by virtue of physical incapability, or plain-old house arrest.]

Just memories, on this end, so all, ah. Computer-related abilities are all natural.

[hustru]

It's your job?

[She assumes so much, so it is more making conversation than anything, but she's also a bit curious and it probably means something for how well coordinated the whole effort is. ...And how much time can be invested, assuming that if nothing has changed for this person yet they are still fully employed and have all responsibilities that any "normal" person would have.]

[epimethean]

Yeah, uh. I program. For a tech firm.

[Code monkeying, really, is what he doesn't say, but he knows what he's capable of and he's sure that everything will be fine.]

The priority, here, will be making sure they can't trace whatever we do back to us. You said you sort of knew what a proxy is, right?

[hustru]

[She nods. She says that, and while her understanding of it is maybe not the exact definition that is in the books due to the problems with them that she tends to deal with, she definitely knows what they are.

[epimethean]

Great! Basically, what we're aiming to--to do, is sort of--sort of maintain these profiles we set up under a battery of proxies and other things so that--so that the cops can't see who's actually behind them.

[A great plan, that will not go wrong at all.]

Obviously I don't--I don't know how much technological no-how they're packing, so there might be--might be some risk. Involved.

[hustru]

I have a friend on the network.

[Åsa is the one that she is worried about - her family is halfway around the globe, they should be safe no matter what happens. But she thinks that this is a risk that she can take.]

Maintenance, then?

[epimethean]

[He nods along, at least partially in agreement. He can't say much for non-network friends, but his family's across the pond too, so there's no reason to involve anyone without a number.]

Yeah, you know, say we invent a profile for a twenty-something bloke who likes, uh. Football and works in an accounting firm. You'd just have to pretend to be that person on the internet, update his Facebook, that kind of thing.

[hustru]

[That makes her pause.

Facebook. ...But it doesn't matter what people would think about that person, right? Maybe it's easier than maintaining one of her own.

She nods in understanding. That can be done.]

[epimethean]

Great, so...you know how that works, right?

[It's Facebook. Everyone knows how Facebook works.

Most...people...]

[hustru]

In theory and from reading.

[Just not. So much active usage.]

[epimethean]

Don't have Facebook?

[IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY!???]

[hustru]

For private messages.

[This makes her weird, and she knows it, but... she is fairly sure that her timeline is completely empty.]

[epimethean]

Right, yes.

[He shrugs. It's not really any of his business, anyway.]

No worries, though. It's all--s'all fairly intuitive.

[hustru]

[She nods. She'll try to do it, do her best. It has to work. It'd be silly if it didn't.]

It's no problem.

When should I start?

[epimethean]

Soon as you like, really. I mean, I'll need a few days to get things set up, but after that, it's all yours. I can--I can send further instructions when I know what kinds of pages you'll be updating. Is there a good way for me to contact you?

[hustru]

Text me.

[She digs her phone out of her pocket, ready to give him her number.]

[epimethean]

Oh! Great!

[Here he goes, whipping out his own iPhone, thumbs hovering over it unexpectedly.]

Ready!

[hustru]

[She'll give him her number and then swiping her way through the menu so she can type in his in return.

She'll stress later over where she should sort him among her contacts.]