Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. This is a YA story about a Homeland Security takeover of San Francisco in the wake of a terrorist attack there. Our hero, a geeky high school student, gets stuffed into a Homeland Security torture chamber and tortured for three days, then released. He decides to get even...
Now, the rest of the story is pretty much the story of how he does that, using his mad l33t geek skills. Which reminds me of why I don't hang out with the cyber-punk types anymore -- they think they can actually make a difference in the world with all their encrypted darknets and such. Furthermore, they think the press would actually print an expose' of Homeland Security running a torture chamber for girls and boys caught up in their net, if only there was enough evidence. And they think the governor of California would actually order the California Highway Patrol to arrest Homeland Security torturers. As if. The Governator would give the torturers a medal.
Reality is, of course, that anybody who dared take on Homeland Security's imposition of a police state would be depicted in the press as a terrorist who deserves everything he got, and most people would harumph and talk about how they needed to be safe. Look at how many people willingly give up their 1st Amendment right to the privacy of their persons in order to board airplanes. Don't dare grumble about it when you're waiting in line to be processed by the inept goons manning the x-ray machines, because your fellow passengers will turn you in as a potential terrorist for daring question giving up your rights in order to feel safe. America doesn't want freedom. America wants Little Brother, a kinder, gentler tyranny that keeps things safe and orderly. And woe to anyone who dares to stand in the way of what America wants...
-- Badtux the Cynical Penguin
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