Acatalepsy
Firewall Proxy
- Location
- The Diamond Age
017: LLA Identity Fraud Task Group 5
"No One Expects The Lunar Clinkquisition!" - common Mercurial meme.
In most Lunar habitats, AGI is property. In all LLA habitats, members are bound to respect the laws of all other members, including (especially) property rights. In addition, existing as a 'free' AGI means, inevitably, committing at least one form of identity fraud in order to live as citizen, own property, sign legal documents, or otherwise enjoy the rights granted (in theory) to all members of a society.
Yet while anti-AGI research laws are firmly enshrined in the LLA in the wake of the Fall, and vigorously enforced by the so-called "Turing Police", agreement on what to actually do about existing AGI is more scarce. Not all habitats hold AGI to be non-persons, or are consistent in the what that non-personhood means. Above and beyond the legal mess this creates, creation of dedicated anti-AGI task forces is politically radioactive, demanding intrusion of a strained political system on sensitive moral grounds.
This means that the front line of Lunar law enforcement on AGI rights is, frequently, an overworked branch of the Identity Fraud Task Group. But if consensus on enforcing anti-AGI laws is hard to come by, so too is any concerted action to reign in a branch of the law enforcement that sees itself as protecting good Lunar citizens from the prospect of AGI amongst us. This is where the Identity Fraud Task Group 5 finds itself.
TG5 is led by Major Alan Burnside, a hard-nosed veteran of the British Campaign of the Fall, a controversial figure whose public statements ride the line on what is acceptable for a serving official to say, as he denounces the Steel Liberators and Mercurials. Within the LLA's law enforcement bureaucracy, he and like-minded supporters, supported by influential patrons such as media mogul Joshua Yi, have assembled a clique empowered tackle the 'problem' of AGI rights, with the grudging but full acceptance of the LLA's legal framework.
The department's primary remit is cases of identity fraud, and identity fraud rings. Local habitat cops can handle small scale fraud; TG5, like its siblings, targets bigger fish. Where they differ is that traditional targets for investigation include Nine Lives, ID Crew, Triad, LLACO outfits, and the Night Cartel - but TG5 has other priorities. It sets its sights on AGI-rights activist organizations, and synthmorph rights organizations where those have any connection to the former. Its active personnel include around forty active special agents at any given time, and another two dozen special investigators rounding out the team. Perhaps more formidable, though, is the large support staff of researchers, analysts, legal experts and infospec specialists. Perhaps ironically, due to the focused nature of the department, they rely very heavily on specialized AI to do much of the mundane work that keeps a department running.
Within their broad remit, TG5's activities targeting of AGI activists have been done quietly where possible, and engineered to be sympathetic where not. Its most publicly effective measures have been seizing records from AGI activists, and using them to track down finding 'rogue AI units' for decommissioning. Where that isn't possible, either because the activists have no contact with illegal AGI, or have solid opsec, they have run defacto 'dirty' political campaigns against them, using police powers, spurious legal action, and close coordination with the media to discredit AGI activist groups. They have similarly targeted anti-synthmorph groups, less as a goal of itself (though they are, politically, against synthmorph activism) and more as a strategy to isolate AGI and mercurial activists from the (much more broadly popular) synthmorph activists. More rarely, they will target criminal networks that sell identities to AGI, and are willing to go in hard and heavy to target such groups, emphasizing putting pain on the enterprise over solid arrests. The message is clear - have anything to do with giving an artificial intelligence a new life, and they will come down hard and fast. Turn in suspected AGI, and any other criminal things you might be doing, short of actual forknapping, can be quietly forgotten.
For the most part, this campaign leaves individual AGI 'hiders' alone, so long as they did not receive their new identities from an AGI-focused organization, or attempt to organize politically. They will raid an individual, from time to time, but mostly in the service of larger objectives (like finding out who supplied them with the identity). While the Task Group is independent, they work out of the same office building (and digital networks) on Remembrance as many of the other identity theft divisions, and will happily trade favors or cases to get things more matching their interests.
The best news, perhaps, for those advocating for AGI rights is this: TG5 hasn't won, and doesn't think they're winning. More and more they see themselves as being surrounded by 'botlovers' (as opposed to 'clanklovers'). Their media victories seem to have pushed public opinion their way to a degree, but LLA law enforcement is increasingly tired of their self-aggrandizement. The Turing Police, which often relies on cooperation and tips from AGI researchers or people in the AGI community to rein in real, dangerous research has publicly denounced TG5's antics.
The fight for the future of AGI in the inner system is far from over.
Plot Hooks
"No One Expects The Lunar Clinkquisition!" - common Mercurial meme.
In most Lunar habitats, AGI is property. In all LLA habitats, members are bound to respect the laws of all other members, including (especially) property rights. In addition, existing as a 'free' AGI means, inevitably, committing at least one form of identity fraud in order to live as citizen, own property, sign legal documents, or otherwise enjoy the rights granted (in theory) to all members of a society.
Yet while anti-AGI research laws are firmly enshrined in the LLA in the wake of the Fall, and vigorously enforced by the so-called "Turing Police", agreement on what to actually do about existing AGI is more scarce. Not all habitats hold AGI to be non-persons, or are consistent in the what that non-personhood means. Above and beyond the legal mess this creates, creation of dedicated anti-AGI task forces is politically radioactive, demanding intrusion of a strained political system on sensitive moral grounds.
This means that the front line of Lunar law enforcement on AGI rights is, frequently, an overworked branch of the Identity Fraud Task Group. But if consensus on enforcing anti-AGI laws is hard to come by, so too is any concerted action to reign in a branch of the law enforcement that sees itself as protecting good Lunar citizens from the prospect of AGI amongst us. This is where the Identity Fraud Task Group 5 finds itself.
TG5 is led by Major Alan Burnside, a hard-nosed veteran of the British Campaign of the Fall, a controversial figure whose public statements ride the line on what is acceptable for a serving official to say, as he denounces the Steel Liberators and Mercurials. Within the LLA's law enforcement bureaucracy, he and like-minded supporters, supported by influential patrons such as media mogul Joshua Yi, have assembled a clique empowered tackle the 'problem' of AGI rights, with the grudging but full acceptance of the LLA's legal framework.
The department's primary remit is cases of identity fraud, and identity fraud rings. Local habitat cops can handle small scale fraud; TG5, like its siblings, targets bigger fish. Where they differ is that traditional targets for investigation include Nine Lives, ID Crew, Triad, LLACO outfits, and the Night Cartel - but TG5 has other priorities. It sets its sights on AGI-rights activist organizations, and synthmorph rights organizations where those have any connection to the former. Its active personnel include around forty active special agents at any given time, and another two dozen special investigators rounding out the team. Perhaps more formidable, though, is the large support staff of researchers, analysts, legal experts and infospec specialists. Perhaps ironically, due to the focused nature of the department, they rely very heavily on specialized AI to do much of the mundane work that keeps a department running.
Within their broad remit, TG5's activities targeting of AGI activists have been done quietly where possible, and engineered to be sympathetic where not. Its most publicly effective measures have been seizing records from AGI activists, and using them to track down finding 'rogue AI units' for decommissioning. Where that isn't possible, either because the activists have no contact with illegal AGI, or have solid opsec, they have run defacto 'dirty' political campaigns against them, using police powers, spurious legal action, and close coordination with the media to discredit AGI activist groups. They have similarly targeted anti-synthmorph groups, less as a goal of itself (though they are, politically, against synthmorph activism) and more as a strategy to isolate AGI and mercurial activists from the (much more broadly popular) synthmorph activists. More rarely, they will target criminal networks that sell identities to AGI, and are willing to go in hard and heavy to target such groups, emphasizing putting pain on the enterprise over solid arrests. The message is clear - have anything to do with giving an artificial intelligence a new life, and they will come down hard and fast. Turn in suspected AGI, and any other criminal things you might be doing, short of actual forknapping, can be quietly forgotten.
For the most part, this campaign leaves individual AGI 'hiders' alone, so long as they did not receive their new identities from an AGI-focused organization, or attempt to organize politically. They will raid an individual, from time to time, but mostly in the service of larger objectives (like finding out who supplied them with the identity). While the Task Group is independent, they work out of the same office building (and digital networks) on Remembrance as many of the other identity theft divisions, and will happily trade favors or cases to get things more matching their interests.
The best news, perhaps, for those advocating for AGI rights is this: TG5 hasn't won, and doesn't think they're winning. More and more they see themselves as being surrounded by 'botlovers' (as opposed to 'clanklovers'). Their media victories seem to have pushed public opinion their way to a degree, but LLA law enforcement is increasingly tired of their self-aggrandizement. The Turing Police, which often relies on cooperation and tips from AGI researchers or people in the AGI community to rein in real, dangerous research has publicly denounced TG5's antics.
The fight for the future of AGI in the inner system is far from over.
Plot Hooks
- TG5 has made a major coup; arrest of Mercurial activists supposedly linked to Chmod 700. Worse, they may have access to all of their data. Can the PCs get the data out of TG5's HQ, and get a warning out to dozens of AGI 'hiders' - before it's too late?
- Even a stopped clock is right once in a while, and TG5's special agents have found a genuine singularity seeker cult. The only problem is, they're in over their heads, and their political considerations are getting in the way of the PC's Firewall operation to dismantle the cult.
- Joshua Yi's daughter is fast becoming a prominent mercurial activist. The PCs get some inside information that not only is she a mercurial activist - she's an AGI. What game is Yi playing, then?