#3: Normalizing Ransomware
For me, and maybe for you, the story about the Austrian hotel ransomware attack—which locked guests out of their rooms until the hotel anted up $1,800—finally made the concept of ransomware concrete. It would have done so more forcefully if the guests had been locked into their rooms instead of locked out, but enough people misinterpreted it that way regardless, so the point was made. Last week I attended a workshop where we imagined the dark scenarios that might flourish in the space where the Internet of Things meets the Trump presidency, and you’d better believe ransomware played a role.
Ransomware has an uncomfortable relationship with capitalism: It’s only one step beyond what we currently accept as legitimate business and thus illuminates the most dysfunctional and fragile qualities of life as a consumer in the internet age. A hacker can only lock everyone out of a hotel room or disable a television network, or seize control of 150,000 printers, because these devices are wired to be controllable by whoever owns them and charges rent for their usage. Having your utilities shut off because you forgot to pay the bill is a phenomenon that can happen to anything once it’s all connected. Ransomware simply describes another party assuming that role. But the rightful owner of any device or platform is increasingly difficult or unnecessary for us lay people to pinpoint, with meatspace businesses like hotels relying on third parties for their software, their data storage, and a thousand other services, so the “user experience” of hacked products gets smoother every day. In the future, all commerce will be indistinguishable from ransomware.
Apple, in particular, basically makes ransomware today. We all desperately need our phones and laptops so they’re starting from a position of strength. When they finally eliminate the headphone jack from the iPhone, for example, that feature of the device will become as inaccessible as if hacked until each of us ponies up the $160 for wireless headphones we never requested. Similarly, Apple Music puts Apple in control of files you thought were simply yours, and it’s not hard to imagine them eventually charging you for the privilege of accessing what you’d have previously grabbed off of your CD shelf. To our grandparents this would look like a racket, but we’ve been trained well. It’s starting to feel like ransomware to me.
Reads:
Rust Belt Gothic: video games that embrace urban decay and nervous realism
Sorry Y Combinator, a city is not a computer. Will we never learn?
Fun fact, geography edition: Two countries in the world are unfortunate enough to be doubly landlocked. Can you guess which ones?
Until next time,
Drew