Ship's Holog: June 2078, fragment #6

Speech is not the only form of expression that is threatened in our virtual world; the written word has all but disappeared as a form of free expression, largely the result of the shift from local to server-based data storage, which began to take hold innocently enough in the first decade of the century with vast server-based digital music and video databases.

The convenience of being able to store and access any music, video, document, or bit of information on yotta-byte servers is convenient, of course, but the price paid has been steep. Every newly stored file is automatically scanned by an Authority AI censor, which immediately evaluates its content and, if it is flagged as subversive, removes it from the server and holo-interrogates the person who posted it. Depending upon the AI censor’s determination of the degree of subversion, the adequacy of the poster’s responses during interrogation, and his or her past history of subversion, s/he may be penalized. The severity of such penalties ranges from a minimal suspension of holo-posting privileges to house arrest and, for repeat offenders of highly subversive materials, incarceration in remote and dangerous ACFs (Actual Correctional Facilities).

Of course, the definition of “subversive” differs from country to country. In our progressive nation of New Vermont we have far more leeway than do citizens of repressive totalitarian countries like the People’s Republic of China and the New Soviet Union and than those who live in Islamic theocracies or Evangelical states in the USA , where any material ID’d as sacrilegious is also considered to be subversive.

It’s true that courageous individuals can store information on personal peta-byte flash memory sticks, but as soon as these sticks are connected to a holopod, they instantaneously undergo an AI censor scan. So, there’s really no way to keep digitized written materials secret anymore.

Even antique paper-based books are subject to examination by the Authorities, whose holocom-based surve-cams routinely scan the contents of people’s homes and offices to spot any newly acquired paper-based materials. If any are found, their titles are checked against a database of all written materials, authors, and organizations and, if the materials are flagged as subversive, their owners are ordered to appear with the offending AO (Actual Object) at a local law enforcement agency for questioning. At minimum, the AOs are confiscated. If any of these AOs do not appear on the database in any way, owners also must surrender those to the local Authorities, who, in turn, submit them to national Authorities for registration (and rating) in the database. If these materials are rated as being subversive by Authority censors, their owners may be brought in for questioning.