Marcus, alias "w1n5t0n", ist 17 Jahre alt, smart, schnell und ein echter Internet-Crack. Als Terroristen die Oakland Bay Bridge in San Francisco bombardieren, stürzt auch seine Welt ein - denn Marcus und seine Freunde werden von einem übereifrigen Department of Homeland Security (DHS) verhaftet, tagelang auf einer geheimen Insel verhört und gedemütigt. Als Marcus frei kommt, hat sich San Francisco in einen Überwachungsstaat verwandelt, in dem jeder Bürger als potentieller Terrorist betrachtet wird. Zum Teil aus dem Wunsch nach Rache, zum Teil getrieben vom leidenschaftlichen Glauben an die Menschenrechte, schwört Marcus, die DHS aus seiner geliebten Stadt zu vertreiben. Mit Hilfe des Xnet und anderer neuer Medien beginnt er ein gefährliches Katz-und-Maus-Spiel, indem er die Überwachungsversuche der Regierung sabotiert und immer mehr junge Menschen für seine Guerilla-Bewegung gewinnt. Am Ende trägt er maßgeblich dazu bei, dass die Regierung stürzt.

After being interrogated by the Department of Homeland Security after a major terrorist attack on San Francisco, Marcus is released into what is now a police state and uses his expertise in computer hacking to set things right.

Autorentext

Cory Doctorow is a science fiction author, activist and journalist. He is the author of many books, including The Lost Cause, a solarpunk science-fiction novel of hope amidst the climate emergency. His nonfiction book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation is a Big Tech disassembly manual. Other recent books include Red Team Blues, a science fiction crime thriller; Chokepoint Capitalism, nonfiction about monopoly and creative labor markets; the Little Brother series for young adults; In Real Life, a graphic novel; and the picture book Poesy the Monster Slayer. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Klappentext

Marcus, a.k.a "w1n5t0n," is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works-and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school's intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they're mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.