I am a Big Player
Chapter 500 - 494, Igniting the Rage (Second Update)_1

Chapter 500: 494, Igniting the Rage (Second Update)_1

Before the plan really began, Ren He was also considering one question: should he just throw the data out there, which would save some trouble?

But the problem was, after Edward Snowden exposed the Prism program, although the public was furious and outraged, demonstrations and protests were all carried out.

The government’s credibility declined, and the stock market was also disrupted; in theory, this should have had a significant impact.

However, Ren He felt that it was not enough. The Prism program only began to scale back its scope a long time after the exposure; the US government promised not to eavesdrop on the public anymore, etc., yet the program did not truly stop.

Everything was not intense enough since the US government at that time was constantly claiming that some civil liberties had to be sacrificed for the sake of security.

Having experienced the events of 9/11, American citizens had a higher acceptance of security; after all, if people were dead, what use was privacy?

However, in this world, there was no 9/11; terrorist attacks were always contained outside of the United States, and the public had no particular awareness of life safety because they had not yet experienced loss.

When life safety was not a concern, privacy and freedom naturally became the primary needs of the spiritual world.

Now, Ren He had used a book to stir the waves further and, at the critical moment of the anti-authoritarianism discussion, pushed all the truths to the forefront for everyone to ferment the subsequent events on their own.

Ren He was thankful for the US government’s many shady acts, which provided him with the best opportunity for revenge.

At the moment, only Ren He, Xu Nuo, and Yang Xi knew about Ren He’s subsequent plan, and even Steve just vaguely sensed there might be some connection with the Prism program after seeing the book ’1984,’ because in Steve’s view, the Prism program was the embodiment of totalitarianism: what right do you have to surveil your own citizens?

Although he had some guesses, he was utterly clueless about the specifics!

And ’1984’ had spread from Europe, not erupting directly in the US, therefore it didn’t arouse any alarm stateside.

No one knew that a storm was about to sweep across North America, controlled by two 17-year-old boys from China.

Ren He did not have the power to be the world’s enemy, nor did he have the courage; he always considered himself a normal person, and seeking revenge was a natural emotion. Choosing consequences he could bear was the most basic condition.

During another night, Xu Nuo executed his backup plan that he had prepared long ago; websites of 300 private enterprises in North America suddenly fell in one night, and their official websites displayed only one thing: a compressed file named after the Prism program, available for anyone to download.

From beginning to end, Xu Nuo did not provoke any official US websites, choosing some well-known and easy targets.

Ren He did not suggest Xu Nuo do so; it was enough just to send out the files. Why seek death?

Wouldn’t the top-tier hackers responsible for a country’s cybersecurity be able to find a kid? Xu Nuo’s skills were not invincible.

So it was better to pick the low-hanging fruit.

American citizens were in an environment ripe with anti-totalitarian sentiments, with over 300 spontaneous anti-totalitarian organizations being established every day across North America. It was at this moment... that the Prism program was exposed!

People were plunged into shock, clearly seeing in the files over a hundred examples of photos: someone had used the Prism system to search for keywords belonging to over a hundred citizens and then took photos to preserve them.

George, social media accounts, social history information, content of private emails, call logs, text message contents, all of it was there! They could even turn on webcams at will!

In Snowden’s revelations, one crucial detail was that some security advisors liked to frivolously switch on webcams to spy on girls on the other side of the computer when they had nothing better to do.

Some girls dressed very lightly at home, not knowing their webcams had been turned on; how terrifying was that?

Therefore, Snowden emphasized that he never allowed his girlfriend to remove the covering over the webcam on her laptop...

The public was enraged... just as Ren He had hoped, they were enraged...

The files also contained incidents where security advisors abused their authority to investigate the family background of rich businessmen and then plundered them.

The rich businessmen were furious...

Additionally, there was the high-level surveillance the system conducted on all immigrants and foreigners, a fact which incensed the immigrants...

Most importantly, the files included wiretapping of government heads from countries including Germany, Mexico, Canada, and the allied nations were furious as well...

The National Security Agency suddenly became the target of public wrath since the files clearly indicated that they were the ones conducting the program.

The US government could not escape blame either, as the project had been approved by the Senate, meaning that in fact, the upper echelons of the US were aware of it!

At this moment, Steve was the most shocked, having originally thought that Ren He wanted the data for some of China’s interests, but now it seemed that all this resembled more of a revenge action by Ren He against the US government!

Seeking neither fame nor profit, he just wanted to shatter the government’s credibility, which was extremely willful.

Sometimes, when a powerful person starts to act willfully, it can make things very terrifying.

Was Ren He powerful? At least Steve’s assessment was that he was powerful; he still couldn’t understand how Ren He knew there was something he wanted in that civilian house?! This was too bizarre.

But now he could say nothing, for he was the accomplice! Steve was so worried at home that he was almost pulling his hair out... How had he become involved with such a terrifying person!

Ren He’s money was not easy to earn at all!

The US government’s high-ranking officials were in a furious uproar at this time; such an important program had been leaked without any warning or preparation!

Hadn’t they said that Yang En didn’t get too much useful information last time? The whistleblower had been locked up in prison, without a second chance to contact Yang En.

So what exactly was going on? What was the National Security Agency really up to?

The US president rushed to handle crisis management, delivering speeches, appearing righteous and eloquent, but the facts were already in front of everyone, and the rage of the people had already been ignited by the prior anti-totalitarian sentiments.

They had never imagined that something like this would truly happen to them; it was too terrifying, leaving the public feeling a deep chill.

Now, as government officials observed the demonstrators and protesters filling the streets, what they really wanted to know was: who exactly was that hacker?