Megacorporations walk us into our dystopian future, while governments continue oppressive trends and the line between Black Hat and White Hat hackers have never been blurrier, this week in cyberpunk. Cyberpunk Reality US Doubles Down on Assange In the wake of CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s statements where he said, “It’s time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is: A non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions has stated that it is a “priority” to arrest Julian Assange and that the Justice Department is going to “step up” the investigation and prosecution of whistleblowers. This is a radical continuation of the Obama era crack down on whistleblowers. If Julian Assange is charged for publishing truthful information provided to them as a journalistic publisher, it will set a dangerous precedent that could be used by the Trump Administration, and administrations to follow, to crack down on “inconvenient” journalism that has been traditionally protected by the First Amendment in the name of National Security. Facebook is Working on Non-Invasive Brain-Computer Interface At Facebook’s recent F8 conference, they announced that the company’s Building 8, headed by former head of DARPA and former head of Google’s Advanced Technology And Products division Regina Dugan, is actively developing a non-invasive brain-computer interface system with the intent of allowing people to type with thought, in a kind of digital telepathy. The technology when achieved will have consequences far beyond typing, of course, such as in the realms of augmented reality consoles and virtual reality interaction, other realms that Facebook is actively working on. The future is being brought forth by corporate monoliths such as Facebook and Google. Gray Hat Vigilante Takes on the Mirai Botnet The Mirai botnet that operates on Internet of Things connected devices has been responsible for some of the largest internet outages and attacks to date. Now, those hackers who operate outside of legally sanctioned action, but for causes they deem good, the Gray Hats,  have begun creating botnets to innoculate IoT devices from being infected with Mirai botnet. Earlier this month, security researchers discovered a botnet named BrickerBot that worked to ‘brick’ poorly secured router and IoT devices. The BrickerBot approach is a bit heavy handed, but a new virus by the name of Hajime is infecting IoT devices and blocking commonly used ports to infect IoT devices with the Mirai botnet while hiding itself from detection. That being said, Hajime also conjures a message every ten minutes in terminals saying, Just a white hat, securing some systems. Important messages will be signed like this! Hajime Author. Contact CLOSED Stay sharp! McDonald’s is Not to be Outdone by Other Megacorporations Not to be outdone by other megacorporations, McDonald’s has announced the companies new uniforms. Jez Langhorn, McDonald’s Senior Director of HR said, “Our new collections focus on comfort, fit, functionality and contemporary professionalism, delivering a uniform that crew and managers will feel comfortable to work in and proud to wear.” They certainly look contemporary, if you accept the idea that our dystopian cyberpunk future is now, as we do. Cyberpunk Movies Alien: Covenant This week Alien: Covenant continues its marketing campaign with found footage style adverts that are intercut with violent alien imagery that includes heartfelt messages and a creepy speech. To cap off this week’s marketing, Empire magazine also released some exclusive images. Alien: Covenant hit theaters on May 19th. Blade Runner 2049 Barkhad Abdi’s role in Blade Runner 2049  has some interesting new details. Abdi says, “He’s a scientist, and he’s totally deformed.”It’s not much, but it get’s the brain juices flowing trying to imagine his place in the story and what that is going to look like on screen. Needless to say, we are excited for October 6th, when Blade Runner 2049 comes to screens. Fahrenheit 451 HBO is developing a feature-length adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s classic novel, Fahrenheit 451. Ramin Bahrani is set to direct while Michael B. Jordan is to play Guy Montag and Michael Shannon is to play Beatty, Montag’s boss. There is currently no projected release date. Cyberpunk Television Phillip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams Three new stars have been cast in Phillip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, an anthology series airing on Channel 4 that is inspired by the stories of Phillip K. Dick. Steve Buscemi will be playing in an episode titled, Crazy Diamond about “an average man who decides to help a gorgeous, synthetic woman when she approaches him with an illegal plan that could change his life completely.” The Buscemi episode will be directed by Marc Munden and written by Tony Grisoni. Greg Kinnear and Mireille Enos have been cast in an episode titled, Father Thing “which sees the world under attack as aliens quietly invade our homes. Charlie (Gore) must make the most difficult decisions imaginable to protect his mother (Enos) and the human race, as he is among the first to realize that humans are being replaced by dangerous monsters – his father (Kinnear) is amongst the first to change.” The episode is directed and written by Michael Dinner. Electric Dreams is set to air later this year, but no definite release date yet. Mr. Robot Rizwan Manji has just been cast in season three of Mr. Robot as Grace Gummer’s new partner. Mr. Robot will be returning to screens in October to continue the saga of Elliot Alderson. Megazone 23 XI In entirely unexpected news, the classic cyberpunk anime Megazone 23 is getting a new installment called Megazone 23 XI. AIC plans to run a crowdfunding effort to produce a promotional video. Akio Watanabe is designing the protagonist Sakura, while Masahiko Komino is designing the rest of the cast. The synopsis according to Anime News Network is: The new project’s story is set aboard the Megazone 11, a different space colony ship fleet from the Megazone 23 in the 1985 original video anime. Megazone 11’s master ships are designed as realistic simulations of Earth cities such as Tokyo, and there is also a satellite ship that is designed to resemble a smaller Japanese provincial city around the year 2020. The protagonist Sakura is an ordinary second-year middle school student who lives aboard that satellite ship. She leads a secret life as part of a singing duo with Eve, a friend she made online. On a master ship, a resistance movement flares up. To achieve independence, they must take control of Tiamat, the system that controls the fleet, but the key to the system was lost in battle 80 years ago. With rumors of its reappearance surfacing, both the resistance and the government are seeking the key. One day, while visiting Akihabara on the Tokyo ship to meet Eve, Sakura is embroiled in the middle of a terrorist attack at the train station. As Eve remotely guides Sakura to safety, Sakura comes across Garland XI, a transforming motorcycle robot mecha that Eve tells her to use. Megazone 23 XI is part of AIC’s 35th-anniversary celebration. Cyberpunk Short Films Battery Life Battery Life by Justin Nixon is a fascinating short film about robots that are misled by a kind theocracy, only to discover the truth at their most desperate. It is a great little allegory. Cyberpunk Games  Proxyndic Proxyndic looks like a low rez version of Dex, with greater freedom, less hacking, and less story driven action. It looks like a good time. The official synopsis is: Proxyndic (formerly known as Business Men) is a Sci-fi Action Role-Playing game set in the distant future. Players are immersed into a dense and claustrophobic metropolis where no official government exists. While corporations control and manage the majority of the human population, a remnant of militia and rivaling syndicates battle for supremacy. In Proxyndic, there is no linear driven story-line or hand holding. Player freedom is a virtue. Proxyndic is set to be released in the second quarter of 2017. Did we miss any dystopian news or cyberpunk delicacies to distract our minds from the grit of our neon-lit dystopia?