Zero - you know what you're doing

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Zero by Marc Elsberg (2014)

Zero - You know what you are doing (spelling ZERO ) is a detective novel by Marc Elsberg , the first edition of which was published in German in 2014 by Blanvalet Verlag . At the center of the plot is the journalist Cynthia Bonsant , who deals with the increasing interest of state and private institutions in information about people and their interests. The novel is set in the near future and became a bestseller . On June 9, 2014 it reached number 3 on the “Spiegel” bestseller list in the “Hardcover / Fiction” category.

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Zero begins with a description of Presidentsday, during which the US President is visited by several drones while on vacation, followed, filmed and ridiculed live on the Internet. Responsible for this is an organization called Zero , which consists of network activists and is committed to data protection and informational self-determination. Government and private agencies, including the FBI , try to brand Zero as a terrorist and prosecute his followers accordingly. At the same time, journalist Cynthia Bonsant from the Daily newspaper joins the action. Since the Freemee subsidiary, whose name is Sheeld, is offering the Daily 4 million euros, it goes on the hunt for ZERO. She receives data glasses modeled on Google Glass from her employer , which she lends to her daughter Viola. She then becomes involved in a shootout in which Adam Denham is killed. Cynthia Bonsant then begins to clarify the background of the event and comes across the Internet platform Freemee . This collects all possible information about its members electronically and then gives tips from so-called "ActApps", with the help of which they can be more successful in career, fitness and other areas. Zero explicitly warns against Freemee , as it not only completely abolishes the privacy of the users, but people could also be manipulated in a targeted manner. During her research, Cynthia Bonsant comes into conflict with both Freemee and American intelligence agencies who have an interest in monitoring the public.

Characters

Cynthia Bonsant - Journalist for the Daily

Anthony Heast - Editor in Chief of the Daily s

Chander Argawal - IT forensic scientist

Jeff - Technical Department at the Daily

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Viola Bonsant - Cynthia's daughter

Adam Denham - friend of Viola

Edward Brickle - friend of Viola

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Carl Montik - Founder of Freemee , responsible for research, programming and development

Will Dekkert - Freemee's chief communications officer

Alice Kinkaid - Freemee's chief communications officer

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Heir Pennicott - White House Chief of Staff

Jonathan Stem - Assistant Director at the FBI

Marten Carson - FBI agent

Luís - Digital Detective at the FBI

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Henry Emerald - Founder of EmerSec

Joaquim Proust - Head of EmerSec

reception

Zero was seen as a “contribution to the debate on the development of our digital world”, which, against the background of the reports on Anonymous , WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, was “both an inventory and a vision”. With his book, Marc Elsberg has "the opportunity to finally become one of the presidents of what is perhaps the most important social discourse of our time." Zero is a prototype of a new literary genre that is emerging: the "socially critical IT thriller".

The novel sheds light on the "accumulation of data by Google , Facebook & Co.", combined conspiracy theories with criticism of capitalism and some " public enemy no. 1 " as well as plenty of action into a "gripping story". The scenario presented is nightmarish, but has long been a reality. The author was classified as a “terrific researcher”, but “not quite as grandiose narrator”. Elsberg's narrative style is "wooden"; his characters remained “pale and superficial, without great emotion”.

Although Elsberg provides an exact picture of real technical possibilities in detail, the novel still lacks realism: It is hardly understandable that a 40-year-old journalist should not have noticed what the IT industry is now making possible. It is just as unbelievable that a post shown on the Internet from a standstill has an audience of millions: "Everyone seems to be looking at the same pictures, but that is exactly what has passed since the triumph of the Internet."

In August 2014 Thomas Neumann judged: "Elsberg's novel is [...] cutting-edge, has a good plot and is told again at a rapid pace." Elsberg had both Immanuel Kant's thesis of the "self-inflicted immaturity" of the unenlightened and Orwell's criticism of surveillance systems on the stand of the 21st century.

In November 2014, the book was named Knowledge Book of the Year in the “Entertainment” category.

expenditure

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Placements hardcover / fiction. ( Memento of September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: buchreport , accessed on July 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ Zero. They know what you're doing - website for Marc Elsberg's new thriller - Blanvalet Verlag. Retrieved April 14, 2017 .
  3. ^ Christian Beisenherz: Zero. Article for WDR 2 , May 26, 2014, accessed on May 15, 2017.
  4. ↑ Sven Prange: In the grip of the octopuses . In: Handelsblatt , No. 99, May 23, 2014, p. 60.
  5. ^ "Herr Weichert": Book: Zero by Marc Elsberg ( Memento from September 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). "Virtual data protection office". July 20, 2014, accessed August 27, 2014
  6. ^ Matthias Ziegler: Google follows the laws of the market economy . In: Wiener Zeitung , May 31, 2014, pp. 38–39.
  7. ↑ Ralf Krauter: Welcome to paranoia! In: Deutschlandfunk . May 26, 2014, accessed June 17, 2014.
  8. ^ Jobst-Ulrich Brand: Thriller . In: Focus , No. 22, May 26, 2014, p. 22.
  9. ^ Elmar Krekeler: Marc Elsberg or the big data protection hahaha . In: The world . June 25, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2014.
  10. ↑ Bastian Wünsch: Facebook sends its regards: “Zero - you know what you are doing” by Marc Elsberg ( Memento from September 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) NDR , July 13, 2014, accessed on August 27, 2014
  11. ↑ Michael Lange : Data Security: Zero. You know what you are doing . Deutschlandfunk , July 13, 2014, accessed on August 27, 2014
  12. ↑ Thomas Neumann. Self-inflicted immaturity. About the tension between data protection and data usage in Marc Elsberg's thriller “Zero” . In: "literaturkritik.de". No. 8, August 2014, accessed August 27, 2014