Free The God Equation and Other Stories by Michael A.R. Co Page A

Government, the semi-bald pate of the Defense Secretary, the grim head of the Justice Secretary, and the bulky mass of the National Security Advisor who sat immobile, silent as stone. Jon nearly jumped when the thing spoke.
    “Gentlemen, please take your seats.”
    Jon pulled back a chair, but the Undersecretary, thinking that Jon was offering him the seat, promptly took it. Jon was forced to sit at the end of the table, directly across the President.
    “Another day, another scandal,” she said, her voice unmistakable. “I looked over your initial report. You should have used less technical language.” She closed a folder labeled Top Secret: For Your Eyes Only.
    “I ’ m sorry Madam President, I…”
    She raised her hand and continued, “Never mind. You ’ re here now. Share your findings. And please, Jon, keep it simple.”
    Jon Lorenzo cleared his throat. As senior consultant to the Presidential Task Force on Cybersecurity, he found it unfair that he was expected to work miracles when he was as much in the dark as everyone else. “From what we can determine, the website appeared just three days ago,” he began. “It ’ s called ‘ Ogle ’ except that the initial character is actually a zero. The domain name is not registered in any DNS server yet it can be accessed by anyone, anywhere. You don ’ t even need an Internet connection, just a computer and a browser. All our efforts to trace the host and track down the webmaster have been futile. Measures to block the URL are useless as the site doesn ’ t have a valid IP address. The domain name itself consists of sixty-one zeros followed by the letters g, l, and e. ICANN currently restricts names to sixty-three characters — ”
    “English, Jon, English,” the President interrupted.
    Jon sighed. “The website shouldn ’ t even exist,” he said. “It violates the rules of the Internet and the laws of physics.”
    “It violates our privacy, that ’ s what it does!” said the Justice Secretary.
    “ To what extent, we ’ ll soon find out,” said the President. “ Jon, please go on. ”
    “ Ogle gives its users the unprecedented ability to look through other people ’ s eyes and listen through their ears. No one knows how this is done or why this is even possible, who did it, and from where. Although it hasn ’ t recorded anything older than three days, ” — there was a faint sigh of relief — “ it hasn ’ t stopped recording everything since. To our knowledge , the videos cannot be deleted.” Jon thought he heard a collective gasp but it might have been the old air-con unit.
    Jon continued. “ This is a global phenomenon. The Ogle website consistently ranks number one every time you search for someone ’ s name along with the word ‘ video ’ regardless of which search engine you use. If a hundred others shared your name, all of you will appear at the top one hundred. Videos can also be searched by popularity. Vying for first place are Bush and bin Laden. Obama , a close third. That ’ s just the English version; Ogle supports multiple languages.”
    “The end of privacy,” said the Interior Secretary, shaking his head. “We should wear masks, work through intermediaries, impose a ban on the use of computers…”
    “ The U.S. response so far was to declare martial law, hours ahead of China and Russia,” said the Defense Secretary. “We should do the same. ”
    “ I think a state of emergency would be in order, ” the Justice Secretary chimed in. "Martial law would be political suicide. ”
    “ Martial law is our only choice! ” countered the Defense Secretary. “ This website poses a grave threat to our national security. Martial law is a far better option than either a coup or impeachment. We should shut down the grid. Cut the power. No electricity, no computers.”
    “Sir, with all due respect,” said Jon, “that won ’ t solve the problem.” He pulled out his cell phone, accessed the Ogle homepage, typed in his own