CyberSpace

The global Utility Fog is the worldwide wireless descendant of the 21st century “cloud”: a massive decemtralized digital ecosphere comprised of all online content, apps, systems and data. Really old people call it “the IoT” or “the internet”. Thanks to the Fog, your processing capability and memory are not limited by your hardware. For the most part, your personal devices simply send requests, commands and data, and they receive just enough data or content to display it as you need it. The heavy lifting is done by virtual machines in the Fog, and the data goes where it's needed. Computing is performed as close to the edge (the end user's device) as possible.

As its full name implies, the Fog is treated as a public utility. Any data in the Fog can be accessed from any device, or moved from device to device (depending on permissions and access, of course). When it comes to data that lives in the Fog, your devices typically either (a) request it or (b) update it. If it's not protected or secured at a higher level of access than you possess, you can get at it. Even if it is above your access level, you can often get an aggregated and depersonalized view of it.

The Fog is so much a part of daily life that it’s barely noticed—unless something goes wrong.

Features of The Fog

 * Cloud/fog technology & cheap computing permit effectively infinite RAM and processing power
 * Universal translation is a standard feature of PDAs and public service devices.
 * Virtual Cities, Museums, Historical Sites, Universities and Concert Halls
 * No longer “Web Pages” but rather Faces and Nodes; most interfaces have a 3D (or at least 2.5D) aspect.
 * Most stuff online isn't “on a website.” For the most part, “pages” are a thing of a bygone era, rarely used even as a metaphor. Today, media and data envelop you at all times, assembled in “clusters” by people and programs, connected by semantic association, and findable by AIs. Rather than crawling through a “web” of connected “sites” like your great-grandparents did, you swim through a “fog” of constantly-shifting data from multiple sources. Surrounded by the perpetual motion of nodes, lines, and layers, you rely on smart servers and personal agents to arrange it in “clusters” according to your preferences (and contractual advertising requirements). Some data may be presented in text format, but the ease and speed of your personal agent's voice usually wins out over the labor of reading. Visually, most of the cyber world consists of ads, info panels, control interfaces and media assets – audio, video, and AR layers – which are gathered by AIs in response to whatever you ask for, whatever you're subscribed to, or whatever you happen to walk past. It's fluid, animated, colorful, smart – and often annoying.
 * A UNI (Universal Node Identifier) is the “friendly name” of a NIN (Node Identification Number).
 * You can visit the simulacra of a friend, either in a replica of their room or in a virtual space.
 * Biosensors report your phys/emo state; this may be another UBI offset or a “feature”
 * The Dark Net: black markets, passwords, exploits, sex tapes, leaks, goatse, etc
 * Crackers are highly paid and often employed by corporations against rivals
 * Hacktivism and online revolutionary activity; both above ground and under
 * Virtual and Augmented forms of Protest

Online Identity/ies

 * Most people have multiple names that they use in different online environments
 * Your social networks know what you like, and they're quite chatty about it.
 * Some corporations have trolling AIs, countering and blocking each other on social media, etc

Cheap/Free Access

 * Public kiosks exist all over the city, giving access to all services governed by CitySystem
 * PDAs and even cheap AR gear can be obtained for “free” in exchange for ad views and datamining.
 * Remote presence is normal for all manner of specialized jobs

Darknet
The term “Dark Net” (or “Darknet”) is a generic word for all computer systems in the fog which are neither indexed nor searchable by publicly-available means. Note that not all of these nodes are connected to each other – many of them are standalone servers or small networks run by people who share no affiliations except for their advocacy and their use of Darknet itself. For all intents and purposes, unless you know what you're looking for on the Darknet, you're not likely to find it – in fact, you'll never even know it's there.

Darknet nodes are practically impossible to access unless you know someone, and accessing them requires that you possess anonymizing software and a current set of connecting protocols to get your foot in the door. Without anonymizing software, your actions are all traceable, and darknet nodes will be hidden from you, refusing to grant you any level of access.

The Dark Net possesses its own anonymous, anti-corporate versions of most of the popular mainstream hubs and services. It even has directional hubs, though they list only the most brazen and transparent nodes: the “upper levels of the iceberg” so to speak.

CrowdSnuffer
One particularly controversial dark node is CrowdSnuffer, a crowdsourcing site for mercenary thugs and contract killers, where targets of political and personal vendettas are proposed as “needing snuffed” and backed by an escrow fund of anonymous donations, until an assassin comes forward to prove the job done and collect the credits. Proof is usually provided in the form of incontrovertible video from the scene of the crime, or else the “tagging” of the crime scene, using a verifying code or glyph previously uploaded by the assassin. The site's owner, known as “The Dom”, is the final arbiter of claims, and takes 10% of the payment as a service fee.

The Abnation
Many of the people who “live” on the Darknet consider themselves part of the “Abnation” – a portmanteau of the words “abnegation” and “nation” – signifying a unified culture with everything traditionally possessed by nation-states: their own economics, laws, customs, languages, defenses, resources, values and landmarks – just without physical borders (or for that matter, physical space). They are radical protectors of the right to freedom and anonymity, and are viewed with almost universal disdain by all corporate and governmental institutions.

The Shadow Souk
The most infamous social hub on the Darknet is a site where unregulated and un-monitored business transactions regularly occur, known as the Shadow Souk (or just “the Souk”, from an Arabic word meaning “market”). The nodes of the Shadow Souk comprise a literal, digital black market where you can buy pretty much anything – whether it's legal or not – and make the trade anonymously.

Transactions in the Shadow Souk are generally handled in BitChits; an anonymous blockchain-based currency which can be bought and sold for electronic credits on the open market.

The invisibility of the Souk is actively maintained by dedicated AIs and experienced cyber-traders who manage a constantly-shifting array of password walls, anonymous relayers, security exploits, private tunnels, nested encryption algorithms and identity spoofs. Merchants and buyers alike are rated in Dark RP, which are a simple scale from 1 to 10, as algorithmically determined based on transaction ratings and posted reviews.