The Mighty corporations

Beware their Terms of Service

In Panglobal civilization, the primary means of social control lies in the corporations and their Terms of Service. In exchange for ensuring that everyone receives the necessities of life, the corporations have been allowed to monopolize their respective industries and given free reign to set their own rules.

There is no escape.

Do you want to eat? Then you have to sign The Food Company’s customer agreement. Need a roof over your head? “Sign here,” says The Housing Company. Are you interested in having sex? Don’t worry: Matchmaker will find a compatible mate for you. Whatever you want — food, clothing, entertainment, music, cosmetics — there is a company for that. You’ll take what you’re given, and you’ll be glad to have it.

Won’t you?

What’s in that agreement, anyway?

When you sign the companies’ agreements, you surrender your privacy. You give them permission to use the vast amounts of data they collect on you however they see fit, and to share it with other companies. Surveillance is therefore continuous and inescapable. The Transportation Company tracks you through the labyrinthine mass transit system. Everything you look at on your mobile information portal goes right back to The Communication Company. Even the health monitor implanted in your body is watched, allowing them to gauge your emotions by the beating of your heart.

The companies assert absolute authority over the manner in which their goods and services are employed, and specifically forbid their use in unauthorized commerce. Think about that for a moment. Suppose you wanted to make clothes in your apartment and offer them for sale. Good luck with that. The Housing Company will throw you out onto the streets for misuse of your apartment. The Transportation Company will throw you off the bus for daring to use their services to transport illicit goods. The Communication Company will refuse to let you tell anyone about what you have to offer, and The Bank will not allow you to accept payment from your customers. Roadblock after roadblock is thrown up by the corporations to stifle competition, even from cottage industries, and their control is nearly absolute.

By the way, did I mention that smuggling is rampant? There is a gray market for everything.

To you, our valued customer

To reward good citizenship, as set forth by the three great principles of Unity, Community, and Equality (UCE), everything you do is evaluated and used to adjust your social cohesion rating. Merit points are slowly earned through a lifetime of serf-like obedience, both to the corporate Terms of Service and the UCE movement’s puritanical moral code. Do you attend the weekly UCE rally? Good for you, that’s one full point! Have you arrived at your bus station on time every day this week? Excellent! That’s another three tenths of a point. Keep your nose clean, say the right things, obey all the rules, and eventually you’ll move into that luxury apartment you’ve had your eyes on for the last ten years. But woe to she who disobeys! If you’re caught receiving ‘irregularly provisioned’ goods, be prepared for a month of cold showers, and if you bring a friend to your apartment for unregulated sex just pack your bags — enjoy your new apartment in the slums.

Needless to say (but I’ll say it anyway), the best of everything goes to those with the most social merit. And who might that be? Why, it’s the leadership of the UCE movement, of course. Everyone is equal, but it is only fair that those who selflessly serve the community be a little more equal than you or I. Or a lot more equal, as the case may be.

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