2020 the Series

In 2013 ICSPA, in association with Europol EC3 and Trend Micro, published the white paper Project 2020: Scenarios for the Future of Cybercrime, predicting the state of technology and cybercrime in 2020. As we enter the new decade, we looked back at these predictions to see what we could learn.

“2020” video project takes the form of a fictional web series presenting the evolution of society and technology in the world described by the report. We will show how the advancement of mobile and cloud based technology has influenced the way we interact with other and with the world, how we work and how we perceive reality.

The series consists of 9 episodes approximately 4 minutes each. The episodes begin with a short documentary/archive news style introduction about events that have already taken place, from the perspective of about 6 months in the future. The bulk of each episode will consist of a contemporary narrative film of events as they unfolded.

The story takes place in a fictitious country in Central Europe; The Republic of South Sylvania. It is technologically, the most advanced country in the region, home to the best Digital Design University in the world, premier nano-technology research and is the crossroads of the main fibre optic lines flowing through the continent.

Every citizen uses multiple profiles in their everyday life. Their official profile, replacing the ID card, allows them to pay taxes, claim benefits,and pay parking fines or any other activities requiring official identification. Other profiles are used depending on the individual’s activity or mood. One may be used for social interactions, one for shopping, one for gaming, one for family and friends and one or more for various financial transactions.

As the South Sylvanian consumer has fully embraced the digital world, nearly all advertising and marketing is now delivered through digital channels and perfectly tailored to individual interests, thanks to the Content Service Provider industry. Fixed advertising such as billboards is a thing of the past. South Sylvanians experience life through the filter of the Content Service Provider; everything is created for each potential customer individually in the augmented reality world. A centralised and highly secure hub, commonly known as The Switch, ensures that, when a citizen switches profile, every individual provides the right level of biometric authentication to assert their entitlement to assume one of their digital identities.

Everyone wears either digital contact lenses or glasses, which provide a HUD overlaying the digital onto the real world around them, the concept of being “offline” has become anathema in South Sylvania. Digital content is modified and crafted for every individual based on consumer preferences and mood data that is being constantly collected by thousands of sensors, embedded in wearable tech, through Internet Service Providers and in the physical world.

We meet our heroes on an auspicious day, the day before the first all-digital national parliamentary elections are due to be held, facilitated of course by Switch technology, a Public/Private Initiative. To vote, a person must be using their official profile. Without warning and for no apparent cause the entire Switch system suffers a significant malfunction resulting in national chaos. People cannot switch from their currently engaged profile to any other: surgeons are not allowed into the operating theatre because they cannot present their official credentials, citizens are unable to access pharmacy facilities, employees can no longer remotely access their corporate facilities and the financial system grinds to a halt. At the same time the country undergoes a wave of massive Denial of Service attacks aimed at crippling critical national infrastructure. Casualties are mounting; the authorities are trying desperately to discover what is happening and crucially, who is behind it.