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Don’t be evil. It’s the epigraph of David Yoon’s new satirical tech thriller,
Version Zero. Yoon cites the quote as an “Internet proverb,” though it’s actually taken from the corporate code of conduct at Google. As our lives have shifted onto the Internet, we become ever more reliant on the hope that Google—and the other giant tech companies that rule the world—will keep their promise to not be evil
. Spoiler: They broke that promise a long time ago.
Penguin Random House.
Enter Wren, the Facebook-Twitter megasite that rules Silicon Valley in
Version Zero. Wren is definitely evil, but its 3 billion users don’t know it—or maybe they’re just so addicted to posting that they’ve decided not to pay attention. When Max, a tech whiz working at Wren, learns more than he wanted to know about Wren’s plans for its users’ data, he tries to do something about it. But once he’s taken the first step against Wren, it’s hard to stop. Soon, Max and his friends find themselves embroiled in an enormous conspiracy. As they join forces with a reclusive tech baron with secrets of his own, they start to worry their plans have more to do with avenging personal grievances than with protecting Wren’s userbase.