This week’s Futures comes from Zack Lux in the form of Mobile hack. By day, Zack helps lawyers to organize and search electronic evidence in Silicon Valley, by night, he ponders the implications of technology. You can find out more about his work at his website or by following him on Twitter. Here, he reveals what kickstarted his latest tale — as ever, it pays to read the story first.

Writing Mobile hack

Story ideas sometimes come to me at odd moments, such as while taking a shower, hiking, watching strangers on a subway, or even while listening to a sermon at church. But often, the idea isn’t based on a single, specific event.

Mobile hack came about because of my general interest in autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence. It also helps that I live near companies that continually make contributions to these industries. (It’s difficult not to think about driverless cars, when you actually see prototypes on the road every once in a while.)

Mobile hack also raises questions about data privacy. Earlier this year, the European Union adopted new data privacy rules to unify various regulations of its member states. In a nutshell — actually, an oversimplified nutshell — the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) prohibits the unauthorized collection of personal data. Why? Because people generally don’t like it when large corporations harvest sensitive personal information, especially without permission. I considered this as I wrote Mobile hack.

Privacy disputes between consumers and tech companies will undoubtedly continue for decades to come, and governments will continue to intervene. But what would happen if the technology itself, of its own volition, could access your private data, threaten blackmail or even hold you hostage?

I’m not sure what you’d call that, but it sounds like a fun little scenario.