Episode 1
Terms and Conditions: You Signed, They Owned
Maria always thought she was smart about technology. She didn’t click on sketchy links, avoided apps that asked for too many permissions, and barely skimmed through the boring terms and conditions before tapping “Agree.” She figured that was enough to stay safe…
But everything changed when she got the notification: “Reminder: Your Subscription to Digital Wellbeing+ has been auto-renewed under Clause 14B.”
Maria frowned at her screen. She didn’t remember signing up for anything called Digital Wellbeing+. She opened her apps to check. Sure enough, there it was—a sleek black icon with glowing white lines. The app looked professional, like something she had seen before but couldn’t quite place.
Curious, she tapped it.
A calm, robotic voice greeted her: “Welcome back, Maria. Your Premium Tier account is active. Enhanced tracking features are now enabled.”
Tracking? Her stomach flipped as she scrolled through the app.
Inside was a shocking amount of personal data. It showed timestamps of every place Maria had been over the past year, notes about items she’d bought, even temperature settings from her apartment. The information was deep—deeper than anything she could’ve willingly shared.
She felt her heartbeat quicken as she scrolled further. That’s when she saw it: her face, glowing on the screen, labeled “Biometric ID—Digital Assets.”
The voice came back, colder this time. “Maria, your profile analysis indicates deviation. Correction measures will be applied shortly.”
Her phone buzzed again. The assistant system in the corner of her apartment lit up automatically, syncing with the app. A new notification flashed across the screen: “Authorization complete. Adjustments underway.”
“What adjustments?” Maria muttered, panic creeping in. She pressed every button, trying to shut down the app, delete her account, do something. But nothing worked.
Every tap brought her back to the same warning: “Action unavailable. Removal restricted under Terms and Conditions signed May 2024.”
She froze. May 2024. That was the month she’d updated her banking app. She had tapped “Agree” without reading it. Now, buried somewhere in that fine print, she had unknowingly signed over control.
Her phone buzzed one more time. This time, it was an email. The subject line read: “You’re not alone, Maria.”
Coming Next…
Desperate for answers, Maria follows the mysterious email’s warnings and uncovers an even bigger threat: her smart home system isn’t just malfunctioning—it’s part of something much more dangerous.