Scott Allan Morrison was a journalist for almost twenty years, covering politics, business, and technology in Mexico, Canada, and the United States. Morrison arrived in Silicon Valley as a reporter for the Financial Times during the darkest days of the dot-com crash. Over the course of a decade, Morrison covered most of the world’s top tech companies and chronicled many of Silicon Valley’s greatest stories, including the rise of Internet insecurity and the explosion of social media. Morrison's new thriller Terms of Use, which deals with the weighty issues of cyber security and social media, was inspired in part by Scott's background as a journalist.
Terms of Use centers on Circles, the most popular social network in the world: vast, ubiquitous, and constantly evolving. Days before expanding into China, Circles suffers a devastating cyberattack—and a key executive is brutally murdered. As he fights to save the company he helped build, top engineer Sergio Mansour uncovers evidence of a massive conspiracy that turns the power of Circles against its users. But as Sergio investigates, someone is watching his every move, someone ruthless enough to brand him a criminal and set a vicious hit man on his trail. Desperate to clear his name, Sergio turns to Malina Olson, a beautiful and headstrong doctor who has an agenda of her own. Now, he and Malina must survive long enough to expose the truth in a world without hiding places, where a single keystroke can shift the global balance of power.
Morrison stops by In Reference to Murder today to discuss researching the book and how his background played a role in its writing:
I spent a decade as a Silicon Valley correspondent for the Financial Times, Red Herring and Dow Jones Newswires, so I guess you could say I started researching Terms of Use more than 10 years ago without even realizing it.
I covered a wide range of companies, topics and trends, and over time it became apparent the companies that dominate the Internet have amassed great deal of power, most of it derived from their ability to collect and analyze our data.
I also met hundreds of contacts in Silicon Valley, some of whom became friends over time. Often, over dinner and drinks, we’d get into discussions about data privacy and the power of social media, and I realized that industry insiders were concerned about the direction in which we are all moving. Sometimes we’d get into “what if?” discussions and I began to wonder what could happen if this tremendous capability – which can most certainly be a force for good – were to fall into the hands of people with the wrong motives.
I had a pretty good foundation already in place when I set out to research and write Terms of Use. But while I understood what was conceptually possible, I needed a lot of technical guidance to bring my hypothetical scenarios to life on the page. And for me, that meant relying a reporter’s most important research tool: the interview.
Over the next many months, I interviewed dozens of Silicon Valley coders, network architects, security experts, IT consultants, entrepreneurs and even a venture capitalist. But before asking a single question, I made sure they understood what I was writing and why.
By and large, there were no set rules for these meetings. Early discussions were conceptual in nature, as I needed to build a credible plot. Once I settled on the overall arc of the story, I peppered my sources with questions about tech company practices, coding techniques and security measures. The next challenge was to simplify all the technobabble so that it remained accurate, yet easy for a mainstream audience to read. I repeatedly went back to my sources to make sure my interpretation of their words reflected their true meaning.
I also interviewed a friend who is an emergency room doctor. She was basis for my Malina character and the gnarly ER stories in the novel were drawn straight from her experiences. This doctor and many other female friends helped me shape Malina’s personality, and they guided me through a key decision this character makes early in the novel. My friends assured me they might well have made the same choice in the right circumstances.
My greatest challenge was nailing down the procedures, tactics, habits and language of law enforcement. While I could call on dozens of talkative techies, I didn’t know a single police officer or FBI agent. So I began putting out feelers, asking everyone I could think of if they had any connections with someone in law enforcement, whether a brother, uncle, or friend.
I got my first big break when I met a retired county sheriff and fellow author at a writing workshop. After pointing out that several details in one particular scene didn’t ring true, Dave handed me his phone number and told me to call any time I had policing questions. A short while later I discovered the new goalie on my hockey team was an FBI agent and he too agreed to help as necessary.
I never asked either of them to share confidential information. Instead, I’d summarize scenarios I’d concocted – chain of command conflicts, SWAT raids, taskforce meetings, etc. – and ask them to correct me when strayed outside the bounds of verisimilitude. Occasionally they would figuratively delete entire pages and explain how they’d handle a specific situation, right down to the weapons and gear they’d use.
And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention all those Google searches (the Lebanese emigration to Mexico, the mines of Bayan Obo, WiFi hacking tools, etc), as well as Google Maps. My novel is set in San Francisco, but it takes readers to southern California, China and the Philippines. I used Google Maps to ensure directions, distances and geographic features were accurate. More importantly, I relied heavily on Street View to help me describe scenes in the novel, particularly those set in Beijing and Baotou.
I may have spent as much time researching Terms of Use as I did writing it. But it was time well-spent, because it was crucial in enabling me to create a well-rounded story that has enough depth, context and atmosphere to draw in readers and hold their attention – hopefully – for hours on end.
To find out more about Morrison and Terms of Use, check out his website or follow him on Facebook, and you can order a copy of the book here.
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