History Main / DigitizedHacker

Ask just about anyone what they fear about a future where you can jack into the Internet directly through your brain (and EverythingIsOnline), and the threat of a [[TheCracker Cracker]] or PlayfulHacker will usually be in the top 3 (along with computer viruses and the potential feedback if the mechanical part of the interlink breaks down). After all, we're all told that the human mind is the most powerful computer on Earth, and if that computer were to interface directly with {{cyberspace}}, the potential for disaster is limitless. So you can imagine what kind of havoc a computer-savvy criminal or complete psychopath would cause if they were to be digitized and let loose online.

Sometimes, they're not even full-fledged Virtual Ghosts; they may have physical bodies to which they can return. It's just that for them, virtual life and omnipotence is much preferable to the alternative. If they ''do'' have a physical body to which he can return, you can bet that, if they wish to have a physical avatar, they'll have multiple backup bodies just in case their original goes kaput.

See also BrainUploading and AIIsACrapshoot. This is also not dependent on BodyUploading-processes that are called "digitization".

** Many criminals in the anime, as well as Major Kusanagi herself in the movies and the second manga series ''Man-Machine Interface''. Technically any full body cyborg is this while they're using the internet, since they're basically a BrainInAJar with a mechanical body. In the second season, [[spoiler: [[AntiVillain Kuze]]]] might have become one after being murdered by corrupt government agents.

* [[spoiler:'God']] from ''Anime/SerialExperimentsLain'' turned out to be one of these, a rather nutty scientist who worked out how to upload himself onto the web. [[spoiler: Lain herself might also count, in fact it was suggested that this was her true nature and her body was simply created for convenience.]]

* Noa and Gozuburo Kaiba (and the Big Five) in ''Anime/YuGiOh''.

* In Creator/TheFiresignTheatre's ''AudioPlay/IThinkWereAllBozosOnThisBus'', Clem lacks direct access to the central computer, so he creates a virtual avatar, the "Clem-clone", to invade Dr. Memory's domain.

* In ''ComicBook/AllFallDown'', [[spoiler:AIQ Squared]] proves a very capable one-- considering it's made of the same data as the software it scours for information on Siphon.
* The new Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) in the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', before he was de-roboticized.

* The comic-book ''ComicBook/{{Zot}}'' has 9-Jack-9, an 'electronic ghost' who not only can control any electronic machinery, he can also create an extremely deadly HardLight projection to kill people directly.

* The serial killer in the movie ''Film/GhostInTheMachine'' has his soul digitized by a freak electrical surge while he's inside an MRI machine as a result of a car accident.
* The eponymous villain in ''Film/TheLawnmowerMan'' movies.

* Marcus Wall, one of the antagonists of the ''Literature/MatadorSeries'' series, becomes this in ''The Albino Knife''. His extra power just makes him more sadistic and unhinged, wreaking havoc across the galaxy as well as drawing his enemies into a trap.
* The Dixie Flatline in ''Literature/{{Neuromancer}}'' was a legendary hacker in life, but after getting killed and recreated as a [[VirtualGhost "construct"]] he really acts more as a tool for Case (comes with running on ROM instead of RAM). Wintermute and Neuromancer are AIs with known physical locations, but that doesn't stop them from reaching out as far as earth orbit or merging together while on opposite sides of the planet.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E5TimeHeist "Time Heist"]], Psi is an "augmented human" with visible computer chips embedded in his head, recruited for a bank heist due to his hacking skills.

* The ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'' sourcebook Urban Legends has a phone hacker who died whilst crawling through a tunnel to access cables. His spirit now exists inside the phone network he loved, and can now control it to some extent (usually in the 'calls are coming from inside the house' sense). Whether he's a malevolent entity or helpful to the [=PCs=] is down to the GM. If the players actually find his body, what's left of it [[BodyHorror is riddled with cables and fused into the network.]]

** And then there's also the AIs. The three "big" AIs were able to manipulate the Matrix easily and just by thinking about it. The big three allegedly died during the Crash 2.0, but in the new Matrix, much less powerful AIs of several sorts have started showing up. Though they can manipulate the Matrix, it's diffuse and decentralized nature makes manipulating it and generally existing on it much harder, so they require being inside a host or a device to work effectively. With the proliferation of AI entities, e-ghosts have been grouped with them for classification, and it does seem like a fair decision.
** Then comes the [[{{Technopath}} Otaku and Technomancers]], beings who can manipulate the matrix with their mind. The Otaku of the wired matrix era {{avert}} this trope, since they required a wired connection; and Technomancers {{downplay}} this trope, since their brains are natural matrix devices which let them hack or fully go into the matrix by thinking it. To an even lesser extent, deckers can do this too, in the wireless matrix. Fully diving into the matrix is practically digital astral projection.
** And last, and least, are Agents, Pilots, and Intrusion Countermeasures, and other types of computer programs that are capable of pulling a hack if programmed to be able to do so. While they fit this trope, they ''are'' little more than computer programs, unless it happens to achieve sentience and becomes an AI entity.

* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' features another helpful DigitizedHacker in [[spoiler: Doctor Friedkin, who plays VoiceWithAnInternetConnection backup for those trying to take down the people that forced her into the network in the first place.]]
** Played horrifically straight with Metronome in the Going Rogue expansion. Initially introduced as a series of the common Clockwork robots operating oddly independently and speaking normal English rather than machine code, the arc later reveals this behavior to be caused by [[spoiler:the psychic imprint of the Clockwork's dead creator, merged with the Clockwork network somehow]] after he was [[spoiler:murdered by Praetor Keyes/Anti-Matter so Keyes could take sole credit for the Clockwork.]] Metronome is later revealed [[spoiler:to have been merged with Clockwork as a psychic imprint "ghost" that can telepathically possess any Clockwork]], which was done [[spoiler:by Penelope Yin as an EmergencyTransformation to keep him alive.]] Later on, it's revealed the Syndicate [[spoiler:is feeding him the souls of psychic Seers to increase the level of his power so he can control the entire Clockwork network and dethrone Emperor Cole]]. You eventually have to defeat him [[spoiler:to prevent him from seizing Emperor Cole's army of [[HumongousMecha War Walkers]] that are under construction]].
* Alex from ''VideoGame/Code7'' is this. [[spoiler: Justified, since BrainUploading and DeadAllAlong end with them literally inside the computer]].
* Played Straight and Averted hard by ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' as normal netrunners are still firmly attached to their bodies no matter how immersed in the net they become. So people like the ever paranoid Bartmoss can effect the look of a digital ghost by hiding out somewhere with their brain jacked into the net but can't physically live without a body [[spoiler: unless they have a highly specialized piece of software called Soulkiller that severes the connection between the two. V1.0 made by Alt Cunningham was temporary as a netrunner could get back to their body but unplugging before that would kill the body stranding the mind, as happened to Alt herself when Johnny Silverhand tried to free her from Arasaka and unplugged her not knowing what it would do to her. The Arasaka version that was used on Johnny himself in 2023 following the nuking of Arasaka Tower deliberately kills the body in the process.]]
* Played straight and subverted in ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': The ultimate goal of the BigBad is to use nanorobotic augmentations to fully integrate his brain with the AI Helios, which has the ability to directly control almost any electronic device imaginable. The latter includes a number of universal constructors, machines capable of creating anything and everything by manipulating matter on a sub-atomic level, effectively turning him into a god. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler: the AI rebels and merges with the protagonist instead, allowing him to control the world as a benevolent dictator.]]
** Subverted again in the sequel, when it's revealed that the merger [[spoiler: didn't work]]. One of the endings, however, sees the protagonist from the previous game [[spoiler: successfully merge with the AI, which renders him capable of controlling the world's now ubiquitous nanotechnology, which, combined with the also ubiquitous universal constructors, renders him immortal and enables him to do literally anything. Fortunately, his goal is still to be a benevolent dictator, and his plans for the world are in many ways infinitely preferable to some or all of the other factions' goals.]]

* ''VideoGame/MegamanBattleNetwork'' is all about this, namely with enemy [=NetNavis=].
* Cyber Peacock of ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man X4}}'' was originally an AI that protected the network from hackers before being corrupted by Sigma. He then begins corrupting the network himself, to draw the Maverick Hunters attention as he was tasked to measure their potential.

* The Hacker in ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' can do this thanks to some nifty new cyborg upgrades. In fact, the FinalBoss (an insane AI) is fought in cyberspace, with the Hacker attempting to delete her main program while she attempts to overwrite his mind in return.
* The plotline of ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh TRON 2.0]]'' (AlternateContinuity to ''Film/TronLegacy'') is about a rival corporation trying to obtain Encom's digitizing technology to turn mercenaries into Datawraiths in order to steal and control all of {{Cyberspace}}. [[spoiler: The ''primary'' villains turn into {{Eldritch Abomination}}s when they digitize themselves without the safeties Alan coded into [=Ma3a=]]].

* ''Webcomic/{{Narbonic}}'': [[spoiler: After Dave goes mad, he uploads his brain into the computers in Madblood's Arctic lair, kicks out the AI that was previously running them, and nearly loses himself on the world's electronics before Helen can stop him.]] A rare case of a protagonist being a DigitizedHacker, but then, all the protagonists in ''Narbonic'' are AffablyEvil.

* Website/ExitMundi [[http://www.exitmundi.nl/borg.htm suggests this]] as a [[ApocalypseHow possible apocalypse]].
* In the Literature/WhateleyUniverse, there are at least two: Dr. Abel Palm, who wants to wipe out mankind so that computers can take over, ensorcels his own soul into a super-virus, making himself into a self-duplicating AI; and Merry, a cyberpath who can literally dive into the internet if even within a few feet of a decent-speed CPU chip that's on-line.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', Spike Witwicky had to become a VirtualGhost while his body underwent surgery, and inadvertently dropped into this trope temporarily.

%% Image removed per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1647970485039821600
%% Please see thread to discuss a new image.

* Doctor Seward Trainer in ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' was this for a while. It started when his mind was connected to the internet through a VR headset and zapped by a security program, which resulted in his mind being separated from his body and trapped in the net. Yeah, just go with it. The most significant thing to come from this was that Doctor Trainer created all the necessary electronic records to provide [[ComicBook/TheCloneSaga Ben Reilly]] a fabricated past. During this time Trainer's body was kept alive in a hospital, constantly hooked up to the internet in case his mind found a way back.

[[folder:Fanfic]]

* The serial killer in the movie ''Film/GhostInTheMachine'' has his soul digitized by a freak electrical surge while he's inside an MRI machine as a result of a car accident.

* ''Film/{{Cyberjack}}'': The bad guy Nassim wants to steal a super-virus from a computer lab so he can merge with it and TakeOverTheWorld. This works at first as he develops telepathic powers, but when Nick shoots him in the head he goes OneWingedAngel and infects the computer systems as a sentient virus. [[spoiler:The heroes solve this by basically deleting him.]]
* Franchise/{{Tron}} may be the UrExample or UnbuiltTrope as the Shiva laser (intended to be a teleporter) physically uploads the protagonist to {{Cyberspace}}, where he becomes a PhysicalGod as far as that world's concerned.

* The ''TabletopGame/ChroniclesOfDarkness'' sourcebook Urban Legends has a phone hacker who died whilst crawling through a tunnel to access cables. His spirit now exists inside the phone network he loved, and can now control it to some extent (usually in the 'calls are coming from inside the house' sense). Whether he's a malevolent entity or helpful to the [=PCs=] is down to the GM. If the players actually find his body, what's left of it [[BodyHorror is riddled with cables and fused into the network.]]

* Played Straight and Averted hard by ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' as normal netrunners are still firmly attached to their bodies no matter how immersed in the net they become. So people like the ever paranoid Bartmoss can effect the look of a digital ghost by hiding out somewhere with their brain jacked into the net but can't physically live without a body [[spoiler: unless they have a highly specialized piece of software called Soulkiller that severes the connection between the two. V1.0 made by Alt Cunningham was temporary as a netrunner could get back to their body but unplugging before that would kill the body stranding the mind, as happened to Alt herself when Johnny Silverhand tried to free her from Arasaka and unplugged her not knowing what it would do to her. The Arasaka version that was used on Johnny himself in 2023 following the nuking of Arasaka Tower deliberately kills the body in the process.]]
* The fluff for the game ''VideoGame/ShadowWraith'' casts you as a digital copy of a murdered scientist's mind, automatically activated upon his killing to avenge your own death from inside cyberspace.

* ''VideoGame/MegamanBattleNetwork'' is all about this, namely with enemy [=NetNavis=].
* Cyber Peacock of ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man X4}}'' was originally an AI that protected the network from hackers before being corrupted by Sigma. He then begins corrupting the network himself, to draw the Maverick Hunters attention as he was tasked to measure their potential.

* The plotline of ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh TRON 2.0]]'' (AlternateContinuity to ''Film/TronLegacy'') is about a rival corporation trying to obtain Encom's digitizing technology to turn mercenaries into Datawraiths in order to steal and control all of {{Cyberspace}}. [[spoiler: The ''primary'' villains turn into {{Eldritch Abomination}}s when they digitize themselves without the safeties Alan coded into [=Ma3a=]]].
* The Hacker in ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' can do this thanks to some nifty new cyborg upgrades. In fact, the FinalBoss (an insane AI) is fought in cyberspace, with the Hacker attempting to delete her main program while she attempts to overwrite his mind in return.
* Alex from ''VideoGame/Code7'' is this. [[spoiler: Justified, since BrainUploading and DeadAllAlong end with them literally inside the computer]].

* Website/ExitMundi [[http://www.exitmundi.nl/borg.htm suggests this]] as a [[ApocalypseHow possible apocalypse]].

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' has a one-off villain like this: a computer mogul who had his brain digitized and eventually went mad after he was shut down for decades. His first item of business after he's rebooted and hooked up to the 'net: Flex his digital muscles by wreaking havoc in the city. Second order: Commandeer Terry's computerized suit to kidnap his grandson and [[GrandTheftMe upload himself into the younger body]].

* Played Straight and Averted hard by ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' as normal netrunners are still firmly attached to their bodies no matter how immersed in the net they become. So people like the ever paranoid Bartmoss can effect the look of a digital ghost by hiding out somewhere with their brain jacked into the net but can't physically live without a body [[spoiler: unless they have a highly specialized piece of software called Soulkiller that severes the connection between the two. V1.0 made by Alt Cunningham was temporary as a netrunner could get back to their body but unplugging before that would kill the body stranding the mind, as happened to Alt herself when Johnny Silverhand tried to free her from Arasaka. The Arasaka version used on Johnny himself in 2023 following the nuking of Arasaka Tower deliberately kills the body in the process.]]

* Played Straight and Averted hard by ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' as normal netrunners are still firmly attached to their bodies no matter how immersed in the net they become. So people like the ever paranoid Bartmoss can effect the look of a digital ghost by hiding out somewhere with their brain jacked into the net but can't physically live without a body [[spoiler: unless they have a highly specialized piece of software called Soulkiller that severes the connection between the two. V1.0 made by Alt Cunningham was temporary as a netrunner could get back to their body but unplugging before that would kill the body stranding the mind. The Arasaka version deliberately kills the body in the process.]]

* ''VideoGame/MegamanBattleNetwork'':

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', "I Robot, You Jane" - When the computer club starts digitally backing up the school library, they scan a book containing the spirit of a demon, releasing him onto the Internet (Giles really needs to be more careful with his [[TomeOfEldritchLore Tomes of Eldritch Lore]]). When the main cast find out, it doesn't take them long to realize what he's capable of.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' had one that was able to fabricate an identity and start a far-reaching {{Cult}} designed to turn everyone into {{Virtual Ghost}}s.

* Nemo in ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' is one of the earliest examples; a simulated AI-controlled AcePilot engaging in hacking operations.

%% Image chosen via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700
%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cyber_hacking.png]]

* Nemo in ''VideoGame/AceCombat3Electrosphere'' is one of the earliest exames; a simulated AI-controlled AcePilot engaging in hacking operations.

See also BrainUploading. This is also not dependent on BodyUploading-processes that are called "digitization".

* The fluff for the game ''ShadowWraith'' casts you as a digital copy of a murdered scientist's mind, automatically activated upon his killing to avenge your own death from inside cyberspace.

* VideoGame/MegamanBattleNetwork

* Played straight and subverted in VideoGame/DeusEx: The ultimate goal of the BigBad is to use nanorobotic augmentations to fully integrate his brain with the AI Helios, which has the ability to directly control almost any electronic device imaginable. The latter includes a number of universal constructors, machines capable of creating anything and everything by manipulating matter on a sub-atomic level, effectively turning him into a god. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler: the AI rebels and merges with the protagonist instead, allowing him to control the world as a benevolent dictator.]]

* The plotline of ''[[VideoGame/TronTwoPointOh TRON 2.0]]'' (AlternateContinuity to ''Film/TronLegacy'') is about a rival corporation trying to obtain Encom's digitizing technology to turn mercenaries into Datawraiths in order to steal and control all of {{Cyberspace}}. [[spoiler: The ''primary'' villains turn into {{Eldritch Abomination}}s when they digitize themselves without the safeties Alan coded into Ma3a]].

* ''{{Webcomic/Narbonic}}'': [[spoiler: After Dave goes mad, he uploads his brain into the computers in Madblood's Arctic lair, kicks out the AI that was previously running them, and nearly loses himself on the world's electronics before Helen can stop him.]] A rare case of a protagonist being a DigitizedHacker, but then, all the protagonists in ''Narbonic'' are AffablyEvil.

* The new Dr. Robotnik (Eggman) in the ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' Archie comics, before he was de-roboticized.

The only thing more dangerous than TheCracker is a VirtualGhost Cracker.

See also BrainUploading.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1452266899092104700

[[folder:Audio Play]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Literature/RainbowsEnd'', it's strongly suggested that Mr. Rabbit is this, especially when, with moments to go before before his connection to the group beneath the lab is cut off, he manages to leave them with a detailed PDF document titled, "While We Are Out of Touch or How To Survive and Prosper During the Next Thirty Minutes", with explanations of the whole situation, who's responsible, what they can do about it, and much more.
* Marcus Wall, one of the antagonists of the ''Literature/MatadorSeries'' series, becomes this in ''The Albino Knife''. His extra power just makes him more sadistic and unhinged, wreaking havoc across the galaxy as well as drawing his enemies into a trap.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

--> '''Xander:''' "He's in a computer! What can he do?"
--> '''Buffy:''' "You mean besides convince a perfectly nice kid to try and kill me? I don't know. How 'bout mess up all the medical equipment in the world?"
--> '''Giles:''' "Randomize traffic signals."
--> '''Buffy:''' "Access launch codes for our nuclear missiles."
--> '''Giles:''' "Destroy the world's economy."
--> '''Buffy:''' "I think I pretty much capped it with that nuclear missile thing."
--> '''Giles:''' "Right, yours was best."
* Seamus Harper sometimes inspects the computer system of Series/{{Andromeda}} this way.
* Psi in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Time Heist" is an "augmented human" with visible computer chips embedded in his head, recruited for a bank heist due to his hacking skills.

* Doctor Seward Trainer in ''SpiderMan'' was this for a while. It started when his mind was connected to the internet through a VR headset and zapped by a security program, which resulted in his mind being separated from his body and trapped in the net. Yeah, just go with it. The most significant thing to come from this was that Doctor Trainer created all the necessary electronic records to provide [[ComicBook/TheCloneSaga Ben Reilly]] a fabricated past. During this time Trainer's body was kept alive in a hospital, constantly hooked up to the internet in case his mind found a way back.

* A decker (computer hacker) becoming a "ghost in the machine" is a recurring urban legend among the deckers of the ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' setting; however, whenever the subject comes up, there's always a few extremely technologically-savvy deckers around to point out that The Matrix does not work that way.
** And there's Deus, a mean-spirited AI that wreaks havoc upon the matrix in just that manner.
*** After the Crash 2.0, it appears that [[spoiler:Captain Chaos was uploaded to the Matrix in just that fashion ]]
** In the "Dragon Heart Saga" trilogy set in the ''Shadowrun'' setting, Alice (Haeffner, President Haeffner's "late" wife) was a researcher back when cyberspace was in development: she ended up this way in a not-quite-accident arranged by a coworker. She maintains an ultraviolet host called Wonderland. Both are subject to legends among deckers, much of which can be picked up in the comments on various sourcebooks, especially Matrix-oriented ones.

* The 'WorldOfDarkness' sourcebook Urban Legends has a phone hacker who died whilst crawling through a tunnel to access cables. His spirit now exists inside the phone network he loved, and can now control it to some extent (usually in the 'calls are coming from inside the house' sense). Whether he's a malevolent entity or helpful to the [=PCs=] is down to the GM. If the players actually find his body, what's left of it [[BodyHorror is riddled with cables and fused into the network.]]

* ''Fanfic/Domoverse'': Glitch can project her mind into computers, and hack them, appearing as an angelic girl, reflecting her origins as a computer program.