Privacy author Violet Blue helped Ubisoft capture San Francisco’s hacktivism in Watch Dogs 2

Violet Blue grew up in San Francisco, and she writes about hacker culture and cybercrime in the region’s hacking community. That made Blue, an author and tech journalist, the ideal conduit between the hacktivist community and the game developers at Ubisoft, maker of Watch Dogs 2.

Watch Dogs 2, an action-adventure game with stealth elements, debuts November 15 on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC. It’s set in San Francisco, and it depicts the hacktivist community’s conflict with privacy-invading corporations that have created a “smart city.” This is Ubisoft’s major release of the fall season, and its creators hope that it will give communities and corporations pause when it comes to the quick-and-dirty implementation of the internet of things (devices connected to the web) and smart cities.