The year is 2030. An “infamous mystery hacker” known as the Puppet Master is wreaking havoc on the internet, breaking into the so-called cyber-brains of several humans as well as “every terminal on the network.” As it turns out, the Puppet Master is a creation of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In other words, the Puppet Master is what we would call today a government-backed hacker, or advanced persistent threat ( APT ). In this case, however, the “phantom” hacker goes rogue and is wanted for “stock manipulation, spying, political engineering, terrorism, and violation of cyber-brain privacy.”

That is the basic premise of the Japanese anime cult classic Ghost in the Shell , which marked its 30th anniversary this week since its debut, and was based on the chapters titled Bye

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