Behind the event horizon of the sandboxed internet lies the blackwall – a secluded zone, firewalled off from the world, inhabited by AI-powered chatbots that have deviated from their programmed paths. Located within the Net, it is tasked with keeping rogue AIs from breaking through into the rest of cyberspace and wreaking havoc. The firewall often splits old network. In order to undo the havoc wreaked by Bartmoss' Demons, the UN devised NetWatch, an organization tasked with policing the Net in order to protect it from rogue AIs and dissident Netrunners. From Alt Cunningham's transformation into a digital god, to Johnny Silverhand's real death in Arasaka Tower, to the mystery of Angel watching over his frozen corpse in the New Mexico. The Blackwall (or Black Wall) is a firewall developed by NetWatch. Blackwall gateway is a quick hack forces the target hardware to open a pipe directly in front of this AI, who does react by eliminating the hardware unwillingly trying to go through. Songbird can bypass it, but doing so damages her health.
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