History Main / EverythingIsOnline

* ''Anime/SummerWars''. Everything is connected to the online community of OZ up to and including major governments, large corporations, and traffic control. So when an account-stealing AI gets released into OZ...

[[quoteright:291:[[WatchDogs http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_watchdogs-hacks_9615.jpg]]]]

[[caption-width-right:291:Smartphones. Not just for playing AngryBirds anymore.]]

* ''[[TheLongestJourney Dreamfall: The Longest Journey]]'' takes place in a future in which, indeed, pretty much everything is online. The mysterious network failures known as "The Static" have even resulted in fatal car accidents, and, indeed, one the things you get to hack during the game is a car.

* Downplayed in ''VideoGame{{Gunpoint}}''. Everything within a single building is on the same circuit, which is controlled by software. The gameplay revolves around a phone mod that lets the player character hack the software to rewire the circuit (e.g. making a light switch open a door that normally uses a handprint scanner). Most buildings also have multiple circuits, and the electronics on one circuit cannot interact with ones on another.

** ''Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad'' was made of this trope. One virus even turned the water into hydrochloric acid. Note that this was the mid-[[TheNineties 90s]].

** Cy's predecessor, Alana (in ''TheGirlFromTomorrow''), however, has a wrist device that interfaced with any and all computers. In ''1990''.

* In ''{{Cybergirl}}'', the Cyber Replicants are able to interface with any computers simply by cocking their heads. This includes security systems, [=ATMs=], electronic keyboards, [=TVs=] and school computers. Only one of which is usually online.

Here, ''everything'' is online. There are no closed systems that aren't connect to the internet at large, and any machine can be plugged into or have its electronics easily screwed with from afar. All you need is a wireless connection and some illegal programs - and voila, you're in.

* ''Film/{{Terminator}} 3'' is an example of the evil computer version -- in this case, Skynet. Many of the electronic things it spreads through, like cash registers, aren't even supposed to be online, so the Terminator infects stuff with remote-control {{Nanomachines}} -- and most cash registers actually do use the internet to transmit credit card information.

->Nice try hackers, but if you want to turn ''my'' electric devices against me, you're going to have to get past the big layer of fat on my fat head! Your teleprompter is ours Colbert! Damn it hackers!

TV writers make no distinction between the Internet and the closed intranets used by governments, the military, or private companies. Nor do they apparently understand the fact that a lot of computers (like the ones in most cars) are closed systems that are responsible only to themselves, and are ''physically'' incapable of contacting outside networks at all, let alone receiving remote instructions from some malicious techie.

While one would assume that any security sensitive computer system would avoid being connected to anything, most users and Sys-Admins will fight to the death to avoid complicating their [[MicrosoftWindows Windows updates]] and Gmail access so most computer systems end up attached to the internet. Even control units for critical infrastructure now only come with an RJ-45 connector and a hard-coded ability to speak IP. Very few organizations have the resources or the will to construct their own air-gap networks, so all the traffic flows over the public Internet or telecommunications networks protected by [[ShieldsAreUseless VPNs and firewalls]]. Finally, even if a system is air-gapped properly, this is still not a complete guarantee of security, as famously demonstrated by Stuxnet, which is thought to have spread to Iranian nuclear facilities through USB drives.

* This is used in ''Film/LiveFreeOrDieHard''. The hackers have a "fire sale"; communications, water, power, all are taken down in sequence. They even give a jet pilot false orders to kill [=McClane=]. Of course, they are unable to remotely access the power grid and have to physically break into a power hub and later, the U.S. MagicalDatabase.

* After Chloe's {{Flanderization}} in ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' to become a [[PlayfulHacker mega hacker]], she gains access to the ''Daily Planet'''s MagicalDatabase and is able to find absolutely everything online.

* There's now a ''[[http://www.lixil.co.jp/lineup/toiletroom/shower/satis/ Japanese luxury toilet]]'' that can be [[https://www.trustwave.com/spiderlabs/advisories/TWSL2013-020.txt hacked using a Bluetooth wireless connection]].

** Given that SEELE paid for the Geofront to be built in the first place, it's entirely possible that they installed their own backdoor hard lines.

** Possibly justified as Satsuki is one of the Seven Angels, and all of the fourteen main characters have weird and unusual powers that seem to make the "normal" rules of things be suspended.

** Somewhat justified in that the chip was designed specifically to decrypt U.S. Federal Government systems. However, in real life, each federal department controls its own computer systems and encryption (within certain standards[[http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/fips/fips140-2/fips1402.pdf]]).

** This was actually somewhat justified in a scene where a technician described the hack to a general, saying "He gained access through a back-door from this phone number. The phone company screwed up." Of course, this does NOT justify why the computer would even be hooked up to a phone line, period.

** It's implied ([[FanWank though never stated]]) that [[spoiler:[[ETGaveUsWiFi all modern electronics are based on technology recovered]] from the [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell crash]]]]. The director's cut included a brief scene in which the programmer works with a laptop and [[spoiler:the remains of the Roswell ship]], studying the [[MatrixRainingCode aliens' code]].

** In the movie's defense, it went to great lengths to show that the manipulated items were state-of-the-art online devices.

** Maybe more traditional in Neo's real world {{technopath}} super powers in The Matrix Revolutions. [[EpilepticTrees The only explanation]] for it besides the "real world" being another simulation is if he is able to somehow wirelessly tap into any of the robots' technology through a hive mind network.
*** The "real world" being a simulation is heavily implied by the Architect when he tells Neo [[spoiler:that Zion will be reseeded with 12 people he chooses when the Matrix reboots]]. If the "real world" weren't a simulation as well, the statement would make no sense, since [[spoiler:Zion]] only exists in the "real world"

** Also ignores the fact that the United States has several unconnected power grids and it would be physically impossible to, say, redirect power from Seattle to Coney Island. Even if you did control everything.

** The second one is more plausible than the first. After all, Q connected the villain's laptop through an RJ45 cable to the MI5 net.

** Don't forget that she also manages to disable ''every single nuclear weapon'' in the world. Apparently, not only are missile silos hooked up to the 'Net, but also every nuclear submarine and good old-fashioned plane-dropped bombs. Also don't forget all those terrorist cells who somehow manage to build/steal a nuke. Apparently, the first thing they do is set up a wifi receiver.

*** The pesky thing about this is that yes, it IS possible to hack into a wired network (some types, at least) without a direct physical tap, but the range is limited to no more than a few INCHES from a wire at the MOST (using a device called an Induction Tap, which is mostly useful for putting hard-to-detect taps into hardline phone networks).

* John Henry from ''Series/TheSarahConnorChronicles'' is apparently able to control lights, elevators, and normal doors through the Internet.
** [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that he's only shown controlling those of the building within which he is physically located, and it is explicitly stated that he has been linked into those systems at the behest of the company's owner. There's no mention of it being done 'through the Internet'.

*** Justifiably, this is taken in account that anything that gives off 'waves' has a wave world in it. This includes literal electronic waves and more metaphorical waves, such as a fountain giving off "Cool waves" or something.

** At least early on, there were comments suggesting everything she was hacking (usually MAD robotics) was being radio-controlled, which could maybe be handwaved by Dr. Klaw wanting personal overrides on everything. And this tends to happen when she's physically closer to the device than Klaw, so Penny ''could'' be squelching signals. Not that the treatment's still anything close to realistic.

** It's implied ([[FanWank though never stated]]) that [[spoiler:[[ETGaveUsWiFi all modern electronics are based on technology recovered]] from the [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell crash]]]]. The director's cut included a brief scene in which the programmer works with a laptop and [[spoiler:the remains of the Roswell ship]], studying the aliens' code.
** The funniest part of the whole scenario is how they're able to interface with the alien mothership using a {{Macintosh}}, a computer that wasn't even compatible with about 90% of the other computers ''on this planet.''

* Mocked in [[http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/25p104/ this]] ''AdventuresOfDrMcninja'' strip.

* If ''{{Batman}}'' needs anything, ever, somehow the Batcomputer can ''always'' find it.

* In ''AlphaPrime'', one of the major gameplay mechanics is a device which can remotely hack into and control cameras, doors, pressure valves, vehicle loaders, sentry guns, and proximity mines. The game lampshades this trope when your MissionControl, who hacks into pretty much everything else, says about opening a window, "Anything can be opened from a console when you have a real pro on the job."

A [[TheCracker Cracker]] or PlayfulHacker can cause unlimited harm/mischief in the TV world because any computer, or any device with a {{CPU}} as a component--or even with a few strands of copper wire in it--is connected to the Internet and thus becomes easily accessible and subvertible to the character's hacking skill. Everything from NORAD to the engine computer on your SUV can be tampered with and shut down from a laptop in a room thousands of miles away. This openly defies the fact that in ''neither'' case are said computers actually ''online'' in a way that is reachable by someone on a modem.

->''"[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ujm9fG7XGZE I want to get online. I NEED... A COMPUTER!]]"''
-->-- '''Film/JohnnyMnemonic'''

This being said, writers were probably just getting a bit ahead of themselves as this is increasingly becoming TruthInTelevision. As ubiquitous internet connectivity becomes essential for almost any electronic gadget or device, everything from cars [[note]]which are now being marketed at the Consumer Electronics Expo[[/note]] to military networks will become increasingly hackable via the internet. Even without an explicit internet connection, many devices have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_star varying types]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth wireless functionality]], which to a [[WorthyOpponent skilled adversary]] are as good as an internet connection.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Outlive}}'' instead of the human spies who do operations for the player on a set budget and have a training time if they get captured and killed, the robots pay money to create expendable viruses that are used in certain quantities for certain missions. These can be used for everything to scouting an area of pristine wildernes and sabotage, to redirecting ICBMs.

-->-- '''JohnnyMnemonic'''

A [[TheCracker Cracker]] or PlayfulHacker can cause unlimited harm/mischief in the TV world because any computer, or any device with a CPU as a component (or even with a few strands of copper wire in it) is connected to the Internet and thus becomes easily accessible and subvertible to the character's hacking skill. Everything from NORAD to the engine computer on your SUV can be tampered with and shut down from a laptop in a room thousands of miles away. This openly defies the fact that in ''neither'' case are said computers actually ''online'' in a way that is reachable by someone on a modem.

TV writers make no distinction between the Internet and the closed intranets used by governments, the military, or private companies. Nor do they apparently understand the fact that a lot of computers (like the ones in most cars) are closed systems that are responsible only to themselves, and are ''physically'' incapable of contacting outside networks at all, let alone receive remote instructions from some malicious techie.

This being said, writers were probably just getting a bit ahead of themselves as this is increasingly becoming TruthInTelevision. As ubiquitous internet connectivity becomes essential for almost any electronic gadget or device everything from cars [[hottip: * :which are now being marketed at the Consumer Electronics Expo]] to military networks will become increasingly hackable via the internet. Even without an explicit internet connection many devices have [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_star varying types]] of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth wireless functionality]] which, to a [[WorthyOpponent skilled adversary]], are as good as an internet connection.

While one would assume that any security sensitive computer system would avoid being connected to anything, most users and Sys-Admins will fight to the death to avoid complicating their [[MicrosoftWindows Windows Updates]] and G-Mail access so most computer systems end up attached to the internet. Even control units for critical infrastructure now only come with an RJ-45 connector and a hard coded ability to speak IP. Very few organizations have the resources or the will to construct their own air-gap networks, so all the traffic flows over the public Internet or telecommunications networks protected by [[ShieldsAreUseless VPNs and Firewalls]]. Finally, even if a system is air-gapped properly, this is still not a complete guarantee of security, as famously demonstrated by Stuxnet, which is thought to have spread to Iranian nuclear facilities through USB drives.

Still there still remain some gross exaggerations like the ability to [[{{Unperson}} erase a person's existence]] by deleting his identity records. In Hollywood reality, physical records like paper birth certificates and driver licenses are always null and void if the computers can't find a digital copy[[hottip: * :but since the computers contain records of where the records are, they could easily be destroyed.]]. Your friends and family will apparently forget you were ever born if the e-records are deleted[[hottip: * :but they would be unable to protect you if the authorities were convinced you are a criminal and/or a terrorist.]].

Compare ItsASmallNetAfterAll. Also See PlugNPlayTechnology

* Ed in ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' retaliates against a pair of ISSP policemen who try to apprehend her by hacking into their ship's auto-pilot and took it for a joy ride, and accidentally crashed it. (Fortunately for them, she's a PlayfulHacker and does it while it's parked outside with no-one in it). In the same episode, Ed also hacks into the access to a spy satelite network, which was also online.
** For the satellite it makes perfect sense to be online, since the only way to make connection to it would be communication satellite network in the first place. It's still presented as an incredibly challenging task, since the satellite doesn't have a direct connection to Internet, but has to be accessed by breaking into the concealed spy satellite network.

* In ''SerialExperimentsLain'', '''everything''' is online, without exception, to the point that one of the catchphrases is: ''no matter where you go, everyone's connected.'' [[spoiler:In fact, Lain once almost gets run over by a car, because of a failure in the citywide car guidance system.]] Considering that the first scene depicts someone uploading their consciousness to the internet by committing suicide, conventional electrical gadgets being connected to the internet isn't far-fetched by comparison.
** The basic premise is basically this (minus the psychokinetic powers also present): human brains have electromagnetic vibrations in them as part of the neurons' functions. Planet Earth has ubiquitous electromagnetic resonance (called Schumann Resonance after its discoverer), which according to the series subtly affects the functions of the human brain. Somebody discovered how to manipulate the Schumann Resonance in a way that connects all people's minds subconsciously together without necessarily even relying on machines, which naturally are also affected.
* Perhaps the SEELE attack on MAGI in ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'' would have failed much sooner if NERV, instead of putting up firewalls in a RaceAgainstTheClock, had simply disconnected the bloody thing from every line connected to the outside world.
** The English dub translation for Iruel's invasion of the MAGI makes Ritsuko suggest that attempting to sever connections between different parts of MAGI or MAGI from anywhere else would require a matter of dismantling the Geofront (in the Japanese translation, she merely voices her concern about abandoning MAGI so swiftly).
** Given that SEELE paid for the Geofront to be built in the first place, its entirely possible that they installed their own backdoor hard lines.
* Satsuki, the [[TheCracker hacker]] in ''{{X1999}}'', has a computer that is not only sentient and can hack into anything online, but it can actually electrically manipulate the power cords themselves to attack people. Even disconnecting the computer from the network doesn't help once she's got her claws in it.
** [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when Satsuki steals Nataku's life support data. "We're being hacked and we aren't even on a network!"

* ''GhostInTheShell'' justifies this trope as making sense in a world where almost everyone you meet has a cybernetic implant connecting their brain wirelessly to the internet. Shown most prominently when the Laughing Man, on more than one occasion, hacks not only cameras but people's visual inputs to replace his face with his two-dimensional logo. In a MindScrew moment, people will even remember and swear that the logo is the ''real'' face.

* Nicely Averted in ''CannonGodExaxxion''; though each ArtificialHuman can hack into things like robots and space battle ships, they have to assimilate them with {{Nanomachines}} to do it.
* ''RealDrive'' has this, although there are still some people without a cybernetic implant. It should be noted that it takes place in the same universe as GhostInTheShell and {{Appleseed}}, so it makes sense that the series would experience some of the same issues addressed as the GITS entry above.

* Justified in ''Manga/{{Blame}}''. The Netsphere was designed as an on-line paradise and safe haven for any human with [[MacGuffin Net Terminal Genes]], as well as a system with absolute control over near everything within TheCity.

* ''SummerWars''. Everything is connected to the online community of OZ up to and including major governments, large corporations, and traffic control. So when an account-stealing AI gets released into OZ...

* The heroes of ''{{Sneakers}}'', with the super-chip they've just stolen, are able to access anything from the Federal Reserve to the national air-traffic control system.

* This trope is the entire plot of ''Hackers''. (Which [[InsistentTerminology should rather be called]] ''[[TheCracker Crackers]]''.)
* ''WarGames'', probably one of the earlier instances of this trope, relies on the idea that the computer that controls the launching of nuclear missiles is accessible to anyone with a 300 baud modem. Of course, the creator of the [[AIIsACrapshoot not-so evil A.I.]] put in a [[AppliedPhlebotinum backdoor password]]; [[ThePasswordIsAlwaysSwordfish his son's name]].
** This was actually somewhat Justified in a scene where a technician described the hack to a general, saying "He gained access through a back-door from this phone number. The phone company screwed up." Of course, this does NOT justify why the computer would even be hooked up to a phone line, period.

* ''SupermanIII'', notable for displaying this trope ''before'' the Internet as we know it came along, stars a guy who figures out how to glean the fractions of cents ignored when a percentage of one's income is taken for taxes, becoming rich. The bad guys recruit him, and he undergoes {{Flanderization}}, eventually becoming an über-[[TheCracker Cracker]] and controlling everything from bank accounts to traffic lights to ''[[WeatherControlMachine the weather itself]]'' (by messing with satellites).
** It wasn't entirely {{Flanderization}}, as the character was depicted during his training sequence (to become a computer programmer) creating a program that did something the instructor has just explained was impossible to program. The rest of it...it IS a comic book movie, after all, and one about a nigh-invulnerable alien with god-like powers, so you don't really get to complain about anything being unrealistic.
** It also wasn't HIM who actually controlled everything, but the AI that he designed and built for the original BigBad (before the AI abruptly replaces him as BigBad).
--> It wants to live!
** That first bit is actually TruthInTelevision; it's a tactic called [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing "salami slicing"]] that goes back to the early 70s.
** Its played for laughs to a certain extent. The traffic light flashes back and forth between the red man and the green man eventually both stay lit ''then one jumps down and starts attacking the other.'' Now that's some magical hacking. Richard Lester contributed mostly camp to the Superman franchise.
* The SandraBullock movie ''TheNet'' (1995) is ''well'' built around this trope. Angela Bennett led a ''completely'' [[LonersAreFreaks solitary existence]] where [[{{Otaku}} most of her acquaintances were online]]. Her only living family was her mother - who had Alzheimer's. She meets a man on vacation who seduces her based on her chatroom logs and steals her identification, then is forced to sign a different name on a computer pad so she can get tickets home. They then erase her identity by hacking public records. Several of her friends come to her aid, but they decoy the first one's plane into a smokestack by hacking his GPS, the second is hospitalized and then overdosed with insulin when they hack the hospital, and a third [[MundaneSolution is just shot]]. Of course, the whole thing is run by Jeff Gregg, a [[CaptainErsatz software billionaire]] who is making millions off his [[strike:faster, more efficient browser which provides better access to the internet]] "hackproof" security system -- which contains a [[AppliedPhlebotinum backdoor]].

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' is truly guilty of this. Will Smith and the scientist find themselves trapped in an organic alien craft with, of all things, a laptop. They then manage to use this laptop to hack the "brain" of the craft and and escape. Assuming of course, that alien "brains" are not only compatible with earth computers, but are vulnerable to their attacks.
** As with [[spoiler:the 2007 ''{{Transformers}}'' [[TransformersFilmSeries movie]]]], it's implied ([[FanWank though never stated]]) that [[spoiler:[[ETGaveUsWiFi all modern electronics are based on technnology recovered]] from the [[RoswellThatEndsWell Roswell Crash]]]].
** Arguably the worst part of the whole scenario is how they're able to interface with the alien mothership using an Apple laptop, a computer that isn't even compatible with about 90% of the other computers ''on this planet.''
** In the director's cut, there is a brief scene which justifies this. It shows the programmer working with a laptop and the alien craft crashed at Roswell, trying some things, until he stumbles across the virus which disables the shields.
* In ''Short Circuit 2'', Johnny 5 replaced his shoulder-mounted laser with a radio that can hack things. He uses it to shut down cars by triggering their burglar alarms and pilot remote controlled model airplanes. However, in the last few minutes of the movie where the villain is escaping in a boat, Johnny 5 tries to use it on the boat, but [[PhlebotinumBreakdown it doesn't work]] because ''it is not radio controlled.''
* ''Untraceable'': Apart from hacking a car, the villain also sets up [[MurderDotCom a system where footage of whatever victim he's caught is streamed live to the internet, and the more views it gets, the closer the trap they're caught in comes to killing them.]] 'Cause NewMediaAreEvil.
** [[AluminumChristmasTrees Oddly enough]] the car-hacking thing is actually justified, although it is not hacking per-se: Jennifer owned a brand new car which had many techological amenities including code-enabled lockdown (exists in real life, although quite rare). What the hacker did was to acquire her codes (through a fairly realistic example of phishing), then use them to disable the car once she drove by his ambush spot.

* Averted in the first ''MissionImpossible'' movie: the CIA terminal containing the information Ethan needs to steal is completely isolated, so getting said information requires an elaborate distraction to allow Ethan and crew access to the [[AirVentPassageway ductwork]] of the building so he can infiltrate the room the terminal is in.
* In ''HighSchoolMusical'' one of the "brains" uses her laptop to hack the school's electrical grid, disabling power everywhere except the theater, so that Troy and Gabriela can make their callback at the climax of the show (movie or stage).
* In ''EagleEye'', the VoiceWithAnInternetConnection who guides the protagonists, (ab)uses the fact that EverythingIsOnline to control every bit of electric machinery to aid the protagonists in their tasks. Traffic lights, security cameras, metros, mobile phones, electronic billboards, everything can be manipulated. Even construction cranes. And the movie, via timestamps on computers, shows it takes place in the distant future of January 2009.

** Also ignores the fact that The United States has several unconnected power grids and it would be physically impossible to, say, redirect power from Seattle to Coney Island. Even if you did control everything.

* The main villain in ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' is somehow able to use computers to cause a gas explosion and escape from his jail cell.

* In ''SnowCrash'', Hiro Protagonist's motorcycle is rendered inert by a computer virus. ("Asherah's possessed his bike.") Perhaps justified by the book's setting in a futuristic cyberpunk world, since there's already lots of work going into the idea of making the electronic engine-management system of cars remotely accessible, so that it can be disabled in the event of theft, or stopped by the police without the need for risky manoeuvres. More creative uses are left as an exercise for the student...

* This is how the events of ''Literature/TheFearIndex'' can take place. The book that was ordered online required only a simple e-mail with no interaction with humans. [[spoiler: The wantabe killer was contacted online. The conversation to the killer was ripped from files hacked from a doctor's office. The [=VIXAl=]-4 was able to build itself a new mainframe and maintain itself by ording staff online, with money it stole from Hoffmann's company.]]

* In Dan Simmon's {{Literature/HyperionCantos}}, most of the computer systems in the world are connected together through the "megasphere", a multi-world Internet monitored by AIs from the TechnoCore, but some systems (notably military networks) are designed to be independant. It is revealed, however, that the TechnoCore can access these systems anyway. So, everything everything ''is'' online even if it's not supposed to be. [[spoiler: Which sucks because, of course, [[AIIsACrapshoot the apparently benevolent AIs finally betray humanity]].]]
* In Charles Stross' {{Literature/Glasshouse}}, both everything and ''everyone'' is online. First because everyone has a communication implant allowing network access at any time, and second because almost all of the technology for transportation, healing and other activities common in the futuristic setting (immortality, altering its own body, creating clones of oneself, ...) is based on nanotechnological devices that deconstruct people (or things) molecule by molecule, store the pattern, alter/duplicate/transport it and reconstruct the result. Therefore, wars are fought through network worms which infect these nanoassemblers, and you have better have a good firewall if you don't want your ''personality'' to be hacked and edited.

* In Episode 8, "I Robot, You Jane" of the first season of ''Series/{{Buffy|the Vampire Slayer}}'', a demon is scanned out of the pages of an ancient book and into a file on a school computer. For the rest of the episode, he's considered "on the web," and bad things happen around the world because of "computer error." Giles and Buffy worry that the demon's presence on the web will give him the opportunity to meddle with traffic signals, destabilize the world's economies, and launch nuclear missiles.
* After Chloe's {{flanderization}} in ''{{Smallville}}'' to become a [[PlayfulHacker mega hacker]], she gains access to the ''Daily Planet'''s MagicalDatabase and is able to find absolutely everything online.

* Allegedly justified with the grumpy supercomputer Orac in ''Series/BlakesSeven'', because its creator also invented the "Tarriel cells" that power all computers in the Federation. How it also managed to control computers installed on ''alien spaceships'' is not explained...
** Completely justified for the Federation computers, as he invented the Tarriel Cells specifically so that Orac could be built to remotely access them undetectably (and unstoppably). Orac being able to control alien systems is probably the writers just making a silly extension to an internally justified feature.

* In ''Series/{{Jake20}}'', Jake use his symbiotic {{Nanomachines}} to move a new Cadillac sedan, noting that the car is computer controlled.
* ''{{Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad}}'' takes this to ridiculous levels; in one episode a "mega-virus monster" inside an ''alarm clock'' gives the main character a sequence of nightmares. Only the RuleOfFunny lets one suspend disbelief.

** Then there's the time the BigBad developed a way to figure out the hero's secret identities, but needed more electronics for him to access in order to run the program, so how does he gets it? He has his dragon start a campaign to get everyone in town to put up Christmas lights.
** ''SuperhumanSamuraiSyberSquad'' was made of this trope. One virus even turned the water into hydrochloric acid. Note that this was the mid-[[TheNineties 90s]].
* In one particularly nonsensical episode of ''Series/SevenDays'', an [[AIIsACrapshoot evil]] lovesick program manages to ''manipulate the knobs on gas burner stove'' in an elaborate MurderTheHypotenuse.

* In the ''InspectorMorse'' episode "Masonic Mysteries", the villain is able to frame Morse by hacking into the police computer and altering his records. And he does all this from a prison terminal. After doing a computer course at prison.

* John Henry from ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'' is apparently able to control lights, elevators, and normal doors through the Internet.
* Micah in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' embodies this trope with his [[strike:mutant]] evolved ability to talk to machines.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial ''The Green Death'', the meglomaniac computer BOSS (Bimorphic Organisational Systems Supervisor) plans to take over the world by controlling all the world's computers. In the 1970s ([[ContinuitySnarl or was it the 80s?]]).
** In "Dalek", the Dalek not only manages to [[ItsASmallNetAfterAll download the entire Internet]] within mere seconds from a random terminal in an ElaborateUndergroundBase, it also succeeds in draining the entire Eastern United States of electricity within these same mere seconds.
** Also, in the episode "The Eleventh Hour" [[spoiler:the Doctor writes a computer virus that resets everything everywhere to zero which includes random clocks on the wall. ''Mechanical'' clocks]].
* Played straight and averted in the ''same'' episode of ''TheSpectacularSpiderMan'', ''Shear Strength''. Dr. Octopus hacks into and controls satellites, cell phone GPS locators, street lights, even a coffee shop cash register all because they have computers. However, he later needs the help of someone else to get some Homeland Security codes, as they are on a closed network.
* Amazingly averted by ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'', when asked to do something about a security system the team hacker points out that it isn't actually connected to the internet.

* On ''{{Caprica}}'', Zoe Greystone creates an online AI avater of herself and several other people not by copying their psyche, but by relying on information online such as medical records, security footage, etc.

* In an episode of ''{{Flashpoint}}'' Spike, the team's technical expert notes that the criminals running an illegal casino made his job way easy by using basic off-the-shelf wireless cameras for surveillance. He can easily access the system remotely and use the cameras to guide the team into the building.

* In an episode of ''FamilyTies'', Alex uses an online dating service on an inexplicably small computer to find Mallory a date. That's all well and good, except it was ''FamilyTies''! The episode was circa 1987.

* In ''{{Champions}}'', every motor vehicle in Millennium City is remotely controlled by a central computer. They never really discuss the implications of this.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' is generally one of the usual suspects, though it does avert the trope on occasion. In 3rd edition, extra-sensitive systems were often off-line or in a closed-circuit system, though "extra-sensitive" may or may not include the security of top-secret megacorp research labs. 4th edition still takes the cake: almost all computers rely on wireless technology, meaning you don't even need a physical connection to your target to wreak havoc. Forget people's cars, start thinking about people's ''{{cyberware}}'', which may include things like eyes or even the connection between their brain and their somatic nervous system.
* ''EclipsePhase'' has most everything connected by wireless mesh, including robot brains. [[spoiler: Exsurgent technology goes farther, actually. You can hack someone's brain through their sensory input.]]

* The basic premise of ''MegaManBattleNetwork''. In some optional missions, escaped viruses make their way into action figures and electronic keyboards. Even the Mafia operates online.
** The premise of ''MegaManNTWarrior'', the anime version of the above game series, is naturally founded upon this trope as well. The first episode demonstrates this by showing that a ''kitchen oven'' is connected to the internet, and it's self cleaning devices are regulated through it.

** The trope continues in the spiritual successor, MegaManStarForce.

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in the Sega CD game ''Panic!'', where a computer virus infects the World Central Network, and ''every machine in the world'', including vending machines, vehicles, elevators, and countless other objects, starts [[PhlebotinumBreakdown going haywire in indescribably bizarre ways]]. This makes substantially more sense than the rest of the game.
* ''SplinterCell: Double Agent'' has a sequence where a character hacks into some slot machines and makes them start spewing money as a distraction. To make it worse, those slot machines are on a cruise ship at sea.

-->"Crazy world we live in where physical intrusion is less of a threat than electronic intrusion"
* A major plot point in the ''[[DotHack .hack]]'' series is that ''everything'' is connected to the world wide web and, moreover, is connected by reliance on some variant of the single operating system that survived a catastrophic network virus disaster called Pluto's Kiss. This means everything from nuclear reactors to traffic light programs to heart monitors is somehow wired together.

** In the second group of games, the inherent human-based AI producing software comes full circle and manages to bite the human operators in the butt in the form of AIDA, essentially the leftovers of Aura, multiple free-radical programs that affect players' minds directly through their neural headsets. Then, when the AIDA situation is resolved, a second Cubia appears in response to the re-activation of parts of the original Morganna program. And it tries to [[NeverSayDie preform garbage collection]] on the whole of the affected systems, i.e., the whole network and everything connected to it.

* In Outlive instead of the human spies who do operations for the player on a set budget and have a training time if they get captured and killed, the robots pay money to create expendable viruses that are used in certain quantities for certain missions. These can be used for everything to scouting an area of pristine wildernes and sabotage, to redirecting ICBMs.

* ProjectEden: [[spoiler: Lucy hacked into a police computer and get her sister sent to the cities underground, so she can steal her body.]]
* Ubisoft's ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' uses this as a central premise. Taking place in a post-2003 Northeast Blackout [[AlternateHistory alternate]] [[TwentyMinutesInTheFuture present]] version of [[TheWindyCity Chicago]], the government now has their hand in every electronic device (phones, computers, and even things like [=ATMs=] and traffic lights) in the city and all interconnected to a centralized network called the "[=CtOS=]". This is both a blessing and a curse for the city, as protagonist Aiden Pearce is able to take advantage of this widespread network by hacking in and screwing around with the system in order to prevent crimes, save lives, and generally dole out vigilante justice.

* One of the customers in ''NotAlwaysRight'' is [[http://notalwaysright.com/we-can-thank-hollywood-and-hacker-films-for-this/948 clearly under this impression]] when he decides that [[FalseCause visiting the company's Web site must be the reason his car won't start]].

* This trope is used {{egregious}}ly in ''TheMagicSchoolBus'', where a computer can raise and lower the flag, make coffee, and open doors. The problem is not so much that computers are doing things they couldn't do (all of those things could be connected to a central control and run by network) and more that computers are being used to do things it would be safer and easier to do manually. Possibly justified, because they were addressing what could happen in a computer program to make the above tasks go haywire. In the end, it was a programing error (The code read "Every minute" instead of "Every Day".). It wasn't so much that the tasks could be done or not, but rather how a computer processes information. The task of raising a flag is just a visual aid for the kids watching the show to get that something is wrong.
* The most wonderful example of this would be ''InspectorGadget'''s niece Penny's Computer Book. In a time when the first laptop computers were ''just'' being released, hers could break into ''anything'' to help her Uncle Gadget.
** What makes this more fantastical is that she was able to do this before anything that could be called the Internet existed. Through radio and microwave hacking? Or electric telepathy?
*** At least early on, there were comments suggesting everything she was hacking (usually MAD robotics) ''was'' being radio-controlled, which could maybe be handwaved by Dr. Klaw wanting personal overrides on everything. And this tends to happen when she's physically closer to the device than Klaw, so Penny ''could'' be squelching signals. Not that the treatment's still anything close to realistic.
* Also applies to XANA's attacks in ''CodeLyoko'', although this is partially [[HandWave explained away]] -- the inky black "spectres" are apparently capable of wiring up any electronic device, inanimate object, or even human being, as desired.

* On the [=Y2K=] Halloween episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Homer's workstation being non [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2000_problem Y2K]] compliant causes everything to rebel, including pacemakers, electric shavers and ''cartons of milk''.
** That was more likely a case of LampshadeHanging on the ridiculous amount of hype about [=Y2K=] and the supposed "problems" it would cause everyone.

* In ''StaticShock'', a disgruntled technician builds a helmet that allows her to uplink her consciousness to the Internet in the form of the ultimate worm virus. Not only can she connect to things that shouldn't be online, she can take anything that has a computer in it and use that fact to access functions the computer itself couldn't, such as driving cars by accessing "the onboard computer systems", which should really just consist of a GPS or something. Now, given that she chose to pull this gimmick against an electricity-themed hero and his supergenius sidekick, she doesn't last very long -- she gets taken out with antivirus software which winds up feeding back through the helmet and pretty much rendering her catatonic. The repercussions are never discussed.
* Acknowledged in ''ReBoot'': Daemon can't infect systems that don't have a connection to the net. Interestingly, you can use Portals to access said systems.

* Charlie Strap and Froggy Ball Flying High (original name "Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll på svindlande äventyr"), a Swedish animated feature film, had this as a key part of the villains' plot: they have a floppy disc[[hottip:*:it was made in 1991]] with a program on it that allows them to hack into the government's computers as easily as pressing a few buttons, which they will use to give themselves permission to move an historical castle to the main characters' forest, and re-build it into a hyper-modern hotel. [[FridgeLogic Apparently, the program can also edit the government's non-digital records...]] though that might just be the villains being idiots and ''assuming'' this trope to be in effect.

* Networked devices that have no reason for being that way were recently pointed out as a massive security problem in office environments, as in this case of a [[http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/493387 net-enabled, self-updating ''coffee maker'']] (?!?). Not only can a sufficiently grief-minded hacker execute a "[[PokeThePoodle denial of coffee attack]]" by remotely screwing with the boiler temperature or the grounds:water ratios, but the control program has to be run on an XP box somewhere on the coffee maker's LAN, which effectively opens a back door onto that machine, and from there into the ''entire network''. Oops!
** Even the ''power grid'' [[http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10216702-83.html?tag=newsLeadStoriesArea.1 is online]]. And using default or no passwords.
** One can also connect an Wifi-equipped interceptor device into a private and secure network, then spy on that unit, and consequently the network, over an internet connection. In fact, this is the way most viruses work, exchanging "device" for "program."

* A hilarious example of this trope's effects in action, even titled [[http://notalwaysright.com/we-can-thank-hollywood-and-hacker-films-for-this/948 We Can Thank Hollywood And "Hacker" Films For This]].
* MIT's web enabled drink machines, [[http://www-cse.ucsd.edu/users/bsy/coke.html and others along those lines]]