Hackers can't really erase your student loan debt like in 'Mr. Robot'
The dense, twisty plot centers around Elliot and the cat-and-mouse game he plays with Mr. Robot, the leader of a group of hackers (called "fsociety") trying to erase the world's debt.
Student loan debt specifically is a major plot point throughout the first season - the show's creator Sam Esmail, 38, actually paid off his debt just after the first season wrapped - and is one of the reasons fans were rooting for Elliot and Mr. Robot to succeed in their plot.
But could some sort of mega-hack really save people from their student loan, credit card, and medical debt?
Unfortunately, no. Bloomberg's Megan McArdle explains that fscociety's plot to free us all from debt is not only impossible, the consequences of such a heist would ruin the economy.
In the world of "Mr. Robot," one company, E Corp, owns all debt and it stores all its data in one place.
Mr. Robot tells Elliot that E Corp alone owns "70% of the global consumer credit industry." That's not actually the way our financial system works. Look at credit cards. We refer to American Express or Mastercard as a "credit card company," but each actually has its own network of parties, all responsible for different tasks - processing payments, storing information, issuing credit to customers, contacting merchants, etc. And that's only the beginning. As McArdle explains, "Student loans are handled by other, different companies. Car loans. Mortgages. Each market brings new players, who all have their own records you need to wipe. "
It's also totally unrealistic that a corporation that owns that much of the world's debt would store their data in only one or two server locations. E Corp stores everything at Steel Mountain, an enormous underground bunker that fscociety targets midway though the season. It's modeled after the real-life Iron Mountain, which similarly stores huge amounts of sensitive information. Not even the best planned heist would stand a chance of infiltrating either location, especially in the world of "Mr. Robot" where E Corp would have limitless resources to safeguard the facility.
Wiping out debt has major consequences that will make us all much worse off, financially.
For many Americans, their net worth is held in their biggest assets, like a car or a house. But if you go in and wipe out all records of their home/auto loan and how much they owe, you've essentially erased all proof that you own that asset.
But "Mr. Robot" is targeted for the "millennial" crowd and, overwhelmingly, we don't own big ticket assets like houses. We just want our loans paid off.
As McArdle explains, even if some magical Robin Hood hacktivist wiped out the $1.3 trillion in outstanding loans, we'd still be on the hook for them: "Student loans are guaranteed by the government (and now usually made directly by the government). Guess who guarantees the government? That's right, you, Joe Taxpayer. Congratulations, your student loan just evaporated, and your tax bill just doubled."
Sadly, recreating fscociety's scheme won't save the world from crippling debt. That said, "Mr. Robot" is a compelling and complicated cyber-drama and fans are eagerly awaiting its second season, coming July 13.