Malcontent Classification

If you see something, say something. Responsible citizens report all malcontent behavior - rewards guaranteed.

— Security Broadcast

Corporations rule the Megacorpolis, if not the world. Everywhere, armies of office drones shuffle papers and file reports. Advertisements plaster every surface that can hold one, smiling faces assuring consumers that every day is a normal day - and a perfect day to spend, consume, and work. It is almost an ideal world, where workers work, consumers consume, and corporations profit.
Almost.
The system has cracks that are miles wide, entire communities disappearing in the shadows between marketing campaigns then forgotten. Slums fall off the grid and are left to rot when there's no profit left in maintaining them. People still fight, live, and love on their own terms, no matter what. Whether by circumstance or choice, they stand outside the carefully crafted world. They are thorns that scratch the skin of the corporate veil.
The Corporations call them "malcontents," criminals, scum and dregs on the fringes of society. Whenever the corporations need someone to blame, the Malcontents generally fit the bill.

Corporate Mandate

In their need to catalog and label everything into neat little groups, most Corps recognizes the following categories of Malcontents.

Misfits

I don't see why they can't just pull themselves together, up by their bootstraps.

— Typical Megacorpolis Attitude on the Misfit

Broken and forgotten, Misfits are more often than not victims. They are the weird, the freak, and the mad, those with nowhere to go and no-one to care for them. Most of their rank are mentally ill and usually too poor to treat it. Some begin as citizens but drift away from mainstream Megacorpolis society as they break. Others start in a bad place and only get worse. Without money, without employment and without much hope, most Misfit becomes homeless and vagabonds. Most of the time, victims of crime rather perpetrators.
But the popular image of the Misfits is, enforced by corporate propaganda, that of the murderous hobo or dangerous lunatic. With empathy already in short supply in the mega-city, its citizens have only been too happy to get a reason to leave Misfits to their misery. Misfits survive by panhandling or scavenging, making shelters in the forgotten corners of the Megacity.

by Johny Mnemonic

Deviants

'lo, and glorious Ascension awaits; cast off the flesh and embrace heavy metal!

— Choir of the Iron Fire

Too weird for mainstream Megacorpolis (and that's saying something), Deviants are ruled by passions too alien, too bizarre or too destructive to be permitted in polite society - or so the corporate line goes. Deviant include everything from extreme trans-humanists and techno-fetishists to religious cults and criminals. Some are dangerous, others just unprofitable. More than a few are corporate creations, made by marketing campaigns that were just a touch too effective.

by Johny Mnemonic (with slight alterations)

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Deviants tend to congregate in small societies of their own types and their dwellings become a view into their own inner world. Some Deviants find a terrible freedom in their outcast status that allows them to fully indulge in their most destructive or alien whims.
Some are still able to blend in and stay under the radar, spending their days as an obedient drone and their nights in wild revelry or dark ritual.

Terrorists

Just because they've won doesn't mean we'll stop fighting.

Anyone who has ever engaged in violence against the Corporations can be labeled a terrorist. From tossing a cup of Java to a grenade, the Terrorist label is broadly and liberally applied. Other Malcontents regularly drift in and out of the terrorist category depending on their actions, while a few faces remain prominently within the group. The label is broadly applied, including everything from the genuinely psychotic to anti-corporate fighters to anyone unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The description of "disgruntled former employee" appears like clockwork whenever a Terrorist makes the news.

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Both the most and least organized, Terrorist Malcontent either work in tightly knit cells that are united by a common cause or complete loners lashing out at the world.
These lone wolf types don't last before they go out in an orgy of violence.

by Johny Mnemonic

More than a few cells are funded or equipped by Corporations, either directly or indirectly. So far, every bomb and every bullet only increased corporate power and profits. Every attack is a movie franchise waiting to be made, every explosion another cause to increase security and limit rights.

Hacker

Hello. I hope you are having a lovely day; it's not going to last.

— The Mórrígan

"Cyber-Criminals" of all stripes, Hackers are computer and tech-savvy rebels with a chip on their digital shoulders and a twitter account ready to go. Just as Terrorists are defined as those who want to do the Corporations' physical harm, Hackers are those who will do them digital harm. In the modern age where all things are connected at all times, it's hard to say which group does the most damage.

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In the view of citizens, Hacker attacks are inconvenient, occasionally funny, and sometimes horrible - but they don't usually end up with a bunch of mangled bodies strewn across the place. As such, the average citizen on the streets has a relatively mild view of Hackers.
It is not shared by their corporate overlord. Hacker attacks are costly and dangerous - worse, they can make the corporations look silly or stupid, something they can't stand.

by Johny Mnemonic (with slight alterations)

Even worse, these sorts of attacks aren't nearly as easy to exploit as the more visceral scenes left by an explosion or rampage. But where there's a will to profit, there's a way.

Chipless

By far the largest group of Malcontents and it is a fate not by their choice. The Chipless are the non-citizen, descendants of people who didn't make the cut for corporate life, one way or the other. No accurate census exists of just how many millions of the Chipless live in the Megacorpolis. Most of the time, being born poor is the only sin the Chipless have committed.

by Johny Mnemonic (with slight alterations)

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Chipless communities live in the shadows of society. They steal power and water from lines, scavenge scrap to build, and create their own cultures and economies just out of sight.
Although it is illegal to employ someone who doesn't have a citizen chip, millions work daily throughout the Megacity. Such illegally employed have few rights and almost no protection, and abuse is common.

Most citizens go about their day as if the Chipless was nothing to worry about. Corporations alternatively ignore or exploit them, and the Chipless usually come into conflict with the Corps whenever they stand in the way of some project or profit.
The ruined Sector 13 holds the highest concentration of Chipless, to the point where it has become a city within the city. Some are beginning to wonder if it ties into the Computer's apparent lack of interest in rebuilding Sector 13... And if so, why?

But the Computer must have its reasons. After all, the Computer is our friend and it only wants the best for us.

Everyone Else

Counter culture in the underbelly of the Megacorpolis are born every day. Others die, fracture, or split apart, only to reincarnate again at a later date. Many rails against the machine, the system, or the corporations - others just live a life outside the norm enough to mark them as different. There are thousands of sub-cultures spread across the Mega-city, infesting every nook and cranny, born from marketing campaigns and product placements or fighting against them.
Exact names come and go but most of the time, when someone talks about a "Malcontent" instead of one of the above, it's usually one of the 'everyone else.'

Official Policy

Malcontents are a danger to the Megacorpolis way of life and citizens should report any they suspect. This web of informants, betrayal, and reporting has created an atmosphere of paranoia among parts of the city, where even mild infractions are viewed as the beginning of some terrible Malcontent plot. They're the boogie men of the Mega-City; worse than the worst. Even criminals pay their taxes.
In reality, no Megacorp consider the Malcontent to be a serious threat and know that such assessments of lesser foes have never once gone horribly awry before.

by Johny Mnemonic (with slight alterations)

Unofficial Policy

Like most things in the Megacorpolis, the corporate policy is largely dictated by whatever makes them the most money at any given time. Most are happy to ignore them, as long as they aren't interfering with business. Others are equally pleased to have a ready supply of test subjects for their next range of products. "Expendable assets" come up frequently when the Malcontent is discussed, if they are at all.
Exact attitudes vary between corporations, but there are some generalities.

Misfits

Misfits are ignored when they stay out of the way and chased off when they aren't. The abuse of the Misfits is almost a clinical, passive kind - anti-loitering devices or spikes on the sidewalk to prevent someone from sleeping there.
Misfits usually just want to get through the day, but have a tendency to start disappearing when some pharmaceutical corporations begin trial runs.

by Johny Mnemonic (with slight alterations)

Deviants

With such a wide range of aberrant behavior, Corporate policy on Deviants differs between groups. Deviants are among the more organized of the Malcontent and that makes them dangerous. On the other hand, many of them still need things that the corporations provide.
As long as they have the money to pay for it, many look the other way.. Until the Deviants either run out of money or make a mess.

by Johny Mnemonic

Terrorists

Out of all the Malcontents, the Terrorists are taken more seriously than - much to their detriment. Entire Anti-Terror Corporations exist for the sole purpose of hunting down and "bringing them to justice," though it's funny just how many arrests ends with the suspects killed in supposed defense.
Many Terrorists are dangerous and have caused carnage and destruction in the past. Corporations playing the long game view these events as business opportunities and frequently use them in media, propaganda, and other operations, usually to great success.

Terrorists are the go-to villain for all forms of media. The faces and names change but the broad strokes remain the same.

Hackers

While Terrorists blow up buildings and people, Hacker attacks are both more costly and less marketable. It makes for a lethal combination for any Hacker who reaches too far and finds themselves in the Corporate cross-hairs.
Smart hackers stay just on the edge, while dumb hackers find themselves firebombed right out of their homes. Corporations go after the cyber-criminals with even more fervor than they do the most blood-thirsty Terrorist.

Unlike the other Malcontents, Hackers are sometimes cast as heroes or vigilantes. The popular image of a hacker isn't all bad, much to corporate chagrin.

Chipless

As the largest group of Malcontent, they have the most interaction with the rest of Megacorpolis, if only by volume. Most Corporations aren't quite sure what to do about the Chipless as a group. There are millions of Chipless and there is no interest in going through the hassle of integrating them all into Megacorpolis society.
Most regular citizens know a Chipless, or knows someone who knows someone. Prejudice is both common and tempered by familiarity; while hackers and terrorists are dangers, and misfits and deviants are weirdoes, Chipless tend to just be people.
Even so, they are common targets for corporate and citizen abuse. Riots and violence occasionally flare up, and companies like Centurion Arms & Armor view Chipless as live-fire exercise targets more than anything.

Everyone Else

Too numerous and varied to really have a cohesive strategy around, the corporate policy with Megacorpolis thousands of sub- and counter cultures usually boil down to: "Can we profit from them?"
Most of the time, the answer is yes.

by Johny Mnemonic

All in all, the only good Malcontent is a profitable Malcontent. The Corporations are endlessly inventive when it comes to wringing some value out of everything and everyone, and it is rarely to the benefit of the Malcontents.

by Johny Mnemonic