Hacker Cinema
The Billion Dollar Code
2021 · TV series · 66 min episodes · 1 season
Created by Robert Thalheim, Oliver Ziegenbalg
In 1990s Berlin, an artist and a hacker invented a new way to see the world. Years later, they reunite to sue Google for patent infringement on it.
3 positive1 negative3 neutralfrom 7 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
7 comments on Hacker News
Back in the 90s there was a zeitgeist where people in different pockets of the world came up with similar ideas and similar solutions to certain problems. Technology hit a certain threshold that allowed for specific innovation to occur.
It reminds me of that movie "The Billion Dollar Code" [1] where some guys claim that Google stole their Google Maps idea. Whereas in reality, it's more likely that due to certain technological advances, different people came up with the same/similar idea of how to store and display maps.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Billion_Dollar_Code
Documentaries are usually painfully open about their agendas, like changing policies in Madagascar to save the lemurs, save the smokers, save the obese, etc. But no documentary until "The Billion Dollar Code" ever made me feel genuinely lied to and outright manipulated, and there's no way I would have known if I hadn't read the primary materials. When I discovered the deception, I edited the Terravision Wikipedia page to mention SRI, so there's clues for the next person who enjoys the series, but someone would have to write truthful secondary sources in order for the article to be improved further. Who can say who benefits from poking Google Maps in the eye. Netflix must have been tripping when they approved that one.
Not fiction, but based on true events.
Netflix series - Billion Dollar Code. The Google Earth court case fought by the a couple of German hackers https://www.netflix.com/in/title/81074012
AMC TV series - Halt and Catch Fire. Follows some players in the 80s technological revolution that lead to information society. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543312/
Apollo 13. When Apollo 13 sustains hazardous damage mid-orbit, NASA works to devise a plan to lead the spacecraft back to Earth and spare the lives of the astronauts on board. https://www.amazon.com/Apollo-13-Tom-Hanks/dp/B001JI5DRC
The Billion Dollar Code tells the story about an artist and a hacker who build Google Maps before Google Maps. It plays in Berlin, Germany in the 90ies and I really liked the vibe of the whole mini-series. Also the combination of Art and Technology and getting the most out of current technology makes it a good "hacker" series.
If you understand German and like 4 hour long podcasts, Tim Pritlove just released a CRE episode about Terravision where he speaks with Pavel Mayer: https://cre.fm/cre222-terravision
(I haven't seen The Billion Dollar Code or listened to the podcast yet, but apparently the character Juri is (loosely?) based on Pavel: https://twitter.com/pavel23/status/1447622978859061252 )
The unattributed precursor to Google Earth. Just finished watching The Billion Dollar Code (four episode miniseries) on Netflix and yeah, "Don't be evil" stopped being a thing quite a long time ago. Broke my heart.
> "The Billion Dollar Code" is a 2021 German television miniseries starring Björn Freiberg, Seumas F. Sargent and Leonard Scheicher. The series is based on true events, of how Joachim Sauter went to court with his company Terravision against Google.[0]
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Billion_Dollar_Code