The ctOS is the brainchild of Blume Corporation. After it's creation, the ctOS was handed over to the government by Blume in the wake of a major blackout across the American Northeast in 2003.

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ctOS is Chicago's Central Operating System which regulates all manner of electronics within the city, from surveillance cameras to traffic lights. It is run by major private companies who use it for their own gains. It records and stores every part of a person's life and in turn figures out how one thinks.

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In Watch Dogs Aiden Pearce has full access to the ctOS and can control any part of it. He can control video cameras, traffic lights, trains, and bridges. He can also disrupt connections between other cell phones.

 

One question that is frequently asked about the CTOS is: Who controls the system that controls Chicago?

 

One negative that has been noted about the CTOS is that large businesses could use the data stored by CTOS to maximize profits. It has also been noted that control of the system could fall into the wrong hands, like those of hackers such as Damien Brenks, T-Bone, Aiden Pearce and Defalt.

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The fact that control of CTOS could fall into the wrong hands has clearly been brought to the public's attention by a hacking collective known as DedSec.

The group hacks into the system and misappropriates its abilities to use it for its own purposes, such as invasions of privacy or data collection, simultaneously emphasizing CTOS's great power and security flaws.