Augmented reality as a tell - Bingo!
CF is a former Naval "Individual Augmentee" (play on Augmented Reality" AR). The hacker will show (or be watching a demo) of AR as CF first meets him. Perhaps he gets him to try on a pair of glasses (AR glasses). This could get pretty complex if you follow it down a theme of AR and that the hacker has possibly "hacked CF's own "reality" and placed him in a world where he and a girl are destined for a relationship of silence and a dead end. Who is this hacker? He is becoming more and more important to the spine of the story. Is "Marcus Sugarton" a good name for him? Has MZ really performed AR? Look at FB's role in the Egyptian Revolution. How can we draw parallels to the development of FB, the actions of the hacker and the Egyptian revolution?
Also think about the role of Google in the revolution. The Augmented Reality that the early protesters experienced. The image of Tahrir days before and after the removal of Mubarak. The riders who came in with camels and horses beating people. The shutdown of the Internet.
Is it too cliche to make the story one big AR after he meets the hacker? Yes, but stay on the fringes of the genre.
Watching Google Project Glass "jump" onto moscone and can already see the parallels with the "Active LIfestyle" parachuters, bicyclists, repelling down the building to give the AR glasses back to Sergey.
Definition:
1. To make (something already developed or well under way) greater, as in size, extent, or quantity: Continuing rains augmented the floodwaters.
2. Linguistics To add an augment to.