I paused and set down my glass, searching for the fine edge of deceit that always lies right up against the truth. - Richard K. Morgan

Naturally these penalties were applicable only to private citizens, not military commanders or government executives. The powerful are jealous of their toys.

When I was younger I used to go out looking for squalid brawls in the streets of Newpest. This got a couple of people stabbed, neither of them me, and led in turn to my apprenticeship in one of the Harlan’s World gangs, Newpest chapter. Later on I upgraded this kind of retreat by joining the military: brawling with a purpose, and with more extensive weaponry, but as it turned out, just as squalid. I don’t suppose I should have been as surprised as I was—the only thing the Marine Corps recruiter had really wanted to know was how many fights I had won.

You're an Envoy, Kovacs. You live by manipulation. We all do. We all live in the great manipulation matrix, and it's just one big struggle to stay on top."
I shook my head. "I didn't ask to be dealt in."
"Kovacs, Kovacs." Kawahara's expression was suddenly almost tender. "None of us ask to be dealt in. You think I asked to be born in Fission City, with a web-fingered dwarf for a father and a psychotic whore for a mother? You think I asked for that? We're not dealt in, we're thrown in, and after that it's just about keeping your head above water.