Analysis of Ethics in Film - The Net
The movie "The Net" stars Sandra Bullock as a computer analyst named Angela Bennett who has practically no life outside of computers. A friend sends her a computer program on a disk that contains a glitch for her to debug. She sees a Pi symbol in the corner of the screen, and when she presses keys and clicks on it, it takes her into a system that she shouldn't have access to. She goes on vacation to Mexico where she meets a man named Jack Devlin. He gains her trust, then has her purse stolen so he can get the disk. Once she realized he is a "bad guy" she gets the disk and runs away from him. When she tries to check into her hotel, the computer says that she checked out. When she gets home, she finds that her house is for sale and everything in the house is gone. She also has a new identity--her name is now Ruth Marx, and Marx has a criminal record so she is wanted by the police.
The ethical issues surrounding this film is personal privacy. The "bad guys" were able to find out everything about Angela Bennett--what kind of drink she liked, what cigarettes she used to smoke, what movies she liked, etc. They were able to use this information to completely erase her identity, so their was no proof that she was actually Angela Bennett and not Ruth Marx. They were also able to change the medical records of her friend so they gave him the wrong medication, which led to his death. They also killed her friend that sent her the program, and a man she was supposed to meet who knew about the Pi symbol.
When you consider how much information is available about people on the Internet (especially with sites such as MySpace and Facebook), it is very easy for someone to find out whatever they want to know about you. So, I think that aspect of the movie does realistically portray ethical issues, because in the movie they were able to find out everything about Angela. When it comes to erasing someone's identity, I do not think the movie realistically portrayed that issue. I do not think in real life that someone would be able to take that information about a person and completely erase and change their identity without someone still knowing who the person is.
This film may make the public more aware of how much information someone could find out about you, if you make it available to them. It may also make people aware of identity theft and that your identity could be stolen if you make enough information available.
The police in this film were just doing their job, and did not know what was happening to Angela. When they ran her name (her "new" name, Ruth Marx) through the computer system, and it showed all of her criminal records, they had no choice but to believe what it said and to try to arrest her. If she told them what was happening to her, they were not likely to believe her because it would sound off the wall and she wouldn't be able to prove it. I think in real life the police (especially the local police, which is what this film had) would act the same way the police did in this film. They would have no reason to suspect that her identity had been erased and changed based on the information they had.
The ethical issues surrounding this film is personal privacy. The "bad guys" were able to find out everything about Angela Bennett--what kind of drink she liked, what cigarettes she used to smoke, what movies she liked, etc. They were able to use this information to completely erase her identity, so their was no proof that she was actually Angela Bennett and not Ruth Marx. They were also able to change the medical records of her friend so they gave him the wrong medication, which led to his death. They also killed her friend that sent her the program, and a man she was supposed to meet who knew about the Pi symbol.
When you consider how much information is available about people on the Internet (especially with sites such as MySpace and Facebook), it is very easy for someone to find out whatever they want to know about you. So, I think that aspect of the movie does realistically portray ethical issues, because in the movie they were able to find out everything about Angela. When it comes to erasing someone's identity, I do not think the movie realistically portrayed that issue. I do not think in real life that someone would be able to take that information about a person and completely erase and change their identity without someone still knowing who the person is.
This film may make the public more aware of how much information someone could find out about you, if you make it available to them. It may also make people aware of identity theft and that your identity could be stolen if you make enough information available.
The police in this film were just doing their job, and did not know what was happening to Angela. When they ran her name (her "new" name, Ruth Marx) through the computer system, and it showed all of her criminal records, they had no choice but to believe what it said and to try to arrest her. If she told them what was happening to her, they were not likely to believe her because it would sound off the wall and she wouldn't be able to prove it. I think in real life the police (especially the local police, which is what this film had) would act the same way the police did in this film. They would have no reason to suspect that her identity had been erased and changed based on the information they had.
posted by Emily @ 2:12 PM
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