Verified Document

Computer Hacking, Electronic Surveillance And The Movie Term Paper

Computer Hacking, Electronic Surveillance and the Movie Sneakers Sneakers

Sneakers (1992), directed by Phil Alden Robinson, begins in December of 1969 as college students Martin Brice and his friend Cosmo are hacking into government and other computer networks and manipulating financial accounts by transferring funds from the Republican National Committee to the Black Panther Party and so forth as what is later termed a "prank." When Brice leaves to get a pizza the police come and arrest Cosmo and Brice goes on the run.

The action then advances twenty years into the future and we find Brice, now using the name Bishop, heading a group of security specialists in San Francisco for hire by companies to test the integrity of their physical and electronic security systems. Martin is approached by two men claiming to work for the National Security Agency (NSA) who tell him that they know of his real identity and in exchange for clearing his record and $175,000 want him to recover a black box decoder developed by mathematician Dr. Gunter Janek for the Russians. After Martin and his team recover the device they discover that it contains advanced algorithm capable of breaking any encryption code. When they read that Janek was murdered they realize that the two men who recruited them are not from NSA, but only after they have delivered the box.

Martin contacts a friend at the Russian Consulate who reveals that the two men who recruited the team are rogue agents, but before he can find out who they are the limo they are riding in is pulled over, the Russian is murdered, and Martin is kidnapped and framed...

Martin is taken to an office where his old friend Cosmo, thought to have died in prison, reveals he is bitter over being abandoned by Martin and now has ties to an to organized crime he developed while in prison. In exchange for his computer skills they had helped him escape. He now wanted the black box to disrupt the world's economy and offers Martin the chance to work with him, but he refuses.
The rest of the movie deals with their efforts to recover the box from Cosmo and return it to the NSA. After much effort they trace Cosmo to a firm called Playtronics, sneak into the facility and steal the box only to be caught during the escape. On the roof of the building Cosmo confronts Martin and demanding the box says "The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or energy, or money. It's run by little ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons" (Robinson, 1992).

Martin switches boxes, giving Cosmo the fake and makes his escape, only to be confronted by NSA agents when the team gets back to their hideout. Martin realizes that the box will only work on American encryption codes, and that the NSA wants it to spy on other U.S. agencies. Before Marin hands the box over, he secures a promise to have his record cleared and other members of the team are granted requests for their silence. It is only after the NSA agents leave the…

Sources used in this document:
References

Oak, M. (2011, September 23). What are the effects of computer hacking? Buzzle.com. Retrieved April 16, 2012, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-are-the-effects-of-computer-hacking.html

Robinson, P.A. (Director). (1992). Sneakers. [Motion picture]. United States: Universal Pictures.

Stanley, J. & Steinhardt, B. (2003, January). Bigger monster, weaker chains: The growth of American surveillance society. American Civil Liberites Union. Retrieved April 17, 2012 from http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/bigger-monster-weaker-chains-growth-american-surveillance-society
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Use of Content Filters on Internet in High School
Words: 14424 Length: 42 Document Type: Term Paper

Internet has grown exponentially since its first introduction to the public. The precursor to the Internet was the ARPANET. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the Department of Defense (Carlitz and Zinga, 1997) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) were the primary creators of the ARPANET. Subsequently however, efforts from private entities and universities have helped develop the network infrastructure, as it exists today. "The goals of ARPA's

Promising Phenomenon That Lends Itself
Words: 26560 Length: 96 Document Type: Dissertation

66). Furthermore, social software will only increase in importance in helping organizations maintain and manage their domains of knowledge and information. When networks are enabled and flourish, their value to all users and to the organization increases as well. That increase in value is typically nonlinear, where some additions yield more than proportionate values to the organization (McCluskey and Korobow, 2009). Some of the key characteristics of social software applications

IAS and DF
Words: 9242 Length: 33 Document Type: Capstone Project

Assurance and Security (IAS) Digital forensics (DF) In this work, we take a look at three laboratory-based training structures that afford practical and basic knowledge needed for forensic evaluation making use of the latest digital devices, software, hardware and firmware. Each lesson has three parts. The duration of the first section of the three labs will be one month. These labs would be the largest labs. The Second section would

SOPA and Pipa Legislation
Words: 2341 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

SOPA & PIPA Legislation File sharing involving copyright infringement began as peer-to-peer operations, sometimes with the involvement of a central server that acts as a search engine. Recently there has been a rise in file sharing where the infringing content is actually stored on the central server, such as the now-defunct megaupload.com. Consequently, there is a conflict between the rights of content owners and the rights of ordinary users of the

Breach of Faith
Words: 1740 Length: 6 Document Type: Research Paper

Breach of Faith Over the course of twenty-two years, from 1979 to 2001, Robert Hanssen participated in what is possibly the most severe breach of national intelligence in the United States' history. Through a combination of skill and sheer luck, Hanssen was able to pass critical information from his job at the FBI to Soviet and later Russian intelligence agencies, information that may have contributed to the capture and execution of

Cyber Forensics and Legal Considerations
Words: 3240 Length: 11 Document Type: Term Paper

Cyber Forensics and Legal Considerations: Is the Law Keeping up with Advancing Technology? Introduction Because of the digital age and the possibilities it has introduced, digital forensics is now a necessity within the realm of law enforcement. However, there are numerous considerations to be made within this realm: constitutional law, property law, contract law, tort law, cybercrime, criminal procedure, evidence law, and cyber war. This paper will examine how the law is

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now