CONCLUSIONS
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1. Morpheus’ group in The Matrix highlights the hacker’s tendency to disrupt systems and cause chaos for their targets. An increase of real-world hacker power in the future poses a threat of severe monetary damage and loss of life. Morpheus’ group of rebels in The Matrix mirrors real world hacker groups in structure and actions.
Morpheus’ group of rebels in The Matrix mirrors real-world hacker groups in structure and actions.
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In the movie, Morpheus’ group has a base hidden from authority. The machine search patrols attempt to eliminate the base but do not know its location. Morpheus’ group also has coded names in the movie. ‘Neo’ is not the protagonist’s government-recognized name of Thomas A. Anderson, but is a hacker alias that he goes by while committing cybercrimes. Aliases such as ‘Trinity’, ‘Cypher’, and ‘Morpheus’ also characterize the team members. The team recruits new members through computer messages as seen at 7:20 in the movie, messages that use online pathways undetected by the government. Aside from the group’s characteristics, their goal is to uproot the machine authority that rules over humanity in 2199 by infiltrating and disrupting the Matrix. The group exploits the Matrix code to leave and get into the Matrix when they need to, bypassing the agent security. In addition, the group brings weapons into the Matrix that they create in the construct, inserting their foreign code into the system. At the end of the movie, Neo exploits the Matrix code to circumvent the laws of the Matrix and destroy the agents chasing him. All three of these actions break the structure of the Matrix, disrupting the target system and the creators of the Matrix.
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In reality, hacker groups are typically hidden from society in either centralized or decentralized structures. Hacker groups like Masters of Deception based out of New York are centralized and have a secretive main base. Hacker groups like Anonymous are decentralized; because members are not all in the same location the government resorts to tracking them down individually [1]. In addition, hacker groups have code names just like the ones seen in The Matrix with hacker group TeaMp0isoN having leader aliases of ‘TriCk’ and ‘MTS’ [2]. Hacker groups also recruit potential new members through job postings on the web and dark web, with over 100 million websites for this recruitment [3]. Just as in The Matrix, real-world hacker groups try to disrupt online systems, using their attacks to undermine authority, steal personal or monetary information, or take websites offline. TeaMp0isoN led an attack against a NASA forum, exposing the credentials of the website admin [4]. Anonymous led an attack against ISIS, shutting down 100 supporters' Twitter accounts [5]. In addition, over 57 million dollars was lost to phishing attacks in 2019 [6]. While hacker group targets can vary from the US government to terrorist organizations to gullible individuals willing to enter their Social Security numbers into a fake website, hacker groups strive to disrupt and exploit their targets. These groups continue to proliferate in society, with a total of 1,900 active groups in 2020 [7].
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The level of destruction that Morpheus’ group displayed through Neo’s hack of the Matrix could become a reality if hacking groups continue to grow in power and number. While hackers in the real world cannot hack reality itself as Neo demonstrated in the Matrix, cyberattacks have the potential to damage the global economy and end human lives. Cybercrime costs are estimated to reach up to $10.5 trillion by the year 2025, making hacking the third largest economy globally behind the US and China, and an economy consisting of stolen and illegal transactions [9]. In addition to trillions of dollars of damage, hacking will also reach a point where a hacker has the power over life and death for their victims. In 2020, a ransomware attack on a German hospital caused a patient to be unable to receive life-saving surgery [10]. In addition, hacking targets in 2020 included COVID-19 vaccine supply chains, with hackers attempting to slow and halt the distribution of potentially life-saving vaccines [11]. Hackers of the future will have the potential to kill their victims just as Neo was able to erase Agent Smith from existence in The Matrix. In addition, a hacking attack on Iranian nuclear weapon center Natanz in 2021 by an Israeli hacker group demonstrates the power that hackers will be able to achieve over the military and government [12]. Just as Neo had control over the government’s most powerful weapon against humanity, the Matrix simulation, real-world hackers have demonstrated their potential to hack into the most powerful weapons in the military, weapons that are estimated to cause up to 34.1 million casualties within the first few hours of nuclear war [13].
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2. The Matrix lacks any privacy from the government, which parallels the power granted to the U.S. Government with the PATRIOT Act. With government spying through wiretapping and social media becoming a social norm, there is a risk of a privacy lockdown in the future.
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Since The Matrix is fully contained within a computer simulation, the AI that controls the simulation can see everything occurring inside, through the code itself. This means that every footstep taken, a door opened or street crossed can be read and logged by the AI. Since the AI is the government in the Matrix, this removes all privacy from the citizens, and they know every little detail about everybody, including Neo himself. When he is brought in for questioning, it is revealed that the AI is already aware that Neo is a hacker, and they go as far as also sharing that they know he has good nature to him as he takes out his landlady’s trash. They use this information against him by trying to force him into a deal, which despite the threat of prison, he denies. They also use the information in the code to track his location upon his escape from custody, something governments today can do.
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The real-life government has similar capabilities that allow it to quickly and efficiently collect information on the daily lives of its citizens. This is because of the PATRIOT Act that Congress passed as a result of 9/11, expanding the powers of the FBI to grant them monitoring capabilities on anyone they want [8]. The FBI is legally allowed to monitor citizens through wiretapping and online tracking, such as the collection of personal information records [8]. They acquire this information through “National Security Letters” that can be obtained without any judicial review, and in the 200,000 letters filed, only one terrorist has been apprehended [8]. However, the rest of the information gathered has been stored for “future use,” and is available to over 34,000 law enforcement agencies nationwide, allowing several agencies to monitor you as you pass from one to the other [8]. On top of this, the number of NSLs is only increasing each year according to the graph, even if the types of NSLs are diversifying [8]. This is incredibly dangerous because the government can begin to restrict your lifestyle based on what they learned from tracking you. A key example of this is anything involving the site Wikileaks, where your job or future career could be in jeopardy for so much as visiting their website. With monitoring technology continuing to develop, the near future could mirror the authoritarian crackdown on personal privacy seen in The Matrix.
In the present, government monitoring extends further than just facial recognition and web traffic. In the past years, the government's efforts to monitor social networks to track the population have increased significantly. Detecting a user’s personality can facilitate knowing their potential needs on different occasions. Therefore, adaptive applications may take advantage of models of users’ personalities to adapt their behavior accordingly. Using standard personality traits, some machines model a person's personality. Using that model, a team of investigators was able to achieve 82.2% accuracy which was more accurate than previous studies; this model system was able to foresee personality according to the variables in its created profiles [16]. At the same time, Interpol is developing an international voice biometrics database that will be shared with various police bodies. Titled the Identification Integrated Project, the system includes voice samples from 192 law enforcement agencies [14]. This will enable users to use voice recognition technology to match suspects against database records. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has authorized its officers to collect social media information on every civilian they interview, even if they are not arrested or accused of a crime, according to The Guardian and a new report [15]. The present monitoring of social media and the creation of profiles on individual citizens present an increasing intervention of government into civilian privacy.
Human society might be on the way to a dystopian future where social network privacy no longer exists; the dangers of this are obvious, as in 2019 government attempted to wiretap Facebook messengers calls. During this attempt, the US government tried to force Facebook to rewrite the code to make eavesdropping possible [17]. The implications of this are telling of a future predicting more and more government interference in previously private communications. In addition, as facial recognition technology continues to proliferate in the real world, predicted to grow 12.4% from 2020-2025, the abundance of this technology could promote the creation of a database that contains audio, speech recognition, and video recordings mapped to each citizen [18]. Monitoring of each citizen’s private interactions over social media communications and the continued prevalence of facial recognition technology will bolster government spying capabilities. As the government gains more and more power and control over citizens’ privacy, the threat of a complete privacy lockdown looms over the near future.
Reference and Sources
[1] Townsend, Caleb, “(In)Famous Hacking Groups”, (United States Cybersecurity Magazine, 2021), https://www.uscybersecurity.net/infamous-hacking-groups/ (9/29/2021)
[2] Cyware, “Top 10 Most Notorious Hacking Groups of All Time”, https://cyware.com/news/top-10-most-notorious-hacking-groups-of-all-time-32d01ba2 (9/25/2021)
[3] Waddell, Kaveh, “How Hackers Recruit New Talent”, (The Atlantic, 2016), https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/03/how-hackers-recruit/471729/ (9/29/2021)
[4] Internet Crime Complaint Center, “2019 Internet Crime Report”, https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2019_IC3Report.pdf (10/2/2021)
[5] GMA News, “Hacker Group Hits NASA Site, Hints at Joining Hacktivists”, https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/scitech/content/228826/hacker-group-hits-nasa-site-hints-at-joining-hacktivists/story/ (10/2/2021)
[6] Hern, Alex, “Anonymous Claims Victory Over Jihadi Twitter Accounts in #OpIsis”, (The Guardian, 2015), https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/feb/10/anonymous-claims-victory-over-jihadi-twitter-accounts-in-opisis (10/2/2021)
[7] Cimpanu, Catalin, “FireEye: More Than 1,900 Distinct Hacking Groups Are Active Today”, (The Record by Recorded Future, 2021), https://therecord.media/fireeye-more-than-1900-distinct-hacking-groups-are-active-today/#:~:text=April%2014%2C%202021-,FireEye%3A%20More%20than%201%2C900%20distinct%20hacking%20groups%20are%20active%20today,at%20the%20end%20of%202019 (9/25/2021)
[8] ACLU, SURVEILLANCE UNDER THE PATRIOT ACT, (n.d.), https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/privacy-and-surveillance/surveillance-under-patriot-act (October 2, 2021)
[9] Morgan, Steve, “Cybercrime to Cost the World $10.5 Trillion Annually by 2025”, (Cybercrime Magazine, 2020), https://cybersecurityventures.com/cybercrime-damage-costs-10-trillion-by-2025/ (10/4/2021)
[10] Ellis, Casey, “Cyberwarfare, Ethical Hacking, and Ransomware: 2021 Predictions”, (Dataversity, 2021), https://www.dataversity.net/cyberwarfare-ethical-hacking-and-ransomware-2021-predictions/# (10/4/2021)
[11] Corera, Gordon, “Coronavirus: Hackers Targeted Covid Vaccine Supply 'Cold Chain'”, (BBC News, 2020), https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55165552 (10/4/2021)
[12] Chulov, Martin, “Israel Appears to Confirm It Carried Out Cyberattack on Iran Nuclear Facility”, (The Guardian, 2021), https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/11/israel-appears-confirm-cyberattack-iran-nuclear-facility (10/4/2021)
[13] ICAN, “New Study on US-Russia Nuclear War: 91.5 Million Casualties in First Few Hours”, https://www.icanw.org/new_study_on_us_russia_nuclear_war (10/4/2021)
[14] Theko, K. T. (2021). Future governance, the rise of data surveillance. Fluxtrends.Com. Published. https://www.fluxtrends.com/future-governance-the-rise-of-data-surveillance/ (10/4/2021)
[15] Sept. 8, C. S. |. (2021, September 9). LAPD officers instructed to get social media data on every person. TheHill. https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/571399-lapd-officers-instructed-to-get-social-media-data-on-every (10/4/2021)
[16] Souri, A., Hosseinpour, S., & Rahmani, A. M. (2018). Personality classification based on profiles of social networks’ users and the five-factor model of personality. Human-Centric Computing and Information Sciences, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13673-018-0147-4 (10/4/2021)
[17] Granick, J. S. (2019, February 19). If the Government Had Its Way, Everything Could be Wiretapped. American Civil Liberties Union. https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/internet-privacy/if-government-had-its-way-everything-could-be-wiretapped (10/4/2021)
[18] Burt, C. (2021, September 11). Facial recognition forecast at $8.5B in 2025, biometric payment cards breaking out. Biometric Update |. https://www.biometricupdate.com/202109/facial-recognition-forecast-at-8-5b-in-2025-biometric-payment-cards-breaking-out (10/4/2021)