Class Topics
Networked Communications
Networked Communication is "communication based on the rapid, multi-directional flow of messages and information supported by interconnected online and mobile data-sharing technologies" [4]. This theme takes many forms throughout the film Captain America: The Winter Soldier, creating problems for the main characters.
One of the first times you see the negative impact of networked communications on the protagonists is when Rogers and Romanoff use a public computer in an Apple store to access the information stored on the flash drive Nick Fury gave to Rogers. The moment they inserted the flash drive into a computer, the computer pinned their location, setting off alarms on the network that someone was attempting to access it, revealing Rogers and Romanoff's location to HYDRA. This theme reoccurs soon after when Rogers and Romanoff run into Arnim Zola, who died in 1972 shortly after HYDRA transferred his mind into a complex computer system on Camp Lehigh to allow him to continue to aid their allies hidden within S.H.I.E.L.D. [5]. Zola has an interaction with Rogers and Romanoff during the movie where it's clear that Zola is not only just "conscious," but his systems can communicate with the outside world and impact S.H.I.E.L.D. protocols. Zola was even capable of calling a drone strike on Rogers and Romanoff in a final attempt to stop them for good.
This theme reappears towards the movie's conclusion with the rise of the aircraft carriers, where Rogers learns that millions will die due to the Project Insight helicarrier's targeting system. This system uses networked communications to isolate and target individuals on Zola's Algorithm's list of threats to HYDRA. This moment is significant because so much of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and therefore HYDRA) are digital and therefore use network communications as one of their strongest weapons. Project Insight is undoubtedly one of Captain Roger's most significant challenges to overcome throughout the movie when his job becomes nearly impossible because so much of the digital world is working against him.
Intellectual Property
Intellectual property is not a very prominent topic in the movie, but one small thing mentioned falls under it. The Project Insight helicarriers, advanced flying command centers that can function as flying aircraft carriers, were upgraded by Tony Stark to utilize repulsor technology found in the Iron Man suit. This is an example of an inventor granting the military the right to use his invention, but not absolute rights over intellectual property.
It is very likely that Tony Stark had granted the rights to utilizing repulsor technology, but not granted the right to repulsor drawings, specifications, and manufacturing methods so that the military could produce their own repulsor technology from either different companies or on Pentagon funding [6]. Otherwise, we would have seen repulsor technology be utilized more throughout the MCU from this point onwards. Though considering that S.H.I.E.L.D., an extra-governmental counterterrorism and intelligence agency, standardly operates outside of traditional U.S. jurisdiction, different laws may have to be applied to this situation.
Information Privacy
Information privacy plays a large part throughout the entirety of Captain America: The Winter Soldier. At the start of the movie, the use of compartmentalization of information compromises the hostage rescue mission when Captain America catches Natasha Romanoff downloading S.H.I.E.L.D. information. This is an example of information privacy that had negative impacts on the organization's members. Project Insight highlighted another example of information privacy. Project Insight predicts what individuals will be future threats before they actually commit any crimes and then use helicarriers to kill those people. This is done by exploiting a lot of personal information about individuals. Later in the movie, it's revealed that HYDRA has taken over S.H.I.E.L.D. from the inside. HYDRA's intention for the Project Insight helicarriers was to neutralize threats to HYDRA after Zola's Algorithm pinpointed people as possible threats. Zola's Algorithm essentially takes a person's digital history, such as bank records, phone records, and S.A.T. scores, and determines whether or not they are or ever will be a threat. This is a clear breach of the privacy of individuals and creates ethical complications as well.
Another example of information privacy in the movie is when Nick Fury tries to open private S.H.I.E.L.D. files where his access is denied on his own authority. A similar situation to this is when Nick Fury brings Captain America to the floor that the Project Insight helicarriers are on and overrides Captain's elevator access. Having different levels of access in a system ensures privacy of information is kept and that only the necessary people have access to information.
A lot of Steve Rogers' personal information isn't kept private. For example, at the movie's start, Sam Wilson knows who he is after Steve consistently laps him while running around the Washington Monument reflection pool. There's also a scene where Steve walks around a museum exhibit about himself and his life that displays information about what he did in World War II. While these two situations are relatively minor regarding Steve's private information, it's also later revealed that Nick Fury bugged Steve's apartment. Furthermore, Steve's next-door neighbor turns out to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent assigned to spy on and protect Steve.
Finally, uploading all of S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA's records to the internet is another example of private information being put into a publicly accessible location. In fact, Natasha, who is the one who uploaded the data, ends up having people in power question whether or not she should be locked up for her past crimes that were initially private information.
Privacy and the Government
Captain America: The Winter Soldier has some wonderful examples of unethical and problematic government surveillance and information collection. S.H.I.E.L.D., a massive military expansion within the United States, was able to gather and collect information about people all across the globe, which included things such as their voting and banking records, medical history, school grades, and standardized test scores. The plan for the information revolved around Project Insight. This global security protocol allowed the military organization to monitor and assess the globe for threats to world peace and civilians and eliminate them without the risk of losing friendly life or putting boots on the ground. There were issues with this plan, though, as the collection method for all of the data wasn’t specified at any point in the movie, and neither was the public knowledge of the plan and how it was being conducted, which brings in major ethical concerns for the collection, storage, privacy, and use of private information.
On top of the ethical concerns with the plan, there was a huge internal issue, as S.H.I.E.L.D. had a covert Nazi regime growing within it called HYDRA, which had secret plans for the project that completely undermined its good intentions and made it one of the most unethical hypothetical uses of technology possible. As foreshadowed, the Nazi regime took control of the project and used it for horrible acts, such as taking the information of everyone S.H.I.E.L.D. had access to and using an algorithm to compute who would be a threat to HYDRA’s world domination. This computation and label determined who the airships in Project Insight would target and kill without due process, killing hundreds of millions of innocent people without reason or justification. This lack of information privacy between the public and the government and plans for an incredibly flawed world security system that tracked everyone without regulations both demonstrated how Project Insight lacked in the topic of Privacy and Government, with massive implications in Information Privacy.
Computer and Network Security
In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the device that HYDRA attempts to use in their plot to take over the world is Project Insight. Project insight was a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. consists of three Helicarriers that would patrol the Earth and use an algorithm that evaluates an individual’s behavior and eliminates those deemed as possible threats. This system was never meant to be under the control of HYDRA, but rather it was a response to what happened at the Battle of New York, where an unexpected, overwhelming alien threat almost destroyed the world. The project was meant to maintain order. However, through the application of social engineering, HYDRA, a terrorist organization, gained control over the system. For decades they pretended to be S.H.I.E.L.D. and hid away their intentions, waiting for the right moment to gain unauthorized access to what essentially amounts to a weaponized information processing network.
Computer Reliability
Since Captain America: The Winter Soldier is a sci-fi/ action type film, it is expected that computer reliability would be a huge theme. HYDRA was said to have relied on computers to operate for much of its history after Zola allowed them to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D like a virus after their creation in World War II. One site even emphasized HYDRA's over-reliance on computers by discussing how this strategy allowed them to alter the world for so long hidden behind the networks of S.H.I.E.L.D, staging attacks like changing the Cuban Missile Crisis and impacting the rise of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya [7].
Director Fury learned some of the flaws with overly relying on computers about halfway into the movie when it became clear that HYDRA was using S.H.I.E.L.D's fully computerized systems to stay hidden, giving it the access necessary to grow over the years and ultimately take control of the aircraft carriers. Both S.H.I.E.L.D and HYDRA almost completely relied on computers, which proved to be both their downfalls. HYDRA used this excessive reliability to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D, and then Captain America ultimately brought down HYDRA's ships by turning their own computer-targeting systems against them.
Work and Wealth
There was no actual application of work and wealth in this movie, as none of the computing technologies utilized contributed to any financial gain. However, despite there being no direct implications for work and wealth, there would be adverse effects of Project Insight being carried out since tens to hundreds of millions of people would be killed. This would create issues from an economic standpoint when those individuals no longer contribute to the economy through their jobs and finances.