Scene Recap
The first scene of the heavenly and tech related series “Mr. Robot” starts off with an encounter between the protagonist, Elliot Alderson and the owner of his favorite coffee shop. It is an impromptu meeting where Elliot sits at the owner's table and proceeds to tell him that he knows his name. Elliott also has learned that the owner’s name was changed back when he first purchased the coffee shop. It is understood that Elliot was able to find this information because he was able to use the open and free wifi signal to sniff the information packets that the network was transmitting. By looking into the right transmitted information, he was able to identify the owners old identity. A name change was not the only thing Elliot was able to find. While snooping around in the network, Eliot was able to identify a pattern, and revealed that the owner was using the Tor spoofing network to hide a child pornography ring. Ethical Analysis A few ethical questions are brought up by analyzing the opening scene in this episode. Elliot found out the owner’s personal information by taking advantage of a public wifi network. Anyone in the coffee shop had the freedom to log on to it but he used that accessibility to his advantage and went digging. This scenario could be compared to being invited into an open house that is for sale, and taking a few of the decorations with you at the end of the event. Elliot is basically taking advantage of an open door that has purposely been left open and going too far with the liberty he has been given. In this storyline, Elliott used his hacking for good. He discovered that the store owner was running an illegal child pornography ring and he sent what he had round to the authorities as an anonymous tip. Is hacking into a public system simply because you have the knowhow to do it ethical? What about if the hacking is done for a good cause? Hacking In the last few year, hacking has increasingly become a part of the public awareness thanks to pop culture TV shows like Mr. Robot, CSI Cyber and individuals like Edward Snowden. Snowden had privileged access to information about NSA programs that he did not consider to be on the up and up. He used his privileged access and became a whistleblower by sharing classified information with the press. Snowden had altruistic reasons for sharing the information with the public, and although the actions of both Eliot and Snowden are deemed illegal by the U.S. government, I believe that Snowden's intentions absolve his actions. In Elliot's case, he initiated his snooping because of selfish reasons. Elliot had a curiosity to quench. He used his technical know how to see what he could find. One thing led to another and he discovered the child porn network but his initial intent was not to bring justice. He tipped the police after finding the illegal activities but his motivations for accessing an open wifi network were seeded in selfishness. Maybe the act of hacking can be a tool to bring justice to some during the high tech, highly connected time we live in, but even though Elliot did good, he abused used his privilege and technical skills to go through other people’s communication while they thought they were communicating in private. This makes his actions feel morally wrong. https://www.amazon.com/Prime-Video/b?node=2676882011 https://edwardsnowden.com/frequently-asked-questions/
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AuthorDaniel Ibarra is a Software Engineering student that is obsessed with stories and the human condition. Mr. Robot is a perfect combination of his interest in the Tech Industry and of his admiration towards a good story. ArchivesCategories |