INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
MASS IMPLANTS
There are a few instances of intellectual property within this film. When signing up for the military, applicants are to agree to the government’s terms of service via fingerprint. Agreeing to the terms and service gives the government the right to modify one’s memories using the Mass implant. Due to this, soldiers do not have any rights to their own memory and experiences; their intellect is no longer their property. Additionally, the fact that the government has the right to use these Mass implants indicates that it is their intellectual property. Today, it is possible to sign contracts using a fingerprint scan, therefore the scenario of having military applicants sign using their fingerprint is plausible. Furthermore, when a person joins the military, they become government property. However, individuals are still free to their intellect unlike the scenario in the film, which would be a concern if the government ever introduces a brain implant for all soldiers.
HIJACKING FLASHLIGHT
The roaches were able to reverse engineer government technology, such as drones, and create a flashlight that hijacks into the Mass implants. This is a violation against the patent for the implants because it had been no more than 10 years since the Mass implant was invented. The light in the flashlight “transmits a code” that interferes with the implant and tries to shut it down. With the technology we have today, it would be very difficult to replicate light-transmitting code. However, if a method of transmitting code through light is ever discovered, it poses a threat to all computing technologies because it would be very easy to disrupt them.