The technology of the Mind's Eye and Ether in the movie in Anon is not secure. The attacks seen in the movie are most similar to SQL injection attacks in reality, where Cyrus and the girl are able to edit, delete, and upload memories to users' memories in the Ether through unauthorized methods. Although these are the only two characters credited with knowledge of the attack method, there are other characters that are "off the grid" and claim to have access to the Ether that they should not have. To add to this insecurity the Government agency who owns the Ether makes no visible effort to prevent or fix the vulnerability that these hackers are using and the only reason this type of action is investigated is because of the murders related to the hacks. In reality companies invest thousands of dollars into external and internal testing of the security of their system and use methods like white box testing, black box testing, and vulnerability Scans to ensure the security of their systems. Compared to reality, technology in Anon is not secure.
The Concept of Privacy Did Not Exist in Anon and is Fading in Real Life. In Anon privacy did not exist. Your entire life could be analyzed by someone with access to the ether. If a crime was committed you could have your memories scanned because you are a suspect, the criminal or even a witness without permission. People with something to hide are inherently seen as dangerous, because hiding something makes them suspicious in a world where you can know everything about anyone. Just walking down the sidewalk and looking at the people on the street will provide information such as name, age, occupation and more to anyone looking at them with the Mind’s Eye on. In real life our privacy is being encroached on more and more. Most websites visited ask for permission to gather data. Personal information such as address, phone numbers, and education can be found online.
The technology was too powerful in that it blurred reality and virtual elements. In the movie we often saw a lack of differentiation between what was real and what was not. The hackers were able to attack Sal by manipulating his mind’s eye. While being chased down a subway, Anon was able to make fake images appear before Sal, causing him to stumble and lose sight of her. She went as far to make a fake subway train appear to trick Sal to search it. This almost resulted in Sal dying due to a real train pulling in moments later. She also took advantage of his fears causing it to appear that his apartment got flooded by rats. After this stunt, Anon made it as though his apartment building was on fire and tricked him into killing his neighbor. In these instances, the technology caused Sal to lose touch of real life. This idea can be seen in real life with augmented reality, cat fishing, and video game addiction.
The blurring of reality can also be seen in the loss of the concept of memory in the movie. People relied on technology for their memories. With no files to support their claims, one was not believed in the society. While Sal was trying to explain himself, no one believed him because his files had been edited. In today's society, there is a heavy reliance on videoing and pictures to savor past events.