[2]
Universities, like many other institutions, can release directory information pertaining to their students under the guidelines of FERPA [1]. These public records allow schools to disclose a student's name, address, honors and awards, and attendance date without the student's consent [2]. While releasing this information can celebrate the achievements of a student, these records can contain personally identifying information that places a student's privacy at risk. In the movie, there are implications that the U.S. government utilized university public records at M.I.T to steal designs from one of the students attending the institution. Riri Williams could have been a victim of her university's public records as the U.S. government was able to identify her as the inventor of a vibranium detector after she had created one for a course project. Furthermore, the school's public records can expose her name and address to the U.S. government which facilitates their ability to monitor her as a person of interest. Even though universities aim for transparency, questions arise over whether schools should be allowed to share student's personal identifying information without given consent.
The Kimoyo beads worn by Wakandans grant the user several capabilities including projecting holographic images, acting as communication devices, deploying surveillance drones, and detecting a person's location. Its abilities are supplied by the vibranium technology found in Wakanda and its presence plays an important role in this movie. To track down Ross's location and lead him back to Shuri and Okoye, Shuri sends a surveillance drone in the form of a fly to follow him. Upon recognizing the device, Ross receives Shuri's message to meet up and follows the drone back to her.
This tracking technology is also on display later in the movie, when Shuri is kidnapped by the Talokan. Her kimoyo beads fall off during the fight and are picked up by Rossi. When realizing Shuri might be in danger, Queen Ramonda asks Griot to track Shuri through the bracelet. However, since Rossi was now in possession of the bracelet, Griot displayed his exact location on a holographic screen. The movie does not make it clear exactly how the kimoyo beads are able to track others, however this capability does mirror several real world examples of being able to determine an individual's exact location through modern technology.
[3]
Queen Ramonda, Okoye, and Shuri seen wearing kimoyo beads [6]
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There are at least 6 different ways to determine the location of a photo media including manual entry, the surrounding text, and the image header[]. The fact that it is relatively easy to acquire an individual's location data is important because it can be a form of privacy attack[4]. In one study, given GPS data that had been anonymized from 65 drivers, researchers were able to use algorithms to determine the names and home addresses of 85% of the drivers[5]. Additionally, GPS receivers are present in many devices used by individuals today such as mobile phones, apple watches, and cars. Although privacy concerns exist for location-tracking devices, determining one's precise location can pose a benefit when it becomes a safety concern, as seen with how Queen Ramonda tried tracking Shuri after she went missing.
[1] “Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).” Home, US Department of Education (ED), 25 Aug. 2021, www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html.
[2] “Massachusetts Institute of Technology.” MIT, www.mit.edu/campus-life/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2023.
[3] Contributors to Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki. “Kimoyo Beads.” Marvel Cinematic Universe Wiki, Fandom, Inc., marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Kimoyo_Beads. Accessed 13 Oct. 2023.
[4] Toyama, Kentaro, Ron Logan, and Asta Roseway. "Geographic location tags on digital images." Proceedings of the eleventh ACM international conference on Multimedia. 2003.
[5] Krumm, John. "A survey of computational location privacy." Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 13 (2009): 391-399.
[6] Han, Angie. “Breaking down the Futuristic Technology of ‘Black Panther.’” Mashable, Mashable, 29 Oct. 2021, mashable.com/article/black-panther-technology.
[7] “Cell Phone Location Used to Estimate COVID-19 Growth Rates.” Penn Today, 12 Oct. 1970, penntoday.upenn.edu/news/cell-phone-location-used-estimate-covid-19-growth-rates.