In Minority Report, the government and their involvement with people’s privacy is a heavy theme that is brought up multiple times throughout the movie. Government overreach is central to the plot, since the power government officials hold moves the story forward, and is ultimately what drives the characters to do what they are able to do. It helps critique the real life unchecked power of government systems while highlighting the ethical concerns surrounding the use of highly advanced technology in the government, with seemingly no checks and balances in order to keep officials from doing harm.
Precrime is the perfect analogy for today’s ethical concerns regarding privacy and security: how much freedom should people give up for security, and whether its safe to give up certain liberties in order for the government to bring peace and order in a country. When the twin towers fell, the government, specifically the NSA, was able to start becoming a titan in collecting private data about American citizens in the name of freedom. The government often justifies their actions by saying what they do is in the name of freedom and safety, which gives them lots of unchecked power to do what they want in order to secure Americas power, whether it be unethical or not. This resonates with the movie, as the movie presents this ten fold due to the rapid advancement of technology.
The movie has two significant methods it uses to show governmental overreach in regards to personal privacy; biometric scanning and the precrime department. The citizens have given up their privacy in regard to locational data, since every citizen is required to get eye implants in order for the biometric scanning technology to work in America. This gives the government the ability to track where anyone is at all time, which raises the ethical question of whether someone should be forced to give their locational data in order for a governments so called security, or whether they should have the right to not be tracked. The precrime department also raises this question, since while the precogs can’t see into the future regarding any event and only crime, it is definitely possible that their supernatural ability can be harnessed to view future events about anything, since technology evolves. The precrime department and the precedent it presents poses a threat to people’s own privacy, since the government doesn’t have to disclose that the precogs can only view future crime, but the future in its entirety, if that technology comes about. The citizens are willing to give up their privacy in order to have security and safety, but whether they were aware of what technology the government possesses is up for debate.
The movie also explores the theme of government and how government officials can abuse their power in order to infringe on the privacy of others. Lamar Burgess was able to frame John Anderton using the precrime technology by using the precogs and “minority reports” in order to cover up how precrime was created and safeguard his legacy. He used the precogs as a means to an end, violating the precogs privacy and rights as human beings, and framed John Anderton by breaking the law. The movie shows how the government’s power gained from infringing on the privacy rights of its citizens can be used for harm, raising ethical questions about who should be allowed in power, and how much power one person should have in the government.