In Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, network communication can be seen throughout the entire movie. Network communication enables instant communication between people via technology. In this Star Wars movie, we see holograms that allow people to communicate across the galaxy instantaneously. It is widely used throughout the movie and is first shown fairly early, appearing at 5:11. Holograms are shown as a convenient and sci-fi way of communication. At 1:21:44, Obi-Wan’s transmitter is damaged, which causes the signal to be weak, and he has to send the message to Anakin, for Anakin to then send it to the other Jedi. This ends up being important to the story, as it was how Anakin and Padme knew Obi-Wan was in danger. The way holograms are used in this movie is similar to modern video calling services like FaceTime or Zoom, allowing both parties to see and talk to each other nearly instantaneously. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones was released in 2002 [1], right before video communication was just starting to become popular with Skype in the early 2000’s. Up until Skype, attempts at video communication weren’t catching the public’s attention enough, like AT&T’s VideoPhone 2500, which was discontinued in 1995 [2].
At 34:04 in the movie, we see Obi-Wan enter the Jedi library, where he seems to use a computer interface to search through their data collection. Obi-Wan is searching for planet Kamino in his search for a bounty hunter who seems to have been hired to kill Padme. He can’t find the planet in the Jedi database and is told that if it’s not in the database, it does not exist. At 37:34, there’s the realization that the planet does exist, it’s just been erased from all Jedi records. This removal of documents relating to Kamino is a form of censorship. As discussed in the book, censorship is when someone tries to suppress access to certain materials. The documents of Kamino were purposefully removed from records to keep it hidden and to keep people unaware of what was happening on this planet.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones has concepts of instant communication technology and censorship relevant to important plot points. Both these concepts appear in chapter three in the book. Since what people decide to do with instant communication and what material is accessible are important to the ethics of computing technology. This movie warns against censorship and promotes the usage of video communication before it was common.
References:
[1] Lucas, G., Hales, J., & Lucas, G. (2002, May 16). Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/ (accessed 4/2/2026)
[2] Uenuma, F. (2020, May 11). Video Chat Is Helping Us Stay Connected in Lockdown. But the Tech Was Once a “Spectacular Flop.” Time. https://time.com/5834516/video-chat-zoom-history/ (accessed 4/2/2026)