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Social Contract Theory
Social Contract Theory
"Social contract theory emphasizes the adoption of rules that rational people would agree to accept because they are to everyone’s mutual benefit, as long as everyone else follows the rules as well" [2].
Under this definition of social contract theory, refraining from hacking would be most mutually beneficial to society in that it would keep society's persons and information safe. However, our protagonist, David Lightman, is a mischievous teenager who believes his hacking endeavors to be of little significance to the lives of others. It is ultimately this neglect to abide by social contract theory that lands Lightman in trouble and sets the plot of this thrilling film spiraling forwards.
Private Records
Private Records
Private records are records that are undisclosed, unpublished, or confidential for the sake of protecting the information within them.
Lightman shows little regard for such privacy, and is seen throughout the movie hacking into his school's student records to change grades (both his and Jennifer's, which she reacts strongly to), attempting to gain access to unreleased game files via network infiltration methods, and trying to gather classified information on Professor Falken to hack into Falken's system.
"No, nobody can find out. ... they can't possibly trace us" - David Lightman (21:52-21:59 ) [1]
Lightman illegally accessing his school's private records
Lightman fishing for public information on Professor Falken whilst searching for a backdoor into Falken's system
Public Records
Public Records
Unlike private records, the information contained in public records is made publicly available. The internet of today has a massive amount of such information - enough that it can be used to generate a profile for the majority of individuals who use the internet.
While Lightman's era wasn't as interconnected as our own, he is still able to use public records in a variety of ways; this includes using public area codes to generate and automatically call phone numbers in an attempt to link to networks for hacking purposes, as well as Lightman's scouring the web and library for print media/microfilm/fiche/video containing information on Professor Falken, ultimately leading to Lightman gaining access to Falken's system via a backdoor.
"What was his name? ... Falken's kid?" - David Lightman (38:47-38:53 ) [1]
Conclusion
Conclusion
Both in the Cold-War era and in modern times, the internet has contained a massive amount of public and private data. It is thanks to moral and ethical constructs such as those described by social contract theory that the majority of people do not abuse this fount of data, despite the internet's serious lack of information privacy.
On the contrary, David Lightman's consistent abuse of this lack of information privacy for his own personal gain is clearly unethical, and lands him in a world of trouble as the plot of the movie progresses. The rest of us should aim to learn from Lightman's example, and conduct ourselves properly whilst using the internet and all that it has to offer.
Lightman accessing Falken's system
Lightman establishing p2p connections using phone numbers generated by public area codes
Lightman changing his final grades in his school's private online records
[1] YouTube, WarGames, 6 Jan. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNLQ-O-Qx3Y&t=1779s&ab_channel=YouTubeMovies (20 Sept. 2021)
[2] Quinn, Michael, "Ethics for the Information Age" (Pearson, 2020), 397
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