Computer Hacking, Electronic Surveillance and the Movie Sneakers
Sneakers
Sneakers (1992), directed by Phil Alden Robinson, begins in December of 1969 as college students Martin Brice and his friend Cosmo are hacking into government and other computer networks and manipulating financial accounts by transferring funds from the Republican National Committee to the Black Panther Party and so forth as what is later termed a "prank." When Brice leaves to get a pizza the police come and arrest Cosmo and Brice goes on the run.
The action then advances twenty years into the future and we find Brice, now using the name Bishop, heading a group of security specialists in San Francisco for hire by companies to test the integrity of their physical and electronic security systems. Martin is approached by two men claiming to work for the National Security Agency (NSA) who tell him that they know of his real identity and in exchange for clearing his record and $175,000 want him to recover a black box decoder developed by mathematician Dr. Gunter Janek for the Russians. After Martin and his team recover the device they discover that it contains advanced algorithm capable of breaking any encryption code. When they read that Janek was murdered they realize that the two men who recruited them are not from NSA, but only after they have delivered the box.
Martin contacts a friend at the Russian Consulate who reveals that the two men who recruited the team are rogue agents, but before he can find out who they are the limo they are riding in is pulled over, the Russian is murdered, and Martin is kidnapped and framed...
Martin is taken to an office where his old friend Cosmo, thought to have died in
prison, reveals he is bitter over being abandoned by Martin and now has ties to an to
organized crime he developed while in prison. In exchange for his computer skills they had helped him
escape. He now wanted the black box to disrupt the world's
economy and offers Martin the chance to work with him, but he refuses.
The rest of the
movie deals with their efforts to recover the box from Cosmo and return it to the NSA. After much effort they trace Cosmo to a firm called Playtronics, sneak into the facility and steal the box only to be caught during the escape. On the roof of the building Cosmo confronts Martin and demanding the box says "The world isn't run by weapons anymore, or
energy, or
money. It's run by little ones and zeroes, little bits of data. It's all just electrons" (Robinson, 1992).
Martin switches boxes, giving Cosmo the
fake and makes his escape, only to be confronted by
NSA agents when the team gets back to their hideout. Martin realizes that the box will only work on American encryption codes, and that the NSA wants it to spy on other U.S. agencies. Before Marin hands the box over, he secures a promise to have his record cleared and other members of the team are granted requests for their silence. It is only after the NSA agents leave the…
