Let me start by saying that I really like this movie. But the more I watch it, the more I think of holes in the plot.
For one thing, does anyone actually believe that NO ONE in the world could have vouched for Angela? Does she not go to the dentist? Or a doctor? Or a gynecologist? What about school records? Yearbooks? Obviously, this point would have ended the movie right there.
Anyone have any other ideas about ways Angela could have proved her identity?
You covered everything I would have thought of, but you're right. This movie makes it look like the then 5 year old World Wide Web had replaced everything, books, microfilm, hardcopy files for all our data. Not happened yet, Thank God.
Oh, one thing I thought of. The staff at Angela's mother's nursing home would have known her and had records, but she was afraid something would happen to her.
"We have a powerful enemy somewhere within our planetary system." -Commando Cody
but how could she use the proof? her house was sold and her possesions taken away , to get a year book she would have to find one , or seek the dentist out , which would most likley involve getting a appiontment , and if they acctully believed the story the dentist or nursing home staff would have no proof , she could not obtain this proof as she has all these people after her trying to kill her
shareAssuming she was able to fend off Jack for a while, Angela could have certainly walked into her dentist's office and talked to him for a minute or something. She could have then used him to vouch for her to the police. I know my dentist knows ME on sight.
As for the yearbook, I remember in the movie she said she grew up in Colorado, so getting a yearbook would take time, but still technically possible.
Another person I just thought of - what about the realtor who sold her the house? NOT the guy she meets trying to sell her just-emptied house, but the person who sold it to her in the first place. It's possible that person would remember her, right?
stil it is only there word against the corperation , she may as well just pay someone to vouch for her , it wouldnt help her at all
shareOne thing she had going for her is SHE'S HOT. Who would forget selling a house to a woman that looked like that (especially single, in her late 20's...not exactly a typical sale)--especially given the choice between her and the woman that replaced her!
Of course, in movie fashion, the cops weren't interested in clearing things up--they were only interested in arresting her. All of this probably would've taken months once she was in jail.
Of course, in movie fashion, the cops weren't interested in clearing things up--they were only interested in arresting her.
The dentist would have a hard copy of her records. So would a doctor, and her old high school...but that would have taken up most of the movie. But there would have been written hard copy proof of her existence somewhere. I know that most state records office keep three type. written hard copy, computer data, and micro film.
Luv
Kades
mailman. also santa claus if they could have gotten word up to the north pole.
Oh, and remember, next Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
Hate to tell you it is not hard for a talented cracker to do this the internet was around far before 1990.
shareUh, no.
You're dead wrong.
First of all, the "Internet" as most people know it, with HTML and the WWW, was made public in the early 90's (HTML 1.0 was 'released' in '93)
What existed before all of this was DARPANET, which wasn't open for public access. Mostly government agencies and universities were connected, and all transmission was limited to text-only and some minor binary file transfers.
Different flavors of Unix were popular, and Windows didn't even exist yet.
Secondly, to pull something like what happens in "The Net" off, all the corresponding agencies would A) have to be connected to the Internet with some form of public access portal available to be "hacked into" B) have to have their records accessible on that same network (or one that is routed to the Internet) and C) be running some form of OS that allows for remote access of files from within their Internet gateway or a compromised internal system.
It's a fact that in '95 when the movie was released, most government agencies still ran very old dumb terminal systems, nothing high tech and most of their systems which stored personnel files, user data, records, etc were not even connected to or accessible from, the Internet (if the agency in question even HAD an Internet connection at all).
To pull of such a "hack" as to remove someone's identity from Social records, police, gov't, birth certificates, etc. Darn near -impossible- to pull off. And that one single person would be the target of one such attack, a civilian no less. Quite inconceivable.
The individual pulling it off would need access to very many different networks, know how to manipulate the information within them to an extent of being very familiar with various kinds of proprietary systems that it takes specialists and experts to access from a supervisory point of view, etc.
Besides, the "public" Internet and the internal WAN structures, proprietary systems and networks of gov't agencies are two very different things and not inter-changeable terms, nor does the existence of one guarantee connectivity to the other.
"The Net" IMHO is very unrealistic. It's a fictional story of fictional events.
Identity theft does happen, but not to this extent.
I find it a grasp.
Hollywood writer's lame attempts at trying to make some coin off a "new and popular thing", the Internet and WWW.
Oh, and your misuse of the term "cracker" only proves how little you actually know about the functionality of large distributed networks, such as the Internet.
Internet != WWW. WWW is a SERVICE, not a network.
Oh well, I'm getting off my soap box now.
Just thought I'd waste a few minutes and clear this up since ZeroCache quite apparently has no idea what he's talking about.
:)
Windows came out in 1985. By 1990, Windows 3.0 was available. Yes Unix was common in the 80's, but you completely forgot to mention DOS which was by far the most common OS in the 80's.
Other than your lack of knowledge of OS's. I agree with everything else you say. "The Net" is an incredibly unrealistic movie with technological impossibilities abound.
I agree about the unrealistic technological aspects of the movie. There are lots of holes in the plot, but I liked it anyway. It had some suspense, and Sandra Bullock is always fun to watch. Sometimes we just have to suspend disbelief, and enjoy a film for what it is--escapist entertainment. I've seen it several times, and always get a kick out of it.
The Wire...the best series in the history of television
At first, you were merely cavil. After the last sentence, however, you became a bag of douche.
Thanks for pointing out how much superior you are, you jerk.
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What if she hadnt' been to a dentist for more than a year, and if she goes to some busy clinic where the doctors are not so personal with their patients...
More probable is a family doctor, than a dentist... But again, if she was fairly healthy, and hadn't seen him/her in a while, it is very easy for a doctor to completely forget the patient if he/she is not so personal with the patient...
And there are really people who tend to avoid personal contacts completely(either for only a certain period of time or more permanently) and especially if they live in a city where they didn't grow up and if don't tend to make new friends in a new city, and also are alienated from the neighbours, being the people who don't ask others for help, they have simply noone to seek help from, in situations like that,
But however I still believe it is not so easy to delete all possible traces of someone's identity. There must be something eventually (and fortunately) left that this kind of nightmarish paranoid deletion scenario doesn't take into consideration...
you can believe what you want. But its possible. It just takes time.
shareI can see how you think this is possible, and you are unaware of what is actual capable. But, it's possible to get to anyone and especially easy to erase school records, a yeabook is not believable b/c it can be easily minipulated.
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I am talking about using the internet...
shareI wasn't in my high school yearbook my senior year at all. And my junior year they made a mistake and put someone else's pic with my name. My sophomore year I looked VERY different. Before that I was home schooled. Yearbooks aren't foolproof id means.
sharePLus we have to remember she was in a somewhat foreign country. what were the cops gonna do, hang around customs for a couple days while someone ships this crap?
shareYearbooks aren't foolproof id means.
While plots always have holes or areas that are unrealistic, because that is neccesary to make a movie interesting, I have to point out that even if you can get your dentist or friends to account for your identity, no one is going to accept that over all your records (of which all hers were altered). Imagine "Hey we've got a police record that says she is so and so, charged with etc. and all the DMV, Social Security and other records back that up. However she brought in this guy, she says is her dentist, and he says she is actually ***. Okay let her go". Even if he could vouch for her, when you compare what he says to all the records, you would have to believe that she could have lied to him about who she was. Next time you get pulled over by the police, and they have a record on you for unpaid parking tickets, warrant out, whatever, just have your friend tell them that is not who you are, despite what their records say. I am sure the police will let your friend vouch for you over every and all official records.
To Love and win is the best thing. To Love and lose, the next best.share
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Do you mean that this woman had no friends, except Dennis? She knew no one else? That's strange. They didn't have an anxiety problem or agoraphobia angle in this picture to prove that she was homebound. Just how long had she been couped up in that house, not to know ANYBODY? Also, she didn't look 22, so she must have had other jobs where people would remember her.
I became angry when the social worker was skeptical about her story, but then, she WAS acting strange.
I sat watching and I said, "there is NOBODY that knows her? How convenient to have her mother with a mental problem, who didn't know her either.
Personally, when I meet someone new and they tell me that they don't have ANY friends, I become suspicious. I don't want to be ANYBODY'S only friend. It's too much responsibility...YOU are going to be the only person to listen to their problems, borrow money from and to turn to when they have no place else to go.
I became angry when the social worker was skeptical about her story, but then, she WAS acting strange.
That wasn't a social worker. She had just been arrested, remember? That was a public defender.
You do realise that some people choose to live life on their own. They also choose to interact with people on their own terms.
Nothing wrong with that.. Why should things like this make people angry. It's no one's business but their own how they live their life.
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The problem was that no one would listen to her, not that she couldn't prove it. She was never given a chance to.
shareI think 99 percent of all people on thsese boards have way to much time on their hands.........IT'S A MOVIE>..............dig hardenough and you can find a plot hole in any movie..nto to mention there were a bunch of people running around trying to kill her....who would have thought of the smae thigns you thought of.....
sharehey pplz, um is everyone forgetting that her temp visa had all her correct information on it just the name was different, so she could've proved that the house was really hers and cathedral would still have her social security on file so she could've proved who she really was.
sharecathedral would still have her social security on file so she could've proved who she really was.
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suspension of disbelief makes good viewing for films.
shareIt also doesn't mean you automaticall have an anxiety disorder.....she simpy didn't need ro want to leave her house...I live on a cyul de sac.....6 hosues on teh circle and 4 on the straight away.,....there are c ouple people on the street I would not be able to vouch for and I have lived here for 6 years