The Men in Black have several technologies that are used for networked communication. Each agent carries a personal phone, which were relatively rare at the time of the movie’s release. The phones, also known as “communicators,” are very thin. Combined with the relative rarity, this made the phones seem like future technology.
In the headquarters of MiB, each desk has its own personal computer. While this was not abnormal at the time, the computers in the movie have very thin monitors and no perceivable towers, containing the guts of the computers. This contributes to a futuristic vibe in the movie. Also in the headquarters is the communicator and universal translation device that the MiB uses to communicate with alien organizations.
Finally, the MiB is seen throughout the film as having access to low-level police and other government-affiliated organizations. They intercept evidence of aliens in several places, from illegal border crossings, morgues, and diners. This implies some form of information network that they can use to monitor for alien activities. Also part of this network is some way that the MiB has of tracking each individual alien on Earth at all times. It is mentioned that Agent J’s former teacher is an alien, not to his surprise. This technology, while portrayed in a positive light, demonstrates what a highly focused organization is capable of with the right technology.
The MiB fund themselves through the production of technology based on several patents that they own. The technology for the patents was confiscated from aliens. The specific examples in the movie are velcro, microwave ovens, and liposuction. There is also a small disk shown in the film that Agent K claims will “replace CDs soon”. While portrayed in a positive manner, the MiB is basically stealing technology from aliens to fund their operation.
In the MiB universe, there must be serious infractions on people’s privacy to use the large-scale surveillance they have. Keeping tabs on every person in order to monitor a threat (aliens) is currently subject of heated debate. Additionally, the aliens themselves have very little privacy. The MiB have the ability to track every alien on Earth in real time, as seen when the squid aliens leave their designated zone. The live video satellite feed is also a serious threat to privacy. The ability to get a high definition live feed video of anyone on the planet would have to be a highly regulated technology.
Even though MiB does not report to the government in the movie, we can still relate the ways MiB uses to control and watch the aliens to ways government agencies might operate to perform the same tasks on citizens, such as surveillance.
The methods MiB uses to observe the aliens and citizens anywhere at anytime could be linked to MiB hijacking the cameras in the public places and in people’s personal computers.
In the scene with agent K observing his wife through global surveillance tool, we can see that the woman is in her house in the courtyard. While MiB never clearly defines how the global surveillance tool works and how it gets the live videos of people they observe, we can assume that some hacking methods are used to obtain those videos.
A lot of gadgets and technology used by MiB have to be reliable. Some examples include the neuralyzer that in case of system failure can wipe somebody’s entire life memory which can be impossible to restore, or conversely leave someone’s memory untouched causing MiB’s reveal to public.
The scene with agent K introducing agent J to the MiB headquarters shows multiple rooms that presumably are laboratories for testing MiB’s technologies and gadgets.
Given that the job of being an agent requires one to give up many of their personal freedoms in exchange for the knowledge of the alien world and the ability to operate outside the law. This is a choice that many agents grapple with, and it’s shown that K has feelings of regret for giving up his marital life in order to pursue his career in the Men In Black. It could be argued that the secrets that the agency are privy to are valued more highly to individuals than their own happiness; however, given that agents have their memories of these secrets erased once they reach retirement, it’s possible that they find the fulfillment of helping the planet worth the downsides of losing their past lives and any memories of their work. It’s also stated in the movie that the agency gets its funding from patenting alien technology. If this is the case, then the part of the agency that is interested in garnering a larger profit will have a vested interest in trying to collect new technologies from the aliens coming on to the planet, even if said collection requires unethical means. It’s shown at one point that the aliens on earth are not afraid of using their technology to make a living on earth, such as the pawn shop owner who sells guns to criminals. It’s hinted that the agency has rules against this, but K let’s the pawn shop owner go after getting information. Essentially, individual agents have a prerogative to keep informants happy at the cost of disobeying protocol which goes back to their initial incentives for working the job in the first place: They are there to protect people, not to eliminate competition for their agencies financial division.