Interesting distinction between the Tron 1982 novel and movie here.

In the movie, when Dillinger asks MCP about the file, MCP states that it has stored the file in its “memory” and that Flynn hasn’t located it yet, but he “might” find it.

This of course raises the question of why Dillinger and the MCP haven’t just erased the file, instead.

Which, later, seems to be answered by the fact that MCP keeps the file to use as potential blackmail against Dillinger.

But it’s unclear what reason MCP was giving Dillinger until then (and Dillinger certainly would have asked for the file to be destroyed, and would have wanted some explanation for why it wasn’t).

In contrast, the book’s version has the MCP claiming it can’t find the file at all– that both sides are essentially in a race to find it. Shutting down access was a roadblock for Flynn, to get MCP and Dillinger ahead in that race.

(Meaning that any threats of blackmail are weakened by the knowledge that MCP would have to find the incriminating material first.)

Another observation:

Since Flynn no longer has ‘Group Seven" access (in either version of the story)… the fact that they have to shut down all Group Seven access to keep Flynn out? That implies that Flynn has been able to get illicit access to Group Seven passwords without being allowed such access. (Clu, after all, “got in with a stolen password.”)

We never find out how Flynn stole these passwords for his hacking attempts. Did someone in the system sneak them to him? Did he brute-force them with an algorithm trying one random combination after another?

Or did someone just do a very bad job of choosing a password… bad enough for Flynn to guess?

On the question of whether Dillinger and MCP can or cannot access the file themselves… I lean toward the book version, personally.

Because… I strongly suspect Flynn can access everything Dillinger can.