“Enemy of the State” (1998)

On January 26, 1999, former CEO of Sun Microsystems - Scott McNealy - said “You Already Have Zero Privacy - Get Over It”.

This quote came out a few months after Tony Scott’s action movie - “Enemy of the State” - was released. Will Smith plays DC lawyer Robert Dean, caught up in several schemes focusing on privacy (or the lack of it). There are secret surveillance videos of a mob boss violating his parole, being confused with an assassination of a congressman who was blocking anti-privacy legislation. Smith is intertwined in both plot lines, who’s only hope of survival rests in the hands of former NSA agent, now privacy bugger for hire - Brill (played by Gene Hackman).

The main ethics and compliance themes deal with privacy rights, government overreach, and “Who’s going to monitor the monitor of the monitors”.

For more information about “Enemy of the State” click here for a review by Roger Ebert and here for a wikipedia article.