Enemy of the State – Still Topical

I recently watched the 1998 movie Enemy of the State . It is a spy thriller about a lawyer being smeared by politicians because they believe he has information that can implicate them in criminal matters – the murder of a politician who was opposing a privacy bill that is really a bill empowering mass surveillance. They use sophisticated, unsavoury, unethical, and illegal methods to watch him, discredit him, and retrieve the evidence. No one is watching the watchers, who are out of control.

While like any disaster movie the plot is a bit over the top, it was fascinating to watch the movie again from a 2016 lens. I challenge anyone to watch it and still say “I have nothing to hide” to dismiss privacy and surveillance concerns.

In a related sentiment, a recent study confirms that the knowledge that we may be watched puts a chilling effect on what we do. This Techdirt article is a good summary of that study.