🎬 20 movies every privacy expert must watch

Are you being watched? Watch these movies before your data watches them for you.

Good morning and here’s a bonus Saturday post for your movie time.

This weekend I started watching a few episodes of Black Mirror Season 7 on Netflix, and that got me thinking, it’s time to put together a list of the top 20 movies for anyone interested in privacy and data protection.

Here are the criteria I used to choose the films:

• I’ve personally watched all of them;

• They’re not just single episodes from a TV series;

• No series or mini-series, movies only!;

• I tried to avoid movies that are purely about hacking or have a futuristic vibe. There are tons of those out there. I wanted to focus specifically on privacy. Otherwise, I’d have to include The Matrix, Minority Report, any Black Mirror episode, Hackers…

I didn’t mention where each movie is available to stream because that depends on when and where you're looking, licensing varies. When in doubt, check https://www.justwatch.com, and if it’s not there… well, Torrent it! ;P

No more small talk, let’s get to it!

20° - Enemy of the State

Robert Clayton Dean, a successful lawyer in Washington, comes into possession of a video that links a high-ranking NSA official to a political assassination. From that moment on, Dean becomes the target of a highly trained and dangerous government team.

19° - 1984

A man loses his identity while living under a repressive regime. Based on George Orwell’s classic, Winston Smith (played by John Hurt) is a government employee whose job is to rewrite history to make the country’s leaders look good.
I couldn’t leave this one out, but (sorry to the fans), I wasn’t that impressed; it didn’t really capture the essence of the book. A cult classic for sure, a must-watch, but... meh.

18° - Surrogates

FBI agent Tom Greer lives in a world where robots have taken the place of humans, protecting them from violence. These humanoids, seemingly perfect and lifelike, allow people to experience comfort and safety.

17° - The Truman Show

Truman Burbank is a quiet insurance salesman living a simple life with his wife Meryl. But he starts noticing strange things about his town, his so-called friends, and even his wife.
Who hasn’t questioned their privacy or wondered if they’re living in a reality show? Such a great movie.

16° - The Social Dilemma

Silicon Valley insiders raise alarms about the dangerous impact of social media on democracy and humanity. A must-watch documentary.

15° - The Circle

A young woman lands her dream job at a powerful tech company called The Circle. She soon discovers a plan that could change humanity forever. And that cast? Wow.

14° - Kimi

An agoraphobic tech worker discovers evidence of a violent crime while reviewing data from a virtual assistant. But her condition makes it hard for people to take her seriously. To find justice, she must face her biggest fear: leaving her apartment.

13° - Cam

A cam girl finds out someone who looks just like her has stolen her account. She must find out who it is and take her identity back.

12° - Sliver

Carly Norris, a successful editor, moves into a new apartment and finds out several women died there. She gets involved with one suspect and lives next to another. Unsure of who to trust, she has to uncover the truth fast.

11° - 13 Cameras

This one’s a bit intense if you’re not into horror. Ryan and Claire move into a house far from the city. Gerald, the creepy landlord, secretly installs cameras all over the place. With Claire’s pregnancy stressing the couple, Gerald learns all their secrets.

10 ° - Democracy: Im Rausch der Daten (Democracy: Under the Data Spell)

Digitalization has transformed society. As data becomes the “new oil,” data protection is now the new “pollution control.” This creative documentary gives an inside look at EU lawmakers trying to protect society from the dangers of Big Data and mass surveillance. It’s hard to find and I watched it on Apple TV during a free trial. But if you can find it, it’s absolutely worth it.

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9° - Eagle Eye

Jerry Shaw and Rachel Holloman don’t know each other, but one phone call from a mysterious woman changes their lives forever. Threatening both their lives and families, the voice uses the most advanced tech to track and control every move they make. This one's packed with action and privacy themes, so good.

8° - Snowden

After years of working for the NSA, Edward Snowden decides to leak classified documents exposing the U.S. government's mass surveillance programs.

8.1 Bonus pick related to Snowden: Citizenfour

Filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald travel to Hong Kong to meet the source of encrypted emails about the NSA’s illegal surveillance program: Edward Snowden.

7° - The Great Hack

This documentary dives into how data firm Cambridge Analytica became the symbol of social media’s dark side after the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

6° - Terms and Conditions May Apply

This doc investigates how governments and corporations gain access to people’s data through terms of service agreements.
And it’s free to watch on YouTube!

5° - Ex Machina

A young programmer named Caleb wins a company contest and is invited to test a highly advanced AI created by a reclusive billionaire. But as the tests continue, Caleb realizes the AI may be far more complex, and dangerous, than he expected.

4° - Nothing to Hide (Le Jeu)

A group of friends decides to spice up a dinner party by sharing all their private phone messages. Things spiral quickly. This movie dives into how little privacy we really have and how fast we judge others. It’s more psychological than technical.

3° - Unlocked

A woman’s life is turned upside down after a dangerous man finds a lost phone and starts tracking her every move. No spoilers, just watch it. Totally worth it.

2° - Anon

In a future where technology has erased privacy, a detective investigates a series of murders where the killer has been wiped from all surveillance footage. One of the few movies I’ve watched more than once.

1° - Ghost in the Shell

In a post-2029 world, human brains are easily merged with computers, and tech is everywhere. Motoko Kusanagi, a cyber-enhanced soldier, leads an elite team fighting cybercrime.

In one scene she even gives consent to access her personal settings, and throughout the film you get a strong sense of how privacy might be handled in the future. It’s not just for video game fans, it's really cool.

What did you think? Next time I’ll do one just for shows and mini-series.
Know any others? Drop your suggestions!