Scott McNealy, an info tech founder and former tech CEO, long ago noted on privacy:
I would like to think he is wrong, but I suspect he nailed it. The little bots in the World Wide Web have been tracking us and storing data for decades now. They know our proclivities, predilections, and preferences. You can tell by the way ads quietly appear for stuff you have been glancing at or searching for, sometimes things you've only mentioned out loud.
The idea of privacy is not new to these pages. I find the ubiquity of cameras a constant reminder that someone is watching me. See Assume Everyone is Watching (September 2015), Judicial Bullying in the News (April 2018), Pay Attention (July 2023)(and the posts linked there), and Optics and Options (September 2025). We are all under surveillance nearly constantly. We are watched, captured, and categorized. It is only dehumanizing if you think about it. Stop thinking about it?
This all came back to me when a New York Post story crossed my feed in March 2025. The story begins with a Brazilian plane passenger who boards a flight only to find her seat occupied. She asked them, including a small child, to move so she could occupy the window seat that she had reserved and paid for. The child began to cry and pined for that window seat, but the paying passenger did not yield.
A fellow passenger filmed her, without her consent, and posted the video online. She alleges she was "shamed" online, in the midst of an "internet firestorm." Despite this interaction and video leading to "social media fame" and "multiple brand deals as an influencer," she is now seeking "compensation for distress and damages caused by the ordeal" from the airline and "the fellow passenger who fil(m)ed her."
Note, she is not apparently proceeding against the passengers who wanted her seat in the first instance. Despite her own distress and the associated fame and perhaps monetary benefits, she asserts she is striving to "prevent similar public shaming and what she called unauthorized exposure" for others in the future. If you know someone who has never had a bad experience flying, have them contact me. I would like to meet them.
More recently, a lady on the New York subway observed a man wearing Meta Glasses. According to Futurism, she "called him a dork" and then allegedly "broke (the) Meta glasses." Like much of modern life, this camera brouhaha was captured by another observer with a camera and uploaded to Tick Tock. The result has "since garnered millions of views." Futurism calls her a hero.
The victim (man with glasses, though either party might be labeled the victim here) shouted at the woman, "You're going to be famous on the internet!" And that she is. Nonetheless, the result has not been her humiliation but a broader celebration. Beyond the "hero" label, "the internet wholeheartedly rallied behind the alleged" glasses breaker.
Some will remember the great hunt for a ball-grabbing Phillies fan that was captured on video. See Triggered (September 2025). That was one of those instances that was all over the news and then quietly faded to nothing. I am not sure the world of cyber sleuths ever found the ball snatcher, but I periodically see other exuberant doxing in various contexts.
As a general rule, people are allowed to video you in a public place (subway), according to Consumer Shield, though state laws may differ. Nonetheless, the internet is replete with examples of some self-assured person threatening someone for taking photos or videos.
According to Law Info, it is also generally illegal to "deface, damage, or destroy someone else's property without their consent."
The law seemingly lands on the side of the privacy invader, not the video victim. The outcome seems to be that we forego our privacy when we step into the public realm, and we may be recorded or photographed there as any of our fellow travelers sees fit.
Many of those photos and videos will make their way to public displays like social media, websites, and more. The government is said to have more than 600 million photographs of us in its databases. Artificial intelligence is rapidly evolving capabilities and tools to search for and identify people in those photos.
In the example of social media, it may be practical to scrape the vast volume of photos in people's feeds and create reference points. No, your name is not in the account-holder's post, but your face is in the background. If the AI can find a variety of locations, events, or people associated with that face, then perhaps the authorities start to piece together who that face likely belongs to? In this regard, it may come to be like "familial DNA," see Its Always been a Matter of Trust (April 2025).
There are reports that claim your vehicle is persistently spying on you as you drive. U.S. News notes that your vehicle or phone GPS, your vehicle cameras, and more are documenting and measuring you. The implementation of impaired driving detectors may expand and accentuate that process. See Safety is Coming (March 2022).
There is currently a debate in Great Britain regarding police using facial recognition. The authorities want to use it more often, and the public is perhaps not so keen on the idea. There is an apparent, public, ongoing effort to "strike a balance with protecting people's privacy." There is a discussion of a regulatory process to "oversee police use of biometrics and facial recognition."
In that regard, perhaps there will be an attempt to stuff some of the "privacy" genie back into the bottle. Nonetheless, Scott McNealy may well be correct, and there is no privacy left to save. And, if you jerk someone's camera or glasses away to protect yours, the police may come for you instead of them.
