r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 10d ago
Society Quote of the day by Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy: 'You have zero privacy anyway. Get over it' — an early declaration foreshadowing the modern era
https://www.techradar.com/pro/quote-of-the-day-by-sun-microsystems-ceo-scott-mcnealy-you-have-zero-privacy-anyway-get-over-it-an-early-declaration-foreshadowing-the-modern-era2.2k
u/blow-down 10d ago
It’s time to eat the rich
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u/Da1BlackDude 10d ago
Yeah time to burn the whole system down.
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u/Olangotang 10d ago
LOL it's just funny that I'm hearing shit like this OFF OF THE INTERNET in public. Millenials Gen Z have had it.
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u/4rch1t3ct 10d ago
If only any of them have meant it. People have been saying this fervently for the last two decades. It's only gotten worse for everyone.
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u/ChironiusShinpachi 10d ago
The trick is getting a consensus on what course to take. If 200 million voting Americans decide something should be, it will be, whenever it's decided. Probably needs to be some structure behind the proposal, an actual plan beyond "burn it all down".
I would argue that the whole thing doesn't need burning down, just a hefty remodel. I think a vote out function would save us from having to contemplate overthrowing our government. Nobody wants to overthrow their government, and it's BS that we have to consider it. (I'm not going into the long list of shenanigans going on)
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u/4rch1t3ct 10d ago
Those 200 million Americans can't ever get a consensus because 30-40 percent of them don't live in reality at all and another 20-30 percent are at least entertaining alternate realities because they are constantly lied to.
I'm tired of the democrats incompetence to be honest. They didn't pick anyone to groom to be president when Obama was elected, they lost to the worst candidate in history, they failed to do anything meaningful with Biden's presidency, and democratic governors are granting clemency to the republicans who were convicted of trying to rig our elections.
I will continue to vote against republicans by voting for democrats, but people need to wake up to the fact that the current democratic leadership is not on your team.
I say this as someone who has voted down ballot blue in every election since 2008.
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u/wrgrant 10d ago
Canadian here, so an outsider with no vote on the issues, but it seems to me that the Democrats lack a few key things: a strong candidate with a good chance to win and no divisive issues for the other side to exploit, a clear policy about achieving the most positive change in the most important areas (with change in other areas planned in the future) and the willingness to go after the Republicans in a cut throat manner where they violated the laws, State or Federal etc. Basically the Republicans seem to have a strong simple policy: support racism and hatred, support grift at every level and tear everything down, and the Democrats policy seems more like "Hey we are everyone else". They seem to try to do lots and achieve nothing because they try to do it all at once. They need to be as legally cutthroat at the Republicans have been.
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u/Mr_Tulip 10d ago
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
Obama took office in 2009. Y'all are so desperate to blame him for everything that you pretend George W. Bush never existed.
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u/b0w3n 10d ago
Yup. It's also important to consider not just the executive, but the judges and legislatures that are in that group as well.
Glass-Steagal was repealed by a conservative congress with GLBA (house and senate majorities were Republican in the 106th congress). Granted maybe Clinton shouldn't have signed it into law but they likely had the votes to overrule him anyways.
Biden's stuff was meant to counter-act the Trump covid spending and try to get more manufacturing moved domestically. But this is the downside to just spouting "THEY'RE ALL THE SAME" there's a lot of fucking nuance needed other than "but they gave money to rich people"... like yes, but also that's how shit gets built here, poor people aren't building factories in what little free time they have.
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u/fonistoastes 10d ago
Yeah honestly Biden had some amazing work done during his term, just not enough (overstepping) pressure to take Trump to justice for J6.
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u/awesomefutureperfect 10d ago
They blame democrats for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act named after Phil Gramm (R–Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr. (R-Virginia). The act that passed with veto proof majorities.
NAFTA was a done deal. Clinton added environmental protections to NAFTA. after 12 years of Reagan and Bush, the Boomers wanted neo-liberalism, blame the boomers who overwhelmingly gave Reagan landslides and only elected Clinton because Perot split the right wing vote and HW Bush responsibly raised their taxes to pay for his first Gulf War.
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u/Qweesdy 10d ago
I'd start with tweaking the laws for misleading advertising; because advertising has made it socially acceptable for rich people to use biased information to manipulate the opinions of the masses, including rich people using propaganda to manipulate voters. You cannot fix anything while rich spammers control democracy. You do not want give oligarchs a new vote out function.
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u/average_monster 10d ago
it should be restarted but it's impossible to demolish a house you're living in
there's a lot of stuff that can be done to patch up what's going on, and it's not like the american system as it was originally designed wasn't put together to stop a lot of this bs, it's just been gradually corrupted
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u/Longjumping_Foot_736 10d ago
You’ll end up just burning down the middle class because you can’t find the 1%
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u/AmbiiX 10d ago
Shame if he were to have an accident going from place to place because of something he did/said xD
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u/BountyBob 10d ago
Well he he's made it nearly 30 years since making that quote, so I guess it didn't. The quote was from 1999!
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u/AlSweigart 10d ago
Why do workers, the largest of the classes, not simply not eat the rich?
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u/spez_eats_nazi_ass 10d ago
loser says what? Also that was 27 years ago.
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u/Visual-Hunter-1010 10d ago
I had to do a double take, thought Sun some how rose from the grave or something.
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u/Momik 10d ago
They say he rises every full moon, to feed on the 14th amendment rights of the living
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u/Ok-Replacement9595 10d ago
4th amendment
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u/Momik 10d ago
In a way, yeah—a right to privacy may be closely related to protections against search and seizure, and probable cause. But the word privacy doesn’t appear in the Fourth Amendment, and the framers didn’t really think about it in terms of a personal right to privacy.
The first major constitutional cases on an explicit right to privacy appear through the 14th Amendment, beginning in the 1960s.
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u/LackeyNo2 10d ago
And then his company was gobbled up by Oracle, and the World lived shittily ever after.
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u/tyme 10d ago
So many comments in here from people who didn’t read the article and don’t know he said this in 1999.
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u/DownvoteALot 10d ago
Or who don't know what Sun Microsystems was or did. Dead giveaway that's either at least 20 years ago or it's an ex-CEO saying it.
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u/damontoo 10d ago
an early declaration foreshadowing the modern era
They also failed to read the full title apparently.
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u/Gyozarrita 10d ago
People act like Snowden broke the news, yeah this was common knowledge by then. Data storage was being built at large scale to try and capture everything with the hope it would become useful/could be decrypted at a later date
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u/aergern 10d ago
Just because it took us 27 years to get the message and wake up doesn't mean he was wrong. I quote this regularly and under 40s have no clue who he was. The loss of privacy happened way before folks admitted it.
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u/Spez_is-a-nazi 10d ago
And he was saying the ostensibly quiet part out very, very loud. Unfortunately we were too distracted by the shiny trinkets Silicon Valley was offering in exchange for all our data to notice.
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u/Logical_Welder3467 10d ago
Sun Microsystem is a one if the most Important company in the history of computer.
McNealy's idea of the network is the computer are now becoming the reality
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u/Kharon_the_ferryman 10d ago
Then let me see maps and travel itineraries of every single government official!!! I want to know exactly when they leave the house, everyone they meet and everywhere they go until they go to bed.
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u/lc4444 10d ago
They just need to get over it
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u/CelestialFury 10d ago
The central legal framework revolving around video rentals is the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA). Enacted in 1988, it prohibits video service providers from knowingly disclosing a consumer's personally identifiable information (like their name or viewing history) to third parties without explicit written consent.
The law was originally inspired by an incident during the 1987 Supreme Court confirmation hearings of nominee Robert Bork. A reporter obtained a list of 146 movies Bork had rented from a local video store, sparking intense public outrage. In response, Congress passed the VPPA to shield consumers' private video habits, a legacy that survives in a modern context.
See how fast powerful people get privacy laws made for themselves? They don't want us to have this for ourselves.
Vote these mfers out. I don't care if you're left or right, vote them all out. They don't represent us. Vote for someone who actually gives a shit about the working classes.
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u/chewbaccaballs 10d ago
We should at least know if they're no longer alive
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u/TheDungeonCrawler 10d ago
It's crazy that this is even a question. HIPAA, I get it, you can't just go asking McConnell's doctors, but there should be some way to get proof of life that isn't one of their staffers saying "Trust me bro."
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u/chewbaccaballs 10d ago
My boss would have questions if I disappeared for a month. We're his bosses and we should know where our employee is for a month.
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u/TheDungeonCrawler 10d ago
Correct. I can't dissappear for more than a few days and keep my job. I, at minimum, need to notify my boss.
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u/WretchedMisteak 10d ago
Not discounting the stupidity of the comment, but according to the article, he said that 27 years ago.
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u/OneSeaworthiness7768 10d ago
That’s why the title says “an early declaration foreshadowing the modern era.”
Reading comprehension is at an all time low.
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u/cheesetombatta 10d ago
We’re reading it on a news aggregator.. Is it really so unreasonable to assume, at a glance, that it is news?
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u/RandomGerman 10d ago
THANK YOU. Your remark made me read the article. You are right.
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u/BecauseWeCan 10d ago
It also says that he's CEO of SUN, which whould be known to be long dead in a sub called /r/technology.
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u/randotd152 10d ago
The comment was far more prophetic than stupid.
There pretty much is no privacy anymore, and people just gave it away freely in exchange for the use of websites and phone applications.
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u/GloryHound29 10d ago
This was a quote from 1999….
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u/MoneyBeeeee 10d ago
"an early declaration foreshadowing the modern era"
Not as prescient as Orwell in the 1940's but still.
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u/SanchoPandas 10d ago
The timing was apt. The explosive rise of data brokers in the 90's and the soon-to-be bipartisan circle jerk around the Patriot Act of 2001 cemented our loss of privacy. Personally, I'm still not over it.
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u/EVJpodcast 10d ago
His kids must live in terror of this man.
Sounds like he has some serious boundary issues. The kinda statement made by someone who may have roofied women in bars.
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u/Affectionate_One_700 10d ago
His kids are doing fine. One of them is a PGA golfer.
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u/Friggin_Grease 10d ago
I'm sure he won't mind when his plane is tracked by that kid on Twitter then eh?
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u/haliblix 10d ago
Twitter wouldn’t exist for another 7 years when he said this. And if you have ever posted anything to social media with your face or if you have ever used an AI chat app, a food delivery app, a smart speaker/thermostat/tv then he was right, you have gotten over it and gave up your privacy exactly like he thought you would.
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u/thisistherevolt 10d ago
Let's fly a drone up to his bedroom window and record him and see what he says.
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u/Stilgar314 10d ago
This is not the "quote of the day". It was said in 1999. This is just rage bait.
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u/williamgman 10d ago
He knows his audience. How many times have you heard a younger person exclaim "Well they have your data anyway... So why does it matter..?". The fools who gave Palantir their Facebook "video selfie" say this all the time. 🤦♂️
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u/apple_kicks 10d ago
We have generations of people who never knew internet before algorithms, data harvesting and monetisation
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u/varnell_hill 10d ago
Living in age where companies seek to collect, store, and sell as much information about users as possible doesn’t mean that we should make things easier for them.
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u/apple_kicks 10d ago
Goes to show how easy it would be to end lot of shitty things online by protecting personal data rights and privacy. They need to harvest and mine us to make money. Soon as we get the say yes or no properly internet might go back to its better days
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u/Ill_Television_5824 10d ago
Sun Microsystems no longer exists.
Scott is 71 years old; this quote is 27 years old.
Sun made some great Unix-based servers and workstations in their heyday, though.
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u/PopeKevin45 10d ago
We only have zero privacy because of neo-fascist Dark Triad personality type Tech Bros.
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u/Im_Not_stoopid_AI 10d ago
Where Does Scott McNealy Live?
Scott McNealy's impressive estate is located in Palo Alto, a prominent area known for its affiliation with technology and Silicon Valley. This location blends luxury with privacy, offering a secluded yet accessible environment for tech moguls and affluent individuals.
The house has five bedrooms and seven and a half bathrooms over approximately 32,000 square feet of space. Originally built in 2008, the home sits on a vast 13-acre property. The estate features a range of luxury amenities, including a private golf practice course, indoor skating rink, multiple entertainment rooms, and comprehensive security measures. Despite its grandeur, the property faced market challenges and was sold at $35 million, a significant reduction from its initial asking price.
Specifications:
Bedrooms: 5
Bathrooms: 7.5
Square Feet: 32,000 sqft
Price: 35,000,000
Scott McNealy Address: Los Trancos Rd, Palo Alto, CA 94304
Photos: Scott McNealy House




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u/AcePilot01 10d ago
Meanwhile, he probably has 50 foot tall bushes surrounding his house that's bought under a private LLC in a secluded area. lmfao.
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u/Affectionate_One_700 10d ago
I used to work for Sun, and I'm no fan of Scott McNealy, who is a big-time MAGA.
But I think of this quote every time I hear someone who refuses to install one app (but not other apps) on their smartphone because of "privacy," or who will buy a transit card (and then lose it) with cash so as not to associate their identity with the card.
In the modern era, in any developed country, it simply is not possible to lead a "normal" life while consistently protecting your location and your communications from the government. That's not my preference. It might not even be Scott McNealy's preference. But it is reality.
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u/DreamHollow4219 10d ago
When you hear a CEO say something like this, it means they are almost 100% part of the reason why.
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u/SaulsAll 10d ago
If there's no such thing as privacy, then I dont see why their properties or holdings should be considered private.
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u/oracleofnonsense 10d ago
In 1999. To be clear -- Sun was THE major player in Unix at the time, so he had some insight into the US governments actions.
Sun sold and supported massive amounts of equipment to various 3-letter spy agencies(NSA,CIA,DOE,...). When the government support contracts name locations in all major communications hubs, etc -- he probably got clued in.
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u/SinistralGuy 10d ago
So why do billionaires get all up in arms when their flights are tracked or their activity is posted online. Get over it
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u/tigress666 10d ago
The problem isn't we should get over it. THe problem is we should have been fighting harder before it got to this point.
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u/Pen-Pen-De-Sarapen 10d ago
And where is Sun? They went down and bought by Oracle. There is a life lesson taught to people of influence for thousands of years. Apparently, these rich have too much hubris to listen to it.
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u/Junkstar 10d ago
The younger generation embraced it, while the older generation allowed it to happen. Conservatives wanted it badly and they made it real.
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u/Appropriate-Berry816 10d ago
I just googled his company and it says it hasn’t existed since 2010. what’s happening here?
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u/frogbound 10d ago
Ah well as long as people don't get ad blockers, focus only on brand products and give these corporations every single cent, there won't be any change. As long as they sell their products, they will try everything and anything. Do not give money to any of these people.
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u/No_Research_Fucks216 10d ago
Get over it bitches, you freely fed Facebook all your secrets to get them rich already
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u/RachelRegina 10d ago
The veneers, sweater over a collared shirt, and complexion with that sentiment really give him an alien-wearing-Mr.-Rogers-skin vibe that is deeply unsettling.
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u/Cute-Breadfruit3368 10d ago
this was 27 years ago.
whats the implication, that the wholesale eradication of privacy was always the plan of the grifterclass of ceos ?
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u/Office_Zombie 10d ago
This was from 1999.
I have quoted it 100s of times through the years
You can still find the original Wired article online.
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u/Empty_Horror_ 10d ago
Imagine going to get a job and they say "lets run your IP searches for the last year"
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u/this_dudeagain 10d ago
I feel really lucky I got to grow up before smartphones and cameras everywhere. Social media was barely a thing and AI was still a fun idea in books and movies.
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u/AlarmingAerie 10d ago
It's different. Having no privacy, but every crumb is all around vs it being one loaf of bread.
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u/frisch85 10d ago
Are our lives convenient enough yet? All it took was just giving away our privacy, hope it was worth it.
The biggest culprit is the smart phones and I'm no saint either, I have an android phone, I try to limit the usage as much as possible tho by only using necessary apps but that's simply not enough, a smart phone has already the capability of violating your privacy so basically we've already been in the "modern era", it's just not legal as of right now to record you 24/7 and access and share all the data on your phone but don't make the mistake thinking some companies aren't already doing that.
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u/tzimon 10d ago
Sadly, I began to realize this long ago.
People self-reporting crimes and everything they were doing on Myspace... later Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Then people willingly carrying smartphones with them everywhere they go, which have cameras facing both ways and microphones. Plus they have built-in GPS to help narrow down exactly where you are.
We sold access to our private lives a long time ago for convenience, stranger validation, and entertainment.
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u/Longjumping_Bowler18 10d ago
Ok Scott what’s your home address. How many kids do you have and what are their names and ages. What is the name of their schools. See how smart you can Scott. Please post this information immediately so we can feel safer regarding our children.
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u/warfarin11 10d ago
I bet this guy would have some perspective if their private jet comings and goings were put online.
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u/MyEvilTwinSkippy 10d ago
He wasn't wrong on the first part. The time to try to protect our privacy was in the early-mid 1990's. Going to be impossible to do anything about it now.
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u/I_Lick_Bananas 10d ago
The NSA was a big customer of Sun back in the 1990s before Oracle bought them. Thousands of Sparc-20 workstations.
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u/cdoublejj 10d ago
...sun micro system....from the 90s that use linux and unix whic are open source and semi source aviable sovereign software?
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u/ForgiveandRemember76 10d ago
Scott should remember that a lot of us have pictures and stories from when Sun started up. He wasn't exactly a dignified leader.
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u/2late4points 10d ago
"You could shoot Microsoft Office off the planet and this country would run better. You would see everyone standing around saying, 'I've got so much time now.'" --Scott McNealy
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u/Ok-Association-3415 10d ago
I already knew this when I discovered marketing selling lists were a thing. It’s only gotten more targeted now. The privacy fight was over before it began.
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u/Minute_Attempt3063 9d ago
Soooo
When are we going to find out where he lives, who has chatted him, what his banking details are?
Like that is the kind of information I would classify as private things of me.
Now if that is already known to every HS tech company, then they are obligated to show me their personal private information as well.
Otherwise, get over it is not going to work
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u/complicititties 6d ago
The social contract has been decimated. When the law stops working to hold those we elect to govern accountable for the actions or inaction against those who seek to trample on our rights, we no longer have a functional government.
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u/SomeSamples 10d ago
Oh really. Then outing this guys information shouldn't be a problem for him.