Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman's anal attention to detail about the lives of the jurists, down to their dark personal past, which allowed the lawyers control over the verdict struck a nerve. The bit that impressed the techno geek in me, was when they had the jury's profiles up on plasma screens with secret cameras to record their comings and goings and handwriting experts to draw up psychological profiles of the panel.

I also remember, way back in the eighties, that Charlie Sheen in Wall Street, used to keep complex files of the secretaries he had to get past - favourite colours, names of children, birthdays etc.

When does market intelligence become spying? What is the line between keeping a record of a VIP's birthday and becoming a shallow asshole whose interest in people and their lives is entirely self-serving?

While it is nice to remember someone's birthday and send a gift or an email, nowadays that is a product of having the right technology and subscribing to media database lists. When will the insight that we have into the lives of journalists as a result of being around for a long time or being friendly be available as a database purchase? When will information we offer about ourselves make way for information others offer about us? When will knowing who is sleeping with whom; or which cad has defaulted on maintenance payments, be the way to leverage what gets into the media?

Although twenty-years on from Orwellian Big Brother - we seem closer than ever.