The Stupid Security Competition 2003
08/04/2003
We've all been there. Standing for ages in a security line at an inconsequential office building only to be given a security pass that a high school student could have faked. Or being forced to take off our shoes at an airport that can't even screen its luggage.
If you thought the accounting profession was bad news, just wait till you hear how stupid the security industry has become. Even before 9/11 a whole army of bumbling amateurs has taken it upon themselves to figure out pointless, annoying, intrusive, illusory and just plain stupid measures to "protect" our security.
It's become a global menace. From the nightclub in Berlin that demands the home address of its patrons, to the phone company in Britain that won't let anyone pay more than fifty pounds a month from a bank account, the world has become infested with bumptious administrators competing to hinder or harass you. And often for no good reason whatever.
The sensitive and sensible folk at Privacy International have endured enough of this treatment. So we are running an international competition to discover the world's most pointless, intrusive, stupid and self-serving security measures.
The judges included
Declan McCullagh, journalist and agent provocateur, Washington DC,
Dr Ian Brown, Privacy International Trustee and Director of the Foundation for Information Policy Research, London UK
Dr Peter Neumann, Principal Scientist, SRI International Computer Science Laboratory and all-round security guru, USA
Jerome Thorel, journalist and privacy activist, France
Dr. Barbara Simons, Past President of ACM and Consulting Professor in Science, Technology and Society, Institute for International Studies, Stanford, USA
Stephanie Perrin, Digital Discretion, former CPO, Zero Knowledge Systems, Canada
Tim Dixon, Solicitor, and spokesman for the Australian Privacy Foundation
Charles Platt, former senior writer for Wired magazine, and author of Anarchy Online and countless other works, USA
Erich Moechel, journalist and principal troublemaker for Quintessenz, Austria
See the nominees, winners, and press release information below.
Related:
Overview - The Stupid Security Awards
Stupid Security Awards Home Page
Border and Travel Surveillance Home Page
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Winners Announced
The Stupid Security Competition 2003
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Most Inexplicable Measure Nominees
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Most Counter Productive Security Nominees
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Most Intrusive Measures Nominees
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Most Intrusive Security Measures Nominees
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Award Winners
Stupid Security Contest 2003 Most Egregious Security Measures Nominees
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