U.S. Big Brother Awards 2005

31/03/2005

On April 14th, 2005 Privacy International will hold the 7th annual U.S. Big Brother Awards to shame the invaders and celebrate the champions of privacy. The ceremony will be held at the 2005 Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference, in Seattle.

Distinctive Orwell statues of a golden boot stomping a head will be presented to the government agencies and officials, companies and initiatives that have done the most to invade personal privacy in the previous year. The "Lifetime Menace" award will also be presented to a well-deserving organization that systematically invades privacy.

Previous "winners" include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, DoubleClick, ChoicePoint, Trans Union, Oracle, the FAA's BodyScan system, the Department of Commerce and Microsoft. See below for our complete list of previous winners.

Brandeis Awards will be given to champions of privacy. The Brandeis Award is named after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, who described privacy as "the right to be let alone." The awards are given to those have done exemplary work to protect and champion privacy.

Nominations Open

Any member of the public can submit nominations for Big Brother and Brandeis Awards. The nomination period is open until April 5, 2005.

We are looking for compelling cases for

• The Most Invasive Proposal
• Greatest Corporate Invader
• Worst Public Official or Department
• Lifetime Menace Award
• Brandeis Awards

Please submit your nominations by sending us an e-mail at bigbrother@privacy.org.

Privacy International will post the most popular current nominations on its site.

The winners of the awards will be selected by a judging panel made up of lawyers, academics, consultants, journalists and civil rights activists based on nominees made by the public and experts. This year's judging panel include

• Beth Givens, Privacy Rights Clearing House
• Evan Hendricks, Publisher of Privacy Times
• Chris Hoofnagle, Associate Director of EPIC
• Conrad Martin, Director of the Fund for Constitutional Government
• Ed Mierzwinski, Consumer Program Director of PIRG
• Stephanie Perrin, President of Digital Discretion
• Bob Ellis Smith, Editor of the Privacy Jounral
• Nadine Strossen, President of the ACLU

The U.S. Big Brother Awards are now in their seventh year. There have also been over fifty ceremonies around the world including in the UK, Germany, Austria, Finland, Bulgaria, Belgium, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, Hungary, France, Denmark and the Netherlands.

This year's event is sponsored by PAOGA.

Previous Winners

Most Invasive Proposal

• Multi-state Anti-Terrorism Information Exchange (MATRIX)
• Total Information Awareness
• Expanded Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening Program (CAPPSII)
• FBI's Carnivore
• Federal Aviation Administration for Bodyscan Technology
• FDIC 'Know Your Customer'

Greatest Corporate Invader

• Northwest Airlines
• Delta Airlines
• Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle
• ChoicePoint
• DoubleClick
• Elensys Inc.

Worst Public Official or Department

• Transportation Security Administration
• Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh
• Attorney General John Ashcroft
• City of Tampa, Florida
• William Dailey & U.S. Department of Commerce
• Representative Bill McCollum

Lifetime Menace Award

• Osama Bin Laden
• Admiral John Poindexter
• National Security Agency
• Trans Union
• FBI

Brandeis Awards

We also give Brandeis Awards for those have done exemplary work to protect and champion privacy.

• Joyce Meskis of the Tattered Cover Bookstore
• California State Sen Jackie Speier
• Evan Hendricks, Privacy Times
• Julie Brill, Assistant Attorney General of Vermont
• Beth Givens, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse
• Robert Ellis Smith, Privacy Journal
• Richard Smith, Computerbytesman.com
• Phil Zimmerman, Creator of Pretty Good Privacy

Related:
PI Announces U.S. Big Brother Awards winners for 2005