New Yorker Hotel
New York, NY
April 3, 2003

In April, Privacy International held the 5th annual US Big Brother awards to celebrate the invaders and champions of privacy. The ceremony was held at the 2003 Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference.

"Orwell" statues were presented to the government agencies, companies and initiatives which have done most to invade personal privacy. A "Lifetime Menace" award also was presented.

Brandeis Awards were given to champions of privacy. The Brandeis Award is named after US 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.

Any member of the public can submit nominations for Big Brother and Brandeis Awards. The nomination period is closed, and the most popular nominees are listed below.

The winners of the awards were 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.

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And the Winners Are...

On April 3, 2003, Privacy International announced the winners of the 5th Annual US "Big Brother" awards to the government and private sector organizations that have done the most to invade personal privacy in the United States.

Four "Big Brother" awards were presented to the individuals, organizations, and departments that have done most to invade personal privacy. An " "lifetime menace" award was given to an invader with a long history of attacking privacy.

"Brandeis" awards were also given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the protection of privacy.

"This year's nominations reflected a protest against homeland security efforts that attempted to shock and awe freedom-loving Americans out of their civil liberties," said Chris Hoofnagle, organizer of the event.

2003 US Big Brother Award Winners

MOST INVASIVE PROPOSAL

• Total Information Awareness--The Total Information Awareness project is part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Information Awareness Office. The office is headed by Admiral (retired) John Poindexter who is responsible for conceiving the project. The project calls for the development of "revolutionary technology for ultra-large all-source information repositories," which would contain information from multiple sources to create a "virtual, centralized, grand database." This database would be populated by transaction data contained in current databases such as financial records, medical records, communication records, and travel records as well as new sources of information.
  
  
  • For more information, see EPIC's Total Information Awareness Page.

GREATEST CORPORATE INVADER

Delta Airlines--Delta is the "partner" of the Transportation Security Administration in administration of a CAPPS II pilot in three cities in the U.S. CAPPS II is the Enhanced Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System, a program designed to draw from over 100 sources to evaluate whether a passenger is "rooted in the community," and therefore not a flight risk. CAPPS II relies heavily on the commercial information brokers to provide personal data on individuals, and the system can be expanded for use at train stations, bus stations, or the entrances of public buildings.

• For more information, see Boycott Delta.

WORST PUBLIC OFFICIAL

• Viet Dinh--Viet Dinh is Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Policy. Dinh was the architect of the PATRIOT Act and of the Attorney General's Guidelines, which now allow the FBI to engage in searches and monitoring of chat rooms, bulletin boards, and websites without evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Additionally, agents are permitted to visit public places and events to monitor individuals' activities with no predicate of criminal suspicion. These powers are not limited to terrorism investigations--they can be used for any violation of federal law, including drug crimes, white-collar crime, and copyright violations.
  
  
  • For more information, visit the EPIC PATRIOT Act and Attorney General's Guidelines Pages.

THE ADMIRAL JOHN M. POINDEXTER LIFETIME MENACE AWARD

Osama Bin Laden--For giving Attorney General Ashcroft the excuse he needed to pass the USA PATRIOT Act and the Homeland Security Act, and the gall necessary to formulate PATRIOT II, new draft legislation designed to push police power even further.

2003 Brandeis Award Winners

Edmund Mierzwinski--Edmund Mierzwinski is U.S. PIRG Consumer Program Director. Ed Mierzwinski has been a consumer advocate with the National Association of State Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PIRG) since 1989. State PIRGs are non-profit, non-partisan consumer, environmental and good government watchdog groups with offices around the country. Ed Mierzwinski often testifies before Congress and state legislatures and has authored numerous reports on consumer, privacy, credit card, credit reporting, identity theft and other bank and financial issues.

Jim Kasper--James Kasper serves as a Representative to the North Dakota state legislature. Representative Kasper is a business leader and tireless advocate of opt-in privacy laws in North Dakota. This legislative session, Rep. Kasper has already moved three privacy bills through the North Dakota House. (1477, Relating to securities privacy of information; relating to insurance privacy of information, passed 92-0; 1478, Relating to disclosure of financial information; relating to financial institution customer privacy passed 89-2; and 1179, Relating to disclosing nonpublic personal information, passed 91-0). Representative Kasper lives in Fargo with his wife and two children.

Charlene Nelson--Charlene Nelson is a North Dakota farmer who led a successful referendum in her state to reestablish opt-in privacy rules. She formed "Protect Our Privacy," a non-profit, non-partisan organization devoted to repealing ND SB 2191, which allows banks and financial institutions to release personal information on an opt-out basis. On June 11, 2002, North Dakotans voted overwhelmingly in favor of opt-in financial privacy--73% approved.

Joyce Meskis--Joyce Meskis is the owner of the Denver-based Tattered Cover bookstore. She led an important battle for book buyer privacy. In Tattered Cover v. City of Thornton, she successfully challenged a law enforcement request for book purchaser records. The decision, which recognizes an individual right to anonymity in book purchasing, also requires that a hearing be held before customer records can be released.

Media Advisory

5th Annual US Big Brother Award Ceremony to be held in Manhattan on Thursday

Privacy International will hold the 5th Annual US Big Brother Awards Ceremony on Thursday, April 3, 2003. The Big Brother Awards ceremony highlights the invaders and champions of privacy. "Orwell" statues will be presented to the government agencies, companies and initiatives that have done most to invade personal privacy. The "Admiral John M. Poindexter Lifetime Menace" award will also be presented to an organization that has systematically invaded privacy over a long period of time.

Brandeis Awards will be given to champions of privacy. The Brandeis Award is named after US 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.

"The awards committee received hundreds of worthy nominations focusing on homeland security officials and their projects," said event organizer Chris Hoofnagle. He added, "Admiral Poindexter has contributed so much to this field that we renamed the 'Lifetime Menace Award' for him."

The nominees for the Orwell Awards include the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for its "Total Information Awareness" project; Microsoft for its "Palladium" operating system; Delta Airlines for its participation in the Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling System; and Assistant Attorney General Viet D. Dinh for his zealous pursuit of new police surveillance authority. A full list of nominees is available on the Privacy International website.

The Brandeis Awards winners are Joyce Meskis of the Tattered Cover Bookstore; Representative James Kasper of the North Dakota Legislature; Edmund Mierzwinski of U.S. Public Interest Research Groups; and Charlene Nelson, a North Dakota farmer who initiated a successful referendum to establish greater privacy protections in her state.

The ceremony will be held at the 13th Annual Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference in the New Yorker Hotel's Crystal Room at 7:30 PM. The Hotel is located at 481 Eighth Ave. New York, NY. (212) 971-0101.

The winners of the awards are 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 panel included privacy advocate Jason Catlett, Free Congress Foundation Vice President Lisa Dean, ACLU President Nadine Strossen, and Harper's Magazine editor Lewis Lapham.

The initiator of the awards, Privacy International, was founded in 1990, and campaigns on a wide range of privacy issues across the world. Be advised that the United Kingdom's Home Office has declared the Awards "silly and malicious."

For more information, contact Chris Hoofnagle, Chairman, 2003 US Big Brother Awards
202.483.1140 x108, chris /at\ privacy.org

Or go online to Privacy International's website at:

http://www.privacyinternational.org/bigbrother/us2003/

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Nominations

• Progressive Policy Institute
• Delta Airlines
• Recording Industry Association of America

Worst Public Official

• Assistant Attorney General Viet D. Dinh
• TSA Secretary Admiral James M. Loy

Lifetime Menace Award

• To be announced at the ceremony.

Brandeis Awards

• To be annouced at the ceremony.

Official Call For Nominations