Submitted by Theresa Kruse on
BigBrotherAwards 2004
The law to reform the public health insurance system laid the foundation for Germany’s electronic health card. This earned Health Minister Ulla Schmidt a BigBrotherAward. Her cabinet colleague Brigitte Zypries was awarded as well. As Minister for Justice, as she would not abandon the so-called “Major Eavesdropping Attack” (audio surveillance on private homes) as a means of criminal investigation.
The Jury 2004
Rena Tangens & padeluun FoeBuD e.V., Karin Schuler Deutsche Vereinigung für Datenschutz e.V., Frank Rosengart Chaos Computer Club e.V., Werner Hülsmann Forum InformatikerInnen für Frieden und gesellschaftliche Verantwortung e.V., Dr. Fredrik Roggan Humanistische Union e.V., Dr. Rolf Gössner Internationale Liga für Menschenrechte
Awardees 2004
Health and Social Issues : Ulla Schmidt
The Big Brother Award in the "Health and Social Issues" category is awarded to the Federal Minister for Health and Social Security, Ms Ulla Schmidt for the bill for the reform of the national health insurance, which came into force on the 1st of January 2004.
Business and Consumer Protection: Tchibo
The BigBrotherAward in the "Business and Consumer Protection" category goes to Tchibo for the practice of forwarding their customers' data to the marketing company Arvato / AZ Direct
Technology: Canon
Canon Germany - An ID number storied in photocopying machines is invisibly printed on *all* copies. As each copier has an individual number, the source of a copy can be traced. This is sold as a feature to protect against forgeries of bank notes, cheques, etc.
Communication: Armex
Armex earns a BigBrotherAward for their "Track Your Kid" product - as a representative of several companies that offer child monitoring services.
Industrial Relations: Lidl
Summary:
The Big Brother Award in the "Industrial Relations" category is won by the Lidl Stiftung ("Foundation"), Co., in Neckarsulm, represented by the founder and "godfather" of the group, Dieter Schwarz for the almost slave-like treatment of its employees.
Regional Award: Paderborn University
The Dean of Paderborn University Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Nikolaus Risch for the video surveillance of lecture halls and computer rooms in "his" university
About BigBrotherAwards
The BigBrotherAwards highlight privacy and data protection offenders in business and politics, they have consequently been called “Oscars for data leeches” by the French paper Le Monde. BigBrotherAwards are an international project. 19 countries have so far given these awards for dubious practices.
The German awards are organised and held by ► Digitalcourage. Among the co-organisers are the German Association for Data Protection (Deutsche Vereinigung für Datenschutz, DVD), International League for Human Rights and the Chaos Computer Club.