Gruppenfoto der BigBrotherAwards-Jury auf der Bühne.

20 Oct 2006 Hechelei Bielefeld

BigBrotherAwards 2006

Data leeches all over Germany

In 2006, we present the audience award for the first time. Viewers are invited to choose their “favourite” among the awardees. Their choice is the German Insurance Association. This is highly deserved, as insurers share data of millions of citizens without their knowledge. The competition is fierce, though. The state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Conference of Interior Ministers and the Conference of Ministers for Education and Cultural Affairs are distinguished winners as well.

The (unfortunate) Awardees 2006

Detailaufnahme eines Überweisungsträgers, der nicht ausgefüllt ist.

Image:Timo Klostermeier CC-BY-NC 3.0

Business (2006)

SWIFT

The BigBrotherAward in this category goes to: SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), for sharing bank transfer data with US authorities.

Laudator.in

Werner Hülsmann

Das Schweriner Schloss mit einer Brücke als Zufahrt. Der Himmel ist strahlend blau.

Image:Chriusha CC-BY-SA 3.0 Source

Politics (2006)

Parliament of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern

In this year two “lucky winners” achieve awards in this category: the members of the Fourth Parliament of the State of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania for legislation that allows eavesdropping and sound recording in public space…

Laudator.in

Alvar Freude

Wolfgang Schäuble hebt die Hand zum Schwur während einer Bundesinnenministerkonferenz.

Bild: Deutscher Bundestag (Lichtblick Achim Melde); Nutzungsbedingungen

Politics (2006)

Federal Conference of the Ministers of the Interior

Laudator.in

Dr. Rolf Gössner

Verwaltungsgebäude der Philips GmbH in Hamburg. Der Himmel ist dämmernd, der Mond scheint.

Image:Staro1 CC-BY-SA 3.0 Source

Technology (2006)

Philips

This year the Philips company accomplishes the BigBrotherAward in “Technology” for the specification that CD burners write their unique serial number on the CD and thus facilitate tracking of the storage medium to the burner.

Laudator.in

Frank Rosengart

Türschild mit dem Text: „Ständige Konferenz der Kultusminister der Länder in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.

Image:Uwe Hiksch CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0 Source

Authorities & Administration (2006)

Conference for Education

And the winner is: the Federal Conference of Ministers for Education. For plans to introduce life-long student IDs, without binding the individual educational data to a defined purpose, nor guarding them against misuse and…

Laudator.in

Karin Schuler

Collage aus einen Wörterbucheintrag zum Wort "insurance" (linke Bildhälfte) und einer Familie betehend aus zwei Elternteilen und einem Baby (rechte Bildhälfte).

Bild: Alan Cleaver (links – CC-BY 2.0, Quelle), David Amsler (rechts – CC-BY 2.0, Quelle)

Consumer Protection (2006)

GDV

The award in this category was well earned by the German Insurers’ Association for its “warnings and indications” database, which insurers use to exchange substantial amounts of data about millions of citizens — with undisclosed…

Laudator.in

Rena Tangens

Ein erhobener Zeigefinger in schwarz-weiß.

Image:jazzlog CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Reprimands & Commendation (2006)

Notes of Disapproval

Not all nominees for the Big Brother Award have made it. Several times, the jury had great difficulty not to sanction a violation of data protection with one of our unwanted prizes. But data leeches who think they might run off…

Ein alter Fernseher mit weißem Rauschen.

Image:undacovabroda45 CC-BY 2.0 Source

Reprimands & Commendation (2006)

A short retrospective ...

About Big Brother on German highways, a fee for computers with access to the internet, a radio or a TV card, RFID politics in Europe, and how that's related to the German BigBrotherAwards.

Show Awardees-Overview