Winners

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…

With more than 500 nominations, the BigBrotherAwards jury has had to manage a record workload this year – a kind of data mining for data protection and civic rights. It is therefore all the more important to point out that “below”…

Not a winner in 2007: the Federal Minister of the Interior, Wolfgang Schäuble.

The BigBrotherAward 2007 in the “Consumer Protection” category goes to the international hotel chains in Germany, Marriott, Hyatt and Intercontinental (representing many others), for their collection and centralised storing of…

The BigBrotherAward in the “Politics” category goes to the Federal Minister of Finance, Mr Peer Steinbrück, for introducing a life-long Tax ID number for all taxable persons, which bears an eerie resemblance to the…

The Novartis Pharma GmbH receives the BigBrotherAward in the “Workplace” category for spying on sales personnel by detectives and deliberately breaching promises of anonymity in employee surveys.

The BigBrotherAward in the “Regional” category goes to the Municipal Authority for Education and Sports of the City of Hamburg, represented by Ms Alexandra Dinges-Dierig, Senator for Education and Sports, for introducing a central…

The BigBrotherAward in the “Communication” category goes to the Federal Minister of Justice, Ms Brigitte Zypries, for a bill that will introduce the retention of all telecommunications connection data in Germany. With this bill…

The BigBrotherAward 2007 in the “Technology” category goes to PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG, represented by Dr Hans Hubschneider, for their system for individual rating of car insurances with the so-called “pay-as-you-drive”…

The BigBrotherAward in the “Government and Administration” category goes to Germany’s Federal Prosecutor (Generalbundesanwältin), Monika Harms. She receives the BigBrotherAward for her anti-terror measures against opponents of the…

The BigBrotherAward 2007 in the “Business” category goes to Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railways PLC), represented by its CEO, Hartmut Mehdorn, for their systematic endeavours to make anonymous travelling practically impossible…

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…