Search

US company and campaign platform change.org receives the BigBrotherAward 2016 in the Economy category for its business model of marketing personally identifiable information of signatories together with their political statements. Change.org appears to be an progressive and social project, but it really is a for-profit US corporation which shows many deficiencies with respect to data protection law. For example, it continues to store user data in the USA although the Court of Justice of the European Union has declared the “Safe Harbor” Framework invalid.

H&M Hennes & Mauritz B.V. & Co. KG in Hamburg receives the BigBrotherAward 2020 in the “Workplace” category for the long-standing, devious and illegal processing of employee data at the H&M customer centre in Nuremberg. H&M has collected data concerning health problems of employees, as well as those of family members and colleagues. This information was gathered by H&M team leaders from friendly conversations at the workplace or on a coffee break.

The BigBrotherAward 2011 in the “Workplace” category goes to the German Federal Customs Administration. They allow themselves to be exploited by the Russian state as they require German companies to cross-check their employees against Russian anti-terror lists. These lists are compiled by the Russian secret service FSB (formerly KGB) pursuant to a confidential Russian law. In consequence, energy companies, for example, that comply with the obligations of the Federal Customs Administration will subsequently be favoured by GASPROM for energy supplies. There are now several hundred German companies participating in the process. – Attention: April Fool's Day! – It is not GASPROM that is favouring customers, but European and American companies. To participate in trade facilitation agreements, companies are asked to agree to voluntary security checks. These involve cross-checking employee data against European and sometimes US anti-terror lists, even though this practice is prohibited by German data protection legislation.

The BigBrotherAward 2014 in the category Transport goes to MeinFernbus GmbH (approx.: My Long-Distance Bus, Ltd.) for obliging passengers to always show an official ID along with the travel ticket they booked online. This makes anonymous bus journeys impossible. MeinFernbus GmbH does not give any legal or other reasons why producing an ID should be necessary. There is the option to try buying a ticket in cash when boarding, but this entails the risk that the bus is fully booked and one cannot travel. Additionally, buying tickets on board is more expensive than booking them in advance via the Internet.

The ZEIT newspaper’s online presence receives the BigBrotherAward 2019 in the “Consumer Protection” Category. Firstly, for using advertising trackers and the Facebook Pixel. Second, for the use of Google services in the “Germany Talks” project. This leads to individuals’ political opinions being stored in US servers. Thirdly, for having the succesor project “My Country Talks“ financed by Google. This Faustian pact with one of the biggest data leeches damages journalistic independence.

The company “Soma Analytics” receives the BigBrotherAward 2018 in the “Workplace” category for their efforts to propagate their health app “Kelaa” and the “Kelaa Dashboard” among the human resources departments of companies. The app monitors several parameters (such as excitement in the voice during phone calls) to spy on the users’ vital functions, in order to give employers indications of their employees’ mental state.

The BigBrotherAward 2012 in the “Workplace” category goes to Bofrost (a German-based manufacturer and home delivery service for frozen foods), for unlawfully prying into data on a computer belonging to the staff council. Bofrost have evaluated an electronic file belonging to the staff council, and they have used a staff council paper that they discovered as grounds to make a staff council member redundant. Industrial courts have confirmed the illegality of these actions in several cases. On another staff council member’s computer, the remote control software Ultra VNC was installed without the staff council’s consent. A court settlement was required to make Bofrost ensure that they would no longer do this in the future.

The BigBrotherAward 2009 in the “Workplace” category goes to all those consumed by the delusion that you will get productive and motivated staff if you subject them to comprehensive monitoring and make their performance measurable by numbers. As a representative and winner on points, farm machines manufacturer Claas Landmaschinen (internationally known as Claas Group) receives the award for the bugged harvesting machines.

The company PLT – Planung für Logistik & Transport GmbH (Planning for Logistics and Transport) receives the BigBrotherAward in the Workplace category for its PLT Staff Tracker. This device provides employers with real-time information on the whereabouts of their newspaper deliverers or postal carriers and how fast they are moving. Such comprehensive monitoring is degrading and pointless.

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 criteria, without sufficient legal foundation, and unknown to the people affected.

The GEZ ("fee withdrawal centre") earns a BigBrotherAward for their untiring engagement in the relentless detection of public radio and TV licence fee dodgers.