Winners | BigBrotherAwards

Visualisierung vernetzer Blockchains mit Binärcode.

Technology (2022)

Bundesdruckerei

The Bundesdruckerei (“Federal Printer”) receives the BigBrotherAward in the Technology category for its senseless use and promotion of blockchain technology, which is not only a waste of energy but also comes with severe data…

Laudator.in

Frank Rosengart

Grafik: Drei identische Person, die lediglich ein andersfarbiges Oberteil tragen. In einem Dreieick angeördnet. Dazwischen die Texte: Gleicher Studiengang, Affäre und häufiger Telefonkontakt.

Image:Abena Bauer CC-BY 4.0

Authorities & Administration (2022)

Federal Criminal Police Office

The BigBrotherAward 2022 in the “Authorities and Administration” Category goes to the German Police, represented by the Federal Criminal Police Office (Bundeskriminalamt) for the way personal data are stored in digital files and…

Laudator.in

Dr. Thilo Weichert

Image:InflacCC-BY 4.0

Audience Award (2021)

Too close to call just one winner

As always we asked the people in our (online) audience this year which of the awards they found particularly “impressive, astounding, shocking, revolting, …”.

Image:Collage von Dennis BlomeyerAll rights reserved

Education (2021)

Proctorio GmbH

Proctorio GmbH receives the BigBrotherAwards 2021 for its offer of “fully automatic exam supervision”, which supposedly facilitates total control of students in online exams. During an exam, the AI-based software is said to be…

Laudator.in

Prof. Dr. Peter Wedde

Image:Collage von Dennis BlomeyerAll rights reserved

What makes me really angry (2021)

Google

Google receives the BigBrotherAward 2021 for recently exposed large-scale manipulations of the Internet advertising market, for starving creators and media and for dispossessing our digital personalities.

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Rena Tangens

Portraitaufnahme von Julian Nida-Rümelin.

Image:Collage von Dennis Blomeyer, Foto: Perikles CC-BY 3.0 Source

Public Intellectual (2021)

Prof. Dr. phil. Dr. h. c. Julian Nida-Rümelin

The BigBrotherAward 2021 in the category “Public Intellectual” is awarded to the philosopher and vice chairperson of the German Ethics Council, Julian Nida-Rümelin, for his untenable claim, repeatedly made in public, that “data…

Laudator.in

padeluun

Image:Collage von Dennis BlomeyerAll rights reserved

Health & Social Issues (2021)

Doctolib GmbH

The BigBrotherAward in 2021 in the category Health goes to Doctolib GmbH, Berlin. In particular, Doctolib offers the scheduling of doctor’s appointments via its platform. These data are processed in violation of confidentiality…

Laudator.in

Dr. Thilo Weichert

Image:Collage von Dennis BlomeyerAll rights reserved

Mobility (2021)

The European Commission

The BigBrotherAward 2021 in the category “Mobility” goes to the European Commission for the introduction of the “On-Board Fuel Consumption Meter” (OBFCM). The OBFCM collects an extensive amount of technical information about a…

Laudator.in

Frank Rosengart

Detailaufnahmer eines Briefs mit der persönlichen Steueridentifikationsnummer.

Image:Dennis Blomeyer CC-BY 4.0

Historical Amnesia (2020)

Conference of interior ministers of the German federal states

The conference of interior ministers of the German federal states receives the BigBrotherAward 2020 in the “Historical Amnesia” Category for their intention to create a life-long personal identification number based on the tax…

Laudator.in

padeluun

Schaufensterfront einer H&M-Filiale mit geöffneten Türen.

Image:Marco Verch CC-BY 2.0 Source

Workplace (2020)

Hennes & Mauritz (H&M)

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…

Laudator.in

Prof. Dr. Peter Wedde

Image:Kultusministerium Baden-Württemberg Source

Digitalisation (2020)

Minister of Education of Baden-Württemberg, Susanne Eisenmann

The education minister of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, Susanne Eisenmann, receives the BigBrotherAward in the “Education” category because she intends to let Microsoft run essential services of the state’s digital…

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Leena Simon

Collage: Links ein Foto von Angela Merkel mit dem Koalitionsvertrag in der Hand, rechts zwei Soldat.innen vor mehreren Bildschirmen. Darüber der Text: „Drohnen-Angriffe via Ramstein stoppen!“.

Image:Collage von Dennis Blomeyer, Foto links: Sandro Halank CC-BY-SA 3.0 Source

Politics (2020)

German Federal Government

The BigBrotherAward 2020 in the Category “Politics” goes to The German Federal Government (supported by the coalition of the parties CDU/CSU and SPD), represented by the Chancellor, Angela Merkel (CDU), for its joint legal and…

Laudator.in

Dr. Rolf Gössner

About BigBrotherAwards

In a compelling, entertaining and accessible format, we present these negative awards to companies, organisations, and politicians. The BigBrotherAwards highlight privacy and data protection offenders in business and politics, or as the French paper Le Monde once put it, they are the “Oscars for data leeches”.

Credits

More about us

Organised by (among others):

BigBrotherAwards International

The BigBrotherAwards are an international project: Questionable practices have been decorated with these awards in 19 countries so far.