Winners | BigBrotherAwards

Authorities & Administration (2015)

Federal Intelligence Agency (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND)

The BigBrotherAward 2015 in the category Administration is awarded to the Federal Intelligence Agency (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND), because of its intimate entanglement with the NSA’s surveillance network, which is contrary to…

Laudator.in

Dr. Rolf Gössner

Eine Barbie mit blonden Haaren. Rechts daneben ein Warnschild: „Warning! Audio surveillance. Barbie in operation.“

Image:Mike Licht CC-BY 2.0 Source

Technology (2015)

“Hello Barbie”

“Hello Barbie”, represented by the involved manufacturers Mattel and Toytalk, receives the BigBrotherAward in the Technology category. This doll is equipped with a microphone and Wi-Fi. It uses this to record conversations, sends…

Laudator.in

Linus Neumann

Ein erhobener Zeigefinger in schwarz-weiß.

Image:jazzlog CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Reprimands & Commendation (2008)

Trends, Notes of Disapproval, In Retrospect

Trends Companies allow themselves generous conditions for sharing data Alvar Freude Many companies trading on the internet are including vague or very wide-ranging statements in the privacy sections of their terms and conditions…

Image:jazzlog CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0

Reprimands & Commendation (2014)

Reprimands

Translations for the reprimands are not yet available, sorry.

Graffiti in schwarz-weiß von Edward Snowdens Augen. Er trägt eine kantige Brille.

Image:thierry ehrmann CC-BY 2.0 Source

Positive Award (2014)

Edward Snowden

For the first time, we introduce a positive award this year. The “Julia and Winston Award” was named after the “rebellious” main characters in George Orwell’s dystopian novel “1984”, from which the “Big Brother”concept is also…

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Heribert Prantl

Point of view: Eine Person, die vor einem Fernseher sitzt. Die Fernbedienung in der Hand zeigt Richtung Fernseher. Die Füße sind hochgelegt.

Image:PantherMediaAll rights reserved Source

Consumer Protection (2014)

LG

The South Korean electronics manufacturer LG receives the BigBrotherAward in the Consumer Protection category because the “smart” TV sets they sell transmitted detailed information about what people were watching to the firm’s HQ…

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padeluun

Image:Wiki05 Public Domain Source

Workplace (2014)

RWE

The BigBrotherAward 2014 in the Workplace category goes to RWE Vertrieb AG (RWE is Germany’s second-largest energy utility company, and RWE Vertrieb is its sales subsidiary). The company makes subcontractors use a surveillance…

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Sönke Hilbrans

Martin Haase am Redner.innenpult während seiner Laudatio zur Kategorie Neusprech.

Image:Fabian Kurz CC-BY 4.0

Newspeak (2014)

Metadata

We can tell others a lot about ourselves in conversations. What really strips us naked, though, is our metadata. They tell others what we think, plan, and do.

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Kai Biermann Martin Haase

Überwachungsturm mit einer US-Flagge hinter einer Mauer mit Stacheldraht.

Image:Joint Task Force Guantanamo CC-BY-ND 2.0 Source

Business (2014)

CSC

The BigBrotherAward 2014 in the “Business” Category goes to CSC (Computer Sciences Corporation). The company is currently working on commissions by 10 Federal German Ministries on security-related projects, such as the electronic…

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Rena Tangens

Point of view: Fahrer.innensitz eines Autos. Stau auf der Straße. Es ist dunkel. Ein Navi leuchtet.

Image:Dominik CC-BY-NC-ND 2.0 Source

Technology (2014)

„Spies in our Cars“

The BigBrotherAward in the “Technology” category goes to the “Spies in our Cars”, which look over our shoulders wherever we drive, collecting data, and sometimes even uploading it to the “cloud”. It is difficult to name a culprit…

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Frank Rosengart

Image:Lydia Berlin 01 CC-BY-SA 4.0 Source

Transport (2014)

MeinFernbus

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…

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Prof. Dr. Peter Wedde

Bundeskanzler.innenamt von außen bei strahlend blauem Himmel.

Image:Tischbeinahe CC-BY 3.0 Source

Politics (2014)

Federal Chancellery

The German BigBrotherAward in the Politics Category goes to the Federal Chancellery (Bundeskanzleramt) for their involvement in the NSA surveillance scandal and for their lack of defensive and protective action. One of the…

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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.