Dob in Big Brother: awards recognise invasions of personal privacy

Stuart Corner
Thursday, 27 August 2009 11:31

IT Industry - Strategy

Know of somebody or something that has exhibited blatant disregard for the privacy of the individual? Well now you can give them the recognition they richly deserve by voting for them in The Australian Privacy Foundation's Big Brother awards: accepting submissions this year from the general public for the first time.

The Awards consist of two groups, the 'Orwells' that "recognise organisations, technologies and people that have invaded or threaten to invade privacy," and the 'Smiths' (named after Winston Smith, hero of George Orwell's novel 1984) that acknowledge defenders of personal privacy.

The Orwell Awards for this year are for the categories of:
- Worst Corporate Invader - for a corporation that has shown a blatant disregard for privacy;
- Worst Public Agency or Official - for a government agency or official that has shown a blatant disregard for privacy;
- Most Invasive Technology - for a technology that is particularly privacy invasive;
- Boot in the Mouth - for the 'best' (most appalling!) quote on a privacy-related topic;
 
The Smith Awards are for the categories of:
- Best Privacy Guardian - for a meritorious act of privacy protection or defence;
- Lifetime Achievement - for outstanding services to privacy protection.
 
This year, for the first time, the public will be invited to vote for the winners of both sets of awards at events to be held concurrently in pubs in at least Sydney and Canberra. Details of the venues will be available after nominations close.

Big Brother Awards have been handed out in 16 countries since 1998. They are presented around the world by the national members and affiliated organisations of Privacy International to "corporations, public officials and governments that have shown a blatant disregard for privacy...who have done the most to threaten personal privacy in their countries."

The Australian Big Brother Awards were established in 2003. However the Foundation's web site http://www.privacy.org.au suggests that they have only been given out twice, in 2003 and 2006.

In 2006 The 'Orwell' for Greatest Corporate Invader was awarded to all Australian banks "for continuing to send personal information to the worldwide financial messaging service SWIFT even after confirmation that the entire information set was being provided to US national security agencies, in breach of privacy laws or expectations in many countries."

Runners up were Direct Health Solutions, for providing an 'absence management service' that used call centre nurses to interrogate employees phoning in sick; and PMP – a distributor of unaddressed junk mail – for providing an 'absence management service', that required all deliverers to wear a GPS unit for tracking their 'walks' in real time.

Full details of the 2006 awards can be found here . Nominations for the 2009 awards can be made here. The close on 11 October.