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2003 Big Brother Awards

Posted by timothy on from the good-year-for-the-war-buffs dept.

MacRonin writes "Privacy International today announced the winners of the 2003 Big Brother Awards. One of the judges, estimable Dr Ian Brown of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR), writes: "It was alternatively amusing and depressing to be one of the judges for these awards. RIP and data retention played a large part in our deliberations..." ... Read more at The Register (UK) - 2003 Big Brother Awards: The Winners. and Political News from Wired News - Blair Tagged as Privacy Threat."

12 of 189 comments (clear)

  1. Privacy Now More Than Ever by John+Leeming · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Given the upcoming Patriot Act II and current laws, it's good to know that there are those still willing to say the Emperor has no clothes.

    --
    "Eustace? Eustace? Are you there? Are you there?" = John Leeming
    1. Re:Privacy Now More Than Ever by EZmagz · · Score: 2, Interesting
      The sad thing is that there's fewer and fewer people willing to SAY that the Emperor has no clothes these days. Education is a big factor I'm sure, as John Q. Public doesn't have a clue as to what's going on with all the disgusting new laws and acts *cough* Patriot II *cough* that are being (or about to be) passed right under his nose.

      And honestly, why would he? The average person (at least here in the US) doesn't think about their personal freedom and liberties like the average /.'er does. Honestly, I didn't either until the Patriot Act was passed. Politics bore the hell out of me...but when I realized that the US gov't turned into an Orwell-esque made-for-shitty-t.v. movie, I raised an eyebrow. And I try to educate people when possible about what's going on that ISN'T going to be on the nightly news at 10pm.

      I'd insert the famous "Those who are willing to sacrifice personal liberty in the name..." quote, but it's been beat to death and I'd only be preaching to the quior. Fact is, it's a scary world out there that's getting even scarier. And as long as John Smith's golf game isn't directly affected in the middle of suburbia, ignorance will remain to be bliss.

      --

      "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for SEGA. ..."

  2. It's a shame.... by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It's a shame that the awards are for the UK only. Then again, it would be boring to see an awards show where every award either went to John Ashcroft or the MPAA / RIAA.

  3. Across-the-Pond Comparison by onthefenceman · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd be interested to see a comparison of civil liberties between the UK and the US. Video surveillance of public parks and streets is astoundingly common in England, as are photo-radar traffic cameras. However, based on what I've read I think the US has the upper hand in communications surveillance of net traffic and phone lines.

    --
    Have you seen my stapler?
    1. Re:Across-the-Pond Comparison by oliverthered · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Umm... your at War and the propaganda machine is running at full speed.

      The UK government was proposing that all ISP's retain data for 3 years. etc......

      Maybe you run more wire taps in the US, but in the UK they just keep the data, no wire taps required.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    2. Re:Across-the-Pond Comparison by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      You'd be amazed how much they can get from phone and credit card records, shopping patterns etc... (buy everything in cash).

      Phone conversations are regually lisened into (It's all digital, not 'wire tap' required), just to check everythings 'ok'

    3. Re:Across-the-Pond Comparison by benjiboo · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Apparently we have more CCTV cameras here in the UK than anywhere else in the world....

      From the CCTV Surveilance regulation campaign: The United Kingdom leads the world in the deployment of Closed Circuit Tele Vision camera technology. However, we seem to have no coherent, legally enforceable rules or regulations which ensure that Public CCTV schemes are run properly. This website aims to open up a debate about the extent to which powerful technologies such as linked CCTV camera systems, neural network facial recognition , car number plate recognition, multimedia image databases etc. are being applied in the UK.

      Why, in the UK, is television reception controlled by licences, backed up by criminal penalties, but no licencing is required to install linked CCTV camera systems?

      Are CCTV surveillance systems vital to keep order on our streets, or are there substantial civil liberties problems to be addressed ? Has the cost effectiveness of Public CCTV surveillance systems been oversold ? Is crime reduced or just displaced next door ?

      --
      Vacancy for signature. Apply within.
    4. Re:Across-the-Pond Comparison by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "We're at war" is the justification for what's going on in the US? Yeah, the infringement on our liberties just started last week...

      Besides, I thought the UK was in on this too.

      --

      If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
  4. Worst public servant by Neophytus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Worst Public Servant: London Mayor Ken Livingstone, whose traffic-reduction plan relies on a network of 700 surveillance cameras posted around the capital that photograph car license plates to enforce a new fee for driving during rush hour.

    I would disagree. Livingstone's system visibly cut traffic (certainly on the first day, since then the pictures havn't been plastered all over TV) and anyone can note down your registration plate anyway. In central London you cann't have ten lane wide payment barriers, nor can you widen roads or build flyovers. Something needed done, and this seemed drastic but as far a I can see it was one of the only viable options.

  5. Of course, a parking space tax within the area by Moderation+abuser · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Would have had a similar effect but without the need to spend £120 million initial investment and put the citizens under continial surveillance...

    --
    Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
  6. Hmm... by Peterus7 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What about Australia?

  7. Re:Security vs. Freedom by fatcat1111 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    While this is in practice generally true, this is actually false. Some good reads on the subject: Simson Garfinkel's Database Nation, and The Transparent Society by David Brin.

    From the former:
    Many people today say that in order to enjoy the benefits of modern society, we must necessarily relinquish some degree of privacy. If we want the convenience of paying for a meal by credit card, or paying for a toll with an electronic tag mounted on our rear view mirror, then we must accept the routine collection of our purchases and driving habits in a large database over which we have no control. It's a simple bargain, albeit a Faustian one.

    I think this tradeoff is both unnecessary and wrong. It reminds me of another crisis our society faced in the 1950s and 1960s -- the environmental crisis. Then, advocates of big business said that the poisoned rivers and lakes were the necessary costs of economic development, jobs, and an improved standard of living. Poison was progress: anybody who argued otherwise simply didn't understand the facts. Today we know better.

    --
    How Politicians Lie: http://www.factcheck.org/