Stepping on Big Brother's Toes

[dave () farber net]

...... Forwarded Message .......
From: Kurt Albershardt <kurt () nv net>
To: dave () farber net
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2004 11:25:18 -0700
Subj: Stepping on Big Brother's Toes

Stepping on Big Brother's Toes
<http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64379,00.html>

01:30 PM Jul. 28, 2004 PT

Cars that report your every false move to local law authorities. Huge 
databases with detailed information on every citizen. Companies that only 
honor privacy guidelines when it's profitable for them to do so.

These were some of the winners of Privacy International's sixth annual U.K. 
Big Brother Awards, announced Wednesday. The awards are an annual attempt 
to publicly name and shame the government and private-sector organizations 
that have done the most to invade personal privacy in Britain.

The winners of Worst Public Servant, Most Invasive Company, Most Appalling 
Project, Most Heinous Government Organization and Lifetime Menace were 
selected by a panel of experts consisting of lawyers, academics, 
consultants, journalists and civil rights activists.

Winners were chosen from roughly 300 people and organizations nominated by 
the public. They receive a lovely gold statue of a boot stamping on a human 
head, which is usually mailed to the winners, as none has never shown up to 
collect its award.

Big Brother Awards are now held as an annual event in 17 countries. Each 
event typically focuses on privacy violations in the host country.

But Privacy International opted to make an exception this year by including 
in the U.K. awards a U.S. initiative, US-Visit. This security program 
requires that most foreign visitors traveling to the United States on a 
visa have their index fingers digitally scanned and a digital photograph 
taken, so that immigration officers can verify their identity before the 
visitors are allowed entry into the United States.

"The scheme is offensive and invasive, and has been undertaken with little 
or no debate or scrutiny," said Simon Davies, director of Privacy 
International. "Nor has the requirement taken any account of the 'special 
relationship' between the U.K. and the U.S. The U.K. government has been 
silent about the program and has capitulated every step of the way."

Margaret Hodge, U.K. minister of state for children, won Worst Public 
Servant because of her support for a controversial tracking system that 
would share information collected on minors by Britain's National Health 
program with other government agencies.

While the ministry believes that such tracking would prevent child abuse, 
others have fought it on the basis that sharing such information is a 
breach of doctor-patient confidentiality.

British Gas was cited as the Most Invasive Company, after it declared that 
U.K. privacy rules prevented it from helping an elderly couple who were 
found dead of hypothermia in their home last winter, weeks after their gas 
service was cut off due to nonpayment of a 140-pound ($255) bill.

British Gas said the Data Protection Act, intended to ensure that personal 
information is protected, prohibited it from reporting the situation to 
social services agencies that could have helped the couple restore heating 
service.

Runner-up in this category was banking firm Lloyds TSB, which has been 
demanding that customers present themselves at their local branch office 
with proper photo ID or face having their bank accounts frozen. Lloyds 
describes the project as a way to stop terrorism and international money 
laundering.

FollowUs, a company that uses GPS chips embedded in mobile phones to locate 
the phones' users "for peace of mind, security or fun" was also a runner-up.

Most Appalling Project was awarded to Britain's National Health Service 
electronic medical records program, which aims to computerize patient 
records in a way that some have protested is insecure and will compromise 
patient privacy.

Runner-up in this category was mobile-phone company Vodafone, which blocks 
customers from logging onto adult websites through their phone handsets in 
order, the company says, to protect mobile-phone-toting, porn-seeking 
children.

Customers can access adult websites by proving their age by providing their 
credit card details to the company online, over the phone or in person, and 
specifically requesting that adult-access blocks be dropped.

Most Heinous Government Organization was won by The Office of National 
Statistics for its development of the Citizen Information Project, which 
will collect, collate and share U.K. citizens' data with other government 
agencies.

The Department for Transport won runner-up for its electronic 
vehicle-identification program, currently under development. Known as the 
Spy in the Dashboard, the program will embed microprocessor chips into 
cars. The chips would automatically report any instances of speeding, 
illegal parking and other grievous offenses to authorities, who would 
follow up with a summons.

"We are seeing a race to the bottom, where government and private sector 
alike compete to provide the most intrusive services in the most unstable 
environment for privacy," said Davies. "The proclaimed need for protection 
of children and the fight against terrorism is often shamelessly used as 
the pretext for privacy invasion."

This September, Privacy International plans to publish a comprehensive 
study of antiterrorism policy developments worldwide. 

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