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Deutsch: Vier Big Brother Awards für grobe Verstöße gegen den niederländisc...
The biggest Dutch privacy violations of 2010 have been awarded a Big Brother
Award on 9 March 2011 in Amsterdam. At the ceremonies, organized by
EDRi-member Bits of Freedom, an independent jury selected four 'lucky'
winners from twelve nominees: Dutch Security and Justice Minister Ivo
Opstelten, public transport organization Trans Link Systems, the Dutch
Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment and the application of Deep Packet
Inspection technology. Trans Link Systems also homed the Audience Award.
Bits of Freedom handed information security expert Rop Gonggrijp the
Winston, a positive lifetime achievement award, for his commitment to
protect privacy and freedom in the digital age.
The jury granted awards in four categories: 1. Individuals: Dutch Security and Justice Minister Ivo Opstelten wins the award for rewarding police forces that illegally retained number plate records ofdrivers, by introducing legislation to legalize the storage of number plates of all Dutch car drivers for four weeks.
2. Companies: Public transport organization Trans Link Systems is selected by the jury for rolling out their insecure public transport chip card and even considering it as a paying method in kiosks, in spite of loud privacy objections against the chip card across the Netherlands and it being hacked several times since 2005.
3. Government: the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment receives the award for a proposal to give authorities the power to conduct inspections in the private home of all social security records, without any suspicion of social security fraud.
4. Proposals: the application of Deep Packet Inspection would lead to a permanent wiretap on all internet traffic of every single Dutch citizen. Notwithstanding evident breach of communications secrecy, the Ministry of Security and Justice seriously considers the application of this intrusive technology.
An independent expert jury selected twelve nominees out of hundreds of submissions from the public and consequently picked the laureates. The jury consists of publicist Karin Spaink (chair), journalist and anchor for the popular TV-show Radar Antoinette Hertsenberg, professor of Media and Telecommunications Law Nico van Eijk, Computer Science researcher Melanie Rieback and journalist Bart de Koning.
The awards ceremonies also brought good news. Dutch information security specialist and privacy advocate Rop Gonggrijp received a lifetime achievement award for his commitment to privacy and freedom in the digital age. With the unique combination of unrivaled technological expertise and political drive, Mr. Gonggrijp has firmly set digital rights on the agenda and underscored its importance for more than twenty years. He exposed the insecurity of electronic voting in The Netherlands, and contributes to evolving research in India and Brazil. By doing so, Mr. Gonggrijp defends the privacy and freedom of over a billion people.
EDRi-member Bits of Freedom organizes the annual Big Brother Awards to attract public awareness for heavyweight privacy violations in The Netherlands. These winners are presented during awards ceremonies, which provide an annual overview of the state of privacy. The seventh edition of the Dutch Big Brother Awards is supported by: Pakhuis de Zwijger, the NLnet Foundation and designers Largetosti.
(Contribution by EDRi-member Bits of Freedom, Netherlands)