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TheBig Brother Awards (BBAs) aremocking awards that recognize "the government and private sector organizations ... which have done the most to threatenpersonal privacy". They are named after theGeorge Orwell characterBig Brother from the novelNineteen Eighty-Four. They are awarded yearly to authorities, companies, organizations, and persons that it is asserted have been acting particularly and consistently to threaten or violate people's privacy, or disclosed people'spersonal data to third parties.[1]
The awards are intended to draw public attention toprivacy issues and related alarming trends in society, especially indata privacy. The contest is organized by a loose coalition ofnongovernmental organizations, including Iuridicum Remedium,[2]Privacy International,[3] and others.
The United States' most recently hosted its Big Brother Awards – also known as theOrwell Awards or simplythe Orwells – on 14 April 2005 in Seattle, Washington. They had previously been hosted in Berkeley, California, on 12 April 2004; New York City on 3 April 2003; San Francisco, California, on 18 April 2002; and Cambridge, Massachusetts, on 7 March 2001. The first annual US Big Brother Awards were made at theComputers, Freedom and Privacy Conference in Washington, D.C., on 7 April 1999, the 50th anniversary of the publication of Orwell'sNineteen Eighty-Four.[4] The awards were made bySimon Davies, managing director[5] of the London-based Privacy International to recognize "the government and private sector organizations which have done the most to invade personal privacy in the United States."[4] The awards were given in five categories: Greatest Corporate Invader, Lifetime Menace, Most Invasive Program, People's Choice, and Worst Public Official.[5]
The following countries have their own version of the Big Brother Awards:
