London, 26 October 1998

In October 1998, Privacy International presented the first annual "Big Brother" awards to the government and private sector organisations that have done the most to invade personal privacy in Britain.

The awards were bestowed at a special event on 26 October at the London School of Economics. "Winston" awards were given to individuals and organisations which have made an outstanding contribution to the protection of privacy, as well as to people who have been victims of privacy invasion.

Three "Big Brother" awards were presented to:

• the government agency
• the company
• the initiative

which have done most to invade personal privacy. A "lifetime achievement" award was also presented.

The awards were judged by a panel of experts, comprising lawyers, academics, consultants, journalists and civil rights activists based on nominations from members of the public. The nominations received covered a wide spectrum, ranging from large, well-known institutions, to smaller organisations which specialise in surveillance. Nominations included private investigators, police agencies, telecommunications companies, national security operations, and companies which export surveillance technology to overseas military regimes.

PRODUCT AWARD

HARLEQUIN which has created the WatCall telephone traffic analysis system, which allows police to analyse telephone records to create "friendship networks" which are then linked to existing police intelligence systems to automatically target people who are of interest. This activity takes place without the issue of any warrant.

CORPORATE AWARD

PROCUREMENT SERVICES INTERNATIONAL. One of the more malodorous UK organisations exporting surveillance equipment to such military regimes as Indonesia and Nigeria. Its equipment has been used to aid the genocide of the East Timor population.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AWARD

NEWHAM COUNCIL for its Mandrake automatic face recognition system. The council has installed this software for the areas 140 cameras. It intends to automatically identify people "of interest" to authorities.

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT AWARD

THE DEPARTMENT OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY for its promotion of bad encryption policy, particularly the farcical white paper on Trusted Third Parties in 1997.

PEOPLE'S CHOICE WINNER

JACK STRAW For invasion of privacy above and beyond the call of duty. Justification includes the Police Act, treatment of asylum seekers, extension of police powers and information gathering practices, secret activities within the European K4 (Justice and Home Affairs) Committee, and the development of "conflict management" strategies that allow police to store information on protesters, travellers or anybody else they believe may threaten public order.

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

MENWITH HILL SIGNALS INTELLIGENCE BASE (Yorkshire), the world largest spy station, built and operated by the US National Security Agency. Its ECEHLON keyword recognition system, used to dragnet global communications, was last month debated by the European Parliament.

THE WINSTON AWARDS

SCHNEWS is a Brighton based weekly newsletter which for the past three years has done a great deal to raise awareness of privacy and surveillance issues, particularly those which the mainstream media refuse to touch. Its small team works on a voluntary basis, and the publication (which is free) is seen as one of the most influential civil liberties organs in Britain.

LINDIS PERCY has for many years fought to raise awareness of the activities of the US National Security Agency, particularly relating to Menwith Hill, the agencies key spy base, located in Yorkshire. She has been arrested more than 150 times, and has recently been jailed for her actions, despite being a quaker and a pacifist. ALAN LODGE is a Leeds photographer who has spent more than a decade raising awareness of front-line police surveillance activities, particularly the endemic practice of photographing demonstrators and activists.

ESTHER BULL is a 19-year-old student who last year discovered that her landlord had placed a video camera behind a two-way mirror in her bathroom. Esther had been filmed secretly for nearly two years, but the lack of a privacy law meant that the perpetrator could only be prosecuted under the "bad landlord" laws. She has helped form the "Operation Peeping Tom" campaign to encourage other victims to tell their story.

HARRY COHEN is a Labour MP who has consistently worked to strengthen data protection by introducing private members bills. He has frequently been a lone voice in Parliament on this issue.

Future Awards

The event was the first of its kind in the world, taking place on the 50^th anniversary of the writing of George Orwell's 1984. The event will be staged every year. Privacy International is also planning to extend the award throughout Europe, Asia and North America. The US awards will be presented at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy '99 Conference in Washington, DC, 6-8 April 1999.