Privacy and freedom of information online are recognized as important human rights issues in the United Kingdom
The "Big Brother" Awards, celebrated annually to recognize the heroes and villains of privacy were held in London on December 4th. "Winstons" were presented to individuals and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the protection of privacy. "Orwell" statuettes were pressed on the government agencies, companies and initiatives which have done most to invade personal privacy.
Source : APC
LONDON, UK -- The "Big Brother" Awards, celebrated annually to recognize the heroes and villains of privacy were held in London on December 4th. "Winstons" were presented to individuals and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the protection of privacy. "Orwell" statuettes were pressed on the government agencies, companies and initiatives which have done most to invade personal privacy.
This year, Karen Banks of GreenNet (APC member in the UK, and co-sponsor of the event along with silicon.com) presented Caspar Bowden of the Foundation for Information Policy Research (FIPR) with a Winston, in recognition of FIPR's continuing work surrounding the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act.
A "Lifetime Menace" award was presented to the UK Home Secretary, Jack Straw, winner of this prestigious trophy for the past three years running for "the truly astonishing achievement of being [..] consistently authoritarian".
FIPR was nominated for another British prize this year - the Liberty/Justice Human Rights Award 2000 for human rights work in England and Wales. The award which was announced on December 11, was finally given to the Campaign for Freedom of Information (CFOI) for their work to achieve greater freedom of information legislation in the UK. APC wishes to congratulate FIPR, our prize-nominee, for reaching the short-list of this prestigious prize.
The UK faces continued invasion of privacy with UK Intelligence services secretly seeking new powers of Communications Data Retention to keep records of all calls, emails and visited Websites in a National
Communications Data Warehouse for up to seven years. You can read more about GreenNet and other APC members and partners' efforts to defend online human rights by visiting our Internet Rights section:
http://www.apc.org/english/rights/
Big Brother nominees and awards:
http://www.privacyinternational.org/bigbrother/uk2000/
A GreenNet user, Undercurrents, videoed the night, and attempts to
present awards to recipients. http://www.undercurrents.org/
Liberty/Justice Human Rights Award:
http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/
Originator: --- (GreenNet)
Date: 12/15/2000
Location: LONDON, UK
Contact: coordinator@apc.org
Category: Internet Rights
Source: GreenNet
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