"Orwell Awards"

[Peter Marshall <techdiff@ix.netcom.com>]

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   Volume 6.06	                                   April 22, 1999
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"Orwell Awards" Presented to Biggest U.S. Privacy Invaders


Privacy International presented its first Orwell Awards on April 7 to
the worst corporate and government privacy invaders in the United
States.  Privacy International's Director, Simon Davies, said the
awards were designed to raise awareness of the erosion of privacy
rights in the U.S.  "Surveillance over our private lives has reached a
dangerous new level. It's time to turn the spotlight around and shine
it on the invaders."  The awards were presented at the Computers,
Freedom and Privacy (CFP99) conference in Washington, DC.

A total of five awards were announced, but most recipients were not on
hand to receive them.  The winner in the "Worst Public Official"
category was Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL) for his numerous activities in
Congress opposing privacy, including pushing through a law increasing
wiretapping approved last year, several bills promoting the creation
of a national ID card, opposition to efforts to improve financial
privacy, and his recent efforts to amend the SAFE encryption bill to
mandate key escrow.  Runners-up were New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani
(for his suggestion to take DNA samples of all children at birth) and
Ambassador David Aaron and White House Advisor Ira Magaziner (for
their travels around the world promoting encryption restrictions and
opposing privacy laws).

The Federal Depository Insurance Corporation received the award for
"Most Invasive Proposal" for its "Know Your Customer" proposal (see
EPIC Alert 6.05).  The runners-up were the Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and the FAA's Airline ID Program.  The
"Greatest Corporate Invader" award went to Elensys Inc., a Woburn,
Massachusetts company that has secretly collected the pharmacy records
of millions of consumers from 15,000 pharmacies nationwide.  The
runners-up were Intel for the Pentium III Processor Serial Number
(designed to identify and track users) and ImageData for its attempts
to create a national database of drivers license photographs.

The "Lifetime Menace" award went to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation for its activities over the past 80 years, including
CALEA, COINTELPRO, and its efforts on information warfare.  Runners-up
were the Direct Marketing Association, the National Security Agency,
and credit bureau TransUnion Corp.  Finally, Microsoft Corp. received
the "People's Choice" award for the Global User ID Number, Open
Profiling System, and the proposed P3P standard.  The other candidates
were Intel, President Clinton and Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr.

Two "Brandeis" Awards were presented to individuals who have made an
outstanding contribution to the protection of privacy, as well as to
victims of privacy invasion who have successfully fought back.  Phil
Zimmermann, author of the encryption program Pretty Good Privacy, and
Diana Mey, a West Virginia housewife who successfully took on Sears
telemarketers, were the recipients this year.

More information on the awards can be found at:

     http://www.bigbrotherawards.org/