The so-called “Big Brother Awards” are given in 19 countries around the world. They award data offenders in business and politics and were therefore called “Oscars for data octopuses” by the French daily Le Monde. In Germany, Digitalcourage eV is responsible for awarding the prizes in cooperation with the Chaos Computer Club and other co-organizers.
On Friday evening some well-known and less well-known nominees could again enjoy the award. In the health category, for example, the Big Brother Award 2021 goes to the Berlin company Doctolib. According to the jury, the mediator of medical appointments disregards the confidentiality obligation on his internet platform. In addition, it should process the data of users and those from medical practices for commercial marketing purposes.
In the transport category, the association honored the EU Commission. The data protectionists criticize the mandatory introduction of the “On-Board Fuel Consumption Meter” (OBFCM) procedure for new vehicles since 2021. Large amounts of technical information about a car would be recorded and transmitted to the manufacturer together with the vehicle identification number.
Even before the award was made, the EU Commission rejected this accusation to the German Press Agency and declared the OBFCM procedure to be indispensable. After all, monitoring fuel consumption ensures that EU legislation on emissions reduction is being implemented correctly. A spokesman for the EU Commission said that the procedure is “a necessity in order to reduce global warming and pollutant emissions from road traffic.”
It is clear that the storage of the data must comply with the rules of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). That is justified. After all, every vehicle owner has the right to refuse to read out and report the data. The monitoring of the vehicle owner is not allowed.
Further awards went to
Other award winners are Google in the category “What makes me really angry”, the deputy chairman of the German Ethikrats, Julian Nida-Rümelin, in the Public Intellectual category and Proctorio in the Education category. – with material from dpa
