UK Big Brother Awards

The shortlist for 2004 UK Big Brother Awards has been released. It's been created by Privacy International, a London based civil rights group, to raise awareness about privacy threats ranging from military surveillance to workplace drug testing.

Contenders for Worst Public Servant are Margaret Hodge who backed the idea of a database of children and "good behaviour" orders for children as young as eight and Katherine Courtney + Stephen Harrison for promoting the National ID card.

Shortlisted for Most Invasive Company are LloydsTSB for its insistence that customers report to a branch with documents to prove their identities and FollowUS , a company which allows people to track mobile phones for "security or fun".

Among contenders for the Most Appalling Project prize: Vodafone for its project to bar all "adult" sites; the NHS for its plan to "computerise all patient records in a way that is both insecure and dangerous to patient privacy."

The award night will take place at the London School of Economics, from 6.30pm on Wednesday 28 July. To attend RSVP as soon as possible to simon@privacy.org or phone 0207 955 6579.

From The Register.