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Date: 2001-11-28
Ungarn: Big Brother Awards 2001-.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- "Sozialismus" gingen heute Abend über die Bühne. Eine quintessenzielle Delegation aus AT hat den Staats-Besuch der Delegation aus HU-Land vom 26. Oktober erwidert. Wie es 0perator, Telehans und Helmut W. alldort ergangen ist, wird, sobald die um 23:47 per Funktelefon im Überlandwagen kurz contactirten Herrschaften wieder schreiben können, asap hierorts relayed. -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- The Big Brother Awards (BBA) founded by Privacy International were handed out first time in Hungary on the 28th of November. The Hungarian award is the first occasion when it has been distributed in a former Socialist country. The Big Brother Award takes its name from George Orwell's famous phrase, "The Big Brother is Watching You," and the it is given to those government organizations, private individuals and companies that have violated human rights and abused their power of access to information in the most appalling way. This award will be henceforth-after the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Austria, Germany, France and Switzerland-granted each year in Hungary in five categories. The jury consisting of public personalities, lawyers, computer experts and artists took its decision on the 21st of November. Following are the results of the Hungarian vote: Category of companies: In the category of companies of the Hungarian Big Brother Awards, one of the hypermarkets of Tesco has been awarded because it had built a camera system for surveillance of its employees without any prior notification to them. Moreover, data stemming from the surveillance were preserved and used later even against the dismissed employees. In the Budaörs hypermarket of Tesco-Global Corporation, if any fired employee walked in as customer, security guards would spring up immediately out of the blue to escort him/her all over the store in a discriminative fashion. The jury also nominated for the award Microsoft Hungary Ltd. for the Passport function of the Hungarian version of Windows XP that was recently launched in Hungary. Among those nominated was a Hungarian enterprise (Suli Info kft.) as well, which would send-with the help of a computer system (via sms) - to the parents the marks received by their children in the classroom. This initiative stirred up serious indignation in the society at large, and it was discussed in articles in the Hungarian press. Government category: In the government category, the Ministry of Justice received the negative award because of the new draft Act on the protection of personal data and openness of data of public interest. This draft means that the private life of citizens would become more transparent and the activities of the State would be more enigmatic. This draft would-among other things-introduce the possibility of setting up surveillance by cameras in educational institutions and workplaces. The jury has also nominated in the government category the Central Office of the Ministry of Interior for Data Processing, Inventory and Elections (BM), because it handed over illegally the citizen's data to another government institution: the Department of Country Image (OK). This center started mailing out the government's publication "Országjáró" (Country Traveler) by name to every Hungarian citizen. OK is not entitled to use the data in this manner. The Ministry of Interior received another nomination since it has been putting up for sale the citizen's data as a business venture to those firms that are willing to pay for them. It has a lawful empowerment to do so, however-in the opinion of Hungarian e-privacy protectors-this is a violation of general interests of the society, since it allows many firms to use even the particulars of children in business purposes. In this way acted, for example, Hasbro, when it bought the list of addresses of Hungarian children from the Ministry of Interior. Personal Award: The award of BBA to private individuals goes to Member of Parliament Mr. Róbert Répássy for a draft amendment to a law that was finally not adopted because of constitutional objections by President Ferenc Mádl. According to this draft, Hungarian journalists would be fined for breach of public interest if they caused offense to any person in their columns, and if any court of law made a final verdict on that point. Award by the Public's Choice: The BBA awarded by the public was given on the basis of votes by internet users, by a large margin (39.4%), to the Department of Country Image for mailing out the 'Country Traveler' news sheet described above. This Center was able to achieve the misgivings of the public by its activities, since-although it was entitled by law to deliver any paper containing some data of public interest-it needed a precise legal authorization to use the names and addresses of the citizens. Positive E-privacy Award: The affirmative version of BBA was given to ex Parliamentary Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information Dr. László Majtényi to honor his pioneer's work in the field of Hungarian e-privacy. People were able to vote and/or nominate from 14th through 20th of November on the website www.nagytestverdij.hu and www.bigbrotherawards.hu (hosted by the Big Brother Austria) and the jury took these votes also into consideration when taking its decisions. Naturally, once a proposal got into the list of candidates, this would not mean that the given company, private individual or government agency had committed anything illegal. The award demonstrates in essence how the public judges the candidates morally and sociologically for their activities in the field of e-privacy. Presenting the awards in Budapest was attended by Dr. László Majtényi delivery of the award took (in the positive e-privacy category). The rest of the "awards" remained unaccepted. In the course of delivery of the Hungarian Big Brother Award, the organizers acted in full accordance with international practice. "...the kind of totalitarian state George Orwell envisaged doesn't spring up overnight. It is more likely creep into egzistence through the erosion of small freedoms and small rights to privacy." (New Scientist Editorial, 2001. 05. 05.) Budapest, 28.11.2001. Technology for People Foundation More information: Website: www.hu.bigbrotherawards.org Press release: http://www.hu.bigbrotherawards.org/press01.htm Contact persons: Zoltan Galantai or Csaba Miskolczy E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- - -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- edited by Harkank published on: 2001-11-28 comments to [email protected] subscribe Newsletter - -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- -.-. --.- 
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