Stepping on Big Brother's Toes

[indigobusiness]

Cars that report your every false move to local law authorities. Huge databases with detailed information on every citizen. Companies that only honor privacy guidelines when it's profitable for them to do so.

These were some of the winners of Privacy International's sixth annual U.K. Big Brother Awards, announced Wednesday. The awards are an annual attempt to publicly name and shame the government and private-sector organizations that have done the most to invade personal privacy in Britain.

The winners of Worst Public Servant, Most Invasive Company, Most Appalling Project, Most Heinous Government Organization and Lifetime Menace were selected by a panel of experts consisting of lawyers, academics, consultants, journalists and civil rights activists.

snip

"We are seeing a race to the bottom, where government and private sector alike compete to provide the most intrusive services in the most unstable environment for privacy," said Davies. "The proclaimed need for protection of children and the fight against terrorism is often shamelessly used as the pretext for privacy invasion."

http://www.wired.com/news/privacy/0,1848,64379,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_9

[ixion]

1. sigh... this stuff is depressing...

We can call it by name 'Big Brother'. We know what it is and where it lives. We know it's history, and what its designs are for the future, and yet we sit here, watching it telegraph the blow that it will deliver to an individual's right to a life of their choosing, beyond the grasp of this monsters tentacles.

And yet we sit and watch as it swallows our civilization.

I just don't get it. :crazy:

[indigobusiness]

2. I know what you mean.

Apathy strikes deep, I reckon.