Big Brother Awards Italy 2006

From 19 May to 20 May Florence has hosted the E-Privacy 2006 conference,
organized as usual – by the Winston Smith Project with the help of several
volunteers.

This edition saw a much larger participation than 2005: the participants
could hardly fit the hall of Palazzo Vecchio, and several people had to
stand for the whole duration of the event. The number of presentations (19)
and participating organizations (14) saw a marked and unexpected growth.

As usual, the Italian Big Brother Awards were given during the conference.
Although none of the awards’ recipients were present, a mock Darth Vader –
prompting hilarity from the public – took the prizes in custody.

The positive prize “Winston Smith – Privacy Hero”, which was assigned in
2005 to Stefano Rodotà (former president of the Italian Privacy Authority)
was won by the No1984.org group, for its relentless information work against
Trusted Computing.

Trusted Computing was indeed one of the central players of the whole event,
as it also won the prize for “Most Invasive Technology”, while the prize
for “Worst Private Group” was assigned to the Trusted Computing Group, the
business association that is developing the technical specs of the Trusted
Computing technology. One can only deduce that the most dangerous enemy for
net-privacy in the coming future has been clearly identified by netizens.

Other BBA winners include Enzo Mazza, president of FIMI (Federazione
Industria Musicale Italiana – Italian Music Industry Federation) for its
organization’s lobbying on ISP’s responsibilities in copyright violation,
the Italian Privacy Authority for its power (pursuant to art. 158,
Legislative Decree 196/03) to enter private premises even without a judicial
mandate, and Mauro Masi of the Office of the President of the Council, for
blocking the ongoing reform work on Italian copyright law – which, among
other things, would have moved copyright violation from the criminal to the
civil sphere.

E-Privacy 2006 Conference
http://e-privacy.firenze.linux.it/index-e.html

Big Brother Awards Italy 2006
https://bba.winstonsmith.info/

Winston Smith Project
http://www.winstonsmith.info/

(Contribution by Andrea Glorioso, consultant on digital policies, and Marco
Calamari, founder of the Winston Smith Project)