Worst Public Official: won by US Congressman Mr Bill McCollum of Florida for his various anti-privacy activities, including pushing through a law widening the scope for wiretapping.
Runners-up: New York Mayor Mr Rudolph Giuliani (who suggested all children should give DNA samples at birth) and Ambassador Mr David Aaron and White House adviser Mr Ira Magaziner (who both pushed the White House line on restricting the use of encryption software for encoding data on a computer).
Most Invasive Proposal: won by the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation for its "Know Your Customer" proposal.
Greatest Corporate Invader: Elensys Inc which has secretly collected the pharmacy records of millions of consumers.
Runners-up:Intel for the Pentium III Processor Serial Number (which can identify and track users across networks or the Internet) and ImageData for attempts to create a US national database of drivers licence photographs.
Lifetime Menace: won by the FBI
People's Choice: given to Microsoft for the Global User ID Number and Open Profiling System, elements of Windows and Office which allow Internet tracking
Runners-up: were Intel, President Clinton, Special Prosecutor Mr Kenneth Starr.
Fore more information see http://www.bigbrotherawards.org/.
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