Big Brother Award: negative price for data misuse by Lieferando, Klarna and the police

Created: 04/29/2022, 18:51

By: Tanja Koch

Followed at every turn: Lieferando received the negative Big Brother Award because the company collects data on the behavior of its couriers.

© Jan Woitas/dpa

The Big Brother Award was presented in Bielefeld.

He draws attention to when, for example, companies or institutions monitor employees.

Bielefeld – Every year since 2000, the Big Brother Award has drawn attention to when companies or institutions collect data unjustifiably, store it in a questionable way or misuse it.

At this year's ceremony on April 29, 2022 in Bielefeld, the negative prize for "data sinners" went to the police, the delivery service Lieferando and the payment service provider Klarna.

Further “anti-prizes” went to Bundesdruckerei and the Irish data protection authority DPC in Bielefeld on Friday evening. 

In the working world category, the prize went to the Lieferando delivery service, which had already been criticized for poor working conditions in the past.

The background is a "total control" of the delivery people using an app.

This records several aspects of driver behavior down to the second.

The payment service provider Klarna, about which the consumer advice center had already warned, was reprimanded in the area of ​​consumer protection.

The company from Sweden records and collects data and power in a non-transparent way as a shopping service, payment service provider, price comparison portal and bank.

The Bundesdruckerei and the data protection authority DPC were also "awarded" with the Big Brother Award

The Federal Criminal Police Office was reprimanded on behalf of the police.

The focus was on the type of storage and use of personal data.

According to the justification for the complaint, these are often not or not sufficiently marked.

As a result, millions of people could be unfairly treated as dangerous or criminals by the police or other authorities.

Bundesdruckerei was "awarded" the negative prize in the technology category for a use of "blockchain" technology that was worthy of criticism.

Storing personal data in the blockchain is "a total loss for data protection," the association explained.

Because: Data stored in a blockchain could no longer be deleted.

The Irish data protection authority DPC was reprimanded for its life's work.

The authority actively prevents European data protection law from being enforced.

Ireland is said to be a “tax haven” for tech companies such as Google, Apple, Facebook, WhatsApp and Microsoft.

Big Brother Award: In 2021, Google and the European Commission were reprimanded

The German Big Brother Awards are presented by the non-profit association Digitalcourage together with other citizens' initiatives.

The association has been campaigning for fundamental rights and data protection against the background of digitization since 1987. 

Last year, for example, the prize went to Google for manipulating the Internet advertising market, "starving out creatives and the media" and the expropriation of digital personalities. 

The European Commission was reprimanded in the area of ​​transport.

The On-Board Fuel Consumption Meter process would record significant amounts of a car's technical information and transmit it to the manufacturer along with the vehicle identification number.

The procedure for new cars has been mandatory since the beginning of 2021.

(Tanja Koch)