Last but not least: Blocher wins a Big Brother Award
This inglorious award, given annually for the most egregious violations of the fundamental rights and privacy of Swiss citizens, is now in its eighth year. This year, Christoph Blocher, a member of the Federal Government, has received this dubious honor in the “State” category.
The Big Brother Award, the annual prize for the greatest violations of the fundamental rights and privacy of Swiss citizens, was presented for the eighth time on Friday in St. Gallen. Federal Councillor Christoph Blocher was the winner in the State category for his efforts to tighten up the Federal Protection of Information Act (BWIS). The laudatory speech pointed out that the bill provided for massively expanded preventive measures, such as the tapping of telephone conversations, the secret searching of computers, the hidden intrusion into and bugging of homes - all without concrete suspicion of a criminal offense and without independent judicial review of the measures. In other words: a police state, as the bill contradicts the Federal Constitution on several points. Helsana won in the Business category for its dubious procurement of patient data, as stated in the explanatory statement, while SBB and the Federal Office of Transport (FOT) won in the Workplace category for their widespread drug testing of railroad staff. The Audience Award for commendable resistance to surveillance and control went to blogger Thomas Brühwiler, alias BloggingTom. In his blog in August, he drew attention to an online pillory for late payers at Studentbooks.ch and other online stores.
