2023
The deliberate and targeted disclosure of personal data of over 800 individuals, labeling them as “agents” by the political party “Vazrazhdane” is the reason it was awarded the anti-award “Big Brother.”
The ceremony, organized by the Access to Information Programme and Internet Society - Bulgaria, took place at the literary club “Peroto” in the National Palace of Culture, Sofia, on 28 January – International Data Protection Day.
A nine-member jury, consisting of journalists, NGO representatives, and experts, unanimously selected the party “Vazrazhdane” among all nominations for consciously violating the right to privacy on one hand, and deliberately singling out and stigmatizing a group of people on the other.
“This reminds one of Hannah Arendt’s thesis about the so-called radical evil in totalitarian societies, which consists of declaring a portion of people unnecessary, even harmful,” commented Associate Professor Georgi Lozanov, a jury member.
According to lawyer Alexander Kashamov, Executive Director of AIP, the case of the so-called “Kostadinov list” illustrates the very purpose of personal data protection: to safeguard individual freedom from a state that seeks to suppress it.
“This legislation was created in response to the great crimes committed during the Second World War. Its main prohibition is against indiscriminate and purposeless profiling of people, who can then more easily be stigmatized and repressed. The protective principle of data protection follows this clear line: profiling → stigmatization → repression,” Kashamov added.
Interestingly, representatives of the party “Vazrazhdane” themselves appear highly sensitive about their personal data, as revealed when a large portion of the so-called anti-vaxxers were found to actually be vaccinated.
Other notable nominations included:
- All government agencies using Google Analytics;
- Ministry of Education and Science;
- National Revenue Agency (NRA/NAP);
- DSK Bank.
The nomination regarding agencies using Google Analytics, specifically the NRA website, was presented by Dimitar Ganchev, Deputy Chair of the Board of Internet Society - Bulgaria. He explained that by using an external company’s tools (Google Analytics), the NRA website shares user data with that company.
“The use of a tracking system in itself is not a problem, since the website owner has the right to know what its users do. But providing this information to an external company is the issue. That is why we extended the nomination not only to NRA but to all institutions using such tracking systems,” Ganchev said.
A separate nomination addressed the “NAPLeaks” case in 2019, when a massive amount of data of approximately 95% of users was leaked. “Some experts called it a digital catastrophe. That’s why we considered it a standalone nomination. It is still unclear whether the information could be misused, even years later. Depending on the volume of data involved, it may pose a national security risk. A response is also awaited from the prosecutor’s office, where proceedings are pending,” shared Bilyana Gyaurova-Vegertseder, Executive Director of Bulgarian Institute for Legal Initiatives.
The DSK Bank nomination also dates to 2019, when data from pre-credit files of over 33,000 people were leaked, including financial, property, credit, transactional, health information, and more. The CPDP responded, conducted a check, and issued a penalty of 1 million leva.
The nomination of the Ministry of Education and Science was one of the few with a positive outcome, according to the jury. The complainant reported unlawful processing of their child’s personal data. As a result, measures were taken at the ministry level, including sample templates and instructions for schools to comply with the GDPR.
The “Big Brother” anti-award has been presented in Bulgaria for the eighth time since 2002. For 2023, two ceremonies are planned—one in Bulgaria and one in Germany. “Big Brother” symbolizes the state from George Orwell’s dystopia 1984, which, while claiming to care for people’s welfare, actually strips them of freedom. Accordingly, the international symbol of the award is a military boot crushing a human head.
“This anti-award has by no means lost its relevance today, and it seems it will not lose it anytime soon. With the development of the internet and artificial intelligence, we see ever more challenges for society,” commented Alexander Kashamov. “Access to information and personal data protection are two sides of the same coin, whose common goal is called ‘freedom.’ The fundamental principle is that citizens should remain opaque to the state, while the state must be as transparent as possible to its citizens,” he added.
