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Big Brother Awards: Fielmann and Apollo Optik receive “Surveillance Oscar”
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The Big Brother Awards 2026 were awarded today. The winners are Fielmann and Apollo Optik, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the EU Commission and Deutsche Telekom.
They are considered “the Oscars against surveillance”: This Friday, the Digitalcourage association in Bielefeld is holding the annual German onehttps://bigbrotherawards.de/2026">BigBrother Awardsforgive.
Companies, authorities, organizations and individuals who particularly undermine privacy and data protection receive the data protection negative price. A five-member jury decides on the winners in various categorieshttps://bigbrotherawards.de/ueber-uns/jury">Expert jury.
Complicit in the normalized total surveillance
Fielmann and Apollo Optik won in the “Technology” category. The two opticians sell Meta Smart Glasses. The “spy glasses” make it possible to unobtrusively create image and sound recordings and “thus normalize the total surveillance of all areas of life,” according to the laudator Elisabeth Niekrenz.
In the past, surveillance glasses have repeatedly led to privacy violations, particularly of women. So-called “pick-up artists” ask strangers for their phone number and upload the video recordings to social media. Even in fitness studios or swimming pools, men unnoticed women using the glasses. Those affected were sexualized and exploited for calls on social media. Onehttps://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/wbj2x_v2">australianstudyshows that an attack is encouraged when perpetrators film with smart glasses instead of a cell phone camera.
https://netzpolitik.org/2026/ueberwachungsbrille-von-meta-ich-sehe-was-w...see what you don't see
Besides, there ishttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/sex-banking-toilette-menschen-in-nairobi-si...about exploitative conditions among US company service providers in Kenya. Employees should view recordings there and prepare them for AI training - including images of going to the toilet, naked people and private messages. It is unclear what metahttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/ueberwachungsbrille-von-meta-ich-sehe-was-w...the data collected.
Fielmann and Apollo Optik apparently have no problem with the criticism. They use their market-leading position in Germany to market the devices to a wide range of customers.
Thanks to them, smart glasses are no longer products for geeks, as they are available directly from your trusted optician and can be tried on in every German pedestrian zone. – Elisabeth Niekrenz
Fielmann advertises the Ray-Ban/Meta-Glasses as stylishhttps://www.fielmann.de/ratgeber/sonnenbrillen/ray-ban-meta/">Statement-...on his website. They are intended to make everyday life more comfortable. Apollo describes the glasses ashttps://www.apollo.de/inspiration/ray-ban-meta">“iconic”. According to Niekrenz, both companies are “complicit” in selling the stalkerware, which is why they deserve the “Surveillance Oscar.”
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More awards
Deutsche Telekom received the Big Brother Award in the “preventive” category. The company is apparently planning to work with the US subsidiary T‑Mobile UShttps://www.sueddeutsche.de/wirtschaft/deutsche-telekom-t-mobile-us-fusi...merge. Depending on the design, domestic German communication could also be subject to the requirements of US surveillance laws in the future.
https://netzpolitik.org/2026/alterskontrollen-der-pudding-wird-uns-auf-d...Pudding will fall on our feet
For your extensive legislative proposal – thehttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/digitale-enteignung-datenschuetzer-warnen-v...omnibus– the EU Commission was awarded. According to criticism from civil rights activists, she wants to weaken data protection rules with the legislative package.
For the second year in a row, Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt holds his own in the “Authorities & Administration” category. The Federal Ministry of the Interior wants the tax IDhttps://netzpolitik.org/tag/personalkennziffer/">zuruniversal personal identification numberfor all citizens. This allows authorities to link personal data.
The Evangelical Northern Church also received an award. It obliges its communities to use services from the US company Microsoft and thereby reveals sensitive data about its members.
For the second time, younger voices also had their say in the “young and monitored” category. The “Teckids” criticize clearly in a stage performancehttps://netzpolitik.org/2026/alterskontrollen-der-pudding-wird-uns-auf-d...planned social media banfor young people.
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Become part of this unique community and support our public interest-oriented, advertising- and tracking-free journalismhttps://netzpolitik.org/spenden/?via=rss">nowwith a donation.
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