The BigBrotherAward 2025 in the category Authorities and Administration goes to the Minister of the Interior Alexander Dobrindt for his so-called Security Package, which envisions wide-ranging use of face-search engines. Dobrindt’s ministry wants to cooperate with privacy-incompatible suppliers such as Clearview AI and PimEyes, who use all pictures that can be found online – whether they were published with permission or not. The Interior minister’s draft law seeks to legitimise these illegal snooping practices. Also, Dobrindt wants to introduce the highly controversial Palantir software by anti-democrat Peter Thiel at the federal government level.

Laudatio: Elisabeth Niekrenz