Big Brother Watch

Big Brother Watch
Formation2009
Founders Matthew Elliott, Alex Deane
TypeAdvocacy group
Location
  • Westminster
Director
Silkie Carlo
FundingOwned by Mark Littlewood and Lord Strasburger[1]
Websitebigbrotherwatch.org.uk

Big Brother Watch is a non-party British civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation.[2] It was launched in 2009 by founding director Alex Deane[3] to campaign against state surveillance and threats to civil liberties.[4] It was founded by Matthew Elliott.[5] Since January 2018, Silkie Carlo is the Director.[6][7]

The organisation campaigns on a variety of issues including: The rise of the surveillance state, police use of oppressive technology,[8][9] freedom and privacy online, the use of intrusive communications interception powers including the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act,[10][11] and the Investigatory Powers Act,[12] the protection of personal information and wider data protection issues.

The organisation is headquartered in the China Works building, Vauxhall, London,[13][14] and previously at 55 Tufton Street, London. [5]

The name "Big Brother Watch" originates from George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, published in 1949.[5]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference companies house was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Ashford, Warwick (November 14, 2014). "Big Brother Watch calls for better NHS data security in light of losses". Computer Weekly. TechTarget. Archived from the original on November 15, 2014. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019. Civil liberties pressure group Big Brother Watch has called for better health data security after a study revealed the NHS has suffered an average of six data breaches a day for the past three years.
  3. ^ "Alex Deane | Senior Managing Director | FTI Consulting". www.fticonsulting.com. Retrieved 2021-11-21.
  4. ^ "About". Archived from the original on July 7, 2014. Retrieved December 10, 2019.[self-published source] The archived link is live; however, the current version (9 Dec 2019) lacks information on when the organisation was founded.
  5. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Rachel (2021-04-19). "Big Brother Watch's Silkie Carlo: "The rule of law has broken down"". New Statesman. Retrieved 2021-11-23.
  6. ^ "About us". bigbrotherwatch.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-07-11.
  7. ^ "New Big Brother Watch Team announced". bigbrotherwatch.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2019-10-23.
  8. ^ Martin, Alexander J.; Cheshire, Tom (August 23, 2017). "Legal questions surround police use of facial recognition tech". Sky News. Sky UK. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019. Four years late on publishing its Biometrics Strategy, pressure mounts on the Government to introduce legal controls. (sub-title)
  9. ^ Hamilton, Fiona (August 15, 2017). "Body cameras for police have little impact on crime". The Times. England: Times Newspapers Limited. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  10. ^ Bowcott, Owen (November 7, 2017). "UK intelligence agencies face surveillance claims in European court". The Guardian (US ed.). Guardian News & Media Limited. Archived from the original on 2017-11-07. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  11. ^ Gallagher, Ryan (November 7, 2017). "European Court to Decide Whether U.K. Mass Surveillance Revealed by Snowden Violates Human Rights". The Intercept. First Look Media. Archived from the original on 2017-11-08. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  12. ^ MacAskill, Ewen (November 19, 2016). "'Extreme surveillance' becomes UK law with barely a whimper". The Guardian. England: Guardian News & Media Limited. Archived from the original on 2016-11-19. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.
  13. ^ "Contact". Big Brother Watch. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.[self-published source]
  14. ^ "Way: China Works, Southbank House (170386156)". OpenStreetMap. November 20, 2018. Retrieved 9 Dec 2019.