The Big Brother Awards (BBAs) are mocking awards that recognize "the government and private sector organizations ... which have done the most to threaten personal privacy". They are named after the George Orwell character Big Brother from the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. They are awarded yearly to authorities, companies, organizations, and persons that it is asserted have been acting particularly and consistently to threaten or violate people's privacy, or disclosed people's personal data to third parties.