Apple And Donald Trump Named ‘Internet Heroes And Villains’

Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party in this year’s US Presidential Election, has been named one of the ‘Internet Villains of the Year’ by the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA).

Trump was named on the shortlist for a “complete lack of understanding at how the web works” after he called for the industry to shut down parts of the Internet in a bid to combat terrorism. This particular pledge also attracted the ire of hacktivist collective Anonymous, which declared a cyberwar on the tycoon.

Surveillance and privacy were dominant themes in Trump’s category, which was last year “won” by Home Secretary Teresa May. Mossack Fonseca, the firm whose leaked files resulted in the ‘Panama Papers’, was nominated for its poor cybersecurity and TCYK LLP was nominated for their ‘speculative invoicing’ campaign aimed at alleged copyright infringers.

Internet heroes and villains

The FBI was also named for its bid to force Apple to open up its iOS operating system to law enforcement agencies, a move the company said would break encryption and irrepariably damage the trust of its customers.

Apple’s very public battle against the FBI saw it named as one of ISPA’s ‘Internet Heroes of the Year’. At its Worldwide Developers’ Conference (WWDC) in California this week, the company was keen to emphasise the privacy of its devices.

Jo Cherry, Keir Stamers and Nicola Blackwood – all of whom are MPs and campaigned to improve the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill recently passed by parliament – were also nominated.

The Web Foundation was shortlisted for its work in connecting some of the world’s most remote communities and thinkbroadband.com editor Andrew Ferguson was listed for “tirelessly informing consumers” about their broadband options.

“Nomination was something of a surprise and looking forward to the tension of the awards ceremony,” said Ferguson. “Win or lose the work to keep a steady flow of information on the state of broadband in the UK, the shift in the commercial roll-outs to ultrafast brings many new challenges when trying to ensure all players remain sensible in the various claims of home passed and average speeds.”

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on July 7 in London.

“These nominations, many from the public, reflect the importance of privacy, cyber security and great broadband and the work many MPs have done scrutinising the Investigatory Powers Bill,” ISPA Secretary General Nicholas Lansman. “These awards are light-hearted in nature, but do contain a serious point, and I look forward to finding out who won in July.”

TechWeekEurope has contacted Apple and Donald Trump’s campaign and will update this article if we receive responses.

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