The Guardian And GCHQ Named Internet Heroes And Villains At 2014 ISPA Awards

The Guardian has been named this year’s Internet Hero for its work in uncovering state-sponsored mass surveillance programmes, at the 2014 Internet Service Provider Association (ISPA) Awards, while the NSA and GCHQ have been awarded the dubious Internet Villain title for their role in creating such programmes.

The awards are given to the organisations which have most helped or hindered the Internet industry in the past year, as decided by the ISPA council.

The Guardian was present to collect its award at the event in London, but unsurprisingly there was no representative from either of the intelligence organisations, and their award was instead presented to digital rights campaigners at Big Brother Watch.

ISPA Awards

In total, almost 50 organisations were nominated in 16 categories at the 16^th annual event, with Hyperoptic, Metronet and Plusnet among those to be recognised for their achievements.

Hyperoptic retained its ‘Best Superfast Broadband’ title from last year and also won ‘Best Use of Digital’. The firm provides gigabit broadband to a number of UK cities and recently announced plans to expand its FTTP network in Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds.

Plusnet received the accolade for best fixed consumer broadband while Urban Wimax won the business award. Metronet won best wireless, while web hosting firm Catalyst2 was given the consumer choice and best consumer customer service awards.

Best business customer service was awarded to Exa networks, while Memset won best business customer service and Talk Straight received the accolade for best business use of cloud.

Soho66 was named best VoIP provider in what was described as a very competitive category, while there was also praise for Sky, which received the Internet safety and security award thanks to the depth and breadth of its awareness campaign, along with its clarity of advice and support for parents.

“Congratulations to all last night’s winners, the ISPA Awards are hugely diverse and highlight how diverse the UK internet industry is and the vital role it plays in the British economy,” said the ISPA secretary general Nick Lansman.

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