History of data protection: 1969

Key developments

🇪🇺 ⚖️ The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rules in the landmark case of Erich Stauder v City of Ulm – Sozialamt, concerning a war-disabled man who refused to have to disclose his identity in order to have access to discounted butter (Judgment of 12 November 1969 in Case 29-69).
An article on the ‘pitfalls of computers’ published on 10 June 1969 in the Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung, written by Hanno Kühnert (‘Tücken der Computer’) warns about the increase of power in the hands of those who use computers to process data. The piece is said to have given Georg-August Zinn, then Hesse Prime Minister, the impetus for the creation of the first Data Protection Act ever.

Also this year

🇬🇧 MP Kenneth Baker introduced into the House of Commons the Data Surveillance Bill, ‘to prevent the invasion of privacy through the misuse of computer information’ (published by Computers and Automation in July 1969). ‘One of the features of our society is the growing use of computers. There is no doubt that they will revolutionise our society and improve the conditions of man. But they should be our tools, not our masters‘, he said on 6 May 1969. He received help from IBM to draft the bill, and became the shareholder of a software company a year later, according to this interview for the IT Archives. At the House of Lords a Computers and Personal Records Bill was discussed.

Literature

Carter, Luther J. (1969), ‘National Data Bank: its advocates try to erase “Big Brother” image‘, Science 163.3863, 160-162.
Cheng, Kenneth (1969), ‘Privacy and Data Bank‘, Chitty’s Law Journal 17(3), 90-94.
Hoffman, Lance J. (1969), ‘Computers and privacy: A survey‘, ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), 1.2, 85-103.
Kamlah, Ruprecht (1969), Right of privacy: Das allgemeine Persönlichkeitsrecht in Amerikanischer Sicht unter Berücksichtigung neuer technologischer Entwicklungen, Heymans Verlag.
Kaysen, Carl, et al. (1969), ‘Report of the Task Force on the Storage of and Access to Government Statistics‘, The American Statistician 23.3, 11-19.
Miller, Arthur R. (1969), ‘Personal Privacy in the Computer Age: The Challenge of a New Technology in an Information-Oriented Society‘, Michigan Law Review 67, 1089-1246.

Rosenberg, Jerry Martin (1969), The Death of Privacy, Random House.
Russell Pipe, G. (1969), ‘Privacy: Establishing Restrictions on Government Inquiry‘, American University Law Review 18(3), 516-552.

In the media

‘Datenbank: Die Nummerung‘, Der Spiegel, 16/1969, 13 April 1969.
Morris, John D., ‘Lady Who Greets Newcomers May Be the Town Credit Spy‘, The New York Times, 21 May 1969, 68.
Bishop Jr., Joseph W. (1969), ‘Privacy vs. protection -The Bugged Society’, The New York Times, 8 June 1969.
‘‘Bugging’ Freedom Sought‘, Press, CIX, 32015, 16 June 1969, 13.
Schwartz, Herman, ‘Bugged‘, The New York Times, 20 July 1969.
‘Computers Seen As Threat To Privacy‘, Press, CIX, 32085, 5 September 1969, 14.

‘Bundesländer / Computer: Futter mit System‘, Der Spiegel, 40/1969, 28 September 1969.
‘Computers Pose Threat To Individual Privacy‘, Press, CIX, 32166, 9 December 1969, 14.
‘Computer noopt tot waakzaamheid: Risico bij behandeling persoonlijke gegevens‘, De tĳd : dagblad voor Nederland, 20 December 1969, 3.
‘Legalizing Privacy‘, Nature 222(3), 402.