Gloria González Fuster

Key developments

• 🇸🇪 On 11 May 1973 Sweden adopts the first national data protection law ever, the Swedish Data Act: see The Swedish Data Bank Statute and regulation of May 11, 1973 (English translation for the Library of Congress).

• 🇺🇸 In the United States, is published the Report Records, Computers, and the Rights of Citizens, (Report of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Automated Personal Data Systems, U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, July 1973, also here), sometimes referred to as the HEW Report). Read here the bios of the members of the Advisory Committee. Also in 1973 the Panel on Legal Aspects of Information Systems of the Committee on Scientific and Technical Information (COSATI) of the U.S. Government Federal Council of Science and Technology prepares a related Report (The Honeywell Computer Journal, 7(1)).
• The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopts Resolution (73) 22 on the Protection of the Privacy of Individuals vis-à-vis Electronic Data Banks in the Private Sector. Read the draft of 12 July 1973 with explanatory memorandum.

• 🇪🇺 The European Commission publishes the Communication Community policy on data processing (SEC (73) 4300 final, 21 November 1973). See also: Communication by the Commission of the European Communities concerning a Community policy for data processing. Information Memo P-63/73, November 1973

Also this year

• 🇺🇳 Human rights and scientific and technological development: Respect foy the privacy of individuals and the integrity and sovereignty of nations in the light of advances in recording and other techniques, Report of the Secretary-General.
• 🇬🇧 In the United Kingdom, the House of Lords discusses the ‘Younger Report’, on the right to privacy.
• 🇪🇺 On 25 July 1973, the European Commission publishes a Scientific and technological policy programme which included recommendations on ‘data processing’, noting the importance of the impact of this sector ‘on the structures of the society of the future’.
• 🇺🇸 In November 1973 takes place a Conference on Privacy & Security in Computer Systems organised by the National Bureau of Standards, bringing together more than 500 ‘people from government, the computer industry and various public interest groups’; cf. Statement of Congressman Jack Brooks at National Bureau of Standards on 19 November 1973.
• 🇦🇹 The Salzburg Global Seminar, taking place in Salzburg (Austria) over the summer, welcomes Arthur R. Miller.
• 🇳🇿 In New Zealand, a sub-committee of the Law Revision Commission publishes a report in April 1973 on ‘Computer Data Banks and Privacy’.

Literature

• Dalfen, C. (1973), International factors: A study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Canada, Department of Communication.
• Dworkin, Gerald (1973), ‘The Younger Committee Report on Privacy‘, The Modern Law Review, 36(4), 399-406.
• Fabien, Claude (1973), Ordinateur et vie privée : techniques et contrôle, Canada, Department of Communication.
• Gellman, H. S. (1973), Statistical data banks and their effects on privacy: A study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Canada, Department of Communication.
• Gotlieb, C. C. and A. Borodin (1973), Social Issues in Computing, Academic Press.
• Groosman, L. E., D. Overkleeft, and C. Booster (1973), Data base of Data beest?: bedreigen of waarborgen computers onze privacy?, Kluwer.
• Marcus-Helmons, M. S. (1973), ‘Les droits de I’homme et les contraintes de la technologie’, Annales de droit, 33(1), 51-68.
• Morison, W. L. (1973), The Law of Privacy: Report for the Parliament of New South Wales.
• Morris, Grant (1973), ‘Computer Data Bank-Privacy Controversy Revisited: An Analysis and an Administrative Proposal‘, Cath. UL Rev. 22(3), 628-650.
• Moore, P. G. (1973), ‘Security of the Census of Population‘, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A (General) 136(4), 583–96.
• OECD (1973), Automated information management in public administration: Present developments.and impacts, OECD Informatics Studies 4.
• OECD (1973), Towards Central Government Computer Policies: Data Base Developments and International Dimensions, OECD Informatics Studies 5.
• Human rights and scientific and technological development : respect for the privacy of individuals and the integrity and sovereignty of nations in the light of advances in recording and other techniques : report of the Secretary-General, 1973.
• Hustinx, P. J. and G. J. A. Baert, (1973), Preadviezen over de bescherming van de persoonlijke levenssfeer bij de toep assing van de computer, W. E. J. Tjeenk Willink, Zwolle.
• Jordan, F. J. E (1973), Privacy, computer data banks, communications and the constitution: A study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Canada, Department of Communication.
• Katz, Kenneth (1973), Regulation of federal data banks: A study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Canada, Department of Communication.
• Robertson, A. H (ed.) (1973), Privacy and Human Rights: Reports and Communications presented at the Third International Colloquy about the European Convention on Human Rights, organised by the Belgian Universities and the Council of Europe,Brussels, 30 September October 1970, Brussels (1973), Manchester University Press (Internet Archive).
• Rodotà, Stefano (1973), Elaboratori elettronici e controllo sociale, Il Mulino.
• Rule, James B. (1973), Public Lives and Private Surveillance, Allen Lane.

• Sharp, John M. (1973), Regulatory models: A study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Department of Communications, Canada.
• Scherf, John Arthur (1973), Computer and data security: A comprehensive annotated bibliography, Diss. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
• The Threat to privacy: 25th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The UNESCO Courier, July 1973.
• Turn, Rein (1973), ‘Privacy transformations for Databank Systems‘ in Proceedings of the June 4-8, 1973, National computer conference and exposition, 589-601.
• Usprich, S. J. (1973), The theory and practice of self-regulation: A study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Canada, Department of Communication.
• Williams, J.S. (1973), Legal protection of privacy : a study for the Privacy and Computers Task Force, Canada, Department of Communication.

In the media

• Eder, Richard, ‘Britons Worry About Losing Privacy ‐ to Europe, Computers, Detectives and Press‘, The New York Times, 18 July 1973.
• ‘Privacy bestaat niet meer‘, De tijd : dagblad voor Nederland, Amsterdam, p. 17, 22 September 1973.
• ‘Threats to privacy‘, Press, CXIII, 33363, 23 October 1973, 14.
• Wicker, Tom, ‘Checking Up on the Snoopers‘, The New York Times, 11 December 1973.

More

• French training materials to ‘discover computers’ (Cahiers RTS Promotion : à la décoverte de l’informatique, April 1973) invites participants to think about developments such as the creation of the SAFARI system, system which will trigger a scandal when more widely publicised in 1974.

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