Gloria González Fuster

Key developments

• The Recommendation concerning OECD Guidelines Governing the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of Personal Data is adopted by the OECD Council. The Guidelines come into effect on 23 September 1980.

• 🇪🇺 The European Commission publishes:
  • Proceedings of the Conference Videotex in Europe, Luxembourg, 19-20 July 1979, Learned Information, Oxford and New York, 1980.
  • A Study on data security and confidentiality (Working Document) (which costed 90 000 EUA, as stated in COM(82) 452 final), comprising:
    • Summary report to the Commission of the European Communities.
    • Chamoux, J.-P. and A. Grissonnanche (1980), Volume 1. Section 0: Introduction, Section 1: Quality and quantity of transborder data flows.
    • Burkert, H. (1980), Volume 2. Section 2: Organization and method of operation of the data protection authorities.
    • Bancilhon, F., J.-P. Chamoux, A. Grissonnanche, and L. Joinet, (1980), Volume 3. Section 3: The physical person/nonphysical person problem.
    • Hogrebe, E. F. M. (1980), Volume 4. Section 4: International economic aspects of data protection.
    • Bancilhon, F. and Joinet, L. (1980), Volume 5. Section 5: Technical aspects of the right of access.
    • Pitcher, H. H. W. (1980), Volume 6. Section 6: Data protection inspection. Section 7: Conclusion.
  • Its first report on ‘New information technologies’ (C0M(80) 513 final), announcing that ‘the Community institutions will be used as a staging post and where appropriate a starting point for activities, including legislative action, intended to create a climate of confidence and to encourage actively the change necessitated by the development of the new information technologies’ (p. 3).
• Many developments at the Council of Europe:
  • On 22 January 1980, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe discusses a Report prepared by Mr. Holst on data processing and the protection of human rights (Doc. 4472).
  • On 1 February 1980, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe debates and adopts a Resolution 721 (1980) on Data processing and the protection of human rights, inviting ‘the European Parliament to direct its attention to how action within the framework of the European Communities could most effectively strengthen the principles and provisions to be embodied in the convention on data protection of the Council of Europe’, and calling national parliaments to press for the introduction of legislation on data protection based on the principles defined by the Council of Europe.
  • On the same, the Parliamentary Assembly, ‘considering that some member states have made the protection of personal data a constitutional right, and that other countries are planning to do so’, recommends ‘the Committee of Ministers to instruct the Steering Committee for Human Rights to examine, as part of the extension of the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights, the desirability of including in the convention a provision on the protection of personal data, by amending Article 8 or 10, or by adding a new article to the convention’ (Recommendation 890 (1980) on the Protection of personal data).

Also this year

• 🇺🇸 A subcommittee of the Committee on Government Operations of the United States (US) House of Representatives organises hearings on ‘International data flow‘ on 10, 13 and 27 March and 21 April 1980.
• A conference on ‘Transborder data flow policies’ is organised in Rome by the International Bureau of Informatics (IBI). A second one on the same subject will take place in 1984.
• A High Level Conference on Information, Computer, and Communications Policies for the 80’s takes place in Paris (6-8 October, 1980). The OECD publishes the proceedings, edited by Hans Peter Gassmann, in 1981.
• The 2nd International Conference on Data Protection convenes in Ottawa, Canada.

Literature

• Aronstein, Claude Serge (1980), ‘De l’urgence d’ordonner les ordinateurs : Notre civilisation va-t-elle survivre longtemps ?‘, Journal des Tribunaux, 8 mars 1980, 5117, 161-171.
• Bing, Jon (1980), Transnational data flows and the Scandinavian data protection legislation, Scandinavian studies in law 24, October, 65–96.
• Fishman, William L. (1980), ‘Introduction to Transborder Data Flows’, Stanford Journal of International Law 16, 1-26
• Fishman, William L. (1980), ‘Some Policy and Legal Issues in Transborder Data Flow‘, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law) 74, 179–188.
• Gavison, Ruth (1980), ‘Privacy and the Limits of Law’, The Yale Law Journal, 89(3), 421-471.
• Greguras, Fred M. (1980), ‘Book Review: Computer Networks and Data Protection Law, 2 Computer LJ 903 (1980)’, UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law 2.1, 33.
• Gefährdet die Informationstechnologie unsere Freiheit? : Jahrestagung 1979 d. Deutschen Vereinigung für Datenschutz : Deutsche Vereinigung für Datenschutz (1980).
• Hoffman, L. J. (ed.) (1980), Computers and privacy in the next decade, Proceedings of a workshop held in Pacific Grove, California, 25-28 February 1979, Academic Press, Inc..
• Hondius, Frits W. (1980), ‘Computers: Data privacy: The European community grapples with protecting individual rights in the midst of rampant computer progress‘, IEEE Spectrum 17(3), 67-71.
• Hondius, Frits W. (1980), ‘Data Law in Europe‘, Stanford Journal of International Law 16, 87-112.
• Jacqué, Jean-Paul (1980), ‘La Convention pour la protection des personnes à l’égard du traitement automatisé des données à caractère personnel’, Annuaire français de droit international 26, 773-789.
• Kirby, Michael D. (1980), ‘Transborder Data Flows and the Basic Rules of Data Privacy’, Stanford Journal of International Law, 16, 27-66.
• Lunde, Anders S. (1980), The person-number systems of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Israel, Dept. of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Office of Health Research, Statistics, and Technology, National Center for Health Statistics.
• Novotny, Eric J. (1980), ‘Transborder Data Flows: Bibliography‘, Stanford Journal of International Law, 16, 181-200.
• Pérez Luño, Antonio-Enrique (1980), La protección de la intimidad frente a la informatica en la Constitución española de 1978, Diritto e informatica, fasc. 1, 59-70.
• Roth, Alexander D. (1980), ‘Documents on data protection‘, International Legal Materials 19(2), 282–324.
• Steele, Marsha C. (1980), ‘Medical Confidentiality-The Design Issue of the 80’s’, Proceedings of the Annual Symposium on Computer Application in Medical Care, Vol. 1. American Medical Informatics Association.
• Turn, Rein (1980), ‘Privacy Protection and Security in Transnational Data Processing Systems‘, Stanford Journal of International Law 16, 67-86.
• Turn, Rein (1980), ‘Privacy protection and transborder data flows‘, in Proceedings of the May 19-22, 1980 National Computer Conference, 581-586.
• Veith, Richard H. (1980), ‘Informatics and transborder data flow: The question of social impact’, Journal of the American Society for Information Science 31(2), 105-110.
• White, Peter (1980), ‘Privacy — An international concern‘, International Library Review, 12(3), 223-242.

Films

• 🎬 Offre d’emploi (1980), by Jean Eustache – French short film.

In the media

• ‘Data Protection: Big Brother’s influence fading in W. Germany‘, The Canberra Times, p. 6, 11 February 1980, 6.
• ‘Transborder data flow: Concerns in privacy protection and free flow of information – In Depth‘, Computerworld, 13 March 1980.
• ‘Privacy and personal information: What is at stake is the role of the individual in the Australian society of the future‘, The Canberra Times, 12 June 1980, 2.
• Pear, Robert, ‘Alien Identification Cards Called Civil Rights Threat; Law Enforcement Uses Warning on ‘Racist Reaction’, The New York Times, 17 June 1980.
• Crittenden, Ann, ‘Experts Find Abuse Of Employee Rights Bugging the Rest Rooms’, The New York Times, 20 June 1980.

Music

• UK Subs ‘Brand New Age‘ (Brand New Age, RCA, 1980), featuring the lyrics ‘Closed circuit TV, Is the future going to be a nightmare?, Everywhere you go they’re always there, Watching, listening to every word, The past was an omen now the future’s a curse, 1980’s a Brand New Age’.

Other

• Commission nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) (1980), Premier rapport au Président de la République et au Parlement 1978-1980.

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