History of data protection: 1989

Key developments

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) rules in Gaskin vs. the United Kingdom (7 July 1989).

Also this year

At the Council of Europe:
- On 18 January 1989 the Committee of Ministers adopts Recommendation No. R. (89) 2 on the protection of personal data used for employment purposes.
- Committee of experts on data protection (CJ-PD) (1989), New technologies: A challenge to privacy protection?, Study prepared under the authority of the European Committee on Legal Co-operation (CDCJ), Strasbourg 1989.
The 11^thInternational Conference of Privacy and Data Protection Commissioners takes place in Berlin (Germany).

In September 1989 takes places in Brussels the ‘Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) – 1992 and beyond‘ Conference, organised by the Economic and Social Committee of the European Communities and the International Data Exchange Association (IDEA).

Europa ohne Grenzen : Grenzenloze Kontrolle Datenschutz Seminar (IISG)

Literature

Flaherty, David H. (1989), Protecting privacy in surveillance societies: The Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden, France, Canada, and the United States, University of North Carolina Press.
Gray, Susan H. (1989), ‘Electronic Data Bases and Privacy: Policy for the 1990s‘, Science, Technology, & Human Values, 14(3), 242-257.
Schwartz, Paul (1989), ‘The Computer in German and American Constitutional Law: Towards an American Right of Informational Self-Determination‘, American Journal of Comparative Law 37(4) 675-702.
Wacks, Raymond (1989), Personal Information: Privacy and the Law, Clarendon Press.

In the media

In memoriam

Paul Sieghart (1927 – 1989) was a barrister, law reformer, international arbitrator, writer and Chairman of JUSTICE, the British Section of International Commission of Jurists, as well as draftsman of the Right of Privacy Bill 1970. See the Paul Sieghart Memorial Archive. See video with Paul Sieghart as moderator.