History of data protection: 1998

Key developments

🇪🇺 Directive 95/46/EC, known as the ‘Data Protection Directive’, had to be transposed by the Member States of the European Union by the end of October 1998.
🇬🇧 In the United Kingdom (UK), Data Protection Act 1998 is passed. Read the related debates: 19 February 1998, 20 April 1998.
🇫🇷 Braibant, Guy (1998), Données personnelles et société de l’information : Rapport au Premier ministre sur la transposition en droit français de la directive numéro 95-46.

Also this year

🇺🇸 ‘Issues in U.S.-European Union trade: European privacy legislation and biotechnology/food safety policy‘, Hearing before the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, on 7 May 1998.
The Article 29 Working Party publishes:
- Its second annual report (WP14), covering 1997.
- ‘Transfers of personal data to third countries : Applying Articles 25 and 26 of the EU Data Protection Directive’ (24 July 1998). See also: Handbook on cost-effective compliance with Directive 95/46/EC, Annex to the Annual report 1998 of the Working Party established by Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC, European Commission.
Directive 95/46/EC is transposed into 🇵🇹 Portuguese law in 1998 by the Data Protection Act (Act 67/98) of 28 October 1998.

Literature

Agre, Philip E. and Marc Rotenberg (1998), Technology and Privacy: The New Landscape, The MIT Press.
Blume, Peter (1998), ‘The citizens’ data protection‘, The Journal of Information, Law and Technology, 1.
Bygrave, Lee A. (1998), ‘Data Protection Pursuant to the Right to Privacy in Human Rights Treaties‘, International Journal of Law and Information Technology 6(3), 247-284.
Garrow, David J. (1998), Liberty and Sexuality The Right to Privacy and the Making of Roe v. Wade, (Updated, With a new epilogue), University of California Press.
Hildebrandt, Mireille, and Serge Gutwirth (eds.) (2008), Profiling the European citizen, Springer.
Les Cahiers de la sécurité intérieure (1998), Risque et information Polices et nouvelles technologies : Les enjeux de la transparence, IHESI.
Nissenbaum, Helen (1998), ‘Protecting Privacy in an Information Age: The Problem of Privacy in Public‘, Law and Philosophy 17(5/6) 1998, 559–96.
Reidenberg, Joel R. (1998), ‘Lex Informatica: The Formulation of Information Policy Rules through Technology‘, Texas Law Review 76(3), 553-594.
Reidenberg, Joel R., and Paul M. Schwartz (1998), On-line services and data protection and privacy: Regulatory responses Volume II, Annex to the Annual Report 1998 (XV D/5047/98) of the Working Party established by Article 29 of Directive 95/46/EC.

In the media

Markoff, John, ‘Differences Over Privacy On the Internet‘, The New York Times, 1 July 1998.
Andrews, Edmund L., ‘European Law Aims to Protect Privacy of Data‘, The New York Times, 26 October 1998.

Music

🎵 Unwound, Challenge For A Civilized Society (Kill Rock Stars), feat. ‘Data’ and ‘No Tech!‘.
🎵 Killah Priest ‘Information’ (from Heavy Mental, Geffen, 1998); lyrics including ‘Interactive TV sets will be watching us, just as we watch them. They will also report back to the beast computer at headquarters. Our telephone conversations will be automatically wire tapped and transcript by the National Security Agency’.