History of data protection: 2008

Key developments

⚖️ The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decides in Liberty and others v the UK, on 1 July 2008, I v Finland, on 18 July 2008, in K.U. v Finland, on 2 December 2008, and S. and Marper v the UK, on 4 December 2008.
🇪🇺 The Council
- discusses in May 2008 the status of Directive 95/46/EC, concluding that “All delegations reconfirmed that there is a general satisfaction with the Directive 95/46/EC” (ST 10867 2008 INIT – NOTE).
- adopts Framework Decision 2008/977/JHA on the protection of personal data processed in the framework of police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, OJ L 350, 30.12.2008, 60–71.

Also this year

⚖️ The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decides in Promusicae (C‑275/06), on 29 January 2008, and in Huber (C-524/06) and Satamedia (C‑73/07) on 16 December 2008.
The Article 29 Working Party publishes its eleventh annual report, covering 2007.
🇩🇪 In Germany:
- On 27 February 2008 the German Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) declares that the ‘general right of personality’ (Art. 2.1 & Art. 1.1 of the Basic Law) encompasses a ‘fundamental right to the guarantee of the confidentiality and integrity of information technology systems’.
- On 11 March on this day in 2008 the Federal Constitutional Court declares that legislation adopted in Hesse and Schleswig-Holstein introducing Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) is unconstitutional.
🇺🇾 Uruguay adopts the Ley N° 18331 de protección de datos personales.
🇦🇱 Albania adopts Law No. 9887 of 10 March 2008 on the Protection of Personal Data.
🇸🇳 Senegal adopts the Loi n° 2008-12 du 25 janvier 2008 portant sur la Protection des données à caractère personnel.
The International Working Group on Data Protection in Telecommunications publishes its Report and Guidance on Privacy in Social Network Services – “Rome Memorandum”.

Literature

Brouwer, Evelien (2008), Digital Borders and Real Rights: Effective Remedies for Third-Country Nationals in the Schengen Information System, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Emaldi Cirión, Aitziber et al (2008), La protección de datos en la cooperación policial y judicial, Aranzadi.
Hildebrandt, Mireille and Serge Gutwirth (eds.) (2008), Profiling the European Citizen: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives, Springer.
Igo, Sarah E. (2008), The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public, Harvard University Press.
Kranenborg, Herke (2008), ‘Access to documents and data protection in the European Union: On the public nature of personal data‘, Common Market Law Review, 45(4), 1079-1114.
Newman, Abraham L. (2008), Protectors of Privacy: Regulating Personal Data in the Global Economy, Cornell University Press.
Pérez Asinari, María Verónica and Pablo Palazzi (eds.), Défis du droit à la protection de la vie privée / Challenges of privacy and data protection law, Bruylant.
Schartum, Dag Wiese (2008), ‘Norwegian Research Center for Computers and Law‘, SCRIPTed: A Journal of Law, Technology and Society 5(3), 594-599.

In the media

O’Brien, Kevin J., ‘Privacy Laws Trip Up Google’s Expansion in Parts of Europe‘, The New York Times, 17 November 2008.

Watch

📺 ‘Datenschutz im Internetzeitalter‘ (Privacy in the Internet Age), Deutsche Welle / Germany, 30 October 2008, EUscreen.