Background to European data protection law
European law grew out of fears that new technologies - phone-tapping, surveillance, large mainframe computers - threatened individual privacy. The field has roots reaching back to 1970, when the German state of Hesse passed the first regional law; the first national law followed in in 1973. A serious, concerted European approach only began in the early 1980s.
A 1968 Council of Europe Recommendation already warned that techniques like phone-tapping, eavesdropping, surreptitious observation and subliminal advertising were a threat to the right to privacy. As mainframe computers spread, organisations gained efficiency, but individual rights came under pressure.
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 1968 | Council of Europe Recommendation warns of technological threats to privacy |
| 1970 | German state of Hesse introduces first regional data protection law |
| 1973 | Sweden introduces the first national data protection law |
| Early 1980s | Europe begins a serious, concerted approach to regulation |
Watch the dates: Hesse 1970 is the first regional law; Sweden 1973 is the first national law. Do not swap them.