The vastly increased capacities for the retention and dissemination of data on individuals created by the continuing development of computer technology has brought into sharper focus the conflict between the growing needs for information, in both the public and private sectors, of advanced industrial societies and their citizens’ rights to personal privacy and individual liberty. In the United States, this concern has been articulated in several studies, most notably Alan Westin’s Privacy and Freedom (1967). In Europe, this same concern has prompted a series of national White Papers, including the Swedish Data och integritet (Data and Privacy) (1972) and the British Younger Commission report (1972). Mr. Hondius has examined the most valuable expressions of both public and private opinion in Europe on these issues and has shaped them into a concise analysis of the evolving law of personal data privacy in Europe.
Albert J. Kostelny, Jr