Information Technology and the Rise of Data Protection Law
Mainframes in the 1960s spurred privacy fears (Orwell's '1984'). In 1970, Hesse, Germany enacted the first modern data protection law; the same year the U.S. passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), its first national privacy law.
Mainframe computers emerged in the 1960s, enabling unprecedented accumulation of personal data and surveillance fears - vividly captured by George Orwell's 1949 novel 1984 ('Big Brother is watching you').
In 1970, the German state of Hesse enacted the first known modern data protection law, motivated partly by abuses under the Third Reich. The same year, the United States passed its first national privacy law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), focused solely on consumer credit information.
Hesse, Germany passed the world's first modern data protection law in 1970; the FCRA was the first U.S. national privacy law, also in 1970 - and it is sectoral, covering only consumer credit.