Information privacy regulation: The EU model and the French model

Abstract

The importance of computer-related privacy as a subject is revealed in an article that appeared in the International Herald Tribune of Saturday, March 31, 2001 concerning a privileged relationship that existed between IBM Corporation and the Third Reich during World War II. The relationship has come to light recently as a result of the publication of a book by Edwin Black. According to the book, the Third Reich employed IBM Hollerith punch-card machines, to perform critical tasks in carrying out the Holocaust and the German war effort. This article looks at the concept information privacy and how the Data Protection Directive seeks to regulate the position.