The Public, the Private, and the Domestication of the Information System: How Data Protection Governed the Swiss Administration in the 1970s

Abstract

The public, the private, and the domestication of the information system examines how data protection emerged in Switzerland in the 1970s. The historical study shows how interactive information systems became part of a new computerized administrative reality in the 1970s, with greatly expanded means of action. Both the public and politicians found it difficult to imagine how the new technology would be used in administration, and – influenced by the Watergate scandal – saw above all the potential for abuse. Driven by fears predominantly related to pop-cultural representations of surveillance technologies, a political debate began about the limits of computerized administration. Without computers, the administration saw its ability to manage an ever-increasing number of issues threatened. Data protection provided a semantic platform to renegotiate the relationship between the public and a computerized administration. Analysis of this trading zone reveals the mutual adjustments made by the public, politicians, and administrators in the discussion of a data protection law. For this study, press articles from major Swiss media as well as reports, minutes, correspondence and other official sources from the Swiss Federal Archives are analyzed.