GDPR and the evolution of data protection
How did we get to GDPR? This timeline looks at how data protection laws have evolved in recent decades, and why these changes were made.
Sweden was the first country in the world to enact a national data protection law on 11 May 1973, in response to public concerns around the increasing use of computers to process and store personal data.
More than 20 years later, in 1995, the internet was the realm of early adopters loading up Usenet newsgroups in cyber-cafés. You could order a video tape to explain it all, because you certainly couldn’t Google it or ask Facebook or Twitter for help.
