The Transparent Citizen - Personal Data Between Research and the Black Market (March 2009)

Reports of new, ever more far-reaching data thefts appear unstoppable: In Fall of 2008, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations appropriated 6 million sets of data, 4 million of these with account numbers, to prove that it was relatively easy to obtain data illegally. Already in 2006 the data from more than 17 million Telekom cell phone customers was stolen.

Personal information is, in the meantime, a highly sought after commodity. To stem the misuse of data the federal government has begun a new legislative initiative which would allow future usage of personal information for advertising purposes or for marketing and opinion research only with expressed permission. While “data protectionists” approvingly celebrate, opinion researchers fear for the basis of their work.

The March 2009 edition of Research Special deals with the tense relationship between information self-determination and freedom of information in the midst of which is where the issue of data protection can be found, as always. Five chapters, arranged according to topic, list current literature and research references with bibliographic info along with a short content synopsis for each.

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