2017/1 - Fundaments of Digitisation

Browsing 2017/1 - Fundaments of Digitisation by Subject "Computergeschichte"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Article
    Data Politics. The Early Phase of Digitalisation within the Federal Government and the Debate on Computer Privacy in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s
    Neuroth, Benedikt (2017) , S. 65-80
    This article discusses how computer technology was implemented within the US federal government in the 1960s and 1970s. Drawing on sources from the Bureau of the Budget (BOB), later renamed the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the article demonstrates that the Johnson administration centralised the management of Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and also set technical standards. To characterise this process, the article proposes to use the expression “early phase of digitalisation”. At the time, a debate arose about how the processing of personal data would affect individual rights. Several studies analysed the functioning of technology with regard to computer privacy and suggested general guidelines. In addition, Congress passed data privacy legislation. Regardless of the legal debate, computerisation continued under the Nixon administration. The article argues that digitalisation shaped the privacy debate at the time.
  • Article
    Home Computer on the Line. The West German BBS Scene and the Change of Telecommunications in the 1980s
    Röhr, Matthias (2017) , S. 115-129
    This paper explores the phenomenon of bulletin board systems (BBS) – home computers connected through the telephone network – in West Germany in the 1980s. Due to the openness of the US telephone network, the use of home computers as private communication devices became quite successful across the Atlantic. However, in West Germany, this practice conflicted with the state monopoly and its policy on telecommunications. This paper argues that this conflict was part of a structural change caused by the convergence of IT and telecommunications. The West German government saw this convergence as both a threat and a chance for the national IT and telecommunications industries, prompting it to adopt a telecommunications policy designed to challenge the dominant US IT industry.