At the beginning of this text, the author has placed the lists of abbreviations and acronyms, the lists of tables and figures, a short foreword, and a practical explanation of “How to Use This Book,” followed by an introduction. The main text is divided into two parts.

Part 1 includes eight chapters:

• The Importance of Data Protection in the Information Age

• Western Europe Initiatives

• East European Data Protection: Unique Experiences

• United States: First in Technology and Last in Data Protection

• Australian, Canadian and New Zealand Data Protection

• Data Protection in Japan and Hong Kong

• Data Protection in Asia, Africa and Latin America

• International Efforts and Proposals for Data Protection in the 21st Century

Part 2 includes original and translated texts of national laws concerning data protection and privacy from European countries, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States. In addition to the texts of the national laws, material from international organizations dealing with personal data protection--the Council of Europe, the European Community, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations, and Amnesty International--is included. At the end of the book, the reader will find an index. The presentation of this complex material is good, enabling readers to navigate through the text using the headers, section titles, and subtitles.

More information could be provided about theoretical and pragmatic considerations in the protection of personal data and privacy. Arthur Miller’s statement, “The computer, with its insatiable appetite for information, may become the heart of a surveillance system that will turn society into a transparent world,” parallels the impact of new information technology on citizens in many countries. The countries with a cultural and technological background in information technology started to prepare legislation for the protection of personal data in the 1970s. The Commission of the European Community defined the protection of personal data as the protection of data concerning the individual integrity of natural and legal persons in the course of manual and automated data processing [1]. At the same time, it defined the protection of privacy as the protection of the individual citizen from abuses in the storing, processing, and dissemination of personal information by means of information bases or databanks and the means used to safeguard personal interests against the undesirable effects of data processing operations. These definitions differ from the introductory efforts concerning the protection of personal information in Canada, Australia, and especially the United States. Thus, the book should have stated the clear distinction between the protection of personal privacy and the protection of personal data. This information would give readers a more precise picture of the global situation in personal data and privacy protection. At the end of the book, the author does give a useful table of the national laws, with data on four basic factors for each country’s law:

• the type of law (the legislative approach to protection of privacy and personal data),

• applicability of the law to manual and automated information files,

• applicability to data subjects (both natural and legal persons), and

• applicability to the public and private sectors.

The greatest value of this book is its integration of existing laws and documents of international bodies. Readers in the legal community and those active in national and international communications systems cooperation may find it a good source for their courses, current and future research, and job activities.