The extension of data protection regulation from the national to the international level raises a large number of questions. The object of regulation and the beneficiaries of protective measures are not the same in all countries; yet some form of harmonization must be achieved. Placed in a wider geographical perspective the problem has at the same time gained an important historical dimension. Data protection, although set into motion by the computer revolution, is a matter that does not hinge on computer technology alone; nor should the impact of data protection regulation in other fields including the relations between developed and developing nations be neglected.