Image: (APA/AFP/KENZO TRIBOUILLARD)
The focus is on the question of whether the use of fonts that are retrieved from a Google server is in compliance with data protection or whether the IP address of the website visitor is transmitted to Google in violation of data protection. In addition to a hairdresser from Amstetten, Google Ireland Ltd. is also involved in the process.
In today’s first hearing before the regional court for civil law matters in Vienna, after a two-hour hearing, further evidence was adjourned. The lawyer for the defendant hairdresser announced this in writing on Friday after the hearing. Accordingly, the next hearing is scheduled for September 12, 2023. The plaintiff was unable to attend today’s hearing due to illness; she will be interviewed at the next appointment.
More than 32,000 warnings
At today’s meeting, it was made clear that the plaintiff commissioned an IT company to document the data protection violation in the background to preserve evidence. The number of warning letters sent was also determined. According to this, around 520 such letters were sent in July last year, and in August there were 32,000 warnings.
Last year, the Lower Austrian lawyer Marcus Hohenecker sent tens of thousands of warnings to website operators who had used Google Fonts, i.e. fonts provided by Google. According to her lawyer, a client of Hohenecker saw this as a loss of control over her data because her IP address was transmitted to the US company when the documents were retrieved and claimed emotional damage. Hohenecker demanded 190 euros per letter. After a hairdresser from Amstetten did not pay the amount, Hohenecker’s client sued him for damages and injunctive relief. The Chamber of Commerce assumes the legal fees of the defendant entrepreneur in the test case.
program used in a targeted manner?
It is undisputed that the transmission of personal data to the USA without consent fundamentally violates the GDPR. However, the lawyers representing the affected website operators argue that Hohenecker’s client could not have suffered any emotional damage at all, since it was unrealistic that she had called up so many websites herself. It is suspected that a program was used specifically to search the Internet for relevant websites.
Most recently, a witness, namely the IT contractor commissioned, confirmed to the Economic and Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (WKStA) that software was used for the warnings. Hohenecker vehemently denied this, since the testimony did not show that a program was used, only the Mozilla Firefox web browser. In addition, the breach of data protection actually took place.
The public prosecutor’s office in Wiener Neustadt investigated in connection with the wave of warnings against Hohenecker for commercial extortion and serious commercial fraud. In January, the public prosecutor’s office handed the case over to the WKStA. The WKStA is responsible if the damage from a crime exceeds EUR 5 million or if the intent is for a corresponding sum. The presumption of innocence applies to all named persons.
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