Court case 1 A 217/22 MD – Court Ruling (Germany, 2024)
A German court ruled that a holiday home portal must stop using personal data for advertising without consent. This decision is significant as it reinforces the need for businesses to respect user privacy and consent.
What happened
The holiday home portal was using personal data from landlords for advertising without proper consent.
Who was affected
Landlords and operators of holiday homes whose data was used for marketing.
What the authority found
The court ordered the portal to cease processing personal data for advertising purposes without consent.
Why this matters
This case highlights the importance of obtaining consent for data use in marketing. Businesses should ensure they have clear consent mechanisms in place.
GDPR Articles Cited
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The controller runs a web portal that connects operators of holiday homes to potential guests by allowing the operators to place ads on the portal. To acquire new operators to present their holiday homes the controller advertises their service via phone. They were using the services of a call centre in Kosovo for this purpose. Call centre staff members would search for phone numbers of landlords and operators of hotels and holiday homes and called them. They presented the portal to them and tried to close a contract about a cost free test entry or a “premium entry” on the portal. During the call, the call centre staff asked for data related to the customer and their accommodation. Subsequently, the controller provided the new client with information and a confirmation via e-mail. Persons who said they did not want to be contacted anymore were blacklisted. Following 20 data protection complaints, the Saxony-Anhalt DPA (Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz Sachsen-Anhalt) got to know about the business practices of the controller and, in particular, that a client will receive more calls after opting for the cost-free test ad on the portal. The DPA then conducted an official hearing of the controller. After the hearing, the Saxony-Anhalt DPA ordered the controller under Article 58(2)(f) GDPR to refrain from the processing of phone numbers and other personal data for the purpose of advertisement if these phone numbers are related to an identifiable natural person. This order included an exception for cases in which the person had either consented to the processing of their data or concrete facts indicate that the person had a factual interest in an advertisement entry on the controller’s page and is awaiting the call or at least would react positively to the call. Furthermore, it ordered the controller under Article 58(2)(g) GDPR to delete all personal data that could not be processed anymore under the aforementioned order. In addition, the DPA ordered the controll
Outcome
Court Ruling
A ruling by a national court on a data-protection matter.
Related Cases (0)
No other cases found for Court case 1 A 217/22 MD in DE
This is the only recorded case for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Court case 1 A 217/22 MD - Germany (2024). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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