AgID – €55,000 Fine (Italy, 2026)

The data controller for the case is a government body called the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID). AgID is tasked with driving the adoption of digital technologies in both government and the private sector. Additionally, AgID is Italy’s soon-to-be notification authority for the AI Act. The case revolves around two public online indexes of certified email addresses: the INI-PEC and the INAD. INI-PEC is the older of the two indexes and includes, among others, the email addressess of professionals (the data subjects). INAD was created by AgID in 2023 as provided by Italian lawSee Articles 3-bis, 6-quater and 6-quinquies, d. lgs. 82/2005. and functions as an index of “digital domiciles” (where data subjects are supposed to get certain important communications) for both professionals and other owners of a digital email address. Shortly after setting up the INAD index, AgID automatically included the addresses of professionals from the old INI-PEC index. As a result, the addresses automatically became the digital domicile for communications not related to the professional lives of the data subjects. Data subjects were given the option to opt-out of the inclusion in the INAD index. Some data subjects complainedIt is not clear whether the DPA started the investigation ex officio or due to the complaints. that this processing severely infringed on their privacy. As the DPA’s decision explains, it is not uncommon for professionals to give co-workers access to their professional email addresses, on the assumption that they will only be used for strictly professional communications. When the addressess became digital domiciles, third parties (such as public bodies) started using them for communications unrelated to the data subjects' personal lives - which occasionally led to unintended data disclosures. The data subjects also claimed that the controller had not informed them about the processing, which prevented them from opting out in a timely fashion. = == First of all, t