- Enforcing jurisdiction
- Austria · Geography does not establish applicable law.
- Confirmed applicable legislation
- Privacy topics
DPA case 2021-0.187.619 – Complaint Upheld (Austria, 2022)
Privacy enforcement record
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An Austrian expert requested the removal of a link to his residential address from a search engine after receiving threats. The Austrian Data Protection Authority ordered the search engine to delete the link, emphasizing the need to protect individuals' safety. This case highlights the balance between public interest and personal safety.
What happened
The expert requested the removal of a link to his address that appeared in a search engine's results.
Who was affected
The court-certified expert who received threats and wanted his address removed from public access.
What the authority found
The Austrian Data Protection Authority ruled that the search engine must delete the link to protect the expert's safety.
Why this matters
This decision underscores the importance of prioritizing personal safety over public access to information. Companies should be cautious about how they display sensitive information.
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The data subject is a court-certified expert and as such can be found in the publicly accessible database of court experts of the Austrian Federal Minister of Justice. The controller operates an online search engine and has offices in Austria, Ireland and the USA, which are all separate entities. The data subject posted an analytical article concerning historical events in the Balkan region on his LinkedIn page and subsequently received death threats from unknown persons. When entering the name of the data subject in the controller’s search engine, a link to the database of court experts appeared, where the data subjects residential address was listed. The data subject requested the Austrian entity of the search engine to delete the link via an online form. The Austrian entity forwarded the request to the US entity claiming that it was neither legally authorised nor factually able to process the deletion request. The US entity refused to delete the link arguing that the residential address is part of a public database by the Austrian Judiciary and, therefore, the public interest to access the database outweighs the data subjects interest to be forgotten. Subsequently, the data subject lodged a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority (Datenschutzbehörde - DSB) against the US and Austrian entity. During the proceedings the Austrian DPA asked the Irish DPA whether the Irish entity was responsible for deletion requests which the Irish DPA denied, pointing to the US entity as being responsible for such requests. The DSB held that the US entity of the controller had to delete the link to the database of court experts within two weeks pursuant to Article 17(1)(d) GDPR because the processing was unlawful under Article 6 GDPR and the exception of Article 17(3)(a) GDPR did not apply. The DSB reasoned that Article 6(1)(f) GDPR and Article 17(3)(a) GDPR did not apply because the interest of the data subject to physical integrity outweighed the legitimate intere
Outcome
Complaint Upheld
A data subject complaint that was upheld by the DPA.
Related Enforcement Actions (0)
No other enforcement actions found for DPA case 2021-0.187.619 in AT
This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. DPA case 2021-0.187.619 - Austria (2022). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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