Attorney – Fine (Germany, 2021)
General GDPR enforcement action
This case relates to broader data protection obligations, not specifically to cookie or consent banner compliance. It is not included in cookie statistics or the Risk Calculator.
A German attorney published personal details of a client and their family on his blog during a dispute, claiming press privilege. The authority found this was not a valid legal basis, as the publication was not purely journalistic. This case shows the limits of using press privilege to justify sharing personal data.
What happened
An attorney published personal details of a client and their family on his blog without a valid legal basis.
Who was affected
A client and their family members whose personal information was shared online by the attorney.
What the authority found
The authority ruled that the attorney unlawfully processed personal data by improperly invoking press privilege.
Why this matters
This case warns legal professionals about the misuse of press privilege to justify data processing. It underscores the need for a valid legal basis when handling personal information, especially in non-journalistic contexts.
GDPR Articles Cited
The DPA from Berlin has imposed a fine on an attorney. The attorney had been in dispute with a client for several years over a monetary claim. For two years, he published the first and last names, the residential addresses of the client and his family members, as well as various unredacted parts of files on his blog - and invoked the press privilege. However, this was not a purely exclusive journalistic publication. Rather, the attorney was concerned with accelerating the payment of the monetary amount to which he believed he was entitled. Since the attorney could therefore not refer to the press privilege as the legal basis for the data processing, the DPA found that he had unlawfully processed the data of the data subjects.
Related Enforcement Actions (0)
No other enforcement actions found for Attorney in DE
This is the only recorded action for this entity in this jurisdiction.
Details
Fine Date
1 January 2021
Authority
Bundesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz
Enforcement Tracker ID
ETid-1221
About this data
Cite as: Cookie Fines. Attorney - Germany (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu
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