Microsoft has once again run afoul of the GDPR rules in Germany, with the Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information in the German state Hesse, declaring that Windows 10 and Office 365 is not compliant with the GDPR for use in schools.
The issue is related to the telemetry both cloud-connected solutions send back to Microsoft in USA, which ranges from standard software diagnostics to user content from inside applications, potentially sentences from documents and email subject lines.
Previously Microsoft provided a special version of these software applications which stored the data in European data centres, but recently this permission was rescinded, and data was being sent directly to USA.
Michael Ronellenfitsch, Hesse’s data protection commissioner, said that public institutions in Germany “have a special responsibility with regard to the permissibility and traceability of the processing of personal data.”
Ronellenfitsch adds, “As soon as, in particular, the possible third-party access to the data in the cloud and the issue of telemetry data have been resolved in a comprehensible and data protection-compliant manner, Office 365 can be used as a cloud solution by schools.”
https://mspoweruser.com/german-privacy-commissioners-ban-windows-10-and-office-365-in-schools/
The issue is related to the telemetry both cloud-connected solutions send back to Microsoft in USA, which ranges from standard software diagnostics to user content from inside applications, potentially sentences from documents and email subject lines.
Previously Microsoft provided a special version of these software applications which stored the data in European data centres, but recently this permission was rescinded, and data was being sent directly to USA.
Michael Ronellenfitsch, Hesse’s data protection commissioner, said that public institutions in Germany “have a special responsibility with regard to the permissibility and traceability of the processing of personal data.”
Ronellenfitsch adds, “As soon as, in particular, the possible third-party access to the data in the cloud and the issue of telemetry data have been resolved in a comprehensible and data protection-compliant manner, Office 365 can be used as a cloud solution by schools.”
https://mspoweruser.com/german-privacy-commissioners-ban-windows-10-and-office-365-in-schools/