GermanyThe Austrian Post has been fined 13 million euros by the Austrian Administrative Court (VwGH) for illegally trading personal data, specifically the political preferences of 2.2 million Austrians without consent. The court ruled that this constitutes processing of sensitive data under EU law. This is the third time the court has addressed the case, which initially saw a fine of 18 million euros plus 1.8 million euros in procedural costs. The Post challenged the ruling, arguing that statistical probability calculations (affinity scores) do not constitute personal data and that they had proper compliance measures in place. The VwGH rejected these arguments, calling the Post’s legal stance 'unjustifiable,' and upheld the fine based on European Union standards rather than national laws. The final decision reflects the court's emphasis on protecting individuals' privacy rights against corporate data practices.
Bias read (Center): The article presents a balanced account of the legal proceedings involving the Austrian Post and the administrative court. It reports both the Post's defense and the court's rejection of those claims, without overtly favoring either side. While the issue involves data protection and privacy, which p
