Children’s Data Privacy Complaints Target Microsoft in EU

Know about the details of Microsoft in the EU for child data privacy complaints

LONDON: Privacy watchdog organization NOYB filed two complaints on Tuesday with the Austrian Data Protection Authority against tech giant Microsoft for violating children’s data protection rights.

The nonprofit says Microsoft's 365 Education services violate children's data protection rights. When students wanted to exercise their General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rights, Microsoft said schools were “in charge” of their data.

"However, schools have no control over their policies,” Noib said. Microsoft, the complaint alleges, seeks to contractually drop most of its legal obligations under the GDPR to schools that offer Microsoft 365 Education services to their pupils or pupils.

“This means that, for example, Microsoft Access requests go unanswered - while schools have no real means of complying with such requests because they don’t have the necessary data,” the nonprofit said

Maartje de Graaf, a data protection lawyer, said that the take-it-or-leave-it approach by software vendors such as Microsoft shifts all GDPR obligations onto schools. “Microsoft holds all the basic data management information in its software but points its finger at schools when it comes to capacity building. There is no way for schools to comply with transparency and information obligations,” said de Graaf.

Microsoft provides such “ambiguity” that even a qualified lawyer cannot fully understand how the company handles personal data within Microsoft 365 Education. “It is virtually impossible for children or their parents to uncover the extent of the data collected by Microsoft,”

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