Bonum Certa Men Certa

EPO and Microsoft Collude to Break the Law -- Part IX: Know Your Vendor…

Previous parts:



A big brother-like spy
The never-ending saga of Microsoft's run-ins with European data protection authorities



Summary: Microsoft is one of the world's worst offenders when it comes to privacy, but vendor assessment by the EPO conveniently overlooks the law

Even before GDPR came into effect in May 2018, data protection regulators in some European countries were starting to have their doubts about whether Microsoft's flagship product, its Windows operating system, was compliant with European data protection standards.



The first national authority to kick into action was the French National Data Protection Commission (CNIL).

Following an investigation which concluded in June 2016, CNIL issued Microsoft with a formal notice to comply with French data protection regulations. CNIL also ruled that the decision should be made public, given the scale of the violations in question.

"Following an investigation which concluded in June 2016, CNIL issued Microsoft with a formal notice to comply with French data protection regulations. CNIL also ruled that the decision should be made public, given the scale of the violations in question."No fewer than six violations of the French Data Protection Act were identified by CNIL, including continued transfer of data based on Safe Harbor principles despite the fact that the Safe Harbour Agreement had been invalidated by the CJEU in October 2015.

Microsoft was given three months – until 30 September 2016 – to end the identified violations of French Data Protection law or else face the prospect of a fine of up to €150,000.

In June 2017, it was reported that Microsoft had scaled back the volume of data it collected from Windows 10 PCs by "almost half". This led CNIL to announce that Windows 10 was no longer in breach of the country's data protection laws and that it had decided to close the case.

But that was only the first chapter in the never-ending saga of Microsoft's run-ins with European data protection authorities.

"Microsoft was given three months – until 30 September 2016 – to end the identified violations of French Data Protection law or else face the prospect of a fine of up to €150,000."A few months later in October 2017, it was reported that the Dutch data protection authority (Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) had come to the conclusion that Microsoft was in breach of Dutch data protection law due to the way it processed the personal data of Windows 10 users.

According to the Dutch data watchdog, Microsoft made it impossible for users to give their valid consent to their personal data being processed due to the multiple ways in which that data might subsequently be used.

The Dutch regulator noted that Microsoft had promised to end its "violations", but warned that a failure to do so could lead it to impose a sanction.

After some back and forth with the regulator, Microsoft submitted a revised version of its software in April 2018. However, in the course of testing the revised version the Dutch agency found fresh grounds for concern, discovering what it called in a press release "new, potentially unlawful, instances of personal data processing".

"After some back and forth with the regulator, Microsoft submitted a revised version of its software in April 2018. However, in the course of testing the revised version the Dutch agency found fresh grounds for concern, discovering what it called in a press release "new, potentially unlawful, instances of personal data processing"."In the meantime GDPR had entered into force, and this led the Dutch data protection authority to refer its concerns to the competent lead EU privacy regulator under the new regulations. This was the national data protection authority where Microsoft's regional HQ for the EU is located, namely the Irish Data Protection Commission.

And so the seriously under-resourced Irish DPC added the Microsoft GDPR non-compliance case to an already long list of files concerning the cross-border data processing activities of multiple tech giants which had accumulated on its docket since the GDPR came into force in May 2018.

According to the most recently available reports from May 2020 the Microsoft case is still pending before the Irish Data Protection Commission.

The situation in the Netherlands became even hotter for Microsoft with the decision of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security in 2018 to commission a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to be carried out on a range of Microsoft products, including Office 365.

"The situation in the Netherlands became even hotter for Microsoft with the decision of the Dutch Ministry of Justice and Security in 2018 to commission a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to be carried out on a range of Microsoft products, including Office 365."The DPIA was commissioned because this was a clear-cut case of data processing on a large scale (by 300,000 government employees) which involved personal data, including data that could be potentially used to track the activities of employees.

The aim of the exercise was to assess the extent to which Microsoft's Office Online and the Mobile Office Apps could be deployed in a GDPR-compliant manner by Dutch government organisations.

The scope of the investigation included the five most commonly used Office 365 applications – Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Excel and Microsoft Teams – in Office Online and the Mobile Office apps, in combination with the use of cloud storage services.

The final report [PDF], which was published in November 2018, identified a number of serious data protection risks, in particular the following:

● Loss of control over the use of personal data; ● Loss of confidentiality; ● Inability to exercise rights; ● Re-identification of pseudonymised data; ● Unlawful (further) processing.

It was noted that effective risk mitigation was outside of the users' control and could only be carried out by Microsoft.

"It was noted that effective risk mitigation was outside of the users' control and could only be carried out by Microsoft."The investigation found an unacceptable lack of control by users over the processing of personal data by Office 365 mobile applications. Because of this government organisations were advised to create policies for their employees stating that they were not to use mobile Office 365 applications.

As we shall see in the next part, the investigation by the Dutch authorities into the GDPR-compliance of Microsoft products prompted the European Data Protection Supervisor to announce its own investigation into Microsoft products used by EU institutions.

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Noteworthy Claim That IBM is Firing a Lot of Lawyers This Week (RAs in the Legal Department)
A lot of what they do is patent 'trolling' or lawyering up against their own staff (e.g. HR disputes)
Links 10/10/2025: US Judge Bars Attacks by ICE On Journalists and Protesters; “We Took The Freedom of Speech Away” Says the President
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually