OGH - 9Ob38/19g
Austrian Supreme Court rules consent for secondary data use in terms of service is not freely given.
The Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) ruled in case 9 Ob 38/19g that consent for secondary data use, as presented in Simply TV's terms of service, is generally not considered 'freely given' under the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC. The consumer organization VKI challenged clauses related to data processing, arguing they were intransparent and that consent was not freely obtained.
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The lesson from this incident
Full lessonThe Austrian Supreme Court found that Simply TV's practice of embedding consent for secondary data use within general terms of service failed to meet the 'freely given' standard required by data protection law, as users had no meaningful choice to opt out without losing the service entirely. This case illustrates how consent that is bundled with a service agreement is inherently coercive, undermining the legal basis for processing personal data. Organizations that rely on broad, catch-all consent clauses risk invalidation of their entire data processing framework. The ruling reinforces that transparency and genuine user choice are not optional niceties — they are legal requirements with enforceable consequences.
Indicators of Compromise
Extracted by AI from the linked source. Not reviewed by an editor. How this works
- url — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32002L0058
- url — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31993L0013
- url — https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=celex%3A31995L0046
- email — infoservice@s*****.at