VIENNA: Microsoft has been illegally tracking students and schoolgoers via its 365 Education platform, officials in Austria have ruled.
"The Austrian Data Protection Authority ("DSB") issued a decision finding that Microsoft 365 Education illegally tracks students and uses student data for Microsoft's own purposes," data privacy advocacy organisation Noyb said in a statement in October.
The DSB found that Microsoft 365 Education, which provides web versions of software like Word, Excel and PowerPoint for students, illegally used tracking cookies without consent, according to Noyb.
"Microsoft usually argues that its educational products are privacy friendly. This procedure showed that this is not really the case," said Felix Mikolasch, a data protection lawyer at Noyb.
Noyb, which helped file a complaint to the DSB about the platform, accused the company of failing to comply with privacy laws.
"Microsoft tried to shift almost all responsibilities for Microsoft 365 Education to schools or other national institutions," said Mikolasch.
According to Noyb, the ruling means that Microsoft will have to confirm whether or not it sent personal data to its other platforms such as LinkedIn.
"If Microsoft does not provide clear information and more powers to its commercial customers, using Microsoft 365 is hardly compliant with EU law," the organisation claimed. – dpa
