Data privacy campaign group noyb, founded by Austrian lawyer Max Schrems, has filed a complaint with the Austrian Office for the Prosecution of Corruption (WKStA) for a potential violation of Austrian criminal laws by the Irish Data Protection Commission.
Noyb claims the DPC effectively attempted to impose a “non-disclosure agreement” preventing the non-profit privacy campaign group from disclosing details relating to its 2018 complaint that Facebook had “bypassed the GDPR” by changing terms and conditions for users so that it no longer needs consent to process personal data.
According to Schrems, who is famed for his involvement in having both Safe Habor and Privacy Shield data-sharing arrangements between the EU and the US struck down (see sidebar), the DPC’s insistence that noyb should cease publishing material and opinion relating to the case in order to gain access to documents was akin to “blackmail.”