Since July, there have been masses of warnings in Austria, especially from small website operators, because of the use of Google Fonts on websites. The website operators are being asked to pay 100 euros in damages and 90 euros in costs for the lawyer’s intervention.
The warnings do not only contain a claim for damages, but also a request for information.
In general, it should be noted that the GDPR is completely unfamiliar with such methods of mass warnings. According to Art. 82 GDPR, every person has the right to claim damages if a controller (or processor) violates the GDPR. The prerequisites for a claim for damages must always be verified in each individual case, which to my knowledge has not (yet) been done in these cases. Furthermore, if it turns out that a private individual or a warning law firm has systematically searched for websites to enrich themselves, this could also violate the requirement of good faith.
The Association of Austrian Data Protection Officers succeeded in organizing an online event for its members on September 2 with Ursula Illibauer, the data protection expert of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber. Almost 90 members of the Association of Austrian Data Protection took advantage of this offer and received the latest information on this topic.
