Microsoft Office 365: Banned in German schools over privacy fears

guest · Jul 12, 2019

Microsoft Office 365: Banned in German schools over privacy fears
July 12, 2019
https://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-office-365-banned-in-german-schools-over-privacy-fears/

Schools in the central German state of Hesse have been have been told it's now illegal to use Microsoft Office 365.
The state's data-protection commissioner has ruled that using the popular cloud platform's standard configuration exposes personal information about students and teachers "to possible access by US officials".

Besides the details that German users provide when they're working with the platform, Microsoft Office 365 also transmits telemetry data back to the US.
To allay privacy fears in Germany, Microsoft invested millions in a German cloud service, and in 2017 Hesse authorities said local schools could use Office 365. If German data remained in the country, that was fine, Hesse's data privacy commissioner, Michael Ronellenfitsch, said.
But in August 2018 Microsoft decided to shut down the German service

A spokesperson for Microsoft tells ZDNet they are working on it: "We're thankful the [Hesse] commissioner raised these concerns and we look forward working with [them] to better understand their concerns."
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guest · Aug 2, 2019

Office 365 ban in German schools 'temporarily' lifted
Schools will be forced to manually block diagnostic data from being sent to the US
August 2, 2019
https://www.itpro.co.uk/cloud-security/34141/office-365-ban-in-german-schools-temporarily-lifted

A ban on the use of Office 365 products in German schools has been temporarily lifted following a series of talks between Microsoft and the Hessian Data Protection Commissioner, according to an updated statement released today.

Yet, in another twist, the Hessian Data Protection Commissioner, Professor Michael Ronellenfitsch has now decided to "provisionally tolerate" the use of Office 365 in German schools, provided a series of conditions are met.

"Since then, there have been intensive discussions with Microsoft about the privacy compliance of Office 365's use in the school, which has led to a privacy-related assessment and has invalidated a significant proportion of the concerns."
The ruling allows schools that have already purchased version 1904 of Office 365 and its various apps to continue using the software "until further notice".

The decision appears to be something of an attempt to limit any potential disruption an outright Office 365 ban might have. However, it's likely that the ban will return unless Microsoft comes up with a way of preventing diagnostic data from leaving the country.
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