Office 365, a story banned from current school use

Microsoft Office 365 provides software such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint. There are many people who use it for daily study or work. However, it is said that Office 365 was banned by the German Hessen educational institution.

The problem with Office 365, pointed out by HBDI of the Hessen Data Protection and Information Freedom Committee, is that Windows 10 is interacting with data centers in the United States. The information you send includes software diagnostics, email subject lines, and even text, all against EU general data protection rules, or GDPR.

This problem has been pointed out from the beginning of the GDPR, but in August 2017, HBDI decided it was legal because Office 365 was storing personal information in German data centers. However, in August 2018, Microsoft cleared the data center in Germany, and personal information was transferred to the data center in the United States. Since information sent to the United States is handled in accordance with U.S. law, the transfer of Office 365 information has emerged as a privacy concern.

As long as cloud-capable software such as Office 365 guarantees user consent and data processing safety, the use of it in Hessen is no problem. However, students under the age of 16 are prohibited from using Office 365 at school because they cannot obtain their consent.

In response to this point, Microsoft announced a policy of data transparency, customer information management, and privacy control in accordance with customer feedback, saying that Office 365 can impose certain restrictions on data sent from the administrator to Microsoft when it is connected to a work or school account. And announced that they are constantly working on this issue.

Meanwhile, HBDI mentioned that Google and Apple cloud solutions also have concerns about personal information such as Microsoft Office 365. Related information can be found here .