GDPR: Avoid warnings!

Please note that this is an editorial contribution and not legal advice.

Do you operate a WLAN hotspot and secure it by giving your customers a password? As a result, you risk high costs! Although the liability for interference has largely been abolished, the new General Data Protection Regulation, which came into force in May 2018, is once again hailing down warnings.

GDPR applies to password-protected WiFi hotspots

The Federal Court of Justice recently confirmed the Abolition of liability for interference. In fact, this should finally make offering public WLAN hotspots easier and protect operators from high warning costs.

Unfortunately, it is not that easy.

Although operators of public WLAN hotspots can no longer be held responsible for illegal file sharing by hotspot users, the Federal Court of Justice has decided that network blocks can be imposed in case of doubt. Here, the hotspot operator must therefore be able to set its HotSpot in such a way that certain pages are blocked, users must register or access is protected by a password.

Secure a hotspot with a password? - Why that's not a good idea...

Because: If you are not working with a professional customer hotspot and grant your customers WiFi access with a password, this is now the GDPR.

Prevent warnings for data breaches

It doesn't get any easier for hotspot operators: As soon as you no longer have to be afraid of being arrested, you have to worry about expensive warnings about network blockages and data protection.

Even offering WiFi falls under the General Data Protection Regulation, even if you are not using it for any advertising purposes. This is because the GDPR regulates the collection, processing and storage of personal data.

In order for data traffic to take place between network and device (e.g. smartphone), the network needs the individual device ID (MAC address) and the dynamic IP address.

Even if you do not actively access any user data, the start time and duration, as well as the amount of data used, are also saved. According to the law, this is personal data that requires special protection.

For you, this means:

• You must let users know what data is being collected
• the data must be documented
• At the request of users, you must present the stored data within 4 weeks and possibly delete it

If you are unable to guarantee this or if you miss the deadline, you must expect warnings.

Ignorance does not protect against punishment

The old sentence “Ignorance does not protect against punishment” applies here. If you offer a hotspot, or simply have a website for your company, you must have made comprehensive information and adjustments to the GDPR. Be sure to match your privacy policy with Article 13 and Article 14 the General Data Protection Regulation. The GDPR is very similar to the German Telemedia Act (TMG) but is changing like the data is handled.

So do not share a WLAN network without having secured yourself against it!

To be on the safe side, we recommend working exclusively with a GDPR-compliant hotspot provider. This is the only way you can be sure that you can offer your customers a service without having to deal with the legal consequences.

With the guest WiFi from Socialwave Are you both facing network blockages and warnings due to data breaches secured!

With our WLAN marketing package, your customers/patients/guests advertise for you, are happy and recommend you to others.