Hi !
Before the summer, we received a long-awaited answer from the Ministry of Education on a question many of us have been pondering:
Should the primary legal basis for the processing of personal data in solutions like Google Workspace for Education be
-
GDPR Article 6(1)(c) "legal obligation" or
- GDPR Article 6(1)(e) "task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority".
Our initial approach
We in the national DPIA project originally did not intend to conclude on this question.
Our idea was that in the DPIA, we wanted to create two different justifications, one for clause (c) and one for clause (e), and then the data controller could choose.
As a data controller, you could also choose to listen to our advice on what we would have chosen if we were your privacy advisor (we would have chosen clause (e)).
But there was a clear desire from school owners who regularly speak with the SkoleSec project that we should ask the Ministry of Education for a statement, so we ended up doing that.
The Ministry of Education has concluded: it is GDPR Article 6(1)(e)
And the answer came before the summer: The Ministry of Education also believes that the primary legal basis for school owners' processing of personal data in solutions like Google Workspace for Education is GDPR Article 6(1)(e).
You can read the response letter from the Ministry of Education here.
This answer allows us to be even clearer in our advice on which legal basis you as a school owner and data controller should use. Therefore, we have changed our recommendation. Now we clearly state that the general legal basis is GDPR Article 6(1)(e).
You can still download both our justification for clause (e) and for clause (c), but the national DPIA project's recommendation is now clearly clause (e).
And it is worth still mentioning that this is not really a discussion between clause (c) and (e). As we have said before: in our proposal for a record of processing, we use more legal bases than just (c) and (e).
You can download our proposal for a record of processing for Google Workspace for Education here.
Yes, it has been updated to comply with the new Education Law that came into effect on 01.08.24. You're welcome!
The right to object
Many are concerned that when you as a data controller use clause (e), the data subject retains the right to object. This right became widely known when Meta decided that they could use all the images you have posted on Facebook and Instagram to train their AI.
It appears as a blank check to stop processing, but it IS a bit different for you as a school owner and processor of children's personal data under the Education Law. We wrote more about this in the previous newsletter, check it out here.
And for those who are still concerned about the right to object, we have a guide on how to tackle it which you can read here.
I wish you a wonderful, privacy-friendly week-end!
Best regards,
Ida Thorsrud
Project manager national DPIA
This newsletter was translated from Norwegian to English with assistance from ChatGPT by OpenAI. While it guided our translation, we made independent editorial choices. Any discrepancies result from this combined approach.