Here we look at important information about the legal situation for your own website and the possible dangers.
Corporate websites in the crosshairs of lawyers due to GDPR
While phishing and fake emails are often the focus for private individuals, the focus of many companies in the past has been on hacker attacks . With the introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation, which has applied to Austria and Germany as member countries since 2018, violations of the GDPR are probably one of the most common digital problems. Despite 99 articles of the regulation and more than 4 years since it came into force, there is still a lot of uncertainty among companies about what is allowed and what is forbidden. But it's not just the GDPR that can lead to expensive warnings, copyright violations or the omission of an imprint also pose risks.
For which violations are real warnings sent?
Copyright Violations
Violations of copyright in images and videos are hardly in the focus of the media anymore, but continue to pose an expensive threat to companies. If you include protected content on your website without the permission of the rights holder, you will quickly be asked to pay. This applies even if you didn't even know that the content was protected by copyright.
Violation of legal notice or data protection declaration requirements
For commercial websites, an imprint or disclosure obligation must be observed in accordance with Section 25 of the Media Act in Austria and Section 5 of the Telemedia Act in Germany . If there is no information about the website operator, contact details or a VAT identification number, it can be expensive. The legal notice or data protection declaration must be complete so as not to pose a risk of warning.
Incorrect implementation of email marketing
Depending on the industry, your own newsletter can serve as a very useful tool for better customer loyalty and easy marketing of new products. However, you must comply with the legal requirements for email marketing in order not to risk expensive penalties under the GDPR and other competition law regulations. Prior consent with double opt-in is essential, for example, if you want to contact new and existing customers by email.
Data protection violations
Violations of the General Data Protection Regulation often include the unauthorized disclosure of personal data, which includes a non-anonymized IP address. It is up to you to prevent this data from being shared, anonymize it or obtain the visitor's consent before sharing it. The violations can affect all areas that rely on external providers. There is currently a wave of warnings in Austria against the incorrect integration of Google Fonts , in which the visitor's IP address is forwarded to Google's server when a font is downloaded.
Beware of attempted fraud
Although certain penalties are justified by the current legal situation in Austria and the EU, there are additional attempts at fraud that want to take advantage of the fear of warnings. These “scams” attempt to get those affected to pay quickly and to force cooperation using the most threatening language possible. You should especially avoid paying claims if you are only contacted by email. In this case, request a claim by post so that you can check it carefully and possibly discuss it with a lawyer. The same applies to contact via other internet platforms, for example WhatsApp or Facebook.
You can also uncover many attempted scams with unjustified warnings by searching the Internet. Once there, look for the law firm printed on the letterhead and the relevant law or regulation that your website is allegedly violating. For many attempted scams, there are already reports on websites such as mimikama.org as to whether they are false warnings. If you have legal protection insurance, you can also have the claim checked for accuracy by the lawyers. Please note, however, that private legal protection insurance usually rejects cases that affect your company.
This is how you protect yourself from real warnings
Use a reliable partner to create the website
For reliable protection against warnings, the most important thing is to comply with the currently applicable provisions of the GDPR, media laws, etc. This works best if you have the website created by an expert. If you are looking for an experienced partner for web design Graz , the Rittler&Co advertising agency is a good choice. With almost 20 years of experience and an up-to-date guarantee, you will receive a very good service package for your website in Austria. The employees are familiar with the “best practices” for websites and the current case law, so that many pitfalls can be avoided in advance.
Contact a lawyer specializing in internet law
However, you should only rely on legal information provided by the website developer if they are working with an experienced data protection lawyer. Agencies are neither allowed to offer legal advice nor are the liability risks of following the advice covered in many contracts. You should therefore definitely seek advice from a lawyer specializing in internet law as to whether your website meets the legal requirements. Some agencies work with a law firm to do this, or you can hire legal counsel separately. Professional advice can save you expensive warnings.
If you don't have much money, use software kits
If you want to spend little money on creating your homepage and are still looking for the highest possible legal security, you can use the building blocks from large hosting providers. The software applications are often already structured in such a way that beginners can make fewer mistakes and you are guided through the creation of a website with detailed instructions. In this case, however, you should not expect warning messages if you waive the legal notice or include third-party images. Ultimately, you are responsible for the content of the website. The kits only make programming the homepage easier and do not replace checking by a lawyer.
You can also use free or paid internet generators to create an imprint or data protection declaration. There you provide information about your industry, company type and the services used on the website, from which a text tailored to your company is created for the legal notice or data protection declaration. However, this is only legally secure if you have entered the data for your homepage correctly and the basics of the generator are up to date. If you don't want to spend money on a lawyer, using text generators from reputable providers will increase your chances of not making any mistakes with the legal notice and data protection declaration.
Also read:
Google Fonts & warnings: What is really problematic!
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

