Data protection in times of Covid-19

Companies and organizations have data that they do not want to make available to others. They also have a special responsibility for their customers, partners and employees. Not being sovereign of this data means not only a loss of trust, but usually also commercial losses.

Show your customers, partners and employees that data protection is important to you and that you take responsibility to protect their privacy. Show that you have implemented the rules of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from May 2018.

Therefore, do without Google services and use alternatives. Google makes money from the data you provide Google:

With your permission you give us more information about you, about your friends, and we can improve the quality of our searches. We don’t need you to type at all. We know where you are. We know where you’ve been. We can more or less know what you’re thinking about. [1]

This statement by the Google CEO, Eric Schmidt, is more relevant than ever. It can get scary when you think that a company knows more or less what you think about. The group only reveals part of this information if you still have a Google account – saved graphs and other evaluations will remain hidden from you.

In the following we would like to introduce you to some privacy-friendly alternatives to Google services:

… for your office work

  • Jitsi instead of Google Hangout, Zoom or Microsoft Teams
  • Mattermost instead of Slack
  • Nextcloud and OnlyOffice instead of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Calendar and Google Drive

… for your website

… for your apps

For further reading

Telearbeit und Mobiles Arbeiten
Information from the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of information (BfDI), January 2019
Top Tips for Cybersecurity when Working Remotely
Article by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), March 2020
Home-Office? – Aber sicher!
Information from the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), March 2020

[1]Google’s CEO: ‹The Laws Are Written by Lobbyists›, 2010.