Data protectors and SPÖ criticize the handling of the climate bonus. In concrete terms, this concerns the fact that this is partly done by a private company. The main concern is to ensure the security of the highly sensitive account information.
The Ministry of Climate Protection emphasizes that the Programming Factory GmbH has been a framework contract partner of the Federal Procurement Service for many years.
Epicenter.works data protection officials were furious Friday that a private company got the data of 7.4 million Austrians because neither climate protection nor finance ministries managed to organize transfers and mailings (see tweet below).
Who guarantees that account information is safe there?”
The SPÖ is now responding to this criticism and announcing a parliamentary question. Deputy club boss Jörg Leichtfried was “stunned by the government’s careless handling of data and taxpayers’ money.” A private company, which apparently belonged to Raiffeisen Oberösterreich, got the most sensitive account data from various government sources: “Who guarantees it’s safe there?”
The Ministry of Climate softens and emphasizes that the services would be addressed as part of the framework agreement for the processing of the climate bonus. The programming factory acts as a processor for the Ministry of Climate Protection in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation.
The data available under the Climate Bonus Act would be processed according to the highest security standards. The data processing and storage takes place exclusively in Austria and the project as a whole is designed to store as much data as possible.
Swirl around bonus on different levels
The announcement Thursday that the 2022 climate and anti-inflation bonus would also be transferred to people who had already died at the time caused a stir. According to Minister Gewessler, repayment by the heirs is not possible. There is also cross-party criticism that the climate bonus should also be paid to asylum seekers.
Source: Krone
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