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Text messages, whatsapp voicemails and written messages, as well as those from various other social networks are recorded on our mobile phones. The same mobile phones - like personal computers or other devices - can effortlessly be used to make recordings of phone calls, video calls or meetings.
In my work, I am frequently asked the question whether doing so is lawful and whether it can count as evidence.
The answer is unfortunately not unequivocal, both because the legislation has not been updated to take these new tools into account and because the courts give different decisions in different cases. It is really difficult to get one's bearings.
In an ongoing civil trial, I was able to use as evidence the whatsapp messages exchanged by my client with the opposing party, because the opposing lawyer did not dispute them in time.
The Criminal Court of Cassation, however, in a recent judgment, confirming previous rulings, established that "...whatsApp messages and text messages stored in the memory of a mobile phone are in the nature of documents within the meaning of Article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and their acquisition by mere photographic reproduction is legitimate...".
Despite this, many judges, applying other rules, say that each judge can freely evaluate them.
Not to mention the privacy aspects. Because recording a conversation - especially relating to a work or business relationship - may also be considered valid evidence by the judge in a trial, but it could still constitute a violation of the GDPR and thus expose whoever makes the recording to significant fines. On this point, the Italian Privacy Authority would be inclined to allow it, but judges often think otherwise.
In conclusion, anyone who intentionally or social messaging captures audio or photographic messages, in any format, should ask their lawyer for an opinion on the individual case in order to make the best use of it.
Nei nostri cellulari rimangano registrati i messaggi sms, i messaggi vocali e scritti whatsapp e quelli di diversi altri social network. Gli stessi cellulari – come i personal computer o altri apparecchi - possono essere utilizzati senza fatica per effettuare registrazioni di telefonate, videochiamate o incontri.
Nel mio lavoro mi viene fatta frequentemente la domanda se farlo è lecito e se possa valere come mezzo di prova.
La risposta non è purtroppo univoca, sia perché la normativa non è stata aggiornata tenendo conto di questi nuovi strumenti, sia perché i Tribunali danno decisioni diverse a seconda dei casi. È davvero difficile orientarsi.
In un processo civile in corso sono riuscito a utilizzare come mezzo di prova i messaggi whatsapp scambiati dal mio cliente con la parte opposta, perché l’avvocato avversario non li ha contestati tempestivamente.
La Cassazione Penale comunque in una recente sentenza, confermando precedenti sentenze ha stabilito che “…i messaggi “whatsApp” e gli sms conservati nella memoria di un telefono cellulare hanno natura di documenti ai sensi dell’art. 234 c.p.p., ed è legittima la loro acquisizione mediante mera riproduzione fotografica...”
Nonostante ciò molti giudici, applicando altre norme, dicono che lo stesso giudice può liberamente valutarli.
Per non parlare poi degli aspetti di privacy. Perché registrare una conversazione – specialmente relativa a un rapporto di lavoro o commerciale - può anche essere ritenuta prova valida dal giudice in un processo, ma potrebbe sempre costituire una violazione del GDPR ed esporre quindi chi fa la registrazione a sanzioni pecuniarie rilevanti. Su questo punto il Garante Privacy sarebbe incline a consentirle, ma spesso in giudici la pensano diversamente.
In conclusione chiunque, intenzionalmente o con applicazioni di messaggistica acquisisca messaggi audio o fotografici, in qualsivoglia formato, deve chiedere al proprio avvocato un parere sul singolo caso, per averne poi il miglior utilizzo.
In Italia come anche nel resto della unione europea è in vigore sin dal 2019 il GDPR, ovvero il regolamento europea sulla tutela dei dati personali.
I dati personali di ognuno di noi devono essere trattati da chi li raccoglie in modo legale, rimanendo a ognuno di noi tutta una serie di diritti sui nostri dati.
Anche tutti coloro che dispongono di un sito web, ovvero moltissime aziende e operatori economici, sia pubblici che privati, devono rispettare il GDPR.
Quasi tutti quelli che hanno un sito web hanno usato per molto tempo Google Analytics, cioè un servizio di google che raccoglie tutti i dati sull’uso di internet per elaborare algoritmi e dare altre informazioni utili alle aziende, ma anche per tenersele! Ecco perché se cerchi su internet “brioche”, ti compaiono poco dopo le pubblicità delle pasticcerie vicino a che.
Dato che Google Analytics 3, come anche altri servizi simili, trasmette i dati raccolti al di fuori dell’Unione Europea e in tal modo, si sottrae al rispetto del GDPR, perché non vengono garantiti livelli adeguati di sicurezza della privacy.
E’ intervenuta la Corte di Giustizia Europea ma soprattutto il Garante Privacy italiano con la decisione del 9 giugno 2022 numero 224. Come anche in altri paesi europei, è stato dato un termine massimo di 90 giorni ai titolari di siti web per cessare l’utilizzo di Google Analytics 3 o di altri software che trasmettano i dati raccolti su dei server collocati al di fuori della Unione Europea (nello specifico negli USA) e trovare delle soluzioni tecniche alternative.
Il Garante Privacy ha preannunciato doverosi controlli; chi ancora utilizzasse questo software rischia sanzioni molto pesanti. Non tutti prestano la necessaria attenzione a queste notizie, ma è davvero importante adeguarsi.
Invito tutte le aziende e i titolari di un sito web a verificare la loro situazione, anche in particolare le informative sui cookies , che spesso riferiscono che il titolare del trattamento utilizza Google Analytics3 o servizi simili.
Website and privacy: is your website legally compliant?
In Italy as well as in the rest of the European Union, GDPR, the European Data Protection Regulation, has been in force since 2019.
Everyone's personal data must be processed by those who collect it in a legal manner, and everyone has a number of rights over his or her data.
Everyone with a website, i.e. many companies and businesses, both public and private, must also comply with the GDPR.
Almost everyone who has a website has been using Google Analytics for a long time, i.e. a Google service that collects all the data on internet use to process algorithms and give other useful information to companies, but also to keep it! That's why if you search on the internet for 'brioche', advertisements for bakeries near that appear shortly afterwards.
Since Google Analytics 3, as well as other similar services, transmits the collected data outside the European Union, it eludes GDPR compliance, because adequate levels of privacy security are not guaranteed.
The European Court of Justice has intervened, but above all the Italian Garante Privacy with its decision of 9 June 2022 number 224. As in other European countries, a maximum term of 90 days was given to website owners to discontinue the use of Google Analytics 3 or other software which transmits data collected on servers located outside the European Union (specifically in the USA) and find alternative technical solutions.
The Privacy Guarantee Authority has announced that it will carry out checks; anyone still using this software risks heavy penalties. Not everyone pays the necessary attention to this news, but it is really important to adapt.
Therefore, I urge all companies and website owners to check their situation, including in particular the information on cookies, which often states that the data holder uses Google Analytics3 or similar services.
The best-known application of 'blockchain' technology, which many are now beginning to understand, is notoriously 'bitcoin'. Even with other virtual currencies, it has fluctuating values, but continues to be popular as a payment and financial instrument. Worldwide and also in Italy, case law is constantly dealing with it; the Italian Court of Cassation has recently ruled that anyone who buys bitcoins with financial means of illicit origin commits the crime of self-money laundering. This confirms once again that bitcoin can be considered a financial and speculative instrument and that as such, it can be considered a technically suitable instrument for the commission of the aforementioned crime. All the more so because it allows transactions to be largely anonymous and therefore it is very carefully monitored. For this reason, those who purchase bitcoins must always take care to keep documentation to prove the legitimacy of the funds used. And what about 'NFTs' or non-fungible tokens? They are another practical use of the blockchain technology itself. First and foremost, they are used to make the 'originals' of digital works of art recognisable and marketable, with interestingly different uses, depending on whether they are linked to a tangible work of art or not. But also, in the field of fashion, for example, they are progressively being used in a manner accessible to any consumer, to ascertain the uniqueness and/or belonging to a limited series and/or in any case the authenticity of a specific material product. These and many others are the possible uses, that are gradually becoming more widespread, so it is important for everyone to understand at least the elementary rudiments of this technological tool. update October 2022
This is a subject that was much talked about with Legislative Decree No. 14 of 2019, i.e. the new Code of Business Crisis and Insolvency, at the time of the introduction of the relevant law, which only partially came into force in the same year.
But now there is something new.
As of 15 July 2022, company directors are obliged to equip themselves with tools to prevent and resolve any signs of danger to the company's continuity, in essence to prevent a possible business crisis.
Already since 2019, the new Article 2086 of the Civil Code provided that 'the entrepreneur has the duty to set up an organisational, administrative and accounting structure appropriate to the nature and size of the business, also with a view to the timely detection of the crisis of the business and the loss of business continuity, as well as to take action without delay for the adoption and implementation of one of the instruments provided by the law for overcoming the crisis and the recovery of business continuity'.
Since 15 July, these instruments must objectively achieve specific results and in particular
- ascertain any imbalances of a financial or economic nature;
- verify the sustainability of debts and the prospects of business continuity for at least the next 12 months ;
- obtain the information needed for the check list on the possible pursuit of reorganisation, provided for by the same law.
Specifically, short-term payroll and social security debts, debts to suppliers and to banks and other financial intermediaries, and finally tax debts must be constantly monitored.
The consequence of the entrepreneur's non-performance is an increase in his liability, but above all the loss of the exclusion of his liability in the case of an LLC or joint-stock company.
Those who had taken action in 2019 must therefore now supplement the work done; those who have not yet done so, must equip themselves as soon as possible with these organisational and compliance tools.
after release of this video the deadline of June 30th 2022 has been extended to December 31st 2022!
This is important news for companies, which sell products in the EU, but also for consumers. Packaging is boxes, bottles, jars, baskets and generally all those containers for products bought by consumers.
The origin of the issue comes from the EU Directive 851 of 2018, which has also been transposed into Italian law, defined as the “environmental labelling standard”. The aim of this legislation is to ensure that product packaging is reused as much as possible as part of the so-called circular economy.
For all packaging, therefore, an obligation has been introduced to identify the packaging materials by means of identification markings, as set out in Decision 129/97/EC, and to indicate how they can be recycled. For paper packaging, for example, there will be the abbreviation PAP followed by a number. Given the variety of packaging, the standard takes up the principle of accountability, and it is therefore possible that companies' solutions will vary, but all will be suitable for achieving the intended purpose.
Sometimes products are so small that it is difficult to add other indications on the labels: then the regulation provides that a QR code can be print, with a link to a web page, where all the information is available to the consumer.
These new indications had to be in place on products already on sale by 31st December 2021, but at the end of last year this deadline was extended to 30th June 2022 and then to 31st December 2022. However, even after that date, companies can sell products that are already on the market or that are already labelled on 1st January 2023, even though they do not have the environmental labelling requirements, until stocks are sold out.
Given that the extension came at the last minute, it is quite possible that products bearing the new packaging recycling information are already on the market.
It is important for companies to know that these are mandatory rules and that failure to comply with them will result in heavy fines. But with the deadline being extended to 30th June 2022, it is to be expected that everyone will comply, to take another step in the direction of a greener economy.
Will your social networks be disclosed to your relatives? -
With the widespread use of digital data in the most diverse spheres, the question increasingly arises: if the holder is deceased or has become incapacitated, who can obtain all the digital data of the person in question from the various entities, banks, social networks, health facilities?
The question is not one of mere entertainment, but concerns different and broad spheres of personal rights, economic and property rights as well as personality rights.
A practical solution that I suggest, is to collect access keys and passwords for loved ones in a special document: one can also think of indicating them in the will. This allows family members to access and dispose of the data. But what happens if this is not done? Who has access?
The solution adopted consistently in recent years by the Italian courts is to apply a specific rule, introduced in 2018 and namely Article 2-terdecies, of Legislative Decree 196/2003, according to which a person's rights can be claimed, in his absence, by those who have an interest of their own, or by those acting on his behalf as a proxy, or even by those acting on his behalf for family reasons worthy of protection. Moreover, the same rule prevents these third parties from accessing the digital data, if the person in question has expressly forbidden it.
Starting with the latter statement, it is reassuring to know that any of us can decide not to allow our heirs access to our digital data, especially the most confidential and personal data.
It is equally reassuring that the Italian courts, with the specificities of each individual case, normally grant this right to third parties, relatives or heirs, of the deceased person, in the event that they request not only to have access to, but also to dispose of and keep all the digital data of the person in question. This has important implications, since even after death a relative can for instance obtain the medical records of the deceased. Another case is social security and pension data, held by public and private bodies, which can be used to obtain survivor's pensions or other benefits.
To the question of what to do in this matter, that I was asked recently, I can give the same answer here as well: be aware of your digital identity, data and digital assets and think in advance about what you would like to do with them, when you won’t be around. Like family jewellery.
