Austria's data protection authority on Wednesday ruled that Microsoft illegally tracked students using its education software by failing to give them access to their data and using cookies without consent.

The decision from Austria’s Datenschutzbehörde (DSB) came in response to a 2024 complaint lodged by the Austrian privacy advocacy group noyb, which accused the tech giant of violating Europe’s General Data Privacy Regulation for its handling of children’s data.

The complainant in the case, the father of a minor whose school uses the software, said he did not consent to the cookies and could not get information about how his child’s data was being used.

Microsoft 365 Education is used by school districts to manage technology, allow collaboration and store data in the cloud. It includes Office applications like Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint as well as security tools and collaboration platforms like Teams.

"The decision highlights the lack of transparency in Microsoft 365 Education," Felix Mikolasch, a data protection lawyer at Noyb, said Friday in a prepared statement. "It is nearly impossible for schools to inform students, parents and teachers about what is happening with their data." 

A spokesperson for Microsoft said in a prepared statement that the company will review the decision. 

“Microsoft 365 for Education meets all required data protection standards and institutions in the education sector can continue to use it in compliance with GDPR,” the statement said. 

The regulator has ordered Microsoft to give the complainant access to their data and to begin to explain more clearly how it uses data it collects.