Obedience: Lexbase may not make people searchable

In July of this year, the European Court of Justice issued a statement: It is against the GDPR to make criminal judgments searchable in databases and then charge money to "unlock" the judgment.

Now the Data Protection Authority, IMY, follows the same line and gives Lexbase a reprimand and instructs the parent company Legal Newsdesk Sweden AB to "take measures so that it is no longer possible for users of the service to, when searching for people with any of the search parameters personal name, social security number or address, access such information that is covered by Article 10 of the data protection regulation that applies to the person sought".

Legal databases such as Lexbase and Krimfup have long been able to operate in Sweden due to the Freedom of Expression Act, but in recent years the thumb screws have been tightened because it is against the GDPR to build up private databases with people's personal data.