Take-Aways (AI)
  • Infor­ma­ti­on from the pri­va­te life of an admi­ni­stra­ti­ve employee does not fall within the scope of pro­tec­tion of Art. 320 StGB.
  • Vio­la­ti­on of con­sti­tu­tio­nal rights is only a cri­mi­nal offen­se if a cor­re­spon­ding cri­mi­nal pro­vi­si­on is appli­ca­ble and the fac­tu­al natu­re, ille­ga­li­ty and guilt are not excluded.
  • The ele­ment of the offen­se of “obtai­ning per­so­nal data” pur­su­ant to Art. 179novies StGB is not ful­fil­led if only the per­son and not a tech­ni­cal bar­ri­er was overcome.
  • Mar­gi­nal data from pri­va­te tele­pho­ne con­ver­sa­ti­ons are neither con­side­red per­so­nal data wort­hy of spe­cial pro­tec­tion nor a per­so­na­li­ty pro­fi­le within the mea­ning of Art. 179novies StGB.

After the unso­li­ci­ted ana­ly­sis of tele­pho­ne data of a muni­ci­pal employee, que­sti­ons of vio­la­ti­on of offi­ci­al sec­re­cy (StGB 320) and unaut­ho­ri­zed acqui­si­ti­on of per­so­nal data (StGB 179) aro­se.novies):

Art. 179novies and 320 StGB; Art. 3 DSG; Art. 8 No. 2 ECHR. Infor­ma­ti­on from the pri­va­te life of an employee of the admi­ni­stra­ti­on does not fall within the scope of pro­tec­tion of Art. 320 StGB (E. 3.1). The vio­la­ti­on of con­sti­tu­tio­nal rights is only rele­vant in cri­mi­nal pro­ce­e­dings if the vio­la­ti­on is also sanc­tion­ed by a cri­mi­nal norm and, with regard to this norm, con­duct that is con­sti­tu­ent, unlawful and cul­pa­ble can­not be denied wit­hout fur­ther ado (E. 3.2). The ele­ment of obtai­ning per­so­nal data within the mea­ning of Art. 179novies StGB is not ful­fil­led if no tech­ni­cal bar­ri­er is over­co­me, but only the human being as a bar­ri­er. (E. 3.3.1). Mar­gi­nal data of pri­va­te tele­pho­ne con­ver­sa­ti­ons do not con­sti­tu­te per­so­nal data requi­ring spe­cial pro­tec­tion or a per­so­na­li­ty pro­fi­le within the mea­ning of Art. 179novies SCC (E. 3.3.3).

(The Fede­ral Supre­me Court dis­missed the appeal under con­sti­tu­tio­nal law filed against this on Febru­ary 24, 2003).

PDF:
[pdf-embedder url=“http://datenrecht.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2002.10.24 – 038.pdf”]