internet privacy germany data-protection
Public WiFi - when do you have to delete stored user data?
<p>Note: I originally thought of this for germany, but if you have examples from other countries those are also welcome, since im interested in the topic in general.</p>

<p>So lets say im using a public WiFi, no matter where - either at a train station, or a hotel, or a company im visiting. At least in Germany, there will always be a User Agreement presented to you in some way, and it will always say that certain data about the user is stored for a certain amount of time, according to law - but this time is never specified, and i do not know what law is refered to! (example from <a href="https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/urt/ZIMKFunkLAN/20150429_Nutzungsbedingungen_Gastwlan.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">here</a>, paragraph 6, second block (just google translate it and youll see))</p>

<p>So i want to know - how long is the time period? I already know about certain laws for data storage for the topic of backup (because of work), but i do not know if this is affected by the same law. Any replies to the topic are welcome, thanks in advance!</p>

<p>The GDPR requires that the data is "processed" (which includes just being stored) in ways that trace back to the "bases" for processing. Once the company has no reason to store the data it should be deleted automatically.</p>

<p>They are also <a href="https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr/individual-rights/right-to-be-informed/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">required to tell you</a> what they are doing with your data, including retention periods.</p>

<p>Actually getting them to move on this might be difficult, but you could start by printing off the page above, or the equivalent for their national regulator (the one I linked to is the UK regulator), and then send it to the hotel with a request for their full policy, and also point out that they are actually required to make that information available when they collect the data, not merely when it is requested.</p>
