Podcast “So techt Germany”: Data protection? “It’s all about the money”

Data protection is an important and necessary evil for some – exciting and business-promoting for others. Tim Wybitul belongs to the second side. He is one of the most successful specialist lawyers for data protection law. A subject in which he urges a sense of proportion.

Tim Wybitul used to want to study IT. But then his brother pointed out to him – not entirely wrongly, as Wybitul smiles – that he couldn’t do math. A good tip, because today Tim Wybitul is a partner at Latham & Watkins and one of the best-known data protection lawyers in Germany. It is an exciting area of ​​law because it is technically demanding. And financially, the area is of enormous importance. “Data is simply about money,” says Wybitul in the ntv podcast “So techt Deutschland”.

More precisely, it is even about billions. In 2021, the authorities imposed record amounts of fines. “That was what all the experts expected,” says Wybitul. In May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation came into force across the EU.

Tim Wybitul is a lawyer specializing in data protection law.

(Photo: Latham & Watkins)

Since then, the risk for companies of being fined has been very real, says Wybitul. There is also the possibility of being sued for damages. Consumers have noticed that “if someone processes my data illegally, I can derive claims for damages from this,” explains the data protection lawyer. “The courts are just leveling off at amounts of up to 5,000 euros per case.” When a data breach affects a company’s hundreds or thousands of customers, it can be very expensive. “These are amounts that can knock over even larger companies.”

For his part, Wybitul felt the introduction of the GDPR was the right thing to do. “I think data protection is very important. I also believe that the way it was lived before 2018 was certainly not enough in many places,” the expert is convinced. Nevertheless, he urges a sense of proportion. “I have the impression that the data protection authorities are now decoupling themselves a little bit from economic reality in many places.” A good example of this for the lawyer is the corona pandemic. The question of whether health protection or data protection is more important was too often answered with data protection for Wybitul.

So techt Germany

In “So techt Deutschland” the ntv moderators Frauke Holzmeier and Andreas Laukat ask founders, investors, politicians and entrepreneurs how things are with Germany as a technology location. All episodes can be found in the ntv app, at AudioNow, Apple Podcastsand Spotify. Also at Amazon Music and Google Podcasts you will find it.

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