NZZ allowed to report on Swisscom data again

NZZ was "satisfied but not surprised" by the court's decision, as NZZ media spokeswoman Bettina Schibli said on request. Swisscom, in turn, stressed that even if the super-provisional injunction was lifted, the Commercial Court had clearly stated in the reasons for the ruling that further publication of findings in tidbits could constitute a violation of the Federal Act against Unfair Competition.

Other articles?

According to Swisscom, NZZ emphasized during the proceedings that it "no longer wants to publish any specific customer data". However, Swisscom wants all data to be destroyed. Switzerland's largest telecom group is also demanding that NZZ refrain from publishing further articles on the data. NZZ would not comment on any of the points raised by Swisscom to the SDA news agency. However, when asked, Schibli wrote: "The facts of the data theft will remain a relevant journalistic topic for the NZZ in the future."

Names of customers published

Last September, the NZZ made it public that the editorial team was in possession of four data tapes from Swisscom. The company then filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons. On December 20, 2013, the newspaper published another article on the data leak. In it, it wrote that the tapes also contained contact data for 972 celebrities, including federal councillors, members of the National Council and the Council of States, and business exponents, as well as stars from the worlds of sport, art and showbiz. The newspaper also named names. On the same day, Swisscom appealed to the Commercial Court and obtained an interim injunction. This prohibited the NZZ from publishing data on Swisscom customers. Swisscom argued that there was no public interest in publishing customer data.

Tapes from Swisscom data centers

The four tapes had disappeared from two Swisscom data centers in Ostermundigen BE in 2012. They were actually destined for destruction and had been leaked to the newspaper a few months before the data leak was revealed. Last fall, NZZ returned three tapes to Swisscom. The fourth tape had "allegedly been destroyed by the source," according to investigations by the public prosecutor's office, Swisscom said in December. At the time, the group already accused NZZ of copying the data. NZZ has not yet commented on this accusation.

What was on it?

According to the newspaper, 60 million data records from two backups from 2008 to 2010 were on the tapes, including internal company e-mails from 2004 to 2008. Contracts, orders, billing orders, telephone numbers and notices of layoffs at Swisscom were also on the tapes. According to the NZZ, it is also apparent for which companies Swisscom monitors servers and with which municipalities and cantonal offices it cooperates. According to Swisscom, IBAN account numbers of customers who pay by direct debit are also among the data.

Criminal proceedings on hold

In the meantime, the search for the data thief himself came to nothing. The Bern-Mittelland public prosecutor's office therefore suspended its proceedings in December. On Friday, Swisscom expressed the hope that the NZZ would help clarify the "specific circumstances under which the data tapes went missing.