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Research Outline

Prepared for Gali G. | Delivered July 21, 2021

Digital Communication Registries By Country

Goals

For each country listed below and in the provided spreadsheet, determine if there is one government registry in existence that collects private and business cellphone numbers, personal and government e-mail addresses, or communicates digitally and provide a Yes or No in the corresponding cell in the spreadsheet. Countries, in order of importance, include the following:
  • Austria
  • France
  • Netherlands
  • UK
  • Spain
  • Norway
  • Australia
  • Portugal
  • Iceland
  • Canada
  • USA
  • New Zealand
  • Uruguay
  • Estonia
  • South Korea
  • Mexico
  • Denmark
  • Germany
  • Sweden
  • Finland

Early Findings

Data Availability
  • According to our preliminary research of government entities and databases, we determined that there is adequate information available in the public domain to determine the types of digital communication registries or databases compiled by each identified government.

Austria

  • According to the "General Data Protection Regulation" in Austria which was revised in 2018, any entity that collects personal data from an Austrian citizen must complete several actions and disclose specific information as outlined in section 2 article 13 of the law. Due to this law, it is clear that a registry for personal cell phone and e-mail data is not legal in Austria on an "opt-out" basis.
  • Austria has a register called the "The Central Register of Residence in Austria (CRR)" which includes the opt-out digital communication register for both individuals and businesses that is accessible to all government entities.
  • After an exhaustive search, we were unable to find any record of a business registry compiled by the government of Austria that included contact details such as cell phone, e-mail, or governmental e-mail. In addition, these details are not required when registering a business in Austria.

Summary

In our initial hour, we converted the provided spreadsheet into a custom Google Spreadsheet, as per our deliverable policy. In addition, we analyzed the first country, Austria, for official government communication registries that provided cellphone, e-mail, digital communication for personal and business entities. Through our research, we found that there is adequate information available through the public domain to determine if these registries exist or not, however, some countries may require meticulous analysis of government resources to form a conclusion.