FAQ

noyb is the brain child of Max Schrems, a lawyer and privacy activist. In addition to Max, the Board of Directors consists of Christof Tschohl, a lawyer and privacy expert and Petra Leupold, a lawyer and consumer rights expert.

Max Schrems has brought a number of successful legal cases in the area of privacy and data protection. His cases (e.g. against Facebook and the EU-US Safe Harbor Agreement) were widely reported, mainly because no one so far has brought cases in this area. Max had had the idea of a professional privacy enforcement NGO (similar to consumer rights organizations) that brings cases against large corporations on behalf of the users for a while and was ultimately able to realize it through noyb.

Christof Tschohl successfully challenged data retention laws, is the scientific lead of Research Institute and has been enganged in Data Protectiona and IT-Security for many years.

Petra Leupold is the Managing Director of the VKI-Academy, the research academy of the Austrian Consumer Protection Association. She brings invaluable general consumer protection experience to the table and helps to bridge the gap between the tech and the consumer worlds.

The ordinary members of noyb include Members of the European Parliament, Experts from the European Commission, Law Professors and IT-specialists. Ordinary members of noyb meet in a general assembly every two years. 

Yes. The Board of Directors of noyb is strictly a volunteer Board. This is mandated in our Articles of Association and means that all members of the Board work for noyb without any compensation. This is also true for all ordinary members of noyb.

noyb focusses on commercial privacy issues on a European level, i.e. privacy violations of your digital rights as a private citizen by companies and corporations. After GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) came into force on May 25, 2018, commercial privacy violations can be enforced on a European level, which allows much more effective procedures and strategic litigation. So far no organization has targeted this area.

noyb is not directly involved in issues of government surveillance, because they are often already being addressed by existing NGOs or local political groups. Additionally, national government surveillance groups are much better equipped to challenge violations because government surveillance can usually not be challenged on a European level, but in the relevant national courts of the government in question. At the same time, noyb cooperates with groups in this sector.

Under the law the Data Protection Authorities (DPAs) should enforce our rights in each EU member state. However, in practice, there are legal, political and factual reasons (e.g. limited resources) that limit the desire and ability of DPAs to do their job.

noyb neither tries to replace nor bypass DPAs, but functions as a non-government organization that brings important issues to the attention of DPAs, enforces the law in civil court or directly engages with companies. The general data protection regulation (“GDPR”) recognizes that NGOs can be an important watchdog for human rights and foresees special rights under Article 80 of the law. noyb brings Article 80 to life on a European level.

We have roughly 4,600 supporting members at the moment who contribute around 400 000 € per year.  Additional funding comes from institutional members and project funding by public and private institutions. We also receive single donations and sponsorships on a non-regular basis. For more detailed information please check our annual report.

noyb is an Austrian registered non-profit (“Verein”). Our registration number is 1354838270 and can be checked at http://zvr.bmi.gv.at/.

Sure. You can download them here in German and English.

We use “noyb” as a brand name. The name was suggested by a twitter user, and is the abbreviation of “none of your business”, which fits quite well with the goals of “noyb”, because your privacy is none of a company´s business.

We can guarantee email support for general inquiries in English and German. Furthermore, we are able to respond to legal inquiries in French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Catalan and Greek.

We are mainly looking for long-term supporting members, who allow us to build a stable financial basis for our ongoing operation.

However, we are also looking for donations in kind (e.g. software products, free legal services and alike) and are also happy about individual donations. Finally, we are also looking for volunteers who may be able to help. Check out the “Support” page for more information about how you can support us.

A supporting member is a legal member of the non-profit noyb under Austrian law. Supporting members have no voting rights within noyb, but support the work of noyb through donations. Supporting members have the right to use certain membership benefits, such as free consultation in privacy violation cases, which we provide. A supporting member can cancel his or her membership at any time and we will not charge you again in the future. However, already paid annual donations are non-refundable. We charge membership fees either quarterly, biannually or annually, depending on your preference.

Sure – we are grateful for any amount you want to contribute. We know that everyone has different priorities and budgets.

Go to our support page and fill out the required data: payment interval, membership fee, method of payment, personal details, and payment information. You can make your donation public or keep it private, just as you wish.

If you experience any problems, please contact info@noyb.eu!

There are two payment methods we currently accept:

1. SEPA direct debit mandate – this only is possible if you have a Euro bank account
2. Credit card (Mastercard/Visa) – Please make sure to use a conventional credit card as we often experience problems with prepaid cards (e.g. insufficient funds). Please also make sure to update your credit card details in our member system when you receive a new card.

Possible payment intervals are quarterly, biannually or annually. The first payment is due at the beginning of the next quarter and includes the prorated membership fee for the period from registration to-date and the full amount for the coming payment period.

There is also the possibility to become a supporting member with manual bank transfers. If you are interested in doing so, please write us an email to info@noyb.eu. We are also happy about every form of other support, e.g. single donations, standing orders or payments via paypal. And you can sign up for our newsletter and receive updates.

Yes. Within 14 days you can let us know that you don’t want to be a member anymore. 

After 14 days you can still cancel your membership at any time, but already paid membership fees are not refundable.

Yes. Supporting members can cancel their membership at any time. This will be effective immediately. Please note that already paid membership payments cannot be refunded.

To reward supporting members that give a certain amount per year, we differentiate between basic, silver, gold and purple members. Depending on the amount you want to donate to noyb, we will offer you a small thank you gift and certain benefits.

Basic members will receive a welcome email.
Silver members will receive a welcome letter and some goodies within two months after signing up. Furthermore, we offer one hour of privacy counseling via e-mail.
Gold members will receive a little welcome box and can make use of two hours of counseling per year.
Purple members will receive a little larger welcome box and can make use of four hours of counseling per year.
More information can be found here.

Our work requires stable funding over the long term. Therefore, we are happy if members adjust their membership fee for inflation. When you sign up, you have the option to do so on the first page.
We use the Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) for the European Union, published by Eurostat at the beginning of each year, to increase the membership fee. The previous year‘s value is then applied to payments from April (depending on the payment interval and payment date). For payments from April 2025 on, the inflation rate of 2.6% is used. There is no retroactive inflation adjustment for existing members. Consent to inflation adjustment may be revoked at any time. Contributions already paid cannot be refunded.

Example I: A member opted for quarterly payment of their 100 Euro membership in 2018. Usually the payment amounts to 25 Euro per quarter. The member chooses to adjust for inflation in 2023. If the HICP for that year would be 5.6%, the first quarter of 2023 (January), 25 Euro will be debited and from April on, the adjusted amount of 26.4 Euro will be debited per quarter. The next adjustment will then be made in April of the following year.

Example II: A member chooses a new 50 Euro membership with annual payment in February and would like to adjust the contribution for inflation. The first debit in April will therefore be 50 Euro, and the adjusted amount will be debited in April of the following year.

The biggest chunk of our budget is used for salaries and other employment based costs. We try to keep overhead costs as low as possible. For detailed information on our financials please check our annual reports.

Our goal is to reach 2/3 of our budget per year from supporting members. This money is mainly used to pay for our staff, rent, overheads and our procedures. We would like to generate our budget from various stable sources to not rely on single donors or funding agencies. You can find this year's funding goal here and see how close we are to reaching this goal.

This depends on the tax code the supporting member is subject to. Please review the tax code you are subject to.

Tax deductions under German tax law / Spendenabsetzbarkeit in Deutschland:

Seit 1.1.2024 gibt es die Möglichkeit, sich als ausländische Organisation im “Zuwendungsregister” einzutragen, wodurch hier einmal zentral die Gemeinnützigkeit und somit Spendenbegünstigung bestätigt wird. Wir haben das beantragt und warten noch auf den Bescheid.

Dennoch kannst du auch jetzt schon dein Spende steuerlich geltend machen: Du kannst bei deiner Steuererklärung unsere Statuten, aus der die Gemeinnützigkeit hervorgeht und weitere Unterlagen wie unseren Tätigkeitsbericht einreichen. Dann liegt es derzeit noch an deinem zuständigen Finanzamt, uns als begünstigten Verein anzuerkennen und deine Spende steuerlich abzusetzen. Die Rückmeldungen unserer Mitglieder zeigen uns, dass unsere Gemeinnützigkeit von den meisten Finanzämtern anerkannt wird und die Absetzbarkeit kein Problem ist. 

Bei Spenden unter 200 Euro: Als Nachweis deiner Spende an noyb reicht ein Ausdruck der Überweisung, aus der eindeutig der gespendete Betrag, das Datum und der begünstige Verein, also noyb.eu, hervorgeht. Bitte vermerke darauf auch, dass es sich um einen Mitgliedsbeitrag handelt.

Bei Spenden über 200 Euro: Bitte wende dich an info@noyb.eu um eine Bescheinigung deines Mitgliedsbeitrags zu erhalten.

Tax deductions under Austrian tax law / Spendenabsetzbarkeit in Österreich:

Spenden und Mitgliedsbeiträge ab 1.1.2024 können in Österreich von der Steuer abgesetzt werden. Wenn du möchtest, dass wir dafür deine Daten automatisch an das Finanzamt weiterleiten, gib bitte im Anmeldeprozess oder im Mitgliederprofil deinen Namen laut Melderegister und das Geburtsdatum an. 
 
Solltest du kein Mitglied sein, sondern uns eine Einzelspende (Paypal / Überweisung) zukommen lässt, fülle bitte dieses Formular aus. Mehr Informationen dazu findest du hier! 

Eine Weiterleitung erfolgt nur bei Angabe des Namens laut Melderegister und Geburtsdatums und ist völlig freiwillig.

Please log in here with your email address. You will receive a one-time password immediately afterwards. Please be aware that it is only valid for a few minutes. If you can’t find it, please also check your spam folder. When logged in, you can change your account information and update your payment information.
In order to update your credit card / bank account within your chosen payment method, please click on “Profile” on the top right, then “Change payment information” and update your payment details.
In the section “Change membership” you can change the amount of your membership fee, your payment interval and your payment method.

Please make sure that you used the email address you registered with. Even the smallest dot can make a big difference (e.g. between your first and surname). If you’re absolutely sure you used the correct address, please try again later. If you did not receive a password, please also check your spam folder. The one-time password is only valid for a few minutes so if it does not work anymore, enter your email address again.

Technical problems can occur sometimes. If the problem remains, please contact us at info@noyb.eu!

We are very sorry for that! Some boxes get lost on their way or are broken due to automatic sorting in certain countries. Also, please be aware that we do not send the welcome boxes right after you sign up as a member, but in bundles every two months. If you did not receive a box, please contact us.

If you are a gold, silver or purple member, you are entitled to (respectively) one, two or four hours of consulting per year. So if you face problems regarding your privacy in the internet, feel free to contact us at info@noyb.eu We will respond to your email as soon as possible. Please also take into consideration, that we are receiving many inquiries and therefore it might take some time to get back to you.

If you need a receipt for your membership fee, you’re welcome to download a PDF donation receipt in your member profile on https://support.noyb.eu/profile/donation-receipt once logged in.
PLEASE NOTE: donation receipts for membership fees charged with SEPA direct debit will become available 8 weeks after a successful donation.

If you need a donation receipt for a single donation, please contact us at info@noyb.eu, and we’ll be happy to issue you one.