Dödsstöten för mrkoll,Lexbase och liknade sidor är GDPR

Finding someone’s home in Vienna used to be a fairly simple process. You approached the building, checked for the correct name from the list at the door and then rang the doorbell.

But these are difficult times, and doorbells aren’t an exception.

Across the Austrian capital, last names are being replaced with numbers to conform with a new far-reaching European privacy law that took effect earlier this year. About 220,000 name tags will be removed in Vienna by the end of the year, the city’s housing authority said. Officials fear that they could otherwise be fined up to $23 million, or about $1,150 per name.