Privacy policy

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you do not want to have cookies in principle, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow the cookie or not. The procedure varies depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term "delete cookies Chrome" or "disable cookies Chrome" in the case of a Chrome browser.

Legal basis

The so-called "Cookie Guidelines" have been in place since 2009. These state that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6 (1) a DSGVO). Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in Section 96 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). In Germany, the Cookie Directives were not implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG).

For absolutely necessary cookies, even in the absence of consent, there are legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) DSGVO), which in most cases are economic in nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and for this purpose certain cookies are often absolutely necessary.

If cookies are used that are not absolutely necessary, this only happens in the case of your consent. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO.

In the following sections, you will be informed in more detail about the use of cookies, if used software uses cookies.

Application data

Application data summary
👥 Data subjects: users who apply for a job with us
🤝 Purpose: Processing of an application procedure.
📓 Processed data: Name, address, contact details, e-mail address, telephone number, proof of qualifications (certificates), possibly special category data.
📅 Storage period: in the event of a successful application, until the end of the employment relationship. Otherwise, the data will be deleted after the application process or stored for a certain period with your consent.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract), Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a. DSGVO (processing of special categories)

What is application data?

You can apply to us by e-mail, online form or via a recruiting tool for a job in our company. All data that we receive and process from you as part of an application counts as application data. In doing so, you always disclose personal data such as name, date of birth, address and telephone number.

Why do we process application data?

We process your data so that we can operate a proper selection process in relation to the advertised position. In addition, we also like to keep your application documents in our application archive. Because it often happens that for the advertised positions a cooperation does not work out for various reasons, but we are impressed by you and your application and can imagine a future cooperation very well. Provided you give us your consent, we will archive your documents so that we can easily contact you for future tasks in our company.

We guarantee that we will handle your data with particular care and only ever process your data within the legal framework. Even within our company, your data will only be forwarded to persons who are directly involved with your application. In short: Your data is in safe hands with us!

What data is processed?

If you apply to us by e-mail, for example, we will of course also receive personal data, as mentioned above. Even the e-mail address already counts as personal data. However, in the course of an application process, we only process data that is relevant for our decision as to whether or not we want to welcome you to our team.

Exactly what data is processed depends primarily on the job posting. In most cases, however, it is a matter of name, date of birth, contact details and proof of qualifications. If you submit the application via an online form, the data is passed on to us in encrypted form. If you send us the application by e-mail, this encryption does not take place. Therefore, we cannot assume any responsibility for the way the data is transmitted. However, once the data is on our servers, we are responsible for the lawful handling of your data.

During an application process, in addition to the data mentioned above, information about your health or ethnic origin may also be requested so that we and you can exercise the rights related to labor law, social security and social protection and, at the same time, comply with the corresponding obligations. These data are special category data.

Here is a list of possible data we receive from you and process:

Name
Contact address
E-mail address
Phone number
Date of birth
Information that comes from the cover letter and resume
Proof of qualification (e.g.) Certificates
Special category data (e.g., ethnic origin, health data, religious beliefs).
Usage data (websites visited, access data ect.)
Metadata (IP address, device information)

How long will the data be stored?

If we accept you as a team member in our company, your data will be further processed for the purpose of the employment relationship and kept with us at least until the employment relationship ends. All application documents will then be placed in your employee file.

If we do not offer you the job, if you reject our offer or withdraw your application, we may retain your data for up to 6 months after the conclusion of the application process on the basis of legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) f DSGVO). After that, both your electronic data and all data from physical application documents will be completely deleted or destroyed. We retain your data, for example, so that we can still answer any follow-up questions or so that we can provide evidence of the application in the event of a legal dispute. If a legal dispute arises and we may still need the data after the 6 months have expired, we will only delete the data when there is no longer any reason to retain it. If there are legal retention obligations to fulfill, we must generally store the data for longer than 6 months.

Furthermore, we can also keep your data longer if you have given special consent for this. We do this, for example, if we can well imagine a cooperation with you in the future. Then it is helpful to have your data archived so that we can contact you without any problems. In this case, the data will be added to our applicant pool. Of course, you can revoke your consent to the longer storage of your data at any time. If there is no revocation and you do not give a new consent, your data will be deleted after 2 years at the latest.

Legal basis

Legal bases for the processing of your data are Art. 6 para 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract or pre-contractual measures), Art. 6 para 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests) and Art. 9 para 2 lit. a. DSGVO (processing of special categories).

If we include you in our application tool, this happens on the basis of your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). We would like to point out that your consent to our application pool is voluntary, has no influence on the application process and you have the option to revoke your consent at any time. The lawfulness of the processing until the time of the revocation remains unaffected.

In the case of the protection of vital interests, the data processing is carried out in accordance with Art. 9 para. 2 lit. c. DSGVO. For the purposes of health care, occupational medicine, medical diagnosis, health or social care or treatment, or for the management of health or social care systems and services, the processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with Art. 9 (2) lit. h. DSGVO. If you voluntarily provide special category data, the processing is based on Art. 9 (2) lit. a. DSGVO.

Customer data

Customer data summary
👥 Data subjects: customers or business and contractual partners.
🤝 Purpose: Provision of the contractually or pre-contractually agreed services, including associated communication.
📓 Data processed: Name, address, contact data, e-mail address, telephone number, payment information (such as invoices and bank data), contract data (such as term and subject of the contract), IP address, order data.
📅 Storage period: the data is deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the provision of our business purposes and there is no legal obligation to retain it.
⚖️ Legal basis: Legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO), contract (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO).

What is customer data?

In order to be able to offer our service or contractual services, we also process data of our customers and business partners. This data always includes personal data. Customer data is all information that is processed on the basis of a contractual or pre-contractual cooperation in order to be able to provide the services offered. Customer data is therefore all collected information that we collect and process about our customers.

Why do we process customer data?

There are many reasons why we collect and process customer data. The most important is that we simply need various data to provide our services. Sometimes your e-mail address is enough, but if you purchase a product or service, for example, we also need data such as name, address, bank data or contract data. We also use the data subsequently for marketing and sales optimization, so that we can improve our overall service to our customers. Another important point is our customer service, which is always very important to us. We want you to be able to come to us at any time with questions about our offers, and for this we need at least your e-mail address.

What data is processed?

Exactly which data is stored can only be described here on the basis of categories. This always depends on which services you receive from us. In some cases, you only provide us with your e-mail address so that we can contact you or answer your questions, for example. In other cases, you purchase a product or service from us and for this we need significantly more information, such as your contact data, payment data and contract data.

Here is a list of possible data we receive from you and process:

Name
Contact address
E-mail address
Phone number
Date of birth
Payment data (invoices, bank data, payment history, etc.)
Contract data ( term, content)
Usage data (websites visited, access data ect.)
Metadata (IP address, device information)

How long will the data be stored?

As soon as we no longer need the customer data to fulfill our contractual obligations and our purposes, and the data is also no longer necessary for possible warranty and liability obligations, we delete the corresponding customer data. This is the case, for example, when a business contract ends. After that, the statute of limitations is usually 3 years, although longer periods are possible in individual cases. Of course, we also comply with the statutory retention obligations. Your customer data will certainly not be passed on to third parties unless you have given explicit consent to do so.

Legal basis

Legal bases for the processing of your data are Art. 6 para 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract or pre-contractual measures), Art. 6 para 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests) and in special cases (e.g. medical services) Art. 9 para 2 lit. a. DSGVO (processing of special categories).

Registration

Registration Summary
👥 Data subjects: all individuals who register, create an account, log in, and use the account.
📓 Data Processed: Email address, name, password and other data collected in the course of registration, login and account use.
🤝 Purpose: To provide our services. Communication with customers in connection with the services.
📅 Storage period:As long as the company account associated with the texts exists and thereafter usually 3 years.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

When you register with us, personal data may be processed if you enter personal data or data such as the IP address is collected in the course of processing. What we mean by the rather unwieldy term "personal data", you can read below.

Please only enter data that we need for registration and for which you have the release of a third party, if you are registering on behalf of a third party. If possible, use a secure password that you do not use anywhere else and an email address that you check regularly.

In the following we inform you about the exact kind of data processing, because you should feel comfortable with us!

What is a registration?

When you register, we take certain data from you and later allow you to easily log in online and use your account with us. Having an account with us has the advantage that you do not have to re-enter everything every time. Saves time, effort and ultimately prevents errors in the provision of our services.

Why do we process personal data?

In short, we process personal data to enable the creation and use of an account with us.
If we didn't do that, you would have to enter all the data each time, wait for us to approve it, and enter it all again. We and many, many customers would not like that. How would you feel about that?

What data is processed?

All the data you provided in the course of registration, enter during registration or enter in the course of managing your data in the account.

During registration, we process the following types of data:

First name
Last name
E-mail address
Company name
Street + house number
Residence
Postal code
Country

When you log in, we process the data you enter when you log in, such as username and password, and data collected in the background, such as device information and IP addresses.

During account use, we process data that you enter during account use and which is created in the course of using our services.

Storage duration

We store the data entered at least for as long as the account linked to the data exists with us and is used, as long as contractual obligations exist between us and, if the contract ends, until the respective claims arising from it have become time-barred. In addition, we store your data as long as and to the extent that we are subject to legal obligations to store it. Thereafter, we retain accounting records pertaining to the contract (invoices, contract documents, account statements, etc.) as well as other relevant business documents for the legally prescribed period (usually several years).

Right of objection

You have registered, entered data and want to revoke the processing? No problem. As you can read above, the rights under the General Data Protection Regulation also exist during and after registration, login or account with us. Contact the data protection officer above to exercise your rights. If you already have an account with us, you can easily view or manage your data and texts in the account.

Legal basis

By carrying out the registration process, you enter into a pre-contractual agreement with us to enter into a contract of use of our platform (although no automatic obligation to pay arises). Youinvest time to enter data and register and we provide you with our services after logging into our system and viewing your customer account. We also fulfill our contractual obligations. Finally, we need to keep registered users informed of important changes by email. Thus, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO (implementation of pre-contractual measures, fulfillment of a contract) applies.

If necessary, we also obtain your consent, e.g. if you voluntarily provide more than the absolutely necessary data or if we are allowed to send you advertising. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent) therefore applies.

We also have a legitimate interest in knowing who we are dealing with in order to contact them in certain cases. In addition, we need to know who is using our services and whether they are being used as specified in our terms of use, so Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests) applies.

Note: the following sections are to be ticked by users (as required):

Registration with clear name

Since in business we need to know who we are dealing with, registration is only possible with your real name (clear name) and not with pseudonyms.

Registration with pseudonyms

Pseudonyms can be used during registration, which means that you do not have to register with us using your real name. This ensures that your name cannot be processed by us.

IP address storage

In the course of registration, login and account use, we store the IP address in the background for security reasons, in order to be able to determine the legitimate use.

Public profile

The user profiles are publicly visible, i.e. you can see parts of the profile on the Internet even without entering username and password.

2-factor authentication (2FA)

Two-factor authentication (2FA) provides additional security when logging in, as it prevents you from logging in without a smartphone, for example. This technical measure to secure your account thus protects you against the loss of data or unauthorized access even if username and password were known. You will find out which 2FA is used during registration, login and in the account itself.

Web hosting introduction

Web hosting summary
👥 Affected parties: visitors of the website.
🤝 Purpose: professional hosting of the website and securing its operation.
📓 Processed data: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. More details can be found below or with the respective web hosting provider used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What is web hosting?

When you visit websites nowadays, certain information - including personal data - is automatically created and stored, including on this website. This data should be processed as sparingly as possible and only with justification. By the way, by website we mean the entirety of all web pages on a domain, i.e. everything from the home page (homepage) to the very last subpage (like this one). By domain, we mean, for example, example.de or sampleexample.com.

When you want to view a website on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, you use a program called a web browser to do so. You probably know some web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. We say browser or web browser for short.

To display the website, the browser must connect to another computer where the website's code is stored: the web server. Operating a web server is a complicated and costly task, which is why this is usually done by professional providers, the providers. These offer web hosting and thus ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data. A whole lot of technical terms, but please stay tuned, it gets better!

When the browser on your computer (desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone) connects and during data transfer to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. On the one hand, your computer stores data, on the other hand, the web server must also store data for a while to ensure proper operation.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so the following graphic illustrates the interaction between the browser, the Internet and the hosting provider.

Browser and web server

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

Professional hosting of the website and securing its operation
to maintain operational and IT security
Anonymous evaluation of access behavior for the improvement of our offer and, if necessary, for criminal prosecution or the pursuit of claims

What data is processed?

Even while you are visiting our website right now, our web server, which is the computer on which this website is stored, usually automatically stores data such as

the complete Internet address (URL) of the accessed web page
Browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e.g. https://www. beispielquellsite.de/vondabinichgekommen/)
the hostname and IP address of the device being accessed from (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
Date and time
in files, the so-called web server log files

How long is data stored?

As a rule, the above data is stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed by authorities in the event of unlawful conduct.

In short, your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not share your information without consent!

Legal basis

The lawfulness of the processing of personal data in the context of web hosting results from Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (protection of legitimate interests), because the use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary to present the company on the Internet in a secure and user-friendly manner and to be able to pursue attacks and claims from this if necessary.

As a rule, there is a contract between us and the hosting provider for commissioned processing pursuant to Art. 28 f. DSGVO, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.

Hetzner Privacy Policy

We use Hetzner, a web hosting provider among others, for our website. The service provider is the German company Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. You can learn more about the data processed by using Hetzner in the privacy policy at https://www.hetzner.com/de/legal/privacy-policy.

Order processing agreement (AVV) Hetzner

In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have concluded an order processing agreement (OPA) with Hetzner. What exactly is a GCU and especially what must be included in a GCU, you can read in our general section "Order processing agreement (GCU)".

This contract is required by law because Hetzner processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that Hetzner may only process data they receive from us according to our instructions and must comply with the GDPR. You can find the link to the order processing agreement (AVV) at https://docs.hetzner.com/de/general/general-terms-and-conditions/data-privacy-faq/.

Web Analytics Introduction

Web Analytics Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website.
🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimize the web offer.
📓 Data processed: Access statistics containing data such as access locations, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior, click behavior, and IP addresses. More details on this can be found with the respective web analytics tool used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the web analytics tool used.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

What is Web Analytics?

We use software on our website to evaluate the behavior of website visitors, known as web analytics for short. This involves collecting data that is stored, managed and processed by the respective analytic tool provider (also known as a tracking tool). The data is used to create analyses of user behavior on our website and made available to us as the website operator. In addition, most tools offer various testing options. For example, we can test which offers or content are best received by our visitors. To do this, we show you two different offers for a limited period of time. After the test (so-called A/B test), we know which product or content our website visitors find more interesting. For such test procedures, as for other analytics procedures, user profiles can also be created and the data stored in cookies.

Why do we run web analytics?

With our website we have a clear goal in mind: we want to deliver the best web offer on the market for our industry. To achieve this goal, we want to offer the best and most interesting offer on the one hand, and on the other hand make sure that you feel completely comfortable on our website. With the help of web analysis tools, we can take a closer look at the behavior of our website visitors and then improve our web offer for you and us accordingly. For example, we can see how old our visitors are on average, where they come from, when our website is most visited or which content or products are particularly popular. All this information helps us to optimize the website and thus best adapt it to your needs, interests and wishes.

What data is processed?

Exactly what data is stored depends, of course, on the analysis tools used. But as a rule, for example, which content you view on our website, which buttons or links you click on, when you access a page, which browser you use, which device (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.) you use to visit the website or which computer system you use is stored. If you agreed that location data may also be collected, these may also be processed by the web analytics tool provider.

In addition, your IP address is also stored. According to the General Data Protection Regulation (DSGVO), IP addresses are personal data. However, your IP address is usually stored pseudonymously (i.e. in an unrecognizable and shortened form). For the purpose of testing, web analysis and web optimization, no direct data, such as your name, age, address or e-mail address are stored as a matter of principle. All this data, if collected, is stored pseudonymously. This means that you cannot be identified as a person.

The following example shows schematically how Google Analytics works as an example of client-based web tracking with Java Script code.

Schematic data flow for Google Analytics

How long the respective data is stored always depends on the provider. Some cookies store data only for a few minutes or until you leave the website again, other cookies can store data for several years.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, provided we have further information on this. In general, we process personal data only as long as it is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. If it is required by law, as for example in the case of accounting, this storage period may also be exceeded.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser.

Legal basis

The use of web analytics requires your consent, which we have obtained with our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur during the collection by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, there is a legitimate interest on our part to analyze the behavior of website visitors and thus to improve our offer technically and economically. With the help of web analytics, we detect errors of the website, can identify attacks and improve the economic efficiency. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we use the tools only insofar as they have given consent.

Since web analytics tools use cookies, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Information on specific web analytics tools, if any, is provided in the following sections.

Matomo Privacy Policy

We use Matomo, a website analytics software, on our website. The service provider is the New Zealand company InnoCraft Ltd, 7 Waterloo Quay PO625, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand.

You can find out more about the data processed through the use of Matomo in the Privacy Policy at https://matomo.org/privacy-policy/. Questions regarding data protection can be sent by e-mail to privacy@matomo.org.

Email marketing introduction

Email marketing summary
👥 Data subjects: newsletter subscribers
🤝 Purpose: Direct marketing by e-mail, notification of system-relevant events.
📓 Data processed: Data entered during registration but at least the e-mail address. More details can be found with the respective e-mail marketing tool used.
📅 Storage period: Duration of the existence of the subscription.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

What is email marketing?

In order to keep you always up to date, we also use the possibility of e-mail marketing. If you have agreed to receive our e-mails or newsletters, your data will also be processed and stored. E-mail marketing is a sub-area of online marketing. It involves sending news or general information about a company, products or services by e-mail to a specific group of people who are interested in them.

If you want to participate in our e-mail marketing (mostly via newsletter), you usually just have to register with your e-mail address. To do this, you fill out an online form and send it off. However, it may also happen that we ask you for your salutation and name, for example, so that we can also write to you personally.

Basically, the registration for newsletters works with the help of the so-called "double opt-in procedure". After you have registered for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an e-mail via which you confirm the newsletter registration. This ensures that the e-mail address belongs to you and that no one has registered with a third-party e-mail address. We or a notification tool we use logs each individual subscription. This is necessary so that we can also prove the legally correct registration process. As a rule, the time of registration, the time of the registration confirmation and your IP address are stored. In addition, it is also logged when you make changes to your stored data.

Why do we use email marketing?

Of course, we want to stay in touch with you and always present you with the most important news about our company. To do this, we use, among other things, e-mail marketing - often just referred to as "newsletters" - as an essential part of our online marketing. Provided you agree to this or it is legally permitted, we will send you newsletters, system e-mails or other notifications by e-mail. When we use the term "newsletter" in the following text, we mainly mean regularly sent e-mails. Of course, we do not want to bother you in any way with our newsletters. That's why we really always try to provide only relevant and interesting content. For example, you will learn more about our company, our services or products. Since we are always improving our offers, our newsletter will also tell you when there is news or when we are offering special, lucrative promotions. If we use a service provider that offers a professional mailing tool for our e-mail marketing, we do so in order to be able to offer you fast and secure newsletters. The purpose of our email marketing is basically to inform you about new offers and also to get closer to our business goals.

What data is processed?

When you become a subscriber to our newsletter via our website, you confirm by e-mail that you are a member of an e-mail list. In addition to IP address and e-mail address, your title, name, address and telephone number may also be stored. However, only if you agree to this data storage. The data marked as such are necessary for you to participate in the service offered. Providing this information is voluntary, but failure to provide it will result in you not being able to use the service. In addition, information about your device or your preferred content on our website may be stored. You can find out more about the storage of data when you visit a website in the section "Automatic data storage". We record your declaration of consent so that we can always prove that this complies with our laws.

Duration of data processing

If you unsubscribe your e-mail address from our e-mail/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years based on our legitimate interests so that we can still prove your consent at that time. We may only process this data if we need to defend ourselves against any claims.

However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual deletion request at any time. If you permanently object to the consent, we reserve the right to store your e-mail address in a blacklist. As long as you have voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter, we will of course also keep your e-mail address.

Right of objection

You have the option to cancel your newsletter subscription at any time. All you have to do is revoke your consent to the newsletter subscription. This usually takes only a few seconds or one or two clicks. Most of the time, you will find a link to cancel your newsletter subscription right at the end of each email. If you really can't find the link in the newsletter, please contact us by mail and we will cancel your newsletter subscription immediately.

Legal basis

The sending of our newsletter is based on your consent (Article 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). This means that we may only send you a newsletter if you have actively registered for it beforehand. If applicable, we may also send you advertising messages, provided that you have become our customer and have not objected to the use of your email address for direct advertising.

Information about specific email marketing services and how they process personal data, if any, is provided in the following sections.

Klick-Tipp Privacy Policy

We use Klick-Tipp, a marketing automation service, on our website. The service provider is the British company Klick-Tipp Limited, 15 Cambridge Court, 210 Sheperd's Bush Road, London W67NJ, United Kingdom. You can find out more about the data processed through the use of Klick-Tipp in the Privacy Policy at https://www.klicktipp.com/datenschutzerklarung/.

Social media privacy policy summary
👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website.
🤝 Purpose: Presentation and optimization of our service, contact with visitors, interested parties, etc., advertising.
📓 Processed data: Data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, contact details, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details on this with the respective social media tool used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the social media platforms used.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

What is social media?

In addition to our website, we are also active on various social media platforms. In this context, user data may be processed so that we can target users who are interested in us via the social networks. In addition, elements of a social media platform may also be embedded directly in our website. This is the case, for example, when you click on a so-called social button on our website and are redirected directly to our social media presence. So-called social media or social media are websites and apps through which registered members can produce content, share content openly or in specific groups, and network with other members.

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and get in touch online. Our social media presences enable us to bring our products and services closer to prospective customers. The social media elements embedded on our website help you switch to our social media content quickly and without complications.

The data that is stored and processed through your use of a social media channel is primarily for the purpose of being able to perform web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personalized marketing and advertising strategies. Depending on your behavior on a social media platform, appropriate conclusions can be drawn about your interests with the help of the evaluated data and so-called user profiles can be created. This also enables the platforms to present you with tailored advertisements. In most cases, cookies are set in your browser for this purpose, which store data about your usage behavior.

We generally assume that we remain responsible under data protection law, even if we use services of a social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that in certain cases the operator of the social media platform may be jointly responsible with us within the meaning of Art. 26 DSGVO. Insofar as this is the case, we point this out separately and work on the basis of an agreement in this regard. The essence of the agreement is then reproduced below for the platform concerned.

Please note that when using the social media platforms or our built-in elements, data about you may also be processed outside the European Union, as many social media channels, for example Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. This may make it less easy for you to claim or enforce your rights regarding your personal data.

What data is processed?

Exactly what data is stored and processed depends on the provider of the social media platform. But usually it is data such as phone numbers, email addresses, data you enter in a contact form, user data such as which buttons you click, who you like or follow, when you visited which pages, information about your device and your IP address. Most of this data is stored in cookies. Especially if you yourself have a profile on the visited social media channel and are logged in, data can be linked to your profile.

All data collected via a social media platform is also stored on the servers of the providers. Thus, only the providers have access to the data and can give you the appropriate information or make changes.

If you want to know exactly what data is stored and processed by the social media providers and how you can object to the data processing, you should carefully read the respective privacy policy of the company. Also, if you have questions about data storage and data processing or want to assert corresponding rights, we recommend that you contact the provider directly.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, provided we have further information on this. For example, the social media platform Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own purpose. However, customer data that is matched with our own user data is already deleted within two days. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. If it is required by law, for example in the case of accounting, this storage period may be exceeded.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers such as embedded social media elements at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser.

Since social media tools may use cookies, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, if consent is given, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the tools insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Information on specific social media platforms - if available - can be found in the following sections.

Facebook privacy policy

Facebook Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance
📓 Data processed: Data such as customer data, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: until the data is no longer useful for Facebook's purposes.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What are Facebook tools?

We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network of the company Meta Platforms Inc. or for the European area of the company Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. With the help of these tools, we can offer you and people who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer.

If data is collected from you and forwarded via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page (Fanpage), both we and Facebook Ireland Ltd. are responsible for this. Facebook is solely responsible for the further processing of this data. Our joint obligations have also been set out in a publicly available agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum. This states, for example, that we must clearly inform you about the use of Facebook tools on our site. Furthermore, we are also responsible for ensuring that the tools are securely integrated into our website in accordance with data protection law. Facebook, on the other hand, is responsible for the data security of Facebook products, for example. If you have any questions about data collection and data processing by Facebook, you can contact the company directly. If you direct the question to us, we are obliged to forward it to Facebook.

Below we provide an overview of the various Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.

Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called "Facebook Business Tools". This is the official name of Facebook. However, since the term is hardly known, we have decided to simply call them Facebook Tools. Among them are:

Facebook Pixel
social plug-ins (such as the "Like" or "Share" button)
Facebook Login
Account Kit
APIs (Application Programming Interface)
SDKs (collection of programming tools)
Platform integrations
Plugins
Codes
Specifications
Documentations
Technologies and services

Through these tools, Facebook extends services and has the ability to obtain information about user activity outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook ads), we can reach precisely these people. However, in order to show users suitable ads, Facebook needs information about people's wishes and needs. Thus, information about user behavior (and contact data) on our website is made available to the company. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate advertising about our products or services. The tools thus enable tailored advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Data about your behavior on our website is called "event data" by Facebook. This is also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus create "campaign reports" on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analytics give us better insight into how you use our services, website or products. As a result, we use some of these tools to optimize your user experience on our website. For example, social plug-ins allow you to share content on our site directly on Facebook.

What data is stored by Facebook tools?

By using individual Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) can be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, phone number and IP address may be sent.

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it itself has from you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transmitted to Facebook, a so-called "hashing" takes place. This means that a data record of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact data, "event data" is also transmitted. Event data" refers to the information that we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers) unless it has explicit permission or is legally required to do so. "Event data" may also be associated with contact information. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact data again.

In order to deliver ads in an optimized manner, Facebook uses Event Data only when it has been aggregated with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development, and research purposes. Much of this data is transferred to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools you use and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies are created in your browser. We go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies in the descriptions of each Facebook tool. General information about the use of Facebook cookies can also be found at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Basically, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers all over the world where its data is stored. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with its own user data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In accordance with the Basic Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, correction, transferability and deletion of your data.

A complete deletion of the data will only occur if you delete your Facebook account completely. And this is how deleting your Facebook account works:

1) Click Settings on the right side of Facebook.

2) Then click "Your Facebook information" in the left column.

3) Now click "Deactivation and deletion".

4) Now select "Delete account" and then click "Next and delete account".

5) Now enter your password, click "Next" and then click "Delete account".

The storage of data that Facebook receives via our site takes place, among other things, via cookies (e.g. for social plugins). In your browser, you can deactivate, delete or manage individual or all cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. Under the section "Cookies" you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

If you do not want to have cookies in principle, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow it or not.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated Facebook tools, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the tools insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view Facebook's privacy policy or cookie policy.

Facebook also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

Facebook uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Facebook undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

Facebook's data processing terms and conditions, which comply with the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.

We hope we have brought you closer to the most important information about the use and data processing by Facebook tools. If you want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend that you read the data policies at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

We have integrated the practical Facebook login on our site. This allows you to easily log in to our site with your Facebook account without having to create another user account. If you decide to make your registration via the Facebook Login, you will be redirected to the social media network Facebook. There, the registration takes place via your Facebook user data. Through this login procedure, data about you or your user behavior is stored and transmitted to Facebook.

To store the data, Facebook uses various cookies. Below we show you the most important cookies that are set in your browser or already exist when you log in to our site via the Facebook login:

Name: fr
Value: 0jieyh4c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j...1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: This cookie is used to make the social plugin on our website work in the best possible way.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: datr
Wert: 4Jh7XUA2122077330SEmPsSfzCOO4JFFl
Purpose: Facebook sets the "datr" cookie when a web browser accesses facebook.com, and the cookie helps identify login activity and protect users.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _js_datr
Value: deleted
Purpose: This session cookie sets Facebook for tracking purposes, even if you don't have a Facebook account or are logged out.
Expiration date: after session end

Note: The cookies listed are only a small selection of the cookies available to Facebook. Other cookies are, for example, _ fbp, sb or wd. A complete list is not possible, since Facebook has a large number of cookies and uses them variably.

The Facebook login offers you a quick and easy registration process on the one hand, on the other hand it gives us the opportunity to share data with Facebook. This allows us to better tailor our offer and promotions to your interests and needs. Data that we receive from Facebook in this way is public data such as.

Your Facebook name
Your profile picture
a deposited e-mail address
Friends lists
Buttons indications (e.g. "Like" button)
Birthday date
Language
Residence

In return, we provide Facebook with information about your activities on our website. This includes information about the device you are using, which of our subpages you visit, or which products you have purchased from us.

By using Facebook Login, you consent to the data processing. You can revoke this agreement at any time. If you want to learn more information about data processing by Facebook, we recommend the Facebook privacy policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php?tid=122077330.

Provided you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your ad settings yourself at https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/advertisers/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen.

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

So-called social plug-ins of the company Meta Platforms Inc. are installed on our website. You can recognize these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the "Like" button (the hand with raised thumb) or by a clear "Facebook Plug-in" label. A social plug-in is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our site. Each plug-in has its own function. The most commonly used functions are the well-known "Like" and "Share" buttons.

The following social plug-ins are offered by Facebook:

"Save" button
"Like" button, share, send and quote
Page plug-in
Comments
Messenger plug-in
Embedded posts and video player
Group plug-in

At https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins you will find more detailed information on how the individual plug-ins are used. We use the social plug-ins on the one hand to offer you a better user experience on our site, and on the other hand because Facebook can optimize our advertisements.

If you have a Facebook account or have visited https://www.facebook.com/ before, Facebook has already set at least one cookie in your browser. In this case, your browser sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our site or interact with social plug-ins (e.g. the "Like" button).

The information obtained is deleted or anonymized again within 90 days. According to Facebook, this data includes your IP address, which website you visited, the date, the time and other information concerning your browser.

To prevent Facebook from collecting a lot of data during your visit to our website and connecting it with Facebook data, you must log out of Facebook while visiting the website.

If you are not logged into Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser sends less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. Nevertheless, data such as your IP address or which website you visit may be transmitted to Facebook. We would still like to explicitly point out that we do not know exactly about the exact content of the data. However, we try to inform you as best as possible about the data processing according to our current state of knowledge. You can also read about how Facebook uses the data in the company's data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

The following cookies are set in your browser at a minimum when you visit a website with social plug-ins from Facebook:

Name: dpr
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie is used to make the social plug-ins on our website work.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: fr
Wert: 0jieyh4122077330c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to work properly.
Expiration date:: after 3 months

Note: These cookies were set after a test, even if you are not a Facebook member.

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements yourself at https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/advertisers/. If you are not a Facebook user, you can basically manage your usage-based online advertising at https://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/?tid=122077330. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers.

If you want to learn more about Facebook's privacy policy, we recommend that you read the company's own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php?tip=122077330.

Flickr Privacy Policy

We also use the online community and photo platform Flickr. The service provider is the American company Flickr Inc, 67 E Evelyn Ave #200, Mountain View, CA 94041, USA.

Flickr also processes data in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

Flickr uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing at recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. These clauses oblige Flickr to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data also outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses here, among other places: https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/index_de.

You can learn more about the data processed through the use of Flickr in the Privacy Policy at https://www.flickr.com/help/privacy.

Instagram privacy policy

Instagram privacy policy summary
👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance
📓 Data Processed: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
More details can be found below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: until Instagram no longer needs the data for its purposes.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What is Instagram?

We have integrated Instagram functions on our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Meta Platforms Inc. since 2012 and is part of the Facebook products. Embedding Instagram content on our website is called embedding. This allows us to show you content such as buttons, photos or videos from Instagram directly on our website. When you call up web pages on our website that have an Instagram function integrated, data is transmitted to Instagram, stored and processed. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data is thus processed across all Facebook companies.

In the following, we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what kind of data it is and how you can largely control the data processing. Since Instagram belongs to Meta Platforms Inc., we obtain our information on the one hand from the Instagram policies, but on the other hand also from the Meta Privacy Policy itself.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks in the world. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with those of audiovisual platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. You can upload photos and short videos on "Insta" (as many of the users casually call the platform), edit them with various filters and also distribute them on other social networks. And if you don't want to be active yourself, you can just follow other interesting users.

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is the social media platform that has really gone through the roof in recent years. And of course we have also responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That's why a varied preparation of our content is a matter of course for us. Through the embedded Instagram features, we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected can also serve us for personalized advertising on Facebook. This way, only people who are really interested in our products or services receive our ads.

Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analytics purposes. We get aggregate statistics and thus more insight about your likes and interests. It's important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data is stored by Instagram?

When you come across one of our pages that have Instagram features (such as Instagram images or plug-ins) built in, your browser automatically connects to Instagram's servers. In the process, data is sent to Instagram, stored and processed. And this is regardless of whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our website, about your computer, about purchases made, about advertisements you see and how you use our offer. Furthermore, the date and time of your interaction with Instagram is also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram stores significantly more data about you.

Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the same for Instagram. Customer data are, for example, name, address, phone number and IP address. This customer data is only transmitted to Instagram after it has been hashed. Hashing means that a data record is transformed into a character string. This makes it possible to encrypt the contact data. In addition, the "event data" mentioned above is also transmitted. By "event data" Facebook - and consequently Instagram - understands data about your user behavior. It may also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The collected contact data is matched with the data that Instagram already has from you.

Via small text files (cookies), which are usually set in your browser, the collected data is transmitted to Facebook. Depending on the Instagram functions used and whether you have an Instagram account yourself, different amounts of data are stored.

We assume that Instagram's data processing works in the same way as Facebook's. This means that if you have an Instagram account or have visited www.instagram.com, Instagram has at least set a cookie. If this is the case, your browser sends information to Instagram via the cookie as soon as you come into contact with an Instagram function. After 90 days at the latest (after matching), this data is deleted again or anonymized. Although we have intensively studied Instagram's data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores.

Below we show you cookies that are set in your browser at least when you click on an Instagram feature (such as button or an Insta image). In our test, we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. Of course, if you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies are set in your browser.

These cookies were used in our test:

Name: csrftoken
Value: ""
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons, to prevent falsification of requests. However, we could not find out more precisely.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: mid
Value: ""
Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie to optimize its own services and offerings on and off Instagram. The cookie sets a unique user ID.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

Name: fbsr_122077330124024
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

Name: rur
Value: ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that ensures functionality on Instagram.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

Name: urlgen
Wert: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe122077330”
Verwendungszweck: Dieses Cookie dient den Marketingzwecken von Instagram.
Ablaufdatum: nach Ende der Sitzung

Note: We cannot claim completeness here. Which cookies are set in individual cases depends on the embedded features and your use of Instagram.

How long and where is the data stored?

Instagram shares the information it receives between Facebook companies with external partners and with people you connect with around the world. The data processing is done in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is distributed, among other things for security reasons, on Facebook servers around the world. Most of these servers are located in the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Thanks to the Basic Data Protection Regulation, you have the right of access, portability, rectification and deletion of your data. You can manage your data in the Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you must permanently delete your Instagram account.

And this is how the deletion of the Instagram account works:

First, open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go down and click on "Help section". Now you will get to the company's website. On the webpage, click "Manage account" and then click "Delete your account".

When you delete your account entirely, Instagram deletes posts such as your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you does not belong to your account and consequently will not be deleted.

As mentioned above, Instagram stores your data primarily via cookies. You can manage, disable or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the management always works a bit differently. Under the section "Cookies" you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

You can also basically set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated social media elements insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Instagram and Facebook, respectively, also process data in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

Facebook uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing at recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. These clauses oblige Facebook to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU as well. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses here, among other places: https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/index_de.

We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about Instagram's data processing. Auf https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875
you can take a closer look at Instagram's data policies.

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

LinkedIn Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance
📓 Data Processed: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
More details can be found below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: the data is generally deleted within 30 days.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What is LinkedIn?

We use social plug-ins of the social media network LinkedIn, of the company LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA on our website. The social plug-ins may be feeds, content sharing or links to our LinkedIn page. The social plug-ins are clearly marked with the familiar LinkedIn logo and allow, for example, interesting content to be shared directly via our website. For the European Economic Area and Switzerland, LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place in Dublin is responsible for data processing.

By embedding such plug-ins, data can be sent to LinkedIn, stored and processed there. In this privacy policy, we want to inform you about what data is involved, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent the data storage.

LinkedIn is the largest social network for business contacts. Unlike Facebook, for example, the company focuses exclusively on building business contacts. Companies can present services and products on the platform and establish business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn to look for jobs or to find suitable employees for their own company. In Germany alone, the network has over 11 million members. In Austria, there are around 1.3 million.

Why do we use LinkedIn on our website?

We know how busy you are. You can't follow all the social media channels individually. Even if it would be worth it, as in our case. Because time and again we post interesting news or reports that are worth spreading. That's why we've made it possible on our website to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn or to link directly to our LinkedIn page. We consider built-in social plug-ins as an extended service on our website. The data that LinkedIn collects also helps us to show possible advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offer.

What data is stored by LinkedIn?

Only through the mere integration of the social plug-ins LinkedIn does not store any personal data. LinkedIn calls this data generated by plug-ins passive impressions. But when you click on a social plug-in, for example to share our content, the platform stores personal data as so-called "active impressions". And this is regardless of whether you have a LinkedIn account or not. If you are logged in, the collected data is assigned to your account.

Your browser establishes a direct connection to LinkedIn's servers when you interact with our plug-ins. In this way, the company logs various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this may include login data, device information, or information about your Internet or mobile provider. If you access LinkedIn services via your smartphone, your location (after you have allowed this) can also be determined. LinkedIn may also share this data in "hashed" form with third-party advertisers. Hashing means turning a record into a string of characters. This makes it possible to encrypt the data in such a way that people can no longer be identified.

Most data about your user behavior is stored in cookies. These are small text files that are usually set in your browser. LinkedIn may also use web beacons, pixel tags, display tags, and other device identifiers.

Various tests also show which cookies are set when a user interacts with a social plug-in. The data found cannot claim to be complete and only serves as an example. The following cookies were set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Wert: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16122077330-
Purpose: The cookie is a so-called "browser ID cookie" and consequently stores your identification number (ID).
Expiration date: After 2 years

Name: lang
Value: v=2&lang=en-en
Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: lidc
Wert: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G122077330…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the ways you came to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website there.
Expiration date: after 24 hours

Name: rtc
Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX
Purpose: No further information about this cookie could be found.
Expiration date: after 2 minutes

Name: JSESSIONID
Wert: ajax:1220773302900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions through the server.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: bscookie
Value: "v=1&201910230812...
Purpose: This cookie is a security cookie. LinkedIn describes it as a secure browser ID cookie.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: fid
Value: AQHj7Ii23ZBcqAAAA...
Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 7 days

Note: LinkedIn also works with third-party providers. That is why we also detected the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat during our test.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company deems it necessary to provide its own services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn retains some data in aggregate and anonymized form even after you delete your account. Once you delete your account, other people will not be able to see your data within one day. LinkedIn generally deletes data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data if it is necessary due to legal obligation. Data that can no longer be assigned to individuals remain stored even after the account is closed. The data is stored on various servers in America and presumably also in Europe.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and also delete your personal data at any time. In your LinkedIn account you can manage, change and delete your data. In addition, you can also request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn.

Here's how to access the account information in your LinkedIn profile:

In LinkedIn, click on your profile icon and select the "Settings and Privacy" section. Now click "Privacy" and then click "Change" in the "How LinkedIn uses your data" section. In just a short time, you will be able to download selected data about your web activity and account history.

You also have the option in your browser to prevent data processing by LinkedIn. As mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most data via cookies that are set in your browser. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies. Depending on which browser you have, the management works slightly differently. Under the section "Cookies" you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

You can also basically set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated social media elements insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

LinkedIn also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

LinkedIn uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data comply with European data protection standards even if they are transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, LinkedIn undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

For more information about LinkedIn's standard contractual clauses, please visit https://de.linkedin.com/legal/l/dpa or https://www.linkedin.com/legal/l/eu-sccs.

We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about data processing by LinkedIn. At https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy you can learn even more about the data processing of the social media network LinkedIn.

Order processing agreement (AVV) LinkedIn

In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have concluded a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with LinkedIn. What exactly is a GCU and especially what must be included in a GCU, you can read in our general section "Order processing agreement (GCU)".

This contract is required by law because LinkedIn processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that LinkedIn may only process data they receive from us according to our instructions and must comply with the GDPR. You can find the link to the order processing agreement (AVV) at https://de.linkedin.com/legal/l/dpa.

Pinterest Privacy Policy

Pinterest Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance.
📓 Data Processed: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device, your IP address and search terms.
More details can be found below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: until Pinterest no longer needs the data for its purposes.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What is Pinterest?

We use buttons and widgets of the social media network Pinterest, of the company Pinterest Inc., 808 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA on our site. For the European area, the Irish company Pinterest Europe Ltd. (Palmerston House, 2nd Floor, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, Ireland) is responsible for all data protection-relevant aspects.

Pinterest is a social network that specializes in graphic representations or photographs. The name is made up of the two words "pin" and "interest". Users can share various hobbies and interests via Pinterest and view the respective profiles with pictures openly or in defined groups.

Why do we use Pinterest?

Pinterest has been around for a few years now and is still one of the most visited and appreciated social media platforms. Pinterest is especially suitable for our industry because the platform is primarily known for beautiful and interesting images. That's why we are naturally also represented on Pinterest and want to showcase our content accordingly away from our website. The data collected can also be used for advertising purposes, so that we can show advertising messages to precisely those people who are interested in our services or products.

What data is processed by Pinterest?

So-called log data may be stored. This includes information about your browser, IP address, the address of our website and the activities performed on it (for example, when you click the bookmark or pin button), search histories, date and time of the request and cookie and device data. When you interact with an embedded Pinterest feature, cookies that store various data may also be set in your browser. Mostly, the log data mentioned above, preset language settings, and clickstream data are stored in cookies. By clickstream data, Pinterest means information about your website behavior.

If you have a Pinterest account yourself and are logged in, the data collected via our site can be added to your account and used for advertising purposes. When you interact with our embedded Pinterest features, you are usually redirected to the Pinterest page. Here you can see an exemplary selection of cookies that are then set in your browser.

Name: _auth
Value: 0
Purpose: The cookie is used for authentication. For example, a value such as your "username" can be stored in it.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _pinterest_referrer
Value: 1
Purpose: The cookie stores that you reached Pinterest via our website. Thus, the URL of our website is stored.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: _pinterest_sess
Value:...9HRHZvVE0rQlUxdG89
Purpose: The cookie is used to log in to Pinterest and contains user IDs, authentication tokens, and timestamps.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _routing_id
Wert: “8d850ddd-4fb8-499c-961c-77efae9d4065122077330-8”
Purpose: the cookie contains an assigned value that is used to identify a specific routing destination.
Expiration date: after one day

Name: cm_sub
Value: denied
Purpose: This cookie stores a user ID and timestamp.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: csrftoken
Wert: 9e49145c82a93d34fd933b0fd8446165122077330-1
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons, to prevent falsification of requests. However, we could not find out more precisely.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: sessionFunnelEventLogged
Value: 1
Purpose: We have not been able to find out any more information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after one day

How long and where is the data stored?

Pinterest generally stores the collected data until it is no longer needed for the company's purposes. As soon as data storage is no longer necessary, for example to comply with legal regulations, the data is either deleted or anonymized so that you can no longer be identified as a person. The data may also be stored on American servers.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers such as Pinterest at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser.

Since cookies may be used with embedded Pinterest elements, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the tool insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Pinterest also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

As a basis for data processing with recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, thus in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there, Pinterest uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data comply with European data protection standards even if they are transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Pinterest undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de.

For more information on Pinterest's standard contractual clauses, please visit https://policy.pinterest.com/de/privacy-policy#section-residents-of-the-eea.

We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about Pinterest's data processing. You can learn more about Pinterest's data policies at https://policy.pinterest.com/de/privacy-policy.

Twitter privacy policy

Twitter Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance
📓 Data processed: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
More details can be found below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: collected data from other websites is deleted by Twitter after 30 days at the latest.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

What is Twitter?

We have integrated Twitter functions on our website. These are, for example, embedded tweets, timelines, buttons or hashtags. Twitter is a short message service and a social media platform of the company Twitter Inc, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2 D02 AX07, Ireland.

To our knowledge, in the European Economic Area and in Switzerland, no personal data or data about your web activities are transmitted to Twitter by the mere inclusion of the Twitter function. Only when you interact with the Twitter functions, such as clicking on a button, can data be sent to Twitter, stored there and processed. We have no influence on this data processing and bear no responsibility for it. Within the scope of this privacy policy, we want to give you an overview of what data Twitter stores, what Twitter does with this data and how you can protect yourself from the data transfer to a large extent.

For some, Twitter is a news service, for others a social media platform, and still others speak of a microblogging service. All these terms have their justification and mean more or less the same thing.

Both private individuals and companies use Twitter to communicate with interested people via short messages. Twitter only allows 280 characters per message. These messages are called "tweets. Unlike Facebook, for example, the service does not focus on expanding a network for "friends", but wants to be understood as a worldwide and open news platform. Twitter also allows users to have an anonymous account, and tweets can be deleted by the company on the one hand and by the users themselves on the other.

Why do we use Twitter on our website?

Like many other websites and companies, we try to offer our services and communicate with our customers through various channels. Especially Twitter has grown close to our hearts as a useful "little" news service. Again and again we tweet or retweet exciting, funny or interesting content. We realize that you can't follow every channel separately. After all, you also have something else to do. That's why we have included Twitter functions on our website. You can follow our Twitter activity "on the spot" or follow a direct link to our Twitter page. Through this integration, we want to strengthen our service and user-friendliness on our website.

What data is stored by Twitter?

On some of our subpages you will find the built-in Twitter functions. When you interact with the Twitter content, such as clicking on a button, Twitter may collect and store data. This is the case even if you do not have a Twitter account yourself. Twitter calls this data "log data." It includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, your smartphone's ID, hashed email addresses, and information about which pages you visited on Twitter and what actions you took. Twitter, of course, stores more data if you have a Twitter account and are logged in. Most of the time, this storage happens via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually set in your browser and transmit different information to Twitter.

We will now show you which cookies are set when you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a website with built-in Twitter functions. Please consider this list as an example. We can by no means guarantee a claim to completeness here, as the choice of cookies always changes and depends on your individual actions with the Twitter content.

These cookies were used in our test:

Name: personalization_id
Wert: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE122077330”
Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and through which advertisements you may have come to Twitter.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: lang
Value: en
Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: guest_id
Value: 122077330v1%3A157132626
Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: fm
Value: 0
Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find out the purpose of this cookie.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: external_referer
Wert: 1220773302beTA0sf5lkMrlGt
Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data, such as how often you visit Twitter and how long you visit Twitter.
Expiration date: After 6 days

Name: eu_cn
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores user activity and is used for various advertising purposes by Twitter.
Expiration date: After one year

Name: ct0
Wert: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966
Purpose: Unfortunately, we have not found any information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 6 hours

Name: _twitter_sess
Wert: 53D%253D–dd0248122077330-
Purpose: This cookie allows you to use features within the Twitter website.
Expiration date: after end of session

Note: Twitter also works with third-party providers. That's why we also detected the three Google Analytics cookies _ga, _gat, _gid during our test.

Twitter uses the collected data on the one hand to better understand user behavior and thus improve its own services and advertising offers, and on the other hand the data also serves internal security measures.

How long and where is the data stored?

When Twitter collects data from other websites, it is deleted, aggregated, or otherwise obscured after a maximum of 30 days. The Twitter servers are located on various server centers in the United States. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the collected data is collected and stored in America. After our research, we could not clearly determine whether Twitter also has its own servers in Europe. In principle, Twitter can store the collected data until it is no longer useful to the company, you delete the data or there is a legal deletion period.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Twitter repeatedly emphasizes in its privacy policy that it does not store any data from external website visits if you or your browser are located in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. However, if you interact with Twitter directly, Twitter will of course store data about you.

If you have a Twitter account, you can manage your data by clicking "More" under the "Profile" button. Then click on "Settings and privacy". Here you can manage the data processing individually.

If you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com and then click on "Individualization". Under the item "Individualization and data" you can manage your collected data.

Most data is stored via cookies, as mentioned above, and you can manage, disable or delete them in your browser. Please note that you only "edit" the cookies in the browser you have chosen. This means that if you use a different browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookies there again according to your wishes. Under the section "Cookies" you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

You can also manage your browser in such a way that you are informed for each individual cookie. Then you can always decide individually whether to allow a cookie or not.

Twitter also uses the data for personalized advertising inside and outside Twitter. You can disable personalized advertising in the settings under "Personalization and data". If you use Twitter on a browser, you can disable personalized advertising at https://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated social media elements insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Twitter also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

Twitter uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data comply with European data protection standards even if they are transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Twitter undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

More information about Twitter's standard contractual clauses can be found at https://gdpr.twitter.com/en/controller-to-controller-transfers.html.

We hope we have given you a basic overview of Twitter's data processing. We do not receive any data from Twitter and are not responsible for what Twitter does with your data. If you have any further questions on this topic, we recommend that you read the Twitter privacy statement at https://twitter.com/de/privacy.

Cloud services

Cloud Services Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: We as website operator and you as website visitor.
🤝 Purpose: Security and data storage
📓 Processed data: Data such as your IP address, name or technical data such as browser version.
More details can be found below and in the individual privacy texts or in the privacy statements of the providers
📅 Storage period: in most cases, the data is stored until it is no longer required for the fulfillment of the service
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests)

What are cloud services?

Cloud services provide us, as website operators, with storage space and computing power via the Internet. Data can be transferred to an external system, processed and stored via the Internet. The corresponding cloud provider takes over the management of this data. Depending on the requirements, an individual person or even a company can choose the storage space size or computing power. Cloud storage is accessed via an API or via storage protocols. API stands for Application Programming Interface and means a programming interface that connects software with hardware components.

Why do we use cloud services?

We use cloud services for several reasons. A cloud service offers us the possibility to store our data securely. In addition, we have access to the data from different locations and devices, giving us more flexibility and facilitating our work processes. A cloud storage also saves us money because we don't have to build and manage our own infrastructure for data storage and data security. By storing our data centrally in the cloud, we can also expand our fields of application and manage our information much better.

So, as a website operator or as a company, we use cloud services primarily for our own purposes. For example, we use the services to manage our calendar, to store documents or other important information in the cloud. However, personal data about you may also be stored in the process. This is the case, for example, if you provide us with your contact details (such as name and email address) and we store our customer data with a cloud provider. Consequently, data that we process from you may also be stored and processed on external servers. If we offer certain forms or content from cloud services on our website, cookies may also be set for web analytics and advertising purposes. Furthermore, such cookies remember your settings (such as the language used) so that the next time you visit our website you will find your familiar web environment.

What data is processed by cloud services?

Much of the data we store in the cloud has no personal reference, but some data is considered personal data according to the definition of the GDPR. This is often customer data such as name, address, IP address or telephone number, or technical device information. Furthermore, videos, images and audio files can also be stored in the cloud. Exactly how the data is collected and stored depends on the service in question. We try to use only services that are very trustworthy and professional with the data. Basically, the services, such as Amazon Drive, have access to the stored files in order to offer their own service accordingly. For this, however, the services need permissions, such as the right to copy files due to security aspects. This data is processed and managed within the scope of the services and in compliance with the applicable laws. This also includes the DSGVO for US providers (via the standard contractual clauses). These cloud services also work in some cases with third-party providers who may process data under instruction and in accordance with privacy policies and further security measures. We would like to emphasize again here that all known cloud services (such as Amazon Drive, Google Drive or Microsoft Onedrive) obtain the right to have access to stored content in order to be able to offer and optimize their own service accordingly.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, if we have further information on this. In general, cloud services store data until you or we revoke the data storage or delete the data again. In general, personal data is only stored as long as it is absolutely necessary for the provision of the services. However, a final data deletion from the cloud may take several months. This is the case because the data is usually not only stored on one server, but is divided among various servers.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to data storage in a cloud at any time. If cookies are used, you also have a right of revocation here. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser. We also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly what data of yours is stored and processed, you should read the privacy statements of the respective cloud providers.

Legal basis

We use cloud services mainly based on our legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in a good security and storage system.

Certain processing, in particular the use of cookies and the use of storage functions require your consent. If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored with cloud services, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 (1) lit. a DSGVO). Most of the services we use set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Information on special tools - if available - can be found in the following sections.

Apple iCloud Privacy Policy

We use Apple iCloud, a cloud service for data storage and exchange, for our website. The service provider is the American company Apple Inc, Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA.

Apple also processes data in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

As a basis for data processing at recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there, Apple uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). These clauses oblige Apple to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses, among others, here: https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/index_de.

You can learn more about the data processed through the use of Apple iCloud in the Privacy Policy at https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/de-ww/.

Dropbox Privacy Policy

We use Dropbox for our website, an online storage service for files, photos and videos. The service provider is the American company Dropbox Inc. The European branch of the company is in Ireland (One Park Place, Floor 5, Upper Hatch Street, Dublin 2).

Dropbox also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

Dropbox uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing with recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Dropbox undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

The Data Processing Agreements, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://assets.dropbox.com/documents/en/legal/dfb-data-processing-agreement.pdf.

You can learn more about the data processed through the use of Dropbox in the Privacy Policy at https://www.dropbox.com/privacy.

Google Cloud Privacy Policy

We use Google Cloud, an online storage service for files, photos and videos, for our website. The service provider is the American company Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services.

Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

Google uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

Google holds a contract on commissioned processing in accordance with Art. 28 DSGVO, which acts as the data protection law basis for our customer relationship with Google. This refers to the EU standard contractual clauses in terms of content. You can find the order processing conditions here: https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/

You can learn more about the data processed through the use of Google Cloud in the Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Online map services introduction

Online map services privacy policy summary
👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: To improve the user experience.
📓 Data processed: Which data is processed depends largely on the services used. Mostly it is IP address, location data, search items and/or technical data. You can find more details about this in the respective tools used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the tools used.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

What are online map services?

We also use online map services for our website as an enhanced service. Google Maps is probably the service you are most familiar with, but there are other providers that specialize in creating digital maps. Such services allow you to view locations, route maps or other geographic information directly through our website. By using an embedded map service, you no longer have to leave our website to view the route to a location, for example. In order for the online map to work on our website, map sections are embedded using HTML code. The services can then display street maps, the earth's surface or aerial or satellite images. If you use the built-in map service, data is also transmitted to the tool used and stored there. This data may also include personal data.

Why do we use online mapping services on our website?

Generally speaking, our aim is to provide you with a pleasant time on our website. And, of course, your time is pleasant only if you can easily find your way around our website and find all the information you need quickly and easily. That's why we thought that an online map system could be another significant optimization of our service on the website. Without leaving our website, you can easily view route descriptions, locations or even points of interest with the help of the map system. Of course, it is also super convenient that you can see at a glance where we are located, so you can find us quickly and safely. As you can see, there are simply many advantages and we clearly consider online map services on our website as part of our customer service.

What data are stored by online map services?

When you open a page on our website that has an online map function built in, personal data may be transmitted to the respective service and stored there. In most cases, this is your IP address, which can also be used to determine your approximate position. In addition to the IP address, data such as search terms entered and latitude and longitude coordinates are also stored. If you enter an address for route planning, for example, this data is also stored. The data is not stored by us, but on the servers of the integrated tools. You can imagine it like this: You are on our website, but when you interact with a map service, this interaction actually happens on their website. In order for the service to work properly, at least one cookie is usually set in your browser as well. Google Maps, for example, also uses cookies to record user behavior in order to optimize its own service and serve personalized advertising. You can learn more about cookies in our "Cookies" section.

How long and where is the data stored?

Each online map service processes different user data. If we have further information, we will inform you about the duration of data processing below in the corresponding sections on the individual tools. As a general rule, personal data is only ever retained for as long as is necessary for the provision of the service. Google Maps, for example, stores certain data for a fixed period of time, while you must delete other data yourself. With Mapbox, for example, the IP address is stored for 30 days and then deleted. As you can see, each tool stores data for different lengths of time. We therefore recommend that you take a close look at the privacy statements of the tools you use.

The providers also use cookies to store data about your user behavior with the map service. You can find more general information about cookies in our "Cookies" section, but you can also find out which cookies may be used in the privacy texts of the individual providers. In most cases, however, this is only an exemplary list and is not complete.

Right of objection

You always have the possibility and also the right to access your personal data and also to object to the use and processing. You can also revoke the consent you have given us at any time. Usually, the easiest way to do this is via the cookie consent tool. However, there are also other opt-out tools that you can use. Possible cookies set by the providers used, you can also manage, delete or deactivate yourself with a few mouse clicks. It may then allergings happen that some functions of the service no longer work as usual. How you manage cookies in your browser also depends on the browser you use. In the section "Cookies" you will also find links to the instructions of the most important browsers.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the use of an online map service, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur when collected by an online map service.

We also have a legitimate interest in using an online map service to optimize our service on our website. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). However, we only ever use an online map service if you have given your consent. We definitely want to have this stated again at this point.

Information on special online map services - if available - is provided in the following sections.

Google Maps Privacy Policy

Google Maps Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance
📓 Processed data: Data such as search terms entered, your IP address and also latitude or longitude coordinates.
You can find more details about this further down in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: depending on the stored data.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What is Google Maps?

We use Google Maps of the company Google Inc. on our website. For the European area the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Maps allows us to better show you locations and thus adapt our service to your needs. By using Google Maps, data is transmitted to Google and stored on Google servers. Here we will now go into more detail about what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

Google Maps is an Internet mapping service from the Google company. With Google Maps, you can search for exact locations of cities, landmarks, accommodations, or businesses online using a PC, tablet, or app. If companies are represented on Google My Business, other information about the company is displayed in addition to the location. To show how to get there, map sections of a location can be embedded in a website using HTML code. Google Maps shows the earth's surface as a street map or as an aerial or satellite image. Thanks to the Street View images and the high-quality satellite images, very accurate representations are possible.

Why do we use Google Maps on our website?

All our efforts on this site are aimed at providing you with a useful and meaningful time on our website. By integrating Google Maps, we can provide you with the most important information about various locations. You can see at a glance where we are located. The directions always show you the best or fastest way to us. You can get the directions for routes by car, by public transport, on foot or by bike. For us, providing Google Maps is part of our customer service.

What data is stored by Google Maps?

In order for Google Maps to fully offer its service, the company must record and store data from you. This includes the search terms entered, your IP address and also the latitude and longitude coordinates. If you use the route planner function, the start address entered is also stored. However, this data storage happens on the websites of Google Maps. We can only inform you about this, but have no influence. Since we have integrated Google Maps into our website, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behavior. Google uses this data primarily to optimize its own services and to provide individual, personalized advertising for you.

The following cookie is set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:

Name: NID
Wert: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ122077330-5
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customize ads to your Google searches. With the help of the cookie, Google "remembers" your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. This way, you will always get tailored ads. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect your personal preferences for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Note: We cannot guarantee the completeness of the stored data. Especially when using cookies, changes can never be ruled out. In order to identify the cookie NID, a separate test page was created, where only Google Maps was integrated.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google servers are located in data centers around the world. However, most servers are located in America. For this reason, your data is also increasingly stored in the USA. Here you can read exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=de

Google distributes the data on different data carriers. This means that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against any attempts at manipulation. Each data center also has special emergency programs. If, for example, there are problems with Google's hardware or a natural disaster paralyzes the servers, the data will pretty much remain protected anyway.

Google stores some data for a set period of time. For other data, Google only offers the option to delete it manually. Furthermore, the company also anonymizes information (such as advertising data) in server logs by deleting part of the IP address and cookie information after 9 and 18 months, respectively.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

With the automatic deletion of location and activity data introduced in 2019, location and web/app activity information will be stored for either 3 or 18 months - depending on your decision - and then deleted. In addition, you can also manually delete this data from your history at any time via your Google account. If you want to completely prevent your location tracking, you need to pause the "Web and App Activity" section in Google Account. Click "Data and personalization" and then click the "Activity setting" option. Here you can turn the activities on or off.

In your browser, you can also disable, delete or manage individual cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this always works slightly differently. Under the section "Cookies" you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

Legal basis

If you have consented to Google Maps being used, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur during the collection by Google Maps.

We also have a legitimate interest in using Google Maps to optimize our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Maps if you have given your consent.

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which reference the Standard Contractual Clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.

If you would like to learn more about Google's data processing, we recommend that you read the company's in-house privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Other introduction

Miscellaneous Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: To improve the user experience.
📓 Data processed: Which data is processed depends heavily on the services used. Mostly it is IP address and/or technical data. You can find more details about this in the respective tools used.
📅 Storage period: depends on the tools used.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests).

What falls under "Other"?

The category "Other" includes those services that do not fit into one of the above categories. These are usually various plugins and embedded elements that enhance our website. As a rule, these functions are obtained from third-party providers and integrated into our website. For example, these are web search services such as Algolia Place, Giphy, Programmable Search Engine or online services for weather data such as OpenWeather.

Why do we use other third party providers?

With our website we want to offer you the best web offer in our industry. For a long time now, a website has not been just a business card for companies. Rather, it is a place that should help you find what you are looking for. To always make our website more interesting and helpful for you, we use various third-party services.

What data is processed?

Whenever elements are integrated into our website, your IP address is transmitted to the respective provider, stored and processed there. This is necessary because otherwise the content will not be sent to your browser and consequently will not be displayed accordingly. It may also happen that service providers also use pixel tags or web beacons. These are small graphics on websites that can record a log file and also create analyses of this file. With the information obtained, providers can improve their own marketing efforts. In addition to pixel tags, such information (such as which button you click or when you visit which page) can also be stored in cookies. In addition to analysis data about your web behavior, technical information such as your browser type or operating system can also be stored in them. Some providers may also link the data obtained with other internal services or with third-party providers. Each provider handles your data differently. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully read the privacy statements of the respective services. As a matter of principle, we endeavor to use only services that handle the issue of data protection very carefully.

Duration of data processing

Legal basis

If we ask you for your consent and you also consent that we may use the service, this is considered the legal basis for the processing of your data (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In addition to the consent, there is a legitimate interest on our part to analyze the behavior of website visitors and thus to improve our offer technically and economically. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use the tools if you have given your consent.

Information on the specific tools, if available, is provided in the following sections.

Weglot Privacy Policy

We use the translation service Weglot for our website. Service provider is the French company Weglot SAS, 7 cité Paradis 75010 Paris, France.

You can learn more about the data processed through the use of Weglot in the privacy policy at https://weglot.com/privacy/.

WooCommerce Privacy Policy

WooCommerce Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance.
📓 Processed data: Data such as IP address, browser information, default language settings, date and time of web access.
More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: server log files, technical data and your IP address are deleted after about 30 days.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

What is WooCommerce?

We have integrated the open source store system WooCommerce as a plugin on our website. This WooCommerce plugin is based on the WordPress content management system, which is a subsidiary of Automattic Inc. (60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA). Through the implemented functions, data is sent to Automattic Inc, stored and processed. In this privacy policy, we inform you what data is involved, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent the data storage.

WooCommerce is an online store system that has been part of the WordPress directory since 2011 and is specifically designed for WordPress websites. It is a customizable, open source eCommerce platform based on WordPress and also included in our website as a WordPress plugin.

Why do we use WooCommerce on our website?

We use this convenient online store solution to offer you our physical or digital products or services in the best possible way on our website. The goal is to provide you with a simple and easy access to our offer, so that you can easily and quickly get to your desired products. With WooCommerce we have found a good plugin that meets our requirements for an online store.

What data is stored by WooCommerce?

Information that you actively enter into a text field in our online store can be collected and stored by WooCommerce or Automattic. So when you register with us or order a product, Automattic can collect, process and store this data. This may include credit card or billing information in addition to email address, name or address. Automattic may also use this information for its own marketing campaigns.

In addition, there is also information that Automattic automatically collects from you in so-called server log files:

IP address
Browser information
Preset language setting
Date and time of the web access

WooCommerce also sets cookies in your browser and uses technologies such as pixel tags (web beacons), for example, to clearly identify you as a user and possibly offer interest-based advertising. WooCommerce uses a number of different cookies that are set depending on the user action. This means, for example, that when you add a product to the shopping cart, a cookie is set so that the product remains in the shopping cart when you leave our website and return at a later time.

Here we show you an example list of possible cookies that can be set by WooCommerce:

Name: woocommerce_items_in_cart
Value: 1
Purpose: The cookie helps WooCommerce determine when the content in the cart changes.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: woocommerce_cart_hash
Wert: 447c84f810834056ab37cfe5ed27f204122077330-7
Purpose: This cookie is also used to detect and save the changes in your shopping cart.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: wp_woocommerce_session_d9e29d251cf8a108a6482d9fe2ef34b6
Wert: 1146%7C%7C1589034207%7C%7C95f8053ce0cea135bbce671043e740122077330-4aa
Purpose: This cookie contains a unique identifier for you so that the shopping cart data can be found in the database.
Expiration date: after 2 days

How long and where is the data stored?

Unless there is a legal obligation to retain data for a longer period of time, WooCommerce deletes the data when it is no longer needed for its own purposes for which it was stored. For example, server log files that receive technical data about your browser and IP address are deleted after about 30 days. Until then, Automattic uses the data to analyze the traffic on its own websites (for example, all WordPress sites) and to fix possible problems. The data is stored on American servers of Automattic.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and object to the use and processing of your personal data at any time. You can also file a complaint with a state supervisory authority at any time.

In your browser, you also have the option to manage, delete or disable cookies individually. However, please note that disabled or deleted cookies have possible negative effects on the functions of our WooCommerce online store. Depending on which browser you use, managing cookies works slightly differently. Under the section "Cookies" you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

Legal basis

If you have consented that WooCommerce may be used, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur when collected by WooCommerce.

From our side, there is also a legitimate interest to use WooCommerce to optimize our online service and present it nicely for you. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use WooCommerce if you have given your consent.

WooCommerce also processes data in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks for the legality and security of data processing.

As a basis for data processing at recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, thus in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there, WooCommerce uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). These clauses oblige WooCommerce to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data also outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses here, among other places: https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/index_de.

More details about the privacy policy and what data is collected by WooCommerce and in what way can be found at https://automattic.com/privacy/ and general information about WooCommerce can be found at https://woocommerce.com/.

Explanation of used terms

We always try to write our privacy policy as clear and understandable as possible. However, this is not always easy, especially when it comes to technical and legal topics. It often makes sense to use legal terms (such as personal data) or certain technical terms (such as cookies, IP address). However, we do not want to use these without explanation. Below you will now find an alphabetical list of important terms used that we may not have sufficiently addressed in the previous privacy policy. If these terms are taken from the GDPR and are definitions, we will also cite the GDPR texts here and add our own explanations if necessary.

Processor

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

"Processor" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the Controller;

Explanation: As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data that we process from you. In addition to the responsible parties, there may also be so-called processors. This includes any company or person that processes personal data on our behalf. Processors can therefore, in addition to service providers such as tax advisors, also be hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.

Consent

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

"Consent" of the data subject means any freely given specific, informed and unambiguous indication of his or her wishes in the form of a statement or other unambiguous affirmative act by which the data subject signifies his or her agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;

Explanation: As a rule, websites provide such consent via a cookie consent tool. You are probably familiar with this. Whenever you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked via a banner whether you agree or consent to data processing. In most cases, you can also make individual settings and thus decide for yourself which data processing you allow and which you do not. If you do not consent, no personal data of yours may be processed. In principle, consent can of course also be given in writing, i.e. not via a tool.

Health data

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

"Health data" means personal data relating to the physical or mental health of an individual, including the provision of health care services, that reveals information about the individual's health status;

Explanation: Health data thus includes all stored information concerning your own health. It is often data that is also recorded in a patient file. This includes, for example, which medications you use, X-ray images, the entire medical history or, as a rule, the vaccination status.

Personal data

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

"personal data" any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter "data subject"); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;

Explanation: Personal data is therefore all data that can identify you as a person. This is usually data such as:

Name
Address
E-mail address
Postal address
Phone number
Date of birth
Identification numbers such as social security number, tax identification number, identity card number or matriculation number
Bank data such as account number, credit information, account balances, and more.

According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address is also personal data. IT experts can use your IP address to determine at least the approximate location of your device and subsequently you as the connection owner. Therefore, the storage of an IP address also requires a legal basis within the meaning of the GDPR. There are also still so-called "special categories" of personal data that also require special protection. These include:

racial and ethnic origin
political opinions
religious or ideological convictions
the union affiliation
Genetic data, such as data taken from blood or saliva samples
biometric data (this is information on mental, physical or behavioral characteristics that can identify a person).
Health data
Data on sexual orientation or sexual life

Profiling

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

"profiling" means any automated processing of personal data which consists in using such personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyze or predict aspects relating to that natural person's performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or change of location;

Explanation: Profiling involves gathering various pieces of information about a person in order to learn more about that person. On the web, profiling is often used for advertising purposes or even for credit checks. Web or advertising analysis programs, for example, collect data about your behavior and interests on a website. This results in a special user profile that can be used to target advertising to a specific group.

Responsible

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

"controller' means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its designation may be provided for by Union or Member State law;

Explanation: In our case, we are responsible for the processing of your personal data and consequently the "controller". If we pass on collected data to other service providers for processing, they are "processors". For this purpose, a "processing order contract (AVV)" must be signed.

All texts are protected by copyright.

Privacy Policy Introduction and Overview
Scope
Legal bases
Contact details of the data protection controller
Contact details of our data protection officer
Storage Period
Rights in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation
Data transfer to third countries
Security of data processing operations
Communications
Data Processing Agreement (DPA)
Cookies
Customer Data
Registration
Web hosting
Web Analytics
Email Marketing
Social media
Cloud services
Online Map Services Introduction
Miscellaneous Overview
Explanation of the terminology used

Privacy Policy Introduction and Overview

We have written this privacy policy (version 10.01.2023-122077330) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, which personal data (data for short) we as the controller - and the processors commissioned by us (e.g. providers) - will process in the future and what legal options you have. The terms used are to be considered gender-neutral.
In short: We provide you with comprehensive information about any of your personal data we process.

Privacy policies usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. However, this privacy policy is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. So long as it aids transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. We are thus informing in clear and simple language that we only process personal data in the context of our business activities if there is a legal basis for it. This is certainly not possible with brief, unclear and legal-technical statements, as is often standard on the internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative. Maybe you will also find some information that you have not been familiar with.
If you still have questions, we kindly ask you to contact the responsible body named below or in the imprint, follow the existing links and look at further information on third-party sites. You can of course also find our contact details in the imprint.

Scope

This privacy policy applies to all personal data processed by our company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (processors). With the term personal data, we refer to information within the meaning of Article 4 No. 1 GDPR, such as the name, email address and postal address of a person. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and invoice our services and products, be it online or offline. The scope of this privacy policy includes:

all online presences (websites, online stores) that we operate
Social media presences and email communication
mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

In short: This privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in a structured manner by the company via the channels mentioned. Should we enter into legal relations with you outside of these channels, we will inform you separately if necessary.

Legal bases

In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.
Whenever EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of April 27, 2016. You can of course access the General Data Protection Regulation of the EU online at EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679.

We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:

Consent (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of data you entered into a contact form.
Contract (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. b GDPR): We process your data in order to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you. For example, if we conclude a sales contract with you, we need personal information in advance.
Legal obligation (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. c GDPR): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we will process your data. For example, we are legally required to keep invoices for our bookkeeping. These usually contain personal data.
Legitimate interests (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your basic rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we have to process certain data in order to be able to operate our website securely and economically. Therefore, the processing is a legitimate interest.

Other conditions such as making recordings in the interest of the public, the exercise of official authority as well as the protection of vital interests do not usually occur with us. Should such a legal basis be relevant, it will be disclosed in the appropriate place.

In addition to the EU regulation, national laws also apply:

In Austria this is the Austrian Data Protection Act(Datenschutzgesetz), in short DSG.
In Germany this is the Federal DataProtection Act(Bundesdatenschutzgesetz), in short BDSG.

Should other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you about them in the following sections.

Contact details of the data protection controller

If you have any questions about data protection, you will find the contact details of the responsible person or controller below:
Langer GmbH
Steyrerstrasse 13, 4470 Enns
Austria
Authorised to represent: Fritz Aichhorn

E-mail: fritz@langer-magnet.com

Phone: +43 7223 82592-0

Company details: https://www.langer-magnet.com/impressum/

Contact details of our data protection officer

You can find the contact details of our data protection officer below:

E-mail: fritz@langer-magnet.com

Phone: +43 664 2324180

Storage Period

It is a general criterion for us to store personal data only for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. This means that we delete personal data as soon as any reason for the data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are legally obliged to keep certain data stored even after the original purpose no longer exists, such as for accounting purposes.

If you want your data to be deleted or if you want to revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as soon as possible, provided there is no obligation to continue its storage.

We will inform you below about the specific duration of the respective data processing, provided we have further information.

Rights in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with Articles 13, 14 of the GDPR, we inform you about the following rights you have to ensure fair and transparent processing of data:

According to Article 15 DSGVO, you have the right to information about whether we are processing data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to receive a copy of the data and to know the following information:
- for what purpose we are processing;
- the categories, i.e. the types of data that are processed;
- who receives this data and if the data is transferred to third countries, how security can be guaranteed;
- how long the data will be stored;
- the existence of the right to rectification, erasure or restriction of processing and the right to object to processing;
- that you can lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (links to these authorities can be found below);
- the origin of the data if we have not collected it from you;
- Whether profiling is carried out, i.e. whether data is automatically evaluated to arrive at a personal profile of you.
You have a right to rectification of data according to Article 16 GDPR, which means that we must correct data if you find errors.
You have the right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") according to Article 17 GDPR, which specifically means that you may request the deletion of your data.
According to Article 18 of the GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it further.
According to Article 20 of the GDPR, you have the right to data portability, which means that we will provide you with your data in a standard format upon request.
According to Article 21 DSGVO, you have the right to object, which entails a change in processing after enforcement.
- If the processing of your data is based on Article 6(1)(e) (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest), you may object to the processing. We will then check as soon as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.
- If data is used to conduct direct advertising, you may object to this type of data processing at any time. We may then no longer use your data for direct marketing.
- If data is used to conduct profiling, you may object to this type of data processing at any time. We may no longer use your data for profiling thereafter.
According to Article 22 of the GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example, profiling).
You have the right to lodge a complaint under Article 77 of the GDPR. This means that you can complain to the data protection authority at any time if you believe that the processing of personal data violates the GDPR.

In short: you have rights - do not hesitate to contact the responsible party listed above with us!

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the data protection authority, whose website can be found at https://www.dsb.gv.at/. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:

Austria Data protection authority

Manager: Mag. Dr. Andrea Jelinek

Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna

Phone number: +43 1 52 152-0

E-mail address:
dsb@dsb.gv.at

Website:
https://www.dsb.gv.at/

Data transfer to third countries

We only transfer or process data to countries outside the EU (third countries) if you consent to this processing, if this is required by law or if it is contractually necessary. In any case, we generally only do so to the permitted extent. In most cases, your consent is the most important reason for data being processed in third countries. When personal data is being processed in third countries such as the USA, where many software manufacturers offer their services and have their servers located, your personal data may be processed and stored in unexpected ways.

We want to expressly point out, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. Data processing by US services (such as Google Analytics) may result in data processing and retention without the data having undergone anonymisation processes. Furthermore, US government authorities may be able to access individual data. The collected data may also get linked to data from other services of the same provider, should you have a user account with the respective provider. We try to use server locations within the EU, whenever this is offered and possible.

We will provide you with more details about data transfer to third countries in the appropriate sections of this privacy policy, whenever applicable.

Security of data processing operations

In order to protect personal data, we have implemented both technical and organisational measures. We encrypt or pseudonymise personal data wherever this is possible. Thus, we make it as difficult as we can for third parties to extract personal information from our data.

Article 25 of the GDPR refers to "data protection by technical design and by data protection-friendly default" which means that both software (e.g. forms) and hardware (e.g. access to server rooms) appropriate safeguards and security measures shall always be placed. If applicable, we will outline the specific measures below.

TLS encryption with https

The terms TLS, encryption and https sound very technical, which they indeed are. We use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to securely transfer data on the Internet.
This means that the entire transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured - nobody can "listen in".

We have thus introduced an additional layer of security and meet privacy requirements through technology design Article 25 Section 1 GDPR). With the use of TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is an encryption protocol for safe data transfer on the internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential information.
You can recognise the use of this safeguarding tool by the little lock-symbol which is situated in your browser's top left corner in the left of the internet address (e.g. examplepage.uk), as well as by the display of the letters https (instead of http) as a part of our web address.
If you want to know more about encryption, we recommend you to do a Google search for "Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki" to find good links to further information.

Communications

Communications Overview

Affected parties: Anyone who communicates with us via phone, email or online form.
📓 Processed data: e. g. telephone number, name, email address or data entered in forms. You can find more details on this under the respective form of contact
🤝 Purpose: handling communication with customers, business partners, etc.
📅 Storage duration: for the duration of the business case and the legal requirements
⚖️ Legal basis: Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR (consent), Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR (contract), Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

If you contact us and communicate with us via phone, email or online form, your personal data may be processed.

The data will be processed for handling and processing your request and for the related business transaction. The data is stored for this period of time or for as long as is legally required.

Affected persons

The above-mentioned processes affect all those who seek contact with us via the communication channels we provide.

Telephone

When you call us, the call data is stored in a pseudonymised form on the respective terminal device, as well as by the telecommunications provider that is being used. In addition, data such as your name and telephone number may be sent via email and stored for answering your inquiries. The data will be erased as soon as the business case has ended and the legal requirements allow for its erasure.

Email

If you communicate with us via email, your data is stored on the respective terminal device (computer, laptop, smartphone, ...) as well as on the email server. The data will be deleted as soon as the business case has ended and the legal requirements allow for its erasure.

Online forms

If you communicate with us using an online form, your data is stored on our web server and, if necessary, forwarded to our email address. The data will be erased as soon as the business case has ended and the legal requirements allow for its erasure.

Legal bases

Data processing is based on the following legal bases:

Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent): You give us your consent to store your data and to continue to use it for the purposes of the business case;
Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (contract): For the performance of a contract with you or a processor such as a telephone provider, or if we have to process the data for pre-contractual activities, such as preparing an offer;
Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests): We want to conduct our customer inquiries and business communication in a professional manner. Thus, certain technical facilities such email programs, Exchange servers and mobile network operators are necessary to efficiently operate our communications.

Data Processing Agreement (DPA)

In this section, we would like to explain what a Data Processing Agreement is and why it is needed. As the term "Data Processing Agreement" is quite lengthy, we will often only use the acronym DPA here in this text. Like most companies, we do not work alone, but also use the services of other companies or individuals. By involving different companies or service providers, we may pass on personal data for processing. These partners then act as processors with whom we conclude a contract, the so-called Data Processing Agreement (DPA). Most importantly for you to know is that any processing of your personal data takes place exclusively according to our instructions and must be regulated by the DPA.

Who are the processors?

As a company and website owner, we are responsible for any of your data that is processed by us. In addition to the controller, there may also be so-called processors involved. This includes any company or person who processes your personal data. More precisely and according to the GDPR's definition, this means: Any natural or legal person, authority, institution or other entity that processes your personal data is considered a processor. Processors can therefore be service providers such as hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.

To make the terminology easier to comprehend, here is an overview of the GDPR's three roles:

Data subject (you as a customer or interested party) → Controller (we as a company and contracting entity) → Processors (service providers such as web hosts or cloud providers)

Contents of a Data Processing Agreement

As mentioned above, we have concluded a DPA with our partners who act as processors. First and foremost, it states that the processor processes the data exclusively in accordance with the GDPR. The contract must be concluded in writing, although an electronic contract completion is also considered a "written contract". Any processing of personal data only takes place after this contract is concluded. The contract must contain the following:

indication to us as the controller
obligations and rights of the controller
categories of data subjects
type of personal data
type and purpose of data processing
subject and duration of data processing
location of data processing

Furthermore, the contract contains all obligations of the processor. The most important obligations are:

ensuring data security measures
taking possible technical and organisational measures to protect the rights of the data subject
maintaining a data processing record
cooperation with the data protection authority upon request
performing a risk analysis for any received personal data
subprocessors may only be appointed with the written consent of the controller

You can see an example of what a DPA looks like at https://gdpr.eu/data-processing-agreement/. This link shows a sample contract.

Cookies

Cookies Overview

Affected parties: visitors to the website.
Purpose: depending on the respective cookie. You can find out more details below or from the software manufacturer that sets the cookie.
📓 Processed data: depends on the cookie used. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.
Storage duration: can vary from hours to years, depending on the respective cookie.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are cookies?

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.
In the following we explain what cookies are and why they are used, so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.

Whenever you surf the Internet, you are using a browser. Common browsers are for example, Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

It is important to note that cookies are very useful little helpers. Almost every website uses cookies. More precisely, these are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other uses. HTTP cookies are small files that our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically placed into the cookie-folder, which is the "brain" of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. Moreover, to define a cookie, one or multiple attributes must be specified.

Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you re-open our website to visit again, your browser submits this "user-related" information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are familiar with. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file, while in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in one single file.

The following graphic shows a possible interaction between a web browser such as Chrome and the web server. The web browser requests a website and receives a cookie back from the server. The browser then uses this again as soon as another page is requested.

HTTP cookie interaction between browser and web server

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, while third-party cookies are created by partner-websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiry time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, trojans or other malware. Cookies also cannot access your PC's information.

This is an example of how cookie-files can look:

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152122077330-9
Purpose: Differentiation between website visitors
Expiry date: after 2 years

A browser should support these minimum sizes:

At least 4096 bytes per cookie
At least 50 cookies per domain
At least 3000 cookies in total

Which types of cookies are there?

The exact cookies that we use, depend on the used services, which will be outlined in the following sections of this privacy policy. Firstly, we will briefly focus on the different types of HTTP cookies.

There are 4 different types of cookies:

Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure the basic functions of a website. They are needed when a user for example puts a product into their shopping cart, then continues surfing on different websites and comes back later in order to proceed to the checkout. These cookies ensure the shopping cart does not get deleted, even if the user closes their browser window.

Purposive cookies
These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives any error messages. Furthermore, these cookies record the website's loading time as well as its behavior in different browsers.

Target-oriented cookies
These cookies ensure better user-friendliness. Thus, information such as previously entered locations, font sizes or data in forms stay stored.

Advertising cookies
These cookies are also known as targeting cookies. They serve the purpose of delivering customized advertisements to the user. This can be very practical, but also rather annoying.

Upon your first visit to a website you are usually asked which of these cookie-types you want to accept. Furthermore, this decision will of course also be stored in a cookie.

If you want to learn more about cookies and do not mind technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called "HTTP State Management Mechanism".

Purpose of processing via cookies

The purpose ultimately depends on the respective cookie. You can find out more details below or from the software manufacturer that sets the cookie.

Which data are processed?

Cookies are little helpers for a wide variety of tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to tell which data is generally stored in cookies, but in the privacy policy below we will inform you on what data is processed or stored.

Storage period of cookies

The storage period depends on the respective cookie and is further specified below. Some cookies are erased after less than an hour, while others can remain on a computer for several years.

You can also influence the storage duration yourself. You can manually erase all cookies at any time in your browser (also see "Right of objection" below). Furthermore, the latest instance cookies based on consent will be erased is after you withdraw your consent. The legality of storage will remain unaffected until then.

Right of objection - how can I erase cookies?

You can decide for yourself how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option of erasing, deactivating or only partially accepting cookies. You can for example block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.

If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, or if you want to change or erase cookie settings, you can find this option in your browser settings:

If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser in a way to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or deny the placement of every single cookie. This procedure varies depending on the browser. Therefore, it might be best for you to search for the instructions in Google. If you are using Chrome, you could for example put the search term "delete cookies Chrome" or "deactivate cookies Chrome" into Google.

Legal basis

The so-called "cookie directive" has existed since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR). Within countries of the EU, however, the reactions to these guidelines still vary greatly. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in Section 96 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). In Germany, the cookie guidelines have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this guideline was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG).

For absolutely necessary cookies, even if no consent has been given, there are legitimate interests (Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to offer our visitors a pleasant user experience on our website. For this, certain cookies are often absolutely necessary.

This is exclusively done with your consent, unless absolutely necessary cookies are used. The legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (a) of the GDPR.

In the following sections you will find more detail on the use of cookies, provided the used software does use cookies.

Customer Data

Customer Data Overview

Affected parties: Customers or business and contractual partners.
Purpose: Performance of a contract for the provision of agreed services or prior to entering into such a contract, including associated communications.
📓 Data processed: name, address, contact details, email address, telephone number, payment information (such as invoices and bank details), contract data (such as duration and subject matter of the contract), IP address, order data
Storage period: the data will be erased as soon as they are no longer required for our business purposes and there is no legal obligation to process them.
⚖️ Legal bases: Legitimate interests (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR), Contract (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b GDPR)

What is customer data?

In order to be able to offer our services and contractual services, we also process data from our customers and business partners. This data always includes personal data. Customer data is all information that is processed on the basis of contractual or pre-contractual agreements so that the offered services can be provided. Customer data is therefore all the information we collect and process about our customers.

Why do we process customer data?

There are many reasons why we collect and process customer data. The main reason is that we simply need specific data to provide our services. Sometimes for example your email address may be enough. But if you purchase a product or service, we may e. g. also need data such as your name, address, bank details or other contract data. This data will subsequently be used for marketing and sales optimisation so that we can improve our overall service for our customers and clients. Another important reason for data processing is our customer service, which is very important to us. We want you to have the opportunity to contact us at any time with questions about our offers. Thus, we may need certain data such as your email address at the very least.

What data is processed?

Exactly which data is stored can only be shown by putting them in categories. All in all, it always depends on which of our services you receive. In some cases, you may only give us your email address so that we can e. g. contact you or answer your questions. In other instances, you may purchase one of our products or services. Then we may need significantly more information, such as your contact details, payment details and contract details.

Here is a list of potential data we may receive and process:

Name
Contact address
Email address
Phone number
Your birthday
Payment data (invoices, bank details, payment history, etc.)
Contract data (duration, contents)
Usage data (websites visited, access data, etc.)
Metadata (IP address, device information)

How long is the data stored?

We erase corresponding customer data as soon as we no longer need it to fulfill our contractual obligations and purposes, and as soon as the data is also no longer necessary for possible warranty and liability obligations. This can for example be the case when a business contract ends. Thereafter, the limitation period is usually 3 years, although longer periods may be possible in individual cases. Of course, we also comply with the statutory retention requirements. Your customer data will certainly not be passed on to third parties unless you have given your explicit consent.

Legal basis

The legal basis for the processing of your data is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a GDPR (consent), Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter b GDPR (contract or pre-contractual measures), Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f GDPR (legitimate interests) and in special cases (e. g. medical services) Art. 9 (2) lit. GDPR (processing of special categories).

In the case of protecting vital interests, data processing is carried out in accordance with Article 9 Paragraph 2 Letter c. GDPR. For the purposes of health care, occupational medicine, medical diagnostics, care or treatment in the health or social sectors or for the administration of systems and services in health or social sectors, the processing of personal data takes place in accordance with Article 9 Para. 2 lit. h. GDPR. If you voluntarily provide data of these special categories, the processing takes place on the basis of Article 9 Paragraph 2 lit. a GDPR.

Registration

Registration Overview

Affected parties: Anyone who registers to create an account with us, and logs in to use the account.
Processed data: Personal data such as email address, name, password and other data that is collected during registration, login and account use.
Purpose: For the provision of our services, as well as to communicate with clients or customers in the scope of our services.

Storage period: As long as the company account associated with the texts exists, plus a period of usually 3 years.
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 letter b GDPR (contract), Article 6 paragraph 1 letter a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 letter f GDPR (legitimate interests)

If you register with us and provide any personal data, this data may be processed, possibly along with your IP address. Below you can explore what we mean by the rather broad term "personal data".

Please only enter the data we need for the registration. In case you are registering on behalf of a third party, please only enter data for which you have the approval of the party you are registering for. If possible, use a secure password that you don't use anywhere else and an email address that you check regularly.

In the following, we will inform you about the exact type of data processing we do. After all, we want you to feel at ease with the services we provide!

What is a registration?

When you register, we retain certain of your data in order to make it easy for you to log in with us online and use your account. An account with us has the advantage that you don't have to re-enter everything every time. It saves time and effort and ultimately prevents any issues with the provision of our services.

Why do we process personal data?

In short, we process personal data to make account registration and usage possible for you.
If we didn't do this, you would have to enter all your data each time, wait for our approval and then enter everything again. This strict process would probably not only irritate us a little, but also many of our dear clients and customers.

Which data is processed?

Any data that you provided during registration or login and any data that you may enter as part of managing your account data.

During registration, we process the following types of data:

First name
Last name
Email address
Company name
Street + house number
Residence
Postcode
Country

During your registration, we process any data you enter, such as your username and password, along with data that is collected in the background such as your device information and IP addresses.

When using your account, we process any data you enter while using the account, as well as any data that is created while you use our services.

Storage time

We store the entered data for at least as long as the account associated with the data exists with us and is in use - and as long as there are contractual obligations between you and us. In case the contract ends, we retain the data until the respective claims get time-barred. Furthermore, we store your data as long as we are subject to legal storage obligations, if applicable. Following that, we keep any accounting records (invoices, contract documents, account statements, etc.) of the contract for 10 years (§ 147 AO) and other relevant business documents for 6 years (§ 247 HGB) after accrual.

Right to object

You have registered, entered data and want to revoke the data processing? Not a problem. As you can see above, you retain this right under the General Data Protection Regulation also at and after registration, login or account creation with us. Contact the Data Protection Officer above to exercise your rights. If you already have an account with us, you can easily view and manage your data and texts in your account.

Legal basis

By completing the registration process, you enter into a pre-contractual agreement with us, with the intention to conclude a contract of use for our platform (although there is no automatic payment obligation). You invest time to enter data and register and in return, we offer you our services after you log on to our system and view your customer account. We also meet our contractual obligations. Finally, we need to be able to email registered users about important changes. Article 6(1)(b) GDPR (implementation of pre-contractual measures, fulfillment of a contract) applies.

Where applicable, we will ask for your consent, e.g. in case you voluntarily provide more data than is absolutely necessary, or in case we may ask you if we may send you advertising. Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) applies in this matter.

We also have a legitimate interest in knowing who our clients or customers are, in order to get in touch if required. We also need to know who is using our services and whether they are being used in accordance with our terms of use, i.e. Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests) applies in this matter.

Note: the following sections are to be ticked by users (as required):

Registration with real names

Since business operations require us to know who our clients or customers are, registration is only possible with your real name (full name) and not with a pseudonym.

Registration with pseudonyms

You can use a pseudonym for the registration, which means you don't have to register with your real name. This ensures that your real name cannot be processed by us.

Storage of the IP address

During registration, login and account use, we store your IP address for security reasons in order to be able to determine legitimate use.

Public Profile

User profiles are publicly visible, i.e. parts of the profiles can also be viewed on the Internet without the need to enter a username and password.

Two Factor Authentication (2FA)

Two Factor Authentication (2FA) offers additional security when logging in, as it prevents you from logging in without a smartphone, for example. This technical measure to secure your account protects you against the loss of data or unauthorised access, even if your username and password were leaked. During your registration process, login or within the account itself y
ou can find out which 2FA is used.

Web hosting

Web hosting Overview

👥 Affected parties: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: professional hosting of the website and security of operations
📓 Processed data: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. You can find more details on this below or at the respective web hosting provider.
Storage period: dependent on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is web hosting?

Every time you visit a website nowadays, certain information - including personal data - is automatically created and stored, including on this website. This data should be processed as sparingly as possible, and only with good reason. By website, we mean the entirety of all websites on your domain, i.e. everything from the homepage to the very last subpage (like this one here). By domain we mean example.uk or examplepage.com.

When you want to view a website on a screen, you use a program called a web browser. You probably know the names of some web browsers: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.

The web browser has to connect to another computer which stores the website's code: the web server. Operating a web server is complicated and time-consuming, which is why this is usually done by professional providers. They offer web hosting and thus ensure the reliable and flawless storage of website data.

Whenever the browser on your computer establishes a connection (desktop, laptop, smartphone) and whenever data is being transferred to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. After all, your computer stores data, and the web server also has to retain the data for a period of time in order to ensure it can operate properly.

Illustration:

Browser and web server

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

Professional hosting of the website and operational security
To maintain the operational as well as IT security
Anonymous evaluation of access patterns to improve our offer, and if necessary, for prosecution or the pursuit of claims.

Which data are processed?

Even while you are visiting our website, our web server, that is the computer on which this website is saved, usually automatically saves data such as

the full address (URL) of the accessed website (e. g. https://www.examplepage.uk/examplesubpage.html?tid=122077330)
browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e. g. https://www.examplepage.uk/icamefromhere.html/)
the host name and the IP address of the device from which the website is being accessed (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
date and time
in so-called web server log files

How long is the data stored?

Generally, the data mentioned above are stored for two weeks and are then automatically deleted. We do not pass these data on to others, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be viewed by the authorities in the event of illegal conduct.

In short: Your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not pass on your data without your consent!

Legal basis

The lawfulness of processing personal data in the context of web hosting is justified in Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (safeguarding of legitimate interests), as the use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary to present the company in a safe and user-friendly manner on the internet, as well as to have the ability to track any attacks and claims, if necessary.

Hetzner Privacy Policy

We use Hetzner for our website, which is a web hosting provider, among other things. The provider of this service is the German company Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. You can find out more about the data that is processed through the use of Hetzner in their Privacy Policy at https://www.hetzner.com/de/rechtliches/datenschutz.

Data Processing Agreement (DPA) Hetzner

In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have entered into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with Hetzner. What exactly a DPA is and especially what must be included in a DPA, you can read in our general section "Data Processing Agreement (DPA)".

This contract is required by law because Hetzner processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that Hetzner may only process data they receive from us according to our instructions and must comply with the GDPR. You can find the link to the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) under https://docs.hetzner.com/de/general/general-terms-and-conditions/data-privacy-faq/.

Web Analytics

Web Analytics Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: visitors to the website.
Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimise the website.
📓 Processed data: Access statistics that contain data such as access location, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior, click behavior and IP addresses. You can find more details on this from the respective web analytics tool directly.
📅 Storage period: depending on the respective web analytics tool used
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is Web Analytics?

We use software on our website, which is known as web analytics, in order to evaluate website visitor behavior. Thus, data is collected, which the analytic tool provider (also called tracking tool) stores, manages and processes. Analyses of user behavior on our website are created with this data, which we as the website operator receive. Most tools also offer various testing options. These enable us, for example, to test which offers or content our visitors prefer. For this, we may show you two different offers for a limited period of time. After the test (a so-called A/B test) we know which product or content our website visitors find more interesting. For such testing as well as for various other analyses, user profiles are created and the respective data is stored in cookies.

Why do we run Web Analytics?

We have a clear goal in mind when it comes to our website: we want to offer our industry's best website on the market. Therefore, we want to give you both, the best and most interesting offer as well as comfort when you visit our website. With web analysis tools, we can observe the behaviour of our website visitors, and then improve our website accordingly for you and for us. For example, we can see the average age of our visitors, where they come from, the times our website gets visited the most, and which content or products are particularly popular. All this information helps us to optimise our website and adapt it to your needs, interests and wishes.

Which data are processed?

The exact data that is stored depends on the analysis tools that are being used. But generally, data such as the content you view on our website are stored, as well as e. g. which buttons or links you click, when you open a page, which browser you use, which device (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.) you visit the website with, or which computer system you use. If you have agreed that location data may also be collected, this data may also be processed by the provider of the web analysis tool.

Furthermore, your IP address is also stored. According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), IP addresses are personal data. However, your IP address is usually stored in a pseudonymised form (i.e. in an unrecognisable and abbreviated form). No directly linkable data such as your name, age, address or email address are stored for testing purposes, web analyses and web optimisations. If this data is collected, it is retained in a pseudonymised form. Therefore, it cannot be used to identify you as a person.

The following example shows Google Analytics' functionality as an example for client-based web tracking with JavaScript code.

Schematic data flow in Google Analytics

The storage period of the respective data always depends on the provider. Some cookies only retain data for a few minutes or until you leave the website, while other cookies can store data for several years.

Duration of data processing

If we have any further information on the duration of data processing, you will find it below. We generally only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary to provide products and services. The storage period may be extended if it is required by law, such as for accounting purposes.

Right to object

You also have the option and the right to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data processing by cookies by managing, deactivating or erasing cookies in your browser.

Legal basis

The use of Web Analytics requires your consent, which we obtained with our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a of the GDPR (consent), this consent represents the legal basis for the processing of personal data, such as by collection through Web Analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors, which enables us to technically and economically improve our offer. With Web Analytics, we can recognize website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f of the GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use these tools if you have given your consent.

Since Web Analytics tools use cookies, we recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies. If you want to find out which of your data are stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.

If available, information on special Web Analytics tools can be found in the following sections.

Matomo privacy policy

On our website we use Matomo, a web analysis tool. The provider of this service is the company InnoCraft Ltd, 7 Waterloo Quay PO625, 6140 Wellington, New Zealand. You can find out more on the data that are being processed when using Matomo, in their Privacy Policy at https://matomo.org/privacy-policy/. Questions regarding data protection can be sent by e-mail to privacy@matomo.org.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing Overview

👥 Affected parties: newsletter subscribers
🤝 Purpose: direct marketing via email, notification of events that are relevant to the system.
📓 Processed data: data entered during registration, but at least the email address. You can find more details on this in the respective email marketing tool used.
📅 Storage duration: for the duration of the subscription
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Email Marketing?

We use email marketing to keep you up to date. If you have agreed to receive our emails or newsletters, your data will be processed and stored. Email marketing is a part of online marketing. In this type of marketing, news or general information about a company, product or service are emailed to a specific group of people who are interested in it.

If you want to participate in our email marketing (usually via newsletter), you usually just have to register with your email address. To do this, you have to fill in and submit an online form. However, we may also ask you for your title and name, so we can address you personally in our emails.

The registration for newsletters generally works with the help of the so-called "double opt-in procedure". After you have registered for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an email, via which you can confirm the newsletter registration. This ensures that you own the email address you signed up with, and prevents anyone to register with a third-party email address. We, or a notification tool we use, will log every single registration. This is necessary so we can ensure and prove that registration processes are done legally and correctly. In general, the time of registration and registration confirmation are stored, as well as your IP address. Moreover, any change you make to your data that we have on file is also logged.

Why do we use email marketing?

Of course, we want to stay in contact with you and keep you in the loop of the most important news about our company. For this, we use email marketing - often just referred to as "newsletters" - as an essential part of our online marketing. If you agree to this or if it is permitted by law, we will send you newsletters, system emails or other notifications via email. Whenever the term "newsletter" is used in the following text, it mainly refers to emails that are sent regularly. We of course don't want to bother you with our newsletter in any way. Thus, we genuinely strive to offer only relevant and interesting content. In our emails you can e.g. find out more about our company and our services or products. Since we are continuously improving our offer, our newsletter will always give you the latest news, or special, lucrative promotions. Should we commission a service provider for our email marketing, who offers a professional mailing tool, we do this in order to offer you fast and secure newsletters. The purpose of our email marketing is to inform you about new offers and also to get closer to our business goals.

Which data are processed?

If you subscribe to our newsletter via our website, you then have to confirm your membership in our email list via an email that we will send to you. In addition to your IP and email address, your name, address and telephone number may also be stored. However, this will only be done if you agree to this data retention. Any data marked as such are necessary so you can participate in the offered service. Giving this information is voluntary, but failure to provide it will prevent you from using this service. Moreover, information about your device or the type of content you prefer on our website may also be stored. In the section "Automatic data storage" you can find out more about how your data is stored when you visit a website. We record your informed consent, so we can always prove that it complies with our laws.

Duration of data processing

If you unsubscribe from our e-mail/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years on the basis of our legitimate interests, so we can keep proof of your consent at the time. We are only allowed to process this data if we have to defend ourselves against any claims.

However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual request for erasure at any time. Furthermore, if you permanently object to your consent, we reserve the right to store your email address in a blacklist. But as long as you have voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter, we will of course keep your email address on file.

Withdrawal - how can I cancel my subscription?

You have the option to cancel your newsletter subscription at any time. All you have to do is revoke your consent to the newsletter subscription. This usually only takes a few seconds or a few clicks. Most of the time you will find a link at the end of every email, via which you will be able to cancel the subscription. Should you not be able to find the link in the newsletter, you can contact us by email and we will immediately cancel your newsletter subscription for you.

Legal basis

Our newsletter is sent on the basis of your consent (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR). This means that we are only allowed to send you a newsletter if you have actively registered for it beforehand. Moreover, we may also send you advertising messages on the basis of Section 7 (3) UWG (Unfair Competition Act), provided you have become our customer and have not objected to the use of your email address for direct mail.

If available - you can find information on special email marketing services and how they process personal data, in the following sections.

Klick-Tipp Privacy Policy

We use Klick-Tipp on our website, which is a service for email automation. The service provider is the British company Klick-Tipp Limited, 15 Cambridge Court, 210 Sheperd's Bush Road, London W67NJ, United Kingdom. You can find out more about the data that is processed through the use of Klick-Tipp in the privacy policy at https://www.klicktipp.com/datenschutzerklarung/.

Social Media Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: Service presentation and optimisation, staying in contact with visitors, interested parties, etc. as well as advertising.
📓 Processed data: data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, contact data, data on user behaviour, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details on this directly at the respective social media tool used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the social media platforms used
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is Social Media?

In addition to our website, we are also active on various social media platforms. For us to be able to target interested users via social networks, user data may be processed. Additionally, elements of social media platforms may be embedded directly in our website. This is e.g. the case if you click a so-called social button on our website and are forwarded directly to our social media presence. So-called social media are websites and apps on which registered members can produce and exchange content with other members, be it openly or in certain groups and networks.

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and get into contact online. With our social media presence, we can familiarise interested people better with our products and services. The social media elements integrated on our website help you switch to our social media content quickly and hassle free.

The data that is retained and processed when you use a social media channel is primarily used to conduct web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personal marketing and advertising strategies. The evaluated data on your behavior on any social media platform can help to draw appropriate conclusions about your interests. Moreover, so-called user profiles can be created. Thus, the platforms may also to present you with customized advertisements. For this, cookies are usually placed in your browser, which store data on your user behavior.

We generally assume that we will continue to be responsible under Data Protection Law, even when using the services of a social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that, within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR, in certain cases the operator of the social media platform can be jointly responsible with us. Should this be the case, we will point it out separately and work on the basis of a related agreement. You will then find the essence of the agreement for the concerned platform below.

Please note that when you use social media platforms or our built-in elements, your data may also be processed outside the European Union, as many social media channels, such as Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. As a result, you may no longer be able to easily claim or enforce your rights regarding your personal data.

Which data are processed?

Exactly which data are stored and processed depends on the respective provider of the social media platform. But usually it is data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, data you enter in contact forms, user data such as which buttons you click, what you like or who you follow, when you visited which pages, as well as information about your device and IP address. Most of this data is stored in cookies. Should you have a profile on the social media channel you are visiting and are logged in, data may be linked to your profile.

All data that are collected via social media platforms are also stored on the providers' servers. This means that only the providers have access to the data and can provide you with appropriate information or make changes for you.

If you want to know exactly which data is stored and processed by social media providers and how you can object to the data processing, we recommend you to carefully read the privacy policy of the respective company. We also recommend you to contact the provider directly if you have any questions about data storage and data processing or if you want to assert any corresponding rights.

Duration of data processing

Provided we have any further information on this, we will inform you about the duration of the data processing below. The social media platform Facebook example stores data until they are no longer needed for the company's own purposes. However, customer data that is synchronised with your own user data is erased within two days. Generally, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. This storage period can also be exceeded however, if it is required by law, such as e.g. in the case of accounting.

Right to object

You also retain the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers such as embedded social media elements at any time. This can be done either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. You can e.g. also prevent data collection via cookies by managing, deactivating or erasing cookies in your browser.

Since cookies may be used with social media tools, we also recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies. If you want to find out which of your data is stored and processed, we advise you to read the privacy policies of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the processing and storage of your data by integrated social media elements, this consent serves as the legal basis for data processing ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, provided you have given your consent, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in maintaining fast and good communication with you and other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the tools if you have consented. Most social media platforms also set cookies on your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies carefully and to take a look at the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

in the following section you can find information on special social media platforms - provided this information is available.

Facebook Privacy Policy

Facebook Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimization
Processed data: data such as customer data, data on user behavior, device information and IP address.
You can find more details in the Privacy Policy below.
Storage period: until the data no longer serves Facebook's purposes.
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are Facebook tools?

We use selected Facebook tools on our website. Facebook is a social media network of the company Facebook Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. With the aid of this tool we can provide the best possible offers to you and anyone interested in our products and services.

If your data is collected and forwarded via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page (fanpage), both we and Facebook Ireland Ltd. are responsible for this. However, should any further processing occur, then Facebook is solely responsible for this data. Our joint commitments were also set out in a publicly available agreement at https://www.facebook. com / legal / controller_addendum . It e.g. states that we must clearly inform you about the use of Facebook tools on our website. We are also responsible for ensuring that the tools are securely integrated into our website and are in accordance with the applicable privacy laws. Facebook, on the other hand, is e.g. responsible for the data security of Facebook's products. If you have any questions about Facebook's data collection and processing, you can contact the company directly. Should you direct the question to us, we are obliged to forward it to Facebook.

In the following we will give you an overview on the different Facebook tools, as well as on what data is sent to Facebook and how you can erase this data.

Along with many other products, Facebook also offers so called "Facebook Business Tools". This is Facebook's official name for its tools, but it is not very common. Therefore, we decided to merely call them "Facebook tools". They include the following:

Facebook Pixel
Social Plugins (e.g. the "Like" or "Share" button)
Facebook Login
Account Kit
APIs (application programming interface)
SDKs (Softwart developmept kits)
Platform integration
Plugins
Codes
Specifications
Documentations
Technologies and Services

With these tools Facebook can extend its services and is able to receive information on user activities outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We only want to show our services and products to people who are genuinely interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads) we can reach exactly these people. However, to be able to show suitable adverts to users, Facebook requires additional information on people's needs and wishes. Therefore, information on the user behavior (and contact details) on our website, are provided to Facebook. Consequently, Facebook can collect better user data and is able to display suitable ads for our products or services. Thanks to the tools it is possible to create targeted, customized ad campaigns of Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website "event data" and uses them for analytics services. That way, Facebook can create "campaign reports" about our ad campaigns' effectiveness on our behalf. Moreover, by analyses we can get a better insight into how you use our services, our website or our products. Therefore, some of these tools help us optimise your user experience on our website. With the social plugins for instance, you can share our site's contents directly on Facebook.

What data is stored by Facebook tools?

With the use of Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) may be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, telephone number and IP address may be transmitted.

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it has on you (if you are a Facebook member). However, before the customer data is transferred to Facebook, a so-called "hashing" takes place. This means, that a data record of any size is transformed into a string of characters, which also has the purpose of encrypting data.

Furthermore, not only contact data, but also "event data" is transferred. These data are the information we receive about you on our website. To give an example, it allows us to see what subpages you visit or what products you buy from us. Facebook does not disclose the obtained information to third parties (such as advertisers), unless the company has an explicit permission or is legally obliged to do so. Also, "event data" can be linked to contact information, which helps Facebook to offer improved, customized adverts. Finally, after the previously mentioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact data.

To deliver optimised advertisements, Facebook only uses event data, if they have been combined with other data (that have been collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses event data for the purposes of security, protection, development and research. Many of these data are transmitted to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are little text files, that are used for storing data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used, and on whether you are a Facebook member, a different number of cookies are placed in your browser. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools we will go into more detail on Facebook cookies. You can also find general information about the use of Facebook cookies at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where are the data stored?

Facebook fundamentally stores data, until they are no longer of use for their own services and products. Facebook has servers for storing their data all around the world. However, customer data is cleared within 48 hours after they have been matched with their own user data.

How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) you have the right of information, rectification, transfer and deletion of your data.

The collected data is only fully deleted when you delete your entire Facebook account. Deleting your Facebook account works as follows:

1) Click on settings in the top right side in Facebook.

2) Then, click "Your Facebook information" in the left column.

3) Now click on "Deactivation and deletion".

4) Choose "Permanently delete account" and then click on "Continue to account deletion".

5) Enter your password, click on "continue" and then on "Delete account".

The retention of data Facebook receives via our site is done via cookies (e.g. with social plugins), among others. You can deactivate, clear or manage both all and individual cookies in your browser. How this can be done differs depending on the browser you use. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

If you generally do not want to allow any cookies at all, you can set up your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to decide upon the permission or deletion of every single cookie.

Legal basis

If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated Facebook tools, this consent is the legal basis for data processing ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) to maintain fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use these tools if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies on your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy about cookies carefully and to take a look at the privacy policy or Facebook's cookie policy.

Facebook also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Facebook uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Facebook to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

We hope we could give you an understanding of the most important information about the use of Facebook tools and data processing. If you want to find out more on how Facebook use your data, we recommend reading the data policies at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

We integrated the convenient Facebook Login to our website. With it, you can easily log into our site with your Facebook account, without having to create a new user account. If you decide to register via the Facebook Login, you will be redirected to the social media network Facebook. There, you can log in with your Facebook user data. By using this method to log in, data on you and your user behaviour is stored and transmitted to Facebook.

To save the data, Facebook uses various cookies. In the following we will show you the most significant cookies that are placed in your browser or that already exist when you log into our site via the Facebook Login:

Name: fr
Value: 0jieyh4c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j...1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: This cookie is used to make the social plugin function optimally on our website.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: datr
Value: 4Jh7XUA2122077330SEmPsSfzCOO4JFFl
Purpose: Facebook sets the "datr" cookie when a web browser accesses facebook.com. The cookie helps to identify login activities and protect users.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _js_datr
Value: deleted
Purpose: Facebook sets this session cookie for tracking purposes, even if you do not have a Facebook account or are logged out.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Note: The cookies we stated are only a small range of the cookies which are available to Facebook. Other cookies include for example _ fbp, sb or wd. It is not possible to disclose an exhaustive list, since Facebook have a multitude of cookies at their disposal which they use in variation.

On the one hand, Facebook Login enables a fast and easy registration process. On the other hand, it gives us the opportunity to share data with Facebook. In turn, we can customise our offer and advertising campaigns better to your needs and interests. The data we receive from Facebook by this means, is public data such as

your Facebook name
your profile picture
your stored email address
friends lists
button clicks (e.g. "Like" button)
date of birth
language
place of residence

In return, we provide Facebook with information about your activities on our website. These include information on the terminal device you used, which of our subpages you visit, or what products you have bought from us.

By using Facebook Login, you agree to the data processing. You can terminate this agreement anytime. If you want to learn more about Facebook's data processing, we recommend you to read Facebook's Data Policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

If you are registered with Facebook, you can change your advertisement settings anytime at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen.

Facebook Social Plugins Privacy Policy

We installed so-called social plugins from Facebook Inc. to our website. You can recognise these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, the "Like" button (hand with raised thumb) or by a "Facebook plugin" label. A social plugin is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our page. Each plugin has its own function. The most used functions are the well-known "Like" and "Share" buttons.

Facebook offers the following social plugins:

"Save" button
"Like" button, Share, Send and Quote
Page plugin
Comments
Messenger plugin
Embedded posts and video player
Group plugin

At https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins you will find more information on how the individual plugins are used. On the one hand, we use the social plug-ins to offer you a better user experience on our site, and on the other hand because Facebook can optimise our advertisements with it.

If you have a Facebook account or have already visited facebook.com, Facebook has already placed at least one cookie in your browser. In this case, your browser sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our website or interact with social plugins (e.g. the "Like" button).

The received information will be deleted or anonymised within 90 days. According to Facebook, this data includes your IP address, the websites you have visited, the date, time and other information relating to your browser.

In order to prevent Facebook from collecting much data and matching it with your Facebook data during your visit to our website, you must log out of Facebook while you visit our website.

If you are not logged in to Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser sends less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. Nevertheless, data such as your IP address or which website you are visiting can be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to explicitly point out that we do not know what exact data is collected. However, based on our current knowledge, we want to try to inform you as best we can about data processing. You can also read about how Facebook uses the data in the company's data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

At least the following cookies are set in your browser when you visit a website with social plugins from Facebook:

Name: dpr
Value: no information
Purpose:This cookie is used to make the social plugins work on our website.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: fr
Value: 0jieyh4122077330c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose:The cookie is also necessary for the plugins to function properly
Expiry date: after 3 months

Note: These cookies were set after our test and may be placed even if you are not a Facebook member.

If you are registered with Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can go to https://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices/ and manage your usage-based online advertising. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers.

If you want to learn more about Facebook's data protection, we recommend the company's own data policies at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Flickr Privacy Policy

We also use the online community and photo platform Flickr. The provider of this service is the American company Flickr Inc, 67 E Evelyn Ave #200, Mountain View, CA 94041, USA.

Flickr also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Flickr uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Flickr to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

You can find out more about the data that are processed by using Flickr in their Privacy Policy on https://www.flickr.com/help/privacy .

Instagram Privacy Policy

Instagram Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
Purpose: optimising our service.
Processed data: includes data on user behavior, information about your device and IP address.
More details can be found in the privacy policy below.
📅 Storage period: until Instagram no longer needs the data for its purposes
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Instagram?

We have integrated functions of Instagram to our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Since 2012, Instagram is a subsidiary company of Facebook Inc. and is a part of Facebook's products. The inclusion of Instagram's contents on our website is called embedding. With this, we can show you Instagram contents such as buttons, photos or videos directly on our website. If you open websites of our online presence that have an integrated Instagram function, data gets transmitted to, as well as stored and processed by Instagram. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Therefore, your data will be processed across all Facebook firms.

In the following, we want to give you a more detailed insight on why Instagram collects data, what data these are and how you can control data processing. As Instagram belongs to Facebook Inc, we have, on the one hand received this information from the Instagram guidelines, and on the other hand from Facebook's Data Policy.

Instagram is one of the most famous social media networks worldwide. Instagram combines the benefits of a blog with the benefits of audio-visual platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. To "Insta" (how the platform is casually called by many users) you can upload photos and short videos, edit them with different filters and also share them to other social networks. Also, if you do not want to be active on Instagram yourself, you can just follow other interesting users.

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is a social media platform whose success has skyrocketed within recent years. Naturally, we have also reacted to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. Therefore, we attach great importance to diversified contents. With the embedded Instagram features we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting Instagram contents. Since Instagram is a subsidiary company of Facebook, the collected data can also serve us for customized advertising on Facebook. Hence, only persons who are genuinely interested in our products or services can see our ads.

Instagram also uses the collected data for tracking and analysis purposes. We receive summarised statistics and therefore more insight to your wishes and interests. It is important to mention that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data is stored by Instagram?

Whenever you land on one of our sites, which have Instagram functions (i.e. Instagram photos or plugins) integrated to them, your browser automatically connects with Instagram's servers. Thereby, data is sent to, as well as saved and processed by Instagram. This always happens, whether you have an Instagram account or not. Moreover, it includes information on our website, your computer, your purchases, the advertisements you see and on how you use our offer. The date and time of your interaction is also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram saves significantly more data on you.

Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume this is also the case for Instagram. Customer data are for example names, addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses. These data are only transmitted to Instagram if they have been "hashed" first. Thereby, a set of data is transformed into a string of characters, which encrypts any contact data. Furthermore, the aforementioned "event data" (data on your user behavior) is transmitted as well. It is also possible that contact data may get combined with event data. The collected data is matched with any data Instagram already has on you.

Furthermore, the gathered data are transferred to Facebook via little text files (cookies) which usually get set in your browser. Depending on the Instagram function used, and whether you have an Instagram account yourself, the amount of data that gets stored varies.

We assume data processing on Instagram works the same way as on Facebook. Therefore, if you have an account on Instagram or have visited www.instagram.com, Instagram has set at least one cookie. If this is the case, your browser uses the cookie to send information to Instagram, as soon as you come across an Instagram function. No later than 90 days (after matching) the data is deleted or anonymised. Even though we have studied Instagram's data processing in-depth, we cannot tell for sure what exact data Instagram collects and retains.

In the following we will show you a list of the least cookies placed in your browser when click on an Instagram function (e.g. button or an Insta picture). In our test we assume you do not have an Instagram account, since if you would be logged in to your Instagram account, your browser would place significantly more cookies.

The following cookies were used in our test:

Name: csrftoken
Value: ""
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons to prevent falsifications of requests. We could not find out more information on it.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: mid
Value: ""
Purpose: Instagram places this cookie to optimize its own offers and services in- and outside of Instagram. The cookie allocates a unique user ID.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: fbsr_122077330124024
Value: no information
Purpose: This cookie stores the login request of Instagram app users.

Expiry date: after end of session

Name: rur
Value: ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie which guarantees functionality on Instagram.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: urlgen
Value: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe122077330”
Purpose: This cookie serves Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiry date: after end of session

Note: We do not claim this list to be exhaustive. The cookies that are placed in each individual case, depend on the functions embedded as well as on your use of Instagram.

How long and where are these data stored?

Instagram shares the information obtained within the Facebook businesses with external partners and persons you are globally connected with. Data processing is done according to Facebook's internal data policy. Your data is distributed to Facebook's servers across the world, partially for security reasons. Most of these servers are in the USA.

How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?

Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right of information, rectification, transfer and deletion of your data. Furthermore, you can manage your data in Instagram's settings. If you want to delete your data on Instagram completely, you will have to delete your Instagram account permanently.

And this is how an Instagram account can be deleted:

First, open the Instagram app. Then, navigate to your profile page, select the three bars in the top right, choose "Settings" and then click "Help". Now, you will be redirected to the company's website, where you must click on "Managing Your Account" and then "Delete Your Account".

When you delete your account completely, Instagram deletes posts such as your photos and status updates. Any information other people shared about you are not a part of your account and do therefore not get deleted.

As mentioned before, Instagram primarily stores your data via cookies. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, managing them varies a bit. We will show you the instructions of the most relevant browsers here.

Generally, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. Then you can individually decide upon the permission of every cookie.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the processing and storage of your data by integrated social media elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) to maintain fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We only use the integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also place cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy about cookies carefully and to take a look at the privacy policy or the cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Instagram and Facebook also process data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

As a basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfers there, Facebook uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Facebook to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

We have tried to give you the most important information about data processing by Instagram. On https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875

you can take a closer look at Instagram's data guidelines.

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

LinkedIn Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service.
Processed data: includes data on user behavior, information about your device and IP address.
More details can be found in the privacy policy below.
📅 Storage period: the data is generally deleted within 30 days
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is LinkedIn?

On our website we use social plugins from the social media network LinkedIn, of the LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Social plugins can be feeds, content sharing or a link to our LinkedIn page. Social plugins are clearly marked with the well-known LinkedIn logo and for example allow sharing interesting content directly via our website. Furthermore, LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place in Dublin is responsible for data processing in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.

By embedding these plugins, data can be sent to, as well as stored and processed by LinkedIn. In this privacy policy we want to inform you what data this is, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data retention.

LinkedIn is the largest social network for business contacts. In contrast to e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn focuses exclusively on establishing business connections. Therefore, companies can present services and products on the platform and establish business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn to find a job or to find suitable employees for their own company. In Germany alone, the network has over 11 million members. In Austria there are about 1.3 million.

Why do we use LinkedIn on our website?

We know how busy you are. You just cannot keep up with following every single social media channel. Even if it would really be worth it, as it is with our channels, since we keep posting interesting news and articles worth spreading. Therefore, on our website we have created the opportunity to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn, or to refer directly to our LinkedIn page. We consider built-in social plugins as an extended service on our website. The data LinkedIn collects also help us to display potential advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offer.

What data are stored by LinkedIn?

LinkedIn stores no personal data due to the mere integration of social plugins. LinkedIn calls the data generated by plugins passive impressions. However, if you click on a social plugin to e.g. share our content, the platform stores personal data as so-called "active impressions". This happens regardless of whether you have a LinkedIn account or not. If you are logged in, the collected data will be assigned to your account.

When you interact with our plugins, your browser establishes a direct connection to LinkedIn's servers. Through that, the company logs various usage data. These may include your IP address, login data, device information or information about your internet or cellular provider. If you use LinkedIn services via your smartphone, your location may also be identified (after you have given permission). Furthermore, LinkedIn can share this data with third-party advertisers in "hashed" form. Hashing means that a data set is transformed into a character string. This allows data to be encrypted, which prevents persons from getting identified.

Most data on your user behavior is stored in cookies. These are small text files that usually get placed in your browser. Furthermore, LinkedIn can also use web beacons, pixel tags, display tags and other device recognitions.

Various tests also show which cookies are set when a user interacts with a social plug-in. We do not claim for the information we found to be exhaustive, as it only serves as an example. The following cookies were set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Value: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16122077330-
Purpose: This cookie is a so-called "browser ID cookie" and stores your identification number (ID).
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: lang
Value: v=2&lang=en-gb
Purpose:This cookie saves your default or preferred language.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: lidc
Value: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G122077330…
Purpose:This cookie is used for routing. Routing records how you found your way to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website.
Expiry date: after 24 hours

Name: rtc
Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX
Purpose:No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiry date: after 2 minutes

Name: JSESSIONID
Value: ajax:1220773302900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions through the server.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: bscookie
Value: "v=1&201910230812...
Purpose: This cookie is a security cookie. LinkedIn describes it as a secure browser ID cookie.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: fid
Value: AQHj7Ii23ZBcqAAAA...
Purpose: We could not find any further information about this cookie.
Expiry date: after 7 days

Note: LinkedIn also works with third parties. That is why we identified the Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat in our test.

How long and where are the data stored?

In general, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company considers it necessary for providing its services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn keeps some summarised and anonymised data, even account deletions. As soon as you delete your account, it may take up to a day until other people can no longer see your data. LinkedIn generally deletes the data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data if it is necessary for legal reasons. Also, data that can no longer be assigned to any person remains stored even after the account is closed. The data are stored on various servers in America and presumably also in Europe.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

You have the right to access and delete your personal data at any time. In your LinkedIn account you can manage, change and delete your data. Moreover, you can request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn.

How to access account data in your LinkedIn profile:

In LinkedIn, click on your profile icon and select the "Settings & Privacy" section. Now click on "Privacy" and then on the section "How LinkedIn uses your data". Then, click "Change" in the row with "Manage your data and activity". There you can instantly view selected data on your web activity and your account history.

In your browser you also have the option of preventing data processing by LinkedIn. As mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most data via cookies that are placed in your browser. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies. Depending on which browser you have, these settings work a little differently. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here:

You can generally set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the processing and storage of your data by integrated social media elements, your consent is the legal basis for data processing ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) to maintain fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We only use the integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also place cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy about cookies carefully and take a look at the privacy policy or the cookie policy of the respective service provider.

LinkedIn also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

LinkedIn uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraph 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige LinkedIn to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by LinkedIn. On https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy you can find out more on data processing by the social media network LinkedIn.

Data Processing Agreement (DPA) LinkedIn

In accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we have entered into a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) with LinkedIn. What exactly a DPA is and especially what must be included in a DPA, you can read in our general section "Data Processing Agreement (DPA)".

This contract is required by law because LinkedIn processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that LinkedIn may only process data they receive from us according to our instructions and must comply with the GDPR. You can find the link to the Data Processing Agreement (DPA) under https://www.linkedin.com/legal/l/dpa?.

Pinterest Privacy Policy

Pinterest Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimization
Processed data: data such as data on user behavior, device information, IP address and search terms.
You can find more details in the Privacy Policy below.
Storage period: until Pinterest no longer needs the data for its purposes.
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Pinterest?

On our website we use buttons and widgets by the social media network Pinterest, of the company Pinterest Inc., 808 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. For the European area, the entity responsible for all aspects of privacy is the Irish company Pinterest Europe Ltd (Palmerston House, 2nd Floor, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, Ireland).

Pinterest is a social network that specialises in graphic representations and photographs. Its name is made up of the two words "pin" and "interest". Users can exchange ideas about various hobbies and interests via Pinterest and view profiles with pictures openly or in defined groups.

Why do we use Pinterest?

The social media platform Pinterest has been around for a few years now and is still one of the most visited and valued platforms. Pinterest is particularly suitable for our industry because the platform is primarily known for beautiful and interesting images. That is why we are of course also represented on Pinterest and want to put our content in the limelight in places other than our website. The collected data may also be used for advertising purposes, so we can show advertising messages to precisely those people who are interested in our services or products.

Which data are processed by Pinterest?

Pinterest may store so-called log data. This includes information about your browser, IP address, our website address and your activities on it (e.g. when you click the save or pin button), along with your search history, the date and time of the request as well as cookie and device data. If you interact with an embedded Pinterest function, cookies that store various data may also be set in your browser. Most of the above-mentioned log data, as well as preset language settings and clickstream data are stored in cookies. Pinterest considers clickstream data as information about your website behavior.

If you have a Pinterest account yourself and are logged in, the data collected via our site may be linked to your account and used for advertising purposes. If you interact with our integrated Pinterest functions, you will usually be redirected to the Pinterest page. Below you will see an exemplary selection of cookies that can then be placed in your browser.

Name: _auth
Value: 0
Purpose: The cookie is used for authentication. A value such as your "username" can be stored in it, for example.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: _pinterest_referrer
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores the information that you came to Pinterest via our website. Thus, the URL of our website is retained.
Expiry date: after the session ends

Name: _pinterest_sess
Value: . .. 9HRHZvVE0rQlUxdG89
Purpose: This cookie is used to log into Pinterest and it contains user IDs, authentication tokens and time stamps.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: _routing_id
Value: "8d850ddd-4fb8-499c-961c-77efae9d4065 122077330 -8".
Purpose: This cookie contains an assigned value that is used to identify a specific routing destination.

Expiry date: after one day

Name: cm_sub
Value: denied
Purpose: This cookie stores user IDs and time stamps.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: csrftoken
Value: 9e49145c82a93d34fd933b0fd8446165 122077330-1
Purpose: This cookie is most certainly placed for security reasons in order to prevent falsified inquiries. However, we could not find more precise information.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: sessionFunnelEventLogged
Value: 1
Purpose: We have not yet been able to find out more information about this cookie.

Expiry date: after one day

How long and where are the data retained?

Pinterest basically stores the collected data until it is no longer needed for the company's purposes. As soon as the storage of this data is no longer necessary, e.g. for the compliance with legal regulations, the data is either erased or anonymised so you can no longer be identified as a person. The data may also be stored on American servers.

Right to object

You also have the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers such as Pinterest at any time. This can be done either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. You can for example also prevent data retention by cookies by managing, deactivating or erasing cookies in your browser.

Since cookies can be used with embedded Pinterest elements, we also recommend you to read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out which of your data are stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the processing and storage of you data by integrated social media elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in maintaining fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the tool if you have given your consent to it. Most social media platforms also place cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy on cookies carefully and to take a look at the privacy policy or the cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Pinterest also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Pinterest uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Pinterest to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

We hope we could provide you with the most important information about data processing by Pinterest. You can find out more about Pinterest's privacy guidelines at https://policy.pinterest.com/en-gb/privacy-policy.

Twitter Privacy Policy

Twitter Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
Purpose: optimising our service.
Processed data: includes data on user behavior, information about your device and IP address.
More details can be found in the privacy policy below.
Storage period: Twitter deletes collected data of other websites after 30 days at most.
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Twitter?

We have incorporated Twitter functions on our website. These are, for example, embedded tweets, timelines, buttons or hashtags. Twitter is a short message service and social media platform from the firm Twitter Inc, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2 D02 AX07, Ireland.

To our knowledge, in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, a mere integration of the Twitter function does not transfer any personal data or data about your web activities to Twitter. Only when you interact with the Twitter functions, such as by clicking a button, data could be sent to Twitter and get saved as well as processed there. We have no influence on this processing of data and do not bare any responsibility for it. Within this privacy statement, we want to give you an overview of what data Twitter stores, what Twitter does with this data and how you can largely protect yourself from data transmission.

For some, Twitter is a news service, for others, a social media platform, and for others still it is a microblogging service. All these terms are justified and mean pretty much the same.

Both individuals as well as companies use Twitter for communicating with interested people via short messages. Twitter only allows 280 characters per message. These messages are called "tweets. In contrast to Facebook, for example, the service does not focus on the expansion of a network of "friends", but strives to be regarded as an open, worldwide news platform. On Twitter you can also have an anonymous account and tweets can be deleted by both, either the company or the users themselves.

Why do we use Twitter on our website?

Like many other websites and companies, we try to use different channels for offering our services and communicating with our customers. Twitter is a truly useful "small" news service, which is why it has grown dear to us. We regularly tweet or retweet exciting, funny or interesting content. We understand that you do not have the time to follow every channel after channel, as you surely have enough other things to do. That is why we also have integrated Twitter functions to our website. That way, you can experience our Twitter activities "on site" or come to our Twitter page via a direct link. With the integration, we want to strengthen the service and user-friendliness on our website.

What data is stored by Twitter?

You will find integrated Twitter functions on some of our subpages. If you interact with Twitter content, such as by clicking a button, Twitter may collect and save data. This can happen even if you don't have a Twitter account yourself. Twitter calls this data "log data". It includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, your smartphone's ID, hashed email addresses, and information on which pages you have visited on Twitter and what actions you have taken there. Of course, Twitter stores more data if you have a Twitter account and are logged in. This retention is usually done via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually set in your browser and transmit various information to Twitter.

We will now show you which cookies are placed if you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a website with built-in Twitter functions. Please consider this list as an example. We do not claim for this list to be extensive, since the array of cookies always changes and depends on your individual actions with Twitter content.

The following cookies have been used in our test:

Name: personalization_id
Value: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE122077330”
Purpose: This cookie stores information on how you use the website and what ad may have led you to Twitter.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: lang
Value: en
Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: guest_id
Value: 122077330v1%3A157132626
Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: fm
Value: 0
Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find out the purpose of this cookie.

Expiry date: after end of session

Name: external_referer
Value: 1220773302beTA0sf5lkMrlGt
Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data, such as how often you visit Twitter and how long you visit Twitter.
Expiry date: after 6 days

Name: eu_cn
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores user activity and is used for Twitter's various advertising purposes.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: ct0
Value: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966
Purpose: Unfortunately we could not find any information on this cookie.
Expiry date: after 6 hours

Name: _twitter_sess
Value: 53D%253D–dd0248122077330-
Purpose: With this cookie you can use functions within Twitter's website.
Expiry date: after end of session

Note: Twitter also works with third parties. Therefore, we have recognized the three Google Analytics cookies _ga, _gat, _gid in our test.

On the one hand, Twitter uses the collected data for gaining better understand on user behavior, and thus to improve their own services and advertising offers. On the other hand, the data are also used for internal security measures.

How long and where are the data stored?

When Twitter collects data from other websites, after a maximum of 30 days, they will be deleted, summarised or otherwise concealed. Twitter's servers are in various server centers in the United States. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the gathered data will be collected and stored in America. In our research we could not clearly determine whether Twitter also owns servers in Europe. Generally, Twitter may keep collected data stored until either the data are no longer useful to the company, until you delete the data or until a potential legal deletion period has been reached.

How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?

In their Privacy Policy, Twitter repeatedly emphasise that they do not save data from external website visits, provided you or your browser are in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. However, if you interact directly with Twitter, the company will of course store your data.

If you have a Twitter account, you can manage your data by clicking on "More" under the "Profile" button. Then click on "Settings and privacy". Here you can manage data processing individually.

If you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com and click "Settings". At "Personalization and data" you can manage data that is collected on you.

As mentioned above, most data are stored via cookies, which you can manage, deactivate or delete in your browser. Please note that when changing cookie settings in your browser, the edits will only affect that very browser. This means that if you use another browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookie settings there again. In the following you will find instructions for managing cookies in the most popular browsers.

You can also set your browser to notify you about each individual cookie. This lets you decide individually whether you want to allow or deny a cookie.

Twitter also uses the data for personalised advertising in-and outside of Twitter. You can switch off personalized advertising in the settings under "Personalization and data". If you use Twitter on a browser, you can deactivate personalized advertising at http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN.

Legal basis

If you have consented processing and storage of your data by integrated social media elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Generally, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest ( Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) to maintain fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We only use integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also place cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend you to read our privacy policy about cookies carefully and to also take a look at the privacy policy or the cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Twitter processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Twitter uses standard contractual clauses, which are approved by the EU Commission, as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfers there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige ShareThis to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

We hope we could give you a basic overview of Twitter's data processing. We do not receive any data from Twitter and are not responsible for what Twitter does with your data. If you have any further questions on this topic, we recommend you to read Twitter's privacy statement at https://twitter.com/en/privacy.

Cloud services

Cloud Services Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: We as the website operator and you as the website visitor
🤝 Purpose: security and data storage
📓 Processed data: Data such as your IP address, name or technical data such as your browser version.
More details can be found below and in the individual privacy policies or in the privacy policies of the providers
Duration of storage: In most cases, data is stored until it is no longer required in order to provide the service
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are cloud services?

As a website operator, cloud services provide us with storage space and computing power via the internet. Data can be transmitted to an external system, where it may be processed and stored via the internet. The relevant cloud provider manages this data. Depending on specific requirements, an individual or a company can choose storage space or computing power. Cloud storage is accessed via an API or via storage protocols. API stands for Application Programming Interface, which is a programming interface that connects software with hardware components.

Why do we use cloud services?

We use cloud services for several reasons. A cloud service offers us the opportunity to store our data securely. In addition, we can access the data from different locations and devices, giving us more flexibility and simplifying our work processes. Cloud storage also saves us costs because we don't have to set up and manage our own infrastructure for data storage and data security. By storing our data centrally in the cloud, we can also expand our application fields and manage our information much better.

As website operator or company, we use cloud services primarily for our own purposes. We e. g. manage our calendar and store documents or other important information in the cloud. However, your personal data may also be stored. This can take place if you provide us with your contact details (e.g. name and email address) while we store our customer data with a cloud provider. Consequently, any of your data we process may also be stored and processed on external servers. Provided we offer certain forms of content by cloud services on our website, cookies can also be set for web analysis and advertising purposes. Furthermore, such cookies retain your settings (e.g. the language used) so you will be provided with your usual web environment next time you visit our website.

Which data is processed by cloud services?

Much of the data we store in the cloud cannot be used to identify you as a person, but some data is personal data as defined by the GDPR. This is often customer data such as name, address, IP address or telephone number or technical device information. Videos, images and audio files may also be stored in the cloud. Exactly how the data is collected and stored depends on the respective service. We only try to use services that handle your data in a very reliable and professional manner. Generally, services such as Amazon Drive, have access to the stored files in order to be able to offer their own service accordingly. For this, however, the services require consent (such as for the right to copy files for security reasons). The data will be processed and handled as part of the provided services and in compliance with applicable laws. This also includes compliance with the GDPR for US providers (via the standard contractual clauses). In some cases, cloud services also cooperate with third parties who may process data under instructions and in accordance with privacy policies and other security measures. At this point we would like to emphasise again that all well-known cloud services (such as Amazon Drive, Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive) obtain the right to access stored content in order to be able to offer and optimise their own services accordingly.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you below about the duration of data processing, provided we have further information on this. In general, cloud services store data until you or we revoke the data storage or erase the retained data. In general, personal data is only stored for as long as it is necessary for the provision of the respective services. However, it may take up to several months to erase your data from the cloud. This may occur because data is usually not only stored on one server but divided between different servers.

Right to object

You also have the right and the opportunity to revoke your consent to data storage in a cloud at any time. If cookies are used, you also have a right to withdraw your consent. This can be done either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, deactivating or erasing the cookies in your browser. We also recommend you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy policy of the respective cloud provider.

Legal basis

We use cloud services mainly on the basis of our legitimate interests (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in good security and storage systems.

Certain types of processing, in particular the use of cookies and storage functions, require your consent. If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by cloud services, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR). Most of the services we use place cookies in your browser to store data. Thus, we recommend you read our privacy policy on cookies carefully and study the privacy policy or cookie policy of the relevant service provider.

Information on special tools - if available - can be found in the following sections.

Apple iCloud Privacy Policy

We use Apple iCloudfor our website, which is a cloud service for data storage and data exchange. The service provider is the American company Apple Inc, Infinite Loop, Cupertino, CA 95014, USA.

Apple also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Apple uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, Apple commits to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=en

You can learn more about the data processed using Apple iCloud in the privacy policy at https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/en-ww/.

Dropbox Privacy Policy

We use Dropbox, an online storage service for files, photos and videos, for our website. The service provider is the American company Dropbox Inc. The company's European office is in Ireland (One Park Place, Floor 5, Upper Hatch Street, Dublin 2).

Dropbox also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Dropbox uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, Dropbox commits to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=en

The Data Processing Agreement, which corresponds to the Standard Contractual Clauses, can be found at https://assets.dropbox.com/documents/en/legal/dfb-data-processing-agreement.pdf.

You can find out more about the data processed by using Dropbox in the Privacy Policy at https://www.dropbox.com/privacy.

Google Cloud Privacy Policy

We use Google Cloud for our website, which is a cloud service for data storage and data exchange. The service provider is the American company Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services.

Google also processes data in the USA, among other countries. We would like to note, that according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing.

Google uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as the basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (i. e. outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and thus especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are legal templates provided by the EU Commission. Their purpose is to ensure that your data complies with European data privacy standards, even if your data is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). With these clauses, Google commits to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data, even if it is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=en

You can learn more about the data processed using Google in the privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Online Map Services Introduction

Online Map Services Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: Improvement of user experience
Processed data: the data that is processed depends heavily on the services used. Usually, it is your IP address, location data, search queries and/or technical data. You can find more details on this under the respective tools used.
📅 Storage duration: depends on the tools used
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are Online Map Services?

We also use online map services for our website as an extended service. Google Maps is probably the service you are most familiar with. But there are also other providers out there that specialise in creating digital maps. These services allow the display of locations, route maps or other geographical information directly via our website. Thanks to an integrated map service, you no longer have to leave our website to e. g. view the route to a location. In order to ensure that the online map can run on our website, we have integrated map sections within our HTML code. This way the services can display street maps, the earth's surface, or aerial or satellite imagery. If you use the built-in map service, your data will be transferred to the tool used, where it will be retained. This may also include your personal data.

Why do we use Online Map Services on our website?

Generally speaking, it is imperative for us to offer you a pleasant time on our website. Of course, we know that you will most likely only enjoy your time here if you can easily find your way around and find all the information you need quickly and easily. Therefore, we decided that an online map system may be a significant optimisation of our website's service. After all, you can use the map system to easily view route descriptions, locations or any other points of interest - without leaving our site. Needless to say, it is certainly also very practical that you can easily see where our company headquarters are so that you can find us quickly and safely. As you can see, there are just a lot of advantages - and we clearly consider online map services on our website to be part of our customer service.

What data is stored by Online Map Services?

If you open a page on our website with an online map function installed, your personal data may be transmitted to the relevant service, where it may be stored. This usually includes your IP address, which may also be used to determine your approximate location. In addition to your IP address, data such as the search terms you entered, as well as your longitude and latitude coordinates will be stored. If you e. g. enter an address for route planning, this data will also be stored. This data is not stored by us but instead on the servers of the integrated tools. You can think of it like this: You may be on our website, but when you interact with a mapping service, that interaction is actually happening on their website. Moreover, in order for the service to function properly, at least one cookie is usually set in your browser. As an example, Google Maps also uses cookies to record user behavior, with which it can optimise its own service and offer personalised advertising. You can find out more about cookies in our "Cookies" section.

How long and where is the data stored?

Every online map service processes different user data. Provided we have further information, we will inform you about the duration of data processing in the corresponding sections on the individual tools below. Generally, personal data is only retained for as long as is necessary to provide the service. Google Maps e. g. stores certain data for a specified period of time, but you must erase other data yourself. At Mapbox, for example, your IP address is stored for 30 days after which it is deleted. As you can see, each tool stores data for different lengths of time. We thus recommend you take a closer look at the privacy policies of the tools used.

The providers may use cookies to store data on your user behaviour in relation to their map services. You can find more information about cookies in our "Cookies" section, but in the individual providers' privacy policies you can most likely also find out which cookies may be used. In most cases, however, this is only an indicative list and is not exhaustive.

Right to object

You always have the possibility and the right to access your personal data and to object to its use and processing. You can also revoke the consent you gave to us at any time. This is usually easiest through the cookie consent tool. However, there are other opt-out tools that you can use. You can also manage, erase or deactivate any cookies set by the used providers themselves with just a few mouse clicks. However, this may lead to some service functions stopping to work as usual. It also depends on your browser how you can manage cookies there. In our "Cookies" section you will find links to instructions of the most popular browsers.

Legal basis

If you have agreed to the use of an online map service, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Article 6 Paragraph 1 lit. (consent) this consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur when collected by an online map service.

We also have a legitimate interest in using an online map service to optimise our service on our website. The corresponding legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use an online map service if you have given your consent. We definitely wanted to stress this point once again.

You can find information on specific online map services - if available - in the following sections.

Google Maps Privacy Policy

Google Maps Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimization
Processed data: data such as entered search terms, IP address as well as latitude and longitude coordinates.
You can find more details on this in the Privacy Policy below.
📅 Storage duration: depending on the retained data
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Google Maps?

On our website we use Google Maps of the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With the use of Google Maps, we can show you locations in a better way and can therefore adjust our service to your needs. Due to the utilisation of Google Maps, data gets transferred to Google and is saved on Google's servers. In the following, we want to explain in detail what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

Google Maps is an internet maps service of the company Google Inc. With Google Maps you can search for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodations or businesses online via a PC, a tablet or an app. If businesses are represented on Google My Business, the respective location as well as other information about the company are shown there. In order to show route directions, a location's map sections can be integrated into a website through an HTML code. Google Maps depicts the earth's surface as either a road map or as air and satellite images. Due to the street view and high-quality satellite images, it is possible for exact representations to be made.

Why do we use Google Maps on our website?

The efforts we make on this page have the goal of giving you a useful and meaningful experience on our website. Through the integration of Google Maps, we can offer you essential information on various locations. Therefore, you can spot our office address with one glance. Furthermore, the route directions always show you the best and fastest way to us. You can retrieve the route directions for traveling either by car, by public transport, on foot or by bike. The integration of Google Maps is a part of our customer service.

What data is stored by Google Maps?

For Google Maps to offer its full services, the company must collect and store your data. This includes your entered search terms, your IP-address as well as your longitude and latitude coordinates. When you use the route-planner function, the entered start address is stored also. However, this data retention happens on Google Maps' websites. We can only inform you about it but cannot influence it in any way. Since we have included Google Maps on our website, Google will set at least one cookie (Name: NID) into your browser. This cookie saves data on your user behaviour. Google primarily uses this data to optimise its own services and to provide you with individual, personalised advertisements.

The following cookies are set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:

Name: NID
Value: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ122077330-5
Purpose: Google uses NID in order to adjust advertisements to your Google searches. With the cookie's help Google "remembers" your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. That way you always receive customized adertisments. The cookie contains a unique ID, which Google uses to collect your personal settings for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Note: We cannot guarantee completeness of the information on saved data. This is, because especially concerning the use of cookies, changes can happen anytime. To identify the cookie NID, a test page was created, to which Google Maps was included.

How long and where is the data stored?

There are Google servers in data centers across the entire planet. However, most servers are in America. For this reason, your data is widely stored in the USA. Here you can read in detail about where the Google servers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=en

Google distributes data to various data carriers. This makes it possible to retrieve the data faster and to better protect it from possible attempted manipulations. Every server has emergency programs. Thus, should for example a problem with Google's hardware occur or should a natural disaster impact the servers, any data will quite certainly stay protected.

Moreover, Google saves some data for a specified period. With some other data on the other hand, Google only offers the opportunity for deleting it manually. Furthermore, the company anonymizes information (e.g. advertising data) in server logs, by deleting a part of the IP-address and cookie information after 9 to 18 months.

How can I erase my data, or prevent data retention?

Due to the automatic delete function for location and activity data, which was introduced in 2019, information that is used for determining your location and web or app activity is saved for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your preferred decision, and is deleted thereafter. Furthermore, it is possible to delete this data manually from your browser history via your Google account anytime. If you want to prevent the determination of your location altogether, you must pause the category "Web and app activity" in your Google account. Click on "Data and personalisation" and then choose the option "Activity controls". Here you can switch the activities on or off.

Moreover, in your browser you can deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies. This function can differ a little, depending on what browser you are using. The following instructions will show you how to manage cookies in your browser:

If you generally do not want to permit any cookies, you can set up your browser in a way that ensures you get informed whenever a cookie is about to be placed. That way you can decide to either permit or refuse every single cookie.

Please note, that when using this tool, your data may also be stored and processed outside the EU. Most third countries (including the USA) are not considered secure under current European data protection law. Data to insecure third countries must not simply be transferred to, stored and processed there unless there are suitable guarantees (such as EU Standard Contractual Clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the use of Google Maps, your consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) this consent is the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as can occur when processed by Google Maps.

We also have a legitimate interest in using Google Maps to optimise our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Maps if you have given your consent to it.

Google uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission as basis for data processing by recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and especially in the USA) or data transfer there (= Art. 46, paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). These clauses oblige Google to comply with the EU's level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing order by the EU Commission. You can find the order and the clauses here: https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_21_2847

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which reference the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/en/adsprocessorterms/.

If you want to find out more about Google's data processing, we recommend you to read the company's own Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.

Miscellaneous Overview

Miscellaneous Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
Purpose: Improvement of user experience
Processed data: The processed data depends heavily on the services used. Usually, it is an IP address and/or technical data. You can find more details on this in the sections of the respective tools.
📅 Storage duration: depends on the tools used
⚖️ Legal bases: Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is included in "Miscellaneous"?

The "Miscellaneous" category includes any services that do not fit into any of the above categories. Usually, they are various plugins and integrated elements that are meant to improve our website. Generally, these functions are obtained from third parties and integrated into our website. They may e.g. be web search services such as Algolia Place, Giphy, Programmable Search Engine or online services for weather data such as OpenWeather.

Why do we use these third parties?

With our website, we want to provide you with the best web offer in our industry. Websites have long been so much more than just a business card for companies. Instead, they are a place designed to help you find what you're looking for. And in order to make our website even more interesting and helpful for you, we use various third-party services.

Which data is processed?

Whenever elements are integrated into our website, your IP address will be transmitted to the respective provider, where it will be stored and processed. This is necessary to send the content to your browser which will then display it for you. Furthermore, service providers may also use pixel tags or web beacons. These are small graphics on websites that can record a log file and create analyses of it. Providers can improve their own marketing measures with the information they receive this way. In addition to pixel tags, this information (e.g. which button you click or when you access which page) can also be stored in cookies. In addition to data analyses on your web behavior, technical information such as your browser type or operating system may also be stored there. Some providers can also link the data they obtain to other internal services or to third-party providers. Each provider handles your data differently. Therefore, we recommend you carefully read the privacy policies of the respective services. We make every effort to only use services that operate very carefully in regards to data protection and privacy.

Duration of data processing

Below we will inform you about the duration of data processing, provided we have further information on this. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products.

Legal basis

If we ask for your consent and you agree to us using a service, this consent serves as the legal basis for the processing of your data (Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR). In addition to your consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of our website visitors and thus technically and economically improving our offer. The legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use any tools if you have given your consent.

Information on the special tools - if available - can be found in the following sections.

Weglot Privacy Policy

We use the translation service Weglot for our website. The service provider is the French company Weglot SAS, 7 cité Paradis 75010 Paris, France.

You can find out more about the data processed by using Weglot in the Privacy Policy at https://weglot.com/privacy/.

WooCommerce Privacy Policy

WooCommerce Privacy Policy Overview

Affected parties: website visitors
🤝 Purpose: service optimization
Processed data: data such as IP address, browser information, preset language settings as well as date and time of web access.
You can find more details on this in the Privacy Policy below.
Storage period: Server log files, technical data and IP addresses will be erased after about 30 days.
⚖️ Legal bases: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is WooCommerce?

We have integrated the open-source store system WooCommerce to our website as a plugin. This WooCommerce plugin is based on the content management system WordPress, which is a subsidiary company of Automattic Inc. (60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA). Through the implemented functions, data are stored and sent to Automattic Inc where they are processed. In this privacy policy we want to inform you on what data this is, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data retention.

WooCommerce is an online store system that has been part of the WordPress directory since 2011 and was specially developed for WordPress websites. It is a customizable, open source eCommerce platform that is based on WordPress. It has been integrated into our website as a WordPress plugin.

Why do we use WooCommerce on our website?

We use this practical online store system, to be able to offer you our physical or digital products or services in the best possible way on our website. The aim is to give you easy and simple access to our offer, so that you can quickly and easily navigate to the products you want. With WooCommerce we have found a good plugin that meets our requirements for an online store.

What data is stored by WooCommerce?

Information that you actively enter to a text field in our online store can be collected and stored by WooCommerce or Automattic. Hence, if you register with us or order a product, Automattic may collect, process and save this data. In addition to email address, name or address, this can also be your credit card or billing information. Subsequently, Automattic can also use this information for their own marketing campaigns.

There is also evidence that Automattic automatically collects information on you in so-called server log files:

IP address
Browser information
Pre-set language settings
Date and time of the web access

Moreover, WooCommerce sets cookies in your browser and uses technologies such as pixel tags (web beacons), to for example clearly identify you as a user and to be able to offer interest-based advertising. WooCommerce uses several different cookies, which are placed depending on the user action. This means that if you for example add a product to the shopping cart, a cookie is set so that the product remains in the shopping cart when you leave our website and come back later.

Below we want to show you an example list of possible cookies that may be set by WooCommerce:

Name: woocommerce_items_in_cart
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie helps WooCommerce to determine when the contents of the shopping cart change.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: woocommerce_cart_hash
Value: 447c84f810834056ab37cfe5ed27f204122077330-7
Purpose: This cookie is also used to recognise and save the changes in your shopping cart.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: wp_woocommerce_session_d9e29d251cf8a108a6482d9fe2ef34b6
Value: 1146%7C%7C1589034207%7C%7C95f8053ce0cea135bbce671043e740122077330-4aa
Purpose: This cookie contains a unique identifier for you to allow the shopping cart data to be found in the database.
Expiry date: after 2 days

How long and where is the data stored?

Unless there is a legal obligation to keep data for a longer period, WooCommerce will delete your data if it is no longer needed for the purposes it was saved for. Server log files for example, the technical data for your browser and your IP address will be deleted after about 30 days. This is how long Automattic use the data to analyze the traffic on their own websites (for example all WordPress websites) and to fix possible problems. The data is stored on Automattic's American servers.

How can I erase my data and prevent data retention?

You have the right to access your personal data anytime, as well as to object to it being used and processed. You can also lodge a complaint with a state supervisory authority anytime.

You can also manage, delete or deactivate cookies individually in your browser. However, please note that deactivated or deleted cookies may have a negative impact on the functions of our WooCommerce online store. Depending on the browser you use, managing cookies differs slightly. Below you will find links to the instructions for the most common browsers: