Privacy Policy

 
Policy Statement

In accordance with legal requirements, this privacy policy explains how the website operator UFGC GmbH (Grillparzerstrasse 26, 8010 Graz, Austria) collects, uses and shares your personal data. As operators of this website, we take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and will handle it in accordance with data protection legislation as well as with the terms of this statement. Please note that there can sometimes be security issues when information is transmitted over the internet. It is therefore not possible to guarantee water-tight protection for data from access by third parties. Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.

Automatic data storage

Nowadays, when you visit websites, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website. When you visit our website as you are doing right now, our web server (computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores data such as

  • the address (URL) of the accessed website
  • Browser and browser version
  • The operating system used
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)
  • the host name and IP address of the device from which access is being made
  • Date and time

in files (web server log files). As a rule, web server log files are stored for a fortnight and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of unlawful behaviour.

Cookies

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

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you browse the internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies. One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other applications. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically placed in the cookie folder, effectively the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified. Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you return to our site, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default setting. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file, in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file. There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie is to 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 programmes and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “pests”. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC. Cookie data, for example, can look like this:

  • Name: _ga
  • Expiry time: 2 years
  • Use: Differentiation of website visitors
  • Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311257693

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

  • A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes
  • At least 50 cookies should be able to be stored per domain
  • A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored
What are the different types of cookies?

The question of which cookies we use in particular depends on the services used and is clarified in the following sections of the privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly discuss the different types of HTTP cookies. One can distinguish between 4 types of cookies: Absolutely necessary cookies These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functionality. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and later goes to the checkout. These cookies do not delete the shopping cart, even if the user closes his browser window. Functional cookies These cookies collect information about user behaviour and whether the user receives any error messages. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behaviour of the website with different browsers. Targeting cookies These cookies provide a better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are saved. Advertising cookies These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver individually adapted advertising to the user. This can be very practical, but also very annoying. Usually, when you visit a website for the first time, you are asked which of these cookie types you would like to allow. And of course, this decision is also stored in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option to delete, only partially allow or disable cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies. If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can find this in your browser settings: Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you generally do not want cookies, 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. The best thing to do is to search for the instructions in Google with the search term “Delete Cookies Chrome” or “Deactivate Cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser or replace the word “Chrome” with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

What about my data protection?

The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have been in place since 2009. These state that the storage of cookies requires your consent. Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. In Germany, the Cookie Directives have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in § 15 para.3 of the German Telemedia Act (TMG). If you want to know more about cookies and are not afraid of 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”.

Storage of personal data

Personal information that you submit to us electronically on this website, such as your name, email address, address or other personal details when submitting a form or commenting on the blog, together with the time and IP address, will only be used by us for the purpose stated, kept secure and not passed on to third parties. We therefore only use your personal data for communicating with those visitors who expressly wish to be contacted and for processing the services and products offered on this website. We do not disclose your personal data without your consent, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be accessed in the event of unlawful conduct. If you send us personal data by e-mail – thus away from this website – we cannot guarantee secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data by e-mail without encryption. According to Article 6 (1) a DSGVO (lawfulness of processing), the legal basis is that you give us consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time – an informal email is sufficient, you will find our contact details in the imprint.

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR, you are generally entitled to the following rights:

  • Right of rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)
  • Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)
  • Right to notification – obligation to notify in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)
  • Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
  • Right to object (Article 21 GDPR)
  • Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).

Evaluation of visitor behaviour

In the following data protection declaration, we inform you whether and how we evaluate data from your visit to this website. The evaluation of the collected data is generally anonymous and we cannot draw any conclusions about your person from your behaviour on this website. You can find out more about how to object to this analysis of visit data in the following data protection declaration.

TLS encryption with https

We use https to transmit data in a tap-proof manner on the Internet (data protection through technology design Article 25(1) DSGVO). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission on the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognise the use of this data transmission protection by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our internet address.

Google Maps Privacy Policy

We use Google Maps from Google Inc. on our website. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services in Europe. Google Maps enables 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 would like to 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.

What is Google Maps?

Google Maps is an internet mapping service provided by Google. With Google Maps you can search for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodation or businesses online via a PC, tablet or app. If companies are represented on Google My Business, further information about the company is displayed in addition to the location. To show how to get there, map sections of a location can be integrated into 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 (and where other registered CityChangers are located).

What data is stored by Google Maps?

In order for Google Maps to be able to offer its service in full, the company must collect and store data from you. This includes, among other things, 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 Google Maps websites. We can only inform you about this, but cannot influence it. 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 behaviour. Google uses this data primarily to optimise its own services and to provide you with individual, personalised advertising. The following cookie is set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps: Name: NID Wert: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ311257693-5 Purpose: NID is used by Google to customise advertisements to your Google search. 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. Expiry 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 NID cookie, 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 centres 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 centres are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/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 centre also has special emergency programmes. If, for example, there are problems with Google’s hardware or a natural disaster brings the servers to a standstill, 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 anonymises 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 must pause the “Web and App Activity” section in the Google Account. Click “Data and personalisation” and then on the “Activity setting” option. Here you can switch the activities on or off. You can also deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this always works slightly differently. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser: Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you generally do not want cookies, 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 it or not. Google is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. If you would like to learn more about Google’s data processing, we recommend that you read the company’s own privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

On our website we use Google Fonts. These are the “Google Fonts” of the 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. You do not have to log in or enter a password to use Google Fonts. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser. The files (CSS, fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, the requests for CSS and fonts are completely separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you do not need to worry about your Google account information being transmitted to Google while using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We will look at exactly how the data storage looks in more detail.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is a directory of over 800 fonts that Google makes available to its users free of charge. Many of these fonts are published under the SIL Open Font License, while others are published under the Apache License. Both are free software licences.

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

With Google Fonts, we can use fonts on our own website, but we don’t have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important component to keep the quality of our website high. All Google Fonts are automatically optimised for the web and this saves data volume and is a great advantage especially for use with mobile devices. When you visit our site, the low file size ensures a fast loading time. Furthermore, Google Fonts are secure web fonts. Different image synthesis systems (rendering) in different browsers, operating systems and mobile devices can lead to errors. Such errors can sometimes distort the appearance of texts or entire web pages. Thanks to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN), there are no cross-platform problems with Google Fonts. Google Fonts supports all major browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) and works reliably on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). So we use Google Fonts so that we can present our entire online service as beautifully and consistently as possible.

What data is stored by Google?

When you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded via a Google server. This external call-up transmits data to the Google servers. In this way, Google also recognises that you or your IP address are visiting our website. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the use, storage and collection of end user data to what is necessary for the proper provision of fonts. By the way, API stands for “Application Programming Interface” and serves, among other things, as a data transmitter in the software sector. Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests securely at Google and is thus protected. Through the collected usage figures, Google can determine how well the individual fonts are received. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. In addition, Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which websites use Google Fonts. This data is published in the Google Fonts BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use the Google web service BigQuery to be able to examine and move large amounts of data. It should be noted, however, that each Google Font request also automatically transmits information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution and browser name to the Google servers. Whether this data is also stored cannot be clearly determined or is not clearly communicated by Google.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google stores requests for CSS assets for one day on its servers, which are mainly located outside the EU. This allows us to use fonts with the help of a Google stylesheet. A stylesheet is a format template that can be used to easily and quickly change the design or font of a website, for example. The font files are stored by Google for one year. Google thus pursues the goal of fundamentally improving the loading time of websites. If millions of web pages refer to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and immediately reappear on all other web pages visited later. Sometimes Google updates font files to reduce file size, increase language coverage and improve design.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

The data that Google stores for one day or one year cannot simply be deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is accessed. In order to delete this data prematurely, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311257693. In this case, you can only prevent data storage if you do not visit our site. Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. We can therefore have unlimited access to a sea of fonts and thus get the most out of our website. You can find out more about Google Fonts and other issues at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311257693. There, Google does go into privacy-related matters, but really detailed information about data storage is not included. It is relatively difficult to get really precise information about stored data from Google. You can also find out what data is generally collected by Google and what this data is used for at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

ActiveCampaign Privacy Policy

Like many other websites, we also use the services of the newsletter company ActiveCampaign on our website. The operator of ActiveCampaign is the company ActiveCampaign, Inc., 1 N Dearborn St., 5th Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60602, US. Thanks to ActiveCampaign, we can send you interesting news very easily via newsletter. With ActiveCampaign we don’t have to install anything and can still draw from a pool of really useful features. In the following, we will go into more detail about this email marketing service and inform you about the most important data protection-relevant aspects.

What is ActiveCampaign?

ActiveCampaign is a cloud-based newsletter management service. “Cloud-based” means that we do not have to install ActiveCampaign on our own computer or server. Instead, we use the service via an IT infrastructure – which is available via the internet – on an external server. This way of using a software is also called SaaS (Software as a Service). With ActiveCampaign we can choose from a wide range of different email types. Depending on what we want to achieve with our newsletter, we can run single campaigns, regular campaigns, autoresponders (automatic email), A/B tests, RSS campaigns (sending out at predefined time and frequency) and follow-up campaigns.

Why do we use ActiveCampaign on our website?

Basically, we use a newsletter service to keep in touch with you. We want to tell you what’s new with us or what attractive offers we currently have in our programme. For our marketing measures, we always look for the simplest and best solutions. And for this reason we have also chosen the newsletter management service from ActiveCampaign. Although the software is very easy to use, it offers a large number of helpful features. This allows us to design interesting and beautiful newsletters in just a short time. Through the design templates offered, we design each newsletter individually and thanks to the “Responsive Design”, our content is also displayed legibly and beautifully on your smartphone (or other mobile device). Through tools such as the A/B test or the extensive analysis options, we see very quickly how our newsletters are received by you. This allows us to react if necessary and improve our offer or our services. Another advantage is the “cloud system” of ActiveCampaign. The data is not stored and processed directly on our server. We can retrieve the data from external servers and save our storage space in this way. In addition, the maintenance effort is significantly lower.

What data is stored by ActiveCampaign?

ActiveCampaign maintains online platforms that allow us to contact you (if you have subscribed to our newsletter). When you become a subscriber to our newsletter via our website, you confirm by email that you are a member of a ActiveCampaign email list. So that ActiveCampaign can also prove that you have subscribed to the “list provider”, the date of subscription and your IP address are stored. Furthermore, ActiveCampaign stores your email address, name, physical address and demographic information such as language or location. This information is used to send you emails and to enable certain other ActiveCampaign functions (such as newsletter evaluation). ActiveCampaign also shares information with third-party advertisers to provide better services. ActiveCampaign also shares some data with third-party advertising partners to better understand the interests and concerns of its customers in order to provide more relevant content and targeted advertising. Through so-called “web beacons” (these are small graphics in HTML emails), ActiveCampaign can determine whether the email has arrived, whether it has been opened and whether links have been clicked. All this information is stored on the ActiveCampaign servers. This gives us statistical evaluations and allows us to see exactly how well our newsletter was received. In this way, we can adapt our offer much better to your wishes and improve our service. ActiveCampaign may also use this data to improve its own service. In this way, for example, the dispatch can be technically optimised or the location (country) of the recipients can be determined. Sometimes it may happen that you open our newsletter via a specified link for better display. This is the case, for example, if your email programme does not work or the newsletter is not displayed properly. The newsletter is then displayed via a ActiveCampaign website. ActiveCampaign also uses cookies (small text files that store data on your browser) on its own websites. Personal data may be processed by ActiveCampaign and its partners (e.g. Google Analytics). This data collection is the responsibility of ActiveCampaign and we have no influence on it. You can find out more in ActiveCampaign’s privacy policy.

How long and where is the data stored?

As ActiveCampaign is an American company, some collected data is also stored on American servers. In principle, the data remains permanently stored on ActiveCampaign’s servers and is only deleted when a request is made by you. You can have us delete your contact. This permanently removes all your personal data for us and anonymises you in the ActiveCampaign reports. However, you can also request ActiveCampaign to delete your data directly. Then all your data will be removed there and we will receive a notification from ActiveCampaign. After we receive the email, we have 30 days to delete your contact from all connected integrations.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You can withdraw your consent to receive our newsletter at any time within the email received by clicking on the link at the bottom. Once you have unsubscribed by clicking on the unsubscribe link, your data will be deleted from ActiveCampaign. If you access a ActiveCampaign website via a link in our newsletter and cookies are set in your browser, you can delete or deactivate these cookies at any time. Depending on the browser, deactivating or deleting cookies works slightly differently. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser: Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you generally do not want cookies, 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 it or not. Find out how ActiveCampaign complies with GDPR ruling here.

Embedded Social Media Elements Privacy Policy

We integrate elements of social media services on our website to display images, videos and texts. When you visit pages that display these elements, data is transmitted from your browser to the respective social media service and stored there. We have no access to this data. The following links will take you to the pages of the respective social media services where it is explained how they handle your data:

Facebook privacy policy

We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network owned by Facebook Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. These tools enable us to provide you and people interested in our products and services with the best possible experience. Below we provide an overview of the different Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.

What are Facebook tools?

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 call them simply Facebook Tools. Among them are:

  • Facebook Pixel
  • Social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button)
  • Facebook Login
  • Account Kit
  • APIs (programming interface)
  • SDKs (collection of programming tools)
  • Platform integrations
  • Plugins
  • Codes
  • Specifications
  • Documentations
  • Technologies and services

Through these tools, Facebook expands 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 exactly these people. However, Facebook needs information about people’s wishes and needs in order to show them suitable ads. Thus, information about user behaviour (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 advertisements about our products or services. The tools thus enable customised advertising campaigns on Facebook. Facebook calls data about your behaviour on our website “event data”. This is also used for measurement and analysis services. This allows Facebook to create “campaign reports” on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analytics give us a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. As a result, we use some of these tools to optimise 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, telephone 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 string of characters. This also serves to encrypt data. In addition to contact details, “event data” is also transmitted. Event data” refers to the information that we receive about you on our website. For example, which sub-pages 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” can also be linked to contact details. This allows Facebook to offer better personalised advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact data again. In order to deliver ads in an optimised way, Facebook only uses Event Data 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 your data is stored. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with your 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 only takes place if you delete your Facebook account completely. And this is how deleting your Facebook account works: 1) Click on Settings on the right side of Facebook. 2) Then click on “Your Facebook information” in the left column. 3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”. 4) Now select “Delete account” and then click on “Continue and delete account”. 5) Now enter your password, click on “Next” and then on “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. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser: Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you generally do not want cookies, 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 it or not. Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We hope we have provided you with the most important information about the use and processing of data by Facebook tools. If you want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend that you read the data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

So-called social plug-ins of the company Facebook Inc. are installed on our website. You can recognise these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the “Like” button (the hand with raised thumb) or by a clear “Facebook Plug-in” marking. 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 optimise our advertisements. If you have a Facebook account or have visited 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 anonymised 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 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 may be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to point out that we do not know 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 as a minimum when you visit a website with social plug-ins from Facebook: Name: dpr Value: not specified Purpose: This cookie is used to enable the social plug-ins on our website to work. Expiry date: after end of session Name: fr Wert: 0jieyh4311257693c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to function properly. Expiry 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/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/grundsätzlich. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers. If you want to learn more about Facebook’s privacy policy, we recommend you read the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Instagram privacy policy

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 Facebook Inc. since 2012 and is one of Facebook’s 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 would like to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what data it is and how you can largely control the data processing. As Instagram belongs to Facebook Inc., we obtain our information from the Instagram guidelines on the one hand, but also from the Facebook data guidelines themselves on the other.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks worldwide. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with the advantages 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 also 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 reacted to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That’s why a varied presentation 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 be useful to us for personalised 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 analysis purposes. We get aggregate statistics and thus more insight about your likes and interests. It is important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data is stored by Instagram?

If 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 you have 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 case with Instagram. Customer data are, for example, name, address, telephone number and IP address. It is important to mention that these customer data are only transmitted to Instagram if they have been “hashed” beforehand. Hashing means that a data record is transformed into a character string. This makes it possible to encrypt the contact data. In addition, the above-mentioned “event data” is also transmitted. By “event data” Facebook – and consequently also Instagram – understands data about your user behaviour. It may also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The contact data collected is compared with the data that Instagram already has about you. The collected data is transmitted to Facebook via small text files (cookies), which are usually set in your browser. 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 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 anonymised. Although we have intensively studied Instagram’s data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores. In the following, we show you cookies that are set in your browser at least when you click on an Instagram function (such as a button or an Insta picture). In our test, we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies are set in your browser, of course. 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 were not able to find out more about this. Expiry date: after one year Name: mid Value: “” Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie to optimise its own services and offers on and off Instagram. The cookie sets a unique user ID. Expiry date: after the end of the session Name: fbsr_311257693124024 Value: not specified Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app. Expiry date: after the end of the session Name: rur Value: ATN Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that ensures functionality on Instagram. Expiry date: after the end of the session Name: urlgen Wert: “{\”194.96.75.33\”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe311257693″ Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes. Expiry date: after the end of the session Note: We cannot claim completeness here. Which cookies are set in individual cases depends on the embedded functions 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 carried out in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world, partly for security reasons. 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 delete your data on Instagram completely, you must permanently delete your Instagram account. And this is how deleting the Instagram account works: First open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go down and click on “Help section”. Now you will come to the company’s website. On the website, click on “Manage your account” and then on “Delete your account”. If you delete your account entirely, Instagram will delete 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 primarily stores your data via cookies. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the management always works a little differently. Here we show you the instructions for the most important browsers. Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies 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. Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about data processing by Instagram. Auf https://help.instagram.com you can take a closer look at Instagram’s data policies.

Twitter privacy policy

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 and processed there. We have no influence on this data processing and bear no responsibility for it. Within the framework 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 largely protect yourself from the data transfer.

What is Twitter?

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. On Twitter, you can also 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. Twitter in particular 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 realise 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 the user-friendliness of our website.

What data is stored by Twitter?

On some of our subpages you will find built-in Twitter functions. When you interact with the Twitter content, such as clicking on a button, Twitter can collect and store data. This is the case even if you do not have a Twitter account yourself. Twitter calls this data “log data”. This includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, your smartphone ID, hashed email addresses, and information about which pages you have visited on Twitter and what actions you have taken. Twitter naturally stores more data if you have a Twitter account and are logged in. Mostly, 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 in no way guarantee 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_cSJIsogU51SeE311257693” Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and through which advertisements you may have come 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: 311257693v1%3A157132626 Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: fm Value: 0 Purpose: Unfortunately, we were unable to find out the purpose of this cookie. Expiry date: after end of session Name: external_referer Wert: 3112576932beTA0sf5lkMrlGt 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 various advertising purposes by Twitter. Expiry date: After one year Name: ct0 Wert: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966 Purpose: Unfortunately, we have not found any information about this cookie. Expiry date: after 6 hours Name: _twitter_sess Wert: 53D%253D-dd0248311257693- Purpose: This cookie allows you to use functions within the Twitter website. Expiry 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 in our test. Twitter uses the collected data on the one hand to better understand user behaviour and thus improve its own services and advertising offers, 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 centres in the United States. Accordingly, it can be assumed that 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 statutory deletion period.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In its privacy policy, Twitter repeatedly emphasises 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 on “More” under the “Profile” button. Then click on “Settings and data protection”. 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 “Individualisation”. Under the item “Individualisation and data” you can manage your collected data. Most data is stored via cookies, as mentioned above, and you can manage, deactivate or delete these in your browser. Please note that you can only “edit” the cookies in the browser you have chosen. This means: if you use a different browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookies there again according to your wishes. Here are the instructions for cookie management of the most popular browsers. Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies 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 personalised advertising inside and outside Twitter. You can switch off personalised advertising in the settings under “Individualisation and data”. If you use Twitter on a browser, you can deactivate personalised advertising at http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN. Twitter is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can find out more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TORzAAO. 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.

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

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 can be feeds, sharing of content 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.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the largest social network for business contacts. Unlike Facebook, for example, it focuses exclusively on building business contacts. Companies can present services and products on the platform and establish business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn for job hunting 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 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 is why we have created the possibility 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 to be an enhanced 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?

LinkedIn does not store any personal data merely by integrating the social plug-ins. LinkedIn calls this data generated by plug-ins passive impressions. However, 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 with third party advertisers in a “hashed” form. 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 behaviour 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-c2e2d7235c16311257693- Purpose: The cookie is a so-called “browser ID cookie” and consequently stores your identification number (ID). Expiry date: After 2 years Name: lang Value: v=2&lang=en-en Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language. Expiry date: after end of session Name: lidc Wert: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G311257693… Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the ways in which you arrived at LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website there. Expiry date: after 24 hours Name: rtc Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX Purpose: No further information could be obtained about this cookie. Expiry date: after 2 minutes Name: JSESSIONID Wert: ajax:3112576932900777718326218137 Purpose: This is a session cookie used by LinkedIn to maintain anonymous user sessions by the server. Expiry date: after the end of the 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: No further information could be found for this cookie. Expiry date: after 7 days Note: LinkedIn also works with third-party providers. That’s 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 will retain your personal data for as long as it considers it necessary to provide its services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn may retain some data in aggregate and anonymised 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 for legal reasons. Data that can no longer be assigned to a person remains 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. You can manage, change and delete your data in your LinkedIn account. You can also request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn. How to access the account data in your LinkedIn profile: In LinkedIn, click on your profile icon and select the “Settings and Privacy” section. Now click on “Privacy” and then on “Change” in the section “How LinkedIn uses your data”. In just a short time, you can 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. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here: Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies You can also 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. LinkedIn is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000L0UZAA0. We have tried to provide you with the most important information about LinkedIn’s data processing. At https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy you can learn even more about the data processing of the social media network LinkedIn.

YouTube privacy policy

We have integrated YouTube videos on our website. This allows us to present interesting videos directly on our site. YouTube is a video portal that has been a subsidiary of Google since 2006. The video portal is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you call up a page on our website that has a YouTube video embedded, your browser automatically connects to the YouTube or Google servers. In the process, various data are transferred (depending on the settings). Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all data processing in Europe. In the following, we would like to explain in more detail what data is processed, why we have embedded YouTube videos and how you can manage or delete your data.

What is YouTube?

On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment and upload videos for free. Over the last few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. In order for us to be able to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have incorporated on our site.

Why do we use YouTube videos on our website?

YouTube is the video platform with the most visitors and the best content. We strive to offer you the best possible user experience on our website. And of course, we can’t do without interesting videos. With the help of our embedded videos, we provide you with further helpful content in addition to our texts and images. In addition, the embedded videos make our website easier to find on the Google search engine. Also, when we run ads via Google Ads, Google can – thanks to the collected data – really only show these ads to people who are interested in what we have to offer.

What data is stored by YouTube?

As soon as you visit one of our pages that has a YouTube video embedded, YouTube sets at least one cookie that stores your IP address and our URL. If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can usually assign your interactions on our website to your profile using cookies. This includes data such as session duration, bounce rate, approximate location, technical information such as browser type, screen resolution or your internet service provider. Other data may include contact details, any ratings, sharing of content via social media or adding to your favourites on YouTube. If you are not signed in to a Google Account or YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier associated with your device, browser or app. For example, your preferred language setting is retained. But a lot of interaction data can’t be stored because fewer cookies are set. In the following list, we show cookies that were set in the browser in a test. On the one hand, we show cookies that are set without a logged-in YouTube account. On the other hand, we show cookies that are set with a logged-in account. The list cannot claim to be complete because the user data always depends on the interactions on YouTube. Name: YSC Value: b9-CV6ojI5Y311257693-1 Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video watched. Expiry date: after end of session Name: PREF Value: f1=50000000 Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google gets statistics about how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF. Expiry date: after 8 months Name: GPS Value: 1 Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track GPS location. Expiry date: after 30 minutes Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE Value: 95Chz8bagyU Purpose: This cookie attempts to estimate the user’s bandwidth on our web pages (with embedded YouTube video). Expiry date: after 8 months Other cookies that are set when you are logged in with your YouTube account: Name: APISID Wert: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7311257693- Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile of your interests. The data is used for personalised advertisements. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: CONSENT Value: YES+AT.en+20150628-20-0 Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to use various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users and protect user data from unauthorised attacks. Expiry date: after 19 years Name: HSID Value: AcRwpgUik9Dveht0I Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. This data helps to display personalised advertising. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: LOGIN_INFO Value: AFmmF2swRQIhALl6aL… Purpose: This cookie stores information about your login details. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: SAPISID Value: 7oaPxoG-pZsJuuF5/AnUdDUIsJ9iJz2vdM Purpose: This cookie works by uniquely identifying your browser and device. It is used to create a profile about your interests. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: SID Value: oQfNKjAsI311257693-. Purpose: This cookie stores your Google Account ID and your last login time in digitally signed and encrypted form. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: SIDCC Value: AN0-TYuqub2JOcDTyL Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and what advertisements you may have seen before visiting our site. Expiry date: after 3 months

How long and where is the data stored?

The data that YouTube receives from you and processes is stored on Google servers. Most of these servers are located in America. You can see exactly where Google’s data centres are located at https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de. Your data is distributed across the servers. This means that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. Google stores the collected data for different lengths of time. Some data you can delete at any time, others are automatically deleted after a limited time and still others are stored by Google for a longer period of time. Some data (such as items from “My Activity”, photos or documents, products) stored in your Google Account will remain stored until you delete them. Even if you are not signed in to a Google Account, you can delete some data associated with your device, browser or app.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In principle, you can delete data in the Google Account manually. With the automatic deletion of location and activity data introduced in 2019, information is stored for either 3 or 18 months depending on your decision and then deleted. Regardless of whether you have a Google account or not, you can configure your browser to delete or disable cookies from Google. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser: Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you generally do not want cookies, 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. As YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, there is a joint privacy policy. If you want to learn more about how your data is handled, we recommend the privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Vimeo Privacy Policy

We also use videos from the company Vimeo on our website. The video portal is operated by Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA. With the help of a plug-in, we can show you interesting video material directly on our website. In the process, certain data may be transferred from you to Vimeo. In this privacy policy, we will show you what data is involved, why we use Vimeo and how you can manage or prevent your data or the data transfer.

What is Vimeo?

Vimeo is a video platform that was founded in 2004 and has made it possible to stream videos in HD quality since 2007. Since 2015, it has also been possible to stream in 4k Ultra HD. The use of the portal is free of charge, but paid content can also be published. Compared to the market leader YouTube, Vimeo places priority on high-quality content. On the one hand, the portal offers a lot of artistic content such as music videos and short films, but on the other hand, it also offers documentaries on a wide range of topics that are worth knowing.

Why do we use Vimeo on our website?

The aim of our website is to provide you with the best possible content. And to do so as easily accessible as possible. Only when we have achieved this are we satisfied with our service. The video service Vimeo helps us to achieve this goal. Vimeo gives us the opportunity to present you with high-quality content directly on our website. Instead of just giving you a link to an interesting video, you can watch the video directly on our website. This expands our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. Thus, in addition to our texts and images, we also offer video content.

What data is stored on Vimeo?

When you call up a website on our website that has a Vimeo video embedded, your browser connects to the Vimeo servers. This results in a data transmission. This data is collected, stored and processed on the Vimeo servers. Regardless of whether you have a Vimeo account or not, Vimeo collects data about you. This includes your IP address, technical information about your browser type, operating system or very basic device information. Furthermore, Vimeo stores information about which website you use the Vimeo service and what actions (web activities) you perform on our website. These web activities include, for example, session duration, bounce rate or which button you clicked on our website with a built-in Vimeo function. Vimeo can track and store these actions using cookies and similar technologies. If you are logged in to Vimeo as a registered member, more data can usually be collected as more cookies may already have been set in your browser. In addition, your actions on our website are directly linked to your Vimeo account. To prevent this, you must log out of Vimeo while “surfing” on our website. Below we show you cookies that are set by Vimeo when you are on a website with an integrated Vimeo function. This list is not exhaustive and assumes that you do not have a Vimeo account. Name: player Value: “” Purpose: This cookie saves your settings before you play an embedded Vimeo video. This way, the next time you watch a Vimeo video, you will get your preferred settings again. Expiry date: after one year Name: vuid Value: pl1046149876.614422590311257693-4Purpose : This cookie collects information about your actions on websites that have embedded a Vimeo video. Expiry date: after 2 years Note: These two cookies are always set as soon as you are on a website with an embedded Vimeo video. When you watch the video and click the button to “share” or “like” the video, for example, other cookies are set. These are also third-party cookies such as _ga or _gat_UA-76641-8 from Google Analytics or _fbp from Facebook. Exactly which cookies are set here depends on your interaction with the video. The following list shows a sample of possible cookies that are set when you interact with the Vimeo video: Name: _abexps Value: %5B%5D Purpose: This Vimeo cookie helps Vimeo to remember the settings you have made. This can be, for example, a preset language, a region or a user name. In general, the cookie stores data about how you use Vimeo. Expiry date: after one year Name: continuous_play_v3 Value: 1 Purpose: This cookie is a first-party cookie from Vimeo. The cookie collects information about how you use the Vimeo service. For example, the cookie records when you pause or replay a video. Expiry date: after one year Name: _ga Wert: GA1.2.1522249635.1578401280311257693-7 Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Google. By default, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish website visitors. Expiry date: after 2 years Name: _gcl_au Wert: 1.1.770887836.1578401279311257693-3 Purpose: This third-party cookie from Google AdSense is used to improve the efficiency of advertisements on websites. Expiry date: after 3 months Name: _fbp Wert: fb.1.1578401280585.310434968 Purpose: This is a Facebook cookie. This cookie is used to display advertisements or advertising products from Facebook or other advertisers. Expiry date: after 3 months Vimeo uses this data, among other things, to improve its own service, to communicate with you and to set its own targeted advertising measures. Vimeo emphasises on its website that only first-party cookies (i.e. cookies from Vimeo itself) are used for embedded videos as long as you do not interact with the video.

How long and where is the data stored?

Vimeo has its headquarters in White Plains in the state of New York (USA). However, the services are offered worldwide. The company uses computer systems, databases and servers in the USA and also in other countries. Your data can therefore also be stored and processed on servers in America. The data remains stored by Vimeo until the company no longer has an economic reason for storing it. Then the data is deleted or anonymised. Vimeo complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and is therefore allowed to collect, use and transfer data of users from the EU to the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You always have the option to manage cookies in your browser according to your wishes. For example, if you do not want Vimeo to set cookies and thus collect information about you, you can delete or deactivate cookies in your browser settings at any time. Depending on the browser, this works a little differently. Please note that after deactivating/deleting cookies, various functions may no longer be available to the full extent. The following instructions show how to manage or delete cookies in your browser. Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you are a registered Vimeo member, you can also manage the cookies used in the settings on Vimeo. Vimeo is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt00000008V77AAE&status=Active. You can find out more about Vimeo’s use of cookies at https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy and information about Vimeo’s data protection at https://vimeo.com/privacy.

SoundCloud Privacy Policy

We use functions (widgets) of the social media network SoundCloud of the company SoundCloud Limited, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Germany on our website. You can recognise the widgets by the familiar orange logo. By using functions such as playing music, data is transmitted to SoundCloud, stored and analysed. In this privacy policy, we show you what data is involved, why we use SoundCloud and how you can manage or prevent your data or the data transfer.

What is SoundCloud?

The social media network SoundCloud is an online music platform that serves the exchange and distribution of audio files. On SoundCloud, musicians or podcasters offer their audio files for download. In addition, SoundCloud also allows you to embed the audio files in other websites. And that’s exactly what we did. Typical for SoundCloud are the graphic representations of the audio files in wave form and the comment bar. This way, registered users can listen to and comment on music tracks or podcasts at any time.

Why do we use SoundCloud on our website?

Our aim is to provide you with the best possible service on our website. By that we don’t just mean our products or services. A holistic customer service also includes how comfortable you feel on our website and how helpful our website is for you. Through the embedded SoundCloud playback function, we can deliver acoustic content to you directly and free of charge. You don’t have to follow a link to listen to an audio file, but can start right away from our website.

What data is stored on SoundCloud?

As soon as you visit one of our websites that has a widget (like or share button or play function) built in, your browser connects to a SoundCloud server. In the process, data from you may be transferred to SoundCloud, managed and stored there. For example, SoundCloud learns in this way your IP address and which page (in this case ours) you visited and when. If you have a SoundCloud account and are logged in while browsing our website, the collected data will be directly assigned to your account. You can only prevent this by logging out of SoundCloud while you are on our website. In addition to the information mentioned above, data about your user behaviour is also stored in the cookies. For example, whenever you click a button, play or pause a piece of music, this information is stored in the cookies. The widget or SoundCloud is thus able to recognise you and sometimes the widget is also used to deliver personalised content to you. SoundCloud not only uses its own cookies, but also cookies from third-party providers such as Facebook or Google Analytics. These cookies serve the company to get more information about your behaviour on external websites and its own platform. We as the website operator do not receive any information about your user behaviour through the cookies used by SoundCloud. The data transfer and therefore also the information about technical devices and your behaviour on the website takes place between you and SoundCloud. Below we show cookies that have been set when you go to a website that has SoundCloud features embedded. This list is only an example of possible cookies and cannot claim to be complete. In this example, the user does not have a SoundCloud account: Name: sc_anonymous_id Wert: 208165-986996-398971-423805311257693-0 Purpose: This cookie makes it possible to embed files or other content in websites and stores a user ID. Expiry date: after 10 years Remark: The sc_anonymous_id cookie is set immediately when you are on one of our websites that has a Soundcloud function built in. You do not have to interact with the function for this yet. Name: __qca Wert: P0-1223379886-1579605792812311257693-7 Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Quantcast and collects data such as how often you visit the site or how long you stay on the site. The information collected is then shared with SoundCloud. Expiry date: after one year Name: Sclocale Value: en Purpose: The cookie stores the language setting you have preset. Expiry date: after one year Name: _soundcloud_session Value: / Purpose: We could not find out any specific information about this cookie. Expiry date: after end of session Name: _session_auth_key Value: / Purpose: The cookie can be used to store session information (i.e. user behaviour) and to authenticate a client request. Expiry date: after 10 years SoundCloud also uses other third-party cookies such as _fbp, _ga, gid from Facebook and Google Analytics. SoundCloud uses all the information stored in the cookies to improve its own services and to serve personalised advertising.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, the collected data remains stored by SoundCloud as long as a user account exists or as long as it is necessary for SoundCloud to achieve its business objectives. Exactly how long is stored changes depending on the context and legal obligations. Even if you do not have an account and personal data has been stored, you have the right to request data deletion.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you have a SoundCloud account, you can manage data processing or delete your entire account via “Settings”. However, you can also manage, delete or deactivate cookies in your browser exactly according to your needs. The approach always depends on the browser you use. If you decide to delete or deactivate cookies, please note that all functions may then no longer be available. The following instructions tell you how to manage, delete or disable cookies in your browser. Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Managing Cookies and Website Data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer. Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies We hope we have provided you with a good overview of the data traffic through SoundCloud. If you want to learn more about the privacy policy and the general handling of data by SoundCloud, we recommend that you read the company’s privacy policy at https://soundcloud.com/pages/privacy.

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy

Our primary goal is to secure and protect our website for you and for us in the best possible way. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA from the 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. With reCAPTCHA we can determine whether you are really a flesh and blood human being and not a robot or other spam software. By spam we mean any unsolicited information sent to us electronically. With the classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or picture puzzles to check. With reCAPTCHA from Google, we usually don’t have to bother you with such puzzles. Here, in most cases, it is enough to simply tick a box and thus confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don’t even have to set a tick anymore. You will find out exactly how this works and, above all, what data is used for this purpose in the course of this privacy policy.

What is reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA is a free captcha service from Google that protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. The most common use of this service is when you fill out forms on the internet. A captcha service is a type of automatic Turing test that is designed to ensure that an action on the internet is performed by a human and not a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing), a human determines the distinction between a bot and a human. With captchas, this is also done by the computer or a software programme. Classic captchas work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve, but present considerable difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to actively solve puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here you only have to tick the text field “I am not a robot” or with Invisible reCAPTCHA even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is integrated into the source code and then the tool runs in the background and analyses your user behaviour. From these user actions, the software calculates a so-called captcha score. Google uses this score to calculate how likely you are to be a human even before the captcha is entered. reCAPTCHA or captchas in general are always used when bots could manipulate or abuse certain actions (such as registrations, surveys, etc.).

Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?

We only want to welcome flesh and blood people on our site. Bots or spam software of any kind can safely stay at home. That’s why we pull out all the stops to protect ourselves and offer the best possible user experience for you. For this reason, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google. This way we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. By using reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google to determine whether you are actually a human being. reCAPTCHA therefore serves the security of our website and, by extension, your security. For example, without reCAPTCHA it could happen that a bot registers as many email addresses as possible during registration in order to “spam” forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA, we can avoid such bot attacks.

What data is stored by reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users in order to determine whether the actions on our website actually originate from people. The IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service may therefore be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always shortened beforehand within the member states of the EU or other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data ends up on a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with other data from Google unless you are logged in with your Google account while using reCAPTCHA. First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks whether Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube. Gmail, etc.) are already placed on your browser. Then, reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and captures a snapshot of your browser window. The following list of collected browser and user data does not claim to be complete. Rather, they are examples of data that, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.

  • Referrer URL (the address of the page from which the visitor comes)
  • IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)
  • Info about the operating system (the software that enables your computer to run. Known operating systems are Windows, Mac OS X or Linux).
  • Cookies (small text files that store data in your browser)
  • Mouse and keyboard behaviour (every action you perform with the mouse or keyboard is saved)
  • Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC will be saved).
  • All JavaScript objects (JavaScript is a programming language that allows websites to adapt to the user. JavaScript objects can collect all kinds of data under one name).
  • Screen resolution (shows how many pixels the image display consists of)

It is undisputed that Google uses and analyses this data even before you click on the “I am not a robot” checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, even the ticking is omitted and the entire recognition process runs in the background. Google does not tell you in detail how much and which data it stores. The following cookies are used by reCAPTCHA: Here we refer to the reCAPTCHA demo version from Google at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo. All these cookies require a unique identifier for tracking purposes. Here is a list of cookies that Google reCAPTCHA has set on the demo version: Name: IDE Value: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-311257693-8 Purpose: This cookie is set by DoubleClick (also owned by Google) to record and report a user’s actions on the website in dealing with advertisements. This allows advertising effectiveness to be measured and appropriate optimisation measures to be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net. Expiry date: after one year Name: 1P_JAR Value: 2019-5-14-12 Purpose: This cookie collects statistics on website usage and measures conversions. A conversion occurs, for example, when a user becomes a buyer. The cookie is also used to display relevant advertisements to users. Furthermore, the cookie can be used to prevent a user from seeing the same ad more than once. Expiry date: after one month Name: ANID Wert: U7j1v3dZa3112576930xgZFmiqWppRWKOr Purpose: We could not find out much information about this cookie. In Google’s privacy policy, the cookie is mentioned in connection with “advertising cookies” such as “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored under domain google.com. Expiry date: after 9 months Name: CONSENT Value: YES+AT.en+20150628-20-0 Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to use various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users, prevent login fraud and protect user data from unauthorised attacks. Expiry date: after 19 years Name: NID Wert: 0WmuWqy311257693zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q Purpose: NID is used by Google to tailor 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. So you always get tailored ads. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect the user’s personal preferences for advertising purposes. Expiry date: after 6 months Name: DV Wert: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc311257693-4 Purpose: Once you have ticked the “I am not a robot” box, this cookie will be set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalised advertising. DV collects information in an anonymous form and is also used to make user distinctions. Expiry date: after 10 minutes Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as experience has shown that Google changes its choice of cookies from time to time.

How long and where is the data stored?

By inserting reCAPTCHA, data is transferred from you to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored, Google does not make clear, even after repeated enquiries. Without having received confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, time spent on the website or language settings are stored on Google’s European or American servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is generally not merged with other Google data from other Google services. However, if you are logged into your Google account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. The deviating data protection regulations of the Google company apply to this.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you do not want any data about you and your behaviour to be transmitted to Google, you must log out of Google completely and delete all Google cookies before you visit our website or use the reCAPTCHA software. In principle, data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you visit our site. To delete this data again, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311257693. Therefore, by using our website, you consent to the automatic collection, processing and use of data by Google LLC and its agents. You can learn a little more about reCAPTCHA on Google’s web developer page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Google does go into more detail here about the technical development of reCAPTCHA, but you will search in vain for precise information about data storage and privacy-related topics there as well. A good overview of Google’s basic use of data can be found in the company’s own privacy policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/. Source: Created with the privacy generator by AdSimple in cooperation with 123familie.de

Web Analytics
What is Web Analytics?

We use software on our website, which is known as web analytics, in order to evaluate website visitor behaviour. Thus, data is collected, which the analytic tool provider (also called tracking tool) stores, manages and processes. Analyses of user behaviour 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, to for example 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.

Moreover, 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 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 for example for accounting.

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 analysing the behaviour of website visitors, which enables us to technically and economically improve our offer. With Web Analytics, we can recognise 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.

Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy

We use Facebook’s Facebook pixel on our website. For that, we have implemented a code on our website. The Facebook pixel is a segment of a JavaScript code, which, in case you came to our website via Facebook ads, loads an array or functions that enable Facebook to track your user actions. For example, if you buy a product on our website, the Facebook pixel is triggered and stores your actions on our website in one or more cookies. These cookies enable Facebook to match your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data of your Facebook account. After that, Facebook deletes your data again. The collected data is anonymous as well as inaccessible and can only be used for ad placement purposes. If you are a Facebook user and you are logged in, your visit to our website is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.

We exclusively want to show our products or services to persons, who are interested in them. With the aid of the Facebook pixel, our advertising measures can get better adjusted to your wishes and interests. Therefore, Facebook users get to see suitable advertisement (if they allowed personalised advertisement). Moreover, Facebook uses the collected data for analytical purposes and for its own advertisements.

In the following we will show you the cookies, which were set on a test page with the Facebook pixel integrated to it. Please consider that these cookies are only examples. Depending on the interaction that is made on our website, different cookies are set.

Name: _fbp
Value: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6311842245-7
Purpose: Facebook uses this cookie to display advertising products.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: fr
Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r..Bdeiuf…1.0.Bdeiuf.
Purpose: This cookie is used for Facebook pixels to function properly.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062311842245-3
Value: Name of the author
Purpose: This cookie saves the text and name of a user who e.g. leaves a comment.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.testseite…%2F (URL of the author)
Purpose: This cookie saved the URL of the website that the user types into a text box on our website.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: email address of the author
Purpose: This cookie saves the email address of the user, if they provided it on the website.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Note: The above-mentioned cookies relate to an individual user behaviour. Moreover, especially concerning the usage of cookies, changes at Facebook can never be ruled out.

If you are registered on Facebook, you can change the 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 manage your user based online advertising at https://www.youronlinechoices.com/uk/your-ad-choices. You have the option to activate or deactivate any providers there.

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. Data processing is done mainly through Facebook Pixel. This may lead to data not being anonymously processed and stored. Furthermore, US government authorities may get access to individual data. The data may also get linked to data from other Facebook services you have a user account with.

If you want to learn more about Facebook’s data protection, we recommend you the view the company’s in-house data policies at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Privacy Policy for Facebook‘s Automatic Advanced Matching

Along with Facebook’s pixel function, we have also activated Automatic Advanced Matching. This function allows us to send hashed emails, names, genders, cities, states, postcodes and dates of birth or telephone numbers as additional information to Facebook, provided you have made them available to us. This activation gives us the opportunity to customise advertising campaigns even better to persons who are interested in our services or products.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy
What is Google Analytics?

We use the tracking and analysis tool Google Analytics (GA) of the US-American company Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). Google Analytics collects data on your actions on our website. Whenever you click a link for example, this action is saved in a cookie and transferred to Google Analytics. With the help of reports which we receive from Google Analytics, we can adapt our website and our services better to your wishes. In the following, we will explain the tracking tool in more detail, and most of all, we will inform you what data is saved and how you can prevent this.

Google Analytics is a tracking tool with the purpose of conducting data traffic analysis of our website. For Google Analytics to work, there is a tracking code integrated to our website. Upon your visit to our website, this code records various actions you perform on your website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics server, where it is stored.

Google processes this data and we then receive reports on your user behaviour. These reports can be one of the following:

  • Target audience reports: With the help of target audience reports we can get to know our users better and can therefore better understand who is interested in our service.
  • Advertising reports: Through advertising reports we can analyse our online advertising better and hence improve it.
  • Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide us helpful information on how we can get more people enthusiastic about our service.
  • Behaviour reports: With these reports, we can find out how you interact with our website. By the means of behaviour reports, we can understand what path you go on our website and what links you click.
  • Conversion reports: A conversion is the process of leading you to carry out a desired action due to a marketing message. An example of this would be transforming you from a mere website visitor into a buyer or a newsletter subscriber. Hence, with the help of these reports we can see in more detail, if our marketing measures are successful with you. Our aim is to increase our conversion rate.
  • Real time reports: With the help of these reports we can see in real time, what happens on our website. It makes us for example see, we can see how many users are reading this text right now.
Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

The objective of our website is clear: We want to offer you the best possible service. Google Analytics’ statistics and data help us with reaching this goal.

Statistically evaluated data give us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimise our page in a way, that makes it easier to be found by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to get a better understanding of you as our visitor. Therefore, we can very accurately find out what we must improve on our website, in order to offer you the best possible service. The analysis of that data also enables us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and more cost-effective way. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services exclusively to people who are interested in them.

What data is stored by Google Analytics?

With the aid of a tracking code, Google Analytics creates a random, unique ID which is connected to your browser cookie. That way, Google Analytics recognises you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognised as a “recurring” user. All data that is collected gets saved together with this very user ID. Only this is how it is made possible for us to evaluate and analyse pseudonymous user profiles.

To analyse our website with Google Analytics, a property ID must be inserted into the tracking code. The data is then stored in the corresponding property. Google Analytics 4-property is standard for every newly created property. An alternative however, is the Universal Analytics Property. Depending on the property that is being used, data are stored for different periods of time.

Your interactions on our website are measured by tags such as cookies and app instance IDs. Interactions are all kinds of actions that you perform on our website. If you are also using other Google systems (such as a Google Account), data generated by Google Analytics can be linked with third-party cookies. Google does not pass on any Google Analytics data, unless we as the website owners authorise it. In case it is required by law, exceptions can occur.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Value:2.1326744211.152311842245-5
Purpose: By deafault, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga, to save the user ID. It generally serves the purpose of differentiating between website visitors.
Expiration date: After 2 years

Name: _gid
Value:2.1687193234.152311842245-1
Purpose: This cookie also serves the purpose of differentiating between website users
Expiration date: After 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_
Value: 1
Verwendungszweck: It is used for decreasing the demand rate. If Google Analytics is provided via Google Tag Manager, this cookie gets the name _dc_gtm_ .
Expiration date: After 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: No information
Purpose: This cookie has a token which is used to retrieve the user ID by the AMP Client ID Service. Other possible values suggest a logoff, a request or an error.
Expiration date: After 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma
Value:1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: With this cookie your behaviour on the website can be tracked and the site performance can be measured. The cookie is updated every time the information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: After 2 years

Name: __utmt
Value: 1
Purpose: Just like _gat_gtag_UA_ this cookie is used for keeping the requirement rate in check.
Expiration date: Afer 10 minutes

Name: __utmb
Value:3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time new data or information gets sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: After 30 minutes

Name: __utmc
Value: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions for recurring visitors. It is therefore a session cookie, and only stays stored until you close the browser again.
Expiration date: After closing the browser

Name: __utmz
Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify the source of the number of visitors to our website. This means, that the cookie stored information on where you came to our website from. This could be another site or an advertisement.
Expiration date: After 6 months

Name: __utmv
Value: No information
Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It gets updated whenever information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: After 2 years

Note: This list is by no means exhaustive, since Google are repeatedly changing the use of their cookies.

Below we will give you an overview of the most important data that can be evaluated by Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called Heatmaps an. These Heatmaps make it possible to see the exact areas you click on, so we can get information on what routes you make on our website.

Session duration: Google calls the time you spend on our website without leaving it session duration. Whenever you are inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.

Bounce rate If you only look at one page of our website and then leave our website again, it is called a bounce.

Account creation: If you create an account or make an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.

IP-Address: The IP address is only shown in a shortened form, to make it impossible to clearly allocate it.

Location: Your approximate location and the country you are in can be defined by the IP address. This process is called IP location determination.

Technical information: Information about your browser type, your internet provider and your screen resolution are called technical information.

Source: Both, Google Analytics as well as ourselves, are interested what website or what advertisement led you to our site.

Further possibly stored data include contact data, potential reviews, playing media (e.g. when you play a video on our site), sharing of contents via social media or adding our site to your favourites. This list is not exhaustive and only serves as general guidance on Google Analytics’ data retention.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has servers across the globe. Most of them are in America and therefore your data is mainly saved on American servers. Here you can read detailed information on where Google’s data centres are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=en

Your data is allocated to various physical data mediums. This has the advantage of allowing to retrieve the data faster, and of protecting it better from manipulation. Every Google data centre has respective emergency programs for your data. Hence, in case of a hardware failure at Google or a server error due to natural disasters, the risk for a service interruption stays relatively low.

The data retention period depends on the properties used. When using the newer Google Analytics 4-properties, the retention period of your user data is set to 14 months. For so-called event data, we have the option of choosing a retention period of either 2 months or 14 months.

Google Analytics has a 26 months standardised period of retaining your user data. After this time, your user data is deleted. However, we have the possibility to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. There are the following five options:

  • Deletion after 14 months
  • Deletion after 26 months
  • Deletion after 38 months
  • Deletion after 50 months
  • No automatical deletion

Additionally, there is the option for data to be deleted only if you no longer visit our website within a period determined by us. In this case, the retention period will be reset every time you revisit our website within the specified period.

As soon as the chosen period is expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to any of your data which is linked to cookies, user identification and advertisement IDs (e.g. cookies of the DoubleClick domain). Any report results are based on aggregated information and are stored independently of any user data. Aggregated information is a merge of individual data into a single and bigger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

Under the provisions of the European Union’s data protection law, you have the right to obtain information on your data and to update, delete or restrict it. With the help of a browser add on that can deactivate Google Analytics’ JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js), you can prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download this add on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB. Please consider that this add on can only deactivate any data collection by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage all cookies (independently of Google Analytics), you can use one of the guides that are available for any browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

Legal basis

The use of Google Analytics requires your consent, which we obtained via our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a of the GDPR (consent) , this is the legal basis for the processing of personal data when collected via web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors, in order to technically and economically improve our offer. With Google Analytics, we can recognise 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 Google Analytics if you have given your consent.

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 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

We hope we could provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google Analytics. If you want to find out more on the tracking service, we recommend these two links: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/gb/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

Google Analytics IP Anonymisation

We implemented Google Analytics’ IP address anonymisation to this website. Google developed this function, so this website can comply with the applicable privacy laws and the local data protection authorities’ recommendations, should they prohibit the retention of any full IP addresses.
The anonymisation or masking of IP addresses takes place, as soon as they reach Google Analytics’ data collection network, but before the data would be saved or processed.

You can find more information on IP anonymisation at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=en.

Google Analytics Reports on demographic characteristics and interests

We have turned on Google Analytics’ functions for advertising reports. These reports on demographic characteristics and interests contain details about age, gender and interests. Through them we can get a better picture of our users – without being able to allocate any data to individual persons. You can learn more about advertising functions at auf https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=en&amp%3Butm_id=ad.

You can terminate the use of your Google Account’s activities and information in “Ads Settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via a checkbox.

Google Analytics‘ Data Processing Amendment

By accepting the amendment on data processing in Google Analytics, we entered a contract with Google concerning the use of Google Analytics.

You can find out more about the amendment on data processing for Google Analytics here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3379636?hl=en&utm_id=ad

Google Analytics Google Signals Privacy Policy

We have activated Google signals in Google Analytics. Through this, any existing Google Analytics functions (advertising reports, remarketing, cross-device reports and reports on interests and demographic characteristics) are updated, to result in the summary and anonymisation of your data, should you have permitted personalised ads in your Google Account.

The special aspect of this is that it involves cross-device tracking. That means your data can be analysed across multiple devices. Through the activation of Google signals, data is collected and linked to the Google account. For example, it enables Google to recognise when you look at a product on a smartphone and later buy the product on a laptop. Due to activating Google signals, we can start cross-device remarketing campaigns, which would otherwise not be possible to this extent. Remarketing means, that we can show you our products and services across other websites as well.

Moreover, further visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your actions on our website are collected in Google Analytics. As a result, we receive improved advertising reports and more useful information on your interests and demographic characteristics. These include your age, the language you speak, where you live or what your gender is. Certain social criteria such as your job, your marital status or your income are also included. All these characteristics help Google Analytics to define groups of persons or target audiences.

Those reports also help us to better assess your behaviour, as well as your wishes and interests. As a result, we can optimise and customise our products and services for you. By default, this data expires after 26 months. Please consider, that this data is only collected if you have agreed to personalised advertisement in your Google Account. The retained information is always exclusively summarised and anonymous data, and never any data on individual persons. You can manage or delete this data in your Google Account.

Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy
What is Google Tag Manager?

We use Google Tag Manager by the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) for our website.
This Tag Manager is one of Google’s many helpful marketing products. With it, we can centrally integrate and manage code sections of various tracking tools, that we use on our website.

In this privacy statement we will explain in more detail, what Google Tag Manager does, why we use it and to what extent your data is processed.

Google Tag Manager is an organising tool with which we can integrate and manage website tags centrally and via a user interface. Tags are little code sections which e.g. track your activities on our website. For this, segments of JavaScript code are integrated to our site’s source text. The tags often come from Google’s intern products, such as Google Ads or Google Analytics, but tags from other companies can also be integrated and managed via the manager. Since the tags have different tasks, they can collect browser data, feed marketing tools with data, embed buttons, set cookies and track users across several websites.

Why do we use Google Tag Manager for our website?

Everybody knows: Being organised is important! Of course, this also applies to maintenance of our website. In order to organise and design our website as well as possible for you and anyone who is interested in our products and services, we rely on various tracking tools, such as Google Analytics.
The collected data shows us what interests you most, which of our services we should improve, and which other persons we should also display our services to. Furthermore, for this tracking to work, we must implement relevant JavaScript Codes to our website. While we could theoretically integrate every code section of every tracking tool separately into our source text, this would take too much time and we would lose overview. This is the reason why we use Google Tag Manager. We can easily integrate the necessary scripts and manage them from one place. Additionally, Google Tag Manager’s user interface is easy to operate, and requires no programming skills. Therefore, we can easily keep order in our jungle of tags.

What data is stored by Google Tag Manager?

Tag Manager itself is a domain that neither uses cookies nor stores data. It merely functions as an “administrator“ of implemented tags. Data is collected by the individual tags of the different web analysis tools. Therefore, in Google Tag Manager the data is sent to the individual tracking tools and does not get saved.

However, with the integrated tags of different web analysis tools such as Google Analytics, this is quite different. Depending on the analysis tool used, various data on your internet behaviour is collected, stored and processed with the help of cookies. Please read our texts on data protection for more information on the articular analysis and tracking tools we use on our website.

We allowed Google via the account settings for the Tag Manager to receive anonymised data from us. However, this exclusively refers to the use of our Tag Manager and not to your data, which are saved via code sections. We allow Google and others, to receive selected data in anonymous form. Therefore, we agree to the anonymised transfer of our website data. However, even after extensive research we could not find out what summarised and anonymous data it is exactly that gets transmitted. What we do know is that Google deleted any info that could identify our website. Google combines the data with hundreds of other anonymous website data and creates user trends as part of benchmarking measures. Benchmarking is a process of comparing a company’s results with the ones of competitors. As a result, processes can be optimised based on the collected information.

How long and where is the data stored?

When Google stores data, this is done on Google’s own servers. These servers are located all over the world, with most of them being in America. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=en you can read in detail where Google’s servers are.

In our individual data protection texts on the different tools you can find out how long the respective tracking tools store your data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

Google Tag Manager itself does not set any cookies but manages different tracking websites’ tags. In our data protection texts on the different tracking tools you can find detailed information on how you can delete or manage your data.

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 must not be transferred, stored and processed to insecure third countries, unless there are suitable guarantees (such as EU standard contractual clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.

Legal basis

The use of the Google Tag Manager requires your consent, which we obtained via our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent is the legal basis for personal data processing, such as when it is collected by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors and thus technically and economically improving our offer. With the help of Google Tag Managers we can also improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). We only use Google Tag Manager if you have given us your consent.

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 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

If you want to learn more about Google Tag Manager, we recommend their FAQs at https://support.google.com/tagmanager/?hl=en#topic=3441530.

Hotjar Privacy Policy
What is Hotjar?

We use Hotjar of the company Hotjar Limited (Level 2, St Julian’s Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta) on our website, to statistically evaluate visitor data. Hotjar is a service which analyses the behaviour and feedback of you as a user of our website by combining analysis and feedback tools. We receive reports as well as visual displays from Hotjar, which show us how you move on our site. Personal data is anonymised automatically and never reaches Hotjar’s servers. This means you as the website user are not personally identified, while we can still learn much about your user behaviour.

As mentioned in the above paragraph, Hotjar helps us analyse the behaviour of our site visitors. Some of the tools Hotjar offers are e.g. heatmaps, conversion funnels, visitor recording, incoming feedback, feedback polls and surveys (you can find more information about it at https://www.hotjar.com/). Therewith, Hotjar helps us to provide you a better user experience as well as an improved service. On the one hand it offers good analysis of online behaviour and on the other hand it gives us good feedback on our website’s quality. Besides the analytical aspects we of course also want to know your opinion about our website. This is possible thanks to the feedback tool.

Why do we use Hotjar on our website?

Within the last years the importance of websites’ user experience has gained in importance. And justifiably so – a website should be structured in a way that makes the user feel comfortable and is easy to navigate. Thanks to Hotjar’s analysis and the feedback tools, we can make our website and our offer more attractive. To us, Hotjar’s Heatmaps has proven particularly valuable, as it helps with presenting and visualising data. In that sense, Hotjar’s Heatmaps e.g. helps us see what you like to click on and where you scroll to.

What data is stored by Hotjar?

Hotjar automatically collects information on your user behaviour while you surf our website. In order to be able to collect this information, we implemented a tracking code. We integrated a tracking code, to be able to collect this information. The following data can be gathered via your computer or your browser:

  • Your computer’s IP address (is collected and saved in an anonymous format)
  • Screen size
  • Browser information (which browser and version etc.)
  • Your location (but only the country)
  • Your language preference
  • Visited websites (subpages)
  • Date and time of access to one of our subpages (websites)

Moreover, cookies also save data that have been placed on your computer (mostly your browser), although no personal data is collected. Generally, Hotjar does not pass collected data to third parties. However, Hotjar explicitly emphasises that it is sometimes necessary to share data with Amazon Web Services. _ parts of your information is saved on its servers. Nonetheless, Amazon is bound to a confidentiality obligation and cannot disclose these data.

Only a limited number of people (employees of Hotjar) have access to the stored information. Furthermore, Hotjar’s servers are protected by firewalls and IP restrictions (only authorised IP addresses have access). Firewalls are security systems which protect computers from unwanted network accesses. They serve as barriers between Hotjar’s secure internal network and the internet. Moreover, Hotjar also uses third-party companies for their services, such as Google Analytics or Optimizely. These firms can also save information that your browser sends to our website.

The following cookies are used by Hotjar. Since we refer to the cookie list in Hotjar’s privacy statement at https://www.hotjar.com/legal, not every cookie has a sample value. The list shows examples of utilised Hotjar cookies and does not claim to be exhaustive.

Name: ajs_anonymous_id
Value: %2258832463-7cee-48ee-b346-a195f18b06c3%22311842245-5
Purpose: This cookie is generally used for analysis purposes and helps with counting our website’s visitors by tracking whether they have been to the website before.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: ajs_group_id
Value: 0
Purpose: This cookie collects data on user behaviour. Based on the similarities between website visitors, the data can then be assigned to a specific visitor group.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjid
Value: 699ffb1c-4bfb-483f-bde1-22cfa0b59c6c
Purpose: This cookie is used to maintain a Hotjar user ID, which is unique for the website in the browser. That way, upon the next website visits, the user behaviour can be assigned to the same user ID.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjMinimizedPolls
Value: 462568311842245-8
Verwendungszweck: Every time you minimise a feedback poll widget, Hotjar sets this cookie. It ensures that the widget stays minimised when you surf our sites.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjIncludedInSample
Value: 1
Purpose: This session cookie is used to inform Hotjar if you are part of the selected individuals (sample), who are used for the creation of funnels.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjClosedSurveyInvites
Purpose: This cookie is set when you see an invitation to a feedback poll in a popup window. It is used to ensure that this invitation appears to you only once.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjDonePolls
Purpose: This cookie is set in your browser whenever you finish a round of questions for feedback in a poll widget. Therewith, Hotjar prevents you from receiving the same polls in the future.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjDoneTestersWidgets
Purpose: This cookie is used when you enter your data in the “recruit user tester” widget. With this widget we want to engage you as a tester. The cookie is used to prevent the form from reappearing repeatedly.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets
Purpose: This cookie is set to keep the “recruit user tester“ widget minimised accross all our pages. The cookie is set upon you minimising this widget once.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _hjShownFeedbackMessage
Purpose: This cookie is set if you minimise or amend the given feedback. This is done so the feedback is instantly loaded as minimised when you navigate to another page, on which it is displayed.
Expiry date: after one year

How long and where is the data stored?

We integrated a tracking code to our website, which is transmitted to Hotjar’s servers in Ireland (EU). This tracking code contacts Hotjar’s servers and sends a script to your computer or any terminal device with which you are accessing our website. The script collects certain data concerning your interaction with our website. Then, the data is sent to Hotjar’s servers for processing. Moreover, Hotjar imposed a limit of retaining data for up to 365 days on itself. This means that all data collected by Hotjar which is over one year old are deleted automatically.

How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?

Hotjar saves none of your personal data for its analysis. The company even advertises with the slogan “We track behaviour, not individuals“. In addition, it is always possible for you to prevent the collection of your data. For this you simply need to visit Hotjar’s “Opt-out page“ and click on “deactivate Hotjar”. Please note that deleting cookies, using your browser’s private mode or utilising a different browser will result in the collection of data again. Furthermore, you can activate the “Do Not Track” button in your browser. To do this in Chrome for example, you must click on the three bars and select “Settings”. In the section “Data Protection“ you will find the option “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with your browsing traffic”. Finally, you must click on this button and no data will be collected by Hotjar.

Legal basis

The use of Hotjar requires your consent, which we obtained via our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) , this consent represents the legal basis for personal data processing , such as when it is collected by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors, and thus technically and economically improving our offer. With the help of Hotjar, we can recognise website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Hotjar if you have given us your consent.

You can find more details on the privacy policy and on what data Hotjar uses and how it is utilised at https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy?tid=311842245.

Email-Marketing
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 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.

Online Marketing
What is Online Marketing?

Online Marketing refers to all measures that are carried out online to achieve marketing goals, such as increasing brand awareness or doing business transactions. Furthermore, our Online Marketing measures aim to draw people’s attention to our website. In order to be able to show our offer to many interested people, we do Online Marketing. It mostly is about online advertising, content marketing or search engine optimisation. For this, personal data is also stored and processed, to enable us to use Online Marketing efficiently and targeted. On the one hand, the data help us to only show our content to people who are interested in it. On the other hand, it helps us to measure the advertising success of our Online Marketing measures.

Why do we use Online Marketing tools?

We want to show our website to everyone who is interested in our offer. We are aware that this is not possible without conscious measures being taken. That is why we do Online Marketing. There are various tools that make working on our Online Marketing measures easier for us. These also provide suggestions for improvement via data. Thus, we can target our campaigns more precisely to our target group. The ultimate purpose of these Online Marketing tools is to optimise our offer.

Which data are processed?

For our Online Marketing to work and to measure its success, user profiles are created and data are e.g. stored in cookies (small text files). With the help of this data, we can not only advertise in the traditional way, but also present our content directly on our website in the way you prefer. There are various third-party tools that offer these functions and thus collect and store your data accordingly. The aforementioned cookies e.g. store the pages you visit on our website, how long you view these pages, which links or buttons you click or which website you came from. What is more, technical information may also be stored. This may include e.g. your IP address, the browser and device you use to visit our website or the time you accessed our website as well as the time you left. If you have agreed for us to determine your location, we can also store and process it.

Your IP address is stored in pseudonymised form (i.e. shortened). What is more, distinct data that directly identify you as a person, such as your name, address or email address, are only stored in pseudonymised for advertising and Online Marketing purposes. With this data we cannot identify you as a person and only retain the pseudonymised information that is stored in your user profile.

Under certain circumstances, cookies may also be utilised, analysed and used for advertising purposes on other websites that use the same advertising tools. Thus, your data may then also be stored on the servers of the respective provider of the advertising tool.

In rare exceptions, unique data (name, email address, etc.) may also be stored in the user profiles. This can happen, if you are for example a member of a social media channel that we use for our Online Marketing measures and if the network connects previously received data with the user profile.

We only ever receive summarised information from the advertising tools we use that do store data on their servers. We never receive data that can be used to identify you as an individual. What is more, the data only shows how well-placed advertising measures have worked. For example, we can see what measures have caused you or other users to visit our website and purchase a service or product. Based on these analyses we can improve our advertising offer in the future and adapt it more precisely to the needs and wishes of people who are interested.

Duration of data processing

Below we will inform you on the duration of data processing, provided we have this information. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary to provide our services and products. Data stored in cookies are retained for different lengths of time. Some cookies are deleted after you leave a website, while others may be stored in your browser for a number of years. However, in the respective privacy policies of the respective provider, you will usually find detailed information on the individual cookies this provider uses.

Right of withdrawal

You also retain the right and the option to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers 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 collection by cookies if you manage, deactivate or erase cookies in your browser. The legality of the processing remains unaffected to the point of revocation.

Since Online Marketing tools usually use cookies, 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, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the use of third-party providers, then this consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent) , this consent is the legal basis for personal data processing, as may be done when data is collected by online marketing tools.

Moreover, we have a legitimate interest in measuring our online marketing activities in anonymised form, in order to use this data for optimising our offer and our Marketing. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) . Nevertheless, we only use these tools if you have given your consent.

Information on special online marketing tools can be found in the following sections, provided this information is available.

Facebook Conversions API Privacy Policy

On our website we use Facebook Conversions API, which is an event tracking tool. The provider of this service is the American company Facebook Inc. The company also has Irish headquarters at 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.

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

You can find out more about the data that is processed by using Facebook in their Privacy Policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.

Facebook Custom Audiences Privacy Policy

On our website we use Facebook Custom Audiences, a event tracking tool. The provider of this service is the American company Facebook Inc. The company also has Irish headquarters at 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Irland.

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

You can find out more about the data that is processed by using Facebook in their Privacy Policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy.

What is Google Ads conversion tracking?

We use Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) as an online marketing measure, to advertise our products and services. Thus, we want to draw more people’s attention on the internet to the high quality of our offers. As part of our advertising measures with Google Ads, we use the conversion tracking of Google LLC., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”) on our website. With the aid of this free tracking tool we can tailor our advertising offer better to your interests and needs. In the following article we will explain, why we use conversion tracking, what data gets saved and how you can prevent this data retention.

Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is the internal online advertising sxstem of the company Google LLC. We are convinced of our offer‘s quality and would like as many people as possible to discover our website. For this, Google Ads offers the best platform within the online environment. Of course, we also want to get an overview of the cost-benefit factor of our advertising campaigns. Thence, we use Google Ads’ conversion tracking tool.

But what is a conversion actually? A conversion occurs, when you turn from an interested visitor into an acting website visitor. This happens every time you click on our ad and then make another action, such as paying a visit to our website. With Google’s conversion tracking tool, we can understand what happens after a user clicks our Google ad. It shows us for instance if products get bought, services are used or whether users have subscribed to our newsletter.

Why do we use Google Ads conversion tracking on our website?

We use Google Ads to show our offer also across other websites. Our aim is for our advertising campaigns to reach only those people, who are interested in our offers. With the conversion tracking tool, we see what keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns lead to the desired customer actions. We see how many customers interact with our ads on a device, to then convert. With this data we can calculate our cost-benefit-factor, measure the success of individual ad campaigns and therefore optimise our online marketing measures. With the help of the obtained data we can give our website a more interesting design and customise our advertising offer better to your needs.

What data is stored with Google Ads conversion tracking?

For a better analysis of certain user actions, we have integrated a conversion tracking tag, or code snippet to our website. Therefore, if you click one of our Google ads, a Google domain stores the cookie “conversion” on your computer (usually in the browser) or on your mobile device. Cookies are little text files that save information on your computer.

Here are data of the most significant cookies for Google’s conversion tracking:

Name: Conversion
Value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ311842245-3
Purpose: This cookie saves every conversion you make on our website after you came to us via a Google ad.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: _gac
Value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE
Purpose: This is a classic Google Analytics Cookie that records various actions on our website.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Note: The cookie _gac only appears in connection with Google Analytics. The above list does not claim to be exhaustive, as Google repeatedly change the cookies they use for analytical evaluation.

As soon as you complete an action on our website, Google identifies the cookie and saves your action as a so-called conversion. For as long as you surf our website, provided the cookie has not expired, both Google and us can determine that you found your way to us via a Google ad. Then, the cookie is read and sent back to Google Ads, together with the conversion data. Moreover, other cookies may also be used for measuring conversions. Google Ads‘ conversion tracking can be fine-tuned and improved with the aid of Google Analytics. Furthermore, ads which Google displays in various places across the web, might be placed under our domain with the name “__gads” or “_gac”.
Since September 2017, analytics.js retains various campaign information with the _gac cookie. This cookie stores data, as soon as you open one of our sites that has been set up for Google Ads’ auto-tagging. In contrast to cookies that are placed for Google domains, Google can only read these conversion cookies when you are on our website. We do neither collect nor receive any personal data. We do obtain a report with statistical evaluations by Google. With the help thereof, we can not only see the total number of users who clicked our ad, but also what advertising measures were well received.

How long and where is the data stored?

At this point we want to reiterate, that we have no influence on how Google use the collected data. According to Google, the data are encrypted and stored on a secure server. In most cases, conversion cookies expire after 30 days, and do not transmit any personalised data. The cookies named “conversion“ and “_gac“ (which is used with Google Analytics) have an expiry date of 3 months.

How can I erase my data or prevent data retention?

You have the possibility to opt out of Google Ads’ conversion tracking. The conversion tracking can be blocked by deactivating the conversion tracking cookie via your browser. If you do this, you will not be considered for the statistic of the tracking tool. You can change the cookie settings in your browser anytime. Doing so, works a little different in every browser. Hence, in the following you will find an instruction on how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

If you generally do not want to allow any cookies at all, you can set up your browser to notify you whenever a potential cookie is about to be set. This lets you decide upon permitting or denying the cookie’s placement. By downloading and installing the browser plugin at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996 you can also deactivate all “advertising cookies”. Please consider that by deactivating these cookies, you cannot prevent all advertisements, only personalised ads.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the use of Google Ads Conversion Tracking, your consent is the legal basis for the corresponding data processing. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent is the legal basis for personal data processing, as may be done when collected by Google Ads Conversion Tracking.

We also have legitimate interest in using Google Ads Conversion Tracking to optimise our online service and marketing measures. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Ads Conversion Tracking if you have consented to it.

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 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

If you would like to find out more about data protection at Google, we recommend Google’s privacy policy at: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.

All texts are copyrighted.

Source: Created with the Datenschutz Generator by AdSimple

 
Questions / Contact

If you have any question, don’t hesitate to reach out to us via citychangers@urban-future.org!