Privacy policy

Introduction and Overview

We have written this privacy statement (version 07.12.2021-111895324) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, what personal data (data for short) we as the controller – and the processors (e.g., providers) engaged by us – process, will process in the future and what lawful options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender neutral.

In short: We inform you comprehensively about the data we process about you.

Data protection statements usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. This privacy statement, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. As far as transparency is concerned, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly way, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. In this way, we inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data in the course of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible by providing the most concise, unclear, and legalistic explanations possible, as is often standard practice on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information you did not know.

If you still have questions, we would like to ask you to contact the responsible office mentioned below or in the imprint, to follow the links provided and to look at further information on third party sites. Our contact details can of course also be found in the imprint.

Scope of application

This data protection declaration applies to all personal data processed by us in the company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (order processors). By personal data, we mean information within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR, such as a person’s name, e-mail address and postal address. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and invoice our services and products, whether online or offline. The scope of this privacy policy includes:

all online presences (websites, online shops) that we operate
social media sites and email communications
mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

In short, the data protection declaration applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in the company via the aforementioned channels in a structured manner. If we enter legal relationships with you outside of these channels, we will inform you separately where applicable.

Legal basis

In the following privacy statement, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e., the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.

As far as EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016, which you can of course read online on EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679.

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

Consent (article 6(1)(a) GDPR): you have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of your entered data of a contact form.
Contract (article 6(1)(b) GDPR): In order to fulfil a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you, we process your data. For example, if we conclude a sales contract with you, we need personal information in advance.
Legal obligation (article 6(1)(c) of the GDPR): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we process your data. For example, we are legally obliged to keep invoices for accounting purposes. These usually contain personal data.
Legitimate interests (article 6(1)(f) GDPR): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your fundamental rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we need to process certain data in order to operate our website in a secure and economically efficient manner. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

Other conditions such as the performance of recording in the public interest and the exercise of official authority as well as the protection of vital interests do not usually arise for us. If such a legal basis should be relevant, it will be indicated at the appropriate place.

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

In Austria, this is the Federal Act on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data (Data Protection Act), or DSG for short.
In Germany, the Federal Data Protection Act, or BDSG for short, applies.

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

Contact details of the responsible person

If you have any questions regarding data protection, please find below the contact details of the responsible person or office:

MHS Messtechnik Hardware Software GmbH
E-Mail address: office(at)mhs-messtechnik.at
Telephone: +43 (0)4262 4931
Imprint: https://www.mhs-messtechnik.at/impressum

Contact details of the data protection officer

Below you will find the contact details of the data protection officer:

Bernhard Schulz
MHS Messtechnik Hardware Software GmbH
Friesacher Straße 9
9330 Althofen

E-Mail address: office(at)mhs-messtechnik.at
Telephone: +43 (0)4262 4931

Storage period

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

Should you wish your data to be deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as soon as possible and insofar as there is no obligation to store it.

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

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

According to article 13 of the GDPR, you have the following rights to ensure fair and transparent processing of data:

You have a right of access under article 15 GDPR to know whether we are processing data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to receive a copy of the data and to know the following information:
- the purpose for which we are processing it;
- the categories, or types, of data being processed;
- who receives this data and, if the data is transferred to third countries, how security can be guaranteed;
- how long the data will be stored;
- the existence of the right to rectification, erasure or restriction of processing and the right to object to processing;
- that you can lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority (links to these authorities can be found below);
- the origin of the data if we have not collected it from you;
- whether profiling is carried out, i.e., whether data is automatically analysed to arrive at a personal profile of you.
You have a right to rectification of data under article 16 of the GDPR, which means that we must rectify data if you find errors.
You have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) under article 17 of the GDPR, which specifically means that you may request the deletion of your data.
According to article 18 of the GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it any further.
According to article 19 of the GDPR, you have the right to data portability, which means that we will provide you with your data in a common format upon request.
You have a right to object under article 21 of the GDPR, which entails a change in processing after enforcement.
- If the processing of your data is based on article 6(1)(e) (public interest, exercise of official authority) or article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest), you may object to the processing. We will then check as soon as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.
- If data is used to carry out direct advertising, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may then no longer use your data for direct marketing.
- If data is used for profiling, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may no longer use your data for profiling thereafter.
According to article 22 of the GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example profiling).

In short, you have rights – do not hesitate to contact the controller listed above at our office!

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

Austria Data Protection Authority

Head: Dr. Andrea Jelinek, M.D.
Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna
Telephone number: +43 1 52 152-0
E-mail address: dsb@dsb.gv.at
Website: https://www.dsb.gv.at/

Data transfer to third countries

We only transfer or process data to countries outside the EU (third countries) if you consent to this processing, if this is required by law or contractually necessary and in any case only to the extent that this is generally permitted. Your consent is in most cases the most important reason for us to have data processed in third countries. Processing personal data in third countries such as the US, where many software vendors provide services and have their server locations, may mean that personal data is processed and stored in unexpected ways.

We explicitly point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. Data processing by US services (such as Google Analytics) may result in data not being processed and stored anonymously. Furthermore, US government authorities may be able to access individual data. In addition, it is possible that collected data may be linked to data from other services of the same provider, provided you have a corresponding user account. Where possible, we try to use server locations within the EU if this is offered.

We will inform you in more detail about data transfer to third countries, where applicable, at the appropriate points in this privacy policy.

Data processing security

To protect personal data, we have implemented both technical and organisational measures. Where possible, we encrypt or pseudonymise personal data. In this way, we make it as difficult as possible, within the scope of our possibilities, for third parties to infer personal information from our data.

article 25 of the GDPR refers to “data protection by technical design and by data protection-friendly default settings” and thus means that both software (e.g., forms) and hardware (e.g., access to the server room) are always designed with security in mind and that appropriate measures are taken. In the following, we will go into more detail on concrete measures, if necessary.

TLS encryption with https

TLS, encryption, and https sound very technical and they are. We use HTTPS (the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure stands for “secure hypertext transfer protocol”) to transmit data tap-proof on the Internet.

This means that the complete transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – no one can “listen in”.

We have thus introduced an additional layer of security and fulfil data protection by design of technology article 25(1) GDPR). 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, to the left of the Internet address (e.g., beispielseite.de) and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.

If you want to know more about encryption, we recommend a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to get good links to further information.

Communication

Communication summary

Data subjects: anyone who communicates with us by phone, email, or online form.

Data processed: e.g., telephone number, name, email address, form data entered. More details can be found in the respective contact type used.

Purpose: Handling of communication with customers, business partners, etc.

Duration of storage: Duration of the business case and legal requirements.

Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (Contract), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests)

When you contact us and communicate by phone, email or online form, personal data may be processed.

The data is processed for the handling and processing of your question and the related business transaction. The data is stored for the same period of time or as long as required by law.

Persons affected

All those who seek contact with us via the communication channels provided by us are affected by the aforementioned processes.

Telephone

When you call us, the call data is stored pseudonymously on the respective end device and with the telecommunications provider used. In addition, data such as name and telephone number may subsequently be sent by e-mail and stored for the purpose of responding to enquiries. The data is deleted as soon as the business case has been closed and legal requirements permit.

E-mail

If you communicate with us by e-mail, data may be stored on the respective end device (computer, laptop, smartphone…) and data is stored on the e-mail server. The data is deleted as soon as the business transaction has been completed and legal requirements permit.

Online forms

If you communicate with us using online forms, data is stored on our web server and may be forwarded to an e-mail address of ours. The data will be deleted as soon as the business transaction has been completed and legal requirements permit.

Legal basis

The processing of data is based on the following legal grounds:

– Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent): You give us your consent to store your data and to further use it for purposes related to the business case;

– Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (contract): There is a need for the performance of a contract with you or a processor such as the telephone provider or we need to process the data for pre-contractual activities, such as the preparation of an offer;

– Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests): we want to operate customer enquiries and business communication in a professional framework. For this purpose, certain technical facilities such as e-mail programmes, exchange servers and mobile operators are necessary in order to be able to operate the communication efficiently.

Cookies

Cookies summary

Data subjects: visitors to the website

Purpose: depending on the cookie. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.

Data processed: Depending on the particular cookie used. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.

Storage period: depends on the cookie, can vary from hours to years.

Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What are cookies?

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.

Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.

Whenever you browse the internet, you use a browser. Popular 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 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 cookies, our site knows who you are and offers you the setting you are used to. In some browsers each cookie has its own file, in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

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

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.

For example, this is what cookie data can look like:

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152111895324-9
Intended use: Distinction of website visitors
Expiry date: after 2 years

A browser should be able to support these minimum sizes

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

What types of cookies are there?

The question of which cookies we use 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.

We can distinguish between 4 types of cookies:

Essential cookies

These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping basket, then continues surfing on other pages and only later goes to the checkout. These cookies do not delete the shopping cart even if the user closes his browser window.

Purpose 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.

Goal-oriented cookies

These cookies provide a better user experience. For example, locations entered, 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 convenient, but also very annoying.

Usually, when you visit a website for the first time, you are asked which of these types of cookies you would like to allow. And of course, this decision is also stored in a cookie.

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”.

Purpose of processing via cookies

The purpose ultimately depends on the cookie in question. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.

What data is processed?

Cookies are small helpers for many different tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generalise about what data is stored in cookies, but we will inform you about the data processed or stored in the following privacy policy.

Storage duration of cookies

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

You can also influence the storage period yourself. You can delete all cookies manually at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies that are based on consent will be deleted at the latest after revocation of your consent, whereby the legality of the storage remains unaffected until then.

Right of objection – how can I delete cookies?

You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option of deleting, deactivating or only partially permitting cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies. Purpose of processing via cookies

The purpose ultimately depends on the cookie in question. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.

What data is processed?

Storage duration of cookies

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

Right of objection – how can I delete 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: Cookies in Chrome löschen, aktivieren und verwalten

Safari: Verwalten von Cookies und Websitedaten mit Safari

Firefox: Cookies löschen, um Daten zu entfernen, die Websites auf Ihrem Computer abgelegt haben

Internet Explorer: Löschen und Verwalten von Cookies

Microsoft Edge: Löschen und Verwalten von 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. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “Delete Cookies Chrome” or “Disable Cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser.

If you want to change the cookie settings, you can do so at any time via change cookies.

[borlabs-cookie type=”btn-cookie-preference” title=”Change cookie settings”/]

[matomo_opt_out language=en]

Legal basis

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

For necessary cookies, even if there is no consent, there are legitimate interests (article 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and for this purpose certain cookies are often necessary.

Where cookies are used that are not strictly necessary, this is only done with your consent. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

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

Webhosting

Web hosting summary

Affected parties: visitors to the website
Purpose: To professionally host the website and secure its operation.
Data processed: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. More details can be found below or with the respective web hosting provider used.
Storage period: depends on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is web hosting?

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

If you want to view a website on a screen, you use a programme called a web browser to do so. You probably know some web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.

This web browser needs to connect to another computer where the website’s code is stored: the web server. Running a web server is a complicated and costly task, which is why it is usually done by professional providers. These offer web hosting and thus ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data.

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

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

to professionally host the website and secure its operation
to maintain operational and IT security
anonymous evaluation of access behaviour to improve our offer and, if necessary, to prosecute or pursue claims.

What data is processed?

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

the complete Internet address (URL) of the website you are visiting (e.g., https://www.beispielwebsite.de/beispielunterseite.html?tid=111895324)
browser and browser version (e.g., Chrome 87)
the operating system used (e.g., Windows 10)
the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e.g., https://www.beispielquellsite.de/vondabinichgekommen.html/)
the host name and IP address of the device being accessed (e.g., COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
the date and time
in files, the so-called web server log files

How long is data stored?

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

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

Legal basis

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

There is usually a contract between us and the hosting provider for commissioned processing in accordance with Art. 28 f. GDPR, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.

Website modular systems

Website modular systems privacy policy summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: To optimise our service performance
Data Processed: Data such as technical usage information such as browser activity, clickstream activity, session heatmaps as well as contact details, IP address or your geographical location. More details can be found below in this privacy policy and in the privacy policy of the providers.
Storage period: depends on the provider
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent).

What are website modular systems?

We use a website modular system for our website. Modular systems are special forms of a content management system (CMS). With a modular system, website operators can create a website very easily and without programming knowledge. In many cases, web hosts also offer modular systems. By using a modular system, personal data may also be collected from you, stored, and processed. In this data protection text, we provide you with general information on data processing by modular systems. You can find more detailed information in the data protection declarations of the providers.

Why do we use website modular systems for our website?

The biggest advantage of a modular system is that it is easy to use. We want to offer you a clear, simple, and concise website that we can easily operate and maintain ourselves – without external support. A modular system now offers many helpful functions that we can use even without programming knowledge. This enables us to design our internet presence according to our wishes and to offer you an informative and pleasant time on our website.

What data is stored by a modular system?

Exactly what data is stored depends, of course, on the website modular system used. Each provider processes and collects different data from the website visitor. But as a rule, technical usage information such as operating system, browser, screen resolution, language and keyboard settings, hosting provider and the date of your website visit are collected. Tracking data (e.g., browser activity, clickstream activity, session heatmaps, etc.) may also be processed. In addition, personal data may also be collected and stored. This is mostly contact data such as email address, telephone number (if you have provided it), IP address and geographical location data. You can find out exactly what data is stored in the provider’s privacy policy.

How long and where is the data stored?

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below in connection with the website construction kit system used, provided we have further information on this. You will find detailed information about this in the provider’s privacy policy. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is necessary for the provision of our services and products. It may be that the provider stores data about you according to its own specifications, over which we have no control.

Right of objection

You always have the right to information, correction, and deletion of your personal data. If you have any questions, you can also contact the person responsible for the website construction system used at any time. You can find contact details either in our privacy policy or on the website of the relevant provider.

You can delete, deactivate, or manage cookies that providers use for their functions in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. Please note, however, that all functions may then no longer work as usual.

Legal basis

We have a legitimate interest in using a website construction kit in order to optimise our online service and present it to you in an efficient and user-friendly manner. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use the construction kit if you have given your consent.

Insofar as the processing of data is not necessary for the operation of the website, the data will only be processed based on your consent. This applies in particular to tracking activities. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

With this data protection declaration, we have provided you with the most important general information about data processing. If you would like more detailed information, you will find further information – if available – in the following section or in the privacy policy of the provider.

WordPress.com Privacy Policy

We use WordPress.com, a website modular system, for our website. The service provider is the American company Automattic Inc, 60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA.

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

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

The Data Processing Agreements, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://wordpress.com/support/data-processing-agreements/.

You can find out more about the data processed with WordPress.com in the privacy policy at https://automattic.com/de/privacy/.

Google Analytics privacy policy

Google Analytics Privacy Policy summary
Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: To analyse visitor information in order to optimise the website.
Data processed: Access statistics, which include data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
Storage period: depending on the properties used
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is Google Analytics?

We use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) of the American company Google Inc. on our website. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. The reports we receive from Google Analytics help us to better tailor our website and service to your preferences. In the following, we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and inform you about what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that is used to analyse the traffic on our website. In order for Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is built into the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions you take on our website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics servers and stored there.

Google processes the data, and we receive reports about your user behaviour. These reports may include, but are not limited to, the following:

Audience reports: Audience reports help us get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
Ad reports: Ad reports help us analyse and improve our online advertising.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information on how to attract more people to our service.
Behaviour reports: This tells us how you interact with our website. We can track the path you take on our site and which links you click on.
Conversion reports: Conversion is when you take a desired action as a result of a marketing message. For example, when you go from being just a website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts are working for you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
Real-time reports: Here we always know immediately what is happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are reading this text.

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

Our goal with this website is clear: we want to offer you the best possible service. The statistics and data from Google Analytics help us to achieve this goal.

The statistically evaluated data shows us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimise our site so that it is found more easily by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. We thus know exactly what we need to improve on our website in order to offer you the best possible service. The data also helps us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and cost-effective way. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.

What data is stored by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID that is linked to your browser cookie. This is how Google Analytics recognises you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognised as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This is what makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles in the first place.

To be able 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. For each newly created property, the Google Analytics 4 property is standard. Alternatively, you can also create the Universal Analytics property. Depending on the property used, data is stored for different periods of time.

Labels such as cookies and app instance IDs are used to measure your interactions on our website. Interactions are all types of actions you take on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google Account), data generated through Google Analytics may be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share Google Analytics data unless we, as the website operator, authorise it. Exceptions may occur if required by law.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Value: 2.1326744211.152111895324-5
Purpose: 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: _gid
Value: 2.1687193234.152111895324-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish between website visitors.
Expiry date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Value: 1
Purpose: Used to lower the request rate. If Google Analytics is provided via Google Tag
Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_ <property-id>.
Expiry date: after 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: not specified
Purpose: The cookie has a token that can be used to retrieve a user ID from the AMP client ID service. Other possible values indicate a logout, a request, or an error.
Expiry date: after 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma
Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie is used to track your behaviour on the website and measure performance. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: __utmt
Value: 1
Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id> to throttle the request rate.
Expiry date: after 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 info is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes

Name: __utmc
Value: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to set new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie and is only stored until you close the browser again.
Expiry date: After closing the browser.

Name: __utmz
Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. This means that the cookie stores from where you came to our website. This may have been another page or an advertisement.
Expiry date: after 6 months

Name: __utmv
Value: not specified
Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is updated whenever information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as Google also changes the choice of its cookies from time to time.

Here we show you an overview of the most important data collected with Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Heatmaps allow you to see exactly those areas that you click on. This gives us information about where you are “travelling” on our site.

Session duration: Google defines session duration as the time you spend on our site without leaving. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.

Bounce rate: A bounce is when you view only one page on our website and then leave our website again.

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

IP address: The IP address is only shown in abbreviated form so that no clear attribution is possible.

Location: The IP address can be used to determine the country and your approximate location. This process is also referred to as IP location determination.

Technical information: Technical information includes your browser type, internet service provider or screen resolution.

Source of origin: Google Analytics and we are of course also interested in which website or which advertisements you came to our site from.

Other data include contact details, any ratings, the playing of media (e.g., if you play a video via our site), the sharing of content via social media or adding to your favourites. This list does not claim to be complete and only serves as a general orientation of the data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has its servers spread all over the world. Most servers are located in America and consequently your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can find out exactly where Google’s data centres are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de

Your data is distributed on different physical data carriers. This has the advantage that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In each Google data centre, there are corresponding emergency programmes for your data. If, for example, the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters paralyse servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google remains low.

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

For Universal Analytics properties, the default retention period for your user data is 26 months. Your user data will then be deleted. However, we have the option to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. There are five options available to us for this:

Deletion after 14 months
Deletion after 26 months
Deletion after 38 months
Deletion after 50 months
No automatic deletion

In addition, there is also the option that data is only deleted when you no longer visit our website within the period we have chosen. In this case, the retention period is reset each time you visit our website again within the set period.

Once the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g., DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored separately from user data. Aggregated data is a merging of individual data into a larger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Under European Union data protection law, you have the right to access, update, delete or restrict your data. You can prevent Google Analytics from using your data by using the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js). You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only deactivates the collection of data by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to deactivate, delete, or manage cookies (independently of Google Analytics), there are separate instructions for each 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: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Legal basis

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

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

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

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

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses and also apply to Google Analytics, can be found at https://business.safety.google/adsprocessorterms/.

We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information about Google Analytics data processing. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

Google Analytics Demographic and Interest Reports

We have enabled advertising reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographic and interest reports contain information on age, gender, and interests. This allows us to get a better picture of our users without being able to attribute this data to individual people. You can find out more about the advertising functions at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad.

You can deactivate the use of the activities and information of your Google account under “Advertising settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via a checkbox.

Google Analytics deactivation link

If you click on the following deactivation link, you can prevent Google from recording further visits to this website. Please note: Deleting cookies, using the incognito/private mode of your browser, or using a different browser will result in data being collected again.

“Deactivate Google Analytics”

Google Analytics Google Signals Privacy Policy

We have activated Google signals in Google Analytics. This updates existing Google Analytics features (advertising reports, remarketing, cross-device reports, and interest and demographic reports) to provide aggregated and anonymised data from you, provided you have allowed personalised ads in your Google Account.

What makes this special is that it is cross-device tracking. This means that your data can be analysed across devices. By activating Google signals, data is collected and linked to the Google account. Google can thus recognise, for example, if you view a product on our website via a smartphone and only buy the product later via a laptop. Thanks to the activation of Google signals, we can launch cross-device remarketing campaigns that would otherwise not be possible in this form. Remarketing means that we can also show you our offer on other websites.

In Google Analytics, Google signals also collect other visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your actions on our website. This gives us better advertising reports from Google and more useful information about your interests and demographics. This includes your age, what language you speak, where you live or what gender you are. Social criteria such as your profession, marital status or income are also added. All these characteristics help Google Analytics to define groups of people or target groups.

The reports also help us to better assess your behaviour, your wishes, and interests. This enables us to optimise and adapt our services and products for you. This data expires by default after 26 months. Please note that this data collection only takes place if you have allowed personalised advertising in your Google Account. This is always aggregated and anonymous data and never data of individual persons. You can manage or delete this data in your Google Account.

Google Analytics IP anonymisation

We have implemented Google Analytics IP address anonymisation on this website. This function was developed by Google to enable this website to comply with the applicable data protection regulations and recommendations of the local data protection authorities if they prohibit the storage of the full IP address. The anonymisation or masking of the IP takes place as soon as the IP addresses arrive in the Google Analytics data collection network and before any storage or processing of the data takes place.

More information on IP anonymisation can be found at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=de.

Google Analytics Data Processing Addendum

We have entered into a direct customer agreement with Google for the use of Google Analytics by accepting the “Data Processing Addendum” in Google Analytics.

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

MonsterInsights Privacy Policy

MonsterInsights Privacy Policy Summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: To analyse visitor information in order to optimise the website.
Data Processed: Access statistics, which include data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. More details on this can be found below or in the Google Analytics privacy policy.
Storage period: depends on the Google Analytics properties used.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is MonsterInsights?

We use the “Google Analytics Plugin for WordPress” of the American company MonsterInsights LCC (7732 Maywood Crest Dr, West Palm Beach, Florida, 33412, USA) on our website. The plugin is usually simply called MonsterInsights. With the help of the plugin, your user data can be stored, managed, and processed at Google Analytics. For example, when you click on a link, Google Analytics stores this “click” via the integrated plugin and offers informative web analyses through such collected data. In this privacy policy, we go into more detail about MonsterInsights and inform you which data is stored where and how.

MonsterInsights uses the Google Analytics Reporting API for its services to collect data about our website and visitor behaviour. This data is analysed and then appears as charts, graphs, and tables directly on our WordPress dashboard. For the plugin to work, a Google Analytics tracking code is embedded into our WordPress site. The plugin offers features such as page analytics, statistics, or ad tracking. So, with the help of the plug-in, we can set up tracking functions such as event tracking, eCommerce tracking or outbound link tracking for our website very easily and without any programming knowledge. We see all the important statistics summarised in a single place right in our dashboard.

Why do we use MonsterInsights?

MonsterInsights makes it much easier for us to use Google Analytics because we see the most important analytics right on our dashboard and don’t always have to switch to Google Analytics. Google Analytics provides us with a lot of important data about visitor behaviour on our website. With the help of this data, we can better adapt our website or our offer to your wishes. We use the statistics we receive to make our website more interesting and to target any advertisements.

What data is stored by MonsterInsights or Google Analytics?

By installing the MonsterInsights plugin, a Google Analytics tracking code is integrated into our WordPress website. With this, Google Analytics creates a random, unique ID that is linked to your browser cookie. In this way, you are recognised as a new visitor to our website. If you visit us again, you will be recognised as a so-called “returning” user. All collected data is then stored with this user ID. In this way, pseudonymous user profiles are created and evaluated. Your actions on our website are stored in cookies and app instance IDs. If you are linked to other Google services, the data generated may also be linked to third-party cookies.

All tracking is performed and stored by Google Analytics. MonsterInsights passes all data directly to Google Analytics to process on behalf of MonsterInsights. Google only shares this data if we allow it, or it is required by law. MonsterInsights does not use its own cookies to store data, but the code added by MonsterInsights loads Google Analytics, which adds cookies.

For example, it collects which website you came to us from, which buttons and links you click on, how long you stay on a certain page and when you leave the website again. Furthermore, your IP address is displayed and stored in abbreviated form so that no clear assignment is possible. The IP address can also be used to determine your approximate location and technical information such as device type, browser type, Internet provider or screen resolution is also stored.

If you want to know more about data storage and data processing, we recommend our general data protection declaration on Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

MonsterInsights does not store the collected data, but forwards it to Google Analytics. There, the data is stored on Google’s servers. These servers are distributed worldwide, but most are located in the USA. Under the link https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=de you can see exactly where the data centres are located. By default, Google stores your data for 26 months, but you also have the option to choose between different retention periods. Please also take a look at our Google Analytics privacy policy. The retention period applies to data linked to cookies, usage recognition and advertising ID. Web analytics that appear in the form of reports are generated by aggregated data and are stored independently of your user data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to information, updating, deletion and restriction of your data at any time. If you download and install the browser add-on https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de, you can prevent Google Analytics from using your data by deactivating Google Analytics JavaScript.

However, you can also generally deactivate, manage, or delete cookies via your browser. In the following, we show you the instructions for the most common 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: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Legal basis

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

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analysing the behaviour of website visitors in order to improve our offer technically and economically. With the help of MonsterInsights, we detect website errors, can identify attacks, and improve the economic efficiency. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use MonsterInsights if you have given your consent.

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

Google uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 GDPR) as the basis for data processing at recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e., in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. These clauses oblige Google to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses here, among other places: https://ec.europa.eu/germany/news/20210604-datentransfers-eu_de.

If you want to learn more about the WordPress plugin MonsterInsights, we recommend the website https://www.monsterinsights.com/. For more detailed information on data processing by Google Analytics, we recommend our Google Analytics privacy policy, Google’s information page at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de and the website on the terms of use for Google Analytics at https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/.

Email Marketing

Email Marketing summary
Data subjects: newsletter subscribers
Purpose: Direct marketing by email, notification of system relevant events.
Data processed: Data entered during registration but at least the email address. More details can be found in the respective email marketing tool used.
Storage period: Duration of the subscription.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is email marketing?

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

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

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

Why do we use email marketing?

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

What data is processed?

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

Duration of data processing

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

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

Right of objection

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

Legal basis

The sending of our newsletter is based on your consent (article 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). This means that we may only send you a newsletter if you have actively registered for it beforehand. If applicable, we may also send you advertising messages based on Section 7 (3) of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG), provided you have become our client and have not objected to the use of your email address for direct advertising.

Information on special email marketing services and how they process personal data – if available – can be found in the following sections.

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

LinkedIn Privacy Policy summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimisation of our service performance
Data Processed: Data such as user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address. More details can be found below in the privacy policy.
Storage period: the data is generally deleted within 30 days.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is LinkedIn?

We use social plug-ins of the social media network LinkedIn, of the company LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA on our website. The social plug-ins 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.

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 cannot 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 that a data record is turned 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 serves only as an example. The following cookies were set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Value: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16111895324-
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
Value: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G111895324…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the ways you came to 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
Value: ajax:1118953242900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions through 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 is why we also detected the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat during our test.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company considers it necessary to provide its own 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 delete your personal data at any time. You can manage, change, and delete your data in your LinkedIn account. In addition, you can also request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn.

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 LinkedIn from processing your data. 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: Delete and manage 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.

Legal basis

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

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

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

More information on the standard contractual clauses at LinkedIn can be found at https://de.linkedin.com/legal/l/dpa or https://www.linkedin.com/legal/l/eu-sccs.

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

Social Media

Social Media Privacy Policy summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: Presentation and optimisation of our service, contact with visitors, interested parties, etc., advertising.
Data processed: Data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, contact details, user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address. More details can be found with the respective social media tool used.
Storage period: depending on the social media platforms used.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is social media?

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

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and connect online. With our social media presences, we can bring our products and services closer to prospective customers. The social media elements integrated on our website help you to be able to switch to our social media content quickly and without complications.

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

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

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

What data is processed?

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

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

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

Duration of data processing

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

Right of objection

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

Since cookies may be used with social media tools, we also recommend that you read our general data protection declaration on cookies. To find out exactly what data is stored and processed by you, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

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

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

Cookie Consent Management Platform

Cookie Consent Management Platform summary
Data subjects: website visitors
Purpose: To obtain and manage consent for certain cookies and thus the use of certain tools.
Data processed: Data used to manage the cookie settings set such as IP address, time of consent, type of consent, individual consents. More details can be found with the respective tool used.
Storage period: Depends on the tool used, you must be prepared for periods of several years.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is a Cookie Consent Management Platform?

We use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) software on our website, which makes it easier for us and you to deal correctly and securely with scripts and cookies used. The software automatically creates a cookie pop-up, scans, and checks all scripts and cookies, provides cookie consent for you as required by data protection law and helps us and you to keep track of all cookies. With most cookie consent management tools, all existing cookies are identified and categorised. You as a website visitor then decide yourself whether and which scripts and cookies you allow or do not allow. The following graphic illustrates the relationship between browser, web server and CMP.

Why do we use a cookie management tool?

Our goal is to offer you the best possible transparency in data protection. In addition, we are also legally obliged to do so. We want to inform you as well as possible about all tools and all cookies that can store and process data from you. It is also your right to decide for yourself which cookies you accept and which you do not. To grant you this right, we first need to know exactly which cookies have ended up on our website in the first place. Thanks to a cookie management tool that regularly scans the website for all existing cookies, we know about all cookies and can provide you with GDPR-compliant information about them. You can then accept or reject cookies via the consent system.

What data is processed?

Within the framework of our cookie management tool, you can manage each individual cookie yourself and have complete control over the storage and processing of your data. The declaration of your consent is stored so that we do not have to query you each time you visit our website again and so that we can also prove your consent if required by law. This is stored either in an opt-in cookie or on a server. Depending on the provider of the cookie management tool, the storage period of your cookie consent varies. In most cases, this data (e.g., pseudonymous user ID, time of consent, details of cookie categories or tools, browser, device information) is stored for up to two years.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, provided we have further information on this. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is strictly necessary to provide our services and products. Data that is stored in cookies is stored for different lengths of time. Some cookies are deleted as soon as you leave the website, others may be stored in your browser for several years. The exact duration of data processing depends on the tool used, but in most cases, you should be prepared for a storage period of several years. The respective data protection declarations of the individual providers will usually provide you with precise information on the duration of data processing.

Right of objection

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

Information on special cookie management tools, if available, can be found in the following sections.

Legal basis

If you consent to cookies, personal data about you will be processed and stored via these cookies. If we are allowed to use cookies through your consent (article 6 (1) (a) GDPR), this consent is also the legal basis for the use of cookies or the processing of your data. To be able to manage the consent to cookies and to enable you to give your consent, cookie consent management platform software is used. The use of this software enables us to efficiently operate the website in a legally compliant manner, which constitutes a legitimate interest (article 6 (1) (f) GDPR).

BorlabsCookie Privacy Policy

We use BorlabsCookie on our website, which is among other things a tool to store your cookie consent. The service provider is the German company Borlabs – Benjamin A. Bornschein, Rübenkamp 32, 22305 Hamburg, Germany. You can find out more about the data processed by BorlabsCookie in the Privacy Policy at https://de.borlabs.io/datenschutz/.

YouTube Privacy Policy

YouTube Privacy Policy summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimisation of our service performance
Data Processed: Data such as contact details, user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address may be stored. More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
Storage period: Data is generally stored for as long as it is necessary for the purpose of the service.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is YouTube?

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 which data is processed, why we have integrated YouTube videos and how you can manage or delete your data.

On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment on and upload videos themselves free of charge. Over the last few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. To enable us to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have built into 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 are committed to providing you with the best possible user experience on our website. And of course, we cannot 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 through Google Ads, Google – thanks to the data it collects – can 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 a 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 cannot 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-CV6ojI5Y111895324-1
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 websites (with embedded YouTube video).
Expiry date: after 8 months

Other cookies set when you are logged in with your YouTube account:

Name: APISID
Value: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7111895324-
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about 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 of 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: oQfNKjAsI111895324-
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 it. 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?

Basically, you can delete data in your Google Account manually. With the automatic deletion feature of location and activity data introduced in 2019, information will be stored depending on your decision – either 3 or 18 months and then deleted.

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: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by embedded YouTube elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed based on our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the embedded YouTube elements if you have given your consent. YouTube also sets cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text on cookies carefully and view the data protection declaration or cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

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

As a basis for data processing with recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e., in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there, YouTube uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 GDPR). These clauses oblige YouTube to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses here, among other places: https://ec.europa.eu/germany/news/20210604-datentransfers-eu_de.

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.

YouTube Subscribe Button Privacy Policy

We have installed the YouTube subscribe button on our website. You can usually recognise the button by the classic YouTube logo. The logo shows the words “Subscribe” or “YouTube” in white letters against a red background and the white “Play” symbol to the left. However, the button can also be displayed in a different design.

Our YouTube channel always offers you funny, interesting, or exciting videos. With the built-in “Subscribe” button, you can subscribe to our channel directly from our website and do not have to go to the YouTube website. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access our extensive content. Please note that YouTube may store and process data about you as a result.

If you see a built-in subscription button on our site, YouTube – according to Google – sets at least one cookie. This cookie stores your IP address and our URL. YouTube can also learn information about your browser, your approximate location, and your default language this way. In our test, the following four cookies were set without being logged into YouTube:

Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5111895324Y
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video watched.
Expiry date: after end of session

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: 11189532495Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie attempts to estimate the user’s bandwidth on our websites (with embedded YouTube video).
Expiry date: after 8 months

Note: These cookies were set after a test and cannot claim to be complete.

If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can save many of your actions/interactions on our website with the help of cookies and assign them to your YouTube account. YouTube thus receives information, for example, about how long you surf our site, what type of browser you use, what screen resolution you prefer or what actions you perform.

YouTube uses this data on the one hand to improve its own services and offers, and on the other hand to provide analyses and statistics for advertisers (who use Google Ads).

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

Google Fonts Privacy Policy Summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimisation of our service performance
Data Processed: Data such as IP address and CSS and font requests. More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
Storage period: Font files are stored by Google for one year.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests)

What are Google Fonts?

We use Google Fonts on our website. 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 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 this data is stored in more detail.

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

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

With Google Fonts, we can use fonts on our own website and do not have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important component in keeping 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 on 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). We therefore 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 is 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 change the design or font of a website easily and quickly, for example.

The font files are stored by Google for one year. Google’s aim is to fundamentally improve 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 a day or a 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=111895324. Data storage can only be prevented in this case if you do not visit our site.

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So, we can access an unlimited sea of fonts and 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=111895324. There, Google does go into privacy-related matters, but really detailed information about data storage is not included. It is relatively difficult to get precise information about stored data from Google.

Legal basis

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

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

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which also correspond to the standard contractual clauses for Google Fonts, can be found at https://business.safety.google/adsprocessorterms/.

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/.

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy

On our website, we use Google Fonts from Google Inc. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European region. We have integrated the Google Fonts locally, i.e., on our web server – not on Google’s servers. This means that there is no connection to Google servers and therefore no data transfer or storage.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts used to be called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory of over 800 fonts that Google provides free of charge. With Google Fonts, you could use fonts without uploading them to your own server. However, to prevent any transfer of information to Google servers in this regard, we have downloaded the fonts to our server. In this way, we act in accordance with data protection and do not send any data to Google Fonts.

Google Maps Privacy Policy

Google Maps Privacy Policy Summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimisation of our service performance
Data processed: Data such as search terms entered, your IP address and also latitude or longitude coordinates. More details can be found further down in this privacy policy.
Storage period: depending on the data stored
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is Google Maps?

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.

Google Maps is an internet map 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 immediately where we are located. The directions always show you the best or fastest way to get to us. You can call up the directions for routes by car, public transport, on foot or by bicycle. For us, providing Google Maps is part of our customer service.

What data does Google Maps store?

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 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
Value: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ111895324-5
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 completeness in the information we store. Especially when using cookies, changes can never be excluded. To identify the cookie NID, a separate test page was created where only Google Maps was integrated.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google servers are located in data centres around the world. However, most servers are located in America. For this reason, your data is also increasingly stored in the USA. You can find out exactly where Google’s data centres are located here: 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 accessed 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 paralyses the servers, the data will quite safe remain protected anyway.

Google stores some data for a set period of time. For other data, Google only offers the option of deleting 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.

In your browser, you can also deactivate, delete, or manage individual cookies. 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: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Please note that when you use this tool, data about you may be stored and processed outside the EU. Most third countries (including the USA) are not considered secure under current European data protection law. Data to insecure third countries may therefore not simply be transferred, stored, and processed there unless there are appropriate safeguards (such as EU standard contractual clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.

Legal basis

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

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

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

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

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy Summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: To optimise our service performance and protect against cyber-attacks.
Data Processed: Data such as IP address, browser information, your operating system, limited location, and usage data. More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
Storage period: depending on the data stored
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).

What is reCAPTCHA?

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.

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 must actively solve puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here you only must 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 you enter the captcha. 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 to 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 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 really originate from people. This means that the IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service may 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 places an additional cookie on your browser and collects a snapshot of your browser window.

The following list of collected browser and user data does not claim to be exhaustive. 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 came)
IP address (e.g., 256.123.123.1)
Information 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 stored)
Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC is 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 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 whole 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-111895324-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by DoubleClick (also owned by Google) to register and report a user’s actions on the website when 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
Value: U7j1v3dZa1118953240xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
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
Value: 0WmuWqy111895324zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customise ads to your Google search. 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
Value: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc111895324-4
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=111895324.

Therefore, by using our website, you consent to the automatic collection, processing, and use of data by Google LLC and its agents.

Please note that when you use this tool, data about you may be stored and processed outside the EU. Most third countries (including the USA) are not considered secure under current European data protection law. Data to insecure third countries may therefore not simply be transferred, stored, and processed there unless there are suitable safeguards (such as EU standard contractual clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.

Legal basis

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

On our part, there is also a legitimate interest in using Google reCAPTCHA to optimise our online service and make it more secure. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google reCAPTCHA if you have given your consent.

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

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/.

Mapbox API Privacy Policy

Mapbox API Privacy Policy Summary

Data subjects: Visitors to the website
Purpose: To optimise our service performance
Data Processed: Data such as IP address, browser information, your operating system, content of the request, limited location, and usage data.
More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
Storage period: the IP address is deleted after 30 days, ID data after 36 months.
Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests).

What is Mapbox API?

On our website we use the Mapbox API of the American software company Mapbox Inc, 740 15th Street NW, 5th Floor, District of Columbia 20005, USA. Mapbox is an online mapping tool (open-source mapping) that is accessed via an interface (API). By using this tool, among other things, your IP address is forwarded to Mapbox and stored. In this privacy policy you will learn more about the functions of the tool, why we use it and, most importantly, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

Mapbox is an American software company that provides custom online maps for websites. Mapbox can be used to illustrate content on our website or, for example, to show directions graphically. The maps can be easily integrated into our website using small code snippets (JavaScript code). Among other things, Mapbox offers a mobile-friendly environment, route information is provided in real time and data is displayed in a visualised way.

Why do we use Mapbox API on our website?

We want to offer you a comprehensive service on our website as well and this should not simply end with our services or products. No, all of our content should also be useful to you. And this includes, for example, maps that show you the way to our company.

What data is stored by Mapbox API?

When you access one of our subpages that has an embedded online map from Mapbox, data about your user behaviour may be collected and stored. This is necessary for the integrated online maps to function properly. It may also be that collected data is passed on to third parties by Mapbox, but not personal data. This happens either when this is necessary for legal reasons or when Mapbox explicitly commissions another company. The map content is transmitted directly to your browser and integrated into our website.

Mapbox automatically collects certain technical information when requests are made to the APIs. In addition to your IP address, this includes browser information, your operating system, the content of the request, limited location and usage data, the URL of the visited website and the date and time of the website visit. According to Mapbox, the data is only used to improve its own products. Mapbox also collects randomly generated IDs to analyse user behaviour and determine the number of active users.

When you use one of our subpages and interact with an online map, Mapbox sets the following cookie in your browser:

Name: ppcbb-enable-content-mapbox_js
Value: 1605795587111895324-4
Purpose: We have not yet been able to find out more detailed information about the purpose of the cookie.
Expiry date: after one year

Note: In our tests, we did not find a cookie in the Chrome browser, but we did find one in other browsers.

How long and where is data stored?

The collected data is stored and processed on American servers of the company Mapbox. Your IP address is kept for 30 days for security reasons and then deleted. Randomly generated IDs (no personal data) that analyse the use of the APIs are deleted after 36 months.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you do not want Mapbox to process data about you or your user behaviour, you can deactivate JavaScript in your browser settings. Of course, you will then no longer be able to use the corresponding functions to the full extent.

You have the right to access and object to the use and processing of your personal data at any time. You can manage, delete, or deactivate cookies that may be set by Mapbox API in your browser at any time. However, by doing so, the service may no longer function fully. For each browser, managing, deleting, or disabling cookies works slightly differently. Below you will find links to the instructions for 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: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Legal basis

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

On our part, there is also a legitimate interest in using Mapbox API to optimise our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Mapbox API if you have given your consent.

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

Mapbox uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 GDPR) as the basis for data processing with recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e., in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. These clauses oblige Mapbox to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the clauses, among others, here: https://ec.europa.eu/germany/news/20210604-datentransfers-eu_de.

If you want to learn more about the data processing by Mapbox, we recommend the company’s privacy policy at https://www.mapbox.com/legal/privacy.

All texts are protected by copyright.

Source: Created with the data protection generator by AdSimple