Privacy Policy | ROWA - Moser | ROWA

Introduction and Overview

We have written this privacy policy (version 17/11/2021-111880649) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, which personal data (data, for short) we as the controller – and the processors commissioned by us (e.g. providers) – process, will process in future and which lawful options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral.
In brief: We provide you with comprehensive information about the data we process about you.

Privacy policies usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. This privacy policy, by contrast, aims to describe the most important points to you as simply and transparently as possible. Where this benefits transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly way, links to further

information are provided and graphics are used. In doing so, we inform you in clear and simple language that, within the scope of our business activities, we only process personal data if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible if you provide the most concise, unclear and legal-technical explanations possible, as is often the standard 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 among them that you did not yet know.

If questions nevertheless remain, we would ask you to contact the responsible body named below or in the legal notice, to follow the links provided and to view further information on third-party sites. Of course, you can also find our contact details in the legal notice.

Scope

This privacy policy applies to all personal data processed by us within the company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (processors). By personal data we mean information within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR such as, for example, a person's name, email address and postal address. The processing of personal data enables us to offer and bill our services and products, whether online or offline. The scope of this privacy policy covers:

all online presences (websites, online shops) that we operate

social media presences and email communication

mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

In brief: The privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed within the company in a structured manner via the channels mentioned. Should we enter into legal relationships with you outside these channels, we will inform you separately where necessary.

Legal Bases

In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information about the legal principles and provisions, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, that 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. You can of course read this EU General Data Protection Regulation online on EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legalcontent/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. One example would be the storage of the data you have entered in 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 purchase contract with you, we need personal information in advance.

Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) GDPR): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we process your data. For example, we are legally obliged to keep invoices for our accounting. These generally 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 have to process certain data in order to be able to operate our website securely and in an economically efficient manner. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

Other conditions, such as the performance of tasks carried out in the public interest and the exercise of official authority as well as the protection of vital interests, generally do not arise with us. Should such a legal basis nevertheless be relevant, it will be indicated at the appropriate point.

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

In Austria this is the Federal Act on the Protection of Natural Persons with regard to the Processing of Personal Data (Data Protection Act), or DSGfor short.

In Germany the Federal Data Protection Actapplies, or BDSGfor short.

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

Storage Period

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

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

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

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

Under Article 13 GDPR, you are entitled to the following rights so that data is processed fairly and transparently:

Under Article 15 GDPR, you have a right of access as to whether we process data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to receive a copy of the data and to be informed of the following:

for what purpose we carry out the processing; o the categories, i.e. the types of data, that are processed; o who receives this data and, if the data is transferred to third countries, how security can be guaranteed;

how long the data is 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 (you will find links to these authorities further below);

the origin of the data, if we did not collect it from you;

whether profiling is carried out, i.e. whether data is automatically evaluated in order to arrive at a personal profile of you.

Under Article 16 GDPR, you have a right to rectification of the data, which means that we must correct data if you find errors.

Under Article 17 GDPR, you have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), which specifically means that you may request the deletion of your data.

Under Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it further.

Under Article 19 GDPR, you have the right to data portability, which means that on request we will provide you with your data in a common format.

Under Article 21 GDPR, you have a right to object, which upon enforcement brings about a change in the processing.

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 can object to the processing. We will then check as quickly as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.

If data is used to conduct 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 to conduct profiling, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may then no longer use your data for profiling.

Under Article 22 GDPR, you may in certain circumstances have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example profiling).

In brief: You have rights – do not hesitate to contact the responsible body listed above at our company!

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have been infringed in any other way, you can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the

Data Protection Authority, whose website you can find 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) . For our company, the following local data protection authority is responsible:

Austria Data Protection Authority

Head: Mag. Dr. Andrea Jelinek
Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna
Phone no.: +43 1 52 152-0
Email address: dsb@dsb.gv.at
Website: https://www.dsb.gv.at/

Data Transfer to Third Countries

We only transfer or process data in countries outside the EU (third countries) if you consent to this processing, if it is legally required or contractually necessary and, in any case, only insofar as this is generally permitted. In most cases, your consent is the most important reason for us having data processed in third countries. The
processing of personal data in third countries such as the USA, where many
software manufacturers offer services and have their server locations, can mean that personal data is processed and stored in unexpected ways.

We expressly point out that, in 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, for example, Google Analytics) can lead to data possibly not being processed and stored anonymously. Furthermore, US government authorities may possibly gain access to individual
data. In addition, it may happen that collected data is linked with 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, provided this is offered.

We will inform you in more detail at the appropriate points of this privacy policy about data transfers to third countries, insofar as this applies.

Security of Data Processing

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

Art. 25 GDPR speaks here of “data protection by design and by default” and means by this that both with software (e.g. forms) and hardware (e.g. access to the server room) one always thinks about security and takes appropriate measures. In the following, we will, if necessary, go into specific measures.

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 securely on the internet in a way that cannot be intercepted.
This means that the complete transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – no one can “listen in”.

In doing so, we have introduced an additional layer of security and fulfil data protection by design ( Article 25(1) GDPR). Through the use of TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for the secure transmission of data on the internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data.
You can recognise the use of this safeguarding of data transmission by the small

padlock symbol at the top left in the browser, to the left of the internet address (e.g. examplepage.com) and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our internet address.
If you would like to know more about the topic of encryption, we recommend the Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to obtain good links to further information.

Web Hosting

Web Hosting Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: professional hosting of the website and safeguarding of operations
📓 Data processed: IP address, time of the website visit, browser used and further data. You can find more details on this further below or with the respective web hosting provider used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the respective provider, but generally 2 weeks
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is web hosting?

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

If you would like to view a website on a screen, you use a program for this called a web browser. You probably know some web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari.

This web browser must connect to another computer where the code of the website is stored: the web server. Operating a web server is a complicated and demanding task, which is why this is generally handled by professional providers. These offer web hosting and thereby ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data.

During the connection establishment of the browser on your computer (desktop, laptop,

smartphone) and during the data transmission to and from the web server, the processing of personal data may occur. On the one hand your computer stores data, on the other hand the web server must also store data for a while in order to ensure proper operation.

By way of illustration:

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of the data processing are:

Professional hosting of the website and safeguarding of operations

to maintain operational and IT security

Anonymous evaluation of access behaviour to improve our offer and, where applicable, for criminal prosecution or the pursuit of claims

Which data is processed?

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

the complete internet address (URL) of the accessed web page (e.g. https://www.examplewebsite.com/examplesubpage.html?tid=111880649)

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.examplesourcesite.com/wherevaicamefrom.html/)

the host name and IP address of the device from which access is made (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)

date and time

in files, the so-called web server log files

How long is data stored?

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

In brief: Your visit is logged by our provider (the 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 within the scope of web hosting results from Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (safeguarding of legitimate interests), because the

use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary in order to present the company securely and in a user-friendly manner on the internet and to be able to pursue attacks and claims arising from this where applicable.

Between us and the hosting provider there is generally a contract for order processing pursuant to Art. 28 et seq. GDPR, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.

Web Analytics

Web Analytics Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: evaluation of visitor information to optimise the web offering.
📓 Data processed: access statistics containing data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. You can find more details on this with the respective web analytics tool used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the web analytics tool used
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is web analytics?

On our website we use software to evaluate the behaviour of website visitors, referred to for short as web analytics. In this process, data is collected that the respective analytics tool provider (also called a tracking tool) stores, manages and processes. With the help of the data, analyses of user behaviour on our website are created and made available to us as the website operator. In addition, most tools offer various testing options. For example, we can test which offers or content our visitors respond to best. For this we show you two different offers for a limited period of time. After the test (a so-called A/B test) we know which product or content our website visitors find more interesting. For such testing procedures, as well as for other analytics procedures, user profiles can also be created and the data stored in cookies.

Why do we conduct web analytics?

With our website we have a clear goal in mind: we want to deliver the best web offering on the market for our sector. To achieve this goal, we want on the one hand to offer the best and most interesting offer and on the other hand to ensure that you feel thoroughly comfortable on our website. With the help of web analytics tools we can take a closer look at the behaviour of our website visitors and then improve our web offering accordingly for you and for us. For example, we can determine how old our visitors are on average, where they come from, when our website is visited most or which content or products are particularly popular. All this

information helps us to optimise the website and thus adapt it optimally to your needs, interests and wishes.

Which data is processed?

Which data exactly is stored naturally depends on the analysis tools used. But as a rule, for example, it is stored which content you view on our website, which buttons or links you click, when you call up a page, which browser you use, with which device (PC, tablet, smartphone etc.) you visit the website or which computer system you use. If you have agreed that location data may also be collected, this can also be processed by the web analytics tool provider.

In addition, your IP address is also stored. Under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), IP addresses are personal data. Your IP address is, however, generally stored in pseudonymised form (i.e. in an unrecognisable and shortened form). For the purpose of the tests, web analytics and web optimisation, no direct data such as your name, your age, your address or your email address is stored in principle. All this data, insofar as it is collected, is stored in pseudonymised form. In this way you as a person cannot be identified.

The following example schematically shows the functioning of Google Analytics as an example of client-based web tracking with JavaScript code.

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

Duration of data processing

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

Right to object

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

Legal basis

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

In addition to consent, there is a legitimate interest on our part in analysing the behaviour of website visitors and thus improving our offering technically and economically. With the help of web analytics we recognise errors of the website, can identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests). We nevertheless only use the tools insofar as you have given your consent.

Since cookies are used with web analytics tools, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out which data of yours exactly is stored and processed, you should read through the privacy policies of the respective tools.

Information on specific web analytics tools you will find – insofar as available – in the following sections.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

Google Analytics Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: evaluation of visitor information to optimise the web offering.
📓 Data processed: access statistics containing data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. You can find more details on this further below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: depending on the properties used
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Google Analytics?

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

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that serves the traffic analysis of our website. In order for Google Analytics to function, a tracking code is built into the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions that you carry out 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 can, among other things, be the following reports:

Audience reports: Through audience reports we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.

Ad reports: Through ad reports we can analyse and improve our online advertising more easily.

Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information about how we can inspire more people for our service.

Behaviour reports: Here we learn how you interact with our website. We can trace which path you take on our site and which links you click.

Conversion reports: A conversion is the term for a process in which you carry out a desired action on the basis of a marketing message. For example, when you go from being a mere website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. With the help of these reports we learn more about how our marketing measures are received by you. In this way we want to increase our conversion rate.

Real-time reports: Here we always learn immediately what is currently happening on our website. For example, we see how many users are currently 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 show us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand we can optimise our page so that it is more easily found by interested people on Google. On the other hand the data help us to better understand you as a visitor. We thus know very precisely what we need to improve on our website in order to offer you the best possible service. The data also help 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.

Which data is stored by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics creates a random, unique ID with the help of a tracking code, which is connected to your browser cookie. In this way Google Analytics recognises you as a new user. When you next visit our page, you are recognised as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. Only in this way is it possible at all to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.

In order 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 every newly created property, the Google Analytics 4 property is the default. Alternatively, however, the Universal Analytics property can also still be created. Depending on the property used, data is stored for different lengths of time.

Through identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs, your interactions on our website are measured. Interactions are all types of actions that you carry out on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as, for example, a Google account), data generated via Google Analytics can be linked with third-party cookies. Google does not pass on any Google Analytics data unless we as the website operator authorise this. Exceptions can occur if it is legally required.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Value: 2.1326744211.152111880649-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. In principle it serves to distinguish website visitors. Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Value: 2.1687193234.152111880649-1
Purpose: This cookie also serves to distinguish 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 the Google Tag Manager, this cookie is given the name _dc_gtm_ <property-id>.
Expiry date: after 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: no details
Purpose: The cookie has a token with which a user ID can be retrieved from the AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate a log-out, a request or an error.
Expiry date: after 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma
Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: With this cookie one can track your behaviour on the website and measure performance. The cookie is updated each 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 each 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. It 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 the visitor traffic on our website. That is, the cookie stores where you came to our website from. This could have been another page or an advertisement.
Expiry date: after 6 months

Name: __utmv
Value: no details
Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is always updated when information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, since Google repeatedly changes the choice of its cookies. Here we show you an overview of the most important data that is collected with Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Via heatmaps one sees exactly those areas that you click. In this way we obtain information about where you are “moving” on our page.

Session duration: Session duration is what Google calls the time you spend on our page without leaving the page. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.

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

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

IP address: The IP address is only displayed in shortened form so that no clear attribution is possible.

Location: Via the IP address, the country and your approximate location can be determined. This process is also referred to as IP geolocation.

Technical information: Technical information includes, among other things, your browser type, your internet provider or your screen resolution.

Source of origin: Google Analytics, and of course we, are naturally also interested in which website or which advertisement you came to our page from.

Further data are contact data, any reviews, the playback of media (e.g. if you play a video via our page), the sharing of content via social media or adding to your favourites. This list does not claim to be exhaustive and serves only as general orientation about data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has its servers distributed all over the world. Most of the servers are located in America and consequently your data is mostly stored on American servers. Here you can read exactly where the Google data centres are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de

Your data is distributed across various physical data carriers. This has the advantage that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In every Google data centre there are corresponding emergency programs for your data. If, for example, the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters paralyse servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google nevertheless 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 of choosing a retention period of 2 months or 14 months.

For Universal Analytics properties, a retention period of your user data of 26 months is set as standard in Google Analytics. Then your user data is deleted. However, we have the option of choosing the retention period of usage data ourselves. Five variants are 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 once you no longer visit our website within the period chosen by us. In this case the retention period is reset each time you visit our website again within the defined period.

When the defined period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data that is linked with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g. cookies of the DoubleClick domain). Report results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a merging of individual data into a larger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

Under the data protection law of the European Union, you have the right to obtain information about your

data, to update, delete or restrict it. With the help of the browser add-on for deactivating Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js) you prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at . Please note that this add-on only deactivates data collection by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies (independently of Google Analytics), there is a separate set of instructions for each browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable 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 have

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies

Legal basis

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

In addition to consent, there is a legitimate interest on our part in analysing the behaviour of website visitors and thus improving our offering technically and economically. With the help of Google Analytics we recognise errors of the website, can identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests). We nevertheless only use Google Analytics insofar as you have given your consent.

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

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 transfer of data there, Google uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template models provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data also complies with European data protection standards when it is transferred to third countries (such as, for example, to 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 USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses, among other places, here: https://eurlex.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 were able to bring you the most important information about the data processing of Google Analytics. If you would like 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 IP Anonymisation

We have implemented the IP address anonymisation of Google Analytics on this website. This function was developed by Google so that this website can comply with the applicable data protection provisions and recommendations of the local data protection authorities if these prohibit the storage of the complete 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 storage or processing of the data takes place.

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

Google Analytics Reports on Demographic Characteristics and Interests

We have enabled the functions for advertising reports in Google Analytics. The reports on demographic characteristics and interests contain information on age, gender and interests. With these we can – without being able to attribute this data to individual persons – get a better picture of our users. You can learn more about the advertising functions at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad.

You can end the use of the activities and information of your Google account under “Ad 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. Attention: 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 Data Processing Addendum

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

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

Google Analytics Google Signals Privacy Policy

We have activated Google Signals in Google Analytics. In this way the existing Google Analytics functions (advertising reports, remarketing, cross-device reports and reports on interests and demographic characteristics) are updated in order to obtain aggregated and anonymised data from you, provided you have permitted personalised ads in your Google account.

The special thing about this is that it is cross-device tracking. That is, your data can be analysed across devices. Through the activation of Google Signals, data is collected and linked with the Google account. Google can thereby recognise, for example, when you view a product on our website via a smartphone and only later buy the product via a laptop. Thanks to the activation of Google Signals we can start cross-device remarketing campaigns that would otherwise not be possible in this form. Remarketing means that we can show you our offer on other websites as well.

In Google Analytics, through Google Signals, further visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your actions on our website is also collected. We thereby receive from Google better advertising reports and more useful information about your interests and demographic characteristics. This includes your age, which language you speak, where you live or which gender you belong to. Furthermore, social criteria such as your profession, your marital status or your income are 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. As a result we can 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 permitted personalised advertising in your Google account. This is always aggregated and anonymous data and never data of individual persons. In your Google account you can manage or also delete this data.

Social Media

Social Media Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: presentation and optimisation of our service, contact with visitors, prospective customers and others, advertising
📓 Data processed: data such as phone numbers, email addresses, contact data, data on user behaviour, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this with the respective social media tool used.
📅 Storage period: depending on the social media platforms used
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is social media?

In addition to our website, we are also active on various social media platforms. In doing so, data of users can be processed so that we can specifically address users who are interested in us via the social networks. Furthermore, elements of a social media platform can also be embedded directly in our website. This is the case, for example, when you click a so-called social button on our website and are forwarded directly to our social media presence. Websites and apps via which registered members produce content, exchange content openly or in certain groups and can network with other members are referred to as social media.

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and make contact 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 switch quickly and without complications to our social media content.

The data that is stored and processed through your use of a social media channel primarily has the purpose of being able to carry out web analyses. The goal 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. In this way it is also possible for the platforms to present you with tailored advertisements. Mostly, for this purpose, cookies are set in your browser that store data about your usage behaviour.

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

Please note that when using the social media platforms or our embedded elements, data of yours can also be processed outside the European Union, since many social media channels, for example Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. As a result, you may possibly no longer be able to claim or enforce your rights regarding your personal data so easily.

Which data is processed?

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

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

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

Duration of data processing

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

Right to object

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

Since cookies can be used with social media tools, we also recommend our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out which data of yours exactly is stored and processed, you should read through the privacy policies of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data of yours may be processed and stored through embedded social media elements, this consent applies as the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). In principle, if consent is present, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We nevertheless only use the tools insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser in order to store data. For this reason we recommend that you read carefully our data protection text on cookies and view the privacy policy or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

Information on specific social media platforms you will learn – insofar as available – in the following sections.

Facebook Privacy Policy

Facebook Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service
📓 Data processed: data such as customer data, data on user behaviour, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this further below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: until the data is no longer useful for Facebook's purposes
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are Facebook tools?

On our website we use selected tools from Facebook. Facebook is a

social media network of the company Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square,

Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. With the help of these tools we can offer you and people who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer.

If data of yours is collected and forwarded via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page

(fan page), both we and

Facebook Ireland Ltd. are responsible for this. For the further processing of this data, Facebook bears sole responsibility. Our joint obligations have also been enshrined in a publicly accessible agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum . Among other things, it is stipulated therein that we must inform you clearly about the use of the Facebook tools on our page. Furthermore, we are also responsible for the tools being integrated into our website in a data-protection-secure manner. Facebook, by contrast, is responsible for example for the data security of the Facebook products. In the event of any questions about data collection and data processing by Facebook, you can contact the company directly. If you direct the question to us, we are obliged to forward it to Facebook.

In the following we give an overview of the various Facebook tools, which data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.

Alongside many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. That is the official name from Facebook. Since the term is, however, hardly known, we have decided to simply call them Facebook tools. Among them are, among others:

Facebook Pixel

social plug-ins (such as, for example, the “Like” or “Share” button)

Facebook Login

Account Kit

APIs (programming interface)

SDKs (collection of programming tools)

platform integrations

plugins

codes

specifications

documentation

technologies and services

Through these tools, Facebook expands services and has the possibility of receiving information about user activities outside Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We want to show our services and products only to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads) we can reach exactly these people. In order for users to be shown suitable advertising, however, Facebook needs information about the wishes and needs of people. In this way the company is provided with information about user behaviour (and contact data) on our website. As a result Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate advertising about our products or services. The tools thus enable tailored advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Data about your behaviour on our website is called “event data” by Facebook. This is also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus create “campaign reports” on our behalf about the effect of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, through analyses we gain a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. As a result we optimise your user experience on our website with some of these tools. For example, with the social plug-ins you can share content on our page directly on Facebook.

Which data is stored by Facebook tools?

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

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data that it itself has about you (provided you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transmitted to Facebook, so-called “hashing” takes place. This means that an arbitrarily large data set is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to the contact data, “event data” is also transmitted. By “event data” is meant that information that we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the received information with third parties (such as, for example, advertisers) unless the company has explicit permission or is legally obliged to. “Event data” can also be connected with contact data. As a result Facebook can offer better personalised advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact data again.

In order to be able to deliver advertisements in an optimised way, Facebook uses the event data only when it has been aggregated with other data (that was collected by Facebook in another way). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development and research purposes. Much of this data is transmitted to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used and depending on whether you are a Facebook member, a different number of cookies is created in your browser. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools we go into individual Facebook cookies in more detail. General information about the use of

Facebook cookies you can also learn at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers distributed all over the world where its data is stored. Customer data is, however, deleted within 48 hours after it has been matched with its own user data.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, rectification, portability and erasure of your data.

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

Click on Settings on the right at Facebook.

Then click in the left column on “Your Facebook information”.

Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.

Now choose “Delete account” and then click on “Continue and delete account”

Now enter your password, click on “Continue” and then on “Delete account”

The storage of the data that Facebook receives via our page takes place, among other things, via cookies (e.g. with social plugins). In your browser you can deactivate, delete or manage individual or all cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how you manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable 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 have

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies

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

Legal basis

If you have consented that data of yours may be processed and stored through embedded Facebook tools, this consent applies as the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We nevertheless only use the tools insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser in order to store data. For this reason we recommend that you read carefully our data protection text on cookies and view the privacy policy or the cookie guidelines of Facebook.

Facebook processes data of yours, among other places, also in the USA. We point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks for the lawfulness and security of the data processing.

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 transfer of data there, Facebook uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template models provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data also complies with European data protection standards when it is transferred to third countries (such as, for example, to the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Facebook undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses, among other places, here: https://eurlex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

The Facebook data processing terms, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.

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

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

On our website so-called social plug-ins of the company Facebook Inc. are built in. You recognise these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the “Like” button (the hand with raised thumb) or by a clear “Facebook Plugin” marking. A social plug-in is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our page. Each plug-in has its own function. The most frequently used functions are the well-known “Like” and “Share” buttons.

The following social plug-ins are offered by Facebook:

“Save” button

“Like” button, Share, Send and Quote

Page plug-in

Comments

Messenger plug-in

Embedded posts and video player

Group plug-in

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

Provided you have a Facebook account or have already visited facebook.com , Facebook has already set at least one cookie in your browser. In this case your browser sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our page or interact with social plug-ins (e.g. the “Like” button).

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

In order to prevent Facebook from collecting a lot of data during your visit on our website and connecting it with the Facebook data, you must log out of Facebook (sign out) during the website visit.

If you are not logged in to Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser sends less information to Facebook, because you have fewer Facebook cookies. Nevertheless, data such as, for example, your IP address or which website you are visiting can be transmitted to Facebook. We would also like to expressly point out that we do not know exactly the precise contents of the data. We do, however, try to inform you as well as possible about the data processing according to our current state of knowledge. How Facebook uses the data you can also read in the company's data policies at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

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

Name: dpr
Value: no details
Purpose: This cookie is used so that the social plug-ins on our website function.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: fr
Value: 0jieyh4111880649c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: This cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to function flawlessly. Expiry date:: after 3 months
Note: These cookies were set after a test, even if you are not a Facebook member.

Provided you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen yourself. If you are not a Facebook user, you can at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/in principle manage your usage-based online advertising. There you have the possibility to deactivate or activate providers.

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

Instagram Privacy Policy

Instagram Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service
📓 Data processed: data such as data on user behaviour, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this further below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: until Instagram no longer needs the data for its purposes
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Instagram?

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

In the following we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, which data is involved and how you can largely control the data processing. Since Instagram belongs to Facebook Inc., we obtain our information on the one hand from the Instagram guidelines, on the other hand, however, also from the Facebook data policies themselves.

Instagram is one of the best-known social media networks worldwide. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with the advantages of audiovisual platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. On “Insta” (as many of the users casually call the platform) you can upload photos and short videos, edit them with various filters and also distribute them on other social networks. And if you do not want to be active yourself, you can also just follow other interesting users.

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is the social media platform that really went through the roof in recent years. And of course we too have reacted to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. For this reason a varied preparation of our content is a matter of course for us. Through the embedded Instagram functions we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the collected data can also be useful to us for personalised advertising on Facebook. In this way only people who are really interested in our products or services receive our advertisements.

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

Which data is stored by Instagram?

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

Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the case with Instagram too. Customer data is, for example, name, address, phone number and IP address. This customer data is only transmitted to Instagram once it has previously been “hashed”. Hashing means a data set is transformed into a character string. As a result one can encrypt the contact data. In addition, the above-mentioned “event data” is also transmitted. By “event data”, Facebook – and consequently also Instagram – understands data about your user behaviour. It can also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The collected contact data is matched with the data that Instagram already has about you.

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

We assume that at Instagram the data processing works the same as at Facebook. This means: if you have an Instagram account or have visited www.instagram.com , Instagram has set at least one cookie. If this is the case, your browser sends info to Instagram via the cookie as soon as you come into contact with an Instagram function. At the latest after 90 days (after matching) this data is deleted or anonymised again. Although we have dealt intensively with the data processing of Instagram, we cannot say exactly which data Instagram precisely collects and stores.

In the following we show you cookies that are set at least in your browser when you click on an Instagram function (such as, for example, a button or an Insta image). In our test we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, considerably more cookies are of course set in your browser.

These cookies were used in our test:

Name: csrftoken
Value: “”
Purpose: This cookie is set with high probability for security reasons in order to prevent forgeries of requests. We could not, however, find out more precisely. Expiry date: after one year

Name: mid
Value: “”
Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie in order to optimise its own services and offers in and outside Instagram. The cookie establishes a unique user ID.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: fbsr_111880649124024
Value: no details
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiry date: after end of session

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

Name: urlgen
Value: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe111880649”
Purpose: This cookie serves the marketing purposes of Instagram.
Expiry date: after end of session

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

How long and where is the data stored?

Instagram shares the received information between the Facebook companies with external partners and with people with whom you connect worldwide. The data processing takes place in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is, among other things for security reasons, distributed on the Facebook servers all over the world. Most of these servers are located in the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, portability, rectification and erasure of your data. In the Instagram settings you can manage your data. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you must permanently delete your Instagram account.

And this is how deleting the Instagram account works:

First open the Instagram app. On your profile page go down and click on “Help area”. Now you come to the company's website. Click on the website on “Managing the account” and then on “Delete your account”.

If you completely delete your account, Instagram deletes posts such as, for example, your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you does not belong to your account and is consequently not deleted.

As already mentioned above, Instagram stores your data primarily via cookies. These cookies you can manage, deactivate or delete in your browser. Depending on your browser, the management always works a little differently. Here we show you the instructions of the most important browsers.

Chrome: Delete, enable 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 have
Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies
Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies

You can also generally 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 of yours may be processed and stored through embedded social media elements, this consent applies as the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We nevertheless only use the embedded social media elements insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser in order to store data. For this reason we recommend that you read carefully our data protection text on cookies and view the privacy policy or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

Instagram or Facebook processes data, among other places, also in the USA. We point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This can be associated with various risks for the lawfulness and security of the data processing.

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 transfer of data there, Facebook uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46(2) and (3) GDPR). These clauses oblige Facebook to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data even outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision as well as the clauses, among other places, here: https://ec.europa.eu/germany/news/20210604-datentransfers-eu_de.

We have tried to bring you the most important information about the data processing by Instagram. At https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875 you can go into the data guidelines of Instagram in more detail.

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

LinkedIn Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service
📓 Data processed: data such as data on user behaviour, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this further below in the privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: the data is generally deleted within 30 days
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is LinkedIn?

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

Through the embedding of such plug-ins, data can be sent to LinkedIn, stored and processed there. In this privacy policy we want to inform you which 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, for example, Facebook, the company concentrates exclusively on building business contacts. Companies can present services and products on the platform and forge business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn for job searches or to find suitable employees for their own company themselves. In Germany alone the network counts 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. There you cannot follow all social media channels individually. Even if it would, as in our case, be worthwhile. Because again and again we post interesting news or reports that are worth being distributed. For this reason we have created on our website the possibility to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn or to refer directly to our LinkedIn page. We regard built-in social plug-ins as an extended service on our website. The data that LinkedIn collects also helps us to show possible advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offer.

Which data is stored by LinkedIn?

Merely through the mere integration of the social plug-ins, LinkedIn stores no personal data. LinkedIn calls this data that is generated by plug-ins passive impressions. If, however, 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 happens regardless of whether you have a LinkedIn account or not. If you are logged in, the collected data is attributed to your account.

Your browser establishes a direct connection to the servers of LinkedIn when you interact with our plug-ins. In this way the company logs various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this can be, for example, login data, device information or info about your internet or mobile network provider. If you access LinkedIn services via your smartphone, your location can also be determined (after you have permitted this). LinkedIn can also pass on this data in “hashed” form to third-party advertisers. Hashing means that a data set is transformed into a character string. As a result one can encrypt the data in such a way that persons can no longer be identified.

Most of the data about your user behaviour is stored in cookies. These are small text files that are usually set in your browser. Furthermore, LinkedIn can, however, also use web beacons, pixel tags, ad 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 completeness and serves merely as an example. The following cookies were set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Value: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16111880649-
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=de-de
Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: lidc
Value: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G111880649…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the ways how 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:1118806492900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses in order to maintain anonymous user sessions through the server. Expiry date: after end of session

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

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

Note: LinkedIn also works together with third-party providers. For this reason, in our test we also recognised the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, LinkedIn keeps your personal data for as long as the company considers it necessary in order to offer its own services. LinkedIn, however, deletes your personal data if you delete your account. In some exceptional cases LinkedIn keeps, even after your account deletion, some data in aggregated and anonymised form. As soon as you delete your account, other people can no longer see your data within one day. LinkedIn generally deletes the data within 30 days. LinkedIn, however, retains data if it is necessary due to a legal obligation. Data that can no longer be attributed to persons remains stored even after closure of the account. The data is stored on various servers in America and presumably also in Europe.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

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

This is how you access the account data in your LinkedIn profile:

Click in LinkedIn on your profile symbol and choose the section “Settings and privacy”. Now click on “Privacy” and then in the section “How LinkedIn uses your data” on “Change”. In only a short time you can download selected data about your web activity and your account history.

You also have the possibility in your browser to prevent the data processing by LinkedIn. As already mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most data via cookies that are set in your browser. These cookies you can manage, deactivate or delete. Depending on which browser you have, the management works somewhat differently. The instructions of the most common browsers you will find here:

You can also generally 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 of yours may be processed and stored through embedded social media elements, this consent applies as the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. We nevertheless only use the embedded social media elements insofar as you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser in order to store data. For this reason we recommend that you read carefully our data protection text on cookies and view the privacy policy or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

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

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 transfer of data there, LinkedIn uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46(2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are template models provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data also complies with European data protection standards when it is transferred to third countries (such as, for example, to 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 USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses, among other places, here: https://eurlex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de More information on the standard contractual clauses at LinkedIn you will find at https://de.linkedin.com/legal/l/dpa or https://www.linkedin.com/legal/l/eu-sccs.

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

Font Awesome Privacy Policy

Font Awesome Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service
📓 Data processed: for example IP address and which icon files are loaded. You can find more details on this further below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: files in identifiable form are stored for a few weeks
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Font Awesome?

On our website we use Font Awesome of the American company Fonticons (307 S. Main St., Suite 202, Bentonville, AR 72712, USA). When you call up one of our web pages, the web font Font Awesome (in particular icons) is loaded via the Font Awesome Content Delivery Network (CDN). In this way the texts or fonts and icons are displayed appropriately on every end device. In this privacy policy we go into the data storage and data processing by this service in more detail.

Icons play an ever more important role for websites. Font Awesome is a web font that was developed specifically for web designers and web developers. With Font Awesome, for example, icons can be scaled and coloured at will with the help of the stylesheet language CSS. In this way they replace old image icons. Font Awesome CDN is the easiest way to load the icons or fonts onto your website. For this we only had to integrate a small line of code into our website.

Why do we use Font Awesome on our website?

Through Font Awesome, content on our website can be prepared better. In this way you can orient yourself better on our website and grasp the content more easily. With the icons one can sometimes even replace entire words and save space. This is especially practical when we optimise content specifically for smartphones. These icons are inserted as HTML code instead of as an image. As a result we can edit the icons with CSS exactly as we want. At the same time, with Font Awesome we also improve our loading speed, because they are only HTML elements and not icon images. All these advantages help us to make the website even clearer, fresher and faster for you.

Which data is stored by Font Awesome?

For loading icons and symbols, the Font Awesome Content Delivery Network (CDN) is used. CDNs are networks of servers that are distributed worldwide and make it possible to load files quickly from nearby. In this way, as soon as you call up one of our pages, the corresponding icons are provided by Font Awesome.

In order for the web fonts to be able to be loaded, your browser must establish a connection to the servers of the company Fonticons, Inc. In doing so, your IP address is recognised. Font Awesome also collects data about which icon files are downloaded when. Furthermore, technical data such as, for example, your browser version, screen resolution or the time of the called-up page is also transmitted.

This data is collected and stored for the following reasons:

to optimise Content Delivery Networks

to recognise and rectify technical errors

to protect CDNs against misuse and attacks

to be able to bill fees from Font Awesome Pro customers

to learn the popularity of icons

to know which computer and which software you use

If your browser does not allow web fonts, a standard font of your PC is automatically used. According to our current state of knowledge, no cookies are set. We are in contact with the data protection department of Font Awesome and will let you know as soon as we find out more.

How long and where is the data stored?

Font Awesome stores data about the use of the Content Delivery Network on servers also in the United States of America. The CDN servers are, however, located worldwide and store user data where you are located. In identifiable form the data is generally stored for only a few weeks. Aggregated statistics about the use of the CDNs can also be stored for longer. Personal data is not contained here.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

According to our current state of knowledge, Font Awesome stores no personal data via the Content Delivery Networks. If you do not want data about the icons used to be stored, you unfortunately cannot visit our website. If your browser does not allow web fonts, no data is transmitted or stored either. In this case the standard font of your computer is simply used.

Legal basis

If you have consented that Font Awesome may be used, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during collection by Font Awesome.

There is also a legitimate interest on our part in using Font Awesome in order to optimise our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests). We nevertheless only use Font Awesome insofar as you have given your consent.

We point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. The data processing takes place essentially through Font Awesome. This can lead to data possibly not being processed and stored anonymously. Furthermore, US government authorities may possibly gain access to individual data. It can furthermore happen that this data is linked with data from possible other services of Font Awesome for which you have a user account.

If you would like to learn more about Font Awesome and its handling of data, we recommend the privacy policy at https://fontawesome.com/privacy and the help page at https://fontawesome.com/help.

Google Site Kit Privacy Policy

Google Site Kit Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: evaluation of visitor information to optimise the web offering.
📓 Data processed: access statistics containing data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. You can find more details on this further below and in the privacy policy of Google Analytics.
📅 Storage period: depending on the properties used
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Google Site Kit?

We have integrated into our website the WordPress plugin Google Site Kit of the American company Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With Google Site Kit we can quickly and easily view statistics that originate from various Google products such as Google Analytics directly in our WordPress dashboard. The tool, or rather the tools integrated in Google Site Kit, also collect, among other things, personal data of yours. In this privacy policy we explain to you why we use Google Site Kit, how long and where data is stored and which further data protection texts are relevant for you in this connection.

Google Site Kit is a plugin for the content management system WordPress. With this plugin we can view important statistics for website analysis directly in our dashboard. This is statistics that is collected by other Google products. Above all by Google Analytics. In addition to Google Analytics, the services Google Search Console, Page Speed Insight, Google AdSense, Google Optimize and Google Tag Manager can also be linked with Google Site Kit.

Why do we use Google Site Kit on our website?

As a service provider it is our task to offer you the best possible experience on our website. You should feel comfortable on our website and quickly and easily find exactly what you are looking for. Statistical evaluations help us to get to know you better and to adapt our offer to your wishes and interests. For these evaluations we use various Google tools. Site Kit greatly facilitates our work in this respect, because we can view and analyse the statistics of the Google products right in the dashboard. We therefore no longer have to log in separately for the respective tool. Site Kit thus always offers a good overview of the most important analysis data.

Which data is stored by Google Site Kit?

If in the cookie notice (also called script or banner) you have actively agreed to tracking tools, cookies are set by Google products such as Google Analytics and data of yours, for example about your user behaviour, is sent to Google, stored and processed there. Among this, personal data such as your IP address is also stored.

For more precise information on the individual services, we have separate text sections in this privacy policy. Look, for example, at our privacy policy on Google Analytics. Here we go into the collected data very precisely. You learn how long Google Analytics stores, manages and processes data, which cookies can be used and how you can prevent the data storage. Likewise, for further Google services such as, for example, the Google Tag Manager or Google AdSense, we also have separate privacy policies with comprehensive information.

In the following we show you exemplary Google Analytics cookies that can be set in your browser, provided you have in principle agreed to the data processing by Google. Please note that these cookies are merely a selection:

Name: _ga
Value:2.1326744211.152111880649-2
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. In principle it serves to distinguish website visitors. Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Value:2.1687193234.152111880649-7
Purpose: This cookie too serves to distinguish website visitors.
Expiry date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is used to lower the request rate.
Expiry date: after 1 minute

How long and where is the data stored?

Google stores collected data on its own Google servers that are distributed worldwide. Most of the servers are located in the United States and therefore it is easily possible that your data is also stored there. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de you see exactly where the company provides servers.

Data that is collected by Google Analytics is retained as standard for 26 months. Afterwards your user data is deleted. The retention period applies to all data that is linked with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

You always have the right to obtain information about your data, to have your data deleted, rectified or restricted. In addition, you can also deactivate, delete or manage cookies at any time in your browser. Here we show you the corresponding instructions of the most common browsers:

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

Legal basis

The use of Google Site Kit requires your consent, which we have obtained with our cookie popup. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during collection by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, there is a legitimate interest on our part in analysing the behaviour of website visitors and thus improving our offering technically and economically. With the help of Google Site Kit we recognise errors of the website, can identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests). We nevertheless only use Google Site Kit insofar as you have given your consent.

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

In order to learn more about the data processing by Google, we recommend the comprehensive data protection guidelines of Google at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

Google Fonts Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service
📓 Data processed: data such as IP address and CSS and font requests. You can find more details on this further below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: font files are stored at Google for one year
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Google Fonts?

On our website we use Google Fonts. These are the “Google fonts” of the company Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services.

For the use of Google fonts you do not have to register or deposit a password. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser either. The files (CSS, fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, the requests for CSS and fonts are completely separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you need not worry that your Google account data is transmitted to Google during the use of Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. What the data storage looks like exactly we will look at in detail below.

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is a directory with 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 were published under the Apache License. Both are free software licenses.

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 onto our own server. Google Fonts is an important building block for 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 end devices. When you visit our page, 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 end devices can lead to errors. Such errors can partly optically distort texts or entire websites. Thanks to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN) there are no cross-platform problems with Google Fonts.

Google Fonts supports all common 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 display our entire online service as beautifully and uniformly as possible.

Which data is stored by Google?

When you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded via a Google server. Through this external call, data is transmitted to the Google servers. In this way Google also recognises that you or your IP address visited our website. The Google Fonts API was developed in order to reduce the use, storage and collection of end-user data to what is necessary for a proper provision of fonts. API, incidentally, stands for “Application Programming Interface” and serves, among other things, as a data transmitter in the software field.

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. The results Google publishes on internal analysis pages, such as, for example, Google Analytics. In addition, Google also uses data of its own web crawler in order to determine which websites use Google fonts. This data is published in the BigQuery database of Google Fonts. Entrepreneurs and developers use the Google web service BigQuery in order to be able to examine and move large volumes of data.

It should, however, be borne in mind that through every Google Font request, information such as language settings, IP address, version of the browser, screen resolution of the browser and name of the browser is also automatically transmitted to the Google servers. Whether this data is also stored is not clearly ascertainable or is not clearly communicated by Google.

How long and where is the data stored?

Requests for CSS assets Google stores for one day on its servers, which are mainly located outside the EU. This enables us to use the fonts with the help of a Google stylesheet. A stylesheet is a template with which one can easily and quickly change, for example, the design or the font of a website.

The font files are stored at Google for one year. With this Google pursues the goal of improving the loading time of websites in principle. If millions of websites refer to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and appear again immediately on all other websites visited later. Sometimes Google updates font files in order to reduce the file size, increase the coverage of language and improve the design.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

The data that Google stores for one day or one year cannot simply be deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is called up. In order to be able to delete this data prematurely, you must contact Google Support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=111880649 . In this case you can only prevent data storage by not visiting our page.

Unlike other web fonts, Google gives us unrestricted access to all fonts. We can thus access an ocean of fonts without limit and thereby get the optimum for our website. More about Google Fonts and further questions you will find at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=111880649. There Google does go into data-protection-relevant matters, but really detailed information about data storage is not contained. It is relatively difficult to get really precise information about stored data from Google.

Legal basis

If you have consented that Google Fonts may be used, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during collection by Google Fonts.

There is also a legitimate interest on our part in using Google Fonts in order to optimise our online service. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests). We nevertheless only use Google Fonts insofar as 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/.

Which data is collected by Google in principle and what this data is used for, you can also read at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/ .

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy Summary

👥 Data subjects: visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: optimisation of our service and protection against cyberattacks
📓 Data processed: data such as IP address, browser information, your operating system, limited location and usage data. Details on this you will find further below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage period: depending on the stored data
⚖ Legal bases: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is reCAPTCHA?

Our top goal is to secure and protect our website for you and for us in the best possible way. In order to ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA 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. With reCAPTCHA we can determine whether you are really a human being of flesh and blood and not a robot or some other spam software. By spam we mean any, by electronic means, unwanted information that reaches us unasked. With the classic CAPTCHAS you usually had to solve text or image puzzles for verification. With reCAPTCHA from Google we usually do not have to bother you with such puzzles. Here it is enough in most cases if you simply place a check mark and thus confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version you do not even have to place a check mark anymore. How exactly this works and above all which data is used for it, you will learn in the course of this privacy policy.

reCAPTCHA is a free captcha service from Google that protects websites against spam software and misuse by non-human visitors. This service is most frequently used when you fill in forms on the internet. A captcha service is a kind of automatic Turing test that is intended to ensure that an action on the internet is carried out by a human being and not by a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing), a human establishes the distinction between bot and human. With captchas, this is also taken over by the computer or a software program. Classic captchas work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve, but present considerable difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA you no longer actively have to solve any puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques in order to distinguish humans from bots. Here you only still have to tick the text field “I am not a robot” or, with Invisible reCAPTCHA, even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA a JavaScript element is embedded in the source text 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 calculates with this score, even before the captcha entry, how high the probability is that you are a human. reCAPTCHA, or captchas in general, are always used when bots could manipulate or misuse certain actions (such as, for example, registrations, surveys etc.).

Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?

We only want to welcome humans of flesh and blood on our page. Bots or spam software of the most varied kinds may confidently stay at home. For this reason we move heaven and earth to protect ourselves and to offer you the best possible user-friendliness. For this reason we use Google reCAPTCHA of the company Google. In this way we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. Through the use of reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google in order to determine whether you are really a human. reCAPTCHA thus serves the security of our website and, as a further consequence, thereby also your security. For example, without reCAPTCHA it could happen that during a registration a bot registers as many email addresses as possible in order to subsequently “spam” forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA we can avoid such bot attacks.

Which data is stored by reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA collects personal data of users in order to determine whether the actions on our website really do originate from humans. The IP address and other data that Google needs for the reCAPTCHA service can thus be sent to Google. IP addresses are, within the member states of the EU or other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area, almost always shortened beforehand before the data lands 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 during the use of reCAPTCHA. First the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks whether Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube, Gmail etc.) are already placed on your browser. Then reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and captures a snapshot of your browser window.

The following list of collected browser and user data does not claim to be exhaustive. Rather, these are examples of data that, to our knowledge, is processed by Google.

Referrer URL (the address of the page the visitor comes from)

IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)

Info about the operating system (the software that enables the operation of your computer. Well-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 that you carry out with the mouse or the keyboard is stored)

Date and language settings (which language or which date you have preset on your PC is stored)

All JavaScript objects (JavaScript is a programming language that enables websites to adapt to the user. JavaScript objects can collect all kinds of data under one name)

Screen resolution (indicates how many pixels the image display consists of)

It is indisputable that Google uses and analyses this data even before you click on the “I am not a robot” check mark. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version even the ticking falls away and the whole recognition process runs in the background. How much and which data Google exactly stores, one does not learn from Google in detail.

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-111880649-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by the company DoubleClick (also belongs to Google) in order to register and report the actions of a user on the website in dealing with advertisements. In this way advertising effectiveness can be measured and corresponding optimisation measures 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 use and measures conversions. A conversion arises, for example, when a user becomes a buyer. The cookie is also used in order to display relevant advertisements to users. Furthermore, with the cookie one can avoid a user getting to see the same ad more than once.
Expiry date: after one month

Name: ANID
Value: U7j1v3dZa1118806490xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We could not find out much info about this cookie. In the privacy policy of Google the cookie is mentioned in connection with “advertising cookies” such as, for example, “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored under domain google.com.
Expiry date: after 9 months

Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user's consent to the use of different services of Google. CONSENT also serves security, in order to verify users, prevent frauds of login information and protect user data against unauthorised attacks.
Expiry date: after 19 years

Name: NID
Value: 0WmuWqy111880649zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google in order to adapt advertisements to your Google search. With the help of the cookie Google “remembers” your most frequently entered search queries or your earlier interaction with ads. In this way you always receive tailored advertisements. The cookie contains a unique ID in order to collect personal settings of the user for advertising purposes.
Expiry date: after 6 months

Name: DV
Value: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc111880649-4
Purpose: As soon as you have ticked the “I am not a robot” check mark, this cookie is set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalised advertising. DV collects information in anonymised form and is furthermore used in order to make user distinctions.
Expiry date: after 10 minutes

Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, since Google, from experience, repeatedly changes the choice of its cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Through the insertion of reCAPTCHA, data of yours is transmitted to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored, Google does not clearly present, even after repeated inquiries. Without having received a confirmation from Google, it is to be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, dwell time on the website or language settings is stored on the European or American Google servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is in principle not merged with other Google data from further Google services. If, however, you are logged in to your Google account during the use of the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data is merged. For this the deviating data protection provisions of the company Google apply.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

If you want no data about you and about your behaviour to be transmitted to Google, you must, before you visit our website or use the reCAPTCHA software, log out of Google completely and delete all Google cookies. In principle, the data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you call up our page. In order to delete this data again, you must contact Google Support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=111880649 .

If you therefore use our website, you declare yourself in agreement that Google LLC and its representatives automatically collect, process and use data.

Legal basis

If you have consented that Google reCAPTCHA may be used, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent), the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during collection by Google reCAPTCHA.

There is also a legitimate interest on our part in using Google reCAPTCHA in order to optimise our online service and make it more secure. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests). We nevertheless only use Google reCAPTCHA insofar as 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/.

A little more about reCAPTCHA you will learn on the web developer page of Google at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Google does go here into the technical development of the reCAPTCHA in more detail, but precise information about data storage and data-protection-relevant topics one also searches for there in vain. A good overview of the basic use of data at Google you will find in the in-house privacy policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

All texts are protected by copyright.

Source: Created with the Privacy Policy Generator by AdSimple