Data Protection
The protection of your personal data during its collection, processing, and use on the occasion of your visit to our website is very important to us. Your data is protected according to statutory provisions. Below, you will find information about what data is collected during your visit to our website and how it is used. The legal foundations of German data protection law can be found in the Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the German Telemedia Act (TMG).
Contact options via web and email
We offer you the possibility of contacting us by phone, email, and/or via a contact form on our website. If you contact us, the personal data provided by you will be stored and processed for the purpose of responding to your request and for further processing according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR.
We delete your request data as soon as retention and archiving according to statutory archival obligations are no longer necessary.
Please note that internet-based data transmission may have security vulnerabilities. Complete protection from third-party access is therefore not possible.
Hosting
We utilize hosting services provided by the company 1&1 Internet SE, Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur, hereinafter referred to as "1&1". They provide us with internet connectivity, storage space, content and databases, as well as server software, and perform necessary maintenance work.
By using these services, 1&1 processes usage and metadata that arise through accessing and using our websites.
The basis for processing this data is our legitimate interest according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR in ensuring the secure and uninterrupted operation of our websites and email communications.
We have entered into a data processing agreement with 1&1 pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR.
Collection and processing of data
Every access to our website and every retrieval of a file stored on the website is logged.
The recorded access data includes:
- Name of the accessed webpage
- Name of the retrieved file
- Date and time of retrieval
- Volume of data transferred
- Notification of successful or unsuccessful retrieval
- Browser type and browser version
- Operating system
- Previously visited page ("referrer URL")
- IP address
- Name of the requesting provider
This data is stored for internal system-related and statistical purposes. The collection of the IP address is carried out for security reasons, specifically to investigate in case of cyberattacks or other illegal activities.
The IP address is stored for a maximum of 7 days and subsequently anonymized unless further retention is necessary for evidentiary purposes. Otherwise, it is deleted after the incident has been fully clarified.
Use and disclosure of personal data
If you have provided us with personal data, we use it exclusively to respond to your inquiries, to process contracts concluded with you, and for technical administration purposes.
Your personal data will only be shared with third parties or otherwise transmitted if this is necessary for processing the contract—especially sharing order details with suppliers—required for billing purposes, or if you have given prior consent. You have the right to withdraw consent granted at any time, with future effect.
The stored personal data will be deleted when you withdraw your consent for storage, when its knowledge is no longer required to fulfill the purpose of storage, or when storage is inadmissible for other legal reasons.
Registration function
We offer you the possibility to register on our website. The data entered during this registration, which can be seen from the input form, is collected and stored exclusively for the use of our offer.
- Nickname
- Password
When registering on our website, we also store the IP address, date, and time of your registration. This serves as protection in case a third party misuses your data. This data will not be passed on to third parties.
Comments
On our website, we offer you the possibility to leave comments on posts. When you leave a comment, your IP address is stored. This storage is done for security purposes and in the event that the author publishes unlawful content through their comment.
Use of Google Analytics
On the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e., interest in analyzing, optimizing, and economically operating our online offer pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR), we use Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google LLC ("Google"). Google uses cookies. The information generated by the cookie about the user's use of the online offer is generally transmitted to and stored on a Google server in the USA.
Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thus guarantees compliance with European data protection law (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active).
Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate the use of our online offer by users, to compile reports on the activities within this online offer, and to provide further services associated with the use of this online offer and the use of the internet. Pseudonymous user profiles can be created from the processed data.
We use Google Analytics only with IP anonymization activated. This means that users' IP addresses are shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and shortened there.
The IP address transmitted by the user's browser will not be combined with other Google data. Users can prevent cookies from being stored by adjusting their browser software settings accordingly. Users can also prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to their use of the online offer by Google, as well as the processing of this data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: (http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de).
You can prevent data collection by Google Analytics by clicking the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set that prevents future collection of your data when visiting this website: Deactivate Google Analytics
Further information on data usage by Google, settings, and opt-out options can be found in Google's privacy policy (https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads) as well as in the settings for the display of advertisements by Google (https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated).
Use of YouTube
This website uses videos from the company YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave., 94066 San Bruno, CA, USA, a company of Google Inc., Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
Each time you access a page of our website that includes such components (videos), your browser downloads the corresponding video from YouTube. Through this process, YouTube is informed about which specific page of our online offer you are currently visiting. We have no influence on the data or the extent of the data collected by YouTube. To our knowledge, YouTube collects the referrer URL and the user's IP address.
Further information can be found in YouTube’s privacy policy at: https://www.google.de/intl/en/policies/privacy/
Use of the Amazon Partner Program
This website participates in the Amazon EU partner program, designed to provide a medium for websites through which advertising fees can be earned by placing advertisements and links to Amazon.de. To track the order, Amazon uses cookies to recognize that you have clicked on a partner link on our website.
Further information on data usage by Amazon can be found in the company's privacy policy: http://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=footer_privacy?ie=UTF8&nodeId=3312401
Use of reCAPTCHA
This website uses the service "reCAPTCHA" from Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA, hereinafter referred to as "Google", to protect the input forms on our online offerings. By using this component, it can be distinguished whether the entry is abusively made by a human or automated, machine-based processing.
According to our knowledge, the previously visited webpage (so-called "referrer URL"), the IP address, the behavior of website visitors, information about the operating system, browser, duration of stay, cookies, display instructions, scripts, user input behavior, and mouse movements within the reCAPTCHA checkbox area are transmitted to Google.
Google uses the information obtained, among other things, to digitize books and other printed products and to optimize services such as Google Street View and Google Maps.
If you wish to prevent the transmission and storage of data about you and your behavior on our website by Google, you must log out of Google before visiting our site or using the reCAPTCHA plugin.
The use of the plugin and the obtained information is subject to Google's terms of use, available at: https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy
This website uses social plugins ("Plugins") from the social network facebook.com, operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA ("Facebook"). The plugins are identifiable by the Facebook logo or the addition "Facebook Social Plugin".
When you visit a webpage on our site containing such a plugin, your browser establishes a direct connection to Facebook's servers. The content of the plugin is transferred directly from Facebook to your browser and embedded into the webpage.
By integrating plugins, Facebook receives information that you have accessed the corresponding webpage of our website. If you are logged into Facebook, Facebook can associate the visit with your Facebook account. If you interact with the plugins—for example, by pressing the "Like" button or submitting a comment—the corresponding information is directly transmitted from your browser to Facebook and stored there.
For details about the purpose and scope of data collection, further processing, and use of data by Facebook, as well as your rights and options for privacy settings, please refer to Facebook’s privacy policy: Facebook Privacy Policy.
If you do not want Facebook to collect data about you via our website, you must log out of Facebook before visiting our website.
This website contains functions provided by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom Street, Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. When you use Twitter, particularly the "Re-Tweet" function, Twitter links your Twitter account to the websites you have visited. This information is disclosed to other users on Twitter, particularly your followers. In this way, data is also transferred to Twitter.
As the provider of this website, we are not informed by Twitter about the content of the transferred data or its use. For more information, please refer to Twitter’s privacy policy: http://twitter.com/privacy
Please note that you have the option to modify your privacy settings on Twitter through your account settings at: http://twitter.com/account/settings
Cookies
Within the scope of statutory provisions, we may evaluate usage profiles for advertising, market research, and improvement of our services under a pseudonym, provided you have not exercised your statutory right to object to this use of your data. Some of our services require the use of so-called cookies. Cookies are small pieces of data stored by your internet browser on your computer. Cookies can store information about your visit to our website. Most browsers are set to accept cookies by default. However, you can configure your browser to reject cookies or require confirmation before accepting them. Rejecting cookies may result in parts of our offer not functioning smoothly for you.
Contentpass
On our website, we offer a service for accessing our content without advertisements and tracking. This service is called contentpass and is provided by Content Pass GmbH, Wolfswerder 58, 14532 Kleinmachnow, Germany. Upon subscribing to the service, contentpass becomes your contractual partner. Further information about this service can be found at contentpass.net.
In order to display and offer this service on our website, contentpass processes your IP address on our behalf when you first access our website. For the registration and contractual processing of contentpass and the associated data processing, contentpass acts as the controller within the meaning of the GDPR. We are exclusively responsible for processing your IP address. Processing is technically necessary in order to display and offer the contentpass service. For further information regarding data processing at contentpass, please refer to their Privacy Policy.
The legal basis for the processing of the IP address within our data processing agreement with contentpass is our legitimate interest in providing you with the option to access our website free of ads and tracking, as well as your legitimate interest in using our website practically free of advertising and tracking [Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR in conjunction with § 25(2)(2) TTDSG]. Furthermore, we fulfill the legal obligation to obtain legally compliant consent for data processing requiring consent [Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with § 25(2)(2) TTDSG].
You can log into your contentpass account here, and sign up for contentpass here.
WelectPublish
Plugins from the service "Welect," provided by Welect GmbH, Platz der Ideen 1, 40467 Düsseldorf (hereinafter "Welect"), are integrated into our website. We initially use the WelectPublish service to detect whether an ad blocker is in use and to display an ad-blocker wall. In this context, Welect acts as a processor on our behalf. The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR (protection of legitimate interests). Our legitimate interest lies in ensuring the financing of our website through advertising.
If you use an ad blocker, you can read the desired article without deactivating your ad blocker by choosing to watch an advertising spot instead. If you opt for this, WelectPublish is used to display an advertising spot selected by you. Welect is solely responsible for processing personal data in connection with displaying the advertising spot. The legal basis for disclosing your IP address and the accessed webpage to Welect in this case is Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR (consent). After viewing the ad, you will be redirected back to the article, which you can then read.
With WelectPublish, we can evaluate whether you have used the Welect service and which advertising content was shown to you. This information is stored in a cookie on your computer and analyzed upon repeated use of WelectPublish to avoid displaying previously viewed advertising content. Additionally, Welect uses your IP address (at the state/city/ZIP code level) to show you offers from local sponsors.
In the context of the advertising spots you choose to view, advertisers and/or their agencies' technology providers may collect information related to the delivery of this advertising (e.g., frequency of delivery, measurement of visibility, clicks on the advertisement). For more details on tracking and opting out, please refer to Welect's privacy policy: https://www.welect.de/datenschutz.
The cookie remains stored until you delete it from your browser, but no longer than two weeks after your last use of the service. According to Welect, your IP address is not stored after the described processing; it is only recorded in log files.
The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR (protection of legitimate interests). Welect's legitimate interest lies in the correct billing of services provided to advertisers.
Note on data transfers to the USA and other third countries
We use tools from companies based in the USA or other third countries that are not secure from a data protection perspective. When these tools are active, your personal data may be transferred to these third countries and processed there. We point out that no data protection level comparable to the EU can be guaranteed in these countries. For example, US companies are obliged to provide personal data to security authorities without you, as the data subject, being able to take legal action against this. Therefore, it cannot be excluded that US authorities (e.g., intelligence agencies) process, evaluate, and permanently store your data on US servers for surveillance purposes. We have no influence over these processing activities.
Consentmanager
We have integrated the consent management tool "consentmanager" (www.consentmanager.net) provided by consentmanager AB (Håltgelvågen 1b, 72348 Västerås, Sweden, [email protected]) into our website to obtain consent for data processing, cookie usage, or similar functions. Using "consentmanager," you have the option to grant or refuse your consent for specific functionalities of our website—for example, integrating external elements, streaming content, statistical analyses, reach measurement, and personalized advertising. With "consentmanager," you can give or reject consent for all functions or provide consent individually for certain purposes or functions. You can also subsequently change these settings. The purpose of integrating "consentmanager" is to allow users of our website to make decisions regarding these matters and to enable them to modify previously made settings during further use of our website. During the use of "consentmanager," personal data and information about the devices used (IP address, language, browser, etc.) are processed and transmitted to consentmanager AB. Information about your chosen settings is also stored on your device.
The legal basis for processing is Art. 6 (1)(c) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 7 (1) GDPR, insofar as processing serves to fulfill legally required obligations to document consent. Otherwise, Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR applies as the relevant legal basis. Our legitimate interests lie in storing user settings and preferences regarding cookie usage and evaluating consent rates. At the latest, twenty-four months after users set their preferences, consent is again requested. User settings are then stored again for this period unless you delete the information about your settings from your device earlier.
You may object to the processing insofar as the processing is based on Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. Your right to object exists for reasons arising from your particular situation. To object, please contact us by email at [email protected].
highfivve GmbH
We use cookies from highfivve GmbH, Erika-Mann-Straße 23, 80636 Munich, on our website. Based on corresponding agreements, highfivve GmbH enables third-party companies to set their own cookies on websites within highfivve GmbH's marketing portfolio, or provides data collected through cookies to third parties.
Cookies always transmit pseudonymous data. Personal identification through cookies is not possible. The cookie does not know which user has currently accessed the browser.
Users can influence the use of cookies. Most browsers have an option allowing users to restrict or completely prevent cookie storage. By doing this, users will not receive less advertising, but rather advertising that is less relevant to them. Additionally, highfivve GmbH provides detailed information for each cookie used—including the general purpose of the cookie, the provider, and opt-out options—via a software tool. highfivve also allows users to block or delete individual cookies. More information is available here. The following types of cookies are used through our partner highfivve GmbH:
Cookies for campaign validation
These cookies are used to verify whether an advertising campaign from highfivve GmbH was executed according to contract for an advertiser. This includes cookies from highfivve GmbH and its partners, which check whether an advertising banner has been displayed on a website at the agreed frequency. This ensures compliance and verification of the contractual specifications agreed upon with customers for conducting advertising campaigns (e.g., time period, geographical area, avoidance of multiple deliveries of the same advertisement to a user).
Cookies to achieve higher accuracy in targeting
Cookies from highfivve GmbH are compared with cookies from other providers to increase the probability of accurately targeting a specific segment (e.g., interests). highfivve GmbH uses the following cookies for this comparison: cookies set by service providers on behalf of highfivve GmbH to analyze tracking behavior (webpages accessed by a user); cookies transferred to highfivve GmbH by third parties to match with its own segmentation; and cookies set by partners of highfivve GmbH to achieve higher targeting accuracy and match with their own cookie data.
You have the option to refuse the use of cookies at ……………. Further privacy information from highfivve GmbH can be found at https://highfivve.com/transparenz/.
Information / Withdrawal / Deletion
Under the German Federal Data Protection Act, you may contact us free of charge regarding questions about the collection, processing, or use of your personal data, its correction, blocking, deletion, or to withdraw previously granted consent. Please note that you have the right to correct incorrect data or to delete personal data unless statutory storage obligations oppose this claim. Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.
Miroslav Hanel
Feldstr. 19
85521 Ottobrunn
Email: [email protected]