Privacy at a glance

Server log files

Website providers automatically collect and store information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us.
These are:

• Data and time of the request
• Name of the requested file
• Page from which the file was requested
• Access status (file transferred, file not found, etc.)
• the web browser and operating system used
• complete IP address of the computer making the request
• amount of data transmitted

This data is not combined with other data sources. The processing is carried out in accordance with Art. 6(1)(f) DSGVO on the basis of our legitimate interest in improving the stability and functionality of our website.

This data is stored by us for security reasons, especially with regard to the prevention of attempts to attack our web server. It is not possible for us to draw conclusions regarding individuals based on this data. The data remains on our web server for 21 days and on a log server for 6 months. The data is processed for statistical purposes only; it is not compared with other datasets or passed on to third parties, even in extracts.

Cookies

When you visit our website, we may store information on your computer in the form of cookies. Cookies are small files that are transferred from an Internet server to your browser and stored on your hard drive. The information stored in the cookies allows you to be automatically recognised the next time you visit our website, which will make it easier for you to use the site. The legal basis for the use of cookies is your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR or, for necessary cookies, our legitimate interest in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interests are in maintaining the functionality and security of the website, protection against misuse and improving our service.

Of course, you can also visit our website without accepting cookies. If you do not want your computer to be recognised the next time you visit, you can also refuse the use of cookies by changing the settings in your browser to “refuse cookies”. The respective procedure can be found in the settings of your browser. If you reject the use of cookies, however, there may be restrictions on the use of some areas of our website.

Cookiebot

A web service of Cybot A/S, Havnegade 39, 1058 Copenhagen (hereinafter: cookiebot.com) is reloaded on our website. We use this data to ensure full functionality of our website. Your browser or personal data is transferred to cookiebot.com in this context.

The legal basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR and Art. 6 (1)(c) GDPR.

The legitimate interest here is in trouble-free functioning of the website. The data is deleted as soon as the purpose of its collection has been fulfilled. You can find more information on handling of the transferred data in the Data Protection Statement of cookiebot.com under: www.cookiebot.com/de/privacy-policy/

Google Tag Manager

This website uses Google Tag Manager. The Tag Manager does not collect personal data. The tool activates other tags, which may collect data. Google Tag Manager does not access this data. If you have made a deactivation at the domain or cookie level, it will continue to persist for all tracking tags implemented with Google Tag Manager. You can find Google’s privacy policy for this tool at: https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/tag-manager/

Google Analytics 4 including Semotion GmbH

We use Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, D04 E5W5, Ireland (“Google”), as well as an optimization service provided by Semotion GmbH, Klewitzstraße 11, 39112 Magdeburg, Germany, on our website. For this purpose, Semotion GmbH provides a technical solution in which user tracking data is not transmitted directly to Google, but first to a proxy server operated in the EU by the service provider Stape Inc. (https://stape.io/en – hereinafter “Stape”).

The personal data collected with the help of Google Analytics is transmitted to Google without any personal identifiers. To achieve this, we use Google Analytics in combination with so-called server-side tracking. Personal data (e.g. IP address, referrer, client ID) is first transmitted to a server located in the EU. On this server, all personal components (such as IP address, referrer, client ID) are anonymized or pseudonymized before being forwarded to Google’s servers. This ensures that your personal data is not transmitted to Google and therefore not transferred to the USA. The servers are operated by a company based in the EU, and it is ensured that they are physically located within an EU member state. Moreover, Google Analytics will only collect your personal data after you have consented to it on our website.

We use the User ID feature. With the User ID, we can assign one or more sessions (and the activities within those sessions) to a unique, persistent ID and thus analyze user behavior across devices.

We also use Google Signals, which allows Google Analytics 4 to collect additional information about users who have enabled personalized ads (such as interests and demographic data) and deliver ads to these users in cross-device remarketing campaigns.

In Google Analytics 4, IP anonymization is enabled by default. Due to IP anonymization, your IP address will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. According to Google, the IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics 4 is not merged with other Google data.

During your visit to our website, your user behavior is recorded as “events.” Examples of such events include:

• Page views
• First visit to the website
• Session start
• Your “click path”, interaction with the website
• Scrolls (each time a user scrolls to the end of the page (90%))
• Clicks on external links
• Internal searches
• Video interactions
• File downloads
• Viewed / clicked ads
• Language setting

Additionally, the following is collected:

• Your approximate location (region)
• Your IP address (in shortened form)
• Technical information about your browser and the devices you use (e.g. language setting, screen resolution)
• Your internet service provider
• The referrer URL (which website / which advertising medium brought you to this website)
• User ID
• Interests
• Demographic data
• Event data
• Custom data
• Sensitive data

Google will use this information to evaluate your use of our website, compile reports on website activity for us, and provide other services related to website and internet usage.

Data transfers by Google to third parties occur only in accordance with legal requirements or within the scope of commissioned data processing. Under no circumstances will Google combine your data with other data collected by Google. The data is only shared with Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, and Alphabet Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

The data we send and link to cookies will be automatically deleted after 14 months. Data whose retention period has been reached is automatically deleted once per month.

The legal basis for this data processing is your consent pursuant to Art. 6(1)(1)(a) GDPR.

Furthermore, Google offers a deactivation add-on for the most common browsers, which gives you more control over what data Google collects about the websites you visit. The add-on informs the Google Analytics 4 JavaScript (ga.js) that no information about the website visit should be transmitted to Google Analytics 4. However, the Google Analytics 4 browser deactivation add-on does not prevent information from being transmitted to us or to other web analytics services we may use. For more information on installing the browser add-on, please visit the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

If you visit our website using a mobile device (smartphone or tablet), you must instead click this link to prevent future tracking by Google Analytics 4 within this website. This also serves as an alternative to the browser add-on mentioned above. By clicking the link, an opt-out cookie will be stored in your browser, which is valid only for this browser and this domain. If you delete the cookies in this browser, the opt-out cookie will also be deleted, and you will need to click the link again.

If you have consented to your web and app browsing history being linked by Google with your Google Account and to information from your Google Account being used to personalize ads, Google will use your data together with Google Analytics data to create audience lists for cross-device remarketing. For this purpose, Google Analytics 4 first collects your Google-authenticated ID on our website, which is linked to your Google Account (i.e. personal data). Google Analytics 4 then temporarily links your ID with your Google Analytics data to optimize our audiences.

If you do not agree with this, you can disable it in the “My Account” section of your Google Account settings.

For more information about the privacy policies of Google Analytics 4, Google, and Semotion, please visit:

• marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/
• policies.google.com
• www.semotion.de/datenschutzerklaerung/

For more information on the use of “cookies” on our website and how to withdraw your consent, please refer to the final section titled “Cookies.”

Google Doubleclick

Doubleclick by Google is a service by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (“Google”). Doubleclick by Google uses cookies to show you advertisements that are relevant to you. A pseudonymous identification number (ID) is assigned to your browser in order to check which ads were displayed in your browser and which ads were accessed. The cookies contain no personal information. The use of DoubleClick cookies only allows Google and its affiliates to display ads based on previous visits to our or other websites. The information generated by the cookies is transferred by Google to a server in the United States for evaluation and is stored there.

Google will transfer data to third parties only on the basis of statutory requirements or as part of contract data processing. Under no circumstances will Google combine your data with other data collected by Google.

For more information about the use of cookies on our site, please see the section "Cookies".

In addition, you can prevent Google from collecting and processing the data generated by the cookies, as well as the data related to your use of the webpages, by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link under the item DoubleClick deactivation extension. Alternatively, you can disable Doubleclick cookies with this opt-out.

Google Ads Conversion-Tracking

We use the online advertising programme “Google Ads” on our website and, in this context, conversion tracking. Google Conversion Tracking is an analytical service provided by Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”). If your usual residence is in the European Economic Area or Switzerland, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is the controller of your data. Google Ireland Limited is therefore the Google affiliate responsible for processing your data and complying with the applicable data protection laws. The cookie for “conversion tracking” is placed on your computer when you click on an ad displayed by Google. These cookies remain valid for a limited period, do not contain any personal data and are therefore not used for personal identification. If you visit certain pages of our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognise that you have clicked on the ad and been redirected to this page. Each Google Ads client receives a different cookie. There is thus no possibility for cookies to be tracked through the websites of Ads clients. The information obtained with the help of the conversion cookie is used to create conversion statistics. This tells us the total number of users who have clicked on one of our ads and been redirected to a page that has a conversion tracking tag. However, we do not receive any information that personally identifies users. Your data may under certain circumstances be transferred to the USA. The data processing, in particular the placing of cookies, is carried out with your consent on the basis of Art. 6 1(a) GDPR. You can withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the lawfulness of processing based on your prior consent until the point of its withdrawal.

Further information and the Google privacy policy can be found at:
https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

For more information on the use of cookies on our website and your right to withdraw consent, please refer to the “Cookies” section.

Google Maps

We use Google Maps (API) of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (“Google”) on our website. Google Maps is a web service for the display of interactive maps to visually present geographical information. By using this service, you will be shown our location, and it will be easier for you to find us. When you visit subpages in which Google Maps is integrated, information about your use of our website (such as your IP address) is transmitted to Google servers in the USA and stored there. This happens regardless of whether Google provides a user account that you are logged into or whether there is no user account. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be directly assigned to your account. If you do not want your data to be assigned to your Google profile, you must log out before activating the button. Google stores your data (even for users who are not logged in) as user profiles which it then evaluates. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR, on the basis of Google's legitimate interests in the display of personalised advertising, market research and/or the needs-based design of its website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles. You must contact Google to exercise this right.

Detailed information on data protection in connection with the use of Google Maps can be found on the Google website (“Google Privacy Policy”): https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

Google reCaptcha

We use the reCaptcha service of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter “Google”).

This query enables us to determine whether the entry has been created by a human or fraudulently by means of automated machine processing. The service includes the sending to Google of the IP address and, if necessary, additional data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR; this consent can be withdrawn at any time. The legality of any and all data processing operations previously carried out will not be affected by your withdrawal of consent.

Otherwise, in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR, the use is based on our legitimate interest in establishing individual responsibility on the Internet and preventing misuse and spam. If the data processing is based on our legitimate interest, you can object to the processing at any time with future effect.  In the event that IP anonymisation is activated on this website, your IP address will, however, previously be truncated by Google within member states of the European Union or in other states that are party to 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 truncated there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of this service. The IP address of your browser transmitted in the reCaptcha process will not be combined with other data by Google. This data is subject to the deviating Google data protection provisions.

You can find out more about the Google privacy policy at:
https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

For more information on the use of cookies on our website and your right to withdraw consent, please refer to the “Cookies” section.

Vimeo-Plugins

We use the provider Vimeo for the integration of videos, among others things. Vimeo is operated by Vimeo, LLC headquartered at 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011.

On some of our webpages, we use plugins of the provider Vimeo. If you access the webpages of our website with such a plugin – for example, our media library – a connection to the Vimeo servers will be established, and the plugin will be displayed. By doing so, the Vimeo server will be informed which of our webpages you have visited. If you are logged in as a member of Vimeo, Vimeo will assign this information to your personal user account. When using the plugin, e.g., clicking the start button of a video, this information is also assigned to your user account. You can prevent this assignment by logging out of your Vimeo user account before using our website and deleting the corresponding cookies from Vimeo.

Further information on data processing and privacy at Vimeo can be found at https://vimeo.com/privacy.

For more information on the use of cookies on our website, please refer to the “Cookies” section.

YouTube in Privacy-Enhanced Mode

We use the YouTube embedding function to display and play videos from the provider YouTube (hereinafter “YouTube”), which belongs to Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter “Google”).

The privacy-enhanced mode is used here, in which, according to the provider, the storage of user information is only triggered when the video(s) is/are played. If the playback of embedded YouTube videos is started, the provider uses YouTube cookies or comparable recognition technologies to collect information about user behaviour. According to information from YouTube, these are used for purposes including the collection of video statistics, the improvement of user-friendliness and the prevention of abusive behaviour. The YouTube server is informed about which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged in to Google, your data will be directly assigned to your account when you click on a video. If you do not want your data to be assigned to your YouTube profile, you must log out before activating the button. Google stores your data (even for users who are not logged in) as user profiles which it then evaluates. Such an evaluation is carried out according to Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR on the basis of Google's legitimate interests in the display of personalised advertising, market research and/or the needs-based design of its website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles. You must contact YouTube to exercise this right.

You can object to YouTube’s analysis of user behaviour and targeted advertising by clicking on the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en

For more information about privacy at YouTube, please see their privacy policy: https://www.google.com/intl/policies/privacy

Facebook fanpage

We operate a Facebook page (“fanpage”) on Facebook, a service provided by Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Facebook collects and uses data to provide analysis services (“Page Insights”) to page operators in order to offer them insights into how people interact with their pages and the content associated with them. This data includes information about the types of content users view or interact with, or the actions they take, as well as information about the devices users use, such as IP addresses, the operating system, browser type, language settings and cookie data.

We are jointly responsible with Facebook Ireland Ltd. for the collection and processing of data from visitors to our fanpage. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in this information for advertising purposes, Art. 6 (1)(1)(f) GDPR. That is why we have entered into a shared responsibility agreement with Facebook in relation to the processing of your data in accordance with Art. 26 GDPR. The agreement with Facebook also stipulates in particular which security measures Facebook must observe and that Facebook must comply with the rights of data subjects.

You can find further information on page insights and on how to assert your data subject rights in “Information on page insights”. Click here to view the terms of the contract concluded with Facebook.

Security

We have taken technical and administrative security precautions to protect your personal data against loss, destruction, manipulation and unauthorised access. All our employees and service providers working for us are obliged to comply with the applicable privacy laws.

Whenever we collect and process personal information, it is encrypted before it is transmitted. This means that your data cannot be misused by third parties. Our security precautions are subject to a continuous improvement process and our privacy policies are constantly being revised. Please make sure that you have the latest version.

Data transfers to third countries

If we process data in countries outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”), we protect it based on an adequacy decision of the EU Commission Art. 45 (1) GDPR or use the standard contractual clauses of the EU Commission in accordance with Art. 46 (2)(c) GDPR when structuring contractual relationships with recipients in third countries.

Storage period

We will store your data,

• if you have consented to the processing thereof, only until you withdraw your consent;
• if we need the data to perform a contract, only for as long as the contractual relationship with you exists;
• if we use the data on the basis of a legitimate interest, only as long as your interest in deletion or anonymisation does not outweigh this legitimate interest;
• if statutory retention obligations exist, until the end of the retention periods.

Social Buttons of Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn

On our website, we use social buttons from social media networks. These are merely integrated as HTML links into the website, meaning that when you call up our website, no connection is established with the servers of the respective provider. If you click on one of the buttons, the website of the respective social network opens in a new window of your browser. There you can press the like or share button, for example.

Right of access:

You can request information from us as to whether and to what extent we process your data.

Right to rectification:

If we process your data that is incomplete or inaccurate, you may request that we correct or supplement it at any time.

Right to erasure:

You can demand that we delete your data if we process it unlawfully or if the processing disproportionately interferes with your justifiable protection interests. Please note that there may be reasons that prevent an immediate erasure, e.g., in the case of legally stipulated retention obligations.

Irrespective of the exercise of your right to deletion, we will delete your data immediately and completely, insofar as there is no contractual or statutory obligation to retain data in this respect.

Right to restrict processing:

You can ask us to restrict the processing of your data if

• you dispute the accuracy of the data for a period of time that allows us to verify the accuracy of the data,
• the processing of the data is unlawful, but you decline to delete it and instead demand a restriction on the use of the data,
• we no longer need the data for the intended purpose, but you still need this data to file or defend legal claims, or
• you have objected to the processing of the data.

Right to data portability:

You may request that we provide you with the information you have provided to us in a structured, standard and computer-readable format and that you may provide that information to another representative without interference from us, provided that we process this data on the basis of an agreement given and revocable by you or for the fulfilment of a contract between us, and that such processing is carried out using automated procedures. If technically feasible, you may request us to transfer your data directly to another representative.

Right to object:

If we process your data for legitimate reasons, you may object to such processing at any time. We will then no longer process your data unless we can prove compelling and protection-worthy grounds for the processing which outweigh your interests, rights and freedoms or if the processing serves the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims. You can object to the processing of your data for the purpose of direct marketing at any time without giving reasons.

Right to appeal:

If you are of the opinion that we have violated German or European data protection law when processing your data, please contact us so that we can clarify any questions you may have. Of course, you also have the right to contact the competent regulatory authority for you, the respective regional office for data protection supervision.

If you wish to exercise any of the aforementioned rights against us, please contact our data protection officer. In case of any doubt, we may request additional information to confirm your identity.