Privacy policy

Introduction and Overview

We have written this privacy statement (version 12/23/2021-311905239) 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 (e.g. providers) engaged by us – process, will process in the future and what lawful options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral. In short, we inform you comprehensively about data we process about you. Privacy statements usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. This privacy statement, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. To the extent that it is conducive to transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. In this way, we inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data in the course of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible by providing the most concise, unclear and legalistic explanations possible, as is often standard practice on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative, and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information that you did not yet know. If you still have questions, we would like to ask you to contact the responsible party named below or in the imprint, to follow the available links and to look at further information on third-party sites. Our contact details can of course also be found in the imprint.

Scope of application

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

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

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

Legal basis

In the following privacy statement, we provide you with transparent information about the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data. As far as EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016, which you can of course read online on EUR-Lex, the access to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679.  We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:

• Consent (Article 6(1)(a) DSGVO): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of your entered data of a contact form.
• Contract (Article 6(1) lit. b DSGVO): In order to fulfill 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) DSGVO): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we process your data. For example, we are legally obliged to keep invoices for accounting purposes. These usually contain personal data.
• Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) DSGVO): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your fundamental rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we need to process certain data in order to operate our website in a secure and economically efficient manner. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

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

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

• In Austria, this is the Federal Act on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data (Data Protection Act), or DSG for short.
• In Germany, the Federal Data Protection Act, or BDSG for short, applies.
• If other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you about them in the following sections.

Contact details of the person responsible

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

[Company Name]

[Address]

[Phone Number]

[Email Address]

Imprint: [Link]

Storage period

The fact that we only store personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products applies as a general criterion at our company. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for processing the data no longer exists. In some cases, we are required by law to store certain data even after the original purpose has ceased to exist, for example for accounting purposes. Should you wish your data to be deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as soon as possible and insofar as there is no obligation to store it. We will inform you about the specific duration of the respective data processing below, provided we have further information on this.

Rights according to the General Data Protection Regulation

According to Article 13 DSGVO, you are entitled to the following rights to ensure that data is processed fairly and transparently:

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

In short, you have rights – do not hesitate to contact the controller listed above with us! If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the data protection authority, whose website can be found at https://www.dsb.gv.at/. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:

Data processing security

To protect personal data, we have implemented both technical and organizational measures. Where possible, we encrypt or pseudonymize personal data. In this way, we make it as difficult as possible, within the scope of our possibilities, for third parties to infer personal information from our data. Article 25 of the GDPR refers to “data protection by technical design and by data protection-friendly default settings” and thus means that both software (e.g., forms) and hardware (e.g., access to the server room) should always be designed with security in mind and that appropriate measures should be taken. In the following, we will go into more detail on specific measures, if necessary.

TLS encryption with https

TLS, encryption and https sound very technical and they are. We use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure stands for “secure hypertext transfer protocol”) to transfer data over the Internet in a tap-proof manner. This means that the complete transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – no one can “listen in”. With this, we have introduced an additional layer of security

Communication

When you contact us and communicate by phone, e-mail or online form, personal data may be processed. The data is processed for the handling and processing of your question and the related business transaction. The data will be stored for the same period of time or as long as required by law.

Persons concerned

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

Telephone

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

E-mail

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

Online forms

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

Legal basis

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

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

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

Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests): We want to conduct customer inquiries and business communications in a professional manner. For this purpose, certain technical facilities such as e-mail programs, exchange servers and mobile operators are necessary in order to be able to operate the communication efficiently.

Cookies

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data. Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following privacy policy. Whenever you browse the Internet, you use a browser. Popular browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies. One thing can’t be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as there are other cookies for other applications. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically placed in the cookie folder, effectively the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified. Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you return to our site, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our site knows who you are and offers you the setting you are used to. In some browsers each cookie has its own file, in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file. The following graphic shows a possible interaction between a web browser, such as Chrome, and the web server. In this case, the web browser requests a website and receives a cookie back from the server, which the browser uses again as soon as another page is requested. There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. Also, the expiration time of a cookie varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “pests”. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC. For example, cookie data may look like this: Name: _ga Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311905239-9 Purpose: to distinguish website visitors Expiration date: after 2 years A browser should be able to support these minimum sizes:

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

Purpose of processing via cookies

The purpose ultimately depends on the cookie in question. You can find more details below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.

What data is processed?

Cookies are little helpers for a lot of different tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generalize what data is stored in cookies, but we will inform you about the processed or stored data in the following privacy policy.

Storage duration of cookies

The storage duration depends on the respective cookie and is specified further below. Some cookies are deleted after less than an hour, others can remain stored on a computer for several years. You can also influence the storage period yourself. You can manually delete all cookies at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies that are based on consent will be deleted at the latest after revocation of your consent, whereby the legality of the storage remains unaffected until then.

Right of objection – how can I delete cookies?

You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option to delete, disable or only partially allow cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies. If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can find it in your browser settings: Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies If you generally don’t want cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each cookie whether to allow it or not. The procedure varies depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “disable cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser.

Legal basis

Since 2009, there are the so-called “Cookie Guidelines”. This states that saving cookies requires your consent (Article 6 (1) lit. a DSGVO). Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives.

Web Hosting Introduction

What is web hosting?

When you visit websites nowadays, certain information – including personal data – is automatically created and stored, including on this website. This data should be processed as sparingly as possible and only with justification. By website, by the way, we mean the entirety of all web pages on a domain, i.e. everything from the home page (homepage) to the very last subpage (like this one). By domain, we mean, for example, example.de or sampleexample.com. If you want to view a website on a screen, you use a program called a web browser to do it. You probably know some web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. This web browser needs to connect to another computer where the website’s code is stored: the web server. Running a web server is a complicated and costly task, which is why this is usually done by professional providers, the providers. These offer web hosting and thus ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data. When the browser on your computer (desktop, laptop, smartphone) connects and during data transfer to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. On the one hand, your computer stores data, and on the other hand, the web server also needs to store data for a while to ensure proper operation. To illustrate:

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

1. Professional hosting of the website and securing its operation.
2. To maintain operational and IT security
3. Anonymous evaluation of access behavior to improve our offer and, if necessary, for law enforcement or prosecution of claims.

What data is processed?

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

• the complete Internet address (URL) of the website you are visiting (e.g. https://www.beispielwebsite.de/beispielunterseite.html?tid=311905239)
• browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
• the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
• the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e.g. https://www.beispielquellsite.de/vondabinichgekommen.html/)
• the host name and IP address of the device being accessed (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
• Date and time
• in files, the so-called web server log files.

How long is data stored?

As a rule, the above data is stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be viewed by the authorities in the event of unlawful behavior. In short, your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not share your data without your consent!

Legal basis

The lawfulness of the processing of personal data in the context of web hosting results from Art. 6 (1) lit. f DSGVO (protection of legitimate interests), because the use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary to present the company on the Internet in a secure and user-friendly manner and to be able to pursue attacks and claims from this if necessary. Between us and the hosting provider there is usually a contract on commissioned processing pursuant to Art. 28 f. DSGVO, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.

Website Building Block Systems Introduction

What are website building systems?

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

Why do we use website building block systems for our website?

The biggest advantage of a modular system is its ease of use. We want to offer you a clear, simple and well-arranged website, which we can easily operate and maintain ourselves – without external support. A modular system now offers many helpful functions that we can use even without programming knowledge. This allows us to customize our web presence according to our wishes.

Why do we use website building block systems for our website?

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

What data is stored by a modular system?

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

How long and where is the data stored?

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

Right of objection

You always have the right to information, correction and deletion of your personal data. If you have any questions, you can also contact the person responsible for the website construction system used at any time. Contact details can be found either in our privacy policy or on the website of the relevant provider. You can delete, deactivate or manage cookies that providers use for their functions in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. Please note, however, that all functions may then no longer work as usual.

Legal basis

We have a legitimate interest in using a website construction kit to optimize our online service and present it efficiently and in a user-friendly manner for you. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests).

WordPress.com Privacy Policy

We use WordPress.com, a website building system, for our website. The service provider is the American company Automattic Inc, 60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA. WordPress also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the legality and security of data processing. As a basis for data processing with recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, thus especially in the USA) or a data transfer there, WordPress uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, WordPress undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de The data processing agreements, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://wordpress.com/support/data-processing-agreements/. You can learn more about the data processed through the use of WordPress.com in the Privacy Policy at https://automattic.com/de/privacy/.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

What is Google Analytics?

On our website, we use the analysis 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. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. Using the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better tailor our website and service to your preferences. In the following, we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and, in particular, inform you about what data is stored and how you can prevent this. Google Analytics is a tracking tool used to analyze traffic to our website. In order for Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is built into the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions you take on our website. Once you leave our website, this data is sent to Google Analytics servers and stored there. Google processes the data and we receive reports about your user behavior. These reports may include, but are not limited to, the following:

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

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

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

What data is stored by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID that is associated with your browser cookie. This is how Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles. In order to analyze our website with Google Analytics, a property ID must be inserted into the tracking code. The data is then stored in the corresponding property. For each newly created property, the Google Analytics 4 property is standard. Alternatively, you can also create the Universal Analytics property. Depending on the property used, data is stored for different lengths of time. Labels such as cookies and app instance IDs are used to measure your interactions on our website. Interactions are all types of actions you take on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated through Google Analytics may be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share Google Analytics data unless we, as the website operator, authorize it. Exceptions may occur if required by law.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics: Name: _ga Value: 2.1326744211.152311905239-5 Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish website visitors. Expiration date: after 2 years Name: _gid Value: 2.1687193234.152311905239-1 Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish the website visitors Expiration date: after 24 hours Name: _gat_gtag_UA_ Value: 1 Purpose: Used to lower the request rate. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics. Expiration date: after 2 years Name: __utmt Value: 1 Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_ to throttle the request rate. Expiration date: after 10 minutes Name: __utmb Value: 3.10.1564498958 Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time new data or info is sent to Google Analytics. Expiration date: after 30 minutes Name: __utmc Value: 167421564 Purpose: This cookie is used to set new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie and is only stored until you close the browser again. Expiration date: After you close the browser Name: __utmz Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/ Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. That is, the cookie stores from where you came to our website. This may have been another page or an advertisement. Expiration date: after 6 months Name: __utmv Value: not specified Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is updated whenever information is sent to Google Analytics. Expiration date: after 2 years Note: This enumeration cannot claim to be complete, as Google is always changing the choice of their cookies as well. Here we show you an overview of the most important data collected by Google Analytics: Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Heatmaps allow you to see exactly those areas that you click on. This gives us information about where you are “on the move” on our site. Session duration: Google defines session duration as the time you spend on our site without leaving. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically. Bounce rate: A bounce is when you view only one page on our site and then leave our site. Account creation: when you create an account or make an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data. IP address: The IP address is only shown in a shortened form so that no clear assignment is possible. Location: The IP address can be used to determine the country and your approximate location. This process is also referred to as IP- location determination. Technical information: Technical information includes, but is not limited to, your browser type, internet service provider, or screen resolution. Source of origin: Google Analytics or we are of course also interested in which website or which advertisement you came to our site from. Other data include contact details, any ratings, media playback (for example, if you play a video via our site), sharing content via social media or adding to your favorites. The enumeration does not claim to be complete and only serves as a general orientation of the data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has your servers spread all over the world. Most servers are located in America and consequently your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can read exactly where Google’s data centers are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de Your data is distributed on different physical media. This has the advantage that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In each Google data center, there are corresponding emergency programs for your data. If, for example, the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters paralyze servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google still remains low. The retention period of the data depends on the properties used. When using the newer Google Analytics 4 properties, the retention period of your user data is fixed at 14 months. For other so-called event data, we have the option to choose a retention period of 2 months or 14 months. For Universal Analytics properties, Google Analytics defaults to a retention period of 26 months for your user data. Then your user data is deleted. However, we have the option to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. We have five variants available for this purpose:

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

In addition, there is also an option for data to be deleted only when you no longer visit our website within the time period we have selected. In this case, the retention period will be reset each time you visit our website again within the specified period. Once the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g. DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored separately from user data. Aggregated data is a merging of individual data into a larger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

According to European Union data protection law, you have the right to obtain information about your data, update it, delete it or restrict it. Using the browser add-on to disable Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js), you can prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only disables the collection of data by Google Analytics. IIf you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies, you will find the relevant links to the respective instructions for the most popular browsers under the section “Cookies”.

Legal Basis

The use of Google Analytics requires your consent, which we have obtained with our cookie popup. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur during the collection by web analytics tools. In addition to consent, there is a legitimate interest on our part to analyze the behavior of website visitors and thus to improve our offer technically and economically. With the help of Google Analytics, we detect website errors, can identify attacks and improve the economic efficiency. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Analytics if you have given your consent. Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing. As a basis for data processing at recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there, Google uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses and also apply to Google Analytics, can be found at https://business.safety.google/adsprocessorterms/. We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information regarding Google Analytics data processing. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

Google Analytics reports on demographic characteristics and interests.

We have turned on promotional reporting features in Google Analytics. The Demographic Characteristics and Interests reports contain information about age, gender, and interests. This allows us – without being able to assign this data to individual persons – to get a better picture of our users. You can learn more about advertising features at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad. You can stop the use of the activities and information of your Google account under “Settings for advertising” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via checkbox.

Google Analytics Data Processing Addendum

We have entered into a direct customer agreement with Google for the use of Google Analytics by accepting the “Data Processing Addendum” in Google Analytics. You can find out more about the data processing addendum for Google Analytics here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3379636?hl=de&utm_id=ad.

Google Analytics reports on demographic characteristics and interests.

We have enabled promotional reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographic and interest reports contain information on age, gender and interests. This allows us – without being able to assign this data to individual persons – to get a better picture of our users. You can learn more about advertising features at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad. You can stop the use of the activities and information of your Google account under “Settings for advertising” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via checkbox.

Google Analytics Data Processing Addendum

We have entered into a direct customer agreement with Google for the use of Google Analytics by accepting the “Data Processing Addendum” in Google Analytics. You can find out more about the data processing addendum for Google Analytics here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3379636?hl=de&utm_id=ad

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

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

For the use of Google Fonts you do not have to log in or provide a password. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser. The files (CSS, fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, the requests for CSS and fonts are completely separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you do not need to worry that your Google account information, while using Google Fonts, will be transmitted to Google. Google records the usage of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We’ll take a detailed look at exactly what this data storage looks like.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is a directory of over 800 fonts that Google makes available to its users free of charge.

Many of these fonts are released under the SIL Open Font License, while others are released under the Apache license. Both are free software licenses.

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

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

What data is stored by Google?

When you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded via a Google server. Through this external call, data is transmitted to the Google servers. In this way, Google also recognizes that you or your IP address are visiting our website. The Google Fonts API is designed to reduce the use, storage, and collection of end-user data to what is necessary for proper font delivery. API, by the way, stands for “Application Programming Interface” and is used, among other things, as a data transmitter in software.

Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests securely at Google and is thus protected. Through the collected usage figures, Google can determine how well the individual fonts are received. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. In addition, Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which websites are using Google fonts. This data is published to the Google Fonts BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use Google’s BigQuery web service to be able to examine and move large amounts of data.

However, it is still important to remember that each Google Font request also automatically transmits information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution, and browser name to Google’s servers. Whether this data is also stored cannot be clearly determined or is not clearly communicated by Google.

How long and where is the data stored?

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

The font files are stored by Google for one year. Google thus pursues the goal of fundamentally improving the loading time of web pages. If millions of web pages refer to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and immediately reappear on all other web pages visited later. Sometimes Google updates font files to reduce file size, increase language coverage, and improve design.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Those data that Google stores for a day or a year cannot be easily deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is called up. To delete this data prematurely, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311196631. Data storage you prevent in this case only if you do not visit our site.

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So we can access an unlimited sea of fonts and get the most out of them for our website. You can find out more about Google Fonts and other issues at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311196631. While Google does address privacy-related issues there, it doesn’t really include detailed information about data storage. It is relatively difficult to get really precise information from Google about stored data.

You can also read about which data is basically collected by Google and what this data is used for on https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

E-mail marketing introduction

What is email marketing?

In order to keep you always up to date, we also use the possibility of e-mail marketing. If you have agreed to receive our e-mails or newsletters, your data will also be processed and stored. E-mail marketing is a sub-area of online marketing. It involves sending news or general information about a company, products or services by e-mail to a specific group of people who are interested in them. If you want to participate in our e-mail marketing (usually via newsletter), you usually just need to register with your e-mail address. To do this, you fill out an online form and submit it. However, it may also happen that we ask you for your title and name, for example, so that we can write to you personally. In principle, the registration for newsletters works with the help of the so-called “double opt-in procedure”. After you have registered for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an e-mail to confirm your newsletter registration. This ensures that the e-mail address belongs to you and that no one has registered with a third-party e-mail address. We or a notification tool we use logs each individual subscription. This is necessary so that we can also prove the legally correct registration process. As a rule, the time of registration, the time of the registration confirmation and your IP address are stored. In addition, it is also logged when you make changes to your stored data.

Why do we use e-mail marketing?

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

What data is processed?

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

Duration of data processing

If you unsubscribe your email address from our email/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years based on our legitimate interests so that we can still prove your consent at the time. We may only process this data if we need to defend ourselves against any claims. However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual deletion request at any time. If you permanently object to the consent, we reserve the right to store your e-mail address in a blacklist. As long as you have voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter, we will of course also keep your e-mail address.

Right of objection

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

Legal basis

The sending of our newsletter is based on your consent (Article 6 (1) a DSGVO). This means that we may only send you a newsletter if you have actively signed up for it beforehand. If applicable, we may also send you advertising messages on the basis of Section 7 (3) of the German Unfair Competition Act (UWG), provided that you have become our customer and have not objected to the use of your e-mail address for direct advertising. Information on special e-mail marketing services and how they process personal data – if available – can be found in the following sections.

Push Messages Introduction

What are push notifications?

We also use so-called push notification services on our website, which allow us to keep our users always up to date. This means that if you have agreed to the use of such push messages, we can send you short news with the help of a software tool. Push messages are a text message form that appear directly to you on your smartphone or other devices, such as tablets or PCs, if you have signed up for them. You will receive these messages even if you are not on our website or not actively using our service. In the process, data about your location and usage behavior may also be collected and stored.

Why do we use push messages?

On the one hand, we use push messages to be able to fully provide our services that we have contractually agreed with you. On the other hand, the messages also serve our online marketing. We can use these messages to bring you closer to our service or our products. Especially when there is news in our company, we can inform you about it immediately. We want to get to know the preferences and habits of all our users as well as possible in order to continuously improve our offer.

What data is processed?

In order for you to receive push messages, you must also confirm that you want to receive them. The data accumulated during the consent process is also stored, managed and processed. This is necessary so that it can be proven and recognized that a user has agreed to receive the push messages. For this purpose, a so-called device token or push token is stored in your browser. Usually, the data of your location or the location of the terminal device you are using is also stored. To ensure that we also always send interesting and important push messages, the handling of the messages is also statistically evaluated. For example, we can then see whether and when you open the message. With the help of these insights, we can adapt our communication strategy to your wishes and interests. Although this stored data can be assigned to you, we do not want to check you as an individual. Rather, we are interested in the collected data of all our users so that we can make optimizations. You can find out exactly what data is stored in the data protection declarations of the respective service providers.

Duration of data processing

How long the data is processed and stored depends primarily on the tool we use. You can learn more about the data processing of the individual tools below. The privacy statements of the providers usually state exactly which data is stored and processed and for how long. In principle, personal data is only processed for as long as is necessary to provide our services. If data is stored in cookies, the storage period varies greatly. The data can be deleted immediately after leaving a website, but it can also remain stored for several years. Therefore, you should look at each individual cookie in detail if you want to know more about the data storage. In most cases, you will also find informative information about the individual cookies in the privacy statements of the individual providers.

Legal basis 

It may also be that the push messages are necessary so that certain obligations that are in a contract can be fulfilled. For example, so that we can provide you with technical or organizational news. Then the legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO. If this is not the case, the push messages will only be sent based on your consent. Our push messages may in particular have promotional content. The push messages may also be sent depending on your location, which your end device displays. The above-mentioned analytical evaluations are also based on your consent to receive such messages. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 (1) lit. a DSGVO. Of course, you can revoke your consent or change various settings in the settings at any time.

Social Media

What is social media?

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

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and connect online. Our social media presences allow us to promote our products and services to prospective customers. The social media elements embedded on our website help you to be able to switch to our social media content quickly and without complications. The data that is stored and processed through your use of a social media channel is primarily for the purpose of being able to perform web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personalized marketing and advertising strategies. Depending on your behavior on a social media platform, appropriate conclusions can be drawn about your interests with the help of the evaluated data and so-called user profiles can be created. This also enables the platforms to present you with tailored advertisements. In most cases, cookies are set in your browser for this purpose, which store data about your usage behavior. We generally assume that we remain responsible under data protection law, even if we use services of a social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that in certain cases the operator of the social media platform may be jointly responsible with us within the meaning of Art. 26 DSGVO. 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 built-in elements, data from you may also be processed outside the European Union, as many social media channels, for example Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. This may make it less easy for you to claim or enforce your rights regarding your personal data.

What data is processed?

Exactly what data is stored and processed depends on the provider of the social media platform. But usually it is data such as phone numbers, email addresses, data you enter in a contact form, user data such as which buttons you click, who you like or follow, when you visited which pages, information about your device and your IP address. Most of this data is stored in cookies. Especially if you yourself have a profile at the visited social media channel and are logged in, data can be linked to your profile. All data collected via a social media platform is also stored on the servers of the providers. Thus, only the providers also have access to the data and can give you the appropriate information or make changes. If you want to know exactly what data is stored and processed by the social media providers and how you can object to the data processing, you should carefully read the respective privacy policy of the company. 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 data processing below, provided we have further information on this. For example, the social media platform Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own purpose. However, customer data that is matched with our own user data is 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 required by law, as in the case of accounting, for example, this storage period may be exceeded.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers such as embedded social media elements at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser. Since social media tools may use cookies, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly what data is stored and processed by you, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

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

Blogs and publication media Introduction

What are blogs and publication media?

We use blogs or other communication media on our website, with which we can communicate with you on the one hand and you can communicate with us on the other hand. In the process, data from you may also be stored and processed by us. This may be necessary so that we can present content appropriately, communication works and security is increased. In our data protection text, we generally go into what data can be processed from you. Exact details on data processing always also depend on the tools and functions used. In the privacy notices of the individual providers, you will find precise information about data processing.

Why do we use blogs and publication media?

Our biggest concern with our website is to provide you with interesting and exciting content and at the same time your opinions and content are important to us. That is why we want to create a good interactive exchange between us and you. With various blogs and publication options we can achieve exactly that. For example, you can write comments on our content, comment on other comments or, in some cases, write posts yourself.

What data is processed?

Exactly what data is processed always depends on the communication functions we use. Very often, IP address, username and the published content are stored. This is done primarily to ensure security protection, to prevent spam and to be able to take action against illegal content. Cookies can also be used for data storage. These are small text files that are stored with information in your browser. You can find more details about the collected and stored data in our individual sections and in the privacy policy of the respective provider.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, provided we have further information on this. For example, contribution and comment functions store data until you revoke the data storage. In general, personal data is only stored for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party communication tools at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser. Since cookies may also be used with publication media, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly what data is stored and processed by you, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

We use the communication tools mainly on the basis of our legitimate interests (Art. 6 (1) lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers, business partners and visitors. Insofar as the use serves the settlement of contractual relationships or their initiation, the legal basis is furthermore Art. 6 para. 1 p. 1 lit. b. DSGVO. Certain processing, in particular the use of cookies and the use of comment or message functions require your consent. If and insofar as you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated publication media, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). Most of the communication functions we use set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider. You can find information about special tools – if available – in the following sections.

Blog posts and comment functions Privacy policy

There are various online communication tools that we may use on our website. For example, we use blog posts and comment functions. This gives you the opportunity to also comment on content or write posts. If you use this function, your IP address may be stored for security reasons. This is how we protect ourselves from illegal content such as insults, unauthorized advertising or prohibited political propaganda. In order to identify whether comments are spam, we may also store and process user information based on our legitimate interest. If we launch a poll, we also store your IP address for the duration of the poll so that we can ensure that all participants really only vote once. Cookies may also be used for storage purposes. All data that we store from you (such as content or information about you) will remain stored until you object.

Partner Programs Introduction

What are affiliate programs?

We use partner programs of different providers on our website. By using a partner program, data from you may be transferred to the respective partner program provider, stored and processed. In this data protection text, we will give you a general overview of the data processing by partner programs and show you how you can also prevent or revoke a data transfer. Each partner program (also called affiliate program) is based on the principle of commission. On our website a link or an advertisement including a link is placed and if you are interested in it and click on it and purchase a product or service this way, we receive a commission for it (advertising reimbursement).

Why do we use affiliate programs on our website?

Our goal is to provide you with a pleasant time with lots of helpful content. For this purpose we put a lot of work and time into the development of our website. With the help of affiliate programs we have the possibility to get paid a little bit for our work. Each affiliate link is of course always related to our topic and shows offers that might interest you.

Which data are processed?

In order to track whether you have clicked on a link we have used, the affiliate program provider must know that it was you who followed the link via our website. Thus, there must be a correct assignment of the partner program links used to the subsequent actions (business transaction, purchase, conversion, impression, etc.). Only then can the settlement of commissions work. In order for this assignment to work, a value can be attached to a link (in the URL) or information can be stored in cookies. In these, for example, the page from which you came (referrer), when you clicked on the link, an identifier of our website, which offer it is and a user identifier are stored. This means that as soon as you interact with products and services of a partner program, this provider also collects data from you. Exactly which data is stored depends on the individual provider. For example, the Amazon partner program distinguishes between active and automatic information. Active information includes name, email address, phone number, age, payment information or location information. Automatically stored information in this case includes user behavior, IP address, device information and the URL.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the processing of personal data below, provided we have further information on this. In general, personal data is only processed as long as it is necessary for the provision of services and products. Data that is stored in cookies is stored for different lengths of time. Some cookies are already deleted after you leave the website, others may be stored in your browser for several years unless they are actively deleted. The exact duration of data processing depends on the provider used; in most cases, you should be prepared for a storage period of several years. In the respective data protection statements of the individual providers, you will usually receive precise information about the duration of data processing.

Right of objection

You always have the right to information, correction and deletion of your personal data. If you have any questions, you can also contact responsible persons of the partner program provider used at any time. Contact details can be found either in our specific privacy policy or on the website of the relevant provider. You can delete, deactivate or manage cookies that providers use for their functions in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways.

Legal basis

If you have consented to affiliate programs being used, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur during the collection by a partner program. From our side, there is also a legitimate interest in using a partner program to optimize our online service and our marketing measures. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use the partner program insofar as you have given your consent. Information on special partner programs, you will receive – if available – in the following sections.

Amazon Affiliate Program Privacy Policy

What is the Amazon affiliate program?

On our website, we use the Amazon affiliate program of the company Amazon.com, Inc. The data controllers in terms of the privacy policy are Amazon Europe Core S.à.r.l., Amazon EU S.à.r.l, Amazon Services Europe S.à.r.l. and Amazon Media EU S.à.r.l., all four located 5, Rue Plaetis, L-2338 Luxembourg and Amazon Instant Video Germany GmbH, Domagkstr. 28, 80807 Munich. Amazon Deutschland Services GmbH, Marcel-Breuer-Str. 12, 80807 Munich, Germany, will act as data processor. By using this Amazon affiliate program, data from you may be transferred to Amazon, stored and processed. In this privacy policy, we inform you about what data is involved, why we use the program and how you can manage or prevent the data transfer. The Amazon affiliate program is an affiliate marketing program of the online shipping company Amazon.de. Like any affiliate program, the Amazon affiliate program is based on the principle of commission. Amazon or we place advertisements or affiliate links on our website and if you click on them and buy a product through Amazon, we receive an advertising fee (commission).

Why do we use the Amazon affiliate program on our website?

Our goal is to provide you with an enjoyable time with lots of helpful content. For this we put a lot of work and energy into the development of our website. With the help of the Amazon affiliate program we have the possibility to be rewarded a little bit for our work. Every affiliate link to Amazon is of course always related to our topic and shows offers that might interest you.

What data is stored by the Amazon affiliate program?

As soon as you interact with Amazon’s products and services, Amazon collects data from you. Amazon distinguishes between information that you actively provide to the company and information that is automatically collected and stored. Active information” includes, for example, name, email address, phone number, age, payment information or location information. So-called “automatic information” is primarily stored via cookies. This includes information on user behavior, IP address, device information (browser type, location, operating systems) or the URL. Amazon also stores the clickstream. This refers to the path (sequence of pages) that you as a user take to get to a product. Amazon also stores cookies in your browser in order to be able to trace the origin of an order. In this way, the company recognizes that you have clicked on an Amazon advertisement or an affiliate link via our website. If you have an Amazon account and are logged in while browsing our website, the collected data can be assigned to your account. You can prevent this by logging out of Amazon before browsing our website. Here we show you example cookies that are set in your browser when you click on an Amazon link on our website. Name: uid Value: 3230928052675285215311905239-9 Purpose: This cookie stores a unique user ID and collects information about your website activity. Expiration date: after 2 months Name: ad-id Value: AyDaInRV1k-Lk59xSnp7h5o Purpose: This cookie is provided by amazon-adsystem.com and is used by the company for various advertising purposes. Expiration date: after 8 months Name: uuid2 Value: 8965834524520213028311905239-2 Purpose: This cookie enables targeted and interest-based advertising through the AppNexus platform. For example, the cookie collects and stores anonymous data about which ads you have clicked on and which pages you have visited via IP address. Expiration date: after 3 months Name: session-id Value: 262-0272718-2582202311905239-1 Purpose: This cookie stores a unique user ID that the server assigns to you for the duration of a website visit (session). If you visit the same page again, the information stored in it will be retrieved. Expiration date: after 15 years Name: APID Value: UP9801199c-4bee-11ea-931d-02e8e13f0574 Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use a website and what advertisements you viewed before visiting the website. Expiration date: after one year Name: session-id-time Value: tb:s-STNY7ZS65H5335FZEVPE|1581329862486&t:1581329864300&adb:adblk_no Purpose: This cookie records the time you spend on a website with a unique cookie ID. Expiration date: after 2 years Name: csm-hit Value: 2082754801l Purpose: We could not find out exact information about this cookie. Expiration date: after 15 years Note: Please note that this list only shows cookie examples and cannot claim to be complete. Amazon uses this received information to tailor advertisements more precisely to the interests of users.

How long and where is the data stored?

Personal data is stored by Amazon for as long as it is required for Amazon’s business services or is necessary for legal reasons. Since Amazon is headquartered in the USA, the collected data is also stored on American servers.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and also delete your personal data at any time. If you have an Amazon account, you can manage or delete much of the collected data in your account. Another option to manage Amazon’s data processing and storage according to your preferences is provided by your browser. There you can manage, disable or delete cookies. This works a bit differently for each browser. Under the section “Cookies” you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the Amazon Partner Program being used, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 (1) lit. a DSGVO (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during the collection by the Amazon Partner Program. From our side, there is also a legitimate interest in using the Amazon affiliate program to optimize our online service and our marketing measures. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 (1) lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use the Amazon partner program if you have given your consent. Amazon also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for the transfer of data to the USA. This may be associated with various risks to the legality and security of data processing. As a basis for data processing with recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there, Amazon uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data comply with European data protection standards even if they are transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, Amazon undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the US. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de The Amazon data processing condition (AWS GDPR DATA PROCESSING), which correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://d1.awsstatic.com/legal/aws-gdpr/AWS_GDPR_DPA.pdf. We hope we have brought you closer to the most important information about data transfer through the use of the Amazon Affiliate Program. You can find more information at https://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201909010.

Digistore24 Affiliate Program Privacy Policy

We use the affiliate program of Digistore24 for our website. The service provider is the German company Digistore24 GmbH, St.-Godehard-Straße 32, 31139 Hildesheim, Germany.  To learn more about the data processed through the use of Digistore24, please see the Privacy Policy at https://www.digistore24.com/page/privacy.

Cookie Consent Management Platform Introduction

What is a cookie consent management platform?

We use a Consent Management Platform (CMP) software on our website, which makes it easier for us and you to correctly and securely handle scripts and cookies used. The software automatically creates a cookie popup, scans and controls all scripts and cookies, provides cookie consent for you as required by data protection laws, and helps us and you keep track of all cookies. With most cookie consent management tools, all existing cookies are identified and categorized. You as a website visitor then decide for yourself whether and which scripts and cookies you allow or disallow. The following graphic illustrates the relationship between browser, web server and CMP.

Why do we use a cookie management tool?

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

What data is processed?

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

Duration of data processing

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

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser. Information on specific cookie management tools, if available, can be found in the following sections.

Legal basis

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

External online platforms Introduction

What are external online platforms?

In order to be able to offer our services or products outside of our website, we also use external platforms. These are mostly online marketplaces such as Amazon or eBay. In addition to our responsibility of data protection, the data protection provisions of the external platforms we use also apply. This is specifically the case if our products are purchased via the platform. So if there is a payment transaction. Furthermore, most platforms also use your data to optimize their own marketing measures. For example, the platform can, with the help of collected data, tailor advertisements precisely to the interests of customers and website visitors.

Why do we use external online platforms?

In addition to our website, we also want to offer our products and services on other platforms in order to bring more customers closer to our offering. External online marketplaces, such as Amazon, Ebay, and even Digistore24, offer large sales websites that offer our products to people who may not be familiar with our website. It may also happen that built-in elements on our site redirect to an external online platform. Data that is processed and stored by the online platform used serves the company on the one hand to log the payment process, but also to be able to perform web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personalized marketing and advertising strategies. Depending on your behavior on a 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 or products. In most cases, cookies are set in your browser for this purpose, which store data about your usage behavior. Please note that when using the platforms or our built-in elements, data about you may also be processed outside the European Union, as online platforms, for example Amazon or eBay, are American companies. As a result, you may no longer be able to claim or enforce your rights with regard to your personal data as easily.

What data is processed?

Exactly what data is stored and processed depends on the external platform in question. But usually it is data such as phone numbers, email addresses, data you enter in a contact form, user data such as which buttons you click, when you visited which pages, information about your device and your IP address. Very often, most of this data is stored in cookies. If you have your own profile on an external platform and are also logged in there, data can be linked to the profile. The collected data is stored on the servers of the platforms used and processed there. You can find out exactly how an external platform stores, manages and processes data in the respective privacy policy. If you have any questions about data storage and data processing or wish to assert corresponding rights, we recommend that you contact the platform directly.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, provided we have further information on this. For example, Amazon stores data until it is no longer needed for its own purpose. In general, we only process personal data for as long as it is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via opt-out functions at the respective external platform. Furthermore, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser. Since cookies may be used, we also recommend our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly what data is stored and processed by you, you should read the privacy statements of the respective external platforms.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by external platforms, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, if consent has been given, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of a legitimate interest (Art. 6 (1) (f) DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. If we have integrated elements of external platforms on our website, we will nevertheless only use these if you have given your consent. Information on specific external platforms – if available – can be found in the following sections. All texts are protected by copyright.