We have prepared this privacy policy (version 31 January 2024-112710300) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, which personal data (data for short) we as the controller – and the processors commissioned by us (e.g. providers) – process, will process in the future and what lawful options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral.
In short: We provide you with comprehensive information about the data we process about you.
Data protection declarations usually sound very technical and use legal jargon. This privacy policy, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. Where it is conducive to transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly way, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. We thus inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data as part of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible by providing explanations that are as concise, unclear and legal-technical as possible, as is often standard on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative, and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information that you did not yet know.
If you still have any questions, we would ask you to contact the responsible body named below or in the legal notice, to follow the links provided and to look at further information on third-party websites. Our contact details can of course also be found in the legal notice.
This privacy policy applies to all personal data processed by us in the company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (processors). By personal data, we mean information within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR, such as a person’s name, email 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
In short, the privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in the company in a structured manner via the channels mentioned. If we enter into legal relationships with you outside of these channels, we will inform you separately if necessary.
In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.
As far as EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016. You can of course read
this EU General Data Protection Regulation online at EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679.
We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:
Other conditions such as the fulfilment of recording 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 is relevant, it will be indicated at the appropriate point.
In addition to the EU regulation, national laws also apply:
If other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you of this in the following sections.
If you have any questions about data protection or the processing of personal data, you will find the contact details of the person or body responsible below:
IMMOBILIEN MANAGEMENT D.O.O.
Ulica Blata 67
22211 Vodice
Croatia
Authorised representative: Manuela Grumeth
E-mail: info@olife-vodice.com
Phone: +385 99 369 9390
Imprint: https://olife-vodice.com/impressum/
It is a general criterion for us that we only store personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for the data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are legally obliged to store certain data even after the original purpose has ceased to exist, for example for accounting purposes.
If you wish your data to be deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as quickly as possible and insofar as there is no obligation to store it.
We will inform you below about the specific duration of the respective data processing if we have further information on this.
In accordance with Articles 13, 14 GDPR, we inform you of the following rights to which you are entitled in order to ensure fair and transparent processing of data:
In short: You have rights – do not hesitate to contact the responsible office listed above!
If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can lodge a complaint with 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:
We have implemented both technical and organisational measures to protect personal data. Where possible, we encrypt or pseudonymise personal data. In this way, we make it as difficult as possible for third parties to infer personal information from our data.
Art. 25 GDPR speaks here of “data protection by design and by default” 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 appropriate measures should be taken. If necessary, we will go into more detail on specific measures below.
TLS, encryption and https sound very technical – and they are. We use HTTPS (the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure stands for “secure hypertext transfer protocol”) to transmit data tap-proof on the Internet.
This means that the complete transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – nobody can “eavesdrop”.
We have thus introduced an additional layer of security and fulfil data protection by design (Article 25(1) GDPR). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission on the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data.
You can recognise the use of this data transmission security by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser, to the left of the Internet address (e.g. examplepage.com) and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.
If you would like to know more about encryption, we recommend a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to find good links to further information.
Communication summary 👥 Data subjects: Anyone who communicates with us by phone, email or online form 📓 Processed data: e.g. telephone number, name, email address, form data entered. You can find more details on this in the respective contact type used 🤝 Purpose: Handling communication with customers, business partners, etc. 📅 Storage duration: Duration of the business case and the statutory provisions ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (contract), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
If you contact us and communicate with us by telephone, e-mail or online form, personal data may be processed.
The data is processed for the handling and processing of your enquiry and the associated business transaction. The data will be stored for as long as required by law.
All those who seek contact with us via the communication channels provided by us are affected by the aforementioned processes.
When you call us, the call data is stored pseudonymised on the respective end device and with the telecommunications provider used. In addition, data such as your name and telephone number may subsequently be sent by e-mail and stored for the purpose of responding to your enquiry. The data is deleted as soon as the business transaction has been completed and legal requirements permit.
If you communicate with us by email, data may be stored on the respective end device (computer, laptop, smartphone, etc.) and data may be stored on the email server. The data will be deleted as soon as the business transaction has been completed and legal requirements permit.
If you communicate with us using an online form, data is stored on our web server and may be forwarded to one of our e-mail addresses. The data will be deleted as soon as the business transaction has been completed and legal requirements permit.
The processing of the data is based on the following legal bases:
In this section, we would like to explain what a data processing agreement is and why it is needed. Because the word “data processing agreement” is a bit of a mouthful, we will often only use the acronym DPA in this text. Like most companies, we do not work alone, but also utilise the services of other companies or individuals. By involving various companies or service providers, we may pass on personal data for processing. These partners then act as processors with whom we conclude a contract, the so-called data processing agreement (DPA). The most important thing for you to know is that the processing of your personal data takes place exclusively in accordance with our instructions and must be regulated by the DPA.
As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data that we process from you. In addition to controllers, there may also be so-called processors. This includes any company or person who processes personal data on our behalf. More precisely and according to the GDPR definition: any natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that processes personal data on our behalf is considered a processor. Processors can therefore be service providers such as hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.
To make the terminology easier to understand, here is an overview of the three roles in the GDPR:
Data subject (you as a customer or interested party) → Controller (we as a company and client) → Processor (service provider such as web host or cloud provider)
As mentioned above, we have concluded a DPA with our partners who act as processors. This states above all that the processor processes the data to be processed exclusively in accordance with the GDPR. The contract must be concluded in writing, although the electronic conclusion of the contract is also considered “written” in this context. The processing of personal data only takes place on the basis of the contract. The contract must contain the following:
The contract also contains all the obligations of the processor. The most important obligations are
You can find out what such a GCU looks like in concrete terms at https://www.wko.at/service/wirtschaftsrecht-gewerberecht/eu-dsgvo-mustervertrag-auftragsverarbeitung.html, for example. A sample contract is presented here.
Cookies summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: depending on the cookie in question. More details can be found below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📓 Processed data: Depending on the cookie used. You can find more details on this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📅 Storage period: depends on the cookie in question, can vary from hours to years ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
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 surf the internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.
One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, the “brain” of your browser, so to speak. 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 visit our site again, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings 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. 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 website, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiry time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programmes and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “malware”. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.
Cookie data can look like this, for example:
Name: _ga
Wert: GA1.2.1326744211.152112710300-9
Purpose: Differentiation of website visitors
Expiry date: after 2 years
A browser should be able to support these minimum sizes:
The question of which cookies we use in particular depends on the services used and is clarified in the following sections of the privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly explain the different types of HTTP cookies.
A distinction can be made between 4 types of cookies:
Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functions. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping basket, then continues surfing on other pages and only goes to the checkout later. These cookies ensure that the shopping basket is not deleted even if the user closes their browser window.
Purposeful cookies
These cookies collect information about user behaviour and whether the user receives any error messages. These cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behaviour of the website with different browsers.
Targeted cookies
These cookies ensure better user-friendliness. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are saved.
Advertising cookies
These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver customised advertising to the user. This can be very practical, but also very annoying.
When you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked which of these cookie types you would like to allow. And of course this decision is also stored in a cookie.
If you would like to know more about cookies and are not afraid of technical documentation, we recommend https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.
The purpose ultimately depends on the cookie in question. You can find more details on this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.
Cookies are little helpers for many different tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generalise which data is stored in cookies, but we will inform you about the processed or stored data in the following privacy policy.
The storage period depends on the cookie in question and is specified below. Some cookies are deleted after less than an hour, others can remain stored on a computer for several years.
You can also influence the storage period yourself. You can delete all cookies manually at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies that are based on consent will be deleted at the latest after you withdraw your consent, whereby the legality of the storage until then remains unaffected.
You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option of deleting, deactivating or only partially allowing 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 this in your browser settings:
Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer
Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies
Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies
If you generally do not want to have cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. You can then decide for each individual cookie whether or not to allow it. The procedure differs depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser.
The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have been in place since 2009. These state that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). However, there are still very different reactions to these directives within the EU countries. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in Section 165 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (2021). In Germany, the cookie directives have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG).
For strictly necessary cookies, even if no consent has been given, there are legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and certain cookies are often absolutely necessary for this.
If cookies that are not absolutely necessary are used, this will only take place with your consent. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.
In the following sections, you will be informed in more detail about the use of cookies if the software used utilises cookies.
Web hosting summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Professional hosting of the website and securing its operation 📓 Processed data: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. You can find more details on this below or from the web hosting provider used. 📅 Storage period: depends on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
When you visit websites these days, certain information – including personal data – is automatically generated 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 start page (homepage) to the very last subpage (like this one). By domain we mean, for example, example.de or example.com.
If you want to view a website on a computer, tablet or smartphone, you use a programme called a web browser. You probably know a few web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari. We call them browsers or web browsers for short.
In order to display the website, the browser must connect to another computer where the website code is stored: the web server. Operating a web server is a complicated and time-consuming task, which is why this is usually done by professional providers. These providers offer web hosting and thus ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data. A lot of technical terms, but please stay tuned, it will get even better!
When the browser on your computer (desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone) connects and during data transfer to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. On the one hand, your computer stores data; on the other hand, the web server must also store data for a certain period of time to ensure proper operation.
A picture is worth a thousand words, so the following graphic illustrates the interaction between the browser, the Internet and the hosting provider.
The purposes of data processing are:
Even while you are currently visiting our website, our web server, i.e. the computer on which this website is stored, usually automatically saves data such as
As a rule, the above-mentioned data is stored for a fortnight and then automatically deleted. We do not pass this data on, but we cannot rule out the possibility of this data being viewed by the authorities in the event of unlawful behaviour.
In short: Your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not pass on your data without your consent!
The lawfulness of the processing of personal data in the context of web hosting results from Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (protection of legitimate interests), because the use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary in order to present the company securely and user-friendly on the Internet and to be able to pursue attacks and claims from this if necessary.
As a rule, there is a contract between us and the hosting provider for order processing in accordance with Art. 28 f. GDPR, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.
DomainFactory privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Website storage and accessibility on the Internet 📓 Processed data: IP address, but primarily also technical data 📅 Storage duration: depends on individual configurations ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use the web hosting provider DomainFactory for our website. The service provider is the German company DomainFactory GmbH, c/o WeWork, Neuturmstrasse 5, 80331 Munich, Germany.
It is quite possible that you have come across the name before. DomainFactory is a subsidiary of the American provider GoDaddy Inc. DomainFactory GmbH was founded in 2000 and therefore has over 20 years of experience under its belt. The company manages over 1.3 million domains in German-speaking countries, making it one of the largest providers of web hosting in our part of the world. DomainFactory’s servers are located in a data centre in Strasbourg on the one hand and in a data centre in Cologne on the other. Both locations are operated on the basis of the latest technology and the best security standards. In order for the web hosting to work, some of your data is also stored on the DomainFactory servers. In addition to technical data (e.g. URL, browser version, operating system), your IP address is also stored and this is known to be personal data.
We never wanted to have to deal with poor technical performance and bad support. We prefer to put our energy into meaningful work. Our website should be available to you day and night without any problems and at the same time offer a high level of security. That is exactly what we want. And that’s exactly why we need professional web hosting. DomainFactory has over 20 years of experience in this business, utilises the latest technologies and offers a high level of IT and operational security. For these reasons, DomainFactory is our first choice when it comes to web hosting.
DomainFactory may also process your personal data. Our web server automatically stores data when you visit our website. This includes personal data such as your IP address, but above all also technical data such as the Internet address of the website accessed, device information such as browser version, operating system and the URL of the previously visited website. Furthermore, we also record when you accessed our website and, if applicable, location data. The IP address can be used to increase the security of the website, to detect possible errors and also to carry out anonymous statistical analyses. Cookies may also be used for data storage.
The data is stored in the data centres in Strasbourg and Cologne, which meet the highest security standards. The exact retention period of the data depends very much on the type of data and the individual configurations. In principle, DomainFactory stores data for as long as is necessary to fulfil its obligations. However, data may also be stored for longer, for example to provide evidence for possible legal disputes.
You have the right to information, correction or deletion and restriction of the processing of your personal data at any time. You can also revoke your consent to the processing of data at any time.
If you do not want these cookies to be set and data about you or your user behaviour to be stored as a result, you can also prevent cookies from being set in your browser. This is because you can manage, deactivate or delete cookies in your browser. This always works slightly differently depending on your browser.
Under the section “Cookies” you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions for the most popular browsers.
We have a legitimate interest in using DomainFactory in order to be able to offer our online service. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests).
For more information about data protection at DomainFactory, we recommend the privacy policy at https://www.df.eu/de/datenschutz/. If you have any further questions, you can also send an e-mail to support@df.eu.
Order processing contract (AVV) DomainFactory
We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) with DomainFactory in accordance with Article 28 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). You can find out exactly what a DPA is and, in particular, what must be included in a DPA in our general section “Data processing agreement (DPA)”.
This contract is required by law because DomainFactory processes personal data on our behalf. It clarifies that DomainFactory may only process data that it receives from us in accordance with our instructions and must comply with the GDPR. You can find the link to the data processing agreement (DPA) at https://www.df.eu/de/support/formulare/.
Social media privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Presentation and optimisation of our services, contact with visitors, interested parties, etc., advertising 📓 Processed data: Data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, contact details, user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this in the respective social media tool used. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the social media platforms used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
In addition to our website, we are also active on various social media platforms. User data may be processed so that we can target users who are interested in us via the social networks. In addition, elements of a social media platform may also be embedded directly in our website. This is the case, for example, if you click on a social button on our website and are forwarded directly to our social media presence. Social media refers to websites and apps through which registered members can produce content, share content openly or in specific groups and network with other members.
For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and socialise online. With our social media presence, we can bring our products and services closer to interested parties. The social media elements integrated on our website help you 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 used to carry out web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personalised marketing and advertising strategies. Depending on your behaviour on a social media platform, the analysed data can be used to draw conclusions about your interests and create user profiles. This also enables the platforms to present you with customised advertisements. Cookies are usually set in your browser for this purpose, which store data on your user behaviour.
As a rule, we assume that we remain responsible under data protection law, even if we use the services of a social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that in certain cases the operator of the social media platform may be jointly responsible with us within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR. If this is the case, we will point this out separately and work on the basis of an agreement to this effect. The essence of the agreement is then reproduced below for the platform concerned.
Please note that when using the social media platforms or our built-in elements, your data may also be processed outside the European Union, as many social media channels, such as Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. As a result, you may not be able to claim or enforce your rights in relation to your personal data as easily.
Exactly which data is stored and processed depends on the respective provider of the social media platform. However, it usually involves data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, data that 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. Data can be linked to your profile, especially if you have a profile on the social media channel you are visiting and are logged in.
All data that is collected via a social media platform is also stored on the provider’s servers. This means that only the providers have access to the data and can provide you with 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 company’s privacy policy. We also recommend that you contact the provider directly if you have any questions about data storage and data processing or wish to assert corresponding rights.
We will inform you about the duration of data processing below if we have further information on this. For example, the social media platform Facebook stores data until it is no longer required for its own purposes. However, customer data that is compared with our own user data is 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 required by law, for example in the case of accounting, this storage period may be exceeded.
You also have the right and the option to withdraw 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 by cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser.
As social media tools may use cookies, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.
If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners if you have given your consent. Nevertheless, we only use the tools if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text on cookies carefully and consult the privacy policy or cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.
Information on specific social media platforms – if available – can be found in the following sections.
Facebook privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our services 📓 Processed data: Data such as customer data, user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this below in the privacy policy 📅 Storage period: until the data is no longer useful for Facebook’s purposes ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network of the company Meta Platforms Inc. or, for the European region, Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. With the help of these tools, we can offer you and people who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer.
If data is collected and forwarded from you via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page (fan page), both we and Facebook Ireland Ltd. are responsible for this. Facebook is solely responsible for the further processing of this data. Our joint obligations are also set out in a publicly accessible agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum. This states, for example, that we must clearly inform you about the use of Facebook tools on our site. Furthermore, we are also responsible for ensuring that the tools are securely integrated into our website in accordance with data protection law. Facebook, on the other hand, is responsible for the data security of Facebook products, for example. If you have any questions about data collection and data processing by Facebook, you can contact the company directly. If you address the question to us, we are obliged to forward it to Facebook.
Below we provide an overview of the various Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.
In addition to many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official term used by Facebook. However, as the term is hardly known, we have decided to simply call them Facebook tools. These include, among others:
Through these tools, Facebook is expanding its services and has the opportunity to obtain information about user activities outside of Facebook.
We only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. We can reach precisely these people with the help of adverts (Facebook ads). However, Facebook needs information about people’s wishes and needs in order to show users suitable adverts. The company is therefore provided with information about user behaviour (and contact details) on our website. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people suitable adverts about our products and services. The tools thus enable customised advertising campaigns on Facebook.
Facebook calls data about your behaviour on our website “event data”. This is also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus create “campaign reports” on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analyses give us a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. This allows us to optimise your user experience on our website with some of these tools. For example, you can use the social plug-ins to share content on our site directly on Facebook.
By using individual Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) can be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, telephone number and IP address may be sent.
Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it has about you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transmitted to Facebook, it is hashed. This means that a data set of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.
In addition to the contact data, “event data” is also transmitted. “Event data” refers to the information that we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers) unless the company has explicit authorisation or is legally obliged to do so. “Event data” can also be linked to contact details. This allows Facebook to offer better personalised advertising. After the aforementioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact data again.
In order to optimise the delivery of advertisements, Facebook only uses the event data if it has been combined with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development and research purposes. Much of this data is transferred to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies are stored in your browser. We go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies in the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools. You can also find general information about the use of Facebook cookies at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.
In principle, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers all over the world where its data is stored. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with the company’s own user data.
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, correction, transferability and deletion of your data.
The data will only be completely deleted if you delete your Facebook account completely. And this is how deleting your Facebook account works:
1) Click on Settings on the right-hand side of Facebook.
2) Then click on “Your Facebook information” in the left-hand column.
3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.
4) Now select “Delete account” and then click on “Continue and delete account”
5) Now enter your password, click on “Next” and then on “Delete account”
The data that Facebook receives via our site is stored using cookies (e.g. for social plugins), among other things. You can deactivate, delete or manage individual or all cookies in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. In the “Cookies” section, you will find the relevant links to the instructions for the most popular browsers.
If you generally do not want to have cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. This allows you to decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not.
If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated Facebook tools, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the tools if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text on cookies carefully and take a look at Facebook’s privacy policy or cookie guidelines.
Facebook also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Facebook or Meta Platforms is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information on this at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Facebook also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 (2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) 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 the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the standard contractual clauses, Facebook undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de
The Facebook data processing conditions, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.
We hope we have provided you with the most important information about the use and data processing by Facebook tools. If you would like to find out more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend that you read the data policy at https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/.
We have integrated the practical Facebook login on our website. This allows you to easily log in with your Facebook account without having to create another user account. If you decide to register using the Facebook login, you will be redirected to the Facebook social media network. There you can log in using your Facebook user data. Through this login procedure, data about you and your user behaviour is stored and transmitted to Facebook.
Facebook uses various cookies to store the data. Below we show you the most important cookies that are set in your browser or already exist when you log in to our site via the Facebook login:
Name: fr
Value: 0jieyh4c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: This cookie is used to ensure that the social plugin on our website works as well as possible.
Expiry date: after 3 months
Name: datr
Wert: 4Jh7XUA2112710300SEmPsSfzCOO4JFFl
Purpose: Facebook sets the “datr” cookie when a web browser accesses facebook.com, and the cookie helps identify login activity and protect users.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: _js_datr
Value: deleted
Purpose: Facebook sets this session cookie for tracking purposes, even if you do not have a Facebook account or are logged out.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Note: The cookies listed are only a small selection of the cookies available to Facebook. Other cookies include _ fbp, sb or wd. A complete list is not possible, as Facebook has a large number of cookies and uses them variably.
The Facebook login offers you a quick and easy registration process on the one hand, and on the other hand it gives us the opportunity to share data with Facebook. This allows us to better customise our offer and advertising campaigns to your interests and needs. Data that we receive from Facebook in this way is public data such as
In return, we provide Facebook with information about your activities on our website. This includes information about the device you are using, which subpages you visit on our website or which products you have purchased from us.
By using Facebook Login, you consent to data processing. You can revoke this agreement at any time. If you would like more information about data processing by Facebook, we recommend that you read the Facebook privacy policy at https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/.
If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for adverts yourself at https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/advertisers/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen.
Social plug-ins from Meta Platforms Inc. are integrated into our website. You can recognise these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the “Like” button (the hand with a raised thumb) or by a clear “Facebook plug-in” label. A social plug-in is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our site. Each plug-in has its own function. The most commonly used functions are the familiar “Like” and “Share” buttons.
The following social plug-ins are offered by Facebook:
You can find more information on how the individual plug-ins are used at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins. We use the social plug-ins on the one hand to offer you a better user experience on our site, and on the other hand because Facebook can use them to optimise our advertisements.
If you have a Facebook account or have already visited https://www.facebook.com/, Facebook has already set at least one cookie in your browser. In this case, your browser sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our site or interact with social plug-ins (e.g. the “Like” button).
The information received is deleted or anonymised within 90 days. According to Facebook, this data includes your IP address, which website you have visited, the date, time and other information relating to your browser.
To prevent Facebook from collecting a lot of data during your visit to our website and linking it to Facebook data, you must log out of Facebook during your visit to the website.
If you are not logged in to Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser will send less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. Nevertheless, data such as your IP address or which website you visit may be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to expressly point out that we do not know the exact content of the data. However, to the best of our current knowledge, we endeavour to provide you with as much information as possible about data processing. You can also read about how Facebook uses the data in the company’s data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.
The following cookies are set in your browser as a minimum when you visit a website with social plug-ins from Facebook:
Name: dpr
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie is used to make the social plug-ins on our website work.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Name: fr
Wert: 0jieyh4112710300c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to function properly.
Expiry date:: after 3 months
Note: These cookies were set after a test, even if you are not a Facebook member.
If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for adverts yourself at https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/advertisers/. If you are not a Facebook user, you can manage your usage-based online advertising at https://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/?tid=112710300. There you have the option of deactivating or activating providers.
If you want to find out more about Facebook’s data protection, we recommend that you read the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/.
Instagram privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our services 📓 Processed data: Data such as user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this below in the privacy policy 📅 Storage period: until Instagram no longer needs the data for its purposes ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We have integrated Instagram functions on our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Meta Platforms Inc. since 2012 and is a Facebook product. Embedding Instagram content on our website is called embedding. This allows us to show you content such as buttons, photos or videos from Instagram directly on our website. When you visit web pages on our website that have an Instagram function integrated, data is transmitted to Instagram, stored and processed. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data is therefore processed across all Facebook companies.
In the following, we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what data is involved and how you can largely control data processing. As Instagram belongs to Meta Platforms Inc., we obtain our information from the Instagram guidelines on the one hand, but also from the Meta privacy policy itself on the other.
Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks in the world. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with the benefits of audiovisual platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. You can upload photos and short videos to “Insta” (as many users casually call the platform), edit them with various filters and also share them on other social networks. And if you don’t want to be active yourself, you can also just follow other interesting users.
Instagram is the social media platform that has really gone through the roof in recent years. And of course we have also responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That’s why a varied presentation of our content is a matter of course for us. The embedded Instagram functions allow us to enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. As Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected can also be useful to us for personalised advertising on Facebook. This means that only people who are genuinely interested in our products or services receive our adverts.
Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We receive summarised statistics and thus gain more insight into your wishes and interests. It is important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.
When you visit one of our pages that has Instagram functions (such as Instagram images or plug-ins), your browser automatically connects to Instagram’s servers. In the process, data is sent to Instagram, stored and processed. This happens regardless of whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our website, your computer, purchases made, adverts you see and how you use our website. The date and time of your interaction with Instagram is also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram stores significantly more data about you.
Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the case with Instagram. Customer data includes, for example, name, address, telephone number and IP address. This customer data is only transmitted to Instagram once it has been hashed. Hashing means that a data record is converted into a character string. This allows the contact data to be encrypted. The “event data” mentioned above is also transmitted. By “event data”, Facebook – and consequently Instagram – means data about your user behaviour. Contact data may also be combined with event data. The contact data collected is compared with the data that Instagram already has about you.
The collected data is transmitted to Facebook via small text files (cookies), which are usually set in your browser. Depending on the Instagram functions used and whether you have an Instagram account yourself, different amounts of data are stored.
We assume that Instagram processes data in the same way as Facebook. This means that if you have an Instagram account or have visited www.instagram.com, Instagram has at least set a cookie. If this is the case, your browser sends information to Instagram via the cookie as soon as you come into contact with an Instagram function. This data is deleted or anonymised after 90 days at the latest (after reconciliation). Although we have intensively analysed Instagram’s data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores.
Below we will show you the minimum cookies that are set in your browser when you click on an Instagram function (such as a button or an Insta image). In our test, we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies will of course be set in your browser.
These cookies were used in our test:
Name: csrftoken
Value: “”
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons to prevent falsification of requests. However, we were unable to find out more details.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: mid
Value: “”
Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie to optimise its own services and offers inside and outside Instagram. The cookie defines a unique user ID.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Name: fbsr_112710300124024
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Name: rur
Value: ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that ensures functionality on Instagram.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Name: urlgen
Wert: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe112710300”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram marketing purposes.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Note: We cannot claim completeness here. Which cookies are set in individual cases depends on the embedded functions and your use of Instagram.
Instagram shares the information received between the Facebook companies with external partners and with people you connect with worldwide. Data processing is carried out in compliance with our own data policy. For security reasons, among others, your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world. Most of these servers are located in the USA.
Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to access, portability, rectification and erasure of your data. You can manage your data in the Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you must permanently delete your Instagram account.
And this is how deleting your Instagram account works:
First open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go to the bottom and click on “Help section”. You will now be taken to the company’s website. On the website, click on “Manage your account” and then on “Delete your account”.
If you delete your account completely, Instagram will delete posts such as your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you does not belong to your account and will therefore not be deleted.
As mentioned above, Instagram stores your data primarily via cookies. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the management always works a little differently. In the “Cookies” section, you will find the relevant links to the instructions for the most popular browsers.
You can also set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.
If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text on cookies carefully and consult the privacy policy or cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.
Instagram also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Instagram or Meta Platforms is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data of EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information on this at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Instagram also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 (2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) 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 the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the standard contractual clauses, Instagram 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: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de
We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Instagram. You can find out more about Instagram’s data policy at https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy/.
Partner programmes Privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Economic success and optimisation of our services. 📓 Processed data: Access statistics containing data such as locations of access, device data, access duration and time, navigation behaviour, click behaviour and IP addresses. Personal data such as name or email address may also be processed. 📅 Storage period: personal data is usually stored by partner programmes until it is no longer required ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use partner programmes from various providers on our website. By using an affiliate programme, your data may be transferred to the respective affiliate programme provider, stored and processed. In this data protection text, we provide you with a general overview of data processing by partner programmes and show you how you can also prevent or revoke data transmission. Every partner programme (also known as an affiliate programme) is based on the principle of commission. A link or an advert including a link is placed on our website and if you are interested in it and click on it and purchase a product or service in this way, we receive a commission (reimbursement of advertising costs) for this
Our aim is to provide you with an enjoyable time with lots of helpful content. We put a lot of work and time into the development of our website. With the help of partner programmes, we have the opportunity to be rewarded a little for our work. Each partner link is of course always related to our topic and shows offers that might interest you.
In order to be able to track whether you have clicked on a link we have used, the partner programme provider must know that it was you who followed the link via our website. This means that the affiliate programme links used must be correctly assigned to the subsequent actions (business transaction, purchase, conversion, impression, etc.). Only then can the billing of commissions work.
For this assignment to work, a value can be attached to a link (in the URL) or information can be stored in cookies. This stores information such as which page you came from (referrer), when you clicked on the link, an identifier for our website, which offer it is and a user ID.
This means that as soon as you interact with the products and services of a partner programme, this provider also collects data from you. Exactly which data is stored depends on the individual provider. For example, the Amazon partner programme distinguishes between active and automatic information. Active information includes your name, email address, telephone number, age, payment information or location information. The automatically stored information in this case includes user behaviour, IP address, device information and the URL.
We will inform you about the duration of data processing below if we have further information on this. In general, personal data is only processed for as long as is necessary to provide the services and products. Data stored in cookies is stored for different lengths of time. Some cookies are deleted as soon as you leave the website, while others may be stored in your browser for several years if they are not 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. You can usually find precise information about the duration of data processing in the respective data protection declarations of the individual providers.
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 partner programme 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.
If you have consented to the use of partner programmes, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when it is collected by a partner programme.
We also have a legitimate interest in using a partner programme to optimise our online service and our marketing measures. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use the partner programme if you have given your consent.
Information on special partner programmes, if available, can be found in the following sections.
We use the Booking.com partner programme for our website. The service provider is the Dutch company Booking.com B.V., Herengracht 597, 1017 CE Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You can find out more about the data that is processed through the use of Booking.com in the privacy policy at https://www.booking.com/content/privacy.de.html.
Cookie Consent Management Platform Summary 👥 Data subjects: Website visitors 🤝 Purpose: Obtaining and managing consent for certain cookies and thus the use of certain tools 📓 Processed data: Data for managing the cookie settings set, such as IP address, time of consent, type of consent, individual consents. You can find more details on this in the respective tool used. 📅 Storage period: Depends on the tool used, you must be prepared for periods of several years ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use Consent Management Platform (CMP) software on our website to make it easier for us and you to handle scripts and cookies correctly and securely. The software automatically creates a cookie pop-up, scans and checks all scripts and cookies, provides you with the cookie consent required under data protection law and helps us and you to keep track of all cookies. Most cookie consent management tools identify and categorise all existing cookies. As a website visitor, you 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.
Our aim is to offer you the best possible transparency in the area of data protection. We are also legally obliged to do so. We want to provide you with as much information as possible about all tools and all cookies that can store and process your data. It is also your right to decide for yourself which cookies you accept and which you do not. In order to grant you this right, we first need to know exactly which cookies have ended up on our website in the first place. Thanks to a cookie management tool that regularly scans the website for all existing cookies, we know about all cookies and can provide you with GDPR-compliant information about them. You can then accept or reject cookies via the consent system.
As part of our cookie management tool, you can manage each individual cookie yourself and have complete control over the storage and processing of your data. The declaration of your consent is stored so that we do not have to ask you every time you visit our website and we can also prove your consent if required by law. This is stored either in an opt-in cookie or on a server. The storage period of your cookie consent varies depending on the provider of the cookie management tool. In most cases, this data (e.g. pseudonymised user ID, time of consent, details of cookie categories or tools, browser, device information) is stored for up to two years.
We will inform you about the duration of data processing below if we have further information on this. In general, we only process personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. Data stored in cookies is stored for different lengths of time. Some cookies are deleted as soon as you leave the website, while others may be stored in your browser for several years. The exact duration of data processing depends on the tool used, but in most cases you should be prepared for a storage period of several years. You can usually find precise information about the duration of data processing in the respective data protection declarations of the individual providers.
You also have the right and the option to withdraw 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 by cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser.
Information on special cookie management tools, if available, can be found in the following sections.
If you consent to cookies, your personal data will be processed and stored via these cookies. If we are authorised to use cookies on the basis of your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR), this consent is also the legal basis for the use of cookies and the processing of your data. Cookie consent management platform software is used to manage your consent to cookies and to enable you to give your consent. The use of this software enables us to operate the website in an efficient and legally compliant manner, which constitutes a legitimate interest (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).
Security & Anti-Spam Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Cybersecurity 📓 Processed data: Data such as your IP address, name or technical data such as browser version More details can be found below and in the individual data protection texts. 📅 Storage period: Most of the data is stored until it is no longer required for the fulfilment of the service ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
With so-called security and anti-spam software, you and we can protect ourselves from various spam or phishing emails and possible other cyberattacks. Spam refers to advertising emails from a mass mailing that you did not request yourself. Such emails are also known as data junk and can also cause costs. Phishing emails, on the other hand, are messages that aim to build trust via fake messages or websites in order to obtain personal data. Anti-spam software generally protects against unwanted spam messages or malicious emails that could introduce viruses into our system, for example. We also use general firewall and security systems to protect our computers from unwanted network attacks.
We attach great importance to security on our website. After all, it’s not just about our security, but above all about yours. Unfortunately, cyber threats are now part of everyday life in the world of IT and the Internet. Hackers often try to steal personal data from an IT system with the help of a cyber attack. And that is why a good defence system is absolutely essential. A security system monitors all incoming and outgoing connections to our network or computer. To achieve even greater security against cyber attacks, we also use other external security services in addition to the standardised security systems on our computer. This prevents unauthorised data traffic and protects us from cybercrime.
Exactly which data is collected and stored depends of course on the respective service. However, we always endeavour to only use programmes that collect data very sparingly or only store data that is necessary for the fulfilment of the service offered. In principle, the service may store data such as name, address, IP address, e-mail address and technical data such as browser type or browser version. Any performance and log data may also be collected in order to recognise possible incoming threats in good time. This data is processed as part of the services and in compliance with the applicable laws. This also includes the GDPR for US providers (via the standard contractual clauses). In some cases, these security services also work with third-party providers who may store and/or process data under instruction and in accordance with the data protection guidelines and other security measures. Data is usually stored via cookies.
We will inform you about the duration of data processing below if we have further information on this. For example, security programmes store data until you or we revoke the data storage. In general, personal data is only stored for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of the services. Unfortunately, in many cases we do not receive precise information from the providers about the length of storage.
You also have the right and the option to withdraw your consent to the use of cookies or third-party security software 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 by cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser.
As such security services may also use cookies, we recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.
We use the security services mainly on the basis of our legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in a good security system against various cyber attacks.
Certain processing operations, in particular the use of cookies and the use of security functions, require your consent. If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated security services, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). Most of the services we use set cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text on cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.
Information on special tools – if available – can be found in the following sections.
Google reCAPTCHA privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our service performance and protection against cyber attacks 📓 Processed data: Data such as IP address, browser information, your operating system, limited location and usage data More details can be found below in this privacy policy. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the stored data ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
Our primary goal is to secure and protect our website in the best possible way for you and for us. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google Inc. For the European region, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With reCAPTCHA we can determine whether you are really a flesh and blood person and not a robot or other spam software. By spam we mean any unsolicited information that is sent to us electronically. With the classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or picture puzzles for verification. With reCAPTCHA from Google, we don’t usually have to bother you with such puzzles. In most cases, it is enough to simply tick a box to confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you no longer even have to tick the box. You can find out exactly how this works and, above all, which data is used for this in the course of this privacy policy.
reCAPTCHA is a free captcha service from Google that protects websites from spam software and misuse by non-human visitors. This service is most commonly used when you fill out forms on the Internet. A Captcha service is a type of automatic Turing test that is designed to ensure that an action on the Internet is performed by a human and not by a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing), a human determines the difference between a bot and a human. With captchas, this is also done by a computer or a software programme. Classic captchas work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve but present considerable difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to actively solve puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. All you have to do is tick the “I am not a robot” text box or, with Invisible reCAPTCHA, even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is integrated into the source code and then the tool runs in the background and analyses your user behaviour. The software calculates a so-called captcha score from these user actions. Google uses this score to calculate the probability that you are human even before you enter the captcha. reCAPTCHA or captchas in general are always used when bots could manipulate or abuse certain actions (e.g. registrations, surveys, etc.).
We only want to welcome people of flesh and blood on our site. Bots and spam software of all kinds can safely stay at home. That’s why we do everything we can to protect ourselves and offer you the best possible user-friendliness. For this reason, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google. This way we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. By using reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google in order to determine whether you are actually a human being. reCAPTCHA therefore serves to ensure the security of our website and, by extension, your security. For example, without reCAPTCHA it could happen that a bot registers as many e-mail addresses as possible during registration in order to subsequently “spam” forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA we can prevent such bot attacks.
reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users in order to determine whether the actions on our website actually originate from people. The IP address and other data that Google requires for the reCAPTCHA service may therefore be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always truncated within the member states of the EU or other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data is sent to a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with other Google data unless you are logged in with your Google account while using reCAPTCHA. First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks whether Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube, Gmail, etc.) have already been placed on your browser. Then reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and takes a snapshot of your browser window.
The following list of collected browser and user data does not claim to be exhaustive. Rather, they are examples of data that, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.
It is undisputed that Google uses and analyses this data even before you click on the “I am not a robot” checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don’t even have to tick the box and the entire recognition process runs in the background. Google does not tell you in detail exactly how much and what data it stores.
The following cookies are used by reCAPTCHA: Here we refer to the reCAPTCHA demo version from Google at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo. All these cookies require a unique identifier for tracking purposes. Here is a list of cookies that Google reCAPTCHA has set on the demo version:
Name: IDE
Value: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-112710300-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by the company DoubleClick (also owned by Google) to register and report the actions of a user on the website when interacting with adverts. This allows the effectiveness of advertising to be measured and appropriate optimisation measures to be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: 1P_JAR
Value: 2019-5-14-12
Purpose: This cookie collects statistics on website usage and measures conversions. A conversion occurs, for example, when a user becomes a buyer. The cookie is also used to display relevant adverts to users. The cookie can also be used to prevent a user from seeing the same advert more than once.
Expiry date: after one month
Name: ANID
Wert: U7j1v3dZa1127103000xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We were unable to find out much information about this cookie. In Google’s privacy policy, the cookie is mentioned in connection with “advertising cookies” such as “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored under domain google.com.
Expiry date: after 9 months
Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to the use of various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users, prevent fraudulent login information and protect user data from unauthorised attacks.
Expiry date: after 19 years
Name: NID
Wert: 0WmuWqy112710300zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customise advertisements to your Google searches. With the help of the cookie, Google “remembers” your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with adverts. This means you always receive customised adverts. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect the user’s personal settings for advertising purposes.
Expiry date: after 6 months
Name: DV
Wert: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc112710300-4
Purpose: As soon as you have ticked the “I am not a robot” checkbox, this cookie is set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalised advertising. DV collects information in anonymised form and is also used to make user distinctions.
Expiry date: after 10 minutes
Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as experience has shown that Google changes its choice of cookies from time to time.
By inserting reCAPTCHA, data is transferred from you to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored is not made clear by Google, even after repeated requests. Without having received confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, time spent on the website or language settings are stored on the European or American Google servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is not merged with other Google data from other Google services. However, if you are logged into your Google account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. The deviating data protection provisions of Google apply.
If you do not want any data about you and your behaviour to be transmitted to Google, you must log out of Google completely and delete all Google cookies before you visit our website or use the reCAPTCHA software. In principle, the data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you visit our website. To delete this data, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=112710300.
By using our website, you agree that Google LLC and its representatives may automatically collect, process and use data.
Please note that when using this tool, your data may also be stored and processed outside the EU. Most third countries (including the USA) are not considered secure under current European data protection law. Data may therefore not simply be transferred to insecure third countries, stored and processed there, unless there are suitable guarantees (such as EU standard contractual clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.
If you have consented to the use of Google reCAPTCHA, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when Google reCAPTCHA is used.
We also have a legitimate interest in using Google reCAPTCHA to optimise our online service and make it more secure. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google reCAPTCHA if you have given your consent.
Google also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information on this at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Google also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 (2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) 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 the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the standard contractual clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de
The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.
You can find out a little more about reCAPTCHA on Google’s web developer page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Although Google goes into more detail here about the technical development of reCAPTCHA, you will search in vain for precise information about data storage and data protection issues. A good overview of the basic use of data at Google can be found in the company’s own privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy.
Audio & video privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our services 📓 Processed data: Data such as contact details, user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address may be stored. You can find more details on this below in the corresponding data protection texts. 📅 Storage duration: Data is generally stored for as long as it is required for the purpose of the service ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We have integrated audio and video elements on our website so that you can watch videos or listen to music/podcasts directly via our website. The content is provided by service providers. All content is therefore also obtained from the corresponding servers of the providers.
These are integrated functional elements from platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo or Spotify. The use of these portals is usually free of charge, but paid content can also be published. With the help of these integrated elements, you can listen to or watch the respective content via our website.
If you use audio or video elements on our website, your personal data may also be transmitted to the service providers, processed and stored.
Of course we want to provide you with the best offer on our website. And we realise that content is no longer just conveyed in text and static images. Instead of simply giving you a link to a video, we offer you audio and video formats directly on our website that are entertaining or informative and ideally even both. This expands our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. We therefore offer video and/or audio content in addition to our texts and images.
When you access a page on our website that has an embedded video, for example, your server connects to the server of the service provider. Your data is also transferred to the third-party provider and stored there. Some data is collected and stored regardless of whether you have an account with the third-party provider or not. This usually includes your IP address, browser type, operating system and other general information about your end device. In addition, most providers also collect information about your web activity. This includes, for example, session duration, bounce rate, which button you clicked on or which website you used to access the service. All this information is usually stored using cookies or pixel tags (also known as web beacons). Pseudonymised data is usually stored in cookies in your browser. You can always find out exactly which data is stored and processed in the privacy policy of the respective provider.
You can find out exactly how long the data is stored on the servers of the third-party providers either below in the data protection text of the respective tool or in the provider’s privacy policy. In principle, personal data is only ever processed for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services or products. This generally also applies to third-party providers. In most cases, you can assume that certain data will be stored on the servers of third-party providers for several years. Data can be stored for different lengths of time, especially in cookies. Some cookies are deleted as soon as you leave the website, while others may be stored in your browser for several years.
You also have the right and the option to withdraw your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers 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 by cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing up to the time of cancellation.
Since the integrated audio and video functions on our website usually also use cookies, you should also read our general privacy policy on cookies. You can find out more about the handling and storage of your data in the privacy policies of the respective third-party providers.
If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated audio and video elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated audio and video elements if you have given your consent.
YouTube privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our services 📓 Processed data: Data such as contact details, user behaviour data, information about your device and your IP address may be stored. You can find more details below in this privacy policy. 📅 Storage duration: Data is generally stored for as long as it is required for the purpose of the service ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We have integrated YouTube videos on our website. This allows us to present interesting videos directly on our site. YouTube is a video portal that has been a subsidiary of Google since 2006. The video portal is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you access a page on our website that has an embedded YouTube video, your browser automatically connects to the YouTube or Google servers. Various data will be transmitted (depending on the settings). Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all data processing in Europe.
In the following, we would like to explain to you in more detail what data is processed, why we have integrated YouTube videos and how you can manage or delete your data.
On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment on and upload videos for free. Over the last few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. To enable us to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have integrated into our site.
YouTube is the video platform with the most visitors and the best content. We endeavour to offer you the best possible user experience on our website. And of course, interesting videos are a must. With the help of our embedded videos, we provide you with further helpful content in addition to our texts and images. The embedded videos also make our website easier to find on the Google search engine. Even if we place adverts via Google Ads, Google can – thanks to the data collected – only show these adverts to people who are interested in our offers.
As soon as you visit one of our pages that has a YouTube video embedded, YouTube sets at least one cookie that stores your IP address and our URL. If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can usually assign your interactions on our website to your profile using cookies. This includes data such as session duration, bounce rate, approximate location, technical information such as browser type, screen resolution or your internet provider. Other data may include contact details, any ratings, the sharing of content via social media or adding to your favourites on YouTube.
If you are not logged into a Google account or a YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier that is linked to your device, browser or app. For example, your preferred language setting is retained. But a lot of interaction data cannot be saved because fewer cookies are set.
In the following list, we show cookies that were set in the browser in a test. On the one hand, we show cookies that are set without a logged-in YouTube account. On the other hand, we show cookies that are set with a logged-in account. The list cannot claim to be exhaustive because the user data always depends on the interactions on YouTube.
Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5Y112710300-1
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Name: PREF
Value: f1=50000000
Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google receives statistics on how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF.
Expiry date: after 8 months
Name: GPS
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track the GPS location.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes
Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Value: 95Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie attempts to estimate the user’s bandwidth on our websites (with integrated YouTube video).
Expiry date: after 8 months
Other cookies that are set when you are logged in to your YouTube account:
Name: APISID
Wert: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7112710300-
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile of your interests. The data is used for personalised advertisements.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to the use of various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to check users and protect user data from unauthorised attacks.
Expiry date: after 19 years
Name: HSID
Value: AcRwpgUik9Dveht0I
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile of your interests. This data helps to display personalised advertising.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: LOGIN_INFO
Value: AFmmF2swRQIhALl6aL…
Purpose: Information about your login data is stored in this cookie.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: SAPISID
Value: 7oaPxoG-pZsJuuF5/AnUdDUIsJ9iJz2vdM
Purpose: This cookie works by uniquely identifying your browser and device. It is used to create a profile of your interests.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: SID
Value: oQfNKjAsI112710300-
Purpose: This cookie stores your Google Account ID and your last login time in digitally signed and encrypted form.
Expiry date: after 2 years
Name: SIDCC
Value: AN0-TYuqub2JOcDTyL
Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and what adverts you may have seen before visiting our site.
Expiry date: after 3 months
The data that YouTube receives from you and processes is stored on Google servers. Most of these servers are located in America. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=de you can see exactly where the Google data centres are located. Your data is distributed across the servers. This means that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation.
Google stores the data collected for different lengths of time. You can delete some data at any time, others are automatically deleted after a limited time and others are stored by Google for a longer period of time. Some data (such as elements from “My activity”, photos or documents, products) that are stored in your Google account remain stored until you delete them. Even if you are not signed in to a Google Account, you can delete some data that is linked to your device, browser or app.
In principle, you can delete data in your Google account manually. With the automatic deletion function for location and activity data introduced in 2019, information is stored for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your decision, and then deleted.
Regardless of whether you have a Google account or not, you can configure your browser so that cookies are deleted or deactivated by Google. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. In the “Cookies” section, you will find the relevant links to the instructions for the most popular browsers.
If you generally do not want to have cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. This allows you to decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not.
If you have consented to your data being processed and stored by integrated YouTube elements, this consent is the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data is also stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated YouTube elements if you have given your consent. YouTube also sets cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text on cookies carefully and consult the privacy policy or cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.
YouTube also processes your data in the USA, among other places. YouTube and Google are active participants in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information on this at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Google also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 (2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) 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 the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the standard contractual clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de
The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.
As YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, there is a joint privacy policy. If you would like to find out more about how your data is handled, we recommend that you read the privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.
We have integrated the YouTube subscribe button on our website. You can usually recognise the button by the classic YouTube logo. The logo shows the words “Subscribe” or “YouTube” in white lettering against a red background and the white “Play” symbol to the left. However, the button can also be displayed in a different design.
Our YouTube channel always offers you funny, interesting or exciting videos. With the built-in “Subscribe” button, you can subscribe to our channel directly from our website without having to go to the YouTube website. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access our extensive content. Please note that YouTube may store and process your data as a result.
If you see a built-in subscription button on our site, YouTube – according to Google – sets at least one cookie. This cookie stores your IP address and our URL. YouTube can also find out information about your browser, your approximate location and your default language. In our test, the following four cookies were set without being logged in to YouTube:
Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5112710300Y
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed.
Expiry date: after the end of the session
Name: PREF
Value: f1=50000000
Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google receives statistics on how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF.
Expiry date: after 8 months
Name: GPS
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track the GPS location.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes
Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Value: 11271030095Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie attempts to estimate the user’s bandwidth on our websites (with integrated YouTube video).
Expiry date: after 8 months
Note: These cookies were set after a test and cannot claim to be complete.
If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can save many of your actions/interactions on our website with the help of cookies and assign them to your YouTube account. For example, YouTube receives information about how long you surf on our site, which browser type you use, which screen resolution you prefer or which actions you perform.
YouTube uses this data on the one hand to improve its own services and offers, and on the other hand to provide analyses and statistics for advertisers (who use Google Ads).
Web design privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Improving the user experience 📓 Processed data: Which data is processed depends heavily on the services used. This usually involves the IP address, technical data, language settings, browser version, screen resolution and browser name. You can find more details on this in the respective web design tools used. 📅 Storage period: depending on the tools used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use various tools on our website that serve our web design. Web design is not, as is often assumed, just about making our website look pretty, but also about functionality and performance. But of course the right look of a website is also one of the major goals of professional web design. Web design is a branch of media design and deals with the visual as well as the structural and functional design of a website. The aim of web design is to improve your experience on our website. In web design jargon, this is referred to as user experience (UX) and usability. User experience refers to all the impressions and experiences that website visitors have on a website. Usability is a sub-item of user experience. This refers to the user-friendliness of a website. The main focus here is on ensuring that content, subpages or products are clearly structured and that you can find what you are looking for quickly and easily. In order to offer you the best possible experience on our website, we also use third-party web design tools. The “web design” category in this privacy policy therefore includes all services that improve the design of our website. These can be, for example, fonts, various plugins or other integrated web design functions.
How you absorb information on a website depends very much on the structure, functionality and visual perception of the website. This is why good and professional web design has become increasingly important for us. We are constantly working on improving our website and also see this as an extended service for you as a website visitor. Furthermore, a beautiful and functioning website also has economic advantages for us. After all, you will only visit us and make use of our services if you feel completely at ease.
When you visit our website, web design elements may be integrated into our pages that can also process data. Exactly what data is involved naturally depends heavily on the tools used. Below you can see exactly which tools we use for our website. For more detailed information about data processing, we recommend that you also read the respective data privacy statements of the tools used. In most cases, this will tell you what data is processed, whether cookies are used and how long the data is stored. Fonts such as Google Fonts also automatically transmit information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution and browser name to the Google servers.
How long data is processed is very individual and depends on the web design elements used. If cookies are used, for example, the storage period can be as short as one minute or as long as a few years. Please find out more about this. We recommend that you read our general text section on cookies as well as the data protection declarations of the tools used. There you can usually find out exactly which cookies are used and what information is stored in them. Google font files, for example, are stored for one year. This is to improve the loading time of a website. In principle, data is only stored for as long as is necessary to provide the service. Data can also be stored for longer if required by law.
You also have the right and the option to withdraw your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. You can also prevent data collection by cookies by managing, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser. Under web design elements (mostly fonts), however, there is also data that cannot be deleted quite so easily. This is the case when data is automatically collected directly when a page is accessed and transmitted to a third-party provider (such as Google). In this case, please contact the support of the relevant provider. In the case of Google, you can contact support at https://support.google.com/.
LEGAL BASIS
If you have consented to the use of web design tools, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when it is collected by web design tools. We also have a legitimate interest in improving the web design on our website. After all, only then can we provide you with an attractive and professional website. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use web design tools if you have given your consent. We would like to emphasise this again here in any case.
Information on special web design tools – if available – can be found in the following sections.
Font Awesome privacy policy summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our services 📓 Processed data: such as IP address and which icon files are loaded More details can be found below in this privacy policy. 📅 Storage duration: Files in identifiable form are stored for a few weeks ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use Font Awesome from the American company Fonticons (307 S. Main St., Suite 202, Bentonville, AR 72712, USA) on our website. When you call up one of our websites, the Font Awesome web font (in particular icons) is loaded via the Font Awesome Content Delivery Network (CDN). This ensures that the texts, fonts and icons are displayed appropriately on every end device. In this privacy policy, we go into more detail about data storage and data processing by this service.
Icons are playing an increasingly important role for websites. Font Awesome is a web font that has been specially developed for web designers and web developers. With Font Awesome, icons can be scaled and coloured as desired using the CSS style sheet language. They thus replace old image icons. Font Awesome CDN is the easiest way to load icons or fonts onto your website. All we had to do was add a small line of code to our website.
Font Awesome allows content on our website to be better organised. This makes it easier for you to find your way around our website and grasp the content more easily. The icons can sometimes even be used to replace entire words and save space. This is particularly practical when we optimise content specifically for smartphones. These icons are inserted as HMTL code instead of images. This allows us to edit the icons with CSS exactly as we want. At the same time, we also improve our loading speed with Font Awesome because it only involves HTML elements and not icon images. All these advantages help us to make the website even clearer, fresher and faster for you.
The Font Awesome Content Delivery Network (CDN) is used to load icons and symbols. CDNs are networks of servers that are distributed worldwide and make it possible to quickly load files from nearby. Thus, as soon as you call up one of our pages, the corresponding icons are provided by Font Awesome.
In order for the web fonts to be loaded, your browser must establish a connection to the servers of Fonticons, Inc. Your IP address is recognised in the process. Font Awesome also collects data about which icon files are downloaded and when. Furthermore, technical data such as your browser version, screen resolution or the time the page was called up is also transmitted.
This data is collected and stored for the following reasons:
If your browser does not allow web fonts, a standard font from your PC will be used automatically. As far as we are currently aware, no cookies are set. We are in contact with Font Awesome’s data protection department and will let you know as soon as we find out more.
Font Awesome stores data about the use of the Content Delivery Network on servers in the United States of America. However, the CDN servers are located worldwide and store user data wherever you are. The data is usually only stored in identifiable form for a few weeks. Aggregated statistics on the use of the CDNs can also be stored for longer. Personal data is not included here.
To the best of our knowledge, Font Awesome does not store any personal data about the content delivery networks. If you do not want data about the icons used to be saved, you will unfortunately not be able to visit our website. If your browser does not allow web fonts, no data will be transferred or saved. In this case, your computer’s default font will simply be used.
If you have consented to Font Awesome being used, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when Font Awesome collects it.
We also have a legitimate interest in using Font Awesome to optimise our online service. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Font Awesome if you have given your consent.
We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. Data processing is essentially carried out by Font Awesome. This may result in data not being processed and stored in anonymised form. Furthermore, US government authorities may be able to access individual data. It is also possible that this data may be linked to data from other Font Awesome services with which you have a user account.
If you would like to find out more about Font Awesome and how it handles data, we recommend that you read the privacy policy at https://fontawesome.com/privacy and the help page at https://fontawesome.com/support.
Google Fonts privacy policy summary 👥 Data subject: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimisation of our services 📓 Processed data: Data such as IP address and CSS and font requests More details can be found below in this privacy policy. 📅 Storage period: Font files are stored by Google for one year ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
We use Google Fonts on our website. These are the “Google fonts” of Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services.
You do not need to log in or enter a password to use Google fonts. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser. The files (CSS, fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, 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 data will be transmitted to Google while using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We will take a closer look at exactly how the data is stored.
Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is a directory of over 800 fonts that Google makes available to its users free of charge.
Many of these fonts are published under the SIL Open Font Licence, while others have been published under the Apache licence. Both are free software licences.
With Google Fonts, we can use fonts on our own website without having to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important component in keeping the quality of our website high. All Google fonts are automatically optimised for the web and this saves data volume and is a great advantage, especially for use on mobile devices. When you visit our site, the low file size ensures a fast loading time. Furthermore, Google Fonts are secure web fonts. Different image synthesis systems (rendering) in different browsers, operating systems and mobile devices can lead to errors. Such errors can sometimes visually distort texts or entire websites. Thanks to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN), there are no cross-platform problems with Google Fonts. Google Fonts supports all common browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) and works reliably on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). We use Google Fonts so that we can present our entire online service as beautifully and uniformly as possible.
When you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded via a Google server. This external call transmits data to the Google server. In this way, Google also recognises that you or your IP address is visiting our website. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the use, storage and collection of end user data to what is necessary for the proper provision of fonts. Incidentally, API stands for “Application Programming Interface” and serves, among other things, as a data transmitter in the software sector.
Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests securely at Google and is therefore protected. Google can use the collected usage figures to determine how well the individual fonts are received. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which websites use Google fonts. This data is published in the Google Fonts BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use the Google web service BigQuery to analyse and move large amounts of data.
However, it should be noted that every Google Font request also automatically transmits information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution and browser name to the Google servers. It is not clear whether this data is also stored or whether it is clearly communicated by Google.
Google stores requests for CSS assets for one day on its servers, which are mainly located outside the EU. This allows us to use the fonts with the help of a Google stylesheet. A stylesheet is a format template that can be used to quickly and easily change the design or font of a website, for example.
The font files are stored by Google for one year. Google’s aim is to fundamentally improve the loading time of websites. If millions of websites refer to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and immediately reappear on all other websites visited later. Google sometimes updates font files to reduce the file size, increase language coverage and improve the design.
The data that Google stores for one day or one year cannot simply be deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is accessed. To delete this data prematurely, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=112710300. In this case, you can only prevent data storage if you do not visit our site.
Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unrestricted access to all fonts. This means we have unlimited access to a sea of fonts and can therefore get the best out of our website. You can find out more about Google Fonts and other issues at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=112710300. Although Google addresses data protection issues there, it does not provide any really detailed information about data storage. It is relatively difficult to get really precise information from Google about stored data.
If you have consented to the use of Google Fonts, the legal basis for the corresponding data processing is this consent. According to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), this consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when Google Fonts is used.
We also have a legitimate interest in using Google Font to optimise our online service. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Font if you have given your consent.
Google also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information on this at https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.
Google also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 (2) and (3) GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) 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 the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the standard contractual clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de
The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.
You can also find out which data is generally collected by Google and what this data is used for at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.
We use Google Fonts from Google Inc. on our website. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European region. We have integrated the Google fonts locally, i.e. on our web server – not on Google’s servers. This means that there is no connection to Google servers and therefore no data transfer or storage.
Google Fonts used to also be called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory with over 800 fonts that Google provides free of charge. With Google Fonts, you could use fonts without uploading them to your own server. However, in order to prevent any transfer of information to Google servers in this respect, we have downloaded the fonts to our server. In this way, we act in accordance with data protection regulations and do not send any data to Google Fonts.
We always endeavour to write our privacy policy as clearly and comprehensibly as possible. However, this is not always easy, especially when it comes to technical and legal topics. It often makes sense to use legal terms (such as personal data) or certain technical terms (such as cookies, IP address). However, we do not want to use these without explanation. Below you will find an alphabetical list of important terms used, which we may not have sufficiently addressed in the previous privacy policy. If these terms have been taken from the GDPR and are definitions, we will also quote the GDPR texts here and add our own explanations if necessary.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Processor” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller;
Explanation: As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data that we process from you. In addition to controllers, there may also be so-called processors. This includes any company or person that processes personal data on our behalf. In addition to service providers such as tax consultants, processors can therefore also be hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Consent” of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;
Explanation: As a rule, websites obtain such consent via a cookie consent tool. You are probably familiar with this. Whenever you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked via a banner whether you agree or consent to data processing. In most cases, you can also make individual settings and thus decide for yourself which data processing you allow and which you do not. If you do not give your consent, your personal data may not be processed. In principle, consent can of course also be given in writing, i.e. not via a tool.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter “data subject”); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;
Explanation: Personal data is therefore all data that can identify you as a person. This is usually data such as
According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address is also considered personal data. IT experts can use your IP address to determine at least the approximate location of your device and subsequently identify you as the owner of the connection. Therefore, the storage of an IP address also requires a legal basis within the meaning of the GDPR. There are also so-called “special categories” of personal data, which are also particularly worthy of protection. These include
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Profiling” means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements;
Explanation: Profiling involves collecting various pieces of information about a person in order to find out more about them. In the web sector, profiling is often used for advertising purposes or for credit checks. Web and advertising analysis programs collect data about your behaviour and interests on a website, for example. This results in a special user profile that can be used to target advertising to a specific target group.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“controller” means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law;
Explanation: In our case, we are responsible for the processing of your personal data and are therefore the “controller”. If we pass on collected data to other service providers for processing, they are “processors”. An “order processing contract (AVV)” must be signed for this.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Processing” means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction;
Note: When we refer to processing in our privacy policy, we mean any kind of data processing. As mentioned above in the original GDPR declaration, this includes not only the collection but also the storage and processing of data.
Congratulations! If you are reading this, you have really “fought” your way through our entire privacy policy, or at least scrolled this far. As you can see from the scope of our privacy policy, we do not take the protection of your personal data lightly.
It is important to us to inform you about the processing of personal data to the best of our knowledge and belief. However, we don’t just want to tell you what data is processed, but also explain the reasons for using various software programmes. As a
rule, privacy policies sound very technical and legal. However, as most of you are not web developers or lawyers, we wanted to take a different approach and explain the facts in simple and clear language. Of course, this is not always possible due to the subject matter. The most important terms are therefore explained in more detail at the end of the privacy policy.
If you have any questions about data protection on our website, please do not hesitate to contact us or the responsible organisation. We wish you a pleasant time and hope to welcome you back to our website soon.
All texts are protected by copyright.
Source: Created with the data protection generator from AdSimple