Privacy policy

Introduction and overview

We have created this privacy statement (version 05/16/2023-112505365) in order to provide you with the best possible service in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws to explain which personal data (data for short) we as the controller – and the processors (e.g. providers) we commission – 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 data we process about you.

Privacy statements usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. This privacy policy, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. To the extent that it is conducive to transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. We thus inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data in the course of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible by making the most concise, unclear and legalistic statements possible, as is often standard practice on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative, and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information you did not know.
If you still have questions, we would like to ask you to contact the responsible office mentioned below or in the imprint, to follow the existing links and to look at further information on third party sites. Of course, you will also find our contact details in the imprint.

Scope

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

• all online presences (websites, online stores) that we operate
• social media presences and e-mail communication
• mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

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

Legal basis

In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal basis 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:

1. Consent (Article 6(1) lit. a DSGVO): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of your entered data of a contact form.
2. contract (Article 6(1)(b) DSGVO): In order to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you, we process your data. For example, if we enter into a purchase agreement with you, we require personal information in advance.
3. Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) DSGVO): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we process your data. For example, we are required by law to keep invoices for accounting purposes. These usually contain personal data.
4. Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) DSGVO): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your fundamental rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we need to process certain data in order to operate our website in a secure and economically efficient manner. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

Other conditions, such as the performance of recordings in the public interest and the exercise of public authority and the protection of vital interests, do not usually arise in our case. If such a legal basis should be relevant, it will be indicated at the appropriate place.

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

• In Austria, this is the Federal Act on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of Personal Data(Data Protection Act), or DSG for short.
• In Germany, the Federal Data Protection Act, or BDSG for short, applies.

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

Contact details of the responsible person

If you have any questions about data protection or the processing of personal data, you will find the contact details of the responsible person or office below:
Prof. Dr. Radek HART, PhD, FRCS, MHA
Lory Street 52
1110 Vienna, Austria

E-mail: radekhart23@gmail.com
Phone: +43 670 6533363
Imprint: https://ortho-hart.at/impressum

Storage duration

The fact that we only store personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products applies as a general criterion at our company. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for the data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are required by law to store certain data even after the original purpose has ceased to exist, for example for accounting purposes.

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

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

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with Articles 13, 14 of the GDPR, we inform you about the following rights you have to ensure that data processing is fair and transparent:

• According to Article 15 of the GDPR, you have a right to information about whether we process data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to obtain a copy of the data and to know the following information:
  • the purpose for which we carry out the processing;
  • the categories, i.e. the types of data that are processed;
  • who receives this data and, if the data is transferred to third countries, how security can be guaranteed;
  • how long the data will be stored;
  • the existence of the right to rectification, erasure or restriction of processing and the right to object to processing;
  • that you can complain to a supervisory authority (links to these authorities can be found below);
  • the origin of the data if we have not collected it from you;
  • whether profiling is carried out, i.e. whether data is automatically evaluated to arrive at a personal profile of you.
• You have a right to rectify data according to Article 16 of the GDPR, which means that we must correct data if you find errors.
• According to Article 17 of the GDPR, you have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), which specifically means that you may request the deletion of your data.
• According to Article 18 of the GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it any further.
• According to Article 20 DSGVO, you have the right to data portability, which means that we will provide you with your data in a common format upon request.
• According to Article 21 of the GDPR, you have the right to object, which entails a change in processing after enforcement.
  • If the processing of your data is based on Article 6(1)(e) (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6(1)(f) (legitimate interest), you may object to the processing. We will then check as soon as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.
  • If data is used to conduct direct advertising, you may object to this type of data processing at any time. We may then no longer use your data for direct marketing.
  • If data is used to carry out profiling, you may object to this type of data processing at any time. We may no longer use your data for profiling thereafter.
• According to Article 22 of the GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example, profiling).
• You have the right to complain according to Article 77 of the GDPR. This means that you can complain to the data protection authority at any time if you believe that the data processing of personal data violates the GDPR.

In short, you have rights – do not hesitate to contact the responsible party listed above with us!

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the data protection authority, whose website can be found at https://www.dsb.gv.at/. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:

Austria data protection authority

Head: Mag. Dr. Andrea Jelinek
Address : Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna
Phone: +43 1 52 152-0
E-mail address: dsb@dsb.gv.at
Website: https: //www.dsb.gv.at/

Data processing security

To protect personal data, we have implemented both technical and organizational measures. Where possible, we encrypt or pseudonymize personal data. In doing so, we make it as difficult as possible for third parties to infer personal information from our data.

Article 25 of the GDPR refers to “data protection through technical design and data protection-friendly default settings” and thus means that both software (e.g., forms) and hardware (e.g., access to the server room) should always be designed with security in mind and that appropriate measures should be taken. In the following, we still go into concrete measures, if necessary.

TLS encryption with https

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

In this way, we have introduced an additional layer of security and comply with data protection by design of technology(Article 25(1) of the 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 recognize the use of this data transmission protection by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser, to the left of the Internet address (e.g. examplepage.de) and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.
If you’d like to know more about encryption, we recommend doing a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to get good links to more in-depth information.

Communication

Communication summary 👥 Affected parties: All those who communicate with us by telephone, e-mail or online form. 📓 Processed data: e.g. phone number, name, e-mail address, form data entered. More details can be found at the respective contact type used 🤝 Purpose: Handling communication with customers, business partners, etc. 📅 Storage period: duration of the business case and legal requirements ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

When you contact us and communicate by phone, e-mail or online form, personal data may be processed.

The data will be processed for the handling and processing of your question and the related business transaction. The data is stored for as long as the law requires.

Persons concerned

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

Phone

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

E-mail

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

Online forms

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

Legal basis

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

• Art. 6 par. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent): You give us your consent to store and further use your data for purposes related to the business case;
• Art. 6 par. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract): There is a need for the performance of a contract with you or a processor such as the telephone provider, or we need to process the data for pre-contractual activities, such as preparing an offer;
• Art. 6 par. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests): We want to conduct customer inquiries and business communications in a professional setting. This requires certain technical facilities, such as e-mail programs, exchange servers and mobile operators, in order to be able to operate the communication efficiently.

Order processing agreement (AVV)

In this section, we would like to explain what a processing order is and why it is needed. Because the word “order processing agreement” is quite a mouthful, we will also use only the acronym AVV more often here in the text. Like most companies, we do not work alone, but also use services of other companies or individuals ourselves. Due to the involvement of various companies or service providers, it may be that we pass on personal data for processing. These partners then act as processors with whom we conclude a contract, the so-called order processing agreement (AVV). The most important thing for you to know is that the processing of your personal data is carried out exclusively according to our instructions and must be regulated by the GCU.

Who are processors?

As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data we process from you. In addition to the responsible parties, there may also be so-called processors. This includes any company or person that 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. Consequently, processors can be service providers such as hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers, or large companies such as Google or Microsoft, for example.

For a better understanding of the terminology, here is an overview of the three roles in the GDPR:

Data subject (you as customer or interested party) → Responsible party (we as company and client) → Processor (service provider such as web hoster or cloud provider)

Content of a contract for the processing of orders

As mentioned above, we have concluded an AVV with our partners who act as processors. This states first and foremost that the processor will process the data to be processed exclusively in accordance with the GDPR. The contract must be concluded in writing; however, in this context, the electronic conclusion of the contract is also deemed to be “in writing”. Only on the basis of the contract the processing of personal data takes place. The contract must include the following:

• Binding to us as the person responsible
• Duties and rights of the data controller
• Categories of data subjects
• Nature of the personal data
• Nature and purpose of the data processing
• Subject and duration of data processing
• Place of implementation of the data processing

Furthermore, the contract contains all obligations of the processor. The main duties are:

• to ensure data security measures
• take possible technical and organizational measures to protect the rights of the data subject
• keep a data processing register
• cooperate with the data protection supervisory authority upon its request
• carry out a risk analysis in relation to the personal data received.
• Sub-processors may only be engaged with the written consent of the data controller.

You can see what such an AVV looks like in concrete terms, for example, at https://www.wko.at/service/wirtschaftsrecht-gewerberecht/eu-dsgvo-mustervertrag-auftragsverarbeitung.html. A sample contract is presented here.

Cookies

Cookies summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: depending on the cookie. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📓 Data processed: Depending on the cookie used in each case. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📅 Storage duration: depends on the respective cookie, can vary from hours to years ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What are cookies?

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.
Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.

Whenever you browse the Internet, you use a browser. 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 other cookies for other applications. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically placed in the cookie folder, effectively the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified.

Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you return to our site, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the setting you are used to. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

The following graphic shows a possible interaction between a web browser such as Chrome and the web server. In this process, the web browser requests a website and receives a cookie back from the server, which the browser uses again as soon as another page is requested.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “pests”. Cookies also cannot access information from your PC.

For example, cookie data may look like this:

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152112505365-9
Intended use: to distinguish website visitors
Expiration date: after 2 years

A browser should be able to support these minimum sizes:

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

What are the types of cookies?

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 discuss the different types of HTTP cookies.

We can distinguish 4 types of cookies:

Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functionality. For example, it needs these cookies when a user adds a product to the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and only later goes to the checkout. These cookies do not delete the shopping cart even if the user closes his browser window.

Purposeful cookies
These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives any error messages. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behavior of the website with different browsers.

Targeted cookies
These cookies provide a better user experience. 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 customized advertising to the user. This can be very convenient, but also very annoying.

Usually, when you visit a website for the first time, you are asked which of these cookie types you want to allow. And of course, this decision is also stored in a cookie.

If you want to know more about cookies and are not afraid of technical documentation, we recommend https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6265, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments called “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.

Purpose of processing via cookies

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

What data is processed?

Cookies are small helpers for many different tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generalize which data is stored in cookies, but we will inform you about the processed or stored data in the following privacy policy.

Cookies storage duration

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 also have influence on the storage duration yourself. You can manually delete all cookies at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies based on consent are deleted at the latest after revocation of your consent, whereby the legality of the storage remains unaffected until then.

Right to object – how can I delete cookies?

How and whether you want to use cookies, you decide. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option to delete, disable or only partially allow cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies, but allow all other cookies.

If you want to determine 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, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. Thus, for each individual cookie, you can decide whether to allow the cookie or not. The procedure varies depending on the browser. The best way is to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “disable cookies Chrome” in case of a Chrome browser.

Legal basis

The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have been in place since 2009. This states that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6 (1) a DSGVO). Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in § 96 para. 3 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). In Germany, the Cookie Guidelines have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

For absolutely necessary cookies, even in the absence of consent, there are legitimate interests (Article 6 (1) (f) DSGVO), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and for this purpose certain cookies are often absolutely necessary.

Insofar as cookies are used that are not absolutely necessary, this only occurs in the case of 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 used software uses cookies.

Web hosting introduction

Web hosting summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: professional hosting of the website and safeguarding of the operation 📓 Processed data: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. More details can be found below or at the respective web hosting provider. 📅 Storage period: depending on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is web hosting?

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

When you want to view a website on a computer, tablet, or smartphone, you use a program called a web browser to do so. You probably know a few web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari. We say browser or web browser for short.

To view the website, the browser must connect to another computer where the website’s code is stored: the web server. Operating a web server is a complicated and costly task, which is why it is usually handled by professional providers. These offer web hosting and thus ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data. A whole lot of technical terms, but please stay tuned, it gets better!

When the browser connects to your computer (desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone) 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 also needs to store data for a while 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.

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

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

What data is processed?

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

• the complete Internet address (URL) of the accessed web page
• Browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
• the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
• the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e. g. B. https://www. beispielquellsite.de/vondabinichgekommen/)
• the hostname and IP address of the device being accessed from (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
• Date and time
• in files, the so-called web server log files

How long is data stored?

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

In short, your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not share your information without consent!

Legal basis

The lawfulness of the processing of personal data in the context of web hosting results from Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (protection of legitimate interests), because the use of professional hosting with a provider is necessary to present the company on the Internet in a secure and user-friendly manner and to be able to pursue attacks and claims from this if necessary.

As a rule, there is a contract between us and the hosting provider for commissioned processing pursuant to Art. 28 f. DSGVO, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.

Website Building Block Systems Introduction

Website Building Block Systems Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance 📓 Processed data: Data such as technical usage information like browser activity, clickstream activity, session heatmaps, as well as contact information, IP address or your geographical location. More details can be found below in this privacy policy and in the privacy policy of the providers. 📅 Storage duration: depends on provider ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent)

What are website building systems?

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

Why do we use website building systems for our website?

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

What data is stored by a modular system?

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

How long and where is the data stored?

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

Right of objection

You always have the right to information, correction and deletion of your personal data. If you have any questions, you can always contact the person in charge of the website building system used. Contact details can be found either in our privacy policy or on the website of the relevant provider.

You can delete, disable or manage cookies that providers use for their functions in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. Please note, however, that not all functions may then work as usual.

Legal basis

We have a legitimate interest in using a website builder to optimize our online service and present it to you in an efficient and user-appealing manner. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use the construction kit if you have given your consent.

Unless the processing of data is absolutely necessary for the operation of the website, the data will only be processed on the basis of your consent. This applies in particular to tracking activities. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

With this privacy policy we have brought you closer to the most important general information about data processing. If you would like more detailed information in this regard, you will find further information – if available – in the following section or in the provider’s privacy policy.

WordPress.com Privacy Policy

We use the well-known content management system WordPress.com for our website. The service provider is the American company Automattic Inc., 60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA.

What is WordPress?

In 2003 the company saw the light of day and in a relatively short time developed into one of the best-known content management systems (CMS) in the world. A CMS is software that helps us design our website and display content in a beautiful and organized way. The content can be text, audio and video.
Through the use of WordPress, personal data of you may also be collected, stored and processed. As a rule, mainly technical data such as operating system, browser, screen resolution or hosting provider are stored. However, personal data such as IP address, geographical data or contact data may also be processed.

Why do we use WordPress?

Programming is not one of our core competencies. Nevertheless, we want to have a powerful and presentable website that we can also manage and maintain ourselves. With a website builder or content management system like WordPress, this is exactly what is possible. With WordPress, we don’t have to be programming aces to offer you a beautiful website. Thanks to WordPress, we can operate our website quickly and easily even without prior technical knowledge. In case of technical problems or if we have special wishes for our website, there are always our experts who feel at home in HTML, PHP, CSS and Co.

How secure is the data transfer with WordPress?

WordPress also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. 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 transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.
As a basis for data processing with recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, thus especially in the USA) or a data transfer there, WordPress uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through these clauses, WordPress undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de
The Data Processing Agreements, which correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://wordpress.com/support/data-processing-agreements/.

You can learn more about the data processed by using WordPress.com in the privacy policy at https://automattic.com/de/privacy/.

Social media introduction

Social Media Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Presentation and optimization of our service performance, contact with visitors, interested parties, etc., advertising. 📓 Processed data: Data such as phone numbers, email addresses, contact details, user behavior 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 DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is social media?

In addition to our website, we are also active on various social media platforms. In the process, 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, when you click on a so-called social button on our website and are redirected directly to our social media presence. So-called social media or social media are websites and apps through which logged-in members can produce content, share content openly or in specific groups, and network with other members.

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and connect online. Our social media presences enable us to bring our products and services closer to prospective customers. The social media elements embedded on our website help you to quickly switch to our social media content without complications.

The data that is stored and processed through your use of a social media channel is primarily for the purpose of being able to perform web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personalized marketing and advertising strategies. Depending on your behavior on a social media platform, appropriate conclusions can be drawn about your interests with the help of the evaluated data and so-called user profiles can be created. This also allows the platforms to present you with customized advertisements. Mostly, cookies are set in your browser for this purpose, which store data about your usage behavior.

We generally assume that we remain responsible under data protection law, even if we use services of a social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that in certain cases the operator of the social media platform may be jointly responsible with us within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR. Insofar as 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 with the platform concerned.

Please note that when using social media platforms or our built-in elements, data from you may also be processed outside the European Union, as many social media channels, for example Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. As a result, you may no longer be able to claim or enforce your rights with respect to your personal data as easily.

What data is processed?

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

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

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

Duration of data processing

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

Right of objection

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

Since social media tools may use cookies, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners if consent has been given. 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. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Information on specific social media platforms – if available – can be found in the following sections.

Facebook privacy policy

Facebook Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance 📓 Processed data: Data such as customer data, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details about this below in the privacy policy. 📅 Storage duration: until the data is no longer useful for Facebook’s purposes. ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What are Facebook tools?

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 area of the company 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 from you and forwarded via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page (Fanpage), both we and Facebook Ireland Ltd. are responsible for this. Facebook is solely responsible for the further processing of this data. Our shared commitments have also been embodied in a publicly available 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 processing by Facebook, you can contact the company directly. If you submit the question to us, we are required to forward it to Facebook.

Below we provide an overview of the different Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.

Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official name of Facebook. However, since the term is hardly known, we decided to just call them Facebook tools. Among them are:

• Facebook pixel
• social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button)
• Facebook login
• account kit
• APIs (programming interface)
• SDKs (collection of programming tools)
• Platform integrations
• Plugins
• Codes
• Specifications
• Documentations
• Technologies and services

Through these tools, Facebook extends services and has the ability to obtain information about user activity outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads), we can reach exactly these people. However, in order to show users suitable advertising, Facebook needs information about people’s wishes and needs. This provides the company with information about user behavior (and contact information) on our website. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate ads about our products or services. The tools thus enable customized advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website “event data”. These are also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus generate “campaign reports” on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, through analytics we get a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. As a result, we use some of these tools to optimize your user experience on our website. For example, you can use the social plug-ins to share content on our site directly on Facebook.

What data is stored by Facebook tools?

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

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it itself has from you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transmitted to Facebook, a so-called “hashing” takes place. This means that a data set of any size is transformed into a string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact data, “event data” is also transmitted. “Event Data” means that information 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 permission or is legally required to do so. “Event data” can also be associated with contact data. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the aforementioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact data again.

In order to deliver ads in an optimized manner, Facebook only uses event data when it has been aggregated with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, safety, 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 you use and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies are created in your browser. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools, we go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies. General information about the use of Facebook cookies can also be found at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Basically, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers spread all over the world where its data is stored. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with the user’s own data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In accordance with the Basic Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, correction, transferability and deletion of your data.

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

1) Click Settings on the right side of Facebook.

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

3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.

4) Now select “Delete account” and then click “Continue and delete account”.

5) Now enter your password, click “Next” and then click “Delete account”.

The storage of data that Facebook receives via our site takes place, among other things, via cookies (e.g. for social plugins). In your browser, you can disable, delete or manage individual or all cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. Under the section “Cookies” you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

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

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated Facebook tools, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) 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. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view Facebook’s privacy policy or cookie policy.

Facebook also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. 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 transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

Facebook uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through these clauses, Facebook undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

Facebook’s data processing terms and conditions, which comply with 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 want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend that you read the data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Security & Anti-Spam

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 fulfillment of the service ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is Security & Anti-Spam Software?

With so-called security & anti-spam software, you can protect yourself and us from various spam or phishing emails and possible other cyberattacks. Spam is advertising mail from a mass mailing that you did not ask for yourself. Such mails are also called data garbage and can also cause costs. Phishing emails are again messages that aim to build trust via fake news or websites in order to obtain personal data. Anti-spam software usually protects against unwanted spam messages or malicious mails that could introduce viruses into our system, for example. We also use general firewall and security systems that protect our computers from unwanted network attacks.

Why do we use security & anti-spam software?

We place particular emphasis on security on our website. After all, it is not only our safety that is at stake, but above all yours. Unfortunately, cyber threats have become 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 cyberattack. And therefore a good defense system is absolutely necessary. A security system monitors all incoming and outgoing connections to our network or computer. In order to achieve even greater security against cyber-attacks, we also use other external security services in addition to the standardized security systems on our computer. Unauthorized traffic of data is thus better prevented and thus we protect ourselves from cybercrime.

What data is processed by security & anti-spam software?

Exactly what data is collected and stored depends, of course, on the service in question. However, we always try to use only programs that collect data very sparingly or store only data that is necessary for the fulfillment of the offered service. Basically, the service can store data such as name, address, IP address, e-mail address and technical data such as browser type or browser version. Also, any performance and log data can be collected to detect possible incoming threats in time. This data is processed within the scope of the Services and in compliance with applicable laws. This also includes the GDPR for US providers (via the standard contractual clauses). These security services also work in some cases with third party vendors who may store and/or process data under instruction and in accordance with privacy policies and other security measures. The data storage is mostly done via cookies.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of the data processing below, provided that we have further information on this. For example, security programs 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. In many cases, we unfortunately lack precise information from the providers about the length of storage.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke 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 through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser.

Since cookies may also be used with such security services, 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 statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

We use security services mainly on the basis of our legitimate interests (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in a good security system against various cyber attacks.

Certain processing, in particular the use of cookies and the use of security functions require your consent. If you have consented that data of you can be processed and stored by integrated security services, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). Most of the services we use set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Information on special tools – if available – can be found in the following sections.

Web design introduction

Web design privacy policy summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Improve user experience 📓 Data processed: Which data is processed depends heavily on the services used. Mostly it is about IP address, technical data, language settings, browser version, screen resolution and browser name. You can find more details about this in the respective web design tools used. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the tools used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is web design?

We use various tools on our website that serve our web design. Web design is not, as often assumed, just about making our website look pretty, but also about functionality and performance. But of course, the appropriate look of a website is also one of the great 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 goal is to improve your experience on our website with the help of web design. In web design jargon, this is referred to as user experience (UX) and usability. User experience refers to all impressions and experiences that the website visitor experiences on a website. A sub-item of user experience is usability. This is about 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 easily and quickly find what you are looking for. To provide you with the best possible experience on our website, we also use so-called third-party web design tools. In this privacy policy, the category “web design” therefore includes all services that improve the design of our website. This can be, for example, fonts, various plugins or other integrated web design functions.

Why do we use web design tools?

How you absorb information on a website depends very much on the structure, functionality and visual perception of the website. Therefore, a good and professional web design became more and more important for us as well. We are constantly working to improve our website and also see this as an extended service to you, the website visitor. Furthermore, a beautiful and functioning website also has economic advantages for us. After all, you will only visit us and take advantage of our offers if you feel completely comfortable.

What data is stored by web design tools?

When you visit our website, web design elements may be embedded in our pages that may also process data. Exactly what data is involved depends, of course, heavily on the tools used. Further below you can see exactly which tools we use for our website. We recommend that you also read the respective privacy policy of the tools used for more detailed information on data processing. In most cases, you will find out there which data is processed, whether cookies are used and how long the data is stored. Through fonts such as Google Fonts, for example, information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution and browser name are also automatically transmitted to Google servers.

Duration of data processing

How long data is processed is very individual and depends on the web design elements used. For example, when cookies are used, the retention period can be as short as a minute or as long as a few years. Please do your research in this regard. For this purpose, we recommend on the one hand our general text section on cookies as well as the privacy statements of the tools used. There you will 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 always kept only as long as is necessary for the provision of the service. In the case of legal requirements, data may also be stored for longer periods.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke 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 through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser. However, among web design elements (mostly with fonts) 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). Then please contact the support of the corresponding provider. In Google’s case, you can reach support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de.

Legal basis

If you have consented to web design tools being used, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent) constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur during the collection by web design tools. From our side, there is also a legitimate interest to improve the web design on our website. After all, only then we can provide you with a beautiful and professional web offer. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use web design tools if you have given your consent. In any case, we want to emphasize that again here.

Information on specific web design tools – if available – is provided in the following sections.

Adobe Fonts Privacy Policy

We use Adobe Fonts, a web font hosting service, on our website. The service provider is the American company Adobe Inc. The Irish company Adobe Systems Software Ireland Companies, 4-6 Riverwalk, Citywest Business Campus, Dublin 24, Ireland, is responsible for the European region.

Adobe also processes data from you in the United States, among other places. 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 transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

Adobe uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through these clauses, Adobe 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 United States. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

For more information about the data processed and Adobe’s standard contractual clauses, visit https://www.adobe.com/de/privacy/eudatatransfers.html.

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

Google Fonts Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance 📓 Processed data: Data such as IP address and CSS and font requests. More details can be found below in this privacy policy. 📅 Storage duration: Font files are stored by Google for one year ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What are Google Fonts?

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

You do not need to log in or set 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, CSS and fonts requests 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, while using Google Fonts, will be transmitted to Google. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We will take a detailed look at how the data storage looks exactly.

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

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

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

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

What data is stored by Google?

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

Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests securely at Google and is therefore protected. By collecting usage figures, Google can determine how well each font is received. Google publishes the results on internal analytics pages, such as Google Analytics. In addition, Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which web pages use Google fonts. This data is published in Google Fonts’ BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use Google’s BigQuery web service to explore and move large amounts of data.

It should be noted, however, that each 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. Whether this data is also stored cannot be clearly determined or is not clearly communicated by Google.

How long and where is the data stored?

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

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

The data that Google stores for a day or a year cannot simply be deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is called up. To delete this data ahead of time, you will need to contact Google Support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=112505365. Data storage you prevent in this case only if you do not visit our site.

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So we can access an unlimited sea of fonts and get the most out of our website. For more on Google Fonts and other issues, visit https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=112505365. There, Google addresses privacy-related matters, but really detailed information about data storage is not included. It is relatively difficult to get really precise information from Google about stored data.

Legal basis

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

On our part, there is also a legitimate interest in using Google Font to optimize our online service. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 par. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Font if you have given your consent.

Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

Google uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through these clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

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

You can also find out what data is generally collected by Google and what this data is used for at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy

On our website we use Google Fonts from Google Inc. The company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European area. We have embedded 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.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts used to be called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory of over 800 fonts that Google provides free of charge. With Google Fonts, you could use fonts without uploading them to your own server. But to prevent any information transfer to Google servers in this regard, we have downloaded the fonts to our server. In this way, we act in a privacy compliant manner and do not send any data to Google Fonts.

Online map services introduction

Online Map Services Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Improve user experience 📓 Data processed: Which data is processed depends heavily on the services used. Mostly it is IP address, location data, search items and/or technical data. You can find more details about this in the respective tools used. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the tools used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What are online map services?

We also use online map services for our website as an enhanced service. Google Maps is probably the service you are most familiar with, but there are other providers that specialize in creating digital maps. Such services allow you to view locations, route maps or other geographic information directly through our website. With an integrated map service, you no longer have to leave our website to view the route to a location, for example. In order for the online map to function on our website, map sections are integrated using HTML code. The services can then display street maps, the earth’s surface, or aerial or satellite images. If you use the built-in map service, data is also transmitted to the tool used and stored there. Among these data may also be personal data.

Why do we use online mapping services on our website?

Generally speaking, our goal is to provide you with a pleasant time on our website. And, of course, your time is only pleasant if you can easily navigate our website and find all the information you need quickly and easily. Therefore, we thought an online map system could still be a significant optimization of our service on the website. Without leaving our website, you can easily view route descriptions, locations or even points of interest using the map system. Of course, it’s also super convenient that you can see at a glance where we are located, so you can find us quickly and safely. As you can see, there are simply many advantages and we clearly consider online map services on our website as part of our customer service.

What data are stored by online map services?

When you open a page on our website that has an online map function built in, personal data may be transmitted to the respective service and stored there. Most often, this is your IP address, through which your approximate location can also be determined. In addition to the IP address, data such as entered search terms and longitude and latitude coordinates are also stored. If you enter an address for route planning, for example, this data is also saved. The data is not stored by us, but on the servers of the integrated tools. You can think of it something like this: You are on our website, but when you interact with a map service, that interaction actually happens on their website. In order for the service to work properly, usually at least one cookie is also set in your browser. Google Maps also uses cookies, for example, to record user behavior in order to optimize its own service and to be able to serve personalized advertising. You can learn more about cookies in our “Cookies” section.

How long and where is the data stored?

Each online map service processes different user data. If we have further information, we will inform you about the duration of the data processing below in the corresponding sections on the individual tools. As a matter of principle, personal data is always retained only for as long as is necessary for the provision of the service. Google Maps, for example, stores certain data for a set period of time, while you have to delete other data yourself. With Mapbox, for example, the IP address is retained for 30 days and then deleted. You see, each tool stores data for a different amount of time. Therefore, we recommend that you take a close look at the privacy statements of the tools used.

The providers also use cookies to store data about your user behavior with the map service. You can find more general information about cookies in our “Cookies” section, but you can also find out which cookies can be used in the privacy texts of the individual providers. In most cases, however, this is only an exemplary list and is not complete.

Right of objection

You always have the possibility and also the right to access your personal data and also to object to the use and processing. You can also revoke the consent you have given us at any time. As a rule, the easiest way to do this is via the cookie consent tool. However, there are other opt-out tools that you can use. Possible cookies set by the providers used can also be managed, deleted or disabled by you with a few mouse clicks. However, some functions of the service may no longer work as usual. How you manage cookies in your browser also depends on the browser you use. In the “Cookies” section you will also find links to the instructions of the most important browsers.

Legal basis

If you have consented to the use of an online map service, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent) constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur when collected by an online map service.

We also have a legitimate interest in using an online mapping service to optimize our service on our website. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). However, we only ever use an online map service if you have given your consent. We definitely want to have that recorded again at this point.

Information on special online map services – if available – is provided in the following sections.

Google Maps Privacy Policy

Google Maps Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance 📓 Processed data: Data such as entered search terms, your IP address and also the latitude or longitude coordinates. 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 DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is Google Maps?

We use Google Maps of the company Google Inc. on our website. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Maps allows us to better show you locations and thus customize our service to your needs. By using Google Maps, data is transmitted to Google and stored on Google servers. Here we will now go into more detail about what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

Google Maps is an Internet mapping service provided by the Google company. Google Maps lets you find exact locations of cities, landmarks, accommodations, or businesses online using a PC, tablet, or app. When companies are represented on Google My Business, other information about the company is displayed in addition to the location. To display directions, map sections of a location can be embedded into a website using HTML code. Google Maps shows the earth’s surface as a street map or as an aerial or satellite image. Thanks to the Street View images and the high-quality satellite images, very accurate representations are possible.

Why do we use Google Maps on our website?

All of our efforts on this site are aimed at providing you with a useful and meaningful time on our website. By integrating Google Maps, we can provide you with the most important information about various locations. You can see at a glance where we are located. The directions will always show you the best or fastest way to get to us. You can access the route for routes by car, public transport, on foot or by bike. For us, providing Google Maps is part of our customer service.

What data is stored by Google Maps?

In order for Google Maps to fully provide their service, the company must collect and store data from you. These include the search terms entered, your IP address and also the latitude or longitude coordinates. If you use the route planner function, the entered start address is also saved. However, this data storage happens on Google Maps websites. We can only inform you about this, but cannot influence it. Since we have integrated Google Maps into our website, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behavior. Google uses this data primarily to optimize its own services and to provide individual, personalized advertising for you.

The following cookie is set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:

Name: NID
Wert: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ112505365-5
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customize ads to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google “remembers” your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. This way you will always get customized ads. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect your personal preferences for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Note: We can not guarantee completeness in the information of the stored data. Especially when using cookies, changes can never be ruled out. In order to identify the cookie NID, a separate test page was created, where only Google Maps was integrated.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google servers are located in data centers around the world. However, most of the servers are located in America. For this reason, your data is also increasingly stored in the USA. You can find out exactly where Google’s data centers are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=de

Google distributes the data on various data carriers. This means that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against any attempts at manipulation. Each data center also has special emergency programs. For example, if there are problems with Google’s hardware or a natural disaster cripples the servers, the data will pretty much remain protected anyway.

Google stores some data for a set period of time. For other data, Google only offers the option to delete it manually. The Company also anonymizes information (such as advertising data) in server logs by removing a portion of the IP address and cookie information after 9 and18 months deletes.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

With the automatic deletion of location and activity data introduced in 2019, location and web/app activity information will be stored for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your decision, and then deleted. Moreover, you can also delete this data from the history manually at any time via the Google account. If you want to completely prevent your location tracking, you need to pause the “Web and App Activity” section in Google Account. Click “Data and personalization” and then click the “Activity setting” option. Here you can switch the activities on or off.

In your browser, you can also deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this always works slightly differently. Under the section “Cookies” you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

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

Legal basis

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

We also have a legitimate interest in using Google Maps to optimize our online service. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 par. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Maps if you have given your consent.

Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

Google uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through these clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which reference the Standard Contractual Clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.

If you would like to learn more about Google’s data processing, we recommend that you read the company’s in-house privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Explanation of used terms

We always try to write our privacy policy as clear and understandable 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 would not like to use them without explanation. Below you will now find an alphabetical list of important terms used that we may not have adequately addressed in the previous privacy statement. If these terms are taken from the GDPR and are definitions, we will also cite the GDPR texts here and add our own explanations if necessary.

Processor

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 the data we process from you. In addition to the responsible parties, 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 advisors, processors can also include hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers, or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.

Consent

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 his or her wishes in the form of a statement or other unambiguous affirmative act by which the data subject signifies his or her agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;

Explanation: As a rule, websites provide such consent via a cookie consent tool. I’m sure you’re 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 consent, no personal data of yours may be processed either. In principle, consent can of course also be given in writing, i.e. not via a tool.

Personal data

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

“personal data”
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:

• Name
• Address
• E-mail address
• Postal address
• Telephone number
• Date of birth
• Identification numbers such as social security number, tax identification number, identity card number or matriculation number
• Bank information such as account number, credit information, account balances, etc.

According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address also counts as personal data. IT experts can use your IP address to at least determine the approximate location of your device and, subsequently, you as the connection owner. 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 also require special protection. These include:

• racial and ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or ideological convictions
• trade union membership
• genetic data, such as data taken from blood or saliva samples
• biometric data (which is information about mental, physical or behavioral characteristics that can identify an individual).
  health data
• data on sexual orientation or sexual life

Profiling

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

“profiling” means any automated processing of personal data which consists in using such personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyze or predict aspects relating to that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or change of location;

Explanation: Profiling involves gathering various pieces of information about a person in order to learn more about that person. In the web sector, profiling is often used for advertising purposes or even for credit checks. For example, web or advertising analytics programs collect data about your behavior and interests on a website. This results in a special user profile that can be used to target advertising to a specific group.

Responsible

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 designation 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 consequently the “data controller”. If we pass on collected data to other service providers for processing, these are “order processors”. For this purpose, an “order processing agreement (AVV)” must be signed.

Processing

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

“processing”
any operation or set of operations which is performed upon personal data, whether or not by automatic means, such as collection, recording, organization, filing, 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 type of data processing. This includes, as mentioned above in the original GDPR statement, not only the collection but also the storage and processing of data.

Closing words

Congratulations! If you are reading these lines, you have really “fought” your way through our entire privacy policy, or at least scrolled all the way to here. As you can see from the scope of our privacy policy, we take the protection of your personal data, anything but lightly.
It is important to us to inform you to the best of our knowledge and belief about the processing of personal data. However, we do not only want to tell you what data is processed, but also to explain the reasons for using various software programs. As a rule, privacy policies sound very technical and legalistic. However, since most of you are not web developers or lawyers, we also wanted to take a different approach linguistically and explain the facts in simple and clear language. Of course, this is not always possible due to the subject matter. Therefore, the most important terms are 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 office. Have a nice time and we hope to see you on our website again soon.

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Source: Created with the privacy generator from AdSimple