Legal information

DATA PROTECTION DECLARATION

Unless stated otherwise below, the provision of your personal data is neither legally nor contractually obligatory, nor required for conclusion of a contract. You are not obliged to provide your data. Not providing it will have no consequences. This only applies as long as the processing procedures below do not state otherwise.

“Personal data” is any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.

Server-Logfiles

You can use our websites without submitting personal data. Every time you access our website, user data is transmitted by your internet browser and stored in protocol files (server log files). This stored data includes e.g. name of the site called up, date and time of the request, amount of data transferred and the provider making the request. This data serves exclusively to ensure smooth operation of our website and to improve our offering. It is not possible to assign this data to a particular person.

Collection and processing when using the contact form

When you use the contact form we will only collect your personal data (name, email address, message text) in the scope provided by you. The data processing is for the purpose of making contact. By submitting your message you agree to the processing of your transmitted data. Processing will be carried out on the basis of art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR with your consent.

You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us without affecting the legality of the processing carried out with your consent up to the withdrawal. We will only use your email address to process your request. Finally your data will be deleted, unless you have agreed to further processing and use.

Data collection when you post a comment

When you comment on an article or a contribution, we collect your personal data (name, comment text) only in the scope provided by you. The processing serves to allow you to comment and to display comments. By submitting the comment you agree to the processing of the transmitted data. The processing will be carried out on the basis of art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR with your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us without affecting the legality of the processing carried out with your consent up to the withdrawal. You personal data will then be deleted.

On publication of your comment only the name you have entered will be published.

Use of your email address for mailing of newsletters

We use your email address outside of contractual processing exclusively to send you a newsletter for our own marketing purposes, if you have explicitly agreed to this. The processing will be carried out on the basis of art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR with your consent. You can withdraw your consent at any time without affecting the legality of the processing carried out with your consent up to the withdrawal. You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the relevant link in the newsletter or by contacting us. Your email address will then be removed from the distributor.

Newsletter – Shipping providers

The newsletters are sent by the mail order service “MailChimp“, a newsletter delivery platform of the US provider Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce De Leon Ave NE #5000, Atlanta, GA 30308, USA. You can view the data protection provisions of the shipping service provider here: https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/. The Rocket Science Group LLC d/b/a MailChimp is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement and thus offers a guarantee to comply with the European data protection level (https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TO6hAAG&status=Active).

The shipping service provider is appointed on the basis of our legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 letter f DSGVO and an order processing contract pursuant to Art. 28 para. 3 sentence 1 DSGVO.

The shipping service provider can use the recipient’s data in pseudonymous form, i.e. without assignment to a user, to optimize or improve its own services, e.g. to technically optimize the dispatch and presentation of the newsletter or for statistical purposes. However, the dispatch service provider does not use the data of our newsletter recipients to write them down itself or to pass the data on to third parties.

Newsletter – Performance Measurement

The newsletters contain a so-called „web-beacon“, i.e. a pixel-sized file that is retrieved from our server when the newsletter is opened, or if we use a shipping service provider from whose server. Within the scope of this retrieval, technical information, such as information about the browser and your system, as well as your IP address and time of retrieval are initially collected.

This information is used to technically improve the services based on the technical data or target groups and their reading behavior based on their retrieval locations (which can be determined using the IP address) or access times. The statistical surveys also include whether the newsletters are opened, when they are opened and which links are clicked. For technical reasons, this information can be assigned to the individual newsletter recipients. However, it is neither our endeavour, nor, if used, that of the shipping service provider, to observe individual users. The evaluations serve us much more to recognize the reading habits of our users and to adapt our contents to them or to send different contents according to the interests of our users.

Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files which are saved in a user’s internet browser or by the user’s internet browser on their computer system. When a user calls up a website, a cookie may be saved on the user’s operating system. This cookie contains a characteristic character string which allows the browser to be clearly identified when the website is called up again. We use cookies to make our offering more user-friendly, effective and secure. Cookies also allow our systems to recognise your browser after a page change and to offer you services. Some functions of our website cannot be offered without the use of cookies. These services require the browser to be recognised again after a page change.

Our website also uses cookies to allow us to analyse the surfing behaviour of visitors to our website. We also use cookies to address visitors to other websites with targeted marketing relating to their interests. Processing is carried out on the basis of § 15 (3) TMG (Telemedia Act) as well as art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR due to our justified interest in the purposes above.

The data collected in this way is pseudonymised using technological measures. It is therefore not possible to connect the data to your person. The data will not be stored together with other personal data pertaining to you.

You have the right to veto this processing of your personal data according to art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR by contacting us, for reasons relating to your personal situation.

Cookies will be stored on your computer. You therefore have full control over the use of cookies. By choosing corresponding technical settings in your internet browser, you can prevent the storage of cookies and transmission of the data they contain. Cookies which have already been saved may be deleted at any time. We would, however, like to point out that this may prevent you from making full use of all the functions of this website.

Using the links below, you can find out how to manage cookies (or deactivate them, among other things) in major browsers:

Chrome Browser: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/61416?hl=en
Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17442/windows-internet-explorer-delete-manage-cookies
Mozilla Firefox: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enable-and-disable-cookies-website-preferences
Safari: https://support.apple.com/de-de/guide/safari/manage-cookies-and-website-data-sfri11471/mac

Cookie Consent Status:
Change privacy settings | Revoke consents

Use of Google Analytics

Our website uses the web analysis service Google Analytics by Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”).

Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services to the website operator relating to website and internet use. The IP address communicated by your browser as part of Google Analytics is not associated with any other data held by Google.

Google Analytics uses cookies, which make it possible to analyse your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie regarding your use of this website is usually transferred to a Google server in the USA and stored there. IP anonymisation is activated on this website. Google uses this to shorten your IP address beforehand within Member States of the European Union or in other signatories to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. Your data may be transmitted to the USA. Transmission of data to the USA is covered by an adequacy decision by the European Commission. Processing is carried out on the basis of art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR due to our justified interest in needs-based and targeted design of the website.

You have the right to veto this processing of your personal data according to art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR by contacting us, for reasons relating to your personal situation.

You can prevent the storage of cookies by choosing corresponding technical settings in your internet browser; we would, however, like to point out that this may prevent you from making full use of all the functions of this website. You can also prevent collection of the data (including your IP address) generated by the cookies and related to your use of the website by Google as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available at the following link [https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en].

You can set an opt-out cookie to prevent collection by Google Analytics across devices. Opt-out cookies prevent the future collection of your data when you visit this website. You need to opt-out on all systems and devices in use for this to work comprehensively.

You can find more detailed information on the terms and conditions of use and data protection at https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/ and at https://policies.google.com/?hl=en/.

Data protection for applications and the application procedures

The data controller shall collect and process the personal data of applicants for the purpose of the processing of the application procedure. The processing may also be carried out electronically. This is the case, in particular, if an applicant submits corresponding application documents by e-mail or by means of a web form on the website to the controller. If the data controller concludes an employment contract with an applicant, the submitted data will be stored for the purpose of processing the employment relationship in compliance with legal requirements. If no employment contract is concluded with the applicant by the controller, the application documents shall be automatically erased two months after notification of the refusal decision, provided that no other legitimate interests of the controller are opposed to the erasure. Other legitimate interest in this relation is, e.g. a burden of proof in a procedure under the General Equal Treatment Act (AGG).

Use of Google Adwords conversion tracking

Our website uses the online marketing programme “Google AdWords”, including conversion tracking. Google conversion tracking is a service operated by Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”).

If you click on adverts placed by Google, a cookie is placed on your computer for conversion tracking. These cookies have limited validity, do not contain any personal data and thus cannot be used for personal identification. If you visit certain pages on our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognise that you have clicked on the advert and were forwarded to this page. Every Google AdWords customer receives a separate cookie. Therefore, it is not possible to track cookies relating to the websites of AdWords customers.

The information collected using the conversion cookie serves the purpose of producing conversion statistics. This allows us to find out the total number of users who have clicked on our adverts and were forwarded to a page equipped with a conversion tracking tag. However, they do not receive any information with which could be used to personally identify users. Processing is carried out on the basis of art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR due to our justified interest in targeted marketing and analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of this marketing.

You have the right to veto this processing of your personal data according to art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR by contacting us, for reasons relating to your personal situation.

You can prevent the storage of cookies by choosing corresponding technical settings in your internet browser. We would, however, like to point out that this may prevent you from making full use of all the functions of this website. You will then not be included in the conversion tracking statistics.You can also deactivate personalised advertising in Google’s advertising settings.

You can find an introduction to this at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922. You can also deactivate the use of cookies by third parties by calling up the Network Advertising Initiative deactivation page at https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ and following the opt-out instructions.

You will find more information as well as Google’s data protection declaration at: https://www.google.de/policies/privacy/

Google Fonts

We include the fonts (“Google Fonts”) from Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy Statement: https://www.google.de/policies/privacy/, Opt-Out: https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Use of Facebook plug-ins

This Internet site uses plug-ins of the social network facebook.com operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (“Facebook”).

Whenever you display one of our Internet pages that hosts a Facebook plug-in you will be linked to the Facebook servers, a message is sent to your browser, and the plug-in is run on the Internet page. This is telling the Facebook server which of our pages you have visited. Assuming you are logged on to your Facebook member account while running the Facebook plug-in, Facebook will allocate the information to your personal Facebook user account. Further information collected and allocated by Facebook is the use of plug-in functions (like clicking on the Like button or posting a comment). To prevent this data collection and allocation, you must log off your Facebook user account before running the plug-in.

If you do not wish Facebook to collect and directly allocate the above information to your Facebook profile, you will either have to log off from Facebook before visiting our site or run a “Facebook blocker” which stops the Facebook plug-ins from running on our pages.

To learn more about the collection and use of your personal data by Facebook as well as about your rights and what options you have to protect your privacy, please read Facebook’s Privacy Policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php

Using Twitter plugins

The functions of the Twitter service are integrated on our website. Twitter is a social media portal of the company Twitter Inc.,795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, (USA).

We use Twitter plugins. If you invoke a corresponding website that has such a plugin, the data is exchanged with the Twitter servers located in the USA. Even in case of interactions, which are ossible with various Twitter plugins, the corresponding information about you is collected and transmitted to Twitter and stored there.

Moreover, if you are a member of Twitter, and if your are logged in on Twitter during the period in which you use the plugin, the information collected about your website visit is linked to your Twitter account and disclosed to other users.

If you do not wish that Twitter links and combines the information with the data of your Twitter account, you must log out from Twitter before visiting our website.

Log on to https://twitter.com/privacy for more information on the collection and use of data through Twitter.

Using Pinterest plugins

On these webpages, plugins of the social network, Pinterest, are used, which is operated by Pinterest Inc., 635 High Street, Palo Alto, CA, 94301, USA (“Pinterest”).

You can view the different logos which contain the plugin (e.g. “Pin-it-Button” or the “P″-button), at the following link: http://business.pinterest.com/pin-it-button/.

If you invoke a corresponding website of our Internet presence, which contains such a plugin, a link between your computer and the servers of Pinterest is established, and the plugin is displayed on the Internet page through a notification to your browser. Here, your IP addresses as well as the information, as to which of our webpages you have visited, is transmitted to the Pinterest server in the USA. This is irrespective of whether you are registered with or logged in on Pinterest. Data is transferred even in case of users who are not registered or logged in onthese sites.

Moreover, if you are a member of Pinterest, and if you are logged in on Pinterest during the period in which you use the plugin, the information collected about your website visit is linked to your Pinterest account and disclosed to other users. Even in case of interactions, which are possible with various Pinterest plugins, the corresponding information about you is collected and transmitted to Pinterest and stored there.

If you do not wish that Pinterest links and combines the information with the data of your Pinterest account, you must log out from Pinterest before visiting our website.

Log on to https://policy.pinterest.com/en/privacy-policy for more information on the collection and use of data through Pinterest.

Using Instagram plug-ins

These websites use the plug-in from online service provider Instagram, which is provided by Instagram LLC., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA (“Instagram”).

If you access pages on our website that contain this plug-in, this will generate a connection to the Instagram server and indicate the plug-in on the site by means of message in your browser. Information such as your IP address and which websites you have visited is transmitted to the Instagram server.

If you are logged into Instagram, Instagram will assign this information to your personal user account. When using the plug-in functions (e.g. clicking the “Instagram” button”) this information is also assigned to your Instagram account, which you can only prevent by logging out prior to using the plug-in.

If you do not want Instagram to directly add the information collected to your Instagram account, you must either log out of Instagram prior to visiting our site or use an add-on or the script blocker “NoScript” (noscript.net) to block the Instagram plug-in loading on our websites.

Further information on the data collected and used by Instagram, your rights and privacy can be found in Instagram’s privacy policy: help.instagram.com/155833707900388.

Use of YouTube

Our website uses YouTube LLC’s function for the embedding of YouTube videos. (901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA; “YouTube”). YouTube is an affiliated company of Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA;“Google”).

This feature shows YouTube videos in an iFrame on the website. The option “advanced privacy mode” is enabled here. This prevents YouTube from storing information on visitors to the website. It is only if you watch a video that information is transmitted to and stored by YouTube.Further information on the data collected and used by YouTube and Google, your rights and privacy can be found in YouTube’s privacy policy (https://www.youtube.com/t/privacy).

Duration of storage

After contractual processing has been completed, the data is initially stored for the duration of the warranty period, then in accordance with the retention periods prescribed by law, especially tax and commercial law, and then deleted after the period has elapsed, unless you have agreed to further processing and use.

Rights of the affected person

If the legal requirements are fulfilled, you have the following rights according to art. 15 to 20 GDPR: Right to information, correction, deletion, restriction of processing, data portability.

You also have a right of objection against processing based on art. 6 (1) GDPR, and to processing for the purposes of direct marketing, according to art. 21 (1) GDPR.

Contact us at any time. Our contact details can be found in our imprint.

You can contact our data protection officers directly at: +49 (0)8341-979 70

Right to complain to the regulatory authority

You have the right to complain to the regulatory authority according to art. 77 GDPR if you believe that your data is not being processed legally.

last update: 05.09.2019