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 appearances 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.

In the following privacy statement, 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/TXT/?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, as well as 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.

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.

According to Article 13 of the GDPR, you have the following rights to ensure fair and transparent processing of data:

• 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 in order 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 19 of the GDPR, 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 a right to object, which, once enforced, entails a change in processing.
  • If the processing of your data is based on Article 6 para. 1 lit. e (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6 para. 1 lit. f (legitimate interest), you may object to the processing. We will then check as quickly as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.
  • If data is used to conduct direct advertising, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may not use your data for direct marketing thereafter.
  • If data is used to perform profiling, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may not use your data for profiling thereafter.
• According to Article 22 of the GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example, profiling).

In short, you have rights – do not hesitate to contact the 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 Wien
Phone:+43 1 52 152-0
Mail:dsb@dsb.gv.at
Website:https://www.dsb.gv.at/

We only transfer or process data to countries outside the EU (third countries) if you consent to this processing, if this is required by law or contractually necessary and in any case only to the extent that this is generally permitted. Your consent is in most cases the most important reason for us to have data processed in third countries. Processing personal data in third countries such as the U.S., where many software vendors provide services and have their server locations, may mean that personal data is processed and stored in unexpected ways.

We expressly 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. Data processing by US services (such as Google Analytics) may result in data not being processed and stored anonymously where applicable. In addition, U.S. government authorities may have access to individual data. In addition, collected data may be linked to data from other services of the same provider, if you have a corresponding user account. If possible, we try to use server locations within the EU, if this is offered.

We will inform you in more detail about data transfer to third countries, if applicable, at the appropriate places in this privacy policy.

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) DSGVO). 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 image in the top left corner 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 want to know more about encryption, we recommend doing a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to get good links to more information.

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 GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (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 can look like this:

Name: _ga
Wert: GA1.2.1326744211.152111914820-9
Intended use: differentiation of 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:

Indispensable cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. 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 info about user behavior and whether the user gets any error messages. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behavior of the website with different browsers.

Targeting 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://tools.ietf.org/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 strictly necessary cookies, even if no consent is given. there are legitimate interests (Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and for this, 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.

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 GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (Contract), Art. 6 Abs. 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 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent): You give us your consent to store and further use your data for purposes related to the business case;
• Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR (contract): There is a need for the performance of a contract with you or a processor such as the telephone provider, or we need to process the data for pre-contractual activities, such as preparing an offer;
• Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (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.

Webhosting summary
👥 Data subjects: 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 GDPR (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.

If you want to view a website on a screen, you use a program called a web browser to do it. You probably know a few web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, and Apple Safari.

This web 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.

When the browser connects to your computer (desktop, laptop, 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.

To illustrate:

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

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

 

What data is processed?

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

• the complete Internet address (URL) of the accessed web page (e. g. https://www.beispielwebsite.de/beispielunterseite.html?tid=111914820)
• Browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
• the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
• the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e. g. https://www.beispielquellsite.de/vondabinichgekommen.html/)
• the 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 GDPR (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.

Web Analytics Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimize the web offer.
📓 Processed data: Access statistics, which include data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior, click behavior, and IP addresses. You can find more details on this in the respective web analytics tool used.
📅 Storage duration: depending on the web analytics tool used.
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

 

What is Web Analytics?

We use software on our website to evaluate the behavior of website visitors, called web analytics or web analysis for short. In the process, data is collected that the respective analytic tool provider (also called tracking tool) stores, manages and processes. The data is used to create analyses of user behavior on our website and made available to us as the website operator. In addition, most tools offer various testing options. For example, we can test which offers or content are best received by our visitors. For this we show you two different offers for a limited period of time. After the test (so-called A/B test), we know which product or content our website visitors find more interesting. For such testing procedures, as well as for other analytics procedures, user profiles can also be created and the data stored in cookies.

 

Why do we run web analytics?

With our website, we have a clear goal in mind: we want to deliver the best web offering on the market for our industry. To achieve this goal, we want to offer the best and most interesting offer on the one hand, and on the other hand, we want to make sure that you feel completely comfortable on our website. With the help of web analysis tools, we can take a closer look at the behavior of our website visitors and then improve our web offering for you and us accordingly. For example, we can see how old our visitors are on average, where they come from, when our website is most visited or which content or products are particularly popular. All this information helps us to optimize the website and thus best adapt it to your needs, interests and wishes.

 

What data is processed?

Exactly what data is stored depends, of course, on the analysis tools used. But as a rule, for example, which content you view on our website, which buttons or links you click on, when you access a page, which browser you use, which device (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.) you use to visit the website or which computer system you use is stored. If you agreed that location data may also be collected, these may also be processed by the web analytics tool provider.

In addition, your IP address is also stored. According to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), IP addresses are personal data. However, your IP address is usually stored pseudonymously (i.e. in an unrecognizable and shortened form). For the purpose of testing, web analysis and web optimization, in principle no direct data, such as your name, age, address or e-mail address are stored. All this data, if collected, is stored pseudonymously. This way you cannot be identified as a person.

The following example schematically shows how Google Analytics works as an example of client-based web tracking with Java Script code.

How long the respective data is stored always depends on the provider. Some cookies store data only for a few minutes or until you leave the website, other cookies can store data for several years.

 

Duration of data processing

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

 

Legal basis

The use of web analytics requires your consent, which we have obtained with our cookie popup. This consent represents according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent) constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during the collection by web analytics tools.

constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during the collection by web analytics tools. With the help of web analytics, we can detect website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we use the tools only insofar as they have given consent.

Since web analytics tools 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.

Information on specific web analytics tools, if any, is provided in the following sections.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimize the web offer.
📓 Processed data: Access statistics, which include data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior, click behavior, and IP addresses. More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage duration: depending on the properties used
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

 

What is Google Analytics?

We use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) of the American 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 Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. With the help of the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better tailor our website and service to your needs. In the following, we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and, in particular, inform you about what data is stored and how you can prevent it.

Google Analytics is a tracking tool used for traffic analysis of our website. In order for Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is built into the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions that you perform on our website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics servers and stored there.

Google processes the data and we get reports about your user behavior. These may include, but are not limited to, the following reports:

• Target group reports: Through target group reports, we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
• Ad reports: Ad reports make it easier for us to analyze and improve our online advertising.
• Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information on how to get more people interested in our service.
• Behavior reports: This is where we learn how you interact with our website. We can track which path you take on our site and which links you click on.
• Conversion reports: Conversion is the name given to a process in which you take a desired action as a result of a marketing message. For example, if you go from being just a website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts are resonating with you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
• Real-time reports: Here we always find out immediately what is happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.

 

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

Our goal with this website is clear: we want to provide you with the best possible service. Google Analytics statistics and data help us achieve this goal.

The statistically evaluated data gives us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site to make it easier for interested people to find it on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. Thus, we know very well what we need to improve on our website in order to provide you with the best possible service. The data also serve us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and cost-effective manner. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.

 

What data is stored by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID associated with your browser cookie. This is how Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This is what makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles in the first place.

In order to use Google Analytics to analyze our website, a property ID must be inserted into the tracking code. The data is then stored in the corresponding property. For each new property created, the Google Analytics 4 property is by default. Alternatively, you can also create the Universal Analytics Property. Depending on the property used, data is stored for different lengths of time.

Identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs measure your interactions on our website. Interactions are all types of actions that you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated via Google Analytics may be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share Google Analytics data unless we, as the website owner, authorize it. Exceptions may occur when required by law.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Wert: 2.1326744211.152121935448-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish the website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Wert: 2.1687193234.152121935448-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish the website visitors
Expiration date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Wert: 1
Intended use: Used to lower the request rate. When Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_ <property-id>.
Expiration date: after 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: no data
Purpose: The cookie has a token that can be used to retrieve a user ID from the AMP client ID service. Other possible values indicate a logout, a request, or an error.
Expiration date: after 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma
Wert: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie is used to track your behavior on the website and measure performance. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: __utmt
Wert: 1
Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id> to throttle the request rate.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes

Name: __utmb
Wert: 3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time new data or info is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 30 minutes

Name: __utmc
Wert: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to set new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie and is only stored until you close the browser again.
Expiration date: After closing the browser

Name: __utmz
Wert: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. That is, the cookie stores from where you came to our website. This may have been another site or an advertisement.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Name: __utmv
Value: not specified
Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is updated whenever information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, as Google also changes the choice of its cookies again and again.

Here we show you an overview of the most important data collected with Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Via heatmaps you can see exactly those areas you click on. This way we get information where you are “traveling” on our site.

Session duration: Google refers to the time you spend on our site without leaving the site as session duration. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session will end automatically.

Bounce rate: A bounce rate is when you view only one page on our website and then leave our website again.

Account creation: When you create an account or place an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.

IP address: The IP address is only shown in abbreviated form so that no clear assignment is possible.

Location: The IP address can be used to determine the country and your approximate location. This process is also referred to as IP location determination.

Technical information: Technical information may include your browser type, Internet service provider, or screen resolution.

Source of origin: Google Analytics or, of course, we are also interested in which website or which advertisement you came to our site from.

Other data includes contact information, any ratings, playing media (such as when you play a video through our site), sharing content through social media, or adding to your favorites. The list does not claim to be complete and only serves as a general orientation of the data storage by Google Analytics.

 

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has their servers spread all over the world. Most servers are located in America and consequently your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can find out exactly where Google’s data centers are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de

Your data is distributed on different physical media. This has the advantage that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. There are appropriate emergency programs for your data in every Google data center. For example, if Google’s hardware fails or natural disasters cripple servers, the risk of service interruption at Google still remains low.

The retention period of the data depends on the properties used. When using the newer Google Analytics 4 properties, the retention period of your user data is fixed at 14 months. For other so-called event data, we have the option to choose a retention period of 2 months or 14 months.

For Universal Analytics properties, Google Analytics defaults to a retention period of 26 months for your user data. Then your user data will be deleted. However, we have the option to choose the retention period of user data. We have five variants available for this purpose:

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

In addition, there is also the option that data will only be deleted if you no longer visit our website within the period we have chosen. In this case, the retention period will be reset each time you visit our website again within the specified period.

Once the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g. DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a merging of individual data into a larger unit.

 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Under European Union data protection law, you have the right to access, update, delete or restrict your data. Using the browser add-on to disable Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js) you prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only disables data collection by Google Analytics.

If you basically want to disable, delete or manage cookies, you can find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers under the section “Cookies”.

 

Legal basis

The use of Google Analytics requires your consent, which we have obtained with our cookie popup. This consent represents according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent) constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during the collection by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors in order to improve our services technically and economically. With the help of Google Analytics, we can detect website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Analytics if you have given your consent.

Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for 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 correspond to the standard contractual clauses and are also applicable to Google Analytics, can be found at https://business.safety.google/adsprocessorterms/.

We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information about Google Analytics data processing. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/de/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de

Google Site Kit Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimize the web offer.
📓 Processed data: Access statistics, which include data such as locations of accesses, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior, click behavior, and IP addresses. More details can be found below and in the Google Analytics privacy policy.
📅 Storage duration: depending on the properties used
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests)

What is Google Site Kit?

We have integrated into our website the WordPress plugin Google Site Kit of the American company Google Inc. integrated. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With Google Site Kit, we can quickly and easily view statistics coming from various Google products like Google Analytics directly in our WordPress dashboard. The tool or the tools integrated in Google Site Kit also collect personal data from you, among other things. In this privacy policy, we explain why we use Google Site Kit, how long and where data is stored, and which other privacy texts are relevant for you in this context.

Google Site Kit is a plugin for the WordPress content management system. This plugin allows us to view important website analytics statistics directly in our dashboard. These are statistics collected by other Google products. First and foremost from Google Analytics. In addition to Google Analytics, the Google Search Console, Page Speed Insight, Google AdSense, Google Optimize and Google Tag Manager services can also be linked to Google Site Kit.

 

Why do we use Google Site Kit on our website?

As a service provider, it is our job to give you the best possible experience on our website. You should feel comfortable on our website and find exactly what you are looking for quickly and easily. Statistical evaluations help us to get to know you better and to adapt our offer to your wishes and interests. We use various Google tools for these evaluations. Site Kit makes our work much easier in this regard, because we can view and analyze the statistics of Google products right in the dashboard. So we don’t have to register extra for the respective tool anymore. Site Kit thus always provides a good overview of the most important analysis data.

 

What data is stored by Google Site Kit?

If you have actively agreed to tracking tools in the cookie notice (also called script or banner), Google products such as Google Analytics will set cookies and send data from you, for example about your user behavior, to Google, where it will be stored and processed. Among them, personal data such as your IP address is also stored.

For more detailed information on the individual services, we have separate text sections in this privacy policy. For example, see our privacy policy on Google Analytics. Here we go into great detail about the data collected. You will learn how long Google Analytics stores, manages and processes data, which cookies can be used and how you can prevent data storage. Likewise, we also have our own privacy statements with comprehensive information for other Google services such as Google Tag Manager or Google AdSense.

In the following, we show you exemplary Google Analytics cookies that can be set in your browser, provided that you have agreed in principle to data processing by Google. Please note that these cookies are only a selection:

Name: _ga
Wert:2.1326744211.152111914820-2
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it serves to distinguish the website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Wert:2.1687193234.152111914820-7
Purpose: This cookie is also used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Wert: 1
Purpose: This cookie is used to lower the request rate.
Expiration date: after 1 minute

 

How long and where is the data stored?

Google stores collected data on its own Google servers, which are distributed worldwide. Most servers are located in the United States and therefore it is easily possible that your data will be stored there as well. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de you can see exactly where the company provides servers.

Data collected through Google Analytics is retained for a standard 26 months. Afterwards your user data will be deleted. The retention period applies to all data associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs.

 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You always have the right to obtain information about your data, to have your data deleted, corrected or restricted. In addition, you can also disable, delete or manage cookies in your browser at any time.

If you basically want to disable, delete or manage cookies, you can find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers under the section “Cookies”.

 

Legal basis

The use of Google Site Kit requires your consent, which we have obtained with our cookie popup. This consent represents according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent) constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as may occur during the collection by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors in order to improve our services technically and economically. With the help of Google Site Kit, we can detect website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google Site Kit if you have given your consent.

Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for 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 Site Kit, can be found at https://business.safety.google/adsprocessorterms/.

To learn more about Google’s data processing, we recommend that you read Google’s comprehensive privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

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 GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (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=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ111914820-5
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/inside/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 para. 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 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (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 according to 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 correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/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.

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 time, the data is stored until it is no longer required for the fulfillment of the service
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (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.

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy Summary
👥 Data subjects: Visitors to the website
🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance and protection against cyber attacks.
📓 Processed data: Data such as IP address, browser information, your operating system, limited location and usage data.
More details can be found below in this privacy policy.
📅 Storage duration: depending on the stored data
⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests)

What is reCAPTCHA?

Our primary goal is to secure and protect our website in the best possible way for you and for us. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google Inc. Für den europäischen Raum ist das Unternehmen Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Irland) für alle Google-Dienste zuständig. With reCAPTCHA we can verify that you are a real flesh and blood human being and not a robot or some other spam software. By spam we mean any unsolicited information sent to us electronically. In the classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or picture puzzles for review. With reCAPTCHA from Google, we usually don’t have to bother you with such riddles. Here, in most cases, it is enough to simply check a box to confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don’t even have to check a box. You will learn exactly how this works and, above all, which data is used for this purpose in the course of this privacy policy.

reCAPTCHA is a free captcha service from Google that protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. Most often, this service is used when you fill out forms on the Internet. A captcha service is a kind of automatic Turing test designed to ensure that an action on the Internet is performed by a human and not a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing), a human establishes the distinction between a bot and a human. With captchas, the computer or a software program also takes care of this. Classic captchas work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve, but present significant difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to actively solve puzzles. The tool uses advanced risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here you only need to check the “I am not a robot” text box, or with Invisible reCAPTCHA even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is included in the source code and then the tool runs in the background and analyzes your user behavior. The software calculates a so-called captcha score from these user actions. Google uses this score to calculate how likely you are to be human even before you enter the captcha. reCAPTCHA or captchas in general are used whenever bots could manipulate or abuse certain actions (such as registrations, surveys, etc.).

 

Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?

We only want to welcome flesh and blood people to our side. Bots or spam software of various kinds can safely stay at home. That’s why we do everything we can to protect ourselves and provide the best possible user experience for you. For this reason, we use Google reCAPTCHA from the company Google. This way we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. By using reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google to determine whether you are actually a human. reCAPTCHA therefore serves the security of our website and, by extension, your security. For example, without reCAPTCHA, it could happen that a bot registers as many e-mail addresses as possible during registration in order to subsequently “spam” forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA we can avoid such bot attacks.

 

What data is stored by reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users in order to determine whether actions on our website actually originate from people. Thus, the IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service can be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always shortened beforehand within the member states of the EU or other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data ends up on a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with other data from Google unless you are logged in with your Google account while using reCAPTCHA. First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks if Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube. Gmail, etc.) are already placed on your browser. Then, reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and captures a snapshot of your browser window.

The following list of collected browser and user data, does not claim to be complete. Rather, they are examples of data that, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.

• Referrer URL (the address of the page from which the visitor comes)
• IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)
• Info about the operating system (the software that allows your computer to run. Known operating systems are Windows, Mac OS X or Linux).
• Cookies (small text files that store data in your browser)
• Mouse and keyboard behavior (every action you perform with the mouse or keyboard is saved)
• Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC will be saved)
• All JavaScript objects (JavaScript is a programming language that allows websites to adapt to the user. JavaScript objects can collect all kinds of data under one name).
• Screen resolution (shows how many pixels the image display consists of)

It is undisputed that Google uses and analyzes this data even before you click on the “I am not a robot” checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, there is even no checkboxing and the whole recognition process runs in the background. Google does not tell you in detail how much and which data it stores.

The following cookies are used by reCAPTCHA: Here we refer to the reCAPTCHA demo version from Google at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo. All these cookies require a unique identifier for tracking purposes. Here is a list of cookies that Google reCAPTCHA has set on the demo version:

Name: IDE
Wert: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-121935448-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by the DoubleClick company (also owned by Google) to register and report a user’s actions on the website in dealing with advertisements. In this way, advertising effectiveness can be measured and appropriate optimization measures can be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: 1P_JAR
Wert: 2019-5-14-12
Purpose: This cookie collects statistics about website usage and measures conversions. A conversion occurs, for example, when a user becomes a buyer. The cookie is also used to display relevant advertisements to users. Furthermore, the cookie can be used to prevent a user from seeing the same ad more than once.
Expiration date: after one month

Name: ANID
Wert: U7j1v3dZa1219354480xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We could not find out much info about this cookie. Google’s privacy policy mentions the cookie in connection with “advertising cookies” such as “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored under domain google.com.
Expiration date: after 9 months

Name: CONSENT
Wert: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to the use of various services provided by Google. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users, prevent credential fraud and protect user data from unauthorized attacks.
Expiration date: after 19 years

Name: NID
Wert: 0WmuWqy121935448zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customize ads to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google “remembers” your most entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. This way you will always get customized ads. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect personal settings of the user for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Name: DV
Wert: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc121935448-4
Purpose: Once you have checked the “I am not a robot” box, this cookie will be set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalized advertising. DV collects information in anonymous form and is further used to make user distinctions.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes

Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as Google’s experience shows that it changes its choice of cookies time and again.

 

How long and where is the data stored?

By inserting reCAPTCHA, data is transferred from you to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored, Google does not make clear, even after repeated inquiries. Without having received confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, time spent on the website or language settings are stored on Google’s European or American servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is generally not merged with other Google data from other Google services. However, if you are logged into your Google account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. The deviating data protection provisions of the Google company apply to this.

 

Wie kann ich meine Daten löschen oder die Datenspeicherung verhindern?

If you do not want any data about you and your behavior to be transmitted to Google, you must log out of Google completely and delete all Google cookies before visiting our website or using the reCAPTCHA software. In principle, the data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you access our site. To delete this data again, you need to contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=121935448.

Thus, by using our website, you consent to the automatic collection, processing and use of data by Google LLC and its agents.

Please note that when using this tool, data from you may also be stored and processed outside the EU. Most third countries (including the USA) are not considered secure under current European data protection law. So data may not simply be transferred to, stored in, and processed in insecure third countries unless there are appropriate safeguards (such as EU standard contractual clauses) between us and the non-European service provider.

 

Legal basis

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

We also have a legitimate interest in using Google reCAPTCHA to optimize our online service and make it more secure. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use Google reCAPTCHA if you have given your consent.

Google also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that according to the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for 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 correspond to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/adsprocessorterms/.

You can learn a little more about reCAPTCHA on Google’s web developer page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Google does go into more detail here about the technical development of reCAPTCHA, but you will search in vain for precise information about data storage and privacy-related topics there as well. A good overview of Google’s basic use of data can be found in its in-house privacy policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

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 according to 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 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 GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (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 the BigQuery database of Google Fonts. 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=121935448. 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=121935448. 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 para. 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 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (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 according to 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/.