Data protection

Introduction and overview

We have written this data protection declaration (version 04.10.2023-112636244) to provide you with the requirements of General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws to explain which personal data (data for short) we as controllers - and the processors commissioned by us (e.g. providers) - process, will process in the future and what legal options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral.
In short: We inform you comprehensively about the data we process about you.

Privacy policies usually sound very technical and use legal terms. This data protection declaration, however, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. To the extent that it promotes transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. We thereby inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data as part of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible if you make as brief, unclear and legal-technical statements as possible, as are often standard on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information that you didn't know before.
If you still have questions, we would like to ask you to contact the responsible body named below or in the legal notice, follow the existing links and look at further information on third-party sites. You can of course also find our contact details in the legal notice.

scope of application

This data protection declaration applies to all personal data processed by us in the company and to all personal data that companies commissioned by us (processors) process. By personal data we mean information within the meaning of Article 4 No. 1 GDPR such as a person's name, email address and postal address. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and bill our services and products, whether online or offline. The scope of this data protection declaration includes:

all online presences (websites, online shops) that we operate
Social media appearances and email communication
mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

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

Legal basis

In the following data protection declaration we provide you with transparent information about the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.
As far as EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of April 27, 2016. You can of course access this EU General Data Protection Regulation online on EUR-Lex, the access to the EU -Right, under https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679 read it.

We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:

Consent (Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. a GDPR): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be saving the data you entered on a contact form.
Contract (Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter b GDPR): In order to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you, we process your data. For example, if we conclude a purchase contract with you, we need personal information in advance.
Legal obligation (Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. c GDPR): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we process your data. For example, we are legally obliged to keep invoices for accounting purposes. These usually contain personal data.
Legitimate interests (Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. f GDPR): 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 securely and economically efficiently. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

Other conditions such as the perception of recordings in the public interest and the exercise of public authority as well as the protection of vital interests generally do not apply to us. If such a legal basis is relevant, it will be shown in the appropriate place.

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

In Austria this is the Federal Law for the Protection of Natural Persons with regard to the Processing of Personal Data (Data Protection Act), or DSG for short.
The Federal Data Protection Act, or BDSG for short, applies in Germany.

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

Contact details of the person responsible

If you have any questions about data protection or the processing of personal data, you will find the contact details of the responsible person or body below:
TS Music Management
Gottsreithweg 18 Top 3
5301 Eugendorf

Email: info@tsmusicmanagement.com

Imprint: https://www.sina-official.com/impressum

Storage period

Our general criterion is that we only store personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary to provide our services and products. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are legally obliged to store certain data even after the original purpose has ceased, for example for accounting purposes.

If you wish to have your data deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as quickly as possible and unless there is an obligation to store it.

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

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with Articles 13, 14 GDPR, we inform you of the following rights to which you are entitled so that data is processed fairly and transparently:

According to Article 15 GDPR, you have a right to information as to whether we are processing your data. If this is the case, you have the right to receive a copy of the data and to know the following information:
- for what purpose we 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 is stored;
- the existence of the right to rectification, deletion 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 did not collect it from you;
- whether profiling is carried out, i.e. whether data is automatically evaluated in order to create a personal profile for you.
According to Article 16 GDPR, you have a right to correction of data, which means that we must correct data if you find errors.
According to Article 17 GDPR, you have the right to deletion (“right to be forgotten”), which specifically means that you can request the deletion of your data.
According to Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to restrict processing, which means that we are only allowed to store the data but not use it any further.
According to Article 20 GDPR, you have the right to data portability, which means that upon request we will provide you with your data in a common format.
According to Article 21 GDPR, you have a right to object, which, once enforced, will result in a change to the processing.
- If the processing of your data is based on Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter e (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f (legitimate interest), you can 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 then no longer use your data for direct marketing.
- If data is used to carry out profiling, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We are then no longer allowed to use your data for profiling.
According to Article 22 GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (e.g. profiling).
According to Article 77 GDPR, you have the right to lodge a complaint. This means that you can complain to the data protection authority at any time if you believe that the processing of personal data violates the GDPR.

In short: you have rights – do not hesitate to contact the responsible body listed above!

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 you can find at https://www.dsb.gv.at/ find. In Germany there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For further information you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) turn. The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:

Austria data protection authority

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

Security of data processing

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.

Art. 25 GDPR speaks here of “data protection through technology design and through data protection-friendly default settings” and means that one always thinks about security and the corresponding security when it comes to both software (e.g. forms) and hardware (e.g. access to the server room). takes measures. Below we will go into specific measures if necessary.

communication

Communication summary
Those affected: Anyone who communicates with us by telephone, email or online form
Data processed: e.g. E.g. telephone number, name, email address, entered form data. You can find more details about this under the type of contact used
Purpose: Handling communication with customers, business partners, etc.
Storage period: Duration of the business transaction and the legal regulations
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b GDPR (contract), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

If you contact us and communicate by telephone, email or online form, personal data may be processed.

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

Affected people

The above-mentioned processes affect everyone who tries to contact us via the communication channels we provide.

phone

If you call us, the call data will be stored pseudonymously on the respective device and by the telecommunications provider used. In addition, data such as name and telephone number can then be sent by email and saved to answer your query. The data will be deleted as soon as the business transaction has ended and legal requirements allow it.

e-mail

If you communicate with us via email, data may be stored on the respective device (computer, laptop, smartphone, etc.) and data may be stored on the email server. The data will be deleted as soon as the business transaction has ended and legal requirements allow it.

Online forms

If you communicate with us using an online form, data will be stored on our web server and, if necessary, forwarded to one of our email addresses. The data will be deleted as soon as the business transaction has ended and legal requirements allow it.

Legal basis

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

Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent): You give us your consent to store your data and to continue using it for purposes relevant to the business transaction;
Art. 6 Paragraph 1 Letter b GDPR (contract): There is a need to fulfill a contract with you or a processor such as. B. the telephone provider or we need to use the data for pre-contractual activities, such as: B. the preparation of an offer;
Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests): We want to conduct customer inquiries and business communication in a professional framework. For this purpose, certain technical facilities such as: B. E-mail programs, exchange servers and mobile phone operators are necessary in order to be able to operate communication efficiently.

Order processing agreement (AVV)

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

Who are processors?

As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data that we process from you. In addition to those responsible, there can also be so-called processors. This includes every company or person who processes personal data on our behalf. More specifically and according to the GDPR definition: any natural or legal person, authority, institution or other body that processes personal data on our behalf is considered a processor. Processors can therefore be service providers such as hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.

To make the terminology easier to understand, here is an overview of the three roles in the GDPR:

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

Content of an order processing contract

As already mentioned above, we have concluded an AVV with our partners who act as processors. Above all, this states that the processor processes the data to be processed exclusively in accordance with the GDPR. The contract must be concluded in writing, although in this context the electronic contract conclusion is also considered “written”. The processing of personal data only takes place on the basis of the contract. The contract must contain the following:

Binding to us as those responsible
Obligations and rights of the person responsible
Categories of data subjects
Type of personal data
Type and purpose of data processing
Subject and duration of data processing
Place of data processing

The contract also contains all of the processor’s obligations. The most important duties are:

To ensure data security measures
to take possible technical and organizational measures to protect the rights of the data subject
to maintain a data processing directory
to cooperate with the data protection supervisory authority upon request
carry out a risk analysis in relation to the personal data received
Sub-processors may only be commissioned with the written consent of the person responsible

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

Cookies

Cookies summary
Affected: Visitors to the website
Purpose: depending on the respective cookie. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.
Processed data: Depending on the cookie used. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.
Storage period: depending 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 surf the Internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. To be more precise, they are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, 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 visit our site again, your browser sends the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are used to. In some browsers each cookie has its own file, in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

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 because each cookie stores different data. The expiry time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “malicious” things. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.

For example, cookie data might look like this:

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152112636244-9
Purpose: Differentiation of website visitors
Expiry 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 types of cookies are there?

The question of which cookies we use in particular depends on the services used and is clarified in the following sections of the data protection declaration. At this point we would like to briefly discuss the different types of HTTP cookies.

There are 4 types of cookies:

Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are needed when a user puts a product in the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and only later checks out. These cookies do not delete the shopping cart, even if the user closes their browser window.

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

Targeting cookies
These cookies ensure better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are saved.

Advertising cookies
These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They serve to provide the user with individually tailored advertising. This can be very practical, but also very annoying.

Typically, when you first visit a website, you will be asked which of these types of cookies you would like to allow. And of course this decision is also saved in a cookie.

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

Purpose of processing via cookies

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

Which data is processed?

Cookies are little 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 data processed or stored in the following data protection declaration.

Storage period of cookies

The storage period depends on the respective cookie and is further specified below. Some cookies are deleted after less than an hour, others can remain on a computer for several years.

You also have an influence on the storage period. You can delete all cookies manually at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies that are based on consent will be deleted at the latest after you revoke your consent, although the legality of storage remains unaffected until then.

Right to object – how can I delete cookies?

You decide for yourself how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option of deleting cookies, deactivating them or only partially allowing them. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.

If you would like to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can do this in your browser settings:

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and site data with Safari

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

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies

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

Legal basis

The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have existed since 2009. This states that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). However, there are still very different reactions to these guidelines within the EU countries. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in Section 96 Paragraph 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 Paragraph 3 of the Telemedia Act (TMG).

For absolutely necessary cookies, even if consent is not given, there are legitimate interests (Article 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide website visitors with a pleasant user experience and certain cookies are often absolutely necessary for this.

If non-essential cookies are used, this will only happen with your consent. The legal basis in this respect is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a GDPR.

In the following sections you will be informed in more detail about the use of cookies if the software used uses cookies.

Web hosting introduction

Web hosting summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: professional hosting of the website and securing its operation
Processed data: IP address, time of website visit, browser used and other data. You can find more details about this below or with the web hosting provider you use.
Storage period: depends on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is web hosting?

When you visit websites these days, certain information - including personal data - is created and stored automatically, 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 websites on a domain, i.e. everything from the start page (homepage) to the very last subpage (like this one). By domain we mean, for example, example.de or musterexample.com.

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

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

When the browser connects to your computer (desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and during data transfer to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. On the one hand, your computer stores data, but on the other hand, the web server also needs to store data for a while to ensure proper operation.

Why do we process personal data?

The purposes of data processing are:

Professional website hosting and operational security
to maintain operational and IT security
Anonymous evaluation of access behavior to improve our offering and, if necessary, to prosecute or pursue claims

Which data is processed?

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

the complete internet address (URL) of the website accessed
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/vondabinichkommen/)
the host name and IP address of the device from which access is made (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
Date and Time
in files called web server log files

How long is data stored?

As a rule, the above-mentioned data is stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot rule out that this data will be viewed by authorities if illegal behavior occurs.

In short: Your visit will be logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we will not pass on your data without consent!

Legal basis

The legality of the processing of personal data in the context of web hosting results from Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f of the GDPR (protection of legitimate interests), because the use of professional hosting from a provider is necessary to keep the company safe and user-friendly on the Internet to be able to present and, if necessary, pursue attacks and claims resulting from this.

There is usually a contract for order processing between us and the hosting provider in accordance with Art. 28 f. GDPR, which ensures compliance with data protection and guarantees data security.

Website modular systems introduction

Website modular systems data protection declaration summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as technical usage information such as browser activity, clickstream activity, session heatmaps as well as contact details, IP address or your geographical location. You can find more details about this below in this data protection declaration and in the data protection declaration of the providers.
Storage period: depends on the provider
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent)

What are modular website systems?

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

Why do we use website builders for our website?

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

What data is stored by a modular system?

Exactly which data is stored depends of course on the website construction system used. Each provider processes and collects different data from website visitors. However, technical usage information such as operating system, browser, screen resolution, language and keyboard settings, hosting provider and the date of your website visit are usually collected. Tracking data (e.g. browser activity, clickstream activity, session heatmaps, etc.) can also be processed. Personal data can also be collected and stored. This usually involves contact details such as email address, telephone number (if you have provided it), IP address and geographical location data. You can find out exactly which data is stored in the provider’s privacy policy.

How long and where is the data stored?

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

Right to object

You always have the right to information, correction and deletion of your personal data. If you have any questions, you can contact those responsible for the website modular system used at any time. You can find contact details either in our data protection declaration or on the website of the relevant provider.

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

Legal basis

We have a legitimate interest in using a modular website system to optimize our online service and present it to you in an efficient and user-appealing manner. The corresponding legal basis for this is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use the modular system if you have given your consent.

If the processing of data is not absolutely necessary for the operation of the website, the data will only be processed based on your consent. This particularly applies to tracking activities. The legal basis in this respect is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a GDPR.

With this data protection declaration we have provided you with the most important general information about data processing. If you would like to find out more about this, you can find further information - if available - in the following section or in the provider's data protection declaration.

Web Analytics Introduction

Web Analytics Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimize the website.
Data processed: Access statistics, which include data such as access locations, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior, click behavior and IP addresses. You can find more details about this in the web analytics tool used.
Storage period: depends on the web analytics tool used
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Web Analytics?

We use software on our website to evaluate the behavior of website visitors, known as web analytics for short. Data is collected, which the respective analytical tool provider (also called tracking tool) stores, manages and processes. The data is used to create analyzes of user behavior on our website and make them 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. We will 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 test procedures, as well as for other analytics procedures, user profiles can also be created and the data can be stored in cookies.

Why do we do web analytics?

We have a clear goal in mind with our website: we want to provide the best web offering on the market for our industry. In order to achieve this goal, we want to offer the best and most interesting offer on the one hand and, on the other hand, 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 website accordingly for you and us. 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 of this information helps us to optimize the website and thus best adapt it to your needs, interests and wishes.

Which data is processed?

Of course, exactly which data is stored depends on the analysis tools used. However, it is usually stored, for example, what content you view on our website, what buttons or links you click on, when you access a page, what browser you use, what device (PC, tablet, smartphone, etc.) you use website you visit or what computer system you use. If you agreed that location data may also be collected, this can also be processed by the web analysis tool provider.

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, no direct data such as your name, age, address or email address is stored. All of this data, if collected, is stored pseudonymously. This means you cannot be identified as a person.

How long the respective data is stored always depends on the provider. Some cookies only store data 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 below about the duration of data processing if we have further information. In general, we only process personal data for as long as it is absolutely necessary to provide our services and products. If required by law, for example in the case of accounting, this storage period can also be exceeded.

Right to object

You also have the right and the opportunity 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, deactivating or deleting cookies in your browser.

Legal basis

The use of web analytics requires your consent, which we obtained with our cookie popup. According to Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a of the GDPR (consent), this consent represents the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when it is collected by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors and thus improving our offering technically and economically. With the help of web analytics, we detect website errors, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use the tools if you have given your consent.

Since cookies are used in web analytics tools, 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 data protection declarations of the respective tools.

Information about special web analytics tools, if available, can be found in the following sections.

Google Analytics privacy policy

Google Analytics Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Evaluation of visitor information to optimize the website.
Data processed: Access statistics, which include data such as access locations, device data, access duration and time, navigation behavior and click behavior. You can find more details about this further down in this data protection declaration.
Storage period: individually adjustable, by default Google Analytics stores 4 data for 14 months
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Google Analytics?

On our website we use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics in version Google Analytics 4 (GA4) from the American company Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is for everyone Google services responsible. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. Through the combination of different technologies such as cookies, device IDs and login information, you as a user can be identified across different devices. This means your actions can also be analyzed across platforms.

For example, if you click on a link, this event is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. The reports we receive from Google Analytics allow us to better tailor our website and service to your needs. Below we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and, above all, inform you about what data is processed and how you can prevent this.

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that is used to analyze traffic on our website. The basis of these measurements and analyzes is a pseudonymous user identification number. This number does not contain any personal data such as name or address, but is used to assign events to a device. GA4 uses an event-based model that captures detailed information about user interactions such as page views, clicks, scrolling, conversion events. In addition, various machine learning functions have been built into GA4 to better understand user behavior and certain trends. GA4 relies on modeling with the help of machine learning functions. This means that based on the data collected, missing data can also be extrapolated in order to optimize the analysis and also to be able to make forecasts.

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 events that you perform on our website. With GA4's event-based data model, we as website operators can define and track specific events to obtain analysis of user interactions. In addition to general information such as clicks or page views, specific events that are important for our business can also be tracked. Such special events could be, for example, sending a contact form or purchasing a product.

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 receive reports about your user behavior. These may include, among others, 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.
Display Reports: Display reports make it easier for us to analyze and improve our online advertising.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information about how we can attract more people to our service.
Behavioral reports: This is where we learn how you interact with our website. We can track the route you take on our site and which links you click on.
Conversion reports: Conversion is the process in which you take a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when 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 being received by 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.

In addition to the analysis reports mentioned above, Google Analytics 4 also offers the following functions, among others:

Event-based data model: This model captures very specific events that may occur on our website. For example, playing a video, purchasing a product or signing up for our newsletter.
Advanced analytics features: These features allow us to better understand your behavior on our website or certain general trends. For example, we can segment user groups, carry out comparative analyzes of target groups or track your path on our website.
Predictive modeling: Based on collected data, machine learning can extrapolate missing data that predicts future events and trends. This can help us develop better marketing strategies.
Cross-platform analysis: Data collection and analysis is possible from both websites and apps. This gives us the opportunity to analyze user behavior across platforms, provided you have of course consented to data processing.

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

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

The statistically evaluated data shows us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that interested people can find it more easily on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. We therefore know exactly what we need to improve on our website in order to offer you the best possible service. The data also helps us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures more individually and cost-effectively. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.

What data does Google Analytics store?

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

In order to be able to analyze our website with Google Analytics, a property ID must be inserted into the tracking code. The data is then saved in the corresponding property. The Google Analytics 4 property is the default for every newly created property. Depending on the property used, data is stored for different lengths of time.

Using identifiers such as cookies, app instance IDs, user IDs or custom event parameters, your interactions are measured across platforms, provided you have consented. Interactions are all types of actions that you take 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 pass on Google Analytics data unless we as website operators authorize this. Exceptions may occur if required by law.

According to Google, Google Analytics 4 does not log or store IP addresses. However, Google uses the IP address data to derive location data and deletes it immediately afterwards. All IP addresses collected from users in the EU are deleted before the data is stored in a data center or on a server.

Because Google Analytics 4 focuses on event-based data, the tool uses significantly fewer cookies compared to previous versions (like Google Universal Analytics). However, there are some specific cookies used by GA4. These include, for example:

Name: _ga
Value: 2.1326744211.152112636244-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Value: 2.1687193234.152112636244-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish website visitors
Expiry date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Value: 1
Intended use: Used to reduce the request rate. If Google Analytics is provided via Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_ <property-id>.
Expiry date: after 1 minute

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, as Google continually changes its choice of cookies. GA4 also aims to improve data protection. Therefore, the tool offers some options for controlling data collection. For example, we can set the storage period ourselves and also control data collection.

Here we show you an overview of the main types of data collected with Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Heatmaps show exactly the areas you click on. This gives us information about where you are on our site.

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

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

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

Location: IP addresses are not logged or stored in Google Analytics. However, shortly before the IP address is deleted, derivatives for location data are used.

Technical information: Technical information may include, but is not limited to, your browser type, your Internet service provider or your screen resolution.

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

Other data includes contact details, any reviews, playing media (e.g. when you play a video via our site), sharing content via social media or adding it to your favorites. The list does not claim to be complete and only serves as a general guide to data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has their servers spread all over the world. Here you can read exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=de

Your data is distributed on different physical storage media. This has the advantage that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. Every Google data center has appropriate emergency programs for your data. For example, if Google's hardware fails or natural disasters paralyze servers, the risk of service disruption at Google remains low.

The retention period of the data depends on the properties used. The storage period is always determined specifically for each individual property. Google Analytics offers us four options for controlling storage duration:

2 months: this is the shortest storage period.
14 months: By default, data is stored at GA4 for 14 months.
26 months: you can also save the data for 26 months.
Data will not be deleted until we delete it manually

In addition, there is also the option that data will only be deleted if you no longer visit our website within the period chosen by us. 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 will be deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data linked to cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g. cookies from the DoubleClick domain). Report results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a fusion 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. You can use the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics JavaScript (analytics.js, gtag.js) to prevent Google Analytics 4 from using your data. You can download the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de download and install. Please note that this add-on only deactivates data collection by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies, you will find the relevant links to the relevant instructions for the most popular browsers under the “Cookies” section.

Legal basis

The use of Google Analytics requires your consent, which we obtained with our cookie popup. According to Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a of the GDPR (consent), this consent represents the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur when it is collected by web analytics tools.

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors and thus improving our offering technically and economically. With the help of Google Analytics, we detect errors on the website, identify attacks and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter f GDPR (legitimate interests). However, we only use Google Analytics if you have given your consent.

Google also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information about this on https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.

Google also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 Paragraphs 2 and 3 GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Google undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the resolution and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.

We hope we were able to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google Analytics. If you want to find out 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.

If you want to find out more about data processing, please use the Google privacy policy on https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Email marketing introduction

Email marketing summary
Affected: Newsletter subscribers
Purpose: Direct advertising via email, notification of system-relevant events
Processed data: Data entered during registration but at least the email address. You can find more details about the email marketing tool used.
Storage period: Duration of the subscription
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Email Marketing?

In order to always keep you up to date, we also use email marketing. If you have agreed to receive our emails or newsletters, your data will also be processed and stored. Email marketing is a part of online marketing. This involves sending news or general information about a company, product or service via email to a specific group of people who are interested in it.

If you want to participate in our email marketing (usually via newsletter), you usually just need to register with your email address. To do this, fill out an online form and submit it. However, it may also happen that we ask you for your title and name so that we can write to you personally.

Basically, registering for newsletters works with the help of the so-called “double opt-in procedure”. After you have registered for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an email confirming your newsletter registration. This ensures that the email address belongs to you and that no one has logged in with someone else's email address. We, or a notification tool we use, logs each login. This is necessary so that we can prove that the registration process was legally correct. The time of registration, the time of registration confirmation and your IP address are usually stored. Additionally, it will also be logged if you make changes to your saved data.

Why do we use email marketing?

Of course, we want to stay in touch with you and always present you with the most important news about our company. For this purpose, we use, among other things, email marketing – often just called “newsletter” – as an essential part of our online marketing. If you agree or as permitted by law, we will send you newsletters, system emails or other notifications by email. When we use the term “newsletter” in the following text, we mainly mean emails sent on a regular basis. Of course, we do not want to bother you in any way with our newsletter. That's why we always strive to only offer relevant and interesting content. You can find out more about our company, our services or products. Since we are always improving our offers, you will always find out via our newsletter when there is news or when we are currently offering special, lucrative promotions. If we commission a service provider who offers a professional sending tool for our email marketing, we do this in order to be able to offer you fast and secure newsletters. The purpose of our email marketing is basically to inform you about new offers and also to get closer to our business goals.

Which data is processed?

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

Duration of data processing

If you unsubscribe your email address from our email/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years based on our legitimate interests so that we can still prove your consent at the time. We are only allowed to process this data if we have to defend ourselves against any claims.

However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual deletion request at any time. If you permanently object to your consent, we reserve the right to save your email address in a blacklist. As long as you have voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter, we will of course also keep your email address.

Right to object

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

Legal basis

Our newsletter is sent based on your consent (Article 6 Paragraph 1 Letter a GDPR). This means that we can only send you a newsletter if you have previously actively registered for it. If necessary, we may also send you advertising messages if you have become our customer and have not objected to the use of your email address for direct advertising.

Information about special email marketing services and how they process personal data - if available - can be found in the following sections.

Social media introduction

Social Media Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Presentation and optimization of our services, contact with visitors, interested parties, etc., advertising
Data processed: Data such as telephone numbers, email addresses, contact details, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details about this in the respective social media tool used.
Storage period: depends on the social media platforms used
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

Facebook privacy policy

Facebook privacy policy summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as customer data, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details about this in the data protection declaration below.
Storage period: until the data is no longer useful for Facebook's purposes
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are Facebook tools?

We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network of the company Meta Platforms Inc. or for the European area of the company Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. These tools enable us to offer you and people who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer.

If data is collected and forwarded from you via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page (fan page), both we and Facebook Ireland Ltd. responsible for. Facebook is solely responsible for the further processing of this data. Our shared commitments have also been set out in a publicly available agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum anchored. This states, for example, that we must clearly inform you about the use of Facebook tools on our site. Furthermore, we are also responsible for ensuring that the tools are integrated into our website in a secure manner in accordance with data protection law. Facebook, on the other hand, is responsible for the data security of Facebook products, for example. If you have any questions about data collection and data processing by Facebook, you can contact the company directly. If you ask us a question, we are obliged to forward it to Facebook.

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

In addition to many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official name of Facebook. Since the term is hardly known, we have decided to just call them Facebook tools. These include, among others:

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

Through these tools, Facebook expands services and has the opportunity to obtain information about user activities outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads) we can reach exactly these people. However, in order to show users appropriate advertising, Facebook needs information about people's wishes and needs. The company is provided with information about user behavior (and contact details) on our website. This means that Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate advertising about our products or services. The tools thus enable tailor-made advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website “event data”. These are also used for measurement and analysis services. This allows Facebook to create “campaign reports” on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. We also use analyzes to gain a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. This allows us to use some of these tools to optimize your user experience on our website. For example, you can use the social plug-ins to share content on our site directly on Facebook.

What data are stored by Facebook tools?

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

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

In addition to the contact details, “event data” is also transmitted. “Event data” means the information that we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers) unless the company has explicit permission or is legally required to do so. “Event data” can also be linked to contact details. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact data again.

In order to deliver advertisements in an optimized manner, Facebook only uses the event data if it has been combined with other data (which was collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development and research purposes. Much of this data is transferred to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies are created in your browser. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools we go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies. You can also find out general information about the use of Facebook cookies on https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Basically, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers around the world where its data is stored. However, customer data will be deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with your own user data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

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

The data will only be completely deleted if you completely delete your Facebook account. Here's how deleting your Facebook account works:

1) On the right side of Facebook, click Settings.

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

3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.

4) Now select “Delete Account” and then click “Next and Delete Account”

5) Now enter your password, click “Continue” and then click “Delete Account”

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

Legal basis

If you have agreed that your data can be processed and stored by integrated Facebook tools, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. However, we only use the tools if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies on your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text about cookies carefully and view Facebook's data protection declaration or cookie guidelines.

Facebook also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Facebook or Meta Platforms is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information about this on https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.

Facebook also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 Paragraphs 2 and 3 GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Facebook undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the resolution and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

The Facebook data processing conditions, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.

We hope we have given you the most important information about the use and data processing of Facebook tools. If you want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend reading the data policy on https://www.facebook.com/privacy/policy/.

Instagram privacy policy

Instagram privacy policy summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details about this in the data protection declaration below.
Storage period: until Instagram no longer needs the data for its purposes
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is Instagram?

We have installed Instagram functions on our website. Instagram is a social media platform owned by Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Meta Platforms Inc. since 2012 and is one of the Facebook products. Embedding Instagram content on our website is called embedding. This allows us to show you content such as buttons, photos or videos from Instagram directly on our website. If you access websites on our website that have an Instagram function integrated, data will be transmitted to Instagram, stored and processed. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data will therefore be processed across all Facebook companies.

Below we would like to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what data it is and how you can largely control data processing. Since Instagram belongs to Meta Platforms Inc., we obtain our information from the Instagram guidelines on the one hand, but also from the Meta data protection guidelines themselves on the other.

Instagram is one of the most famous social media networks worldwide. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with the advantages of audiovisual platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. You can upload photos and short videos to “Insta” (as many users casually call the platform), edit them with various filters and also distribute them on other social networks. And if you don't want to be active yourself, you can just follow other interesting users.

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is the social media platform that has really taken off in recent years. And of course we also reacted to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That's why it's a matter of course for us to prepare our content in a varied manner. The embedded Instagram functions allow us to enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected can also be useful to us for personalized advertising on Facebook. This means our advertisements only reach people who are really interested in our products or services.

Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We get summarized statistics and thus more insight into your wishes and interests. It is important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data does Instagram store?

If you come across one of our pages that has built-in Instagram functions (such as Instagram images or plug-ins), your browser will automatically contact Instagram's servers. Data is sent to Instagram, stored and processed. Regardless of whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our website, about your computer, about purchases you make, about advertisements you see and how you use our services. The date and time of your interaction with Instagram are also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram stores significantly more data about you.

Facebook differentiates between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the case with Instagram. Customer data includes, for example, name, address, telephone number and IP address. This customer data will only be transmitted to Instagram once it has been “hashed”. Hashing means turning a data set into a string. This allows you to encrypt the contact details. In addition, the above-mentioned “event data” is also transmitted. By “event data” Facebook – and consequently also Instagram – means data about your user behavior. It can also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The contact details collected will be compared with the data Instagram already has about you.

The collected data is transmitted to Facebook via small text files (cookies), which are usually set in your browser. Depending on the Instagram functions used and whether you have an Instagram account, different amounts of data are stored.

We assume that data processing on Instagram works in the same way as on Facebook. This means: if you have an Instagram account or www.instagram.com visited, Instagram has at least set a cookie. If this is the case, your browser will send information to Instagram via the cookie as soon as you come into contact with an Instagram function. This data will be deleted or anonymized after 90 days at the latest (after comparison). Although we have looked intensively into Instagram's data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores.

Below we will show you the minimum cookies that are set in your browser when you click on an Instagram function (such as a button or an Insta picture). In our test, we assume that you don't have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies will of course be set in your browser.

These cookies were used in our test:

Name: csrftoken
Value: ""
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons to prevent fraudulent requests. However, we were unable to find out more precisely.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: mid
Value: ""
Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie to optimize its own services and offers on and outside of Instagram. The cookie sets a unique user ID.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: fbsr_112636244124024
Value: no information
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: rur
Value: ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that ensures functionality on Instagram.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: urlgen
Value: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe112636244”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Note: We cannot claim completeness here. Which cookies are set in each individual case depends on the embedded functions and your use of Instagram.

How long and where is the data stored?

Instagram shares the information it receives between Facebook companies, with external partners and with people you connect with around the world. Data processing takes place in compliance with our own data guidelines. Your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world, among other things for security reasons. Most of these servers are located in the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, portability, correction and deletion of your data. You can manage your data in Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you will need to permanently delete your Instagram account.

And this is how deleting your Instagram account works:

First open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go down and click on “Help Section.” Now you come to the company's website. On the website, click “Manage Account” and then click “Delete Your Account.”

If you delete your account entirely, Instagram will delete posts such as your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you is not part of your account and will therefore not be deleted.

As mentioned above, Instagram stores your data primarily through cookies. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, administration always works a little differently. Under the “Cookies” section you will find the corresponding links to the relevant instructions for the most popular browsers.

You can also generally set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.

Legal basis

If you have agreed that your data can be processed and stored through integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. However, we only use the integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies on your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text about cookies carefully and view the data protection declaration or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

Instagram also processes your data in the USA, among other places. Instagram or Meta Platforms is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information about this on https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.

Instagram also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 Paragraphs 2 and 3 GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Instagram undertakes to comply with European data protection levels 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 resolution and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Instagram. On https://privacycenter.instagram.com/policy/ You can take a closer look at Instagram's data policies.

ShareThis Privacy Policy

ShareThis Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address.
You can find more details about this in the data protection declaration below.
Storage period: the collected data is stored for up to 14 months
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is ShareThis?

On our website we have integrated functions from ShareThis from ShareThis Inc. (4005 Miranda Ave, Suite 100, Palo Alto, 94304 California, USA). These are, for example, “sharing” plug-ins for various social media channels. These functions allow you to share content from our website on social media channels. If you access a website with a ShareThis function, your data may be transferred to the company, stored and processed. With this data protection declaration you will find out why we use ShareThis, what data is processed and how you can prevent this data transfer.

ShareThis is a technology company that offers website owners tools to improve website quality. By using ShareThis's social plugins, you can share content from our website on various social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Co. The company offers content sharing to over 40 different channels and is used by over 3 million website owners worldwide. The data collected by ShareThis is also used for individual advertisements.

Why do we use ShareThis on our website?

We want to convince people with our content and of course we are happy if our content is recommended to others. Then we know we are on the right path. The easiest way to do this is to use the “Share buttons” directly on our website. Thanks to the variety of different social media channels, our content can also be presented to a wide audience. This helps us to become better known and more successful on the Internet. The plug-ins also serve you because you can share interesting content with your social media community with just one click.

What data does ShareThis store?

If you share content with ShareThis and you are logged in with the respective social media account, data such as your visit to our website and the sharing of content can be assigned to the user account of the corresponding social media channel. ShareThis uses cookies, pixels, HTTP headers and browser identifiers to collect data about your visitor behavior. In addition, some of this data is shared with third parties after pseudonymization.

Here is a list of the data that may be processed:

Unique ID of a cookie placed in the web browser
General click behavior
Addresses of the websites visited
Search queries that led a visitor to the ShareThis page
Navigation from website to website if this is done via ShareThis services
Time spent on a website
Which items were clicked or highlighted
The IP address of the computer or mobile device
Mobile Advertising IDs (Apple IDFA or Google AAID)
Information contained in HTTP headers or other transmission protocols used
Which program was used on the computer (browser) or which operating system was used (iOS)

ShareThis uses cookies, which we list as examples below. You can find out more about ShareThis cookies at https://sharethis.com/de/privacy/.

Name: __unam
Value: 8961a7f179d1d017ac27lw87qq69V69112636244-5
Purpose: This cookie counts the “clicks” and “shares” on a website.
Expiry date: after 9 months

Name: __stid
Value: aGCDwF4hjVEI+oIsABW7112636244Ag==
Purpose: This cookie stores user behavior, such as the websites accessed, navigation from page to page and the length of time spent on the website.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: __sharethis_cookie_test__
Value: 0
Purpose: This cookie monitors “clickstream” activity. This means it monitors where you clicked on the website.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Note: We cannot claim completeness here. Which cookies are set in each individual case depends on the embedded functions and your use.

How long and where is the data stored?

ShareThis retains collected data for a period of up to 14 months from the date of data collection. ShareThis cookies expire 13 months after the last update. Since ShareThis is an American company, data is transferred and stored on American ShareThis servers.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you no longer wish to see advertising based on data collected by ShareThis, you can use the opt-out button on https://sharethis.com/de/privacy/ use. An opt-out cookie is set, which you are not allowed to delete in order to keep this setting.

You can also change your preferences for online behavioral advertising via https://www.youronlinechoices.com/at/ set in preference management.

You also have the option of managing, deactivating or deleting data stored via cookies in your browser. How the administration works exactly depends on your browser. Under the “Cookies” section you will find the corresponding links to the relevant instructions for the most popular browsers.

You can also set your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is about to be set.

Legal basis

ShareThis also processes your data in the USA, among other places. ShareThis is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information about this on https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.

ShareThis also uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46 Paragraphs 2 and 3 GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, ShareThis undertakes to comply with European data protection levels 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 resolution and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de.

You can find out more about the standard contractual clauses and data processed through the use of ShareThis in the data protection declaration on https://sharethis.com/de/privacy/.

TikTok privacy policy

TikTok Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Processed data: Your IP address, browser data, date and time of your page access may be stored
You can find more details about this in the data protection declaration below.
Storage duration: varies depending on settings
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is TikTok?

We use the TikTok integration on our website. The service provider is the Chinese company Beijing Bytedance Technology Ltd. The Irish company TikTok Technology Limited, 10 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin, D02 T380, Ireland, is responsible for the European region. TikTok is a popular social media platform, especially among young people, where users can create, share and watch short video clips.

In this data protection declaration we inform you about what data is processed by TikTok, how long the data is stored and how you can manage your data protection settings.

Why do we use TikTok on our website?

We have integrated TikTok into our website so that you can watch TikTok videos if you wish and, if necessary, interact with the videos. TikTok is particularly known for funny and creative content and of course we don't want to withhold such content from you. After all, we also like to watch one or two creative TikTok videos ourselves.

What data does TikTok process?

When you watch or interact with TikTok videos on our website, TikTok may collect information about your usage behavior and device. This may include information such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, location and other technical information. TikTok may also use cookies and similar technologies to collect information and personalize your experience.

If you have a TikTok account yourself, further information can also be collected and processed. This includes user information (such as name, date of birth or your email address) and data about your communications with other TikTok users.

How long and where is the data stored?

The storage period and locations of the data collected by TikTok can vary widely and are subject to TikTok's privacy policy. TikTok may also store data on servers in the United States and other countries. The storage period usually depends on the respective legal requirements and internal guidelines. However, we have not yet been able to find out exactly how long data is stored. As soon as we have more information, we will of course let you know.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you have a TikTok account, you can manage your privacy settings directly on TikTok. For example, you can use the settings of your TikTok account to determine which information can and cannot be shared. Additionally, you can manage and disable cookies in your web browser to limit data collection. Of course, this is also possible without a TikTok account. However, please note that this may affect the functionality of our website and your TikTok experience.

Legal basis

If you have agreed that your data can be processed and stored by TikTok, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. However, we only use the integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. TikTok may also set cookies on your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text about cookies carefully and view the data protection declaration or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

TikTok also processes your data in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that, according to the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfer to the USA. This can pose various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

As a basis for data processing for recipients based in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or for data transfer there, TikTok uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Article 46, Paragraphs 2 and 3 of the GDPR). Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to third countries (such as the USA) and stored there. Through these clauses, TikTok undertakes to comply with European data protection standards 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 resolution and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

For more information about TikTok's privacy policy and how TikTok collects data, please visit the TikTok website at https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/eea/privacy-policy/en as well as in the general information about TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/en/.

Audio & Video introduction

Audio & Video Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as contact details, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address may be stored.
You can find more details about this in the relevant data protection texts below.
Storage period: Data is generally stored as long as it is necessary for the service purpose
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What are audio and video elements?

We have integrated audio and video elements onto our website so that you can watch videos or listen to music/podcasts directly via our website. The content is provided by service providers. All content is also obtained from the providers' corresponding servers.

These are integrated functional elements of platforms such as YouTube, Vimeo or Spotify. The use of these portals is usually free, but paid content can also be published. With the help of these integrated elements you can listen to or view the respective content on our website.

If you use audio or video elements on our website, your personal data may also be transmitted to the service providers, processed and stored.

Why do we use audio & Video elements on our website?

Of course we want to provide you with the best offer on our website. And we are aware that content is no longer just conveyed in text and static images. Instead of simply giving you a link to a video, we offer you audio and video formats directly on our website that are entertaining or informative, and ideally both. This expands our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. In addition to our texts and images, we also offer video and/or audio content.

What data is used by audio & Video elements saved?

When you visit a page on our website that has, for example, an embedded video, your server connects to the service provider's server. Your data will also be transferred to the third-party provider and stored there. Some data is collected and stored regardless of whether you have an account with the third party or not. This usually includes your IP address, browser type, operating system, and other general information about your device. Furthermore, most providers also collect information about your web activity. This includes session duration, bounce rate, which button you clicked on or which website you use the service to use. All of this information is usually stored via cookies or pixel tags (also called web beacons). Pseudonymized data is usually stored in cookies in your browser. You can always find out exactly which data is stored and processed in the data protection declaration of the respective provider.

Duration of data processing

You can find out exactly how long the data is stored on the third-party servers either in the data protection text of the respective tool below or in the provider's data protection declaration. In principle, personal data is only processed for as long as it is absolutely necessary to provide our services or products. This usually also applies to third-party providers. You can usually assume that certain data will be stored on the third-party servers for several years. Data can be stored for different lengths of time, especially in cookies. Some cookies are deleted after you leave the website, others can be stored in your browser for several years.

Right to object

Since cookies are usually used through the integrated audio and video functions on our site, you should also read our general data protection declaration about cookies. You can find out more about how your data is handled and stored in the data protection declarations of the respective third-party providers.

Legal basis

If you have agreed that your data can be processed and stored through integrated audio and video elements, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. However, we only use the integrated audio and video elements if you have given your consent.

SoundCloud Privacy Policy

SoundCloud Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as contact details, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address may be stored.
You can find more details about this further down in this data protection declaration.
Storage period: Data is generally stored as long as it is necessary for the service purpose
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is SoundCloud?

On our website we use functions (widgets) from the social media network SoundCloud from SoundCloud Limited, Rheinsberger Str. 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Germany. You can recognize the widgets by the familiar orange logo. By using functions such as playing music, data is transmitted to SoundCloud, stored and evaluated. In this data protection declaration we will show you what data is involved, why we use SoundCloud and how you can manage or prevent your data or data transfer.

The social media network SoundCloud is an online music platform that is used to exchange and distribute audio files. Musicians or podcasters offer their audio files for download on SoundCloud. You can also use SoundCloud to embed the audio files in other websites. And that's exactly what we did. Typical for SoundCloud are the graphical representations of the audio files in wave form and the comment bar. Registered users can listen to and comment on pieces of music or podcasts at any time.

Why do we use SoundCloud on our website?

Our goal is to provide you with the best possible service on our website. By this we don’t just mean our products or services. Overall customer service also includes how comfortable you feel on our website and how helpful our website is for you. Thanks to the embedded SoundCloud playback function, we can deliver acoustic content directly and free to your door. You don't have to follow any link first to listen to an audio file, you can start right away on our website.

What data is stored on SoundCloud?

As soon as you visit one of our websites that has an integrated widget (like or share button or play function), your browser connects to a SoundCloud server. Your data can be transferred to SoundCloud, managed and stored there. For example, this is how SoundCloud learns your IP address and which site (in this case ours) you visited and when. If you have a SoundCloud account and are logged in while browsing our website, the data collected will be assigned directly to your account/account. You can only prevent this by logging out of SoundCloud while you are on our website. In addition to the information mentioned above, the cookies also store data about your user behavior. For example, whenever you click a button, play or pause a piece of music, this information is stored in the cookies. The widget or SoundCloud is therefore able to recognize you and sometimes the widget is also used to provide you with personalized content. SoundCloud not only uses its own cookies, but also cookies from third-party providers such as Facebook or Google Analytics. These cookies help the company to obtain more information about your behavior on external websites and its own platform. As website operators, we do not receive any information about your user behavior from the cookies used by SoundCloud. The data transfer and therefore also the information about technical devices and your behavior on the website takes place between you and SoundCloud.

Below we show cookies that were set when you visit a website that has integrated SoundCloud functions. This list is just an example of possible cookies and cannot claim to be complete. In this example, the user does not have a SoundCloud account:

Name: sc_anonymous_id
Value: 208165-986996-398971-423805112636244-0
Purpose: This cookie makes it possible to integrate files or other content into websites and stores a user ID.
Expiry date: after 10 years

Annotation:
The cookie sc_anonymous_id is set immediately when you are on one of our websites that has a Soundcloud function built in. You don't have to interact with the function yet.

Name: __qca
Value: P0-1223379886-1579605792812112636244-7
Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Quantcast and collects data such as how often you visit the site or how long you stay on the site. The collected information is then shared with SoundCloud.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: Sclocale
Value: de
Purpose: The cookie saves the language setting that you have preset.
Expiry date: after one year

Name: _soundcloud_session
Value: /
Purpose: We were unable to find out any specific information about this cookie.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: _session_auth_key
Value: /
Purpose: With the help of the cookie, session information (i.e. user behavior) can be saved and a client request can be authenticated.
Expiry date: after 10 years

SoundCloud also uses other third-party cookies such as _fbp, _ga, gid from Facebook and Google Analytics. SoundCloud uses all the information stored in the cookies to improve its services and display personalized advertising.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, the data collected remains stored on SoundCloud as long as a user account exists or as long as it is necessary for SoundCloud to achieve its business goals. How long exactly is stored changes depending on the context and legal obligations. Even if you do not have an account and personal data has been stored, you have the right to request data deletion.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you have a SoundCloud account, you can manage data processing or delete your entire account via “Settings”. You can also manage, delete or deactivate cookies in your browser according to your needs. The approach always depends on the browser you use. If you decide to delete or deactivate cookies, please note that not all functions may then be available. Under the “Cookies” section you will find the corresponding links to the relevant instructions for the most popular browsers.

Legal basis

If you have agreed that your data can be processed and stored through integrated SoundCloud elements, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. However, we only use the integrated SoundCloud elements if you have given your consent. SoundCloud also sets cookies on your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text about cookies carefully and view the data protection declaration or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

We hope we have given you a good overview of SoundCloud traffic. If you would like to find out more about SoundCloud's privacy policy and general data handling, we recommend that you read the company's privacy policy at https://soundcloud.com/pages/privacy.

Spotify privacy policy

We use Spotify, a tool for music and podcasts, on our website. The service provider is the Swedish company Spotify AB, Regeringsgatan 19, SE-111 53 Stockholm, Sweden. You can find out more about the data processed through the use of Spotify in the Privacy Policy on https://www.spotify.com/de/legal/privacy-policy/.

YouTube privacy policy

YouTube Privacy Policy Summary
Data subjects: visitors to the website
Purpose: Optimization of our service
Data processed: Data such as contact details, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address may be stored.
You can find more details about this further down in this data protection declaration.
Storage period: Data is generally stored as long as it is necessary for the service purpose
Legal basis: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR (legitimate interests)

What is YouTube?

We have integrated YouTube videos on our website. This means we can present you interesting videos directly on our site. YouTube is a video portal that has been a subsidiary of Google since 2006. The video portal is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. If you access a page on our website that has an embedded YouTube video, your browser automatically connects to the YouTube or Google servers. Various data is transferred (depending on the settings). Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all data processing in Europe.

Below we would like to explain to you in more detail what data is processed, why we have integrated YouTube videos and how you can manage or delete your data.

On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment and upload videos for free. Over the last few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. So that we can display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have integrated into our site.

Why do we use YouTube videos on our website?

YouTube is the video platform with the most visitors and the best content. We strive to offer you the best possible user experience on our website. And of course interesting videos shouldn't be missing. With the help of our embedded videos, we provide you with other helpful content in addition to our texts and images. In addition, our website is easier to find on the Google search engine thanks to the embedded videos. Even if we place advertisements via Google Ads, thanks to the data collected, Google can only show these advertisements to people who are interested in our offers.

What data does YouTube store?

As soon as you visit one of our pages that has a YouTube video installed, YouTube sets at least one cookie that stores your IP address and our URL. If you are logged in to your YouTube account, YouTube can usually assign your interactions on our website to your profile using cookies. This includes data such as session duration, bounce rate, approximate location, technical information such as browser type, screen resolution or your internet provider. Other data may include contact details, any reviews, sharing content on social media or adding it to your favorites on YouTube.

If you are not signed in to a Google account or a YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier associated with your device, browser or app. For example, your preferred language setting is retained. But much interaction data cannot be stored because fewer cookies are set.

In the following list we show cookies that were set in the browser in a test. On the one hand, we show cookies that are set without a logged in YouTube account. On the other hand, we show cookies that are set when the account is logged in. The list cannot claim to be complete because user data always depends on interactions on YouTube.

Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5Y112636244-1
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: PREF
Value: f1=50000000
Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google receives statistics about how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF.
Expiry date: after 8 months

Name: GPS
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track GPS location.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes

Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Value: 95Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie tries to estimate the user's bandwidth on our websites (with built-in YouTube video).
Expiry date: after 8 months

Other cookies that are set when you are logged in to your YouTube account:

Name: APISID
Value: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7112636244-
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. The data is used for personalized advertisements.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user's consent to the use of various Google services. CONSENT also serves security purposes to check users and protect user data from unauthorized attacks.
Expiry date: after 19 years

Name: HSID
Value: AcRwpgUik9Dveht0I
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. This data helps to display personalized advertising.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: LOGIN_INFO
Value: AFmmF2swRQIhALLl6aL…
Purpose: This cookie stores information about your login data.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: SAPISID
Value: 7oaPxoG-pZsJuuF5/AnUdDUIsJ9iJz2vdM
Purpose: This cookie works by uniquely identifying your browser and device. It is used to create a profile about your interests.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: SID
Value: oQfNKjAsI112636244-
Purpose: This cookie stores your Google account ID and your last login time in digitally signed and encrypted form.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: SIDCC
Value: AN0-TYuqub2JOcDTyL
Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and what advertising you may have seen before visiting our site.
Expiry date: after 3 months

How long and where is the data stored?

The data that YouTube receives and processes from you is stored on Google servers. Most of these servers are located in America. Under https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/locations/?hl=de see exactly where the Google data centers are located. Your data is distributed across the servers. This means that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation.

Google stores the data collected for different lengths of time. You can delete some data at any time, others are automatically deleted after a limited period of time, and others are stored by Google for a longer period of time. Some data (such as My Activity items, photos or documents, products) stored in your Google Account remains stored until you delete it. Even if you're not signed in to a Google Account, you can delete some data associated with your device, browser, or app.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In principle, you can delete data in your Google account manually. With the automatic deletion function of location and activity data introduced in 2019, information is stored for either 3 or 18 months and then deleted, depending on your decision.

Regardless of whether you have a Google account or not, you can configure your browser to delete or deactivate Google cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. Under the “Cookies” section you will find the corresponding links to the relevant instructions for the most popular browsers.

Legal basis

If you have agreed that your data can be processed and stored through integrated YouTube elements, this consent is considered the legal basis for data processing (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a GDPR). In principle, your data will also be stored and processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f GDPR) in quick and good communication with you or other customers and business partners. However, we only use the integrated YouTube elements if you have given your consent. YouTube also sets cookies in your browser to store data. We therefore recommend that you read our data protection text about cookies carefully and view the data protection declaration or the cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.

YouTube also processes your data in the USA, among other places. YouTube or Google is an active participant in the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. You can find more information about this on https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en.

The Google Ads Data Processing Terms, which refer to the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://business.safety.google/intl/de/adsprocessorterms/.

Since YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, there is a common data protection declaration. If you would like to find out more about how your data is handled, we recommend reading the data protection declaration at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

YouTube Subscribe Button Privacy Policy

We have installed the YouTube subscribe button on our website. You can usually recognize the button by the classic YouTube logo. The logo shows the words “Subscribe” or “YouTube” in white letters against a red background and the white “Play symbol” to the left of it. The button can also be shown in a different design.

Our YouTube channel always offers you funny, interesting or exciting videos. With the built-in “Subscribe button” you can subscribe to our channel directly from our website and do not have to go to the YouTube website specifically. We want to make access to our comprehensive content as easy as possible for you. Please note that this allows YouTube to store and process your data.

If you see a built-in subscription button on our site, YouTube - according to Google - sets at least one cookie. This cookie stores your IP address and our URL. YouTube can also find out information about your browser, your approximate location and your default language. In our test, the following four cookies were set without being logged in to YouTube:

Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5112636244Y
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: PREF
Value: f1=50000000
Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google receives statistics about how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF.
Expiry date: after 8 months

Name: GPS
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track GPS location.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes

Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Value: 11263624495Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie tries to estimate the user's bandwidth on our websites (with built-in YouTube video).
Expiry date: after 8 months

Note: These cookies were set after a test and cannot claim to be complete.

If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can store many of your actions/interactions on our website using cookies and assign them to your YouTube account. For example, YouTube receives information about how long you surf our site, what browser type you use, what screen resolution you prefer or what actions you take.

YouTube uses this data on the one hand to improve its own services and offers and on the other hand to provide analyzes and statistics for advertisers (who use Google Ads).

Explanation of terms used

We always strive to make our data protection declaration as clear and understandable as possible. However, this is not always easy, especially when it comes to technical and legal issues. It often makes sense to use legal terms (such as personal data) or certain technical terms (such as cookies, IP address). But we don't want to use them without explanation. Below you will find an alphabetical list of important terms used that we may not have addressed sufficiently in the previous data protection declaration. If these terms were taken from the GDPR and they are definitions, we will also cite the GDPR texts here and add our own explanations if necessary.

Processor

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:

“Processor” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body that processes personal data on behalf of the controller;

Explanation: As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data that we process from you. In addition to those responsible, there can also be so-called processors. This includes every company or person who processes personal data on our behalf. In addition to service providers such as tax consultants, processors can also include hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers or large companies such as Google or Microsoft.

consent

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:

“Consent” of the data subject means any voluntary, informed and unambiguous expression of the wishes of the data subject in the specific case, in the form of a statement or other unequivocal affirmative action, by which the data subject indicates that he or she consents to the processing of personal data concerning him or her agrees;

Explanation: As a rule, such consent is given on websites via a cookie consent tool. You probably know that. Whenever you visit a website for the first time, you will usually be asked via a banner whether you agree to data processing. You can usually also make individual settings and decide for yourself which data processing you allow and which not. If you do not consent, no personal data about you may be processed. In principle, consent can of course also be given in writing, i.e. not via a tool.

Personal Data

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:

“personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter “data subject”); A natural person is considered to be identifiable if he or she can be identified directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more special characteristics that express the physical, physiological, genetic, psychological, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;

Explanation: Personal data is all data that can identify you as a person. This is usually data such as:

Surname
address
E-mail address
Postal address
Telephone number
birth date
Identification numbers such as social security number, tax identification number, ID card number or matriculation number
Bank details such as account number, credit information, account balances and much more.

According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address is also considered personal data. IT experts can use your IP address to determine at least the approximate location of your device and subsequently you as the connection owner. Therefore, storing an IP address also requires a legal basis within the meaning of the GDPR. There are also so-called “special categories” of personal data that are particularly worthy of protection. These include:

racial and ethnic origins
political opinions
religious or ideological beliefs
union membership
genetic data such as data collected from blood or saliva samples
biometric data (this is information about psychological, physical or behavioral characteristics that can identify a person).
Health data
Data on sexual orientation or sex life

Profiling

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:

“Profiling” means any type of automated processing of personal data, which consists in using that personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular aspects relating to work performance, economic situation, health, personal Analyze or predict that natural person's preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or movements;

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

Responsible person

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:

“Controller” means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law;

Explanation: In our case, we are responsible for the processing of your personal data and therefore the “controller”. If we pass on collected data to other service providers for processing, they are “processors”. To do this, an “order processing agreement (AVV)” must be signed.

processing

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term means:

“Processing” means any operation or series of operations carried out with or without the aid of automated procedures in connection with personal data, such as the collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or modification, reading, querying, use , disclosure by transmission, distribution or other form of making available, alignment or combination, restriction, deletion or destruction;

Note: When we talk about processing in our privacy policy, we mean any type of data processing. As mentioned above in the original GDPR declaration, this includes not only collecting but also storing and processing data.

Final word

Congratulations! If you are reading these lines, you have really “fought” your way through our entire privacy policy or at least scrolled this far. As you can see from the scope of our privacy policy, we do not take the protection of your personal data lightly.
It is important to us to inform you to the best of our knowledge and belief about the processing of personal data. We not only want to tell you which data is processed, but also explain the reasons for using various software programs. As a rule, data protection declarations sound very technical and legal. Since most of you are not web developers or lawyers, we wanted to take a different linguistic approach and explain the matter in simple and clear language. Of course, this is not always possible due to the subject matter. The most important terms are therefore explained in more detail at the end of the data protection declaration.
If you have any questions about data protection on our website, please do not hesitate to contact us or the responsible body. We wish you a wonderful time and hope to welcome you back to our website soon.

All texts are copyrighted.

Source: Created with the Privacy Generator from AdSimple