Data protection

Privacy Policy

Data protection

We have drawn up this privacy policy (version 29.10.2020-311226382) to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 , what information we collect, how we use data and what choices you have as a visitor to this website.

Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.

Automatic data storage

When you visit websites these days, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.

When you visit our website as you are currently doing, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically saves data such as

the address (URL) of the website accessed
Browser and browser version
the operating system used
the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)
the hostname and IP address of the device from which access is made
Date and time

in files (web server log files).

Web server log files are generally stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not share this data, but cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of illegal activity.

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.

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you surf the internet, you use a browser. Common 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 is undeniable: cookies are truly useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. To be more precise, they are HTTP cookies, as there are other cookies for other purposes as well. 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 additional attributes must be specified.

Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal site settings. When you visit our site again, your browser transmits the "user-related" information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default settings. 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 and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, while third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g., Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies, from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans, or other "malware." Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.

For example, cookie data can look like this:

Name: _ga
Expiry time: 2 years
Use: Distinguishing between website visitors
Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311226382

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes
At least 50 cookies should be able to be stored per domain
A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored

What types of cookies are there?

The question of which cookies we use specifically depends on the services used and is explained in the following sections of this privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly discuss the different types of HTTP cookies.

There are four types of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functions. For example, these cookies are needed when a user adds a product to their shopping cart, then continues browsing to other pages and only proceeds to checkout later. These cookies ensure that the shopping cart is not deleted even when the user closes their browser window.

Functional cookies
These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives any error messages. These cookies also measure the loading time and behavior of the website in different browsers.

Targeted cookies
These cookies improve user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes, or form data are saved.

Advertising cookies
These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver customized advertising to the user. This can be very useful, but also very annoying.

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

How can I delete cookies?

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

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

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you absolutely do not want cookies, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be placed. This allows you to decide for each individual cookie whether or not to accept it. The procedure varies depending on your browser. The best way to do this is to search for instructions on Google using the search term "delete cookies Chrome" or "disable cookies Chrome" if you are using a Chrome browser, or replace the word "Chrome" with the name of your browser, e.g., Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

What about my data protection?

The so-called "Cookie Directive" has been in place since 2009. It stipulates that the storage of cookies requires your consent. However, reactions to these guidelines vary considerably across EU countries. In Germany, the Cookie Directive has not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

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

Storage of personal data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as name, email address, address or other personal information when submitting a form or comments on the blog, together with the time and IP address, will be used by us only for the specified purpose, stored securely and not passed on to third parties.

We therefore use your personal data only for communication with those visitors who expressly request contact and for the processing of the services and products offered on this website. We will not share your personal data without your consent, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data will be viewed in the event of illegal activity.

If you send us personal information via email – outside of this website – we cannot guarantee the secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential information unencrypted via email.

The legal basis, according to Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR (lawfulness of processing), is your consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time – an informal email is sufficient; you can find our contact details in the imprint.

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR, you are generally entitled to the following rights:

Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)
Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)
Right to notification – obligation to notify in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)
Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
Right of objection (Article 21 GDPR)
Right not to be subjected to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have otherwise been violated in any way, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) .

Evaluation of visitor behavior

In the following privacy policy, we inform you whether and how we evaluate data from your visit to this website. The collected data is generally evaluated anonymously, and we cannot draw any conclusions about your identity from your behavior on this website.

You can find out more about how to object to this analysis of visit data in the following privacy policy.

TLS encryption with https

We use https to transmit data securely over the internet (data protection through technology design, Article 25, Paragraph 1 of the GDPR ). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission over the internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognize the use of this data transmission security by the small lock symbol in the top left of the browser and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our internet address.

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy

We use Google Fonts from Google Inc. on our website. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European region. We have embedded the Google fonts locally, i.e., on our web server – not on Google's servers. This means there is no connection to Google servers and therefore no data is transferred or stored.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts was formerly known as Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory of over 800 fonts provided free of charge by Google . With Google Fonts, you can use fonts without uploading them to your own server. However, to prevent any data transfer to Google servers, we have downloaded the fonts to our server. This way, we comply with data protection regulations and do not send any data to Google Fonts.

Unlike other web fonts, Google gives us unrestricted access to all fonts. This means we have unlimited access to a sea of fonts and can thus get the most out of our website. You can find more information about Google Fonts and other questions at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311226382 .

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

We use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) from the American company Google Inc. on our website. In Europe, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, if you click on a link, this action is saved in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. With the help of the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better tailor our website and our service to your needs. Below we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and inform you, above all, what data is saved and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a tracking tool used to analyze our website traffic. For Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is embedded in our website code. When you visit our website, this code records various actions you perform on our website. Once you leave our website, this data is sent to and stored on Google Analytics servers.

Google processes the data and we receive reports about your user behavior. These reports may include, among others, the following:

Audience reports: Through audience reports, we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
Ad Reporting: Ad reporting helps us analyze and improve our online advertising.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information about how we can get more people excited about our service.
Behavioral reports: This tells us how you interact with our website. We can track your path on our site and the links you click.
Conversion reports: A conversion is a process in which you perform a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when you go from being a mere website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts are resonating with you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
Real-time reports: This lets us know immediately what's happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

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

The statistically analyzed data provides us with a clear picture of our website's strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that it's easier for interested people to find on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us better understand you as a visitor. This means we know exactly what we need to improve on our website to provide you with the best possible service. The data also helps us implement 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 uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID linked to your browser cookie. This allows Google Analytics to recognize you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognized as a "returning" user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.

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

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Value: 2.1326744211.152311226382-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga to store the user ID. It is primarily used to distinguish between website visitors.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Value: 2.1687193234.152311226382-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish between website visitors.
Expiry date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id>
Value: 1
Purpose: 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

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: not specified
Purpose: The cookie contains a token that can be used to retrieve a user ID from the AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate a logout, a request, or an error.
Expiry date: after 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma
Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie allows us to track your behavior on the website and measure performance. This cookie is updated each time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiry date: after 2 years

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

Name: __utmb
Value: 3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated each time new data or information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes

Name: __utmc
Value: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to establish new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie and is only stored until you close your browser.
Expiry date: After closing the browser

Name: __utmz
Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. This means that the cookie stores where you came to our website from. This could be another page or an advertisement.
Expiry date: after 6 months

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

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, as Google continually changes its choice of cookies.

Here we show you an overview of the most important 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 defines the time you spend on our site without leaving the page as session duration. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.

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

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

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

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

Technical information: Technical information includes, among other things, your browser type, your Internet service provider or your screen resolution.

Source: Google Analytics, or rather us, is of course also interested in which website or advertisement you came to our site from.

Other data includes contact information, any ratings, media playback (e.g., when you play a video on our site), sharing content via social media, or adding content to your favorites. This list is not exhaustive and serves only as a general guide to data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has distributed its servers around the world. Most of its servers are located in the United States, and consequently, your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can find out exactly where Google's data centers are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de

Your data is distributed across multiple physical storage devices. This has the advantage of making it faster to access and better protected from tampering. Every Google data center has emergency backup programs for your data. If, for example, Google's hardware fails or natural disasters cripple servers, the risk of service interruption at Google remains low.

By default, Google Analytics sets a retention period for your user data of 26 months. After that, your user data is deleted. However, we have the option of choosing the retention period for user data ourselves. We have five options available for this:

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

Once the specified period has expired, the data will be deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data associated with 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 the merging of individual pieces of 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 prevent Google Analytics from using your data by installing the Google Analytics JavaScript Opt-Out Browser Add-on (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js). You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de . Please note that this add-on only disables data collection by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies (independent of Google Analytics), there are separate instructions for each browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. Further information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=311226382 . We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google Analytics. If you would like to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de .

Google Analytics Demographics and Interests Reports

We have enabled advertising reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographic and interest reports contain information about age, gender, and interests. This allows us to gain a better understanding of our users—without being able to assign this data to specific individuals. You can learn more about advertising features at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad .

You can stop the use of your Google Account activities and information by checking the box in “Advertising Settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated .

Google Analytics deactivation link

By clicking the following deactivation link , you can prevent Google from tracking future visits to this website. Please note: Deleting cookies, using your browser's incognito/private mode, or using a different browser will result in data being collected again.

Deactivate Google Analytics

Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy

We use the Facebook pixel from Facebook on our website. We have implemented code for this purpose on our website. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions with which Facebook can track your user actions if you came to our website via Facebook ads. For example, if you purchase a product on our website, the Facebook pixel is triggered and saves your actions on our website in one or more cookies. These cookies enable Facebook to compare your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data in your Facebook account. Facebook then deletes this data again. The data collected is anonymous and not visible to us and is only used to display advertisements. If you are a Facebook user yourself and are logged in, your visit to our website will be automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.

We want to show our services and products only to people who are genuinely interested in them. With the help of Facebook Pixel, our advertising measures can be better tailored to your wishes and interests. This way, Facebook users (if they have allowed personalized advertising) see relevant advertising. Facebook also uses the collected data for analysis purposes and for its own advertisements.

Below, we show you the cookies that were set by integrating Facebook Pixel on a test page. Please note that these are only example cookies. Different cookies are set depending on your interaction on our website.

Name: _fbp
Value: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6311226382-7
Purpose: This cookie is used by Facebook to display advertising products.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: fr
Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r..Bdeiuf…1.0.Bdeiuf.
Purpose: This cookie is used to ensure that Facebook Pixel functions properly.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062311226382-3
Value: Author's name
Purpose: This cookie stores the text and name of a user who, for example, leaves a comment.
Expiry date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.testseite…%2F (Author's URL)
Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the website that the user enters in a text field on our website.
Expiry date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: Author's email address
Purpose: This cookie stores the user's email address if they have provided it on the website.
Expiry date: after 12 months

Note: The cookies mentioned above relate to individual user behavior. Especially when using cookies, Facebook can never rule out changes.

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your ad settings yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen . If you are not a Facebook user, you can generally manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/ . There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers.

If you would like to learn more about Facebook’s privacy practices, we recommend that you read the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php .

Facebook Automatic Enhanced Matching Privacy Policy

We have also enabled Automatic Advanced Matching as part of the Facebook Pixel feature. This pixel feature allows us to send hashed email addresses, names, gender, city, state, zip code, date of birth, or phone number to Facebook as additional information, provided you have provided us with this data. This activation allows us to tailor Facebook advertising campaigns even more precisely to people who are interested in our services or products.

Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy

We use Google Tag Manager from Google Inc. on our website. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services in Europe. This Tag Manager is one of many helpful marketing products from Google. Using Google Tag Manager, we can centrally integrate and manage code snippets from various tracking tools we use on our website.

In this privacy policy, we want to explain to you in more detail what the Google Tag Manager does, why we use it and how data is processed.

What is Google Tag Manager?

The Google Tag Manager is an organizational tool that allows us to centrally integrate and manage website tags via a user interface. Tags are small pieces of code that, for example, record (track) your activities on our website. JavaScript code snippets are inserted into the source code of our site. The tags often come from Google's internal products, such as Google Ads or Google Analytics, but tags from other companies can also be integrated and managed via the manager. Such tags perform various tasks. They can collect browser data, feed marketing tools with data, integrate buttons, set cookies, and even track users across multiple websites.

Why do we use Google Tag Manager for our website?

As the saying goes: Organization is half the battle! And that naturally also applies to the maintenance of our website. In order to make our website as good as possible for you and everyone interested in our products and services, we need various tracking tools such as Google Analytics. The data collected by these tools shows us what interests you most, where we can improve our services, and which people we should show our offers to. And for this tracking to work, we need to integrate the appropriate JavaScript code into our website. In principle, we could integrate each code section of the individual tracking tools separately into our source code. However, this takes a relatively long time and it's easy to lose track. That's why we use Google Tag Manager. We can easily integrate the necessary scripts and manage them from a single location. In addition, Google Tag Manager offers an easy-to-use interface and requires no programming knowledge. This way, we manage to keep order in our tag jungle.

What data is stored by Google Tag Manager?

The Tag Manager itself is a domain that does not set cookies and does not store any data. It acts as a mere "manager" of the implemented tags. The data is collected by the individual tags of the various web analysis tools. The data is essentially passed through to the individual tracking tools in Google Tag Manager and is not stored.

However, the situation is quite different with the tags embedded in various web analysis tools, such as Google Analytics. Depending on the analysis tool, various data about your web behavior is collected, stored, and processed, usually with the help of cookies. Please read our privacy policies for the individual analysis and tracking tools we use on our website.

In the Tag Manager account settings, we have allowed Google to receive anonymized data from us. However, this only relates to the use and utilization of our Tag Manager and not to your data stored via the code sections. We enable Google and others to receive selected data in anonymized form. We therefore agree to the anonymous sharing of our website data. Despite extensive research, we were unable to determine exactly which aggregated and anonymous data is passed on. In any case, Google deletes all information that could identify our website. Google aggregates the data with hundreds of other anonymous website data and, as part of benchmarking measures, creates user trends. Benchmarking compares its own results with those of competitors. Processes can be optimized based on the information collected.

How long and where is the data stored?

When Google stores data, it does so on Google's own servers. These servers are located around the world. Most are located in the United States. You can find out exactly where Google's servers are located at https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de .

You can find out how long the individual tracking tools store your data in our individual data protection texts for each tool.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Google Tag Manager itself does not set cookies, but rather manages tags from various tracking websites. In our privacy statements for the individual tracking tools, you will find detailed information on how to delete or manage your data.

Google is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=311226382 . If you would like to learn more about Google Tag Manager, we recommend reading the FAQs at https://www.google.com/intl/de/tagmanager/faq.html .

Newsletter Privacy Policy

By subscribing to our newsletter, you submit the above-mentioned personal data and give us the right to contact you via email. We will use the data stored during your newsletter registration exclusively for our newsletter and will not share it with third parties.

If you unsubscribe from the newsletter – you will find the link for this at the bottom of every newsletter – we will delete all data that was saved when you registered for the newsletter.

MailChimp Privacy Policy

Like many other websites, we also use the services of the newsletter company MailChimp on our website. MailChimp is operated by The Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308 USA. Thanks to MailChimp, we can easily send you interesting news via newsletter. With MailChimp, we don't have to install anything and can still draw on a pool of truly useful features. Below, we'll go into more detail about this email marketing service and inform you about the most important data protection-related aspects.

What is MailChimp?

MailChimp is a cloud-based newsletter management service. "Cloud-based" means that we don't have to install MailChimp on our own computer or server. Instead, we use the service via an IT infrastructure—available over the internet—on an external server. This type of software usage is also called SaaS (Software as a Service).

With MailChimp, we can choose from a wide range of different email types. Depending on what we want to achieve with our newsletter, we can run one-off campaigns, recurring campaigns, autoresponders (automatic emails), A/B tests, RSS campaigns (sending at a predefined time and frequency), and follow-up campaigns.

Why do we use MailChimp on our website?

We generally use a newsletter service to stay in touch with you. We want to tell you what's new with us or what attractive offers we currently have in our program. We always look for the simplest and best solutions for our marketing measures. And for this reason, we chose Mailchimp's newsletter management service. Although the software is very easy to use, it offers a large number of helpful features. This allows us to create interesting and attractive newsletters in a very short time. Using the provided design templates, we can customize each newsletter individually, and thanks to the "responsive design," our content is displayed legibly and attractively, even on your smartphone (or other mobile device).

Using tools such as A/B testing and extensive analytics options, we can quickly see how our newsletters are received by you. This allows us to respond and improve our offerings or services as needed.

Another advantage is Mailchimp's cloud system. The data isn't stored and processed directly on our server. We can retrieve the data from external servers, thus conserving storage space. Furthermore, maintenance effort is significantly reduced.

What data does MailChimp store?

Rocket Science Group LLC (MailChimp) maintains online platforms that allow us to contact you (provided you have subscribed to our newsletter). If you subscribe to our newsletter via our website, you will confirm your membership in a MailChimp email list via email. So that MailChimp can verify that you have subscribed to the "list provider," the date of registration and your IP address are stored. MailChimp also stores your email address, name, physical address, and demographic information, such as language or location.

This information is used to send you emails and to enable certain other MailChimp features (such as newsletter analysis).

MailChimp also shares information with third parties to provide better services. MailChimp also shares some data with third-party advertising partners to better understand the interests and concerns of its customers so that more relevant content and targeted advertising can be provided.

Using so-called "web beacons" (small images in HTML emails), MailChimp can determine whether the email has been received, whether it has been opened, and whether links have been clicked. All of this information is stored on MailChimp's servers. This allows us to compile statistical analyses and see exactly how well our newsletter was received by you. This allows us to tailor our offerings much more closely to your needs and improve our service.

MailChimp may also use this data to improve its own service. For example, this can be used to technically optimize delivery or determine the location (country) of the recipient.

The following cookies may be set by Mailchimp. This is not a complete list of cookies, but rather an exemplary selection:

Name : AVESTA_ENVIRONMENT
Value: Prod
Purpose: This cookie is necessary to provide Mailchimp services. It is always set when a user signs up for a newsletter mailing list.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name : ak_bmsc
Value: F1766FA98C9BB9DE4A39F70A9E5EEAB55F6517348A7000001311226382-3
Purpose: This cookie is used to distinguish between a human and a bot. This allows reliable reports on website usage to be created.
Expiry date: after 2 hours

Name : bm_sv
Value: A5A322305B4401C2451FC22FFF547486~FEsKGvX8eovCwTeFTzb8//I3ak2Au…
Purpose: This cookie is from MasterPass Digital Wallet (a MasterCard service) and is used to offer a visitor a secure and easy virtual payment transaction. For this purpose, the user is identified anonymously on the website.
Expiry date: after 2 hours

Name : _abck
Value: 8D545C8CCA4C3A50579014C449B045311226382-9
Purpose: We could not find out any further information about the purpose of this cookie
Expiry date: after one year

Sometimes you may open our newsletter via a specified link for better display. This is the case, for example, if your email program is not working or the newsletter is not displayed correctly. The newsletter will then be displayed via a MailChimp website. MailChimp also uses cookies (small text files that store data on your browser) on its own websites. Personal data may be processed by MailChimp and its partners (e.g. Google Analytics). This data collection is the responsibility of MailChimp and we have no influence over it. In MailChimp's "Cookie Statement" (at: https://mailchimp.com/legal/cookies/ ) you can find out exactly how and why the company uses cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Since MailChimp is an American company, all collected data is also stored on American servers.

Generally, the data remains permanently stored on Mailchimp's servers and is only deleted upon your request. You can request that we delete your contact. This permanently removes all your personal data and anonymizes you in Mailchimp reports. However, you can also request that Mailchimp delete your data directly. All your data will then be removed, and we will receive a notification from Mailchimp. After we receive the email, we have 30 days to delete your contact from all connected integrations.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You can withdraw your consent to receive our newsletter at any time by clicking the link at the bottom of the email you receive. Once you unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe link, your data will be deleted from MailChimp.

If you access a MailChimp website via a link in our newsletter and cookies are set in your browser, you can delete or deactivate these cookies at any time.

Deactivating or deleting cookies works slightly differently depending on the browser. The following instructions show you how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you prefer not to accept cookies, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be placed. This allows you to decide whether to accept or reject each individual cookie.

MailChimp is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TO6hAAG&tid=311226382 . You can learn more about MailChimp's use of cookies at https://mailchimp.com/legal/cookies/ . Information on MailChimp's privacy policy can be found at https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/ .

MailChimp Data Processing Agreement

We have entered into a data processing agreement (Data Processing Addendum) with MailChimp. This agreement protects your personal data and ensures that MailChimp adheres to applicable data protection regulations and does not share your personal data with third parties.

More information about this agreement can be found at https://mailchimp.com/legal/data-processing-addendum/ .

Google Ads (Google AdWords) Conversion Tracking Privacy Policy

We use Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) as an online marketing measure to advertise our products and services. In this way, we want to make more people aware of the high quality of our offerings on the internet. As part of our advertising measures through Google Ads, we use conversion tracking from Google Inc. on our website. In Europe, however, the company responsible for all Google services is Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland). With the help of this free tracking tool, we can better tailor our advertising to your interests and needs. In the following article, we want to go into more detail about why we use conversion tracking, what data is stored, and how you can prevent this data from being stored.

What is Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is Google Inc.'s proprietary online advertising system. We are confident in the quality of our offering and want as many people as possible to get to know our website. Google Ads offers the best online platform for this. Of course, we also want to gain a precise overview of the cost-benefit ratio of our advertising campaigns. That's why we use the Google Ads conversion tracking tool.

But what exactly is a conversion? A conversion occurs when you go from being a purely interested website visitor to a user who actually acts. This always happens when you click on our ad and then perform another action, such as visiting our website. Using Google's conversion tracking tool, we record what happens after a user clicks on our Google Ads ad. For example, we can see whether products are purchased, services are used, or whether users have signed up for our newsletter.

Why do we use Google Ads conversion tracking on our website?

We use Google Ads to draw attention to our offerings on other websites. The goal is to ensure that our advertising campaigns only reach those people who are interested in our offerings. With the conversion tracking tool, we see which keywords, ads, ad groups, and campaigns lead to the desired customer actions. We see how many customers interact with our ads on a device and then convert. This data allows us to calculate our cost-benefit factor, measure the success of individual advertising measures, and consequently optimize our online marketing efforts. Furthermore, we can use the data we collect to make our website more interesting for you and tailor our advertising even more closely to your individual needs.

What data is stored in Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

We have integrated a conversion tracking tag or code snippet on our website to better analyze certain user actions. When you click on one of our Google Ads ads, a "conversion" cookie from a Google domain is stored on your computer (usually in your browser) or mobile device. Cookies are small text files that store information on your computer.

Here are the data of the most important cookies for Google conversion tracking:

Name: Conversion
Value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ311226382-3
Purpose: This cookie saves every conversion you make on our site after you came to us via a Google Ad.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: _gac
Value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE
Purpose: This is a classic Google Analytics cookie and is used to record various actions on our website.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Note: The _gac cookie only appears in conjunction with Google Analytics. The above list is not exhaustive, as Google also frequently uses other cookies for analytical evaluations.

As soon as you complete an action on our website, Google recognizes the cookie and saves your action as a so-called conversion. As long as you are browsing our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google recognize that you found us via our Google Ads ad. The cookie is read and sent back to Google Ads along with the conversion data. It is also possible that other cookies are used to measure conversions. Google Ads conversion tracking can be further refined and improved with the help of Google Analytics. For ads that Google displays in various places on the web, cookies called "__gads" or "_gac" may be set under our domain. Since September 2017, various campaign information has been stored by analytics.js using the _gac cookie. The cookie saves this data as soon as you visit one of our pages for which automatic tagging by Google Ads has been set up. Unlike cookies that are set for Google domains, Google can only read these conversion cookies when you are on our website. We do not collect or receive any personal data. We receive a report from Google with statistical evaluations. For example, we learn the total number of users who clicked on our ad and see which advertising measures were well received.

How long and where is the data stored?

At this point, we would like to point out that we have no influence on how Google uses the collected data. According to Google, the data is encrypted and stored on secure servers. In most cases, conversion cookies expire after 30 days and do not transmit any personal data. The cookies named "Conversion" and "_gac" (which is used in conjunction with Google Analytics) have an expiration date of 3 months.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the option of not participating in Google Ads conversion tracking. If you deactivate the Google Conversion Tracking cookie in your browser, you block conversion tracking. In this case, you will not be included in the tracking tool's statistics. You can change the cookie settings in your browser at any time. This works slightly differently for each browser. Here are instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you do not want cookies at all, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be placed. This allows you to decide for each individual cookie whether or not to accept it. Downloading and installing this browser plug-in from https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996 will also deactivate all "advertising cookies." Please note that deactivating these cookies will not prevent you from seeing advertisements, only personalized advertising.

Through its certification under the US-EU Privacy Shield Framework, the US company Google LLC is required to comply with applicable EU data protection laws. For more information about data protection at Google, we recommend reading Google's general privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de .

Facebook Privacy Policy

We use selected Facebook tools on our website. Facebook is a social media network operated by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland. These tools help us offer you and people interested in our products and services the best possible experience. Below, we provide an overview of the various Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook, and how you can delete this data.

What are Facebook tools?

Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called "Facebook Business Tools." This is Facebook's official name. However, since the term is hardly known, we've decided to simply call them Facebook Tools. These include:

Facebook Pixel
social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button)
Facebook Login
Account Kit
APIs (application programming interfaces)
SDKs (collection of programming tools)
Platform integrations
Plugins
Codes
Specifications
Documentation
Technologies and services

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

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We want to show our services and products only to people who are genuinely interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads), we can reach precisely these people. However, in order to show users suitable advertising, Facebook needs information about people's wishes and needs. This provides the company with information about user behavior (and contact details) on our website. This allows Facebook to collect better user data and show interested people suitable advertisements about our products or services. These tools thus enable customized advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website "event data." This is also used for measurement and analytics services. Facebook can thus create "campaign reports" on our behalf about the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analytics give us 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 social plug-ins to share content from our site directly on Facebook.

What data are stored by Facebook tools?

By using certain Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) may 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, a process called "hashing" occurs. This means that a data set of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact details, "event data" is also transmitted. "Event data" refers to the information we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you purchase from us. Facebook does not share the information received with third parties (such as advertisers) unless the company has explicit permission or is legally obligated to do so. "Event data" can also be linked to contact details. This enables Facebook to offer better, personalized advertising. After the aforementioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact details.

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

How long and where is the data stored?

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

According to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, rectification, portability and erasure of your data.

Complete deletion of your data will only occur if you completely delete your Facebook account. Here's how to delete your Facebook account:

1) Click on Settings on the right side of Facebook.

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 “Continue and delete account”

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

The data Facebook receives from 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. This works differently depending on the browser you use. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you prefer not to accept cookies, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be placed. This allows you to decide whether to accept or reject each individual cookie.

Facebook is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC . We hope we have provided you with the most important information about the use and data processing by Facebook tools. If you would like to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend reading the data guidelines at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update .

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

Our website contains so-called social plug-ins from Facebook Inc. You can recognize these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the "Like" button (a hand with a raised thumb), or by a clear "Facebook plug-in" label. A social plug-in is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our site. Each plug-in has its own function. The most frequently used functions are the familiar "Like" and "Share" buttons.

The following social plug-ins are offered by Facebook:

“Save” button
Like, Share, Send and Quote
Page plug-in
Comments
Messenger plug-in
Embedded posts and video players
Group plug-in

You can find more information about how the individual plug-ins are used at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins . We use social plug-ins both to offer you a better user experience on our site and because they allow Facebook to optimize our advertising.

If you have a Facebook account or have already visited facebook.com , Facebook has already placed at least one cookie on your browser. In this case, your browser sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our page or interact with social plug-ins (e.g., the "Like" button).

The information collected will be deleted or anonymized within 90 days. According to Facebook, this data includes your IP address, the website you visited, the date and time, and other information related to your browser.

To prevent Facebook from collecting a lot of data during your visit to our website and linking it to Facebook data, you must log out of Facebook while visiting the website.

If you are not logged into Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser will send less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. However, data such as your IP address or the website you visit may still be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to expressly point out that we do not know the exact content of the data. However, we will try to inform you about data processing as best as possible based on our current knowledge. You can also read about how Facebook uses the data in the company's data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update .

The following cookies are set in your browser at least when you visit a website with social plug-ins from Facebook:

Name: dpr
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie is used to enable the social plug-ins on our website.
Expiry date: after end of session

Name: fr
Value: 0jieyh4311226382c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to function properly.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Note: These cookies were set after a test, even if you are not a Facebook member.

If you would like to learn more about Facebook’s privacy practices, we recommend that you read the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php .

Instagram Privacy Policy

We have integrated Instagram functions into our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Facebook 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. When you visit web pages on our website that have an integrated Instagram function, data is transmitted to, stored and processed by Instagram. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data is therefore processed across all Facebook companies.

Below, we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what data it collects, and how you can largely control data processing. Since Instagram is part of Facebook Inc., we obtain our information from both Instagram's guidelines and Facebook's own data guidelines.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks in the world. Instagram combines the benefits of a blog with those of audiovisual platforms like 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 share them on other social networks. And if you don't want to be active yourself, you can also 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've responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That's why we take a natural approach to presenting our content in a varied way. Embedded Instagram features 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 used to personalize advertising on Facebook. This way, our ads only reach people who are genuinely interested in our products or services.

Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We receive aggregated statistics and thus gain more insight into your preferences and interests. It's important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data does Instagram store?

When you visit one of our pages that has integrated Instagram features (such as Instagram images or plug-ins), your browser automatically connects to 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, your computer, purchases made, advertisements you see, and how you use our services. Furthermore, 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 also the case with Instagram. Customer data includes, for example, name, address, telephone number, and IP address. It is important to note that this customer data is only transmitted to Instagram after it has been "hashed." Hashing means converting a data set into a character string. This allows contact details to be encrypted. The aforementioned "event data" is also transmitted. Facebook – and consequently Instagram too – defines "event data" as data about your user behavior. It may also happen that contact details are combined with event data. The collected contact details are compared with the data that Instagram already has about you.

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

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

Below, we show you the cookies that are set in your browser at a minimum when you click on an Instagram feature (such as a button or an Instagram image). For our test, we assume that you don't have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies will naturally 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 forged requests. However, we were unable to determine this further.
Expiry date: after one year

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

Name: fbsr_311226382124024
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

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

Name: urlgen
Value: “{\”194.96.75.33\”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe311226382”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiry date: after the end of the session

Note: We cannot claim to be comprehensive 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, external partners, and people you connect with around the world. Data processing is carried out in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is distributed across Facebook servers around the world, partly 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 access, transfer, rectification, and erasure of your data. You can manage your data in your Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you must permanently delete your Instagram account.

Here's how to delete your Instagram account:

First, open the Instagram app. On your profile page, scroll down and click on "Help Center." This will take you to the company's website. On the website, click on "Manage Account" and then "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 therefore will not be deleted.

As mentioned above, Instagram primarily stores your data via cookies. You can manage, disable, or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the process works a little differently. Here are the instructions for the most important browsers.

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

You can also generally configure your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is about to be set. You can then decide individually whether you want to accept the cookie or not.

Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook Inc., and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures correct data transfer between the USA and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC . We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Instagram. At https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875
You can learn more about Instagram’s data policies here.

Pinterest Privacy Policy

We use buttons and widgets from the social media network Pinterest, operated by Pinterest Inc., 808 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA, on our website.

By accessing pages that use such functions, data (IP address, browser data, date and time, cookies) is transmitted to Pinterest, stored and evaluated.

The privacy policy, which information Pinterest collects and how they use it, can be found at https://policy.pinterest.com/de/privacy-policy .

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy

Our primary goal is to make our website as secure and safe as possible for you and us. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google Inc. In Europe, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With reCAPTCHA, we can determine whether you are really a flesh-and-blood human and not a robot or other spam software. By spam we mean any unsolicited information sent to us via electronic means. With classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or image puzzles for verification. With reCAPTCHA from Google, we usually don't have to bother you with such puzzles. In most cases, it is enough if you simply tick a box to confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don't even have to tick a box. You can find out exactly how this works and, above all, which data is used for this purpose in the course of this privacy policy.

What is reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA is a free CAPTCHA service from Google that protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. This service is most commonly used when filling out forms on the internet. A CAPTCHA service is a type of automated Turing test designed to ensure that an action on the internet is performed by a human and not a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after computer scientist Alan Turing), a human distinguishes between a bot and a human. With CAPTCHA, a computer or software program does this. Classic CAPTCHAs work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve but considerable difficulty for machines. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to actively solve puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here, you only have to check the text box "I am not a robot," or with Invisible reCAPTCHA, even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is embedded in the source code, and the tool then runs in the background, analyzing your user behavior. The software calculates a so-called CAPTCHA score from these user actions. Google uses this score to calculate the probability that you are a human before you enter the CAPTCHA. reCAPTCHA, or CAPTCHAs in general, are used whenever bots could manipulate or misuse certain actions (such as registrations, surveys, etc.).

Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?

We only want to welcome real people to our site. Bots and spam software of all kinds can safely stay at home. That's why we do everything we can to protect ourselves and offer you the best possible user experience. For this reason, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google. This way we can be pretty sure that we remain a "bot-free" website. By using reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google to determine whether you are actually a human. reCAPTCHA therefore serves to ensure the security of our website and, subsequently, your security as well. For example, without reCAPTCHA, a bot could register as many email addresses as possible during registration in order to then "spam" forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA, we can prevent such bot attacks.

What data is stored by reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users to determine whether the actions on our website are actually performed by humans. This means that the IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service may be sent to Google. Within EU member states or other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, IP addresses are almost always shortened before being transferred to a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with other Google data unless you are logged in to your Google Account while using reCAPTCHA. First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks whether Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube, Gmail, etc.) are already placed on your browser. Then, reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and captures a snapshot of your browser window.

The following list of collected browser and user data is not intended to be exhaustive. Rather, it provides examples of data that, to our knowledge, Google processes.

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

It's undisputed that Google uses and analyzes this data even before you click the "I am not a robot" checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don't even have to check the box, and the entire recognition process runs in the background. Google doesn't provide details about exactly how much and what kind of data Google stores.

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

Name: IDE
Value: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-311226382-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by DoubleClick (also owned by Google) to register and report a user's actions on the website when interacting with ads. This allows advertising effectiveness to be measured and appropriate optimization measures to be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net.
Expiry date: after one year

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

Name: ANID
Value: U7j1v3dZa3112263820xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We were unable to gather much information about this cookie. In Google's privacy policy, the cookie is mentioned in connection with "advertising cookies" such as "DSID," "FLC," "AID," and "TAID." ANID is stored under the domain google.com.
Expiry date: after 9 months

Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: This cookie stores the user's consent status for using various Google services. CONSENT also serves security purposes to verify users, prevent credential fraud, and protect user data from unauthorized attacks.
Expiry date: after 19 years

Name: NID
Value: 0WmuWqy311226382zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to tailor ads to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google "remembers" your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interactions with ads. This way, you always receive tailored ads. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect the user's personal preferences for advertising purposes.
Expiry date: after 6 months

Name: DV
Value: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc311226382-4
Purpose: This cookie is set once you have checked the "I am not a robot" checkbox. This cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalized advertising. DV collects information in an anonymized form and is also used to differentiate between users.
Expiry date: after 10 minutes

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, as experience has shown that Google continually changes the choice of its cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

By integrating reCAPTCHA, your data is transferred to the Google server. Google does not clarify where exactly this data is stored, even after repeated inquiries. Without confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, time spent on the website, or language settings are stored on Google's European or American servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is generally not merged with other Google data from other Google services. However, if you are logged into your Google Account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. In this case, Google’s different data protection regulations apply.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Privacy Policy

Data protection

Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.

Automatic data storage

When you visit websites these days, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.

When you visit our website as you are currently doing, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically saves data such as

the address (URL) of the website accessed
Browser and browser version
the operating system used
the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)
the hostname and IP address of the device from which access is made
Date and time

in files (web server log files).

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.

What exactly are cookies?

For example, cookie data can look like this:

Name: _ga
Expiry time: 2 years
Use: Distinguishing between website visitors
Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311226382

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes
At least 50 cookies should be able to be stored per domain
A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored

What types of cookies are there?

There are four types of cookies:

Targeted cookies
These cookies improve user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes, or form data are saved.

Advertising cookies
These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver customized advertising to the user. This can be very useful, but also very annoying.

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

How can I delete cookies?

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

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

What about my data protection?

Storage of personal data

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR, you are generally entitled to the following rights:

Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)
Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)
Right to notification – obligation to notify in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)
Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
Right of objection (Article 21 GDPR)
Right not to be subjected to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

Evaluation of visitor behavior

You can find out more about how to object to this analysis of visit data in the following privacy policy.

TLS encryption with https

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy

What are Google Fonts?

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

What is Google Analytics?

Google processes the data and we receive reports about your user behavior. These reports may include, among others, the following:

Audience reports: Through audience reports, we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
Ad Reporting: Ad reporting helps us analyze and improve our online advertising.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information about how we can get more people excited about our service.
Behavioral reports: This tells us how you interact with our website. We can track your path on our site and the links you click.
Conversion reports: A conversion is a process in which you perform a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when you go from being a mere website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts are resonating with you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
Real-time reports: This lets us know immediately what's happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.