Privacy Policy

Privacy policy

Data protection

We created this Privacy Policy (version 26.12.2020-311244478) to inform you about what data we collect, how we use data and what decision-making options you have as a visitor to this website, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679.

Unfortunately, these subjects sound rather technical due to their nature, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.

Automatic data storage

Nowadays, when you visit websites, certain information is automatically created and stored, just as it happens on this website.

When you visit our website, as you are doing right now, our web server (the computer that hosts this website) automatically stores the following data:

  • the URL of the website you are visiting
  • browser and browser version
  • the used operating system
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited site (referrer URL)
  • the host name and the IP-address of the device the website is accessed from
  • date and time

in files (webserver-logfiles).

As a rule, web server log files are stored for two week and then they are automatically deleted. We do not pass this data to third parties, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be accessed in case of unlawful behaviour.

Cookies

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user specific data.

We explain below what cookies are and why they are used in order to help you better understand the following Privacy Policy.

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you browse the internet, you use a browser. Among the most popular browsers are Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

You should know that cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, these are HTTP cookies, since there are also different cookies for other uses. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically placed in the cookie folder, which is like 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 some user information like language or personal page settings. When you return to our site, your browser transfers the information concerning the user back to our site. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default setting. In some browsers, each cookie is stored in a separate file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

There are 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 is to be used individually, as each cookie stores different data. A cookie expiration date also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programmes and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other malware. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.

For example, cookies can contain data in the following form:

  • Name: _ga
  • Expiration date: after 2 years
  • Purpose: differentiation between website visitors
  • Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311244478

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?

Which cookies we use in particular depends on the services used and is clarified in the following sections of the privacy policy. Let's take a brief look at the different types of HTTP cookies.

There are 4 types of cookies:

Essential Cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure the basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are required when a user adds a product to the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and comes back later in order to proceed to the checkout. These cookies do not delete the contents of the shopping cart, even if the user closes his browser window.

Functional Cookies
These cookies collect information about user behaviour and whether the user receives any error messages. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the website performance in different browsers.

Targeting cookies
These cookies ensure a better user experience. For example, they store information about the location, font size or form data that you entered.

Advertising cookies
These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver individually tailored advertising to the user. It can be very practical, but also very annoying.

Usually, when you visit a website for the first time, you will be asked which of these types of cookie you wish to accept. And of course this decision is also stored in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You can decide whether you want to enable cookies and how you want to use them. No matter what service or website provides the cookies, you can always choose to delete them, accept only some of them or disable cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but accept 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 instructions in your browser settings:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

If you do not want accept any cookies, you can change your browser settings so that it always informs you about possible cookie usage. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you accept the cookie or not. The procedure differs depending on the browser. The best way is to search for the instructions in Google with the search term "Delete Cookies in Chrome" or "Disable Cookies in Chrome" in the case of a Chrome browser or replace the word "Chrome" with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

How is my personal data protected?

The so-called "Cookie Policy" has been in place since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires your consent. In the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. In Germany, the Cookie Policy has not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in § 15 section 3 of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

If you want to find some more information about cookies and do not mind technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called "HTTP State Management Mechanism".

Storage of personal data

Any personal data you electronically submit to us on this website, such as your name, email address, home address or other personal information you provide via the transmission of a form or via any comments to the blog, are solely used for the specified purpose and get stored securely along with the respective submission times and IP-address. These data will not be passed on to any third parties.

Therefore, we only use your personal data for communication with those visitors, who have explicitly requested being contacted, as well as for the execution of the services and products offered on this website. We do not disclose your personal data without your consent, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be accessed in case of unlawful behaviour.

If you send us personal data by e-mail - meaning not via this website - we cannot guarantee safe transmission and the protection of your data. Otherwise, we recommend you to send confidential data only via encrypted e-mail.

According to Article 6 (1) of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the legal basis is that you give us your consent to the processing of your data. You can withdraw this consent at any time - an informal email is sufficient. You will find our contact details in the Imprint.

Rights according to the General Data Protection Regulation

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

  • Right to rectification (Article 16 of GDPR)
  • Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") (Article 17 of GDPR)
  • Right to restrict processing (Article 18 of GDPR)
  • Right to notification - obligation to give notice regarding the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 of GDPR)
  • Right to data portability (Article 20 of GDPR)
  • Right to object (Article 21 of GDPR)
  • Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated means, including profiling (Article 22 of GDPR)

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

Evaluation of Visitor Behaviour

In the following Privacy Policy, we inform you on if and how we analyse data of your visit to this website. The evaluation of the collected data is generally carried out anonymously, and we cannot link to you personally based on your behaviour on this website.

You can find out more about how to disagree with this evaluation of visitor data in the following Privacy Policy.

TLS encryption with https

We use https to transfer data in a tap-proof manner on the Internet (data protection through technology design Article 25 Section 1 GDPR). With the use of TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission on the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognise the use of this safeguarding tool by the little lock symbol at the top left of the browser and by the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our internet address.

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

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

You do not have to log in or enter a password to use Google fonts. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser. The data (CSS, fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, all requests for CSS and fonts are fully separated from any other Google services. If you have a Google account, you do not need to worry about your Google account information being transmitted to Google while using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We will have a detailed look at how exactly the data storage works.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts ( previously called Google Web Fonts) is a list of over 800 fonts that Google makes available to its users for free.

Many of these fonts are published under the SIL Open Font License, while others are published under the Apache License. Both are free software licences.

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

With Google Fonts, we can use fonts on our own website, but we don't have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important component to keep the quality of our website high. All Google Fonts are automatically optimised for the web, which saves data volume and is a great advantage especially for the use on mobile devices. When you visit our site, the low data size provides fast loading times. Moreover, Google Fonts are secure web fonts. Different image synthesis systems (rendering) in different browsers, operating systems and mobile devices can lead to errors. These errors can sometimes distort parts of texts or entire websites. Due to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN) there are no cross-platform issues with Google Fonts. Google Fonts supports all major browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) and reliably operates on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). We thus use the Google Fonts for presenting our entire online service as pleasantly and as uniformly as possible.

Which data is stored by Google?

Whenever you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded by a Google server. This external cue allows the data transmission to the Google server. In this way, this makes Google recognise that you (or your IP-address) is visiting our website. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the usage, storage and collection of end user data to the minimum that is necessary for the proper performance of fonts. By the way, API stands for "Application Programming Interface" and serves, among other things, as a software data intermediary.

Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests safely with Google, and therefore it is protected. Using the collected usage figures, Google can determine how popular the individual fonts are. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. In addition, Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which websites use Google Fonts. This data is published in the Google Fonts BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use the Google web service BigQuery in order to be able to examine and move large amounts of data.

It should be noted, however, that every request for Google Fonts automatically transmits information such as language preferences, IP address, browser version, as well as the browser’s screen resolution and name to Google’s servers. It cannot be clearly identified if this data is saved, as Google has not directly declared it.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google saves requests for CSS assets for one day in a tag on their servers, which are primarily located outside of the EU. This makes it possible for us to use the fonts by means of a Google stylesheet. With the help of a stylesheet, e.g. designs or fonts of a website can get changed swiftly and easily.

Any font related data is stored with Google for one year. This is because Google’s aim is to fundamentally boost websites’ loading times. With millions of websites referring to the same fonts, they are buffered after the first visit and instantly reappear on any other websites that are visited thereafter. Sometimes Google updates font files to either reduce the data sizes, increase the language coverage or to improve the design.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

The data Google stores for either a day or a year cannot be deleted easily. Upon opening the page this data is automatically transmitted to Google. In order to clear the data ahead of time, you have to contact Google’s support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311244478. The only way for you to prevent the retention of your data is by not visiting our website.

Unlike other web fonts, Google offers us unrestricted access to all its fonts. Thus, we have a vast sea of font types at our disposal, which helps us to get the most out of our website. You can find out more answers and information on Google Fonts at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311244478. While Google does address relevant elements on data protection at this link, it does not contain any detailed information on data retention.

It proofs rather difficult to receive any precise information on stored data by Google.

On https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/ you can read more about what data is generally collected by Google and what this data is used for.

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy

On our website, we use Google Fonts of Google Inc. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European region. We have integrated the Google fonts locally, i.e. on our web server - not on Google's servers. As a result, there is no connection to Google servers and thus no data transferred or stored.

What are Google Fonts?

Previously, Google Fonts was also called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive list of over 800 fonts that Google provides for free. With Google Fonts, you could use fonts without uploading them to your own server. However, in order to prevent any data transmission to Google servers, we have uploaded the fonts to our own server. In this way, we act in a privacy-compliant manner and do not send any data to Google Fonts.

Unlike other web fonts, Google gives us unlimited access to all fonts. This means we have unlimited access to a variety of fonts and thus obtain the best possible results for our website. You can find out more about Google Fonts and other related information at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311244478.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

On our website we also use the analysis and tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) of Google Inc. In Europe, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, when you click a link, this action is saved in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. With the help of reports which we receive from Google Analytics, we can adapt our website and our services better to your wishes. In the following, we will explain the tracking tool in more detail, and most of all, we will inform you what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics provides tools for tracking traffic to the website. For Google Analytics to work, there is a tracking code integrated to our website. When you visit our website, this code tracks your activity on our website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics servers and stored there.

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

  • Target audience reports: Target audience reports help us to better understand our users and identify those who are interested in our service.
  • Advertising reports: Advertising reports help us analyse and improve our online advertising.
  • Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide us with relevant information on how to attract more people to our service.
  • Behaviour reports: Behaviour reports tells us how you interact with our website. We can track your activity on the website and the links you click on.
  • Conversion reports: A conversion is the process of leading you to carry out a desired action due to a marketing message. An example of this would be transforming you from a mere website visitor into a buyer or a newsletter subscriber. Hence, with the help of these reports we can see in more detail, if our marketing measures are successful with you. Our aim is to increase our conversion rate.
  • Real time reports: With the help of these reports we can see in real time, what happens on our website. It makes us for example see, we can see how many users are reading this text right now.

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

We have a clear goal regarding this website: we want to provide you with the best possible service. The statistics and data provided by Google Analytics help us to achieve this goal.

The statistical evaluated data show us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. As a result, we can optimise our site to make it more visible to Google and intrested people. Also, these data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. This helps us to identify what we need to improve on our website in order to provide you with the best possible service. The data also helps us to carry out our advertising and marketing in a more individual and cost-effective way. In the end, 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 generate a random, unique ID that is linked to your browser cookie. This allows Google Analytics to recognise you as a new user. When you visit our website the next time, you will be recognised as a "returning" user. All collected data is stored in combination with this user ID. This makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.

Such identifiers as cookies and app instance IDs are used to track your interactions on our website. Interactions are all types of actions you perform on our website. If you 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, permit it. However, exceptions may be made if required by law.

Google Analytics uses the following cookies:

Name: _ga

Value: 2.1326744211.152311244478-5

Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga to store the user ID. It basically serves to distinguish between website visitors.

Expiration date: after2 years

 

Name: _gid

Value:2.1687193234.152121495788-1

Purpose: This cookie also serves serves to distinguish between website visitors.

Expiration date: after 24 hours

 

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_

Value: 1

Purpose: It is used for decreasing the demand rate. If Google Analytics is provided via Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_ .

Expiration date: after 1 minute

 

Name: AMP_TOKEN

Value: not specified

Purpose: This cookie has a token which is used to retrieve the user ID by the AMP Client ID Service. Other possible values suggest a logoff, a request or an error.

Expiration date: after 30 seconds - one year.

 

Name: __utma

Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1

Purpose: This cookie is used to track your behaviour on the website and measure website performance. The cookie is updated every time when information is sent to Google Analytics.

Expiration date: after 2 years

 

Name: __utmt

Value: 1

Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_ for keeping the requirement rate in check.

Expiration date: after 10 minutes

 

Name: __utmb

Value: 3.10.1564498958

Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time when new data or info is sent to Google Analytics.

Expiration date: after 30 minutes

Name: __utmc

Value: 167421564

Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions for returning visitors. It is a session cookie and is only stored until you close the browser again.

Expiration date: after closing the browser.

 

Name: __utmz

Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/

Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. This means that the cookie stores information on where you came to our website from. This could be another website or an advertisement.

Expiration date: after 6 months

 

Name: __utmv

Value: not specified

Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is always updated when information is sent to Google Analytics.

Expiration date: after 2 years

Note: This list is not exhaustive, as Google is constantly changing the use of their cookies.

Below we give you an overview of the most important data collected by Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heat maps. Heatmaps allow us to see the exact areas you click on. This gives us information about your route on our site.

Session duration: Google defines session duration as the time you spend on our site before you leave it. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.

Bounce rate: If you only look at one page of our website and then leave our website again, it is called a bounce.

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

IP address: The IP address is only shown in a shortened form, to make it impossible to clearly allocate it.

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

Technical information: Technical information includes your browser type, internet service provider or screen resolution.

Source: Both, Google Analytics as well as ourselves, are interested what website or what advertisement led you to our site.

Other collected data include contact details, any ratings, playing media (e.g. when you play a video via our site), the sharing of content via social media or adding our site to your favourites. The list is not exhaustive and only serves as a basic guide on data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has its servers all over the world. Most servers are located in America and therefore your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can read exactly where Google's data centres are located here: www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/

Your data is stored on different physical data carriers. This has the advantage of allowing to retrieve the data faster, and of protecting it better from manipulation. Every Google data centre has respective emergency programs for your data. For example, if the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters disable servers, the risk for a service interruption stays relatively low.

Google Analytics has a 26 months standardised period of retaining your user data. After this period, your user data will be deleted. However, we have the possibility to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. There are five options for this:

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

Once the chosen period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to any of your data which is linked to cookies, user identification and advertising IDs (e.g. cookies under the domain DoubleClick). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored separately from user data. Aggregated information is a merge of individual data into a single and bigger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Under European Union' s data protection law, you have the right to obtain information about your data, update it, delete it or restrict it. You can prevent Google Analytics from using your data by using browser add on that can deactivate Google Analytics’ JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js). You can download and install the browser add on at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout Please note that this add on only disables the data collection by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies (independently of Google Analytics), you can use one of the guides that are available for any browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=311244478. We hope we have provided you with the most important information about the Google Analytics data processing. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend the following two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245.

Google Analytics IP Anonymisation

We have implemented Google Analytics IP-address anonymisation on this website. This feature was created by Google to ensure that the website complies with the applicable data protection regulations and recommendations of the local data protection authorities if they prohibit the storage of the full IP address. The anonymisation or masking of the IP takes place, as soon as they reach Google Analytics’ data collection network, but before any storage or processing of the data takes place. 

You can find more information on IP Anonymisation at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=de.

Google Analytics reports on Demographics and Interests

We have activated the advertising reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographics and interests reports contain information on age, gender and interests. This allows us to get a better picture of our users - without assigning this data to individual persons. You can find out more about the advertising features at: auf https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad.

You can disable the use of the activities and information of your Google account via "Advertising settings" by ticking the checkbox at  https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Google Analytics Deactivation Link

By clicking on the following deactivation link, you can prevent Google from tracking your further visits to this website. Please note: The deletion of cookies, the use of your browser’s incognito/private mode or the use of a different browser may lead to your data being collected again.

Deactivate Google Analytics

Google Analytics Data Processing Amendment

We have concluded a direct customer agreement with Google for the use of Google Analytics by accepting the "Data Processing Addendum" in Google Analytics.

You can find out more about the data processing addendum for Google Analytics here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3379636?hl=de&utm_id=ad

Google Signals Privacy Policy for Google Analytics

We have activated Google Signals in Google Analytics. So, existing Google Analytics features (ad reports, remarketing, cross-device reports, and interest and demographic reports) are updated to receive aggregated and anonymised data from you, assuming you have allowed personalised ads in your Google account.

What makes it special is that it provides cross-device tracking. This means that your data can be analysed on multiple devices. By activating Google signals, data is collected and linked to the Google account. Google can thus recognise, for example, that you view a product on our website via a smartphone and buy the product later via a laptop. Thanks to the activation of Google signals, we can launch cross-device remarketing campaigns that otherwise would not be possible in this form. Remarketing means that we can as well display our offer to you on other websites.

Google Analytics also collects other visitor data through Google Signals, such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your activity on our website. This gives us better advertising reports from Google and more useful information about your interests and demographics. This includes your age, language, location and gender. There are also social criteria such as your profession, marital status or income. All these characteristics help Google Analytics to define groups of people or target audiences.

These reports also help us to better understand your behaviour, your preferences and interests. This allows us to optimise and adapt our services and products for you. The default expiration date for this data is 26 months. Please note that we only collect this data if you have allowed personalised advertising in your Google Account. Such data is always aggregated and anonymous and may not include individual person details. You can manage or delete this data in your Google Account.

Google AdSense Privacy Policy

We use Google AdSense on this website. This is an advertising programme of Google Inc. In Europe, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google AdSense allows us to display advertisements on this website that match our content. We therefore offer you advertisements that ideally represent a real added value for you. As part of this privacy policy on Google AdSense, we explain why we use Google AdSense on our website, what data from you is processed and stored and how you can prevent this data storage.

What is Google AdSense?

The Google AdSense advertising programme was created in 2003 and in contrast to Google Ads (previously Google AdWords), you cannot place your own ads here. Google AdSense displays advertisements on websites, like ours, for example. The main advantage of this advertising service compared to some others is that Google AdSense only shows you ads that match our content. Google has its own algorithm that calculates which ads to show you. Of course, we want to show you only ads that you are interested in and that offer you added value. Google determines which advertisements are suitable for our website and for our users on the basis of your interests and user behaviour and the content we offer. At this point, we would also like to mention that we are not responsible for the selection of the advertisements. We only offer the advertising space on our website. The ads displayed are selected by Google. Since August 2013, the ads are also adapted to each user interface. This means that no matter whether you visit our website via your smartphone, PC or laptop, the ads adapt to your device.

Why do we use Google AdSense on our website?

A high-quality website requires a lot of dedication and great efforts. In fact, we constantly update our website. We always try to maintain our site and make it as up-to-date as possible. Of course, we also hope to generate some economic benefit from this work. That is why we have decided to use advertisements as a source of income. However, the most important thing for us is not to disturb your visit to our website with these ads. Thanks to Google AdSense, you will only be offered advertisements that match our contetnt and your interests.

Similar to Google website indexing, a bot scans the relevant content and offers on our website. Then the advertisements are adapted in terms of content and presented on the website. Apart from seaching for overlapping between the ad and the website offer, AdSense also supports interest-based targeting. This means that Google also uses your data to offer ads tailored to you. So the ads that are displayed to you offer real added value and we get a better chance of earning some money.

What data does Google AdSense store?

In order to deliver customised advertising to you, Google AdSense uses, among other things, cookies. Cookies are small text files stored on your computer that contain certain information.

AdSense uses cookies to enable better advertising. The cookies do not contain any personally identifiable information. However, it should be noted that Google considers data such as "pseudonymous cookie IDs" (pseudonym replaces name or other identifier) or IP addresses to be non-personally identifiable information. However, under the GDPR, these data may be considered personal data. With every ad view, click or other activity that activates the Google AdSense servers, Google AdSense sends a cookie to the browser. If the browser accepts the cookie, it will be stored there.

Third-party advertisers may place and access cookies in your browser through AdSense or may use web beacons to store data they receive through online advertising. Web beacons are tiny graphics that provide a log file analysis and log file recording. This analysis enables statistical evaluation for online marketing activities.

Google may collect certain information about user behaviour on our website via these cookies. This includes:

  • Information on how you interact with an ad (clicks, impression, mouse movements).
  • Information on whether an ad has already been displayed in your browser before. This data helps to prevent multipal displayings of the same ad.

Google analyses and evaluates the data on the ads performance and your IP address. Google uses the data mainly to measure the effectiveness of an advertisement and to improve the advertising offer. This data is not linked to any personal data that Google may know about you through other Google services.

Below we present cookies that Google AdSense uses for tracking purposes. We hereby refer to a test website that has only Google AdSense installed: 

Name: uid

Value: 891269189311244478-8

Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain adform.net. It provides a uniquely assigned, machine-generated user ID and gathers data about activity on our website.

Expiration date: after 2 months

 

Name: C

Value: 1

Purpose: This cookie identifies whether your browser accepts cookies. The cookie is stored under the domain track.adform.net.

Expiration date: after 1 month

Name: cid

Value: 8912691894970695056,0,0,0,0

Purpose: This cookie is stored under the domain track.adform.net, it represents client ID and is used to improve advertising to you. It can deliver more relevant ads to the visitor and helps to improve campaign performance reports.

Expiration date: after 2 months.

 

Name: IDE

Value: zOtj4TWxwbFDjaATZ2TzNaQmxrU311244478-1

Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain doubleclick.net. It is used to record your actions after viewing or clicking on the ad. This allows us to determine whether an ad is being well received by our visitors.

Expiration date: after 1 month

 

Name: test_cookie

Value: not specified

Purpose: The "test_cookie" can be used to check whether your browser supports cookies at all. The cookie is stored under the domain doubleclick.net.

Expiration date: after 1 month

 

Name: CT592996

Value:733366

Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain adform.net. The cookie is created as soon as you click on an advertisement. We could not find out more detailed information about the use of this cookie.

Expiration date: after one hour

Note: This list is not exhaustive, as we have learned from our experience that Google changes its cookie selection from time to time.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google records your IP address and your various activities on the website. Cookies store this information about user interactions on our website. As Google states, the company gathers and stores this information in a secure way on Google servers located in the USA.

If you do not have a Google account or are not logged in, Google stores the collected data with a unique identifier (ID) usually in your browser. The unique IDs saved in cookies are used, for example, to ensure personalised advertising. If you are logged into your Google account, Google may also collect personal data.

You can delete some of the data that Google stores at any time (see next section). Much of the information stored in cookies is automatically deleted after a certain period of time. However, some data is stored by Google for a longer period of time. In this case, Google has to store certain data for an indefinite, longer period of time for economic or legal reasons.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You always can choose to delete or disable cookies on your computer. This procedure depends on the browser you are using.

Here you will find instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

If you do not want to accept any cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be used. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you accept the cookie or not. You can also deactivate all "advertising cookies" by downloading and installing this browser plugin at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996. Please note, that by deactivating these cookies, you only prevent the personalised advertising, not the advertising itself.

If you have a Google account, you can deactivate personalised advertising at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated. Here, ads also appear, but they are no longer customised to your interests. Nevertheless, the advertisements can be displayed on the basis of a few factors, such as your location, the browser type and the search terms used.

You can find out what data Google collects and for what purpose it uses this data at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Privacy Policy for Google Ads (Google AdWords) Conversion Tracking

We use Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) as an online marketing tool to promote our products and services. We thus wish to draw more attention to the high quality of our offers on the Internet. As part of our advertising campaign through Google Ads, we use the conversion tracking of 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 adapt our advertising offer to your interests and needs. In the following article, we will explain in detail why we use conversion tracking, what data can be stored and how you can prevent this data storage.

What is Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

Google Ads (previously Google AdWords) is an online advertising system developed by Google Inc. We believe in quality of our services and we want as many people as possible visit our website. Google Ads is the best platform for this in the online sector. Of course, we also want to know the cost-effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. That's why we use the Google Ads conversion tracking tool.

But what is a conversion actually? A conversion occurs when you go from being a purely interested website visitor to an active visitor. This happens whenever you click on our ad and then make another action, such as visiting our website. With Google's conversion tracking tool, we track what happens after a user clicks on Google Ads ad. For example, we can see if our products get bought, services are used or whether users have subscribed to our newsletter.

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

We use Google Ads to draw attention to our offer on other websites as well. Our aim is for our advertising campaigns to reach only those people, who are interested in our offers.  With the conversion tracking tool, we can see what keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns lead to the desired customer actions. We can see how many customers interact with our ads through a device, to then convert. This data allows us to calculate our cost-benefit factor, measure the success of individual advertising campaigns and consequently optimise our online marketing activities. The data we obtain also helps us to make our website more interesting for you and customise our advertising offer better to your needs.

What data is stored with Google Ads conversion tracking?

We have integrated a conversion tracking tag or code snippet into our website in order to better analyse certain user actions. If you now click on one of our Google Ads ads, a Google domain stores the cookie “conversion” on your computer (usually in the browser) or on your mobile device. Cookies are small text files that save information on your computer.

Here are data of the most significant cookies for Google’s conversion tracking:

Name: Conversion

Value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ311244478-3

Purpose: This cookie saves every conversion you make on our site after coming to us via a Google Ad.

Expiration date: after 3 months

 

Name: _gac

Value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE

Purpose: This is a classic Google Analytics cookie that is used to record various actions on our website.

Expiration date: after 3 months

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

When you complete an action on our website, Google automatically identifies the cookie and saves your action as a conversion. As long as you surf our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google recognise that you have found us via our Google Ads ad. The cookie is read and sent back to Google Ads together with the conversion data. Moreover, other cookies may also be used for measuring conversions. Google Ads‘ conversion tracking can be fine-tuned and improved with the help of Google Analytics. Ads which Google displays in various places across the web, might be placed under our domain with the name "__gads" or "_gac".

 Since September 2017, analytics.js retains various campaign information with the _gac cookie. The cookie stores this data as soon as you visit one of our web pages that has been set up for Google Ads’ auto-tagging. In contrast to cookies that are placed 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 get information about the total number of users who clicked on our ad and we can 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 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 via your browser, you disable conversion tracking.  In this case, you will not be considered for the statistic of the tracking tool. You can change the cookie settings in your browser at any time. For each browser, this works slightly differently. Here you will find the instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

If you generally do not want to accept any cookies, you can set up your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is to be set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you accept the cookie or not. You can also deactivate all "advertising cookies" by downloading and installing this browser plugin at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996. Keep in mind that by deactivating these cookies, you do not prevent the advertisements, but only the personalised advertising.

Due to the certification for the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, the American company Google LLC must comply with the data protection laws applicable in the EU. If you want to find out more information about data protection at Google, we recommend the Google’s general Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Facebook privacy policy

We use selected Facebook tools on our website. Facebook is a social media network of Facebook Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. These tools enable us to provide you and people interested in our products and services with the best possible offers. Below we give an overview of the different Facebook tools, as well as what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.

What are Facebook tools?

Along with many other products, Facebook also offers so-called "Facebook Business Tools". This is the official name for Facebook tools. However, since the term is not very common, we decided to call them merely Facebook Tools. They include the following:

  • Facebook pixel
  • Social plugins (such as the "Like" or "Share" button)
  • Facebook login
  • Account Kit
  • APIs (Application Programming Interface)
  • SDKs (Softwart Developmept Kits)
  • Platform integrations
  • Plugins
  • Codes
  • Specifications
  • Documentation
  • Technologies and services

With these tools Facebook expands its services and is able 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 find exactly these people. However, Facebook needs information about people's wishes and needs in order to show them suitable ads. Therefore, information on the user behaviour (and contact details) on our website, are provided to Facebook. As a result, Facebook can collect better user data and is able to show suitable advertisements about our products or services to interested people. Thanks to the tools it is possible to create targeted, customised ad campaigns of Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behaviour on our website "event data". They are also used for measurement and analytics services. This allows Facebook to create "campaign reports" on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analytics give us a better understanding of how you use our services, website or products. As a result, we use some of these tools to optimise your user experience on our website. With the social plugins for instance, you can share our site’s contents directly on Facebook.

What data do Facebook tools store?

With the use of 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 match the data with the data it has about you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transferred to Facebook, a so-called "hashing" takes place. This means that a data record of any size is transformed into a character string, which also has the purpose of encrypting data.

Besides contact details, "event data" is also transferred. "Event data" refers to the information that we receive about you on our website. For example, information about which sub-pages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers) unless it has explicit permission or is legally obliged to do so. "Event data" can also be linked to contact details. This allows Facebook to offer better personalised advertising. After the above mentioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact data.

In order to deliver optimised ads, Facebook only uses event data, if they have been combined with other data (that have been collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for the purposes of security, protection, development and research. Much of this data is transmited to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used, and on whether you are a Facebook member, a different number of cookies are created in your browser. We provide more detailed information 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?

As a rule, Facebook stores data, until they are no longer of use for their own services and products. Facebook has servers for storing your data all over the world. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been matched with their own user data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In accordance with General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right of information, rectification, transfer and deletion of your data.

A complete deletion of the data takes place only if you permanently delete your Facebook account. This is how the deletion of your Facebook account works:

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

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

3) Now click on "Deactivation and deletion".

4) Select "Delete account" and then click on "Continue to Account Deletion".

5) Now enter your password, click on "Continue" and then on "Delete account".

Facebook stores the data it receives via our site by means of cookies (e.g. with social plugins), among other things. In your browser, you can disable, delete or manage both individual cookies and all cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this can be done in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

If you generally do not want to accept any cookies, you can set up your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is to be set. You can decide for each individual cookie whether you want to accept it or not.

Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We hope we have provided you with the most important information about the use of Facebook tools and data processing. If you want to find out more on how Facebook use your data, we recommend you read the data policies at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Facebook Social Plugins Privacy Policy

We installed so-called social plugins from Facebook Inc. on our website. You can recognise these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the "Like" button (hand with raised thumb) or by a "Facebook plugin" label. A social plugin is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our site. Each plugin has its own function. The most commonly used functions are the well-known "Like" and "Share" buttons.

Facebook offers the following social plugins:

  • "Save" button
  • "Like" button, Share, Send and Quote
  • Page plugin
  • Comments
  • Messenger plugin
  • Embedded posts and video player
  • Groups plugin

At https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins you will find more detailed information on how the individual plugins are used. We use the social plugins both to offer you a better user experience on our site and to help Facebook optimise our advertisements.

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

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

To prevent Facebook from collecting much data during your visit to our website and matching it with your Facebook data, you need to log out (sign out) of Facebook before you visit our website.

If you are not logged in to Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser sends less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. Nevertheless, some data, such as your IP address or website you are visiting, can be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to point out that we do not know what exact data is collected. However, based on our current knowledge, we want to try informing you as best we can about data processing. You can also read about how Facebook uses the data in the company's data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

At least the following cookies are set in your browser when you visit a website with social plugins from Facebook:

Name: dpr

Value: not specified

Purpose: This cookie is used to make the social plugins work on our website.

Expiration date: after the end of the session

 

Name: fr

Value: 0jieyh4311244478c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j

Purpose: This cookie is also necessary for proper functioning of the plugins.

Expiration date: after 3 months

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

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook member, you can 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 want to learn more about Facebook's privacy policy, we recommend you read the company's own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Facebook Login Privacy Policy

We integrated convenient Facebook Login on our site. This allows you to easily log in to our site via your Facebook account without the need to create another user account. If you decide to register via the Facebook login, you will be redirected to the social media network Facebook. You log in our site using your Facebook user data. Through this login process, data about you or your user behaviour is stored and transmitted to Facebook.

Facebook uses various cookies to store this data. Below you will see the most important cookies that are set in your browser or already have been set when you log in to our site via your Facebook login:

Name: fr

Value: 0jieyh4c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j...1.0.Bde09j

Purpose: This cookie is used to ensure that the social plugin on our website works properly.

Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: datr

Value: 4Jh7XUA2311244478SEmPsSfzCOO4JFFl

Purpose: Facebook sets the "datr" cookie when a web browser accesses facebook.com. This cookie helps to identify login activity and protect users.

Expiration date: after 2 years

 

Name: _js_datr

Value: deleted

Purpose: This session cookie is set by Facebook for tracking purposes, even if you do not have a Facebook account or if you are logged out.

Expiration date: after the end of the session

Note: This list of cookies is not exhaustive and represents only a small range of cookies used by Facebook. There are also other cookies such as _ fbp, sb or wd. We cannot provide a complete list, as Facebook has a large number of cookies and uses them for different purposes.

On the one hand, your Facebook login allows you to sign up to our website quickly and easily, and on the other hand, it gives us the opportunity to share data with Facebook. This allows us to better tailor our offers and advertising campaigns to your interests and needs. Data that we receive from Facebook is public data that includes:

- Your Facebook name

- Your profile picture

- A registered email address

- Friend lists

- Buttons data (e.g. "Like" button)

- Birthday date

- Language

- Place of residence

In return, we provide Facebook with information about your activities on our website. This includes information about the device you are using, the subpages you visit on our website or the products you have ordered on our website.

By using Facebook Login, you consent to the data processing. You can withdraw this agreement at any time. If you would like to find out more information about data processing by Facebook, we recommend you read the Facebook privacy policy at https://de-de.facebook.com/policy.php.

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.

Twitter privacy policy

We have integrated Twitter features on our website. These are, for example, embedded tweets, timelines, buttons or hashtags. Twitter is a short message service and a social media platform of Twitter Inc, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2 D02 AX07, Ireland.

As far as we know, in the European Economic Area and Switzerland no personal data or data relating to your online activities are transferred to Twitter when the Twitter features are integrated. Only when you interact with the Twitter features, such as when clicking on a button, data can be sent to Twitter, stored there and processed. We have no influence on this data processing and bear no responsibility for it. Within the framework of this privacy policy, we want to inform you about what kind of data Twitter stores, how Twitter uses this data and how you can prevent data transmission.

What is Twitter?

For some people Twitter is a news service, for others it is a social media platform and still others describe it as a microblogging service. All these terms are valid and mean more or less the same thing.

Both private individuals and companies use Twitter to communicate with other people via short messages. Twitter only allows 280 characters per message. These messages are called "tweets". Unlike Facebook, for example, this service does not focus on the development of a network for friends, but rather serves as a worldwide and open news platform. On Twitter you can also make an anonymous profile and your tweets can be deleted both by the company and by yourself.

Why do we use Twitter features on our website?

Like many other websites and companies, we try to offer our services and communicate with our customers through different channels. Especially we are very fond of Twitter as a useful "little" news service. We tweet or retweet exciting, funny and interesting content all the time. We realise that you can't follow each and every channel. After all, you have other things to do. That's why we have integrated Twitter features on our website. You can see our Twitter activity on the site or you can follow a direct link to our Twitter page. Through this integration, we want to strengthen our service and the user-friendliness of our website.

What data is stored on Twitter?

On some of our subpages you will find integrated Twitter features. When you interact with the Twitter content, for example by clicking the button, Twitter collects and stores certain data. This happens even if you do not have your own Twitter account. Twitter calls this data "log data". This includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, your smartphone ID, hashed emails, and information about what Twitter pages you have visited and your actions. Of course, Twitter stores more data if you have a Twitter account or if you are logged in. Usually, the data is stored via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually placed in your browser and that transmit different information to Twitter.

We will show you which cookies are set when you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a website with integrated Twitter features. Please consider cookies below as examples. We cannot guarantee that this list is exhaustive, as the cookies are constantly changing and depend on your individual actions with the Twitter content.

In our test we used the following cookies:

Name: personalization_id

Value: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE311244478”

Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and identifies advertisements that may have directed you to Twitter.

Expiration date: after 2 years

 

Name: long

Value: en

Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.

Expiration date: at the end of the session

 

Name: guest_id

Value: 311244478v1%3A157132626

Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest. 

Expiration date: after 2 years

 

Name: fm

Value: 0

Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find out the purpose of this cookie.

Expiration date: at the end of the session

 

Name: external_referer

Value: 3112444782beTA0sf5lkMrlGt

Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data on how often you visit Twitter and how long you are on Twitter.

Expiration date: after 6 days

 

Name: eu_cn

Value: 1

Purpose: This cookie stores user activity and is used for various Twitter advertising activities.

Expiration date: after one year

Name: ct0

Value: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966

Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find out the purpose of this cookie.

Expiration date: after 6 hours

 

Name: _twitter_sess

Value: 53D%253D–dd0248311244478-

Purpose: This cookie allows you to use functionality of the Twitter website.

Expiration date: at the end of the session

Note: Twitter also works with a third party. That is why we also used in our test the following three Google Analytics cookies -_ga, _gat, _gid.

Twitter uses the collected data on the one hand to better understand user behaviour and thus improve its own services and advertising, on the other hand the data also is used for internal security purposes.

How long and where is the data stored?

When Twitter collects data from other websites, this data will be deleted, aggregated or otherwise obfuscated after no longer than 30 days. The Twitter servers are located on various server centres in the United States. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that this data is collected and stored in the United States. Our research did not clearly show whether Twitter also has its own servers in Europe. As a rule, Twitter can store the collected data until it is no longer useful to the company, unless you delete the data or a statutory expiration date has passed.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In its privacy policy, Twitter points out several times that it does not store any data relating to external website traffic if you or your browser are located in the European Economic Area or in Switzerland. However, if you interact with Twitter directly, Twitter will certainly store data about you.

If you have a Twitter account, you can manage your data by clicking on "More" under the "Profile" button. Then click on "Settings and privacy". Here you can choose your individual data processing settings.

If you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com and click the Settings link at the bottom of the page. From there you can access your Personalization and Data settings as well as your Twitter data.

As mentioned above, most data is stored in cookies, and you can manage, disable or delete them in your browser. Please note that you can only "edit" the cookies of the browser you have chosen. In other words, if you use another browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookies on this browser again according to your needs. Here are the instructions for managing cookies of the most popular browsers.

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

You can also set your browser so that you will be informed about each individual cookie. Then you can always decide individually whether to enable a cookie or not.

Twitter also uses the data for personalised advertising inside and outside Twitter. You can switch off personalised advertising in the "Personalisation and data" settings. If you use Twitter on a browser, you can disable personalised advertising at http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN.

Twitter is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures appropriate data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can find out more information about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TORzAAO.

We hope we have given you a basic overview of Twitter's data processing. We do not receive any data from Twitter and are not responsible for this data processing. If you have any further questions on this topic, we recommend you to refer to the Twitter's Privacy Policy at https://twitter.com/de/privacy.

Privacy Policy for Google reCAPTCHA

Our primary goal is to secure and protect our website for you and for us in the best possible way. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA of Google Inc. For the European region, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. reCAPTCHA allows us to determine whether you are a person of flesh and blood and not a robot or other spam software. By spam we mean any unsolicited information sent to us through electronic channels. With the classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or picture puzzles to verify yourself. With Google reCAPTCHA we do not have to bother you with such puzzles. In most cases, it is enough to simply tick the box and confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA widget, you don't even have to tick the box. You can find out exactly how this tool works and, above all, what data is used for this purpose in this privacy policy.

What is reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA is a free service from Google that protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. This service is most often used when you fill out forms on the internet. A captcha service is a kind of automatic Turing test designed to ensure that an action on the internet is done by a human and not a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing), a human determines the difference between bot and human. With captchas, this is also done by the computer or a software programme. Classic captchas use small tasks that humans can easily solve, but for machines they present considerable difficulties. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to solve puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish between bots and humans. You only have to tick the box "I am not a robot"; while Invisible reCAPTCHA renders this unnecessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is embedded in the source code and then the tool runs in the background and analyses your user behaviour. On the basis of these user actions, the software calculates a so-called captcha score. Google uses this score to determine whether you are a human before entering the captcha. Captchas in general are used to prevent bots from manipulating or misusing certain actions (e.g. registrations, surveys, etc.).

Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?

We only want to welcome real humans on our site. Bots or spam software of any kind are not welcome. That's why we do our best to protect ourselves and offer the best possible user-friendliness for you. For this reason we use Google reCAPTCHA. This is how 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 a real person. In this way, reCAPTCHA provides security of our website and consequently your security as well. For example, without reCAPTCHA, it could happen that a bot registers as many email addresses as possible during sign-up in order to "spam" forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA, we can avoid such bot attacks.

What data is stored by reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users in order to determine whether humans are really behind the actions on our website. In the process, the IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service can be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always truncated within the Member States of the EU or other signatory states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data is transferred to a server in the USA. The IP address will not be concatenated with other data from Google, unless you are signed 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 set. Then, reCAPTCHA set an additional cookie in your browser and takes a snapshot of your browser window.

The following list of collected browser and user data does not claim to be exhaustive. They are rather examples of such data which, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.

  • Referrer URL (the address of the site from which the visitor comes)
  • IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)
  • Information about the operating system (software that enables the operation of your computer. Known operating systems are Windows, Mac OS X or Linux)
  • Cookies (small text files that store data in your browser)
  • Mouse and keyboard behaviour (every action you perform with the mouse or keyboard is stored)
  • Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC is 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 is indisputable that Google uses and analyses this data even before you click on the “I am not a robot” checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, even the ticking is omitted and the whole recognition process runs in the background. Google does not disclose in detail the quantity and type of data it stores.

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

Name: IDE

Value: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-311244478-8

Purpose: This cookie is set by DoubleClick (a company also owned by Google) to record and report the user's actions on the website when interacting with advertisements. In this way, the advertising effectiveness can be measured and appropriate optimisation measures can be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net.

Expiration 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 buyer. The cookie is also used to display relevant advertisements to users. In addition, the cookie can be used to prevent a user from viewing the same ad more than once.

Expiration date: after one month

 

Name: ANID

Value: U7j1v3dZa3112444780xgZFmiqWppRWKOr

Purpose: We could not find out much information about this cookie. In Google's privacy policy, this cookie is mentioned in connection with "advertising cookies" such as "DSID", "FLC", "AID", "TAID". ANID is stored under the domain google.com.

Expiration date: after 9 months

 

Name: CONSENT

Value: YES+AT.en+20150628-20-0

Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user's consent to use various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users, prevent credential fraud and protect user data from unauthorised attacks.

Expiration date: after 19 years

 

Name: NID

Value: 0WmuWqy311244478zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q

Purpose: NID is used by Google to customise ads to your Google search. With the help of this cookie, Google "remembers" your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. So you always get customised ads. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect personal settings of the user for advertising purposes.

Expiration date: after 6 months

 

Name: DV

Value: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc311244478-4

Purpose: Once you tick the "I am not a robot" box, this cookie is set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalised advertising. DV collects information in anonymous form and is also used to distinguish users.

Expiration date: after 10 minutes

Note: This list is not exhaustive, as Google often change the choice of their cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Due to the integration of reCAPTCHA, your data will be transferred to the Google server. Google have not disclosed where exactly this data is stored, despite repeated requests. But even without confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, length of stay on a website or language settings are stored on the European or American Google 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 plugin, the data will be merged. Google’s diverging privacy policy applies for this.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you do not want any data about you and your behaviour to be transmitted to Google, you must log out of Google and delete all Google cookies before you visit our website or use the reCAPTCHA plugin. As a rule, data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you visit our site. To delete this data, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311244478.

Therefore, when you use our website, you agree that Google LLC and its representatives may automatically collect, process and use your data.

You can find out more about reCAPTCHA on Google's Web Developer page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. While Google do give more detail on the technical development of reCAPTCHA there, they have not disclosed precise information about data retention and data protection. You can find enough information about Google's data usage in the company's own privacy policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Cookiebot Privacy Policy

We use Cookiebot services on our website. Cookiebot is provided by Cybot A/S, Havnegade 39, 1058 Copenhagen, DK. Among other things, Cookiebot offers us the possibility to provide you with a detailed cookie notice (also called cookie banner). By using this service, data from you may be sent to, stored and processed by Cookiebot or Cybot. In this privacy policy, we inform you why we use Cookiebot, what data is transferred and how you can prevent this data transfer.

What is Cookiebot?

Cookiebot is a software product provided by the company Cybot. The software automatically creates a DSGVO-compliant cookie banner for our website visitors. In addition, the technology of Cookiebot scans, controls and evaluates all cookies and tracking actions on our website.

 Why do we use Cookiebot on our website?

We take data protection very seriously. We want to show you exactly what is going on on our website and what of your data is stored. Cookiebot helps us to get a good overview of all our cookies (first-party and third-party cookies). This allows us to inform you about the use of cookies on our website in an accurate and transparent way. You always get an up-to-date and privacy-compliant cookie banner and you can decide for yourself which cookies you accept and which you do not.

What data is stored by Cookiebot?

If you enable cookies, the following data will be transmitted to Cybot, stored and processed.

  • IP address (in anonymised form, the last 3 digits are set to 0)
  • date and time of your consent
  • our website URL
  • technical data of your browser
  • encrypted, anonymous key
  • the cookies you have accepted (as proof of your consent)

The following cookies are set by Cookiebot if you have agreed to the use of cookies:

Name: CookieConsent

Value: {stamp:’P7to4eNgIHvJvDerjKneBsmJQd9311244478-2

Purpose: This cookie stores your consent status. This allows our website to read and comply with your current status during future visits.

Expiration date: after one year

 

Name: CookieConsentBulkTicket

Value: kDSPWpA%2fjhljZKClPqsncfR8SveTnNWhys5NojaxdFYBPjZ2PaDnUw%3d%3311244478-6

Purpose: This cookie is set if you enable all cookies and have thus activated "collective consent". The cookie then stores its own random and unique ID.

Expiration date: after one year

Note: Please remember this list is not exhaustive and we cannot claim it to be complete. In the Cookie declaration at https://www.cookiebot.com/de/cookie-declaration/ you can see which other cookies can be used.

According to Cybot's privacy policy, the company does not sell any personal data. Cybot does, however, share data with trusted third parties or subcontractors that help the company achieve its business objectives. Also, data may be shared when required by law.

How long and where is data stored?

All data collected is transferred, stored and transmitted exclusively within the European Union. The data is stored in an Azure data centre (Microsoft is the cloud provider). You can find out more about Azure regions at https://azure.microsoft.com/de-de/global-infrastructure/regions/. Cookiebot deletes all user data after 12 months from user registration (cookie consent) or immediately after cancellation of the Cookiebot service.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and also get your personal data deleted at any time. You can prevent data collection and storage, for example, by declining cookies via the cookie banner. Your browser offers other possibilities to prevent the data processing or to manage it according to your wishes. Depending on which browser you use, this can be done in different ways. Here are the instructions for managing cookies of the most popular browsers:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari 

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox 

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge 

If you want to learn more about the Cookiebot's privacy policy or Cybot itself, we recommend you to read the privacy policy at https://www.cookiebot.com/de/privacy-policy/.

jQuery CDN Privacy Policy

We use the jQuery CDN services from the jQuery Foundation in order to deliver our content or single page websites on different devices in a fast and smooth way. jQuery is distributed via the Content Delivery Network (CDN) of the American software company StackPath (LCC 2012 McKinney Ave. Suite 1100, Dallas, TX 75201, USA). Through this service, personal information about you is stored, managed and processed.

A content delivery network (CDN) is a geographically distributed group of servers that are connected to each other via the Internet. This network provide fast delivery of content, especially of very large files, even during load peaks.

jQuery uses JavaScript libraries to deliver our website content rapidly. A CDN server loads the necessary data for this purpose. As soon as a connection to the CDN server is established, your IP address is recorded and stored. This process takes place only if this data has not already been stored in your browser after your previous visit to the website.

StackPath's privacy policy explicitly mentions that StackPath uses aggregated and anonymised data from various services (such as jQuery) to enhance security and for its own services. However, this data cannot identify you as a person.

If you want to prevent this data transfer, you always have the option of installing Java script blockers such as ghostery.com or noscript.net. However, you can also simply deactivate the execution of JavaScript codes in your browser. If you deactivate JavaScript codes, the usual functions will also change. For example, a website will load slower.

StackPath is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information on this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000CbahAAC&status=Active.
More information on StackPath's privacy policy can be found at https://www.stackpath.com/legal/privacy-statement/ and on jQuery at https://openjsf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/84/2019/11/OpenJS-Foundation-Privacy-Policy-2019-11-15.pdf.

Source: Created with the Privacy Generator of AdSimple in cooperation with hashtagbeauty.de