Privacy Policy

We have written this privacy policy (version 18.03.2021-111681340) to provide you with information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 as well as to explain what information we collect, how we use data and what choices you have as a visitor to this website.

Privacy policies usually sound very technical. However, this version should describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible. Moreover, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner whenever possible. We would also like to convey that we only collect and use information via this website if there is a corresponding legal basis for it. This is certainly not possible if you give very brief technical explanations, as are often standard on the Internet when it comes to data protection. We hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative. Maybe you will also find some information that you did not know yet.

Should you still have questions, we kindly ask you to follow the existing links to see further information on third-party websites, or to simply write us an email. You can find our contact information in our website’s imprint.

Automatic Data Retention

Every time you visit a website nowadays, certain information is automatically created and stored, just as it happens on this website. This data should be collected as sparingly as possible, and only with good reason. By website, we mean the entirety of all websites on your domain, i.e. everything from the homepage to the very last subpage (like this one here). By domain we mean example.uk or examplepage.com.

Even while you are currently visiting our website, our web server – this is the computer this website is stored on, usually automatically retains data such as the below – for reasons such as operational security or for creating access statistics etc.

  • the full address (URL) of the accessed website (e. g. https://www.examplepage.uk/examplesubpage.html/)
  • browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
  • the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited site (referrer URL) (z. B. https://www.examplepage.uk/icamefromhere.html/)
  • the host name and the IP-address of the device the website is accessed from (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
  • date and time
  • in so-called web server log files.

Generally, these files are stored for two weeks and are then automatically deleted. We do not pass these data to others, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be looked at by the authorities in case of illegal conduct.

In short: your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on servers), but we do not pass on your data!

Cookies

Our website uses HTTP-cookies to store user-specific data.

For your better understanding of the following Privacy Policy statement, we will explain to you below what cookies are and why they are in use.

What exactly are cookies?

Every time you surf the internet, you use a browser. Common browsers are for example Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text-files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

What should not be dismissed, is that cookies are very useful little helpers. Nearly all websites use cookies. More accurately speaking these are HTTP-cookies, since there are also different cookies for other uses. http-cookies are small files which our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically put into the cookie-folder, which is like the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. Moreover, to define a cookie, one or multiple attributes must be specified.

Cookies save certain parts of your user data, such as e.g. language or personal page settings. When you re-open our website, your browser submits these “user specific” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are familiar to. In some browsers every cookie has its own file, in others such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in one single file.

There are both first-party cookies 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). Every cookie is individual, since every cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies – it can be a few minutes, or up to a few years. Cookies are no software-programs and contain no computer viruses, trojans or any other malware. Cookies also cannot access your PC’s information.

This is an example of how cookie-files can look:

name: _ga

value: GA1.2.1326744211.152111681340-9

purpose: differentiation between website visitors

expiration date: after 2 years

A browser should support these minimum sizes:

  • at least 4096 bytes per cookie
  • at least 50 cookies per domain
  • at least 3000 cookies in total

Which types of cookies are there?

What exact cookies we use, depends on the used services. We will explain this in the following sections of the Privacy Policy statement. Firstly, we will briefly focus on the different types of HTTP-cookies.

There are 4 different types of cookies:

Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary to ensure the basic function of a website. They are needed when a user for example puts a product into their shopping cart, then continues surfing on different websites and comes back later in order to proceed to the checkout. Even when the user closed their window priorly, these cookies ensure that the shopping cart does not get deleted.

Purposive Cookies

These cookies collect info about the user behaviour and record if the user potentially receives any error messages. Furthermore, these cookies record the website’s loading time as well as its behaviour within different browsers.

Target-orientated Cookies

These cookies care for an improved user-friendliness. Thus, information such as previously entered locations, fonts or data in forms stay saved.

Advertising Cookies

These cookies are also known as targeting-Cookies. They serve the purpose of delivering individually adapted advertisements to the user. This can be very practical, but also rather annoying.

Upon your first visit to a website you are usually asked which of these cookie-types you want to accept. Furthermore, this decision will of course also be saved in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You yourself take the decision if and how you want to use cookies. Thus, no matter what service or website cookies are from, you always have the option to delete, deactivate or only partially allow them. Therefore, you can for example block cookies of third parties but allow any other cookies.

If you want change or delete cookie-settings and would like to determine which cookies have been saved to your browser, you can find this info 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 generally do not want to allow any cookies at all, you can set up your browser in a way, to notify you whenever a potential cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or deny the placement of every single cookie. The settings for this differ from browser to browser. Therefore, it might be best for you to search for the instructions in Google. If you are using Chrome, you could for example put the search phrase “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” into Google.

How is my data protected?

There is a “cookie policy” that has been in place since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires the user’s consent. However, among the countries of the EU, these guidelines are often met with mixed reactions. In Austria the guidelines have been implemented in § 96 section 3 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG).

If you want to learn more 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 do not get passed on to third parties.

Therefore, we use personal data for the communication with only those users, who have explicitly requested being contacted, as well as for the execution of the services and products offered on this website. We do not pass your personal data to others without your approval, but we cannot exclude the possibility this data will be looked at in case of illegal conduct.

If you send us personal data via email – and thus not via this website – we cannot guarantee any safe transmission or protection of your data. We recommend you, to never send confidential data via email.

Rights in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation

You are granted the following rights in accordance with the provisions of the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) and the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG):

  • right to rectification (article 16 GDPR)
  • right to erasure (“right to be forgotten“) (article 17 GDPR)
  • right to restrict processing (article 18 GDPR)
  • righ to notification – notification obligation regarding rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing (article 19 GDPR)
  • right to data portability (article 20 GDPR)
  • Right to object (article 21 GDPR)
  • right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing – including profiling – (article 22 GDPR)

If you think that the processing of your data violates the data protection law, or that your data protection rights have been infringed in any other way, you can lodge a complaint with your respective regulatory authority. For Austria this is the data protection authority, whose website you can access at https://www.data-protection-authority.gv.at/.

Evaluation of Visitor Behaviour

In the following Privacy Policy, we will inform you on if and how we evaluate the data of your visit to this website. The evaluation is generally made 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 the evaluation of visitor data, in the Privacy Policy below.

TLS encryption with https

The terms TLS, encryption and https sound very technical, which they are indeed. We use HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure) to securely transfer data on the Internet.

This means that the entire transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – nobody can “listen in”.

We have thus introduced an additional layer of security and meet privacy requirements through technology design Article 25 Section 1 GDPR). With the use of TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is an encryption protocol for safe data transfer on the internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential information.

You can recognise the use of this safeguarding tool by the little lock-symbol , which is situated in your browser’s top left corner in the left of the internet address (e.g. examplepage.uk), as well as by the display of the letters https (instead of http) as a part of our web address.

If you want to know more about encryption, we recommend you to do a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to find good links to further information.

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

On our website we use Google Fonts, from the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA).

To use Google Fonts, you must log in and set up a password. Furthermore, no cookies will be saved in your browser. The data (CSS, Fonts) will be 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 that your Google account details are transmitted to Google while you use Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) as well as the utilised fonts and stores these data securely. We will have a detailed look at how exactly the data storage works.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts (previously Google Web Fonts) is a list of over 800 fonts which href=”https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google?tid=111681340”>Google LLC provides its users for free.

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

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

With Google Fonts we can use different fonts on our website and do not have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important element which helps to keep the quality of our website high. All Google fonts are automatically optimised for the web, which saves data volume and is an advantage especially for the use of mobile terminal devices. When you use our website, the low data size provides fast loading times. Moreover, Google Fonts are secure Web Fonts. Various image synthesis systems (rendering) can lead to errors in different browsers, operating systems and mobile terminal devices. These errors could optically distort parts of texts or entire websites. Due to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN) there are no cross-platform issues with Google Fonts. All common browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) are supported by Google Fonts, and it reliably operates on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). We also use Google Fonts for presenting our entire online service as pleasantly and as uniformly as possible.

Which data is saved by Google?

Whenever you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded by a Google server. Through this external cue, data gets transferred to Google’s servers. Therefore, 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 gathering of end user data to the minimum needed for the proper depiction of fonts. What is more, API stands for „Application Programming Interface“ and works as a software data intermediary.

Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests safely with Google, and therefore it is protected. Using its collected usage figures, Google can determine how popular the individual fonts are. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. Moreover, Google also utilises data of ist own web crawler, in order to determine which websites are using Google fonts. This data is published in Google Fonts’ BigQuery database. Enterpreneurs and developers use Google’s webservice BigQuery to be able to inspect and move big volumes of data.

One more thing that should be considered, is 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 it being stored?

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=en-GB&tid=111681340. 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=111681340. 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://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB 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, from the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA).

We integrated Google Fonts locally, so on our own webserver and not on Google’s servers. Hence, there is no connection to Google’s servers and consequently no data transfer or retention.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts was previously called Google Web Fonts. It is an interactive list with over 800 fonts which Google LLC offer for free use. With the use of Google Fonts, it is possible to utilise fonts without uploading them to your own server. For that matter, in order to prevent any transfer of information to Google’s servers, we downloaded the fonts to our own server. This way we comply with the data privacy and do not transmit any data to Google Fonts.

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=111681340.

Font Awesome Privacy Policy

On our website we use Font Awesome by the American company Fonticons (307 S. Main St., Suite 202, Bentonville, AR 72712, USA). Upon your visit to one of our websites, the Font Awesome web font, i.e. the icons, are loaded via the Font Awesome Content Delivery Network (CDN). This way texts, fonts and icons are displayed appropriately on every device. In this privacy policy we will go into more detail on data storage and data processing by this service.

What is Font Awesome?

Icons play an increasingly important role on websites. Font Awesome is a web font specifically designed for web designers and web developers. With Font Awesome icons can for example be scaled and coloured as desired using the CSS stylesheet language. Thus, they now replace old picture icons. Font Awesome CDN is the easiest way to load icons or fonts onto your website. To do this, we only had to embed a short line of code into our website.

Why do we use Font Awesome on our website?

Font Awesome enables our websites’ content to be depicted better. This eases your navigation on our website, and helps you grasp its content better. The icons can sometimes even be used to replace whole words and save space. This is particularly useful when optimising content specifically for smartphones. The icons are inserted as HMTL code instead of as an image, which allows us to edit the icons with CSS exactly as we want. Simultaneously, Font Awesome also lets us improve our loading speed, as it only contains HTML elements and no icon images. All these advantages help us to make our website even clearer, faster and more refined for you.

Which data are stored by Font Awesome?

The Font Awesome Content Delivery Network (CDN) is used to load icons and symbols. CDNs are networks of servers that are distributed around the world. They make it possible to quickly load files from locations in close proximity. When you open one of our pages, the respective icons will be provided by Font Awesome.

For the web fonts to be loaded, your browser has to connect to the servers of Fonticons, Inc. For this, your IP address will be identified. Font Awesome also collects data on which icon files are downloaded, as well as when they are downloaded. Furthermore, technical data such as your browser version, screen resolution or the time when you accessed the page are also transmitted.

These data are collected and stored for the following reasons:

  • to optimise Content Delivery Networks
  • to identify and fix technical errors
  • to protect CDNs from misuse and attacks
  • to calculate fees from Font Awesome Pro customers
  • to identify the popularity of icons
  • to establish which computer and software you are using

If your browser does not allow web fonts, one of your PC’s standard fonts will be used automatically. Moreover, as far as we are currently aware, no cookies will be set. We are keeping in contact with Font Awesome’s privacy department and will let you know as soon as we find out more.

How long and where are the data stored?

Font Awesome stores data about the use of the Content Delivery Network also on servers in the United States of America. However, the CDN servers are located all across the world and store user data in your proximity. The data is usually only stored for a few weeks in an identifiable form. Aggregated statistics on the use of the CDNs may also be stored for longer. However, these do not include any personal data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

As far as we are aware, Font Awesome does not store any personal data via Content Delivery Networks. If you do not want data about the used icons to be stored, you will unfortunately not be able to visit our website. If your browser does not allow web fonts, no data will be transmitted or saved. In this case your computer’s default font will be used.

If you want to find out more about Font Awesome and their data handling, we recommend you to read their privacy policy at https://fontawesome.com/privacy along with the help page at https://fontawesome.com/help.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

We use the tracking and analysis tool Google Analytics (GA) of the US-American company Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). Google Analytics collects data on your actions on our website. Whenever you click a link for example, this action is saved in a cookie and transferred 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 saved and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a tracking tool with the purpose of conducting data traffic analysis of our website. For Google Analytics to work, there is a tracking code integrated to our website. Upon your visit to our website, this code records various actions you perform on your website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics server, where it is stored.

Google processes this data and we then receive reports on your user behaviour. These reports can be one of the following:

  • Target audience reports: With the help of target audience reports we can get to know our users better and can therefore better understand who is interested in our service.
  • Advertising reports: Through advertising reports we can analyse our online advertising better and hence improve it.
  • Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide us helpful information on how we can get more people enthusiastic about our service.
  • Behaviour reports: With these reports, we can find out how you interact with our website. By the means of behaviour reports, we can understand what path you go on our website and what links you click.
  • 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?

The objective of our website is clear: We want to offer you the best possible service. Google Analytics’ statistics and data help us with reaching this goal.

Statistically evaluated data give us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimise our page in a way, that makes it easier to be found by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to get a better understanding of you as our visitor. Therefore, we can very accurately find out what we must improve on our website, in order to offer you the best possible service. The analysis of that data also enables us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and more cost-effective way. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services exclusively to people who are interested in them.

What data gets stored by Google Analytics?

With the aid of a tracking code, Google Analytics creates a random, unique ID which is connected to your browser cookie. That way, Google Analytics recognises you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognised as a “recurring” user. All data that is collected gets saved together with this very user ID. Only this is how it is made possible for us to evaluate and analyse pseudonymous user profiles.

Your interactions on our website are measures by tags such as cookies and app instance IDs. Interactions are all kinds of actions that you perform on our website. If you are also using other Google systems (such as a Google Account), data generated by Google Analytics can be linked with third-party cookies. Google does not pass on any Google Analytics data, unless we as the website owners authorise it. In case it is required by law, exceptions can occur.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga

Value:2.1326744211.152111681340-5

Purpose: By deafault, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga, to save the user ID. It generally serves the purpose of differenciating between website visitors.

Expiration date: After 2 years

Name: _gid

Value:2.1687193234.152111681340-1

Purpose: This cookie also serves the purpose of differentiating between website users

Expiration date: After 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_

Value: 1

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

Expiration date: After 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN

Value: No information

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 up to one year

Name: __utma

Value:1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1

Purpose: With this cookie your behaviour on the website can be tracked and the site performance can be measured. The cookie is updated every time the information is sent to Google Analytics.

Expiration date: After 2 years

Name: __utmt

Value: 1

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

Expiration date: Afer 10 minutes

Name: __utmb

Value:3.10.1564498958

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

Expiration date: After 30 minutes

Name: __utmc

Value: 167421564

Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions for recurring visitors. It is therefore a session cookie, and only stays saved until you close the browser again.

Expiration date: After closing the browser

Name: __utmz

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

Purpose: This cookie is used to identify the source of our website’s visitor number. This means, that the cookie saves information on where you came to our website from. This could be another site or an advertisement.

Expiration date: After 6 months

Name: __utmv

Value: No information

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

Expiration date: After 2 years

Note: This list is by no means exhaustive, since Google are repeatedly changing the use of their cookies.

Below we will give you an overview of the most important data that can be evaluated by Google Analytics:

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called Heatmaps an. These Heatmaps make it possible to see the exact areas you click on, so we can get information on what routes you make on our website.

Session duration: Google calls the time you spend on our website without leaving it session duration. Whenever you are 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: If 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: Your approximate location and the country you are in can be defined by the IP address. This process is called IP location determination.

Technical information: Information about your browser type, your internet provider and your screen resolution are called technical information.

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

Further possibly stored data includes contact data, potential reviews, playing media (e.g. when you play a video on our site), sharing of contents via social media or adding our site to your favourites. This list is not exhaustive and only serves as general guidance on Google Analytics’ data retention.

How long and where is the data saved?

Google has servers across the globe. Most of them are in America and therefore your data is mainly saved on American servers. Here you can read detailed information on where Google’s data centres are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=en

Your data is allocated to various physical data mediums. 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. Hence, in case of a hardware failure at Google or a server error due to natural disasters, the risk for a service interruption stays relatively low.

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

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

As soon as the chosen period is 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 advertisement IDs (e.g. cookies of the DoubleClick domain). Any report results are based on aggregated information and are stored independently of any 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 retention?

Under the provisions of the European Union’s data protection law, you have the right to obtain information on your data and to update, delete or restrict it. With the help of a browser add on that can deactivate Google Analytics’ JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js), you can prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download this add on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB. Please consider that this add on can only deactivate any data collection by Google Analytics.

Should you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage all 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 of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates correct and save transfer of personal data.

You can find more information on this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=111681340. We hope we were able to make you more familiar with the most important information on Google Analytics’ data processing. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend both of the following links: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/gb/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.

Google Analytics IP Anonymisation

We implemented Google Analytics’ IP address anonymisation to this website. Google developed this function, so this website can comply with the applicable privacy laws and the local data protection authorities’ recommendations, should they prohibit the retention of any full IP addresses.

The anonymisation or masking of IP addresses takes place, as soon as they reach Google Analytics’ data collection network, but before the data would be saved or processed.

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

Google Analytics Reports on demographic characteristics and interests

We have turned on Google Analytics’ functions for advertising reports. These reports on demographic characteristics and interests contain details about age, gender and interests. Through them we can get a better picture of our users – without being able to allocate any data to individual persons. You can learn more about advertising functions at auf https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=en&%3Butm_id=ad.

You can terminate the use of your Google Account’s activities and information in “Ads Settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via a checkbox.

Google Analytics Deactivation Link

By clicking on the following deactivation link you can prevent Google from tracking your further visits. Caution: 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

By accepting the amendment on data processing in Google Analytics, we entered a contract with Google concerning the use of Google Analytics.

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

Google Analytics Google Signals Privacy Policy

We have activated Google signals in Google Analytics. Through this, any existing Google Analytics functions (advertising reports, remarketing, cross-device reports and reports on interests and demographic characteristics) are updated, to result in the summary and anonymisation of your data, should you have permitted personalised ads in your Google Account.

The special aspect of this is that it involves cross-device tracking. That means your data can be analysed across multiple devices. Through the activation of Google signals, data is collected and linked to the Google account. For example, it enables Google to recognise when you look at a product on a smartphone and later buy the product on a laptop. Due to activating Google signals, we can start cross-device remarketing campaigns, which would otherwise not be possible to this extent. Remarketing means, that we can show you our products and services across other websites as well.

Moreover, further visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your actions on our website are collected in Google Analytics. As a result, we receive improved advertising reports and more useful information on your interests and demographic characteristics. These include your age, the language you speak, where you live or what your gender is. Certain social criteria such as your job, your marital status or your income are also included. All these characteristics help Google Analytics to define groups of persons or target audiences.

Those reports also help us to better assess your behaviour, as well as your wishes and interests. As a result, we can optimise and customise our products and services for you. By default, this data expires after 26 months. Please consider, that this data is only collected if you have agreed to personalised advertisement in your Google Account. The retained information is always exclusively summarised and anonymous data, and never any data on individual persons. You can manage or delete this data in your Google Account.

Sendinblue Privacy Policy

On our website you can subscribe to our newsletter for free. For this to work, we use the Sendinblue email service for our newsletter. This is a service of the German company Sendinblue GmbH, Köpenicker street 126, 10179 Berlin.

We are of course very pleased if you register for our newsletter. That way we can always tell you what is going on in our company first-handedly, so you can stay up to date. However, you should know that when you sign up for the newsletter, all data you enter (such as your email address or your first and last name) will be saved and managed on our server as well as at Sendinblue. This also applies to personal data. For example, in addition to the time and date of registration, your IP address is also saved. During registration, you also consent to us sending you our newsletter. Moreover, you will also find a reference to the privacy policy there.

The newsletter service also offers us helpful options for analysis. This means that if we send a newsletter, we can for example find out whether and when you opened the newsletter. The software also detects and records which link you click in the newsletter. This information helps us enormously to adapt and optimise our service to your wishes and concerns. After all, we naturally want to offer you the best possible service. In addition to the data already mentioned above, data about your user behaviour is also stored.

You can revoke your consent to this data processing at any time. You can do so by for example clicking the unsubscribe link directly in the newsletter. After you have unsubscribed, your personal data will be deleted from our server and from Sendinblue’s servers located in Germany. You reserve the right to free information about your stored data and, if necessary, a right to deletion, blocking or rectification.

If you would like more information about data processing, we recommend the company’s privacy policy at https://www.sendinblue.com/legal/privacypolicy/.

Vimeo Privacy Policy

On our website, we use videos of the company Vimeo. This video portal is operated by Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA. With the help of a plug-in, we can display interesting video material directly on our website. Consequently, some of your data may be transmitted to Vimeo. In this privacy policy we want to explain to you what data this is, why we use Vimeo and how you can manage your data or prevent data transmission.

What is Vimeo?

Vimeo is a video platform that was founded in 2004 and introduced video streaming in HD quality in 2007. Since 2015 it has been possible to stream in 4k Ultra HD. The use of the portal is free of charge, but it also contains certain paid content. Compared to the market leader YouTube, Vimeo attaches great importance to valuable content in good quality. On the one hand, the portal offers a lot of artistic content such as music videos and short films. On the other hand, it also offers useful documentaries on a broad spectrum of topics.

Why do we use Vimeo on our website?

The aim of our website is to provide you the best possible content, in the easiest and most accessible way we can. We will only be satisfied with our service, once we have reached that goal. The video service Vimeo supports us in achieving this goal. Vimeo gives us the opportunity to present high quality content to you directly on our website. Instead of us merely giving you a link to an interesting video, you can watch the video here with us. This extends our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. Therefore, in addition to our texts and images, we can also offer video content.

What data is stored on Vimeo?

When you open a site on our website that has a Vimeo video embedded to it, your browser will connect to Vimeo’s servers, and a data transmission will take place. The data are then collected, stored and processed on Vimeo’s servers. Regardless of whether you have a Vimeo account or not, Vimeo collects data about you. This includes your IP address, technical information about your browser type, your operating system or very basic device information. Furthermore, Vimeo store information on what website you use their service on and which actions (web activities) you carry out on our website. These web activities include e.g. session duration, bounce rate or which button you clicked on our site that contains a Vimeo function. Vimeo can track and store these actions using cookies and similar technologies.

If you are logged in as a registered member of Vimeo, more data may be collected, since a bigger number of cookies may already have been set in your browser. Furthermore, your actions on our website are directly linked to your Vimeo account. To prevent this, you must log out of Vimeo while “surfing” our website.

Below we will show you an array of cookies Vimeo sets when you are on a website containing an integrated Vimeo function. This list is not exhaustive and assumes that you do not have a Vimeo account.

Name: player

Value: “”

Purpose: This cookie saves your settings before you play an embedded Vimeo video. This will ensure you to receive your preferred settings again next time you watch a Vimeo video.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: vuid

Value: pl1046149876.614422590111681340-4

Purpose: This cookie collects information about your actions on websites that have a Vimeo video embedded to them.

Expiry date: after 2 years

Note: These two cookies are set every time as soon as you are on a website that has a Vimeo video embedded to it. If you watch the video and click a button such as “share” or “like”, additional cookies will be set. These can also be third-party cookies such as _ga or _gat_UA-76641-8 from Google Analytics or _fbp from Facebook. The exact cookies that are set depends on your interaction with the video.

The following list will show a selection of cookies that could be placed when you interact with a Vimeo video:

Name: _abexps

Value: %5B%5D

Purpose: This Vimeo cookie helps Vimeo to remember your settings. For example, this can be a pre-set language, a region or a username. The cookie generally stores data on how you use Vimeo.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: continuous_play_v3

Value: 1

Purpose: This cookie is a first-party cookie from Vimeo. The cookie collects information on how you use Vimeo’s service. For example, the cookie stores details on when you pause a video and resume it.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: _ga

Value: GA1.2.1522249635.1578401280111681340-7

Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Google. By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Thus, it serves to differentiate between website visitors.

Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _gcl_au

Value: 1.1.770887836.1578401279111681340-3

Purpose: This third-party cookie from Google AdSense is used to improve the efficiency of ads on websites.

Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: _fbp

Value: fb.1.1578401280585.310434968

Purpose:This is a Facebook cookie. It is used to display adverts or advertising products from Facebook or other advertisers.

Expiry date: after 3 months

Vimeo use this data to improve their own service, to communicate with you and to implement their own targeted advertising measures. On their website they emphasise that only first-party cookies (i.e. cookies from Vimeo itself) are used for embedded videos, provided you do not interact with the video.

How long and where is the data stored?

Vimeo is headquartered in White Plains, New York (USA). However, their services are offered worldwide. For this, the company uses computer systems, databases and servers in the United States and other countries. Thus, your data may also be stored and processed on servers in America. Vimeo stores the data until the company no longer has an economical reason for keeping it. Then the data will be deleted or anonymised. Vimeo correspond to the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and are therefore allowed to collect and use information from users within the EU, and to transfer this data to the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

You always have the option to manage cookies in your browser. If you do not want Vimeo to set cookies and collect information about you for example, you can delete or deactivate cookies in your browser settings at any time. These settings vary a little depending on the browser. Please note that after deactivating/deleting cookies, various functions may no longer be fully available. The following instructions show how you can manage or delete 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 are a registered Vimeo member, you can also manage cookies in Vimeo’s settings.

Vimeo is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates correct and secure transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt00000008V77AAE&status=Active. You can find out more on Vimeos’s use of cookies at https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy, and you can find information about data protection at Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/privacy.

SoundCloud Privacy Policy

On our website we use functions (widgets) of the social media network SoundCloud, by the company SoundCloud Limited, Rheinsberger Strasse 76/77, 10115 Berlin, Germany. You can recognise the widgets by the familiar orange logo. By using functions such as playing music, data is transmitted to SoundCloud, where it is stored and evaluated.

In this data protection declaration, we will show you what data this is, why we use SoundCloud and how you can manage your data or prevent data transmission.

What is SoundCloud?

The social media network SoundCloud is an online music platform that is a space for exchanging and distributing of audio files. Musicians or podcasters offer their audio files for download on SoundCloud. Moreover, you can also integrate audio files into other websites with SoundCloud – which is exactly what we did. A typical feature of SoundCloud are the graphical displays of the audio files as waves, as well as the comment bar. Registered users can listen to and comment music or podcasts anytime.

Why do we use SoundCloud on our website?

It is our goal is to provide you the best possible service on our website. By this we do not just mean our products or services. A holistic customer service also includes the level of comfort you feel when surfing our website, as well as how helpful you find our online offer. Thanks to the embedding of SoundCloud’s playback function, we can deliver acoustic content directly to you – free of charge. You do not have to click any link to listen to an audio file, as you can start listening to it via our website right away.

What data is stored on SoundCloud?

As soon as you visit one of our websites that has an integrated widget (a like button, a share button or a playback function), your browser connects to one of SoundCloud’s servers. That way, data can be transferred from you to SoundCloud, where it may be managed and stored. For example, SoundCloud can identify your IP address and find out, what page (in this case ours) you visited and when. If you have a SoundCloud account and are logged in while surfing our website, the collected data will be assigned directly to your account. The only way to prevent this is to log out of SoundCloud while you are on our website. In addition to the information mentioned above, cookies also store data on your user behaviour. Whenever you e.g. click a button, play or pause music, this information is stored by cookies. The widget (SoundCloud) is therefore able to recognise you and sometimes it is also used to provide you with customised content. SoundCloud does not only use its own cookies, but also third-party cookies such as by Facebook or Google Analytics. The company utilises these cookies to get more information about your behaviour on external websites as well as on its own platform. As the website operators, we do not receive any information about your user behaviour from SoundCloud’s cookies. The data transfer and therefore also the information about your technical devices and your website behaviour, takes place only between you and SoundCloud.

Below we show you a list of cookies that are set when visiting a website that has SoundCloud functions implemented to it. This list is only an example of potential cookies and we do not claim for it to be exhaustive. The listing shows cookies that may be set if a user does not have a SoundCloud account:

Name: sc_anonymous_id

Value: 208165-986996-398971-423805111681340-0

Purpose: This cookie is the reason it is possible to integrate files or other content into websites. Moreover, it stores a user ID.

Expiry date: after 10 years

Note: The sc_anonymous_id cookie is set immediately if you visit one of our websites with a Soundcloud function. This also happens before you interact with the function.

Name: __qca

Value: P0-1223379886-1579605792812111681340-7

Purpose:This cookie is a third-party cookie from Quantcast. It collects data such as how often you visit the site or how long you stay on the site. The collected information is then transmitted to SoundCloud.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: Sclocale

Value: en

Purpose:The cookie stores your pre-set language settings.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: _soundcloud_session

Value: /

Purpose:We were unable to find any specific information about this cookie.

Expiry date: after end of session

Name: _session_auth_key

Value: /

Purpose:With the help of this cookie, session information (i.e. user behaviour) can be saved and client requests can be authenticated.

Expiry date: after 10 years

Furthermore, SoundCloud use further third-party cookies such as _fbp, _ga, gid from Facebook and Google Analytics. SoundCloud use the information stored in the cookies to improve their own services and to display customised advertising.

How long and where is the data stored?

The collected data generally remains stored with SoundCloud for as long as the respective user account exists, or for as long as SoundCloud need it to achieve their business goals. How long exactly it is saved depends on the context and legal obligations. Even if you do not have an account and your personal data have been stored, you have the right to request the deletion of your data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

If you have a SoundCloud account, you can go to “Settings” to manage data processing or to delete your account entirely. However, you can also manage, delete or deactivate cookies in your browser. The approach to this depends on the browser you are using. If you decide to delete or deactivate cookies, please consider that afterwards not all functions may be fully available anymore. The following instructions will show you how you can manage, delete or deactivate 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

We hope we were able to give you a good overview of SoundCloud’s data traffic. If you would like to learn more on data protection guidelines and on how SoundCloud generally handle data, we recommend the company’s privacy policy at https://soundcloud.com/pages/privacy.

Stripe Privacy Policy

On our website we use a payment tool by Stripe, an American technology company and online payment service. Stripe Payments Europe (Europe Ltd., 1 Grand Canal Street Lower, Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, Ireland) is responsible for customers within the EU. Therefore, if you choose Stripe as your payment method, your payment will be processed via Stripe Payments. Hence, the data required for the payment process is forwarded to Stripe where it is then stored. In this privacy policy we will give you an overview of Stripe’s data processing and retention. Moreover, we will explain why we use Stripe on our website.

What is Stripe?

The technology company Stripe offers payment solutions for online payments. Stripe enables us to accept credit and debit card payments in our webshop while it handles the entire payment process. A major advantage of Stripe is that you never have to leave our website or shop during the payment process. Moreover, payments are processed very quickly via Stripe.

Why do we use Stripe on our website?

We of course want to offer the best possible service with both our website and our integrated online shop. After all, we would like you to feel comfortable on our site and take advantage of our offers. We know that your time is valuable and therefore, payment processing in particular must work quickly and smoothly. In addition to our other payment providers, with Stripe we have found a partner that guarantees secure and fast payment processing.

What data are stored by Stripe?

If you choose Stripe as your payment method, your personal data (transaction data) will be transmitted to Stripe where it will be stored. These data include the payment method (i.e. credit card, debit card or account number), bank sort code, currency, as well as the amount and the payment date. During a transaction, your name, email address, billing or shipping address and sometimes your transaction history may also be transmitted. These data are necessary for authentication. Furthermore, Stripe may also collect relevant data for the purpose of fraud prevention, financial reporting and for providing its services in full. These data may include your name, address, telephone number as well as your country in addition to technical data about your device (such as your IP address).

Stripe does not sell any of your data to independent third parties, such as marketing agencies or other companies that have nothing to do with Stripe. However, data may be forwarded to internal departments, a limited number of Stripe’s external partners or for legal compliance reasons. What is more, Stripe uses cookies to collect data. Here is a selection of cookies that Stripe may set during the payment process:

Name: m

Value: edd716e9-d28b-46f7-8a55-e05f1779e84e040456111681340-5

Purpose: This cookie appears when you select your payment method. It saves and recognises whether you are accessing our website via a PC, tablet or smartphone.

Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: __stripe_mid

Value: fc30f52c-b006-4722-af61-a7419a5b8819875de9111681340-1

Purpose: This cookie is required for carrying out credit card transactions. For this purpose, the cookie stores your session ID.

Expiry date: after one year

Name: __stripe_sid

Value: 6fee719a-c67c-4ed2-b583-6a9a50895b122753fe

Purpose: This cookie also stores your ID. Stripe uses it for the payment process on our website.

Expiry date: after end of the session

How long and where are the data stored?

Generally, personal data are stored for the duration of the provided service. This means that the data will be stored until we terminate our cooperation with Stripe. However, in order to meet legal and official obligations, Stripe may also store personal data for longer than the duration of the provided service. Furthermore, since Stripe is a global company, your data may be stored in any of the countries Stripe offers its services in. Therefore, your data may be stored outside your country, such as in the USA for example.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

Stripe is still a participant of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework which regulated correct and secure transfer of personal data until July 16, 2020. However, since the European Court of Justice declared the agreement to be invalid, the company no longer relies on this agreement, but still acts according to the principles of Privacy Shield.

You always reserve the right to information, correction and deletion of your personal data. Should you have any questions, you can contact the Stripe team at https://support.stripe.com/contact/email.

You can delete, deactivate or manage cookies in your browser that Stripe uses for its functions. This works differently depending on which browser you are using. Please note, however, that if you do so the payment process may no longer work. The following instructions will show you 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

We have now given you a general overview of Stripe’s data processing and retention. If you want more information, Stripe’s detailed privacy policy at https://stripe.com/at/privacy is a good source.

jQuery CDN Privacy Policy

We use jQuery CDN services by the jQuery Foundation to deliver our website and our subpages to you quickly and easily on different devices. 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). This service stores, manages and processes your personal data.

A content delivery network (CDN) is a network of regionally distributed servers that are connected to each other via the Internet. Through this network content and especially very large files, can be delivered quickly – even in peak demand periods.

jQuery uses JavaScript libraries to be able to deliver our website content quickly. For this, a CDN server loads the necessary files. As soon as a connection to the CDN server is established, your IP address is recorded and stored. This only happens if the data has not already been saved in your browser during a previous website visit.

StackPath’s privacy policy explicitly mentions that StackPath uses aggregated and anonymised data of various services (such as jQuery) for both, security enhancement and its own services. However, it is impossible for you to be personally identified with the use of this data.

If you want to avoid this data transfer, you always have the option to use JavaScript blockers such as ghostery.com or noscript.net. You can also simply deactivate the execution of JavaScript codes in your browser. If you decide to deactivate JavaScript codes, the usual functions will also change. For example, websites may no longer load as quickly.

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 at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000CbahAAC&status=Active.

Also, you can find more information about StackPath’s data protection at https://www.stackpath.com/legal/privacy-statement/ and jQuery’s data protection at https://openjsf.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/84/2019/11/OpenJS-Foundation-Privacy-Policy-2019-11-15.pdf.

All texts are copyrighted.

Source: Created with the Datenschutz Generator by AdSimple

 

Playing videos

To provide you with video material we use the LongTail Ad Solutions, Inc. (d/b/a JW Player, 2 Park Avenue, 10th Floor,  New York, NY 10016, USA) plugin JWPlayer.

You can read the company’s data privacy statement at https://www.jwplayer.com/privacy. This website provides more information on the use of the JWPlayer plugin and the information collected. LongTail Ad Solutions has agreed to comply with the Privacy Shield Agreement with respect to the use of personal data and has been certified accordingly. LongTail Ad Solutions states that the IP address of the user and a unique identifier will be collected and stored when you use the plugin.

 

Use of Flowpaper

We use Flowpaper, a tool that can be used to create online catalogs (FlipBooks) that allow the presentation of PDF files in the form of flip catalogs or books. To view the catalog/book, you will be directed to a Flowpaper page. Your visit there will be registered and evaluated by Flowpaper. Information about Flowpaper can be found here:

flowpaper.com (Privacy policy Flowpaper).

 

Last update: March 19, 2021