Data Protection

Privacy

We have written this data protection declaration (version 05.06.2020-311183169) in order to explain to you in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 what information we collect, how we use data and what decision options you have as a visitor to this website.

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

Automatic data storage

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

If you visit our website as you are now, our web server (computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores data such as

  • the address (URL) of the website accessed   
  • Browser and browser version   
  • the operating system used   
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)   
  • the host name and the IP address of the device from which access is being made   
  • Date and Time

in files (web server log files).

As a rule, web server log files are saved for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot rule out that this data will be viewed in the event of illegal behavior.

Cookies

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.In the following we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can understand better the following data protection declaration. 

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you surf the Internet, use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites save small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.

One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are really useful helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More specifically, they are HTTP cookies because there are also other cookies for other areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically placed in the cookie folder, the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified.

Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you visit our site again, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual standard setting. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our website, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie is to be assessed individually, since each cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “pests”. Cookies also cannot access information from your PC.

For example, cookie data can look like this:

  • Name: _ga
  • Expiry time: 2 years
  • Use: Differentiation of website visitors
  • Example Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311183169

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

  • A cookie should contain at least 4096 bytes
  • At least 50 cookies should be saved per domain
  • A total of at least 3000 cookies should be saved

What types of cookies are there?

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

There are 4 types of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies

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

Functional cookies

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

Targeted cookies

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

Advertising cookies

These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They serve to deliver customized advertising to the user. This can be very practical, but it can also be very annoying.

When you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked which of these types of cookies you want to allow. And of course this decision is also saved in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

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

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

Chrome: delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari 

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

Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

If you basically do not want cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. For each individual cookie, you can decide whether you want to allow the cookie or not. The procedure differs depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google with the search terms “Delete cookies Chrome” or “Deactivate cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser or exchange the word “Chrome” for the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

What about my data protection?

The so-called “Cookie Policy” has been in existence since 2009. This states that the storage of cookies requires the consent of the website visitor (i.e. you). However, there are still very different reactions to these guidelines within the EU countries. In Germany, the cookie guidelines were not implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG). 

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

Storage of personal data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as name, email address, address or other personal information in the context of the transmission of a form or comments in the blog, will be collected by us together with the time and the IP address. Addresses are used only for the specified purpose, kept safe and not passed on to third parties. 

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

If you send us personal data by e-mail – thus outside of this website – we cannot guarantee secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data unencrypted by email. 

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

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR, you have the following basic rights:

  • Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR)   
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)   
  • Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)   
  • Right to notification – notification obligation in connection with the correction or deletion of personal data or the 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 believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection claims have otherwise been violated, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).

Embedded social media elements privacy policy

We integrate elements of social media services on our website to display images, videos and texts.

By visiting pages that represent these elements, data is transferred from your browser to the respective social media service and stored there. We have no access to this data.The following links lead you to the pages of the respective social media services, where it is explained how they handle your data:   

  • Instagram privacy policy: https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875   
  • The Google data protection declaration applies to YouTube: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de   
  • Facebook data policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy   
  • Twitter privacy policy: https://twitter.com/de/privacy

LinkedIn privacy policy

We use social plug-ins of the social media network LinkedIn, the company LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA on our website. The social plug-ins can be feeds, content sharing or a link to our LinkedIn page. The social plug-ins are clearly marked with the well-known LinkedIn logo and allow, for example, interesting content to be shared directly via our website. For the European Economic Area and Switzerland, LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place in Dublin is responsible for data processing.

By embedding such plug-ins, data can be sent to LinkedIn, stored and processed there. In this data protection declaration we want to inform you what data it is, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data storage.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the largest social network for business contacts. In contrast to Facebook, for example, the company focuses exclusively on establishing business contacts. Companies can present services and products on the platform and establish business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn to find a job or to find suitable employees for their own company. In Germany alone, the network has over 11 million members. In Austria there are about 1.3 million.

Why do we use LinkedIn on our website?

We know how busy you are. You cannot track all social media channels individually. Even if it would be worth it, as it s in our case. Because we keep posting interesting news or reports that are worth spreading. That is why we have created the opportunity on our website to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn or to refer directly to our LinkedIn page. We consider built-in social plug-ins as an extended service on our website. The data that LinkedIn collects also helps us to show possible advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offer.

What data does LinkedIn store?

LinkedIn does not save any personal data only by simply integrating the social plug-ins. LinkedIn calls this data, which is generated by plug-ins, passive impressions. However, if you click on a social plug-in to share our content, for example, the platform stores personal data as so-called “active impressions”. It is regardless whether you have a LinkedIn account or not. If you are logged in, the data collected will be assigned to your account.

Your browser establishes a direct connection to the LinkedIn servers when you interact with our plug-ins. The company logs various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this can be, for example, registration data, device information or information about your Internet or mobile phone provider. If you call up LinkedIn services via your smart phone, your location can also be determined (after you have given your permission). LinkedIn can also pass this data on to third-party advertisers in a hashed form. Hashing means that a data record is transformed into a character string. This allows the data to be encrypted so that people can no longer be identified.

Most of the data about your user behavior is stored in cookies. These are small text files that are usually set in your browser. Furthermore, LinkedIn can also use web beacons, pixel tags, display tags and other device detections.

Various tests also show which cookies are set when a user interacts with a social plug-in. The data found cannot claim to be complete and is only an example. The following cookies were set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Value: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16311183169-
Purpose: The cookie is a so-called “browser ID cookie” and therefore stores your identification number (ID).
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: lang
Value: v=2&lang=de-de
Purpose: This cookie saves your default or preferred language.
Expiry date: after the session ends

Name: lidc
Value: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G311183169…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records how you got to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website.
Expiry date: after 24 hours

Name: rtc
Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX
Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiry date: after 2 minute

Name: JSESSIONID
Value: ajax:3111831692900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions through the server.
Expiry date: after the session ends

Name: bscookie
Value: “v=1&201910230812…
Purpose: This cookie is a security cookie. LinkedIn describes it as a secure browser ID cookie.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: fid
Value: AQHj7Ii23ZBcqAAAA…
Purpose: No further information could be found for this cookie.
Expiry date: after 7 days

Note: LinkedIn also works with third parties. That is why we recognized the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat in our test.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company considers it necessary to offer its own services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn retains some data in summarized and anonymized form even after you delete your account. As soon as you delete your account, other people can no longer see your data within a day. LinkedIn generally deletes the data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data when it is legally necessary. Data that can no longer be assigned to any person remains saved even after the account is closed. The data is stored on various servers in America and probably also in Europe.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and delete your personal data at any time. You can manage, change and delete your data in your LinkedIn account. You can also request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn.

How to access the account information in your LinkedIn profile:

Click on your profile icon in LinkedIn and select the “Settings and data protection” section. Now click on “Privacy” and then in the section “How LinkedIn uses your data on” Change “. In just a short time, you can download selected data on your web activity and your account history.

You also have the option in your browser to prevent data processing by LinkedIn. As already mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most of the data via cookies that are set in your browser. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies. Depending on which browser you have, the administration works a little differently. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here:

Chrome: delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari

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

Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

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

LinkedIn is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Frameworks. This framework ensures correct data transmission between the USA and the European Union. You can find out more at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000L0UZAA0. We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by LinkedIn. At https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy you can find out more about the data processing of the social media network LinkedIn.

YouTube privacy policy

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

In the following we want to explain in more detail what data is processed, why we have integrated YouTube videos and how you can manage or delete your data.

What is YouTube?

On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment on and upload videos for free. Over the past few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. In order for us to be able to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have installed on our website.

Why do we use YouTube videos on our website?

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

What data does YouTube store?

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

If you are not logged in to a Google account or a YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier that is linked to your device, browser or app. For example, your preferred language setting is retained. But a lot of interaction data cannot be saved because fewer cookies are set.

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

Name: YSC
Value: b9-CV6ojI5Y311183169-1
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed.
Expiry date: after the session ends

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

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

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

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

Name: APISID
Value: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7311183169-
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. The data is used for personalized advertisements.
Expiry date: after 2 years

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

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

Name: LOGIN_INFO
Value: AFmmF2swRQIhALl6aL…
Purpose: This cookie stores information about your login data.
Expiry date: after 2 years

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

Name: SID
Value: oQfNKjAsI311183169-
Purpose: This cookie stores your Google Account ID and your last login time in digitally signed and encrypted form.
Expiry date: after 2 years

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

How long and where is the data stored?

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

Google stores the data collected for different lengths of time. You can delete some data at any time, others are automatically deleted after a limited time and others are stored by Google for a long time. Some data (such as items from “My activity”, photos or documents, products) that are saved in your Google account will be saved until you delete them. Even if you’re not signed in to a Google Account, you can still delete some data associated with your device, browser, or app.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

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

Regardless of whether you have a Google account or not, you can configure your browser so that cookies are deleted or deactivated by Google. Depending on the browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari 

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

Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

If you basically do not want cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. So you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow it or not. Since YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, there is a common data protection declaration. If you would like to learn more about how we handle your data, we recommend the privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

XING data protection declaration

On our website we use social plugins from the social media network Xing, the company Xing SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany. With these functions, you can, for example, share content on Xing directly via our website, log in via Xing or follow interesting content. You can recognize the plug-ins by the company name or the Xing logo. If you call up a website that uses a Xing plug-in, data can be transmitted to the “Xing server”, stored and evaluated. In this data protection declaration we want to inform you about what data it is and how you manage or prevent this data storage.

What is Xing?

Xing is a social network with its headquarters in Hamburg. The company specializes in managing professional contacts. That means, unlike other networks, Xing is primarily about professional networking. The platform is often used for job searches or to find employees for your own company. Xing also offers interesting content on various professional topics. The global counterpart is the American company LinkedIn.

Why do we use Xing on our website?

There is now a flood of social media channels and we are well aware that your time is very precious. Not every social media channel of a company can be closely examined. Therefore, we want to make your life as easy as possible so that you can share or follow interesting content directly on our website on Xing. With such “social plug-ins” we are expanding our service on our website. In addition, the data collected by Xing help us to carry out targeted advertising measures on the platform. This means that our service is only shown to people who are really interested in it.

What data does Xing store?

Xing offers the share button, the follow button and the log-in button as a plug-in for websites. As soon as you open a page where a social plug-in from Xing is installed, your browser connects to servers in a data center used by Xing. In the case of the share button – according to Xing – no data should be saved that could directly relate to a person. In particular, Xing does not save any of your IP addresses. Furthermore, no cookies are set in connection with the share button. This means that there is no evaluation of your user behavior. For more information, please visit https://www.xing.com/app/share%3Fop%3Ddata_protection.

With the other Xing plug-ins, cookies are only set in your browser when you interact with the plug-in or click on it. Personal data such as your IP address, browser data, date and time of your visit to Xing can be stored here. If you have a XING account and are logged in, the data collected will be assigned to your personal account and the data stored in it.

The following cookies are set in your browser if you click on the follow or log-in button and are not yet logged in to Xing. Please keep in mind that this is an exemplary list and we cannot claim to be complete:

Name: AMCVS_0894FF2554F733210A4C98C6% 40AdobeOrg
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is used to create and store identifications of website visitors.
Expiry date: after the session ends

Name: c_
Value: 157c609dc9fe7d7ff56064c6de87b019311183169-8
Purpose: We were unable to find out more information about this cookie.
Expiry date: after one day

Name: prevPage
Value: wbm%2FWelcome%2Flogin
Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the previous website that you visited.
Expiry date: after 30 minutes

Name: s_cc
Value: true
Purpose: This Adobe Site Catalyst cookie determines whether cookies are always activated in the browser.
Expiry date: after the session ends

Name: s_fid
Value: 6897CDCD1013221C-39DDACC982217CD1311183169-2
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify a unique visitor.
Expiry date: after 5 years

Name: visitor_id
Value: fe59fbe5-e9c6-4fca-8776-30d0c1a89c32
Purpose: The visitor cookie contains a unique visitor ID and the unique identifier for your account.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Name:_session_id
Value: 533a0a6641df82b46383da06ea0e84e7311183169-2
Purpose: This cookie creates a temporary session ID that is used as the in-session user ID. The cookie is absolutely necessary to provide the functions of Xing.
Expiry date: after the session ends

As soon as you are logged in or a member of Xing, further personal data will definitely be collected, processed and saved. Xing also passes on personal data to third parties if this is necessary for the fulfillment of its own business purposes, if you have given your consent or if there is a legal obligation.

How long and where is the data stored?

Xing stores the data on different servers in various data centers. The company stores this data until you delete the data or until you delete a user account. Of course, this only applies to users who are already Xing members.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and delete your personal data at any time. Even if you are not a Xing member, you can prevent possible data processing via your browser or manage it as you wish. Most of the data is stored via cookies. Depending on which browser you have, the administration works a little differently. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here:

Chrome: delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome 

Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari 

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

Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies 

Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

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

We have tried to give you the most important information about data processing by Xing. At https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung you can find out more about the data processing of the social media network Xing.

Source: Created with the data protection generator from AdSimple in cooperation with hashtagmann.de