Thank you for your interest in our web site. The protection of your personal data is our most important concern. We would like to present you with some information about data protection in our company. Obviously, we comply with the legal provisions of the German Data Protection Act (Datenschutzgesetzes, hereafter BDSG) of the German Teleservices Act (Telemediengesetzes, hereafter TMG) other provisions relevant to data security.

You can trust us with your personal data. It is encrypted using digital security systems and transmitted to us. Technical measures protect our web pages against damage, destruction and unauthorized access.

The Objective of the Data Protection Act

Protecting personal data is the objective of the data protection act. According to § 3, Clause 1 of the German Federal Data Protection Act (Bundesdatenschutzgesetz, hereafter BDSG), such data provides detailed information about the personal or factual relationships of a specific natural person or said person can be determined. This includes information such as: names, postal addresses, email addresses and telephone numbers. It may also include usage data, such as IP addresses.

Scope of Data Acquisition and Storage

In general, the usage of our Internet site does not require that you provide personal data. In order to provide our services, however, we may need your personal data. This need applies to both the provision of informational materials, goods ordered and responses to individualized requests.

If you contract us to provide services or ship goods, we will record and save your personal data only as is required for the provision of the service or performance of the contract. To accomplish this, we may need to provide your personal data to the companies we rely on for the provision of services or completion of the contract. For example, this may include moving companies or other services. If we start any of the actions or services described below or otherwise, we will want to acquire and store your personal data and will request your express agreement at the corresponding points.

– Sending newsletters

– Checks for age or creditworthiness to ensure provision of our services or payment methods

– Personalization of our web site

– Other services or offers that require the express approval for the acquisition of your personal data.

Once the contract has been completed, access to your data will be blocked and deleted once the legal guidelines for taxation and commerce have expired, if you have not expressly agreed to the use of the data beyond that time.

If you have subscribed to our newsletter using your email address, we will also use your email address for our advertising purposes even after the contract has been completed, until you have unsubscribed from the newsletter. Additional information about the newsletter system in use (CleverReach) will be provided separately in this declaration of data protection.

SSL and TLS Encryption

Our web site uses SSL and TSL encryption for reasons of security and to protect the confidential content that you send us as a page operator. Doing this prevents third parties from scanning the data that you transfer through this web site. When “https://” appears on the browser’s address line and a padlock icon appears, it means that the connection is encrypted.

Right to Complain to the Authorities Responsible for Oversight

As the affected party, you have the right to complain to the responsible authorities in the event of a breach of data protection. The provincial data protection officer for the province where our company is located is the authority responsible for oversight with regard to questions of data protection law. The following link will provide a list of the data protection officers and their contact information: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.

Right to Transfer Data

You have the right to provide the data that we process automatically based on your agreement or for the fulfillment of a contract to third parties, or to allow such to be provided. The data will be provided in an electronic format. To the extent that the data will be transferred to another responsible party, said transfer will only occur when it is technically possible.

Cookies

Our web site uses cookies. These are small text files that your browser will store on your end device. Cookies help us to make our offer more user-friendly, more effective and more secure. Many cookies are so-called session cookies. Session cookies will be deleted automatically at the end of your browser session. In contrast, other cookies will remain on your end device until you delete them. Such cookies help us to recognize you when you return to our web site.

You may prevent the installation of the cookies by means of the appropriate setting in your Internet browser. To accomplish this, you must disable the storage of cookies from the options for your Internet browser. You will find more information about this in the instructions for your Internet browser.

Acquisition and Storage of Usage Data

We collect and store data, such as the data and time when a page was accessed, the identifier for the page accessed and similar information, in order to optimize our web site. This is done anonymously without any information that might identify the page’s user. User profile information may be created using a pseudonym. When this option is used, the pseudonym for the actual natural person will not be associated with the usage data acquired. We also use cookies for the acquisition and storage of the usage data. Cookies are small text files that will be stored on your computer and which serve to store static information such as: the operating system, your browser, IP address, the previously accessed web page (so-called Referrer URL) and the time. We only collect this data for statistical purposes so that we can optimize our web site and make the design of our Internet offers more attractive. The data will be acquired and stored in an anonymous, or a pseudonymous, manner and will not be associated with you as a natural person.

CleverReach

We use CleverReach for sending newsletters. The software provider is CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG, Mühlenstr. 43, 26180 Rastede Germany. By using this service, we can organize and analyze the transmission of newsletters. The data you enter for the use of the newsletter, such as your email address, will be stored on the CleverReach servers. The servers are located in Germany or Ireland.

Sending newsletters with CleverReach allows us to analyze the behavior of the recipients of the newsletters. The analysis report indicates, for example, how many recipients have opened their newsletters and how often links in the newsletters have been clicked. CleverReach supports conversion tracking in order to analyze if a pre-defined action, such as a product purchase, occurred after a link was clicked. You will find the details about CleverReach’s analysis of the data at: https://www.cleverreach.com/de/funktionen/reporting-und-tracking/.

The data will be processed based on your agreement (Art. 6, Paragraph 1, lit. a of the EU General Data Protection Regulation, hereafter DSGVO). You can revoke your agreement at any time. An informal message by email will suffice for the revocation or you can unsubscribe using the Unsubscribe link in the newsletter. The propriety of the data processes that have already been completed will remain unaffected by the revocation.

If you do not want CleverReach to perform any analysis, you must unsubscribe from the newsletter. An informal message by email will suffice for the un-subscription or you can unsubscribe using the Unsubscribe link in the newsletter.

Data provided to setup the subscription will be deleted from our servers and the CleverReach servers in the event of un-subscription. If these data has been transferred to us for other purposes and to other offices, it will continue to exist.

You will find the details about CleverReach’s data protection provisions at: https://www.cleverreach.com/de/datenschutz/.

Order Processing

We have concluded a contract about order processing for the complete fulfillment of the legal data protection provisions.

Usage of Data according to Purpose

We observe the principle of using data according to its purpose. We will only acquire, process and store your personal data according to the purposes for which you provided it. Your personal data will not be provided to third parties without your express permission, when it is not needed for the provision of the service or the performance of the contract. The data will only be transferred to state institutions and authorities within the scope of the legal obligations of notification or when we are obligated to do by a court decision.

We also take the internal protection of data very seriously. Our employees and the sub-contractors used to provide services have been obligated to non-disclosure and compliance with the provisions for the protection of data.

Right of Notification and Rejection

You may receive a notification report for the data we store about you free of charge at any time without specification of the reasons. You can block or authorize any data that we have acquired or allow it to be deleted at any time. You can also reject the agreements for the acquisition and usage of data at any time without specification of the reasons. Please contact the address indicated on the Legal Notification page to do this. We will be happy to answer any questions that you might regarding the comments on data protection and the processing of your personal data at any time.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics from Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94.043 USA. This tool analyze the use of web pages. Google uses various techniques, including cookies stored on their computer. These store information about the use of our site, which we use to improve our offerings. The data collected by Google may be transmitted by Google to countries outside the EU, in particular the United States. Google has submitted to the Privacy Shield Framework, and you can find more information about your rights under https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection_en

According to the requirements of German data protection authorities, measures have been taken to ensure adequate protection of their data. So we have made sure that your IP address is anonymized before the transfer to Google. This was done by activating the Anonymizelp () function within the Google Analytics tracking code. We’ve also entered into a contract data processing contract with Google that will prevent Google from merging your information with other data collected by Google to determine your identity. If that’s not enough for you, you can also download and install Google’s Google browser blocking plug-in at http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en your personal information is blocked by Google. Likewise you can prevent the collection by Google Analytics by deactivating Google Analytics by setting an opt-out cookie which also prevents the collection of their data. (See https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/gajs/)

If you’d like to learn more about Google’s Privacy Policy, please use the following link: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/ .


Google Analytics also helps us to evaluate data from AdWords and the Double-Click-Cookie for statistical purposes. If you do not want to, you can use the Ads Preferences Manager https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads/authenticated to make large settings or disable the service altogether.

Google Tag Manager

With Google Tag Manager, marketers can manage site tags through a single interface. The Tag Manager itself, who uses the tags, works without cookies and does not collect personally identifiable information. Tag Manager only triggers other tags, which in turn may collect data. For these respective third-party providers, appropriate explanations can be found in this privacy policy. Google Tag Manager does not use this data. If you have opted out or otherwise opted out of cookies, it will be honored for all tracking tags used with Google Tag Manager, so the tool will not change your cookie settings. Google may ask you for permission to share some product data (such as your account information) with other Google products to enable certain features, such as: For example, to simplify the addition of new AdWords conversion tracking tags. In addition, Google’s developer reviews product usage information from time to time to further optimize the product. However, Google will never share this type of data with other Google products without your consent. For more information, see the Google Use Policy.

Matomo Web Analytics (without cookies and with cookies)

We use the open-source web analytics service Matomo on this website to evaluate user behavior and continuously improve our online offering. Matomo is installed on our own server, which means all collected data remains under our control and is not shared with any third parties.

By default, we operate Matomo without the use of cookies in order to protect your privacy as much as possible. In this cookieless mode, no information is stored on or retrieved from your device that is not strictly necessary. Data processing in this context is based on our legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR, as analyzing website usage helps us optimize our services for you. The collected usage data is immediately anonymized (in particular, your IP address is truncated so that it can no longer be linked to you personally). Returning visitors may not always be reliably recognized in this mode (since no unique cookie ID is available), which does not, however, significantly affect our statistics.

Matomo with Cookies (subject to consent)

Additionally, we offer you the option to consent to a more comprehensive analysis using Matomo. Only if you provide your consent via the cookie banner (Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR) will Matomo set cookies on your device. These cookies allow Matomo to recognize returning visitors and thus generate more accurate statistics. In this case, the following data may be collected, among others:

  • Your truncated IP address (e.g., shortened by the first 2 bytes, so that you cannot be uniquely identified),
  • Pages visited on our domain and the duration of each visit,
  • Click paths, interactions, and any conversions (e.g., downloads, form submissions),
  • Browser type, device type, and operating system,
  • Referrer URL (the page from which you arrived at our website),
  • Approximate location data (country/region derived from the IP address).

The cookie-based Matomo analysis helps us in particular to recognize returning users and understand usage patterns over longer periods of time. Even in this mode, your IP address is stored only in anonymized form, and we have activated the “Replace User ID with Pseudonym” feature, which replaces internal Matomo user IDs with non-reversible hash values.

All information collected through Matomo is stored exclusively on our server in Germany/EU and is not shared with any third parties. No data is transferred to third countries, as we self-host Matomo (no Matomo Cloud service).

Right to Object / Opt-Out for Matomo

You can object to web analytics by Matomo at any time. If you do not wish to be tracked by Matomo at all, you can disable this feature here:

Note: If you delete your cookies, the Matomo opt-out cookie will also be deleted. When visiting our website again, you would need to deactivate web analytics once more via the link above.

Providing this opt-out option in our privacy policy ensures that you can exercise your right to object to data processing. Alternatively, you can change or withdraw your previously given consent for Matomo analytics at any time via our cookie settings banner. The legality of the data processing carried out up to the point of withdrawal remains unaffected.

External Media

Podcasts (Podigee)

Our podcasts are embedded using the service “Podigee”, offered by Podigee GmbH, Schlesische Straße 20, 10997 Berlin, Germany.
When you play a podcast, data is transferred to the servers of Podigee, including your IP address, device information, and, if applicable, other technical data required to provide and play the audio content.
Processing is based on your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR, granted via our consent management tool (Borlabs Cookie).
Without your consent, no connection to Podigee’s servers is established, and no data is transmitted.

Further information on data protection at Podigee can be found at:
https://www.podigee.com/en/about/privacy/

YouTube

Videos on our website are embedded via the YouTube platform, operated by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.
When you play a YouTube video, a connection to YouTube’s servers is established. This informs the YouTube server which of our pages you have visited.
If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can associate your browsing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account before playing the video.

Embedding of YouTube videos is based on your consent in accordance with Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR via our consent management tool (Borlabs Cookie).
Without your consent, no connection to YouTube is established, and no YouTube content is loaded.

Further information on data processing by YouTube can be found in Google’s privacy policy:
https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en