Privacy Policy

We have written this privacy policy (version 26.05.2021-121744205) 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.

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/.

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.

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: GA1.2.1326744211.152121744205-9
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”.

Email-Marketing

Of course, we want to stay in contact with you and keep you in the loop of the most important news about our company. For this, we use email marketing, which is an essential part of our online marketing. If you agree to this or if it is permitted by law, we will send you newsletters, emails or other notifications. When the term “newsletter” is used in the following text, it mainly refers to emails that are sent regularly.

How can you register for our Email-Marketing?

If you want to participate in our email marketing (usually via newsletter), you usually have to register with your email address only. You will simply have to fill an online form and submit it. However, we may also ask you to fill in your title and name so we will be able to address you more personally.

Generally, the registration for newsletters is carried out with the so-called “double opt-in procedure”. After registering for our newsletter on our website, you will receive an email for you to confirm the newsletter registration. This will ensure that you own your email address and that no one registers with an email address that is not owned by them. Every single registration is stored either by us or by a notification tool we use. This is necessary for us to ensure that registration processes are legally correct. Therefore, the time of your registration, the time of confirmation of your registration and your IP address are usually retained. It will also be logged if you make changes to your stored data.

How long can we store your email address?

If you unsubscribe from our email/newsletter distribution list, we may store your address for up to three years on the basis of our legitimate interests, so that we can still prove your consent at the time. We are only allowed to process this data if we have to defend ourselves against any claims.

However, if you confirm that you have given us your consent to subscribe to the newsletter, you can submit an individual request for deletion at any time. Should you object to your consent permanently, we reserve the right to save your email address in a blacklist. We will of course keep your email address for as long as you are voluntarily subscribed to our newsletter.

On what legal basis do we operate email marketing?

Our newsletter is sent on the basis of your consent. This means that we are only allowed to send you a newsletter if you have actively registered for it beforehand. If consent is not required, newsletters will be sent on the basis of the legitimate interest in direct marketing, provided it is legally permitted. Should we commission a service provider, this will be done on the basis of our legitimate interest also. We record your registration process for the purpose of using it as proof that it is in compliance with our laws.

What is in our newsletters?

Of course, we do not want to bother you with our newsletter in any way. Therefore, we really strive to offer only relevant and interesting content, such as more information about our company, our services or our products. Since we are continuously improving our offers, our newsletter will always update you on any news or special offers and lucrative promotions.

If we commission a service provider with a professional mailing tool for our email marketing, we do this in order to be able to offer you our newsletter fast and securely.

Which data are retained?

If you subscribe to our newsletter via our website, you will confirm your membership in our email list via an email that we will send to you. In addition to your IP address and email address, your name, address and telephone number may also be saved. However, this will only be done if you agree to this data retention. Moreover, information about your device or the type of content you prefer on our website may also be stored. In the “Automatic data storage” section you can find out more about how your data is stored when you visit a website.

You can find information on special email marketing services in the following sections, provided the information you are looking for is available.

How can I cancel my subscription?

You have the option to cancel your newsletter subscription at any time. All you have to do is revoke your consent to the newsletter subscription. This usually only takes a few minutes or a few clicks. Most of the time you will find a link directly in our newsletter, with which you will be able to cancel the subscription. Should you not be able to find the link in the newsletter, you can contact us by email and we will cancel your newsletter subscription for you.

MailChimp Privacy Policy

Like many other websites, we use the services of the newsletter company MailChimp on our website. The operator of MailChimp is the company The Rocket Science Group, LLC, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Suite 5000, Atlanta, GA 30308 USA. With the aid of MailChimp we can easily send you interesting news via newsletter. For the use of the service we do not have to install anything but can still access a pool of very efficient features. In the following we will give more details on this email marketing service and will inform you about the most important data protection aspects.

What is MailChimp?

MailChimp is a cloud-based newsletter management service. “Cloud-based“ means that we do not need to install MailChimp on our own computer or server. Instead, we use the service on an external server, or more specifically via an IT infrastructure, which is available via the internet. Using a software this way is also called SaaS (software as a service).

MailChimp allows us to chose from a wide range of different email types. Depending on what goal we want to reach with our newsletter, we can run individual campaigns, regular campaigns, auto responders (automated emails), A/B tests, RSS campaigns (mailings at pre-set times and frequencies) and follow-up campaigns.

Why do we use MailChimp on our website?

The reason we would use any newsletter service is so we can stay in contact with you. We want to keep you on the loop what news or attractive offers we have for you at the time. As we constantly seek out the easiest and best solutions for our marketing measures, we have decided on MailChimp as our newsletter management service. While the software is very easy to use, it offers many helpful features. For example, it allows us to create interesting and attractive newsletters in only a short time. With integrated design templates we can create every newsletter in an individual way. Due to the “responsive design” feature, our contents are also presented in a readable and pleasant way on your smartphone (or any other mobile device).

With tools such as A/B testing or the extensive analysis options, we can swiftly tell how you like our newsletters. This means that we can react if necessary and improve our offer or our services.

Another advantage is MailChimp’s “cloud system”. The data is not stored and processed directly on our server. We can retrieve the datafrom external servers and therefore save our memory space and also decrease maintenance effort.

What data is saved by MailChimp?

Rocket Science Group LLC (MailChimp) operate online platforms which enable us to get in contact with you, provided you subscribed to our newsletter. If you become a subscriber of our newsletter via our website, by email you agree to become a member of a MailChimp email list. Then, MailChimp saves your subscription data and your IP address, so it can verify your entry into the list provider. Moreover, MailChimp stores your email address, your name, your physical address and demographic information, such as language or location.

This information is used to send emails to you and to allow certain other MailChimp functions (e.g. the evaluation of newsletters).

MailChimp also shares information with third parties to improve its services. Moreover, MailChimp shares certain data with advertising partners of third parties to get a better understanding of its clients’ interests, in order to provide relevant contents and target-oriented advertising.

With so-called “web beacons” (small graphics in HTML emails), MailChimp can determine if an email has arrived, has been opened or if links have been clicked. This information is then stored on MailChimp’s servers. That way we receive statistical evaluations and can see how you liked our newsletter. Therefore, we can tailor our offer better to your wishes and improve our service.

Moreover, MailChimp are allowed to use this data for improving their own service. Thus, they can for example technically optimise the distribution or determine the location (or the country) of the recipient.

For better display it could be that you would sometimes open our newsletter via a specified link. This can be the case if your email program does not work or if the newsletter is not displayed properly. The newsletter will then be shown via a MailChimp website. MailChimp also uses cookies on its websites (small text files which save data on your browser).

Personal data can be processed by MailChimp and their partners (e.g. Google Analytics). MailChimp is responsible for the collection of this data and we have no influence on it. MailChimp’s “Cookie Statement” (at: https://mailchimp.com/legal/cookies/) tells you exactly how and why the company uses cookies.

How long and where is the data saved?

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

Generally, the data stays permanently saved on MailChimp’s servers and is deleted only when you request it. You can have your contact information with us deleted. This permanently removes all your personal data for us and anonymises you in MailChimp’s reports. However, you can also request the deletion of your data permanently at MailChimp. Then all your data are removed from there and we receive a notification from MailChimp. After we receive the email we have 30 days to delete your contact from all integrations.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

You can withdraw your approval for the receipt of our newsletters anytime, by clicking the link in the lower area of the received newsletter email. When you click on the unsubscribe link, your data with MailChimp gets deleted.

When you land on a MailChimp website via a link in our newsletter and cookies are consequently set in your browser, you can delete or deactivate these cookies anytime.

Depending on the browser, the deactivation or deletion differs slightly. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

If you generally do not want to allow any cookies, you can set up your browser in a way so it would notify you whenever a potential cookie is about to be set. This lets you decide upon the placement of every single cookie.

MailChimp is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information on this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TO6hAAG&tid=121744205. You can find more information on MailChimp’s use of cookies at https://mailchimp.com/legal/cookies/, and you can learn more about data protection at MailChimp (Privacy) at https://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/.

MailChimp Data Processing Addendum

We entered a contract with MailChimp on the Data Processing Addendum. This contract serves as a protection of your personal data and ensures that MailChimp follows the applicable data protection regulations and disclose your personal data to third parties.You can find more information on this contract at https://mailchimp.com/legal/data-processing-addendum/.

Sofortüberweisung Privacy Policy

On our website we offer the payment method “Sofortüberweisung” from Sofort GmbH for cashless payment. Sofort GmbH has been part of the Swedish company Klarna since 2014, but is based in Germany, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339 Munich.

If you choose this payment method, your personal data will also be transmitted to Sofort GmbH or Klarna, where it will be stored and processed. In this privacy policy we will give you an overview of Sofort GmbH’s data processing.

What is “Sofortüberweisung”?

Sofortüberweisung is an online payment system that enables you to place an order via online banking. The payment is processed by Sofort GmbH, while we immediately receive information about your payment. Anyone who has an active online banking account with a PIN and TAN can use this method. Only a few banks do not yet support this payment option.

Why do we use “Sofortüberweisung” on our website?

It is our goal to offer you the best possible service with our website and our integrated online shop. Next to the overall experience of the website and offers, this also includes smooth, fast, and secure payment processing of your orders. To ensure this, we use “Sofortüberweisung” as a payment system.

What data is stored by “Sofortüberweisung”?

If you make an immediate transfer via the Sofort/Klarna service, data such as your name, account number, sort code, payment reference, amount and date are stored on the company’s servers. We then also receive this information via the payment confirmation.

As part of the check for sufficient account coverage, Sofort GmbH reviews whether your account balance and overdraft can cover the payment amount. In some cases, it is also reviewed whether any instant transfers have been successfully carried out within the last 30 days. Furthermore, a shortened (“hashed”) form of your user identification (such as your signatory or contract number) as well as your IP address will be stored. For SEPA transfers your BIC and IBAN will also be stored.

According to Sofort GmbH, no other personal data (such as account balances, sales data, transaction limits, account lists, mobile phone numbers, authentication certificates, security codes or PIN/TAN) are collected, stored or passed on to third parties.

Sofortüberweisung also uses cookies to make our service more user-friendly. When you order a product, you will be redirected to the Sofort or Klarna website. After successful payment you will be redirected to our thank-you page. There, the following three cookies are placed:

Name: SOFUEB
Value: e8cipp378mdscn9e17kajlfhv7121744205-5
Purpose: This cookie stores your session ID.
Expiry date: after ending the browser session
Name: User[user_cookie_rules] Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores the status of your consent to the use of cookies.
Expiry date: after 10 years
Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.69759879.1589470706
Purpose: Analytics.js uses the _ga cookie by default to store your user ID. Hence, it basically serves to differentiate between website visitors. It is a Google Analytics cookie.
Expiry date: after 2 years

Note: We do not claim for this cookie list to be exhaustive. Moreover, it is always possible that Sofortüberweisung may also use other cookies.

How long and where are the data stored?

All gathered data are stored within the legal storage obligations. This obligation can last between three and ten years.

Klarna/Sofort GmbH try to only save data within the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA). If data is transferred outside the EU/EEA, data protection must comply with the GDPR. Also, the country the data is transferred to must be subject to the EU’s adequacy decision or have the US Privacy Shield certificate.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

You can withdraw your consent for Klarna to process your personal data at any time. You also always have the right for information, rectification and deletion of your personal data. For this, you can simply email the company’s data protection team at privacy@klarna.co.uk.

In your browser, you can manage, delete, or deactivate Sofortüberweisung’s possible cookies. The settings vary a bit depending on what browser you use. The following instructions will show you how to manage cookies in the most common browsers:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

If you want to know more about Sofort GMmbH’s data processing, we recommend the privacy policy at https://cdn.klarna.com/1.0/shared/content/legal/terms/0/en_gb/privacy.

Facebook Data Policy

We use selected Facebook tools on our website. Facebook is a social media network of the company Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. With the aid of this tool we can provide the best possible offers to you and anyone interested in our products and services. In the following we will give you an overview on the different Facebook tools, as well as on what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete these data.

What are Facebook tools?

Along with many other products, Facebook also offers so called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is Facebook’s official name for the tools, but it is not very common. Therefore, we decided to merely call them “Facebook tools”. They include the following:

Facebook-Pixel
social plugins (e.g. the “Like” or “Share“ button)
Facebook Login
Account Kit
APIs (application programming interface)
SDKs (Softwart developmept kits)
Plattform-integrations
Plugins
Codes
Specifications
Documentations
Technologies and Services

With these tools Facebook can extend its services and is able to receive information on user activities outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We only want to show our services and products to people who are genuinely interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads) we can reach exactly these people. However, to be able to show suitable adverts to users, Facebook requires additional information on people’s needs and wishes. Therefore, information on the user behaviour (and contact details) on our website, are provided to Facebook. Consequently, Facebook can collect better user data and is able to display suitable adverts for our products or services. Thanks to the tools it is possible to create targeted, customised ad campaigns of Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behaviour on our website “event data” and uses them for analytics services. That way, Facebook can create “campaign reports” about our ad campaigns’ effectiveness on our behalf. Moreover, by analyses we can get a better insight in how you use our services, our website or our products. Therefore, some of these tools help us optimise your user experience on our website. With the social plugins for instance, you can share our site’s contents directly on Facebook.

What data is saved by the Facebook tools?

With the use of the Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) may be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, telephone number and IP address may be transmitted.

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it has on you (if you are a Facebook member). However, before the customer data is transferred to Facebook, a so called “Hashing” takes place. This means, that a data record of any size is transformed into a string of characters, which also has the purpose of encrypting data.

Moreover, not only contact data, but also “event data“ is transferred. These data are the information we receive about you on our website. To give an example, it allows us to see what subpages you visit or what products you buy from us. Facebook does not disclose the obtained information to third parties (such as advertisers), unless the company has an explicit permission or is legally obliged to do so. Also, “event data“ can be linked to contact information, which helps Facebook to offer improved, customised adverts. Finally, after the previously mentioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact data.

To deliver optimised advertisements, Facebook only uses event data, if they have been combined with other data (that have been collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses event data for the purposes of security, protection, development and research. Many of these data are transmitted to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are little text files, that are used for storing data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used, and on whether you are a Facebook member, a different number of cookies are placed in your browser. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools we will go into more detail on Facebook cookies. You can also find general information about the use of Facebook cookies at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where are the data saved?

Facebook fundamentally stores data, until they are no longer of use for their own services and products. Facebook has servers for storing their data all around the world. However, customer data is cleared within 48 hours after they have been matched with their own user data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

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

The collected data is only fully deleted, when you delete your entire Facebook account. Deleting your Facebook account works as follows:

1) Click on settings in the top right side in Facebook.
2) Then, click “Your Facebook information“ in the left column.
3) Now click on “Deactivation and deletion”.
4) Choose “Permanently delete account“ and then click on “Continue to account deletion“.
5) Enter your password, click on “continue“ and then on “Delete account“.

The retention of data Facebook receives via our site is done via cookies (e.g. with social plugins), among others. You can deactivate, clear or manage both all and individual cookies in your browser. How this can be done differs depending on the browser you use. The following instructions show, how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

If you generally do not want to allow any cookies at all, you can set up your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to decide upon the permission or deletion of every single cookie.

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

Instagram Privacy Policy

We have integrated functions of Instagram to our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Since 2012, Instagram is a subsidiary company of Facebook Inc. and is a part of Facebook’s products. The inclusion of Instagram’s contents on our website is called embedding. With this, we can show you Instagram contents such as buttons, photos or videos directly on our website. If you open websites of our online presence, that have an integrated Instagram function, data gets transmitted to, as well as stored and processed by Instagram. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Therefore, your data will be processed across all Facebook firms.

In the following, we want to give you a more detailed insight on why Instagram collects data, what data these are and how you can control data processing. As Instagram belongs to Facebook Inc., we have, on the one hand received this information from the Instagram guidelines, and on the other hand from Facebook’s Data Policy.

What is Instagram?

Instagram is one of the most famous social media networks worldwide. Instagram combines the benefits of a blog with the benefits of audio-visual platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. To “Insta“ (how the platform is casually called by many users) you can upload photos and short videos, edit them with different filters and also share them to other social networks. Also, if you do not want to be active on Instagram yourself, you can just follow other interesting users.

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is a social media platform whose success has skyrocketed within recent years. Naturally, we have also reacted to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. Therefore, we attach great importance to diversified contents. With the embedded Instagram features we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting Instagram contents. Since Instagram is a subsidiary company of Facebook, the collected data can also serve us for customised advertising on Facebook. Hence, only persons who are genuinely interested in our products or services can see our ads.

Instagram also uses the collected data for tracking and analysis purposes. We receive summarised statistics and therefore more insight to your wishes and interests. It is important to mention that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data is saved by Instagram?

Whenever you land on one of our sites, which have Instagram functions (i.e. Instagram photos or plugins) integrated to them, your browser automatically connects with Instagram’s servers. Thereby, data is sent to, as well as saved and processed by Instagram. This always happens, whether you have an Instagram account or not. Moreover, it includes information on our website, your computer, your purchases, the advertisements you see and on how you use our offer. The date and time of your interaction is also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram saves significantly more data on you.

Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume this is also the case for Instagram. Customer data are for example names, addresses, phone numbers and IP addresses. These data are only transmitted to Instagram, if they have been “hashed” first. Thereby, a set of data is transformed into a string of characters, which encrypts any contact data. Moreover, the aforementioned “event data“ (data on your user behaviour) is transmitted as well. It is also possible, that contact data may get combined with event data. The collected data data is matched with any data Instagram already has on you.

Furthermore, the gathered data are transferred to Facebook via little text files (cookies) which usually get set in your browser. Depending on the Instagram function used, and whether you have an Instagram account yourself, the amount of data that gets stored varies.

We assume data processing on Instagram works the same way as on Facebook. Therefore, if you have an account on Instagram or have visited www.instagram.com, Instagram has set at least one cookie. If this is the case, your browser uses the cookie to send information to Instagram, as soon as you come across an Instagram function. No later than 90 days (after matching) the data is deleted or anonymised. Even though we have studied Instagram’s data processing in-depth, we cannot tell for sure what exact data Instagram collects and retains.

In the following we will show you a list of the least cookies placed in your browser when click on an Instagram function (e.g. button or an Insta picture). In our test we assume you do not have an Instagram account, since if you would be logged in to your Instagram account, your browser would place significantly more cookies.

The following cookies were used in our test:

Name: csrftoken
Value: “”
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons to prevent falsifications of requests. We could not find out more information on it.
Expiry date: after one year
Name: mid
Value: “”
Purpose: Instagram places this cookie to optimise its own offers and services in- and outside of Instagram. The cookie allocates a unique user ID.
Name: fbsr_121744205124024
Value: no information
Purpose: This cookie stores the login request of Instagram app users.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: rur
Value: ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie which guarantees functionality on Instagram.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: urlgen
Value: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe121744205”
Purpose: This cookie serves Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiry date: after end of sessionNote: We do not claim this list to be exhaustive. The cookies that are placed in each individual case, depend on the functions embedded as well as on your use of Instagram.

How long and where are these data stored?

Instagram shares the information obtained within the Facebook businesses with external partners and persons you are globally connected with. Data processing is done according to Facebook’s internal data policy. Your data is distributed to Facebook’s servers across the world, partially for security reasons. Most of these servers are in the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have the right of information, rectification, transfer and deletion of your data. Furthermore, you can manage your data in Instagram’s settings. If you want to delete your data on Instagram completely, you will have to delete your Instagram account permanently.

And this is how an Instagram account can be deleted:

First, open the Instagram app. Then, navigate to your profile page, select the three bars in the top right, choose “Settings” and then click “Help”. Now, you will be redirected to the company’s website, where you must click on “Managing Your Account” and then “Delete Your Account”.

When you delete your account completely, Instagram deletes posts such as your photos and status updates. Any information other people shared about you are not a part of your account and do therefore not get deleted.

As mentioned before, Instagram primarily stores your data via cookies. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, managing them varies a bit. We will show you the instructions of the most relevant browsers here.

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

Generally, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. Then you can individually decide upon the permission of every cookie.

Instagram is a subsidiary company of Facebook Inc. and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework regulates correct transfer between the USA and the European Union. At https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC you can find out more about this. We gave our best to make you familiar with the most important information on data processing by Instagram. At https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875 you can find out more on Instagram’s data policies.

Google Maps Privacy Policy

On our website we use Google Maps of the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With the use of Google Maps, we can show you locations in a better way and can therefore adjust our service to your needs. Due to the utilisation of Google Maps, data gets transferred to Google and is saved on Google’s servers. In the following, we want to explain in detail what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Maps?

Google Maps is an internet maps service of the company Google Inc. With Google Maps you can search for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodations or businesses online via a PC, a tablet or an app. If businesses are represented on Google My Business, the respective location as well as other information about the company are shown there. In order to show route directions, a location’s map sections can be integrated in a website through a HTML-code. Google Maps depicts the earth’s surface as either a road map or as air and satellite images. Due to the street view and high-quality satellite images, it is possible for exact representations to be made.

Why do we use Google Maps on our website?

The efforts we make on this page have the goal of giving you a useful and meaningful experience on our website. Through the integration of Google Maps, we can offer you essential information on various locations. Therefore, you can spot our office address with one glance. Furthermore, the route directions always show you the best and fastest way to us. You can retrieve the route directions for traveling either by car, by public transport, on foot or by bike. The integration of Google Maps is a part of our customer service.

What data is stored by Google Maps?

For Google Maps to offer its full services, the company must collect and store your data. This includes your entered search terms, your IP-address as well as your longitude and latitude coordinates. When you use the route-planner function, the entered start address is stored also. However, this data retention happens on Google Maps‘ websites. We can only inform you about it but cannot influence it in any way. Since we have included Google Maps on our website, Google will set at least one cookie (Name: NID) into your browser. This cookie saves data on your user behaviour. Google primarily uses this data to optimise ist own services and to provide you with individual, personalised advertisements.

The following cookies are set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:

Name: NID
Value: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ121744205-5
Purpose: Google uses NID in order to adjust advertisments to your Google searches. With the cookie’s help Google “remembers“ your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. That way you always receive customised adertisments. The cookie contains a unique ID, wich Google uses to collect your personal settings for advertising porposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Note: We cannot guarantee completeness of the information on saved data. This is, because especially concerning the use of cookies, changes can happen anytime. To identify the cookie NID, a test page was created, to which Google Maps was included.

How long and where is the data saved?

There are Google servers in data centres across the entire planet. However, most servers are in America. For this reason, your data is widely stored in the USA. Here you can read in detail about where the Google servers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=en

Google distributes data to various data carriers. This makes it possible to retrieve the data faster and to better protect it from possible attempted manipulations. Every server has emergency programs. Thus, should for example a problem with Google’s hardware occur or should a natural disaster impact the servers, any data will quite certainly stay protected.

Moreover, Google saves some data for a specified period. With some other data on the other hand, Google only offers the opportunity for deleting it manually. Furthermore, the company anonymises information (e.g. advertising data) in server logs, by deleting a part of the IP-address and cookie information after 9 to 18 months.

How can I delete my data, or prevent data retention?

Due to the automatic delete function for location and activity data, which was introduced in 2019, information that is used for determining your location and web or app activity is saved for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your preferred decision, and is deleted thereafter.

Furthermore, it is possible to delete this data manually from your browser history via your Google account anytime. If you want to prevent the determination of your location altogether, you must pause the category “Web and app activity” in your Google account. Click on “Data and personalisation” and then choose the option “Activity controls”. Here you can switch the activities on or off.

Moreover, in your browser you can deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies. This function can differ a little, depending on what browser you are using. 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

If you generally do not want to permit any cookies, you can set up your browser in a way that ensures you get informed whenever a cookie is about to be placed. That way you can decide to either permit or refuse every single cookie.

Google is an active participant of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and safe transfer of personal data. You can find more information on this on https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI.If you want to find out more about Google’s data processing, we recommend the company’s internal privacy statement on https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.

WooCommerce Privacy Policy

We have integrated the open-source shop system WooCommerce to our website as a plugin. This WooCommerce plugin is based on the content management system WordPress, which is a subsidiary company of Automattic Inc. (60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA). Through the implemented functions, data are stored and sent to Automattic Inc where they are processed. In this privacy policy we want to inform you on what data this is, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data retention.

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an online shop system that has been part of the WordPress directory since 2011 and was specially developed for WordPress websites. It is a customisable, open source eCommerce platform that is based on WordPress. It has been integrated into our website as a WordPress plugin.

Why do we use WooCommerce on our website?

We use this practical online shop system, to be able to offer you our physical or digital products or services in the best possible way on our website. The aim is to give you easy and easy access to our offer, so that you can quickly and easily navigate to the products you want. With WooCommerce we have found a good plugin that meets our requirements for an online shop.

What data is stored by WooCommerce?

Information that you actively enter to a text field in our online shop can be collected and stored by WooCommerce or Automattic. Hence, if you register with us or order a product, Automattic may collect, process and save this data. In addition to email address, name or address, this can also be your credit card or billing information. Subsequently, Automattic can also use this information for their own marketing campaigns.

There is also evidence that Automattic automatically collects information on you in so-called server log files:

IP-address
Browser information
Pre-set language settings
Date and time of the web access

Moreover, WooCommerce sets cookies in your browser and uses technologies such as pixel tags (web beacons), to for example clearly identify you as a user and to be able to offer interest-based advertising. WooCommerce uses several different cookies, which are placed depending on the user action. This means that if you for example add a product to the shopping cart, a cookie is set so that the product remains in the shopping cart when you leave our website and come back later.

Below we want to show you an example list of possible cookies that may be set by WooCommerce:

Name: woocommerce_items_in_cart
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie helps WooCommerce to determine when the contents of the shopping cart change.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: woocommerce_cart_hash
Value: 447c84f810834056ab37cfe5ed27f204121744205-7
Purpose: This cookie is also used to recognise and save the changes in your shopping cart.
Expiry date: after end of session
Name: wp_woocommerce_session_d9e29d251cf8a108a6482d9fe2ef34b6
Value: 1146%7C%7C1589034207%7C%7C95f8053ce0cea135bbce671043e740121744205-4aa
Purpose:This cookie contains a unique identifier for you to allow the shopping cart data to be found in the database.

How long and where is the data stored?

Unless there is a legal obligation to keep data for a longer period, WooCommerce will delete your data if it is no longer needed for the purposes it was saved for. Server log files for example, the technical data for your browser and your IP address will be deleted after about 30 days. This is how long Automattic use the data to analyse the traffic on their own websites (for example all WordPress websites) and to fix possible problems. The data is stored on Automattic’s American servers.

How can I delete my data and prevent data retention?

You have the right to access your personal data anytime, as well as to object to it being used and processed. You can also lodge a complaint with a state supervisory authority anytime.

You can also manage, delete or deactivate cookies individually in your browser. However, please note that deactivated or deleted cookies may have a negative impact on the functions of our WooCommerce online shop. Depending on the browser you use, managing cookies differs slightly. Below you will find links to the instructions for the most common browsers:

Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox

Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete cookies in Microsoft Edge

Automattic is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000CbqcAAC.

You can find more details on the privacy policy, as well as on which data is collected by WooCommerce in what way at https://automattic.com/privacy/ . Moreover, you can find general information on WooCommerce at https://woocommerce.com/.

All texts are copyrighted.Source: Created with the Datenschutz Generator by AdSimple