aboutuz Privacy Statements 

 

Preamble 

The aboutuz Mobile Application (the “App”) offers a private space for secure and confidential storage and exchange of personal information. Its intention is twofold: 

  • Provide a personal & secure data vault for every user.  
  • Provide a secure platform for sharing selected personal facts, messages, updates, and other personal information between trusted aboutuz users.  

For details concerning the conceptional and technical security of the App, please see our website www.aboutuz.com 

 

aboutuz privacy policy & data protection declaration 

aboutuz is committed to the privacy of its users – when using the aboutuz website as well as when using the aboutuz App. We want you to be confident that your aboutuz experience is safe and secure. If you have any privacy or security questions after reading this information, please contact us. 

This Privacy Policy governs how we collect, use, and share your information when you use our Services, mobile apps, and related services. It applies to your use of any online service location that posts a link to this Privacy Policy including our Services, mobile apps, and related services and all features, content, and other services that we control, and make available through such online service location (together the “Service”). 

By using the Service, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our collection, use, and disclosure practices, and other activities as described in this Privacy Policy.  

If you do not agree and consent, discontinue use of the Service. 

We have written this data protection declaration (version 14.03.2020) 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 Service. 

Responsible according to Art. 4 no. 7 GDPR: aboutuz GmbH, c/o Patric Weidermann, Rübezahlstrasse 18, 85622 Feldkirchen, Germany, Commercial Register Munich, HRB 255048, Managing Director: Peter H. Weidermann, email pw@aboutuz.com 

What information does aboutuz collect from me? 

Our Service collects and stores the following information: 

Information you give us 

A central aboutuz feature is that we collect and store the information you give to us when using our Service, including all information you insert into all data categories about you, your family members, and friends. In addition, we collect and store all information you provide when you register an account, update your profile, access our lookup and help tables, make a purchase, participate in surveys, or other promotion (“Promotion”), and contact customer support.  

We may use Service Providers (defined below) to collect this information. 

The information we store includes information that identifies you personally. Some examples of information we collect if you provide it to us include:  

  • Security data: We store passwords and similar security information for authentication and account access.  
  • Your Profile data: We store any information that you add to your aboutuz Profile, including sensitive information such as medications, book or video titles, or other personal products, financial, medical, and children’s information only while these items are visible to you in your Profile. We store all information you provide in your aboutuz profile, the categories of which will be amended from time to time – like e.g.:  
  • Address & contact details: We store your name, title, gender, profession, and birthday, telephone numbers, email addresses, VoIP contacts, residence addresses, and work details – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Family & friends: We store information you provide on your parents and other family members, your relationship status, and friends – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Lifestyle & housing: We store your preferred design style, your car and pet’s information, your favorite colors, and flowers – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Food & drinks: We store your food intolerances, allergies and dislikes, eating regimes, preferred cuisines, dishes, beverages, and restaurants – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Health & wellness: We store information about your blood type, body measurements, non-food allergies, health issues, related medication, medical check-ups, your preferred cosmetics, colognes, and perfumes – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Apparel: We store information about your apparel and shoe sizes, preferred clothing and shoe types, colors, designers and brands – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Accessories: We store your size and preference information about accessories like hats, rings, gloves, scarves, purses and bags – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Leisure & entertainment: We store information about your preferences regarding movies, TV series, streaming providers, music, books, sports, hobbies, and travel – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile.  
  • Information & social media: We store data about your information sources like print and online media, blogs, podcasts, and social media – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Temptations & displeasures: We store information about your temptations and displeasures – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile.  
  • Wish & bucket list: We store the information about your wish and bucket list – as provided by you in your aboutuz Profile. 
  • Last gifts you gave your contacts: We store information you entered in the gift history category of your contacts’ Profiles – to the extent provided by you in your diverse contacts’ aboutuz Profiles.  

The Profile categories for which information is collected in your aboutuz Profile may be amended or changed from time to time. We do not store the inserts history information you collected in these categories; we store only the latest information.  

  • Managed Profile data: We store all data you provide about individuals for whom you manage a Profile (“Managed Profile”). By using this functionality, you acknowledge and confirm that you have the individual’s consent for managing his/her Profile and insert his/her information into the aboutuz Profile categories.  
  • Group data: We store the groups you establish – besides the standard groups Contact, Family, Friends, Business Partners, and Favorites – for sharing your Profile via the Service, and the contacts you dedicate to each of these groups.  
  • Message data: We do not store messages that you are sending to another user via the aboutuz message service. 
  • Update data: We do not store update information about your Profile that is automatically sent to your contacts within the aboutuz app.  
  • Request data: We store your sharing requests that you send to other aboutuz users and sharing request that you send to other aboutuz users or potential users.  
  • Alerts data: We store Alerts you selected to be sent to you automatically by the aboutuz app to remind you of important anniversaries and events.  
  • Analyses data: We do not store analyses data shown to you in the Analyses section of the aboutuz service.  
  • Payment data: We store data necessary to process your payment if you provide us with any payment information related to the Service, e.g., if you upgrade to aboutuz Premium from our Service, we will ask for your credit card information, which will be processed directly by a Company Affiliate or a Service Provider, as each are defined below. We do not store your credit card number. If you upgrade to aboutuz Premium from an iOS or Android app, you will pay for the upgrade directly through Apple or Google, respectively, and we will not have access to your credit card information. 
  • Calendar data: We store any information that you add to your aboutuz calendar. In addition, if you link a third-party calendar (such as Google) to the aboutuz service, we store all data contained in your linked calendar. This includes any information that you add to your aboutuz calendar or linked calendars regarding medical or legal appointments, children’s or school events, and other sensitive information.  
  • Contacts: We store data about your contacts in order to fulfill a request by you, such as finding your contacts on the Service or inviting your contacts to join the Service, or if you import your phone-contacts using our Contacts feature.  
  • Birthday tracker: We store any birthday information that you add to our Birthday Tracker feature.  
  • Messages to aboutuz:We store the content of messages you send to us, such as feedback and product reviews you write, or questions and information you provide to customer support. 

Information collected automatically 

We automatically collect information from and about your use of the Service and the devices you use to access the Service. This includes things like IP addresses, the type of browser and device you use, the web page you visited before coming to our Service, and information about the advertisements you view and the links you click on. Your devices (depending on your settings) may also transmit location information and/or an advertising identifier to the Service. Examples of information we collect include the following:  

  • Service use data:We collect data about the features you use, the pages you visit, the e-mails from us and advertisements you view, the products you purchase from us, the time of day you browse, your referring and exiting pages, and other similar information. 
  • Device connectivity and configuration data:We collect data about the type of device or browser you use, your device’s operating software, your internet service provider, your device’s regional and language settings, and other similar information. This data may also include IP address, MAC address, device advertising Id (e.g., IDFA or AAID), and other device identifiers.  
  • Location data: If you have enabled location services, we collect data about your device’s location, which can be precise (e.g., latitude/longitude data) or imprecise (e.g., location derived from an IP address or data that indicates a city or postal code level).  

We use various technologies – current and new – to collect this information (“Tracking Technologies”), including the following: 

  • Log files: A log file is a file that records events that occur in connection with your use of the Service, such as your service use data. Data in log files is not personally identifiable. 
  • Cookies: A cookie is a small data file stored on your device that acts as a unique tag to identify your browser. We use two types of cookies:  
  • Session cookies: Session cookies make it easier for you to navigate the Service and expire when you close your browser. 
  • Persistent cookies: Persistent cookies help with personalizing your experience, remembering your preferences, and supporting security features. Additionally, persistent cookies allow us to bring you advertising both on and off the Service. Persistent cookies may remain on your device for extended periods, and generally may be controlled through your browser settings. 
  • Pixels: A pixel (also known as a web beacon) is code embedded in a Service, video, e-mail, or advertisements that sends information about your use to a server. There are various types of pixels, including image pixels (which are small graphic images) and JavaScript pixels (which contains JavaScript code). When you access a Service, video, e-mail, or advertisement that contains a pixel, the pixel may permit us or a third-party to drop or read cookies on your browser. Pixels are used in combination with cookies to track activity by a particular browser on a particular device. We may incorporate pixels from third parties that allow us track our conversions, bring you advertising both on and off the Service, and provide you with additional functionality, such as the ability to connect our Service with your social media account. 
  • Device fingerprinting: Device fingerprinting is the process of analyzing and combining sets of information elements from your device’s browser, such as JavaScript objects and installed fonts, in order to create a “fingerprint” of your device and uniquely identify your device and apps.  
  • App Technologies: A variety of not browser-based tracking technologies may be included in our app that cannot be controlled by browser settings – like e.g., third-party SDKs, which are code that sends information about your use to a server, and is in effect the app version of a pixel. These SDKs allow us to track our conversions, bring you advertising both on and off the Service, and provide you with additional functionality.  
  • Location-identifying technologies: GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other location-aware technologies may be used to collect precise location data when you enable location-based services through your device. Location data may be used for purposes such as verifying your device’s location and delivering or restricting relevant content and advertising based on that location.  
  • Voice processing technologies: Voice processing technologies collect audio through the microphone on your device to effect an instruction or request by you. We only maintain the audio long enough to complete your instruction or request and then immediately delete it. We may use non-audio dtta associated with the collection for additional purposes such as data analytics and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  

Some information about your use of the Service and certain Third-party Services (defined below) may be collected using Tracking Technologies across time and services and used by us and third parties for purposes such as to associate different devices you use, and deliver relevant ads and/or other content to you on the Service and certain Third-party Services.  

For further information on Tracking Technologies and your rights and choices regarding them, see further below.  

Information from other sources 

We also obtain information about you from other third-party sources. To the extent we combine such third-party sourced information with information we have collected about you through the Service, we will treat the combined information in accordance with the practices described in this Privacy Policy, plus any additional restrictions imposed by the source of the data. These third-party sources vary over time, but can include: 

  • Data brokers from which we purchase demographic data to supplement the data we collect.  
  • Social networks when you reference our Service or grant permission to aboutuz to access your data on one or more of these services.  
  • Partners with which we offer co-branded services, sell or distribute our products, or engage in joint marketing activities.  

For further information on Third-party Services, see further below. 

How can I determine which information about me I want to share with other users of the Service? 

Full control at any time 

If you use one of the aboutuz features designed to allow you to voluntarily forward or share your information or content with family or friends outside of your secure account, we will for-ward or share access to such content from your account to your friend’s email address as you provided it to us. Such email address may be stored by aboutuz for your future use but will not be used by aboutuz to initiate any emails. By sharing your content, you automatically limit aboutuz’ ability to keep your content private. We recommend that you do this only with trusted friends and family. 

What does aboutuz do with my information? 

We use the information we collect to provide, personalize, improve, offer, and protect our Service. If you contact aboutuz, we may use your information to provide customer support to you. We may use your email address to communicate with you, for example, to inform you when a subscription is ending.  

aboutuz is able to provide its Base Version Service at a low price because our Base Version cost is partly covered by advertising. In order to make the Base Version available at such conditions, we may use the information we collect to improve the advertisements you see by making them more relevant for you 

If you are a subscriber of the aboutuz Premium Version, your experience on the aboutuz app can be ad-free or advertising can be reduced to your areas of interest – at your discretion and as set in your app settings.  

In general, we may use information about you in order to: 

  • Manage our Service, including your registration and account. 
  • Perform services requested by you, such as to respond to your comments, questions, and requests, and provide customer service. 
  • Send you technical notices, updates, security alerts, information regarding changes to our policies, and support and administrative messages. 
  • Prevent and address fraud, breach of policies or terms, and threats or harm. 
  • Monitor and analyze trends, usage, and activities. 
  • Conduct research, including focus groups and surveys. 
  • Improve the Service or the aboutuz Service, apps, marketing efforts, products and services. 
  • Develop and send you direct marketing, including advertisements and communications about our and third-party products, offers, promotions, rewards, events, and services. 

We also use information about you with your consent, including to: 

  • Provide you with the ability to use our calendar, lookup & help tables, surveys, and other functionality for matters that, if you send it to us, may include your highly sensitive data. By using these functions for this kind of highly sensitive data, you give us your affirmative consent for the processing of such data for the sole purpose of providing you with that functionality. 
  • Verify your eligibility and deliver prizes in connection with Promotions you have entered. 
  • Serve advertising tailored to your interests on our Service and Third-Party Services if you have consented to receive personalized advertising.  
  • Fulfill any other purpose disclosed to you and with your consent.  

We may use information that does not identify you (including information that has been deidentified) without obligation to you except as prohibited by applicable law. For information on your rights and choices regarding how we use your information, please see the section entitled “Your Rights and Choices” below.  

With whom does aboutuz share my information? 

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share your personal information with third parties, except as described in this Policy.  

We share information about you as follows: 

  • With service providers working for aboutuz: aboutuz uses certain trusted third parties including agents, vendors, and other service providers to help us provide, personalize, improve, offer and protect our Service (“Service Providers”).  

We share information with our Service Providers in connection with their work on our behalf. Service Providers assist us with services such as payment processing, data analytics, marketing and promotional services, Promotions, Service hosting, and technical support.  

Service Providers will access your information only to perform tasks on our behalf, in compliance with this Privacy Policy and are prohibited from using your information for any purpose other than to provide this assistance, although we may permit them to use aggregate information, which does not identify you or de-identified data for other purposes.  

  • For legal reasons: We may disclose your information to third parties if we determine that such disclosure is necessary to  
  • comply with the law or in response to a law enforcement agency’s request;  
  • protect any person from death or serious bodily injury;  
  • prevent fraud or abuse of aboutuz or our users; or  
  • protect aboutuz’ property rights. 
  • Promotions: Our Promotions may be jointly sponsored or offered by third parties. If you voluntarily choose to enter a Promotion, we may share your information with third parties as set forth in the official rules that govern the Promotion as well as for administrative purposes and as required by law (e.g., on a winners list). By entering a Promotion, you agree to the official rules that govern that Promotion, and may – except where prohibited by applicable law – allow the sponsor and/or other parties to use your name, voice, and/or likeness in advertising or marketing materials.  
  • Third parties: We may share your information with third parties for purposes of facilitating your requests and in connection with tailoring advertisements (such as third-party offers related to your Areas of Interest), measuring and improving our Service and advertising effectiveness, and enabling other enhancements.  
  • Merger or acquisition: We reserve the right to transfer any information we have about you in the event of a merger with a third-party or upon a sale or transfer of all or a portion of our business or assets to a third-party acquirer. The new company would be required to protect all the information that aboutuz has collected from its users under the same terms of this Privacy Policy. 
  • Consent: We may share your information for any other purpose disclosed to you and with your consent or at your direction (e.g., if you use our Update information feature that automatically sends notifications to your contacts whenever you update your Profile).   

Without limiting the foregoing, in our sole discretion, we may share aggregated information which does not identify you or de-identified information about you with third parties or affiliates for any purpose except as prohibited by applicable law. For information on your rights and choices regarding how we share your information, please see the section entitled “Your Rights and Choices” below.  

Which third-parties are connected to the aboutuz Service? 

Third-party services  

Our Service contains content from and hyperlinks to Services, locations, platforms, and services operated and owned by third parties (“ThirdParty Services”). aboutuz does not have control over the privacy policies of advertisers or other third-party Services. These Third-Party Services may use Tracking Technologies to independently collect information about you and may solicit information from you. The information collected and stored by third parties – whether through our Service, a Third-Party Service, a Third-Party Feature (defined below), or a third-party device – remains subject to their own policies and practices. Please familiarize yourself with and consult their privacy policies and terms of use.  

Third-party features  

We may allow you to connect our Service to a Third-Party Service or offer our Service through a Third-Party Service (“Third-Party Features”). If you use a Third-party Feature, both the applicable third-party and we may have access to and use information associated with your use of the Third-party Feature, and you should carefully review the third party’s privacy policy and terms of use. Some examples of Third-Party Features include the following:  

  • Liking and sharing: We may embed a pixel or SDK on our Service that allows you to “like” or “share” content on Third-party Services, including social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. If you choose to engage with such a Third-party Service through our Service or visit our Service while logged in to that Third-party Service on your device, the Third-party Service may receive information about your activities on our Service and be able to associate that information with information the Third-party Service already has about you.  
  • Brand pages: We may offer our content on social networks such as a Facebook and Twitter. Any information you provide to us when you engage with our content (such as through our brand page) is treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy. In addition, if you publicly reference our Service on a Third-Party Service (e.g., by using a hashtag associated with aboutuz in a tweet or post), we may use your reference on or in connection with our Service.  
  • Voice-activated skills: We may offer skills through Alexa and other voice-activated platforms and use the voice processing and other technologies discussed in the section entitled “Information Collected Automatically” above. Any information you provide to us when you engage with our skills is treated in accordance with this Privacy Policy.  
  • Platform linking: We may offer you the ability to link your aboutuz account to a Third-Party Service in order to retrieve certain data about your account on that Service. For example, if you link your aboutuz account to your Google calendar, the linking may allow us to obtain information such as your username, email address, and calendar content. For more information about how these platforms handle your information, please refer to their respective privacy policies and terms of use.  

Analytics and interest-based advertising  

If you are an aboutuz Premium subscriber, your experience on the aboutuz app can be ad-free – except in case you explicitly opt for advertising information on special areas of interest.  

Our Service contains Tracking Technologies owned and operated by Third Parties. For example, we use Tracking Technologies from third-party analytics provides, such as Google Analytics, to help us analyze your use of the Service, compile statistic reports on the Service’s activity, and provide us with other services relating to Service activity and internet usage. We also work with ad serving services, advertisers, and other third parties, such as Google DoubleClick for Publishers, to serve advertisements on the Service and/or on Third-party Services. These third parties may use Tracking Technologies on our Service and Third-party Services (including in e-mails and advertisements) to track your activities across time and services for purposes of associating the different devices you use, and delivering relevant ads and/or other content to you on the Service and Third-party Services or third-party devices after you have left the Service (“Interest-based Advertising”).  

We may serve ads on Third-party Services, such as Facebook and Google, which are targeted to reach people (or similar people) on those services that have visited our Service or that are also identified in one of more of our databases (“Matched Ads”). This is done by matching common factors between our data and the data of Third-Party Services. When we use Facebook Custom Audiences to serve Matched Ads on Facebook services, you should be able to hover over the box in the right corner of such a Facebook ad and find out how to opt-out. We are not responsible for such Third-Party Services’ failure to comply with our opt-out instructions.  

For further information on Tracking Technologies and your rights and choices regarding them, please see further below.  

What are my rights and choices? 

How do I access or correct my information collected by aboutuz? 

As an aboutuz user, you can review and modify your information and your private content any time you log onto your aboutuz account using an email address and password listed on the account. You may also access, update, or remove certain account information that you have voluntarily submitted to us through the Service by visiting our Privacy & Legal page and selecting the appropriate link. We may require additional information from you to allow us to confirm your identity. Please note that we will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. California residents and data subjects in Europe have additional rights as set forth in the sections entitled “Your California Privacy Rights” and “Your European Privacy Rights” below. 

How do I delete my data?  

We retain your personal data while your account is in existence or as needed to provide you Services. This includes data you or others provided to us and data generated or inferred from your use of our Services. If you want to delete an account, please visit aboutuz’ account deletion page in Settings. Once an account is deleted, all data included in the account will be permanently erased, is no longer being shared with anybody, and cannot be recovered.  

Tracking technology choices  

  • Cookies & pixels: We use technologies like cookies and pixel tags to provide, improve, protect, and promote our Services. For example, cookies help us with remembering your account for your next visit, understanding how you are interacting with our Services, and improving them based on that information. Cookies can also be used to target advertisements to you. Most browsers accept cookies by default. You can instruct your browser, by changing its settings, to decline or delete cookies. If you use multiple browsers on your device, you will need to instruct each browser separately. Your ability to limit cookies is subject to your browser settings and limitations. You can set your browser to not accept cookies, but this may limit your ability to use the Services.  
  • App technologies: You can reset your device advertising Id at any time through your device settings, which is designed to allow you to limit the use of information collected about you. For information on how to do this on Apple devices, visit Apple.com or https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202074. For information on how to do this on Android devices, visit Google.com. You can stop all collection of information via an app by uninstalling the app.  
  • Geo-location technologies: The location data collected through an app depends on your device settings and app permissions. You can block location data being collected through our apps via 
  • GPS: by disabling location in your device settings or disabling location permissions to that app; 
  • Bluetooth: by disabling Bluetooth and any Bluetooth scanning option in your device settings.  
  • WiFi: by disabling WiFi and any WiFi scanning option in your device settings.  

You can stop the collection of all location data via an app by uninstalling the app.  

  • Do Not Track: Your browser settings may allow you to automatically transmit a “Do Not Track” signal to online services you visit. Note, however, there is no industry consensus as to what site and app operators should do regarding these signals. Accordingly, we do not monitor or act with respect to “Do Not Track” signals or other mechanisms. For more information on “Do Not Track,” visit www.allaboutdnt.com 

Please be aware that if you disable or remove Tracking Technologies some parts of the Service may not function correctly.  

Analytics and interest-based advertising 

If you are an aboutuz Premium subscriber, your experience on the aboutuz app will be ad-free. 

You can opt-out of your data being used by Google Analytics through cookies by visiting https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and downloading the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.  

Some of the third parties that collect information from or about you on the Service in order to provide more relevant advertising to you participate in the Digital Advertising Alliance (“DAA”) Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising. This program offers a centralized location where users can make choices about the use of their information for online behavioral advertising. To learn more about the DAA and your opt-out options for their members, please visit (i) for Service opt-out, http://www.aboutads.info/choices; and (ii) for mobile app opt-out, http://www.aboutads.info/appchoices 

In addition, some of these third parties may be members of the Network Advertising Initiative (“NAI”). To learn more about the NAI and your opt-out options for their members, please visit www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ 

You can learn more about your EU Online Choices here. Please note that if you opt-out of online behavioral advertising using any of these methods, the opt-out will only apply to the specific browser or device from which you opt-out. Further, opting-out only means that the selected members should no longer deliver certain Interest-based advertising to you, but does not mean you will no longer receive any targeted content and/or ads (e.g., from other ad networks). We are not responsible for effectiveness of, or compliance with, any third parties opt-out options or programs or the accuracy of their statements regarding their programs.  

You may also limit our use of information collected from or about your mobile device for purposes of serving online behavioral advertising to you by going to your device settings and selecting “Limit Ad Tracking” (for iOS devices) or “Opt out of Interest-Based Ads” (for Android devices).  

Communications 

  • E-mails: You can opt-out of receiving promotional e-mails from us at any time by following the instructions as provided in e-mails to click on the unsubscribe link. You can opt-out of receiving non-promotional service e-mails such as reminders by changing your aboutuz account settings. Please note that you cannot opt-out of certain non-promotional e-mails, such as those about your account, transactions, servicing, or aboutuz’ ongoing business relations.  
  • Push notifications: If you have opted-in to receive push notification on your device, you can opt-out at any time by adjusting your notification preferences in your aboutuz account settings, or by uninstalling our app.  

Please note that your opt-out is limited to the email address and device used and will not affect subsequent subscriptions.  

Unlinking your accounts 

If you have linked your aboutuz account with certain Third-Party Services such as your Google calendar, you may unlink your accounts at any time by visiting your aboutuz account settings. Please note that unlinking your accounts will not affect any information previously shared through the linking. aboutuz is not responsible for any Third-Party Service data practices, and we recommend that you carefully review their privacy policies and terms of use.  

How does aboutuz protect my children’s information? 

aboutuz will never knowingly request information or private content from anyone under the age of 13 and does not knowingly collect personal information as defined by the U.S. Children’s Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) in a manner that is not permitted by COPPA.  

In order to register and create an aboutuz account you must be 16 years of age or older. You may, at any time, direct aboutuz to delete all identifiable information regarding you or your family that you have provided or that has been collected from you. To do so, please contact our Privacy Officer. However, if you do any of the foregoing, you will not be able to use the aboutuz account or our Services. If you are a parent or guardian and believe aboutuz has collected information in a manner not permitted by COPPA, please contact us, and we will remove such data to the extent required by COPPA.  

How does aboutuz maintain data security? 

aboutuz uses industry standard methods of securing user information and data. Examples of our security measures include, where appropriate, firewalls, virtual private networks, encryption, and anonymization. We also maintain strict limits on who at aboutuz can access the information databases that contain your information. Since there is no such thing as perfect security over the Internet, we cannot guarantee 100% security. However, in the unlikely case of a security breach on our databases, we will take immediate steps to resolve the problem swiftly and effectively.  

Will there be changes and updates to this Privacy Policy? 

We may occasionally update this Privacy Policy. When we do, we will also revise the “last updated” date. Any changes will be effective immediately upon posting of the revised Privacy Policy. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy from time to time to stay informed of any updates or changes to this Privacy Policy. If you continue to use our Services after we make changes to the Privacy Policy, you agree to the changes. If the changes are material, we may provide you additional notice to your email address.  

More on Cookies 

Our Service uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data. Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand 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 Services store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies. 

One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are useful helpers. Almost all Services 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 Service 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 Service 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 Service, third-party cookies are created by partner Services (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 

Purpose: Differentiation of Service visitors 

Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152321161680 

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 able to be saved 

What types of cookies are there? 

The question of which cookies we use 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: 

  • Cookies Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the Service. 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. These Cookies are also used to measure the loading time and behavior of the Service in different browsers. 
  • Target-oriented cookies: These cookies ensure better 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 Service 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 Service 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: 

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 off. 

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 Service 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 Service, such as name, email address, address or other personal information in the context of the submission of a form or comments in the blog, will be collected by us together with the time and the IP address. Address 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 Service. 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 email thus outside of this Service 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 Legal Notice.  

 

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 – obligation to notify 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 in any way, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). 

 

Your California Privacy Rights: Notice to California Residents 

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits customers who are California residents and who have provided aboutuz with “personal information” (as that term is defined in Section 1798.83) to request certain information about the disclosure of that information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. If you are a California resident with questions regarding this, please contact us at www.aboutuz.com/contact-us/or by mail at the address listed above. 

Any California residents under the age of eighteen (18) who have registered to use the Service and posted content or information on the Service, can request that such information be removed from the Service by visiting www.aboutuz.com/contact-us/ and requesting assistance. Requests must state that the user personally posted such content or information and detail where the content or information is posted. We will make reasonably good faith efforts to remove the post from prospective public view.  

 

 

Google Maps privacy policy 

We use Google Maps from Google Inc. on our Service (1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With Google Maps, we can visualize locations better and thus improve our service. By using Google Maps, data is transferred to Google and stored on the Google servers. Here we want to go into more detail about what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this. 

What are Google Maps? 

Google Maps is an online map service from Google Inc. With Google Maps you can search for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodation or companies on the Internet using a PC or an app. If companies are represented on Google My Business, additional information about the company is displayed in addition to the location. In order to show the way to get there, map sections of a location can be integrated into a Service using HTML code. Google Maps shows the surface of the earth as a road map or as an aerial or satellite image. Thanks to the Street View images and the high-quality satellite images, very precise representations are possible. 

Why do we use Google Maps on our Service? 

All our efforts on this page aim to offer you a useful and meaningful time on our Service. By integrating Google Maps, we can provide you with the most important information about various locations. Thanks to Google Maps, you can see at a glance where we are based. The route description always shows you the best or fastest way to us. You can get directions for routes by car, public transport, on foot or by bike. For us, the provision of Google Maps is part of our customer service. 

What data does Google Maps store? 

For Google Maps to be able to offer its full service, the company must record and store data about you. This includes, among other things, the search terms entered, your IP address and the latitude and longitude coordinates. If you use the route planner function, the entered start address is also saved. However, this data storage happens on the Google Maps Service. We can only inform you about it, but we cannot influence it. Since we have integrated Google Maps into our Service, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behavior. Google primarily uses this data to optimize its own services and to provide individual, personalized advertising for you. 

The following cookie is set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps: 

Name: NID 

Expiry time: after 6 months 

Purpose: NID is used by Google to adapt advertisements to your Google search. With the help of cookies, Google “remembers” your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. So, you always get tailor-made advertisements. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect the user’s personal settings for advertising purposes. 

Example value: 188 = h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ321161680 

Note: We cannot guarantee the completeness of the information in the stored data. Changes to Google can never be ruled out, especially when using cookies. In order to identify the cookie NID, a separate test page was created, where only Google Maps was integrated. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

The Google servers are in data centers around the world. Most of the servers are in America. For this reason, your data is increasingly being stored in the USA. Here you can read exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de  

Google distributes the data on various data carriers. This means that the data can be called up more quickly and is better protected against any manipulation attempts. Each data center also has special emergency programs. For example, if there are problems with Google hardware or a natural disaster affects the servers, the data is likely to remain protected. 

Google stores some data for a specified period. For other data, Google only offers the option to delete it manually. The company also anonymizes information (such as advertising data) in server logs by deleting part of the IP address and cookie information after 9 or 18 months. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

With the automatic deletion of location and activity data introduced in 2019, information on location determination and web / app activity – depending on your decision – is either saved for 3 or 18 months and then deleted. You can also manually delete this data from the history at any time using the Google account. If you want to completely prevent your location from being recorded, you must pause the “Web and app activity” section in the Google account. Click “Data and Personalization” and then click the “Activity Setting” option. Here you can switch the activities on or off. 

You can also deactivate, delete or manage individual cookies in your browser. Depending on the browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser: 

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. 

Google is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure data transfer of personal data. More information can be found at www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. If you want to learn more about data processing from Google, we recommend the company’s own data protection declaration at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de. 

 

Google Fonts privacy policy 

We use Google Fonts from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) on our Service. 

You do not have to log in or enter a password to use Google fonts. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser. The files (CSS, fonts / fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, requests for CSS and fonts are separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you do not need to worry that your Google account information will be transmitted to Google while you are using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We will take a closer look at what the data storage looks like in detail. 

What are Google fonts? 

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is an interactive directory with more than 800 fonts that Google LLC provides for free use. 

Many of these fonts are released under the SIL Open Font License, while others are released under the Apache license. Both are free software licenses. So, we can use them freely without paying license fees. 

Why do we use Google Fonts on our Service? 

With Google Fonts we can use fonts on our own Service and do not have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important building block to keep the quality of our Service high. All Google fonts are automatically optimized for the web and this saves data volume and is a great advantage especially for use with mobile devices. When you visit our site, the small file size ensures a fast loading time. Furthermore, Google Fonts are so-called secure web fonts. Different image synthesis systems (rendering) in different browsers, operating systems and mobile devices can lead to errors. Such errors can partially distort text or entire Services. Thanks to the fast content delivery network (CDN), there are no cross-platform problems with Google Fonts. Google Fonts supports all common browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) and works reliably on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). 

We use Google Fonts so that we can present our entire online service as nicely and consistently as possible. According to Art. 6 para. 1 f lit. F DSGVO already represents a “legitimate interest” in the processing of personal data. In this case, “legitimate interest” means legal as well as economic or non-material interests that are recognized by the legal system. 

What data does Google store? 

When you visit our Service, the fonts are downloaded via a Google server. This external call transfers data to the Google server. This is how Google also recognizes that you or your IP address is visiting our Service. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the collection, storage and use of end-user data to what is necessary for the efficient provision of fonts. Incidentally, API stands for “Application Programming Interface” and serves, among other things, as a data transmitter in the software area. 

Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests securely with Google and is therefore protected. Google can determine the popularity of the fonts from the collected usage figures. Google publishes the results on internal analysis sites such as Google Analytics. Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which Services use Google fonts. This data is published in the Google Fonts BigQuery database. BigQuery is a web service from Google for companies that want to move and analyze large amounts of data. 

However, it should also be borne in mind that with every Google Font request, information such as IP address, language settings, screen resolution of the browser, version of the browser and name of the browser are automatically transferred to the Google server. Whether this data is also stored is not clearly ascertainable or is not clearly communicated by Google. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

Google stores requests for CSS assets on your servers, which are mainly located outside the EU, for a day. This enables us to use the fonts using a Google stylesheet. A stylesheet is a format template that you can use to quickly and easily, e.g. can change the design or font of a Service. 

The font files are saved by Google for one year. Google’s goal is to fundamentally improve the loading time of Services. If millions of Services refer to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and reappear immediately on all other Services visited later. Sometimes Google updates font files to reduce file size, increase language coverage, and improve design. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

The data that Google stores for a day or a year cannot simply be deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is accessed. To be able to delete this data prematurely, you must contact Google Support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=321161680. In this case, you only prevent data storage if you do not visit our Service. 

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So, we can have unlimited access to a sea of ​​fonts and get the most out of our Service. You can find more about Google Fonts and other questions at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=321161680. Although Google deals with data protection-related matters there, it does not contain any detailed information about data storage. It is relatively difficult (almost impossible) to get accurate information about stored data from Google. 

You can also find out which data is collected by Google and what this data is used for at https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/. 

 

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy 

We use Google Fonts from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) on our Service. We have the Google fonts locally, i.e. on our web server – not on the Google servers. As a result, there is no connection to Google servers and therefore no data transmission or storage. 

What are Google fonts? 

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is an interactive directory with more than 800 fonts that Google LLC provides for free use. With Google Fonts you could use the fonts without uploading them to your own server. However, in order to prevent any information transfer to the Google server, we downloaded the fonts to our server. In this way we act in compliance with data protection and do not send any data to Google Fonts. 

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So, we can have unlimited access to a sea of ​​fonts and get the most out of our Service. You can find more about Google Fonts and other questions at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=321161680 

 

Google Analytics privacy policy 

We use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) from the American company Google LLC (1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) on our Service. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our Service. If you click on a link, for example, this action is saved in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. The reports we receive from Google Analytics allow us to better tailor our Service and service to your needs. In the following we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and, above all, inform you about which data is stored and how you can prevent this. 

What are Google Analytics? 

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that is used to analyze the traffic on our Service. In order for Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is built into the code of our Service. When you visit our Service, this code records various actions you take on our Service. As soon as you leave our Service, this data is sent to the Google Analytics server and stored there. 

Google processes the data and we get reports about your user behavior. These can include the following reports: 

  • Target group reports: We get to know our users better through target group reports and know more precisely who is interested in our service. 
  • Display reports: Display reports enable us to analyze and improve our online advertising more easily. 
  • Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information about how we can get more people excited about our service. 
  • Behavior reports: Here we learn how you interact with our Service. We can understand which way you travel on our site and which links you click. 
  • Conversion reports: Conversion is a process in which you perform a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, if you change from a pure Service visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. With the help of these reports, we can learn more about how our marketing measures are received by you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate. 
  • Real-time reports: Here we always find out immediately what is happening on our Service. For example, we see how many users are currently reading this text. 

Why do we use Google Analytics on our Service? 

Our goal with this Service is clear: we want to offer you the best possible service. The statistics and data from Google Analytics help us to achieve this goal. 

The statistically evaluated data show us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our Service. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that it can be found more easily by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data help us to better understand you as a visitor. We therefore know very well what we need to improve on our Service in order to offer you the best possible service. The data also help us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures more individually and more cost-effectively. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them. 

What data does Google Analytics store? 

Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID that is linked to your browser cookie. This is how Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is saved together with this user ID. It is only possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles in the first place. 

Labels such as cookies and app instance IDs measure your interactions on our Service. Interactions are all types of actions that you perform on our Service. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated via Google Analytics can be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not pass on Google Analytics data unless we as the Service operator approve it. Exceptions may occur if it is required by law. 

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics: 

  • Name: _ga 

Value: 2.1326744211.152321161680-5 

Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it serves to differentiate between Service visitors. 

Expiry date: after 2 years 

  • Name: _gid 

Value: 2.1687193234.152321161680-1 

Purpose: The cookie also serves to differentiate between Service visitors 

Expiry date: after 24 hours 

  • Name: _gat_gtag_UA_ <property-id> 

Value: 1 

Purpose: Used to lower the request rate. If Google Analytics is provided via Google Tag Manager, this cookie is given the name _dc_gtm_ <property-id>. 

Expiry date: after 1 minute 

  • Name: AMP_TOKEN 

Value: no information 

Purpose: The cookie has a token with which a user ID can be retrieved from the AMP client ID service. Other possible values ​​indicate a deregistration, a request or an error. 

Expiry date: after 30 seconds up to a year 

  • Name: __utma 

Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1 

Purpose: With this cookie you can track your behavior on the Service and measure its performance. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics. 

Expiry date: after 2 years 

  • Name: __utmt 

Value: 1 

Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_ <property-id> to throttle the request rate. 

Expiry date: after 10 minutes 

  • Name: __utmb 

Value: 3.10.1564498958 

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

Expiry date: after 30 minutes 

  • Name: __utmc 

Value: 167421564 

Purpose: This cookie is used to set new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie and is only saved until you close the browser. 

Expiry date: After closing the browser 

  • Name: __utmz 

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

Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic on our Service. This means that the cookie stores where you came to our Service from. That could have been another page or an advertisement. 

Expiry date: after 6 months 

  • Name: __utmv 

Value: not specified 

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

Expiry date: after 2 years 

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, since Google keeps changing the choice of its cookies. 

Here we show you an overview of the most important data that is collected with Google Analytics: 

  • Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Heatmaps show exactly those areas that you click on. This is how we get information about where you are on our site. 
  • Session duration: Google refers to the time you spend on our Service without leaving the Service. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically. 
  • Bounce rate: A bounce is said if you only view one page on our Service and then leave our Service. 
  • Account creation: If you create an account or place an order on our Service, Google Analytics collects this data. 
  • IP address: The IP address is only shown in abbreviated form so that no clear assignment is possible. 
  • Location: The country and your approximate location can be determined via the IP address. This process is also known as IP location determination. 
  • Technical information: The technical information includes, among other things, your browser type, your Internet provider or your screen resolution. 
  • Source of origin: Google Analytics or we are of course also interested in which Service or which advertising you came to our site. 

Other data include contact details, any ratings, playing media (e.g. if you play a video on our site), sharing content via social media or adding it to your favorites. The list has no claim to completeness and is only used for a general orientation of data storage by Google Analytics. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

Google has spread your servers around the world. Most of the servers are located in America and therefore your data is usually stored on American servers. Here you can read exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de.   

Your data is distributed on various physical data carriers. This has the advantage that the data can be called up more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. Every Google data center has appropriate emergency programs for your data. If, for example, the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters paralyze servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google remains low. 

Google Analytics has a standard retention period of 26 months for your user data. Then your user data will be deleted. However, we have the option of choosing the retention period for user data. We have five options: 

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

When the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data, which are linked to cookies, user identification and advertising IDs (e.g. cookies from the DoubleClick domain). Report results are based on aggregated data and are saved independently of user data. Aggregated data is a combination of individual data into a larger unit. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

According to the data protection law of the European Union, you have the right to receive information about your data, to update it, to delete it or to restrict it. You can prevent Google Analytics from using your data by using the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js). You can download and install the browser add-on from https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only disables data collection by Google Analytics. 

If you want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies (regardless of Google Analytics), there is a separate instruction for each browser: 

Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure data transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=321161680. We hope we were able to provide you with the most important information about data processing from Google Analytics. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de 

 

Google Analytics IP anonymization 

We have implemented the IP address anonymization of Google Analytics on this Service. This function was developed by Google so that this Service can comply with the applicable data protection regulations and recommendations from the local data protection authorities if they prohibit the storage of the complete IP address. The anonymization or masking of the IP takes place as soon as the IP addresses arrive in the Google Analytics data collection network and before the data is stored or processed. 

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

 

Google Analytics reports on demographics and interests 

We have activated the functions for advertising reports in Google Analytics. Demographics and interests reports include age, gender, and interests. This enables us to get a better picture of our users without being able to assign this data to individual people. You can find out more about the advertising functions at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad. 

You can stop using the activities and information of your Google account under “Settings for advertising” on https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via checkbox. 

 

Google Analytics add-on for data processing 

We have concluded a direct customer contract for the use of Google Analytics with Google by accepting the “Addition to data processing” in Google Analytics. 

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

 

Google Analytics GoogleSignals privacy policy 

We have activated the Google signals in Google Analytics. The existing Google Analytics functions (advertising reports, remarketing, cross-device reports and reports on interests and demographic characteristics) are updated in order to receive summarized and anonymized data from you, provided that you have allowed personalized ads in your Google account. 

The special thing about it is that it is a cross-device tracking. This means that your data can be analyzed across devices. By activating Google signals, data is collected and linked to the Google account. For example, Google can recognize when you view a product on our Service using a smartphone and only later buy the product using a laptop. Thanks to the activation of Google signals, we can start cross-device remarketing campaigns that would otherwise not be possible in this form. Remarketing means that we can also show you our offer on other Services. 

In Google Analytics, further visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your actions on our Service are recorded by the Google signals. This will give Google better advertising reports and more useful information about your interests and demographics. This includes your age, which language you speak, where you live or which gender you belong to. In addition, there are also social criteria such as your job, your marital status or your income. All these features help Google Analytics to define groups of people or target groups. 

The reports also help us to better assess your behavior, your wishes and interests. This enables us to optimize and adapt our services and products for you. By default, this data expires after 26 months. Please note that this data collection only takes place if you have allowed personalized advertising in your Google account. It is always summarized and anonymous data and never individual data. You can manage or delete this data in your Google account. 

 

Automatic data storage 

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

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

  • the address (URL) of the Service 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). 

Usually 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. 

 

Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy 

We use the Facebook pixel from Facebook on our Service. We have implemented a code for this on our Service. The Facebook pixel is a section of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions with which Facebook could track your user actions if you came to our Service via Facebook ads. For example, when you purchase a product on our Service, the Facebook pixel is triggered and stores your actions on our Service in one or more cookies. These cookies enable Facebook to compare your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data from your Facebook account. Then Facebook deletes this data again. The data we collect is anonymous and cannot be viewed by us and can only be used in the context of advertising. If you are a Facebook user yourself and logged in, a visit to our Service is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account. 

We only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. With the help of Facebook pixels, our advertising measures can be better tailored to your wishes and interests. This way, Facebook users (provided they have allowed personalized advertising) can see suitable advertising. Facebook also uses the data collected for analysis purposes and its own advertisements. 

In the following, we will show you the cookies that were placed on a test page by integrating Facebook pixels. Please note that these are only example cookies. Different cookies are set depending on the interaction on our Service. 

  • Name: _fbp 

Value: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6321161680-7 

Purpose: This cookie uses Facebook to display advertising products. 

Expiry date: after 3 months 

  • Name: fr 

Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r..Bdeiuf… 1.0.Bdeiuf. 

Purpose: This cookie is used so that Facebook Pixel works properly. 

Expiry date: after 3 months 

  • Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062321161680-3 

Value: Name of the author 

Purpose: This cookie stores the text and the name of a user who, for example, leaves a comment. 

Expiry date: after 12 months 

  • Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062 

Value: https% 3A% 2F% 2Fwww.test page…% 2F (URL of the author) 

Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the Service, which the user enters in a text field on our Service. 

Expiry date: after 12 months 

  • Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062 

Value: Email address of the author 

Purpose: This cookie saves the email address of the user, if he has published it on the Service. 

Expiry date: after 12 months 

Note: The above cookies relate to individual user behavior. Changes to Facebook can never be ruled out, especially when using cookies. 

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can basically manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers. 

If you want to learn more about Facebook’s data protection, we recommend the company’s own data guidelines at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php 

 

Facebook automatic extended comparison data protection declaration 

We have also activated the automatic advanced matching as part of the Facebook pixel function. This function of the pixel enables us to send hashed emails, names, gender, city, state, postal code and date of birth or telephone number to Facebook as additional information, if you have provided us with this data. This activation enables us to tailor advertising campaigns on Facebook to people who are interested in our services or products. 

 

Google Tag Manager privacy policy 

For our Service we use the Google Tag Manager from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). This tag manager is one of many helpful marketing products from Google. Using Google Tag Manager, we can centrally install and manage code sections from various tracking tools that we use on our Service. 

In this data protection declaration, we want to explain in more detail what Google Tag Manager does, why we use it and in what form data is processed. 

What is Google Tag Manager? 

The Google Tag Manager is an organization tool with which we can integrate and manage Service tags centrally and via a user interface. Tags are small sections of code that, for example, record (track) your activities on our Service. For this, JavaScript code sections are inserted in the source text of our page. The tags often come from internal Google products such as Google Ads or Google Analytics, but tags from other companies can also be integrated and managed via the manager. Such tags perform different tasks. You can collect browser data, feed marketing tools with data, integrate buttons, set cookies and also track users across multiple Services. 

Why do we use Google Tag Manager for our Service? 

As the saying goes: Organization is half the battle! And of course, this also applies to the maintenance of our Service. In order to make our Service as good as possible for you and all people who are interested in our products and services, we need various tracking tools such as Google Analytics. The data collected from these tools show us what interests you most, where we can improve our services and who we should show our offers to. And for this tracking to work, we must integrate appropriate JavaScript codes into our Service. In principle, we could incorporate each code section of the individual tracking tools into our source code separately. However, this takes a relatively long time and it is easy to lose track. That’s why we use Google Tag Manager. We can easily install the necessary scripts and manage them from one place. In addition, the Google Tag Manager offers an easy-to-use user interface and you do not need any programming knowledge. This is how we manage to keep order in our day jungle. 

What data does Google Tag Manager store? 

The Tag Manager itself is a domain that does not set cookies and does not store any data. It acts as a mere “administrator” of the implemented tags. The data capture the individual tags of the different web analysis tools. The data is passed through to the individual tracking tools in Google Tag Manager and is not saved. 

However, the situation is very different with the integrated tags of the various web analysis tools, such as Google Analytics. Depending on the analysis tool, various data about your web behavior are usually collected, saved and processed with the help of cookies. For this purpose, please read our data protection texts on the individual analysis and tracking tools that we use on our Service. 

In the account settings of the Tag Manager, we have allowed Google to allow Google to receive anonymized data from us. However, this is only about the use and use of our Tag Manager and not about your data that is stored via the code sections. We enable Google and others to receive selected data anonymously. We therefore consent to the anonymous disclosure of our Service data. Despite extensive research, we were unable to find out exactly which summarized and anonymous data were forwarded. In any case, Google deletes all information that could identify our Service. Google summarizes the data with hundreds of other anonymous Service data and creates user trends as part of benchmarking measures. Benchmarking compares your own results with those of your competitors. Processes can be optimized based on the information collected. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

If Google stores data, then this data is stored on its own Google servers. The servers are spread all over the world. Most are in America. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de you can read exactly where the Google servers are. 

How long the individual tracking tools store your data can be found in our individual data protection texts for the individual tools. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

The Google Tag Manager itself does not set cookies but manages tags from various tracking Services. In our data protection texts for the individual tracking tools, you will find detailed information on how you can delete or manage your data. 

Google is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure data transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=321161680. If you want to learn more about Google Tag Manager, we recommend the FAQs at https://www.google.com/intl/de/tagmanager/faq.html 

 

Hotjar privacy policy 

We use Hotjar from Hotjar Limited (Level 2, St Julian’s Business Center, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta) on our Service to statistically evaluate visitor data. Hotjar is a service that analyzes the behavior and feedback of you as a user on our Service through a combination of analysis and feedback tools. We receive reports and visual representations from Hotjar that show us where and how you “move” around our site. Personal data is automatically anonymized and never reaches the Hotjar servers. This means that you are not personally identified as a Service user and we still learn a lot about your user behavior. 

What is Hotjar? 

As mentioned in the section above, Hotjar helps us analyze the behavior of our Service visitors. These tools that Hotjar offers include heat maps, conversion funnels, visitor recording, incoming feedback, feedback polls and surveys (for more information, go to https://www.hotjar.com/). In this way, Hotjar helps us to offer you a better user experience and a better service. On the one hand, it offers a good analysis of online behavior, on the other hand, we also get good feedback on the quality of our Service. Because in addition to all the analytical aspects, we naturally also want to know your opinion about our Service. And with the feedback tool that is exactly possible. 

Why do we use Hotjar on our Service? 

In recent years, the importance of user experience on Services has increased significantly. And for a good reason. A Service should be designed so that you as a visitor feel comfortable and can easily find your way around. Thanks to Hotjar’s analysis tools and feedback tools, we can make our Service and our offer more attractive. The heat maps from Hotjar are particularly valuable for us. Heatmaps are a form of representation for the visualization of data. With the Hotjar heatmaps, for example, we see very precisely what you like to click, tap and where you scroll. 

What data does Hotjar store? 

As you surf through our Service, Hotjar automatically collects information about your user behavior. In order to collect this information, we have installed our own tracking code on our Service. The following data can be collected via your computer or your browser: 

  • Your computer’s IP address (collected and stored in an anonymous format) 
  • screen size 
  • Browser information (which browser, which version, etc.) 
  • Your location (but only the country) 
  • Your preferred language setting 
  • Visited Services (sub-pages) 
  • Date and time of access to one of our sub-pages (Services) 

Cookies also store data that is placed on your computer (usually in your browser). No personal data is collected in it. In principle, Hotjar does not pass on collected data to third parties. However, Hotjar expressly points out that it is sometimes necessary to share data with Amazon Web Services. Then parts of your information are stored on their servers. Amazon is bound by a confidentiality obligation not to disclose this data. 

Only a limited number of people (Hotjar employees) have access to the stored information. The Hotjar servers are protected by firewalls and IP restrictions (access only to approved IP addresses). Firewalls are security systems that protect computers from unwanted network access. They are designed to act as a barrier between Hotjar’s secure internal network and the Internet. Hotjar also uses third-party companies for your services, such as Google Analytics or Optimizely. These companies can also store information that your browser sends to our Service. 

Hotjar uses the following cookies. Since we refer among other things to the cookie list from Hotjar’s data protection declaration at www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/cookie-information, there is not an exemplary value for every cookie. The list shows examples of Hotjar cookies used and does not claim to be complete. 

  • Name: ajs_anonymous_id 

Value: % 2258832463-7cee-48ee-b346-a195f18b06c3% 22321161680-5 

Purpose: The cookie is usually used for analysis purposes and helps count visitors to our Service by tracking whether they have been to this page before. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: ajs_group_id 

Value: 0 

Purpose: This cookie collects data about user behavior. This data can then be assigned to a specific group of visitors based on what the Service visitors have in common. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjid 

Value: 699ffb1c-4bfb-483f-bde1-22cfa0b59c6c 

Purpose: The cookie is used to maintain a Hotjar user ID that is unique to the Service in the browser. In this way, user behavior can be assigned to the same user ID on the next visits. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjMinimizedPolls 

Value: 462568321161680-8 

Purpose: Whenever you minimize a Feedback Poll Widget, Hotjar sets this cookie. The cookie ensures that the widget remains really minimized when you surf our Service. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjIncludedInSample 

Value: 1 

Purpose: This session cookie is set to inform Hotjar whether you are part of the selected people (sample) who are used to create funnels. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjClosedSurveyInvites 

Purpose: This cookie is set when you see an invitation to a feedback survey via a pop-up window. The cookie is used to ensure that this invitation only appears to you once. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjDonePolls 

Purpose: As soon as you end a feedback “question round” with the so-called Feedback Poll Widget, this cookie is set in your browser. This prevents Hotjar from preventing you from receiving the same surveys again in the future. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjDoneTestersWidgets 

Purpose: This cookie is used as soon as you enter your data in the “Recruit User Tester Widget”. With this widget we want to hire you as a tester. The cookie is used so that this form does not appear again and again. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets 

Purpose: This cookie is set so that the “Recruit User Tester” really remains minimized on all of our pages as soon as you have minimized it. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: _hjShownFeedbackMessage 

Purpose: This cookie is set when you have minimized or supplemented the incoming feedback. This is done so that when you navigate to another page where you want it to appear, the incoming feedback is immediately loaded as minimized. 

Expiry date: after one year 

How long and where is the data stored? 

We have installed a tracking code on our Service, which is transmitted to the Hotjar servers in Ireland (EU). This tracking code contacts the Hotjar servers and sends a script to your computer or device that you use to access our site. The script collects certain data related to your interaction with our Service. This data is then sent to Hotjar’s servers for processing. Hotjar has imposed a 365-day data retention period on itself. This means that all data that Hotjar has collected and is older than one year is automatically deleted. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

Hotjar does not store any of your personal data for the analysis. The company even advertises with the slogan “We track behavior, not individuals” (“We track user behavior, but no identifiable, individual data). You always have the option to prevent the collection of your data. All you must do is go to the “opt-out page” and click on “Disable Hotjar”. Please note that deleting cookies, using your browser’s private mode or using a different browser will cause data to be collected again. You can also activate the “Do Not Track” button in your browser. In the Chrome browser, for example, you have to click on the three bars at the top right and go to “Settings”. There you will find the option “Send a” Do Not Track “request with browser access” in the “Privacy” section. Now just activate this button and no Hotjar data will be collected. 

You can find more details on the data protection guideline and which data is collected by Hotjar in what way at www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy?tid=321161680 

 

Newsletter data protection declaration 

When you sign up for our newsletter, you submit the above-mentioned personal data and give us the right to contact you by email. We use the data saved as part of the registration for the newsletter exclusively for our newsletter and do not pass it on. 

If you unsubscribe from the newsletter – you will find the link for this at the bottom of every newsletter – we will delete all data that was saved when you subscribed to the newsletter. 

 

Google AdSense privacy policy 

We use Google AdSense, the advertising program of Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheater Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) on this Service. With Google AdSense we can display advertisements on this Service that fit our topic. We offer you advertisements that ideally represent real added value for you. In this data protection declaration via Google AdSense, we explain to you why we use Google AdSense on our Service, which data is processed and stored by you and how you can prevent this data storage. 

The legal basis for the use of Google AdSense is Article 6 (1) f (lawfulness of processing), because there is a legitimate interest to carry out targeted advertising measures. 

What is Google AdSense? 

Google AdSense has been around since 2003 and is an advertising program from Google. In contrast to Google Ads (formerly: Google AdWords), you cannot advertise yourself here. Ads are displayed on Services such as ours via Google AdSense. The biggest advantage of this advertising service compared to some others is that Google AdSense only shows you ads that match our content. Google has its own algorithm that calculates which advertisements you will see. Of course, we only want to offer you advertising that interests you and offers you added value. Google uses your interests or user behavior and our offer to check which advertisements are suitable for our Service and for our users. At this point we would like to mention that we are therefore not responsible for the selection of advertisements. With our Service, we only offer advertising space. Google selects the advertisements displayed. Since August 2013, the ads have also been adapted to the respective user interface. That means, whether you visit our Service from your smartphone, PC or laptop, the ads adapt to your device. 

Why do we use Google AdSense on our Service? 

Operating a high-quality Service requires a lot of dedication and effort. Basically, we’re never done working on our Service. We always try to maintain our site and keep it as up to date as possible. Of course, we also want to achieve economic success with this work. That’s why we chose ads as a source of income. The most important thing for us, however, is not to disturb your visit to our Service with these ads. With the help of Google AdSense, you will only be offered advertisements that match our topics and your interests. 

Like Google indexing for a Service, a bot examines the corresponding content and offers on our Service. Then the content of the advertisements is adjusted and presented on the Service. In addition to the content overlap between the ad and the Service, AdSense also supports interest-based targeting. This means that Google also uses your data to offer advertising tailored to you. This way you receive advertising that ideally offers you real added value and we have a higher chance of earning a little something. 

What data does Google AdSense store? 

Among other things, cookies are used so that Google AdSense can display tailor-made advertising that is tailored to you. Cookies are small text files that store certain information on your computer. 

In AdSense, cookies should enable better advertising. The cookies do not contain any personally identifiable data. However, it should be noted that Google considers data such as “pseudonymous cookie IDs” (name or other identification feature to be replaced by a pseudonym) or IP addresses as non-personally identifiable information. However, within the framework of the GDPR, this data can be considered personal data. Google AdSense sends a cookie to the browser after every impression (which is always the case when you see an ad), every click and every other activity that leads to a call to the Google AdSense server. If the browser accepts the cookie, it will be saved there. 

Third-party providers may place and read cookies in your browser as part of AdSense or use web beacons to store data that they receive when the ad is displayed on the Service. Web beacons are small graphics that enable log file recording and log file analysis. This analysis enables a statistical evaluation for online marketing. 

Google can use these cookies to collect certain information about your user behavior on our Service. These include: 

  • Information on how to deal with an ad (clicks, impressions, mouse movements) 
  • Information whether an advertisement has already appeared in your browser at an earlier point in time. This data helps prevent you from seeing an ad more often. 

Google analyzes and evaluates the data on the advertising material displayed and your IP address. Google primarily uses the data to measure the effectiveness of an ad and to improve the advertising offer. This data is not linked to personal data that Google may have about you via other Google services. 

In the following, we present cookies that Google AdSense uses for tracking purposes. Here we refer to a test Service that only has Google AdSense installed: 

  • Name: uid 

Expiry time: after 2 months 

Purpose: The cookie is saved under the domain adform.net. It provides a clearly assigned, machine-generated user ID and collects data about the activity on our Service. 

Example value: 891269189321161680 

  • Name: C 

Expiry time: after 1 month 

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

Example value: 1 

  • Name: cid 

Expiry time: after 2 months 

Purpose: This cookie is stored under the domain track.adform.net, stands for client ID and is used to improve advertising for you. It can deliver more relevant advertising to the visitor and help improve reports on campaign performance. 

Example value: 8912691894970695056,0,0,0,0 

  • Name: IDE 

Expiry time: after 1 month 

Purpose: The cookie is saved under the domain doubkeklick.net. It is used to register your actions after the advertisement or after clicking the advertisement. This allows you to measure how well an advertisement is received by our visitors. 

Example value: zOtj4TWxwbFDjaATZ2TzNaQmxrU321161680 

  • Name: test_cookie 

Expiry time: after 1 month 

Purpose: You can use the “test_cookies” to check whether your browser supports cookies at all. The cookie is saved under the domain doubkeklick.net. 

Example value: not specified 

  • Name: CT592996 

Expiry time: after one hour 

Purpose: Is saved under the domain adform.net. The cookie is set as soon as you click on an advertisement. We were unable to find out more detailed information about the use of this cookie. 

Example value: 733366 

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, since experience has shown that Google always changes the choice of cookies. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

Google records your IP address and various activities that you carry out on the Service. Cookies store this information about the interactions on our Service. According to Google, the company securely collects and stores the information provided on its in-house Google servers in the United States. 

If you do not have a Google account or are not logged in, Google usually stores the data collected with a unique identifier (ID) on your browser. The unique IDs stored in cookies are used, for example, to guarantee personalized advertising. If you are logged in to a Google account, Google can also collect personal data. 

You can delete some of the data that Google stores at any time (see next section). A lot of information stored in cookies is automatically deleted after a certain time. However, there is also data that Google stores for a longer period. This is the case when Google must store certain data for an indefinite, longer period due to economic or legal necessities. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

You always have the option of deleting or deactivating cookies that are on your computer. Exactly how this works depends on your browser. 

Here are the instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser: 

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. By downloading and installing this browser plug-in at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996,  all “advertising cookies” are also deactivated. Keep in mind that by deactivating these cookies you do not prevent the advertisements, but only the personalized advertisements. 

If you have a Google account, you can deactivate personalized advertising on the Service https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.  Here, too, you will continue to see ads, but these are no longer adapted to your interests. Nevertheless, the ads are displayed based on a few factors such as your location (derived from your IP address), the browser type and the search terms used. 

You can find out which data Google generally collects and what they use this data for at www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/. 

 

Google Ads (Google AdWords) conversion tracking privacy policy 

As an online marketing measure, we use Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) to advertise our products, offers and services. We want to draw more people’s attention to the high quality of our offers on the Internet. As part of our advertising measures through Google Ads, we use the conversion tracking from Google LLC., 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”) on our Service. With the help of this free tracking tool, we can adapt our advertising offer to your interests and needs much better. In the following article, we want to go into more detail about why we use conversion tracking, what data is stored and how you can prevent this data storage. 

The legal basis for the use of Google Ads Conversion Tracking is Article 6 (1) f (lawfulness of processing), because there is a legitimate interest to carry out targeted advertising measures. 

What is Google Ads Conversion Tracking? 

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is the in-house online advertising system from Google LLC. We can create online ads through Google Ads to bring our products or services closer to interested people. We are convinced of the quality of our offer and want that as many people as possible get to know our Service. In the online area, Google Ads offers the best platform for this. Of course, we also want to get a precise overview of the cost-benefit factor of our promotions. That is why we use the Google Ads conversion tracking tool. 

But what is a conversion? A conversion occurs when you change from a purely interested Service visitor to an acting visitor. This happens whenever you click on our ad and then take another action, such as visiting our Service. With the Google conversion tracking tool, we record what happens after a user clicks on our Google Ads ad. For example, we can see whether products are being bought, services are being used, or whether users have signed up for our newsletter. 

Why do we use Google Ads Conversion Tracking on our Service? 

We use Google Ads to draw attention to our offer on other Services. The aim is that our advertising campaigns really only reach people who are interested in our products and offers. With the conversion tracking tool, we see which keywords, ads, ad groups and campaigns lead to the desired customer actions. We see how many customers interact with our ads on a device or in a browser and then convert. This data enables us to calculate our cost-benefit factor, measure the success of individual advertising measures and consequently optimize our online marketing measures. We can also use the data obtained to make our Service more interesting for you and adapt our advertising offer even more individually to your needs. 

What data is saved with Google Ads Conversion Tracking? 

We have integrated a conversion tracking tag or code snippet on our Service in order to be able to better analyze certain user actions. If you now click on one of our Google Ads ads, the cookie “conversion” from a Google domain is saved on your computer (usually in the browser) or mobile device. Cookies are small text files that store information on your computer. 

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

  • Name: Conversion 

Expiry time: after 3 months 

Example value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ321161680 

  • Name: _gac 

Expiry time: after 3 months 

Example value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE 

Note: The _gac cookie only appears in connection with Google Analytics. The list above does not claim to be complete, since Google always uses other cookies for analytical evaluation. 

As soon as you complete an action on our Service, Google recognizes the cookie and saves your action as a so-called conversion. As long as you are surfing on our Service and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google recognize that you have found us through our Google Ads ad. The cookie is read out and sent back to Google Ads with the conversion data. It is also possible that other cookies are used to measure conversions. The conversion tracking of Google Ads can be refined and improved with the help of Google Analytics. For ads that Google displays in various places on the web, cookies with the name “__gads” or “_gac” may be set under our domain. Since September 2017, various campaign information from analytics.js has been saved with the _gac cookie. The cookie stores this data as soon as you call up one of our pages for which the automatic tagging of Google Ads has been set up. In contrast to cookies that are set for Google domains, Google can only read these conversion cookies if you are on our Service. We do not collect and receive any personal data. We get a report from Google with statistical evaluations. For example, we learn the total number of users who clicked on our ad and see how well which advertising measure was received. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

At this point we would like to point out that we have no influence on how Google uses the data collected through the conversion tracking tool. According to Google, the data is encrypted and stored on secure servers. In most cases, conversion cookies expire after 30 days and do not transmit any personal data. The cookies with the names “Conversion” and “_gac” (which is used in conjunction with Google Analytics) have an expiry date of 3 months. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

You have the option of not participating in Google Ads conversion tracking. If you deactivate the Google Conversion Tracking cookie via your browser, you will block the conversion tracking. In this case you will not be considered in the statistics of the tracking tool. You can change the cookie settings in your browser at any time. This works a little differently for every browser. Here are the instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser: 

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. By downloading and installing this browser plug-in at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996. all “advertising cookies” are also deactivated. Keep in mind that by deactivating these cookies you do not prevent the advertisements, but only the personalized advertisements. 

Through the certification for the American-European data protection convention “Privacy Shield”, the American company Google LLC must comply with the data protection laws applicable in the EU. If you would like to find out more about data protection at Google, we recommend Google’s general data protection declaration: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de 

 

plista data protection declaration 

We use plista from plista GmbH on this Service (Torstraße 33-35, 10119 Berlin, Germany) in order to display suitable online advertising and interesting content for you. In doing so, data is collected, stored and processed by you. In this data protection declaration, we inform you why we use plista, which data is stored where and how you can manage or prevent this data processing. 

What is plista? 

plista analyzes your visitor behavior on our Service and uses the data collected and real-time recommendation technology to ensure that you can see suitable advertisements and suitable paid content (e.g. articles). plista recommends visitors to Services of the plista network (such as this Service) certain content or advertisements based on the analysis of the data collected, which are collected or accessed on the plista network. This is content that could be of interest to you, content that is based on the interests of similar users and content that users previously viewed on Services outside the plista network. 

Why do we use plista on our Service? 

We want to offer you the best possible service and user experience (UX) on our Service. For us, this also means that you only see content and advertisements that really interest you. With plista we can adapt advertisements and other content exactly to your wishes and interests. We provide you with good content and achieve our corporate goals more easily and quickly. 

What data does plista store? 

The plista services collect information about visitor behavior when visitors access, view and interact with Services of the plista network and advertisements. For this, plista collects data that can be used to identify browsers and devices that visit the plista network repeatedly: 

  • Cookie IDs to identify the browser 
  • Advertising IDs for mobile devices to recognize the advertising environment 
  • IP addresses and data derived from such IP addresses, such as inaccurate geolocation data that indicates the country, region, city, and / or zip code area of ​​a device 
  • Type of internet browser, browser language and operating system 
  • type of connection (wired or wireless); Network to which the device is connected and mobile network operator (if available) 
  • Latitude/Longitude of a mobile device. 

The data collected by plista never contain names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses or similar data of the users and is not linked to them. A conclusion about natural persons is therefore not possible for plista. 

In the following we show you cookies that plista can set in your browser. The cookies found cannot claim to be complete and only serve as an example. 

  • Name: Pookie 

Value: HhjIN4SdViBlW1ZTPZuoWBdoQTF4L5DINUZEtNQVSzU = 

Purpose: This cookie gives you a random cookie ID that serves as identification. 

Expiry date: after 50 years 

  • Name: Ploptout 

Value: 1 

Purpose: This cookie stores the information that you have used the opt-out function. 

Expiry date: after 30 years 

  • Name: rt11 

Value: AlnCL9toeaa5lX0u2uS7D1B% 2BinxhWAjqYkRre9sYf% 2BI% 3321161680-4 

Purpose: This cookie stores retargeting campaign IDs from you. 

Expiry date: after 60 days 

  • Name: um 

Value: c3de = 1581682028% 3B3420334527069442875 & crc = 8d5889e4c3c6bd6237e6fd9c2b94624321161680-1 

Purpose: This cookie stores third-party IDs that you have sent from partners. 

Expiry date: after 30 days 

  • Name: arv 

Value: q1YqSy0qzszPU7Iy0lFKSSxJVLKKrlYysrQ0sQSylEzNDSxMDI2NjJRia2321161680-8 

Purpose: This cookie saves the previously viewed posts. 

Expiry date: after 3 days 

  • Name: rec 

Value: a% 3A0% 3A% 7B% 7D 

Purpose: This cookie stores the recommendations you clicked on previously. 

Expiry date: after 3 days 

  • Name: red 

Value: a% 3A1% 3A% 7Bi% 3A0% 3Ba% 3A1% 3A% 7BA9% 3A% 22477939325% 22% 3321161680-9 

Purpose: This cookie stores the recommendations previously displayed for you. 

Expiry date: after 3 days 

  • Name: frc 

Value: q1YqSy0qzszPU7Iy0lFKSSxJVLKKjq0FAA 

Purpose: The cookie ensures that visitors only see a limited number of advertisements. 

Expiry date: after 3 days 

plista passes on data from visitors (in particular the cookie ID assigned by us or the respective advertising ID) to selected third-party providers and service providers, for example in order to play out special types of advertising and to improve our own services. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

All visitor data from the EU are stored on the plista servers in Germany. The plista targeting cookie has a storage period of one year and is automatically deleted after this time. All your data will also be deleted or anonymized at the latest one year after their collection and in the latter case can only be used for statistical purposes. 

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 prevent the collection of your data with the opt-out button at https://www.plista.com/de/ueber/opt-out. 

You also have the option in your browser to prevent data processing by plista. As already mentioned above, plista 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: 

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 plista. You can find out more about the company’s data protection guidelines at https://www.plista.com/de/ueber/privacy. 

Embedded social media elements privacy policy 

We integrate elements of social media services on our Service 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: 

 

Facebook privacy policy 

We use selected Facebook tools from Facebook on our Service. Facebook is a social media network of Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbor, Dublin 2 Ireland. With these tools, we can offer you and people who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer. Below we give an overview of the various Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data. 

What are Facebook tools? 

In addition to many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official name of Facebook. However, since the term is hardly known, we decided to only call it Facebook tools. These include: 

  • Facebook pixel 
  • Social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button) 
  • Login Facebook login 
  • Account Kit 
  • APIs (programming interface) 
  • SDKs (collection of programming tools) 
  • Platform integrations 
  • Plugins 
  • Codes 
  • specifications 
  • Documentation 
  • Technologies and services 

Through these tools, Facebook extends services and has the option of receiving information about user activities outside of Facebook. 

Why do we use Facebook tools on our Service? 

We only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook ads) we can reach exactly these people. However, Facebook needs information about people’s wishes and needs so that suitable advertising can be shown to users. The company is provided with information about user behavior (and contact details) on our Service. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the right advertising about our products or services. The tools thus enable tailor-made advertising campaigns on Facebook. 

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our Service “event data”. These are also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus create “campaign reports” on our behalf regarding the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, we get a better insight into how you use our services, Service or products through analyzes. This enables us to optimize your user experience on our Service with some of these tools. For example, you can use the social plug-ins to share content on our site directly on Facebook. 

What data is saved by Facebook tools? 

By using individual Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) can be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, telephone number and IP address can be sent. 

Facebook uses this information to compare the data with your own data (if you are a Facebook member). So-called hashing occurs before customer data is transmitted to Facebook. This means that any data record of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data. 

In addition to the contact details, “event data” are also transmitted. “Event data” means the information that we receive about you on our Service. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers) unless the company has explicit permission or is legally required to do so. “Event data” can also be linked to contact details. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact details. 

In order to be able to deliver advertisements in an optimized manner, Facebook only uses the event data if it has been combined with other data (which was collected in another way by Facebook). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development and research purposes. Much of this data is transmitted to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies are created in your browser. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools, we take a closer look at individual Facebook cookies. General information on the use of Facebook cookies can also be found at www.facebook.com/policies/cookies  

How long and where is the data stored? 

Basically, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers all over the world where your data is stored. However, customer data will be deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with your own user data. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, correction, portability and deletion of your data. 

The data will only be deleted if you completely delete your Facebook account. Here’s how to delete your Facebook account: 

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

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

3) Now click “Deactivation and Deletion”. 

4) Now select “Delete account” and then click on “Next and delete account” 

5) Now enter your password, click on “Next” and then on “Delete account” 

The data that Facebook receives via our site is stored, among other things, using cookies (e.g. for social plugins). You can deactivate, delete or manage individual or all cookies in your browser. Depending on the browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser: 

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. 

Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure data transfer of personal data. More information can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We hope we have brought you the most important information about the use and data processing through the Facebook tools. If you want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend the data guidelines at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update. 

 

Facebook social plug-ins privacy policy 

So-called social plug-ins from Facebook Inc. are installed on our Service. You can recognize these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the “Like” button (hand with thumb raised) or by a clear “Facebook plug-in” label. A social plug-in is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our page. Each plug-in has its own function. The most used functions are the well-known “Like” and “Share” buttons. 

Facebook offers the following social plug-ins: 

  • “Save” button 
  • “Like” button, share, send and quote 
  • Page plug-in 
  • Comments 
  • Messenger plug-in 
  • Embedded posts and video player 
  • Group plug-in 

At https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins you can find more information on how the individual plug-ins are used. We use the social plug-ins on the one hand to offer you a better user experience on our site, and on the other hand because Facebook can optimize our advertisements. 

If you have a Facebook account or have already visited facebook.com, Facebook has already set at least one cookie in your browser. In this case, your browser sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our Service or interact with social plug-ins (e.g. the “Like” button). 

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

In order to prevent Facebook from collecting a lot of data during your visit to our Service and connecting it to Facebook data, you must log out of Facebook during your visit to the Service. 

If you are not logged in to Facebook or do not have a Facebook account, your browser sends less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. Nevertheless, data such as your IP address or which Service you visit can be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to expressly point out that we do not know the exact content of the data exactly. However, based on our current state of knowledge, we try to inform you as best we can about data processing. You can also read about how Facebook uses the data in the company’s data policy at www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update 

The following cookies are set in your browser at least when you visit a Service with social plug-ins from Facebook: 

  • Name: dpr 

Value: not specified 

Purpose: This cookie is used so that the social plug-ins on our Service work. 

Expiration date: after the session ends 

  • Name: fr 

Value: 0jieyh4321161680c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j… 1.0.Bde09j 

Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to function properly. 

Expiration date: after 3 months 

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

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can basically manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers. 

If you want to learn more about Facebook’s data protection, we recommend the company’s own data guidelines at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php. 

Facebook login privacy policy 

We have integrated the practical Facebook login on our Service. So, you can easily log in to us with your Facebook account without having to create another user account. If you decide to register via the Facebook login, you will be redirected to the social media network Facebook. You can log in there using your Facebook user data. This login procedure saves data about you and your user behavior and transmits it to Facebook. 

Facebook uses various cookies to store the data. In the following we show you the most important cookies that are set in your browser or already exist when you log in to our page using the Facebook login: 

  • Name: fr 

Value: 0jieyh4c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j… 1.0.Bde09j 

Purpose: This cookie is used so that the social plugin on our Service works as well as possible. 

Expiry date: after 3 months 

  • Name: datr 

Value: 4Jh7XUA2321161680SEmPsSfzCOO4JFFl 

Purpose: Facebook sets the “datr” cookie when a web browser accesses facebook.com, and the cookie helps to identify login activities and protect users. 

Expiry date: after 2 years 

  • Name: _js_datr 

Value: deleted 

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

Expiry date: after the session ends 

Note: The cookies listed are only a small selection of the cookies that are available to Facebook. Other cookies include _ fbp, sb or wd. A complete list is not possible because Facebook has many cookies and uses them variably. 

The Facebook login offers you on the one hand a quick and easy registration process, on the other hand we have the possibility to share data with Facebook. This enables us to better adapt our offer and our promotions to your interests and needs. Data that we receive from Facebook in this way is public data such as 

  • Your Facebook name 
  • Your profile picture 
  • a stored Email address 
  • Friends lists 
  • Button information (e.g. “Like” button) 
  • Birthday date 
  • language 
  • Place of residence 

In return, we provide Facebook with information about your activities on our Service. This includes information about the device you use, which sub-pages you visit from us or which products you have purchased from us. 

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

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements yourself at www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen 

 

Instagram privacy policy 

We have integrated Instagram functions on our Service. Instagram is a social media platform of Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. since 2012 and is one of the Facebook products. Embedding Instagram content on our Service is called embedding. This enables us to show you content such as buttons, photos or videos from Instagram directly on our Service. When you visit Services on our Service that have an Instagram function integrated, data is transmitted to Instagram, stored and processed. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data will thus be processed across all Facebook companies. 

In the following we want to give you a closer look why Instagram collects data, what data it is and how you can largely control data processing. Since Instagram is part of Facebook Inc., we obtain our information from the Instagram guidelines on the one hand, but also from the Facebook data guidelines themselves on the other. 

What is Instagram? 

Instagram is one of the most famous social media networks worldwide. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with the advantages of audiovisual platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo. You can upload photos and short videos to “Insta” (as many of the users call the platform casually), edit them with various filters and also spread them on other social networks. And if you don’t want to be active yourself, you can only follow other interesting users. 

Why do we use Instagram on our Service? 

Instagram is the social media platform that has really gone through the roof in recent years. And of course, we also reacted to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our Service. That is why a varied preparation of our content is a matter of course for us. Thanks to the embedded Instagram functions, we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected can also be useful for personalized advertising on Facebook. This means that our ads only get people who are really interested in our products or services. 

Instagram also uses the data collected for measurement and analysis purposes. We get summarized statistics and thus more insight into your wishes and interests. It is important to note that these reports do not personally identify you. 

What data does Instagram store? 

If you come across one of our pages that have built-in Instagram functions (such as Instagram images or plug-ins), your browser automatically connects to the Instagram servers. Data is sent to Instagram, stored and processed. Regardless of whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our Service, about your computer, about purchases made, about advertisements that you see and how you use our offer. The date and time of your interaction with Instagram are also saved. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram stores significantly more data about you. 

Facebook differentiates between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the case with Instagram. Customer data are, for example, name, address, telephone number and IP address. It is important to mention that this customer data is only transmitted to Instagram if it has been “hashed” beforehand. Hashing means that a data record is transformed into a character string. This allows you to encrypt the contact details. In addition, the “event data” mentioned above are also transmitted. “Event data” means Facebook – and consequently also Instagram – data about your user behavior. It can also happen that contact details are combined with event data. The contact details collected are compared with the data that Instagram already has about you. 

The collected data is transmitted to Facebook via small text files (cookies), which are usually set in your browser. Depending on the Instagram functions used and whether you have an Instagram account yourself, different amounts of data are stored. 

We assume that data processing on Instagram works the same way as on Facebook. That means: if you have an Instagram account or have visited www.instagram.com, Instagram has at least set a cookie. If this is the case, your browser sends information to Instagram via the cookie as soon as you come into contact with an Instagram function. This data will be deleted or anonymized after 90 days at the latest (after reconciliation). Although we have worked intensively with Instagram’s data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores. 

Below we show you cookies that are set in your browser at least when you click on an Instagram function (such as a button or an insta picture). In our test, we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, of course significantly more cookies are set in your browser. 

These cookies were used in our test: 

  • Name: csrftoken 

Value: “” 

Purpose: It is very likely that this cookie will be set for security reasons to prevent falsification of requests. However, we could not find out more precisely. 

Expiry date: after one year 

  • Name: mid 

Value: “” 

Purpose: Instagram uses this cookie to optimize its own services and offers in and outside of Instagram. The cookie specifies a unique user ID. 

Expiry date: after the end of the session 

  • Name: fbsr_321161680124024 

Value: no information 

Purpose: This cookie saves the login request for users of the Instagram app. 

Expiry date: after the end of the session 

  • Name: rur 

Value: ATN 

Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that ensures functionality on Instagram. 

Expiry date: after the end of the session 

  • Name: urlgen 

Value: “{\” 194.96.75.33 \ ”: 1901}: 1iEtYv: Y833k2_UjKvXgYe321161680” 

Purpose: This cookie serves the marketing purposes of Instagram. 

Expiry date: after the end of the session 

Note: We cannot claim to be complete here. Which cookies are set in individual cases depends on the embedded functions and your use of Instagram. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

Instagram shares the information received between the Facebook companies with external partners and with people you connect with worldwide. Data processing is carried out in compliance with our own data guidelines. Your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world, among other things for security reasons. Most of these servers are located in the United States. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, portability, correction and deletion of your data. You can manage your data in Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you must permanently delete your Instagram account. 

Here’s how to delete your Instagram account: 

First, open the Instagram app. Go down on your profile page and click on “Help”. Now you come to the company’s Service. On the Service, click “Manage Account” and then “Delete Your Account”. 

If you delete your account entirely, Instagram will delete posts such as your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you is not part of your account and is therefore not deleted. 

As mentioned above, Instagram primarily stores your data via cookies. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the administration always works a little differently. Here we show you the instructions of the most important browsers. 

You can also 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. 

Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures correct data transmission between the USA and the European Union.  

You can find out more at www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We have tried to give you the most important information about data processing by Instagram. On https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875 you can take a closer look at Instagram’s data guidelines. 

 

YouTube privacy policy 

We have installed YouTube videos on our Service. So, we can present you interesting videos directly on our site. YouTube is a video portal that has been a subsidiary of Google LLC 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 Service 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 is responsible for the entire data processing and therefore Google’s data protection also applies. 

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 Service, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have installed on our Service. 

Why do we use YouTube videos on our Service? 

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 Service. 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 Service 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 a YouTube video installed, 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 Service 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-CV6ojI5Y 

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 Service. 

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 Service (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 / AU1aZI6HY7321161680- 

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 as security to check users and protect user data from 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: oQfNKjAsI321161680- 

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 about how you use the Service and what advertisements you may have seen before visiting our Service. 

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 into 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? 

In principle, 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: 

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 

 

Twitter privacy policy 

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

To the best of our knowledge, the mere integration of the Twitter function in the European Economic Area and Switzerland means that no personal data or data relating to your web activities is transferred to Twitter. Only when you interact with the Twitter functions, such as clicking a button, can data be sent to Twitter, saved and processed there. We have no influence on this data processing and are not responsible. As part of this data protection declaration, we want to give you an overview of what data Twitter stores, what Twitter does with this data and how you can largely protect yourself from data transmission. 

What is Twitter? 

For some, Twitter is a news service, for others, a social media platform, and for others, it’s a microblogging service. All of these terms are justified and mean more or less the same thing. 

Both individuals and companies use Twitter to communicate with interested people via short messages. Twitter only allows 280 characters per message. These messages are called “tweets”. In contrast to Facebook, for example, the service does not focus on the expansion of a network for “friends” but wants to be understood as a worldwide and open news platform. On Twitter you can also have an anonymous account and tweets can be deleted on the one hand by the company and on the other hand by the users themselves. 

Why do we use Twitter on our Service? 

Like many other Services and companies, we try to offer our services through various channels and communicate with our customers. Twitter has grown dear to us as a useful “small” news service. Again, and again we tweet or retweet exciting, funny or interesting content. We understand that you cannot follow every channel separately. After all, you have something else to do. That is why we have also integrated Twitter functions on our Service. You can experience our Twitter activity “on site” or come to our Twitter page via a direct link. By integrating, we want to strengthen our service and user-friendliness on our Service. 

What data does Twitter store? 

You will find the built-in Twitter functions on some of our subpages. If you interact with the Twitter content, such as clicking a button, Twitter can collect and save data. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account yourself. Twitter calls this data “log data”. This includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, the ID of your smartphone, hashed email addresses, and information about which pages you have visited on Twitter and what actions you have taken. Of course, Twitter stores more data if you have a Twitter account and are logged in. This storage usually takes place via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually set in your browser and transmit various information to Twitter. 

We are now showing you which cookies are set if you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a Service with built-in Twitter functions. Please consider this list as an example. We cannot guarantee completeness here, since the choice of cookies always changes and depends on your individual actions with the Twitter content. 

These cookies were used in our test: 

  • Name: personalization_id 

Value: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE321161680” 

Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the Service and what advertisements you may have come to Twitter for. 

Expiry date: after 2 years 

  • Name: long 

Value: de 

Purpose: This cookie saves your default or preferred language. 

Expiry date: after the session ends 

  • Name: guest_id 

Value: 321161680v1% 3A157132626 

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

Expiry date: after 2 years 

  • Name: fm 

Value: 0 

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

Expiry date: after the session ends 

  • Name: external_referer 

Value: 3211616802beTA0sf5lkMrlGt 

Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data, such as how often you visit Twitter and how long you visit Twitter. 

Expiry date: After 6 days 

  • Name: eu_cn 

Value: 1 

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

Expiry date: After one year 

  • Name: ct0 

Value: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966 

Purpose: Unfortunately, we have not found any information about this cookie. 

Expiry date: after 6 hours 

  • Name: _twitter_sess 

Value: 53D% 253D – dd0248321161680- 

Purpose: With this cookie you can use functions within the Twitter Service. 

Expiry date: after the session ends 

Note: Twitter also works with third parties. That is why we recognized the three Google Analytics cookies _ga, _gat, _gid in our test. 

Twitter uses the data collected on the one hand to better understand user behavior and thus improve your own services and promotional offers; on the other hand, the data also serves internal security measures. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

If Twitter collects data from other Services, it will be deleted, summarized or otherwise covered after a maximum of 30 days. The Twitter servers are located at various server centers in the United States. Accordingly, it can be assumed that the data collected will be collected and stored in America. After our research, we could not clearly determine whether Twitter also has its own servers in Europe. In principle, Twitter can save the data collected until it is no longer useful to the company, until you delete the data or there is a legal deletion period. 

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage? 

Twitter repeatedly emphasizes in your data protection guidelines that it does not save data from external Service visits if you or your browser are in the European Economic Area or in Switzerland. However, if you interact directly with Twitter, Twitter will of course also store data about you. 

If you have a Twitter account, you can manage your data by clicking on “More” under the “Profile” button. Then click on “Settings and data protection”. Here you can manage data processing individually. 

If you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com and then click on “Customization”. You can manage the data you have collected under “Individualization and data”. 

Most of the data, as already mentioned above, is stored via cookies and you can manage, deactivate or delete them in your browser. Please note that you can only “edit” the cookies in the browser of your choice. This means that if you use another browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookies again according to your wishes. Here are the instructions for managing cookies in the most popular browsers. 

You can also manage your browser so that you are informed about each individual cookie. Then you can always decide individually whether you allow a cookie or not. 

Twitter also uses the data for personalized advertising inside and outside of Twitter. You can switch off personalized advertising in the settings under “Individualization and data”. If you use Twitter on a browser, you can deactivate personalized advertising at http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN 

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

We hope we have given you a basic overview of data processing by Twitter. We do not receive any data from Twitter and are not responsible for what Twitter does with your data. If you have any further questions on this topic, we recommend the Twitter data protection declaration at 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 Service. 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 Service. 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 would like 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 Service? 

We know how busy you are. You cannot track all social media channels individually. Even if it would be worth it, as 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 Service 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 Service. The data that LinkedIn collects also help us to show possible advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offer. 

What data does LinkedIn store? 

By simply integrating the social plug-ins LinkedIn does not save any personal data. 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”. Regardless of 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 smartphone, your location can also be determined (after you have given your permission). LinkedIn can also share this data in “hashed” form with third-party advertisers. 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 your user behavior data 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-c2e2d7235c16321161680- 

Purpose: The cookie is a so-called “browser ID cookie” and therefore stores your identification number (ID). 

Expiry date: After 2 years 

  • Name: long 

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 = AQF6KNnJ0G321161680… 

Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records how you got to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the Service. 

Expiry date: after 24 hours 

  • Name: rtc 

Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX 

Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie. 

Expiry date: after 2 minutes 

  • Name: JSESSIONID 

Value: ajax: 3211616802900777718326218137 

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 three Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat in our test. 

How long and where is the data stored? 

In general, 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 keeps some data in a 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 if it is necessary for legal reasons. Data that can no longer be assigned to any person remains stored 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 LinkedIn on your profile icon 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 of preventing data processing by LinkedIn. As 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: 

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 give you 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. 

 

Pinterest privacy policy 

We use buttons and widgets from the Pinterest social media network, Pinterest Inc., 808 Brannan Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA on our Service. 

By calling up pages that use such functions, data (IP address, browser data, date and time, cookies) are transmitted to Pinterest, saved and evaluated. 

The data protection guidelines, what information Pinterest collects and how you use it can be found at https://policy.pinterest.com/de/privacy-policy.  

 

XING data protection declaration 

We use social plugins from the social media network Xing, the company Xing SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany on our Service. With these functions you can, for example, share content on Xing directly via our Service, 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 Service 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 can 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 Service? 

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 Service on Xing. With such “social plug-ins” we are expanding our service on our Service. 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 Services. As soon as you open a page where a Xing social plug-in 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 stored that could directly relate to a person. 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 Service visitors. 

Expiry date: after the session ends 

  • Name: c_ 

Value: 157c609dc9fe7d7ff56064c6de87b019321161680-8 

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 Service 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-39DDACC982217CD1321161680-2 

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: 533a0a6641df82b46383da06ea0e84e7321161680-2 

Purpose: This cookie creates a temporary session ID that is used as the in-session user ID. The cookie is 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 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. This only affects 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: 

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 slashtechnik.de