We have drawn up this Privacy Notice (version 23.11.2020-311233935) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation
(EU) 2016/679, which information we collect, how we use data and what
decisions are available to you as a visitor to this website.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the matter at hand, these explanations sound very technical. Nevertheless, while creating this Privacy Notice, we made
great efforts to ensure that the most important matters are explained as simply and clearly as possible.
In the following section, we will provide information about the collection and storage of your personal data when you use our website. Personal
data refers to all data that relates to you personally, such as your name, address, email addresses and user behaviour.
The controllers in accordance with Art. 4(7) EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are:
Dr.-Ing. Dana Yma Faulenbach
Christoph Kloidt
bofest consult GmbH
Am Schimmersfeld 5
40880 Ratingen, Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 2102 770 89 0
Fax: +49 (0) 2102 770 89 20
Email: info@bofestconsult.com
Our Data Protection Officer is:
Angela Faulenbach (lawyer)
Phone: +49 (0) 2102 770 89 0
Fax: +49 (0) 2102 770 89 20
Email: datenschutz@bofestconsult.com
These days, when you visit a website, certain information is generated and stored automatically. This is also the case when you visit this website.
When you visit our website, as you are doing now, our web server (the computer on which this web site is stored) automatically stores data such as
in files (web server log files).
Generally, web server log files are stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass this data on, however, we cannot rule out the possibility that this data could be seen in the event of unlawful conduct.
Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data. In the following section, we will explain what cookies are and why they are used, so that you are better able to understand the following Privacy Notice.
To surf the internet, you need to use a browser. Some well-known browsers are Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites save small text files in your browser. The files are known as cookies.
One thing that should not be dismissed is that cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost every website uses cookies. To be more precise, we are talking about HTTP cookies in this context, since there are other types of cookies that are used in different areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically placed into the cookie folder, which is the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. Moreover, to define a cookie, one or multiple attributes must be specified.
Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you re-open our website to visit again, your browser submits these “user-related” pieces of information back to our site. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are familiar with. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file, while in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in one single file.
There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, while third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as 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 malware. Cookies also cannot access your the information stored on your PC.
This is an example of how cookie files can look:
A browser should provide the following minimum requirements:
The exact cookies that we use, depend on the services used, and will be outlined in the following sections of this Privacy Notice. At this point, we would like to provide a brief explanation of the different types of HTTP cookies.
There are four different types of cookies:
These cookies are required to ensure the basic functionality of the website. For example, these cookies are used when a user adds a product to their cart and then visits other websites before checking out later. Thanks to these cookies, the cart is not emptied, even when the user closes the browser window.
These cookies collect information about user behaviour and whether the user receives any error messages. These cookies are also used to measure the loading time and behaviour of the website in different browsers.
These cookies enhance the user friendliness of a website. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data may be stored.
These cookies are also referred to as targeting cookies. They allow websites to show users personalised advertisements. This can be very practical, but also very annoying.
The first time you visit a website, you will usually be asked which of these types of cookies you consent to. And of course, this decision is also saved in a cookie file.
You can decide for yourself how you want to use cookies, and whether you want to use them at all. Regardless of which service or which website the cookies originate from, you always have the option to delete cookies, to only allow certain cookies or to disable cookies. For example, you can block cookies from third parties but permit all other cookies.
If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, or if you want to change or erase cookie settings, you can find this option in your browser settings:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies inChrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser in such a way that it will notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or reject the placement of every single cookie. This procedure varies depending on the browser. Therefore, it might be best for you to search for the instructions in Google. If you are using Chrome, you could for example put the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “disable cookies Chrome” into Google. If using another browser, simply replace the word Chrome with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox or Safari.
The so-called “Cookie Directive” has been in force since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires your consent. Within countries of the EU, however, the reactions to this directive still vary greatly. In Germany, the cookie directive has not been transposed into national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG).
If you would like to know more about cookies and are not averse to technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments from the
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) entitled “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.
We use the personal data that you submit to us via this website, such as your name, email address, address or other personal information within the context of sending a form or leaving comments in the blog, together with the time and IP address, only for the relevant purpose. We store this data securely and never pass it on to third parties.
Therefore, we only use personal data to communicate with those visitors who have expressly confirmed that they would like to be contacted, and to provide the services and products offered on this website. We do not pass your data on without your consent. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that this data could be seen in the event of unlawful conduct.
When you send personal data to us in an email – i.e. outside of this website – we cannot guarantee the safe transmission and protection of this data. We recommend that you never send confidential information via email in an unencrypted format.
In accordance with Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (Lawfulness of processing), the legal basis for processing of this data is your consent to the processing of the data submitted by you. You can withdraw this consent at any time – an informal email is sufficient. You can find our contact details in the imprint.
In accordance with the provisions of the GDPR, you have the following fundamental rights:
If you think that the processing of your data violates the data protection regulations, or that your data protection rights have been infringed in any other way, you can lodge a complaint with your respective regulatory authority. In Germany, for example, you can lodge a complaint with the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI, German: Bundesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit).
In the following privacy notice, we will inform you about whether and how we analyse the data related to your visit of this website. The evaluation of the data collected is generally carried out anonymously and we cannot identify you based on your behaviour on this website.
The following sections provide more information about the options for objecting to this evaluation of visitor data.
We use https to transfer data securely over the internet (data protection through organisational measures in accordance with Article 25(1) GDPR). By using of TLS (Transport Layer Security), which is an encryption protocol for secure data transmission over the internet, we can ensure that confidential data is protected. You can recognise that this secure method of data transmission is being used by way of the small padlock symbol in your browser to the left of the Internet address and the use of the abbreviation https (instead of http) as part of our internet address.
We use Google Maps from Google Inc. on our website. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services in Europe. Google Maps allows us to show you locations better and adapt our service to your needs. When Google Maps is used, data is transmitted to Google and stored on the Google servers. In the following section, we will explain in more detail what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, which data is stored and how you can prevent this.
Google Maps is a web mapping platform operated by Google. Google Maps allows you to search for the exact locations of places, points of interest, accommodation or companies online using a PC, a tablet or an app. If companies use Google My Business, further information about the company is displayed next to the location. To display route directions, a map segment of a location can be embedded in a website by means of HTML code. Google Maps can display the Earth’s surface as a road map or as a satellite image. Very accurate presentations are possible thanks to the Street View images and the high-resolution satellite images.
The aim of all of our efforts on this website is to offer you a helpful, meaningful visit. Embedding Google Maps enables us to provide you with the most important information about various locations. You can see at a glance where our offices and distributors can be found. The route planner always shows you the best/quickest route to us. You can select directions for travelling by car, public transport, walking or cycling. We regard the provision of Google Maps as part of our customer service.
In order to provide you with the full functionality of its service, Google Maps must collect and store data from you. This includes the search terms entered, your IP address and also the latitude and longitude of your location. If you use the route planning function, then the start address you enter is also stored. However, this data storage takes place on the Google Maps websites. We can only inform you about it, but we do not have any influence over it. As we have embedded Google Maps in our website, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behaviour. Google mainly uses this data to optimise its own services and provide personalised ads for you.
The following cookies are set in your browser as a result of embedding Google Maps:
Name: NID
Value: =h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ311233935-5
Purpose: Google uses NID to adapt ads to your Google search.
Using this cookie, Google “remembers” your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interactions with advertisements. This means that you are always shown personalised advertisements. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect your personal preferences for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Note: We cannot guarantee the completeness of the details regarding the data stored.
Changes can never be ruled out, especially when it comes to the use of cookies. To identify the NID cookie, a test page was set up on which only Google Maps was embedded.
The Google servers are located in data centres all over the world. However, most servers are located in the USA. Therefore, the majority of your data is also stored in the USA. You can check the exact locations of the Google data centres here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de
Google distributes the data across various data carriers. This means that the data can be accessed quicker and is better protected against attempted manipulations. Each Google data centre also has appropriate disaster recovery measures in place. For example, if there are problems with the Google hardware or a natural disaster knocks out the servers, the data is nevertheless still quite well protected.
Google saves some data for a fixed period. For other types of data, Google only offers the option to delete these manually. Moreover, the company also anonymises information (e.g. advertising data) in server logs by deleting part of the IP address and cookie information after 9 or 18 months.
The automatic delete function for location and activity data introduced in 2019 means that data for determining location and web/app activity are stored for either 3 or 18 months – depending on your decision – and then deleted. In addition, it is possible to delete this data at any time manually via your Google account. If you wish to prevent your location from being acquired, then you must pause “Web & App Activity” in your Google account. To do this, click on “Data & personalization” and then click on the “Activity controls” option. Form here, you can turn web & app activity on or off.
In your browser, you can also disable, clear and manage individual cookies. The process for doing this differs slightly depending on which browser you use. The following guides show you how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser in such a way that it will notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or reject the placement of every single cookie.
Google is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. If you would like to find out more about data processing by Google, we recommend that you read Google’s own Privacy Policy, which can be accessed at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.
We use Google Fonts on our website. The Google Fonts service is owned by Google Inc. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services in Europe.
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) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, the requests for CSS and fonts are completely separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you don’t need to worry about your Google account data being transmitted to Google when using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (cascading style sheets) and the font types used and stores these securely. We’ll be taking a closer look at what exactly this data storage looks like.
Google Fonts (previously Google Web Fonts) is a directory with over 800 types of fonts, which Google gives its users access to free of charge. Many of these fonts are released under the SIL Open Font License, while others were released under the Apache License. Both of these are software licences.
With Google Fonts we can use different fonts on our website and do not have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important element which helps to keep the quality of our website high. All Google fonts are automatically optimised for the web, which reduces data volume and is particularly advantageous with regard to the use of mobile devices. When you visit our website, the low data size enables fast loading times. Moreover, Google Fonts are secure web fonts. Various image synthesis systems (rendering) can lead to errors in different browsers, operating systems and mobile devices. These errors could visually distort parts of texts or entire websites. Thanks to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN), there are no cross-platform issues with Google Fonts. All common browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) are supported by Google Fonts, and it reliably operates on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). We also use Google Fonts for presenting our entire online service as pleasantly and as uniformly as possible.
Whenever you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded by a Google server. As a result of this external call, data is transmitted to Google’s servers. This also allows Google to recognise that you (or your IP address) are visiting our website. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the usage, storage and gathering of end user data to the minimum needed for the proper depiction of fonts. API stands for “Application Programming Interface”. One of the key functions of an API is to serve as a software intermediary, enabling the exchange of data between two software programs.
Google Fonts stores CSS requests and font requests securely with Google. This means that this data is protected. Using its collected usage figures, Google can determine how popular the individual fonts are. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. Moreover, Google also utilises data from its own web crawler, in order to determine which websites are using Google Fonts. This data is published in the BigQuery database maintained by Google Fonts. Entrepreneurs and developers use the Google BigQuery web service to be able to inspect and move big volumes of data.
One more thing that should be considered, is that every request for Google Fonts automatically transmits information such as language preferences, IP address, browser version, as well as the browser’s screen resolution and name to Google’s servers. It cannot be clearly identified if this data is saved, as Google has not directly declared it.
Google saves requests for CSS assets for one day in a tag on their servers, which are primarily located outside of the EU. This makes it possible for us to use the fonts by means of a Google style sheet. A style sheet is a template file that allows elements of a website, such as the design or the font used, to be modified quickly and easily.
Any font-related data is stored with Google for one year. This is because Google’s aim is to fundamentally boost the loading times of websites. With millions of websites referring to the same fonts, the fonts are buffered after the first visit and instantly reappear on any other websites that are visited thereafter. Sometimes Google updates font files to either reduce the data sizes, increase the number of languages covered or to improve the design.
The data Google stores for either a day or a year cannot be deleted easily. This data is automatically transmitted to Google when you access the website. In order to clear the data ahead of time, you have to contact Google’s support at https://support.google.com/?hl=en-GB&tid=311233935. The only way for you to prevent the retention of your data is by not visiting our website.
Unlike other web fonts, Google offers us unrestricted access to all of its fonts. This means that we can choose from a wide range of fonts, which helps us to get the most out of our website. You can find more information about Google Fonts and other questions you may have at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311233935. While Google does address relevant issues concerning data protection at this link, the page does not contain any detailed information about data retention. It is relatively difficult to obtain properly detailed information about stored data from Google.
You can also read about what data Google collects and how that data is used at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-GB.
We use the tracking and analysis tool Google Analytics (GA) owned by the US-based company Google Inc. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services in Europe. Google Analytics collects data about the actions you perform on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. Using the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can adapt our website and our services better to your wishes. In the following section, we will explain the tracking tool in more detail, and most importantly, we will inform you what data is saved and how you can prevent this.
Google Analytics is a tracking tool used to analyse traffic on our website. To make Google Analytics work, a tracking code is built into the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions that you perform on our website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics servers and stored there.
Google processes the data and we receive reports about your user behaviour. These reports may include the following:
Our goal with this website 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 give us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimise our site so that it can be found more easily by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to understand you as a visitor better. We therefore know exactly what we need to improve on our website in order to offer you the best possible service. The data also helps us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures more individually and cost-effectively. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.
Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID associated with your browser cookie. This enables Google Analytics to recognise you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognised as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This is what makes the evaluation of pseudonymous user profiles possible in the first place.
Your interactions on our website are measured using identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs. Interactions are all kinds of actions you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated by Google Analytics can be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not pass on any Google Analytics data unless we, as the website operator, give permission to do so. Exceptions may be made if required by law.
The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:
Name: _ga
Value: 2.1326744211.152311233935-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID.
Basically, it is used to differentiate between website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: _gid
Value: 2.1687193234.152311233935-1
Purpose: This cookie is also used to differentiate between website visitors.
Expiration date: after 24 hours
Name: _gat_gtag_UA_ Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is used to throttle the request rate. If Google Analytics is provided via the
Google
Tag Manager, the name of this cookie is _dc_gtm_.
Expiration date: after 1 minute
Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie has a token which can be used to retrieve a User ID
from the
AMP Client ID service. Other possible values indicate a log-off, a request or an error.
Expiration date: after 30 seconds and up to one year
Name: __utma
Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie is used to track your behaviour on the website and to
measure
performance. The cookie is updated each time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: __utmt
Value: 1
Purpose: Like _gat_gtag_UA_, this cookie is used to throttle the request rate.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes
Name: __utmb
Value: 3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated each time new data or information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 30 minutes
Name: __utmc
Value: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions for returning visitors. It is a session cookie and is only stored until you close the browser.
Expiration date: after closing the browser
Name: __utmz
Value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. This means that the cookie stores where you came to our website from. This may have been another site or an advertising campaign.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Name: __utmv
Value: not specified
Purpose: This cookie is used to store user-defined user data. It is updated each time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Note: This list is not exhaustive, as Google constantly changes the cookies it uses.
Below, we have provided an overview of the most important data collected with Google Analytics for you:
Heatmaps: Google creates “heatmaps”. Heatmaps show the exact areas of the website that you click on. This gives us information about the areas of our website that you visit.
Session duration: Google defines session duration as the time you spend on our site without leaving the site. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.
Bounce rate : A bounce refers to when you visit our website and then leave without taking an action.
Account creation: When you create an account or place an order on our website, 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 IP address can be used to determine the country and your approximate location. This process is also known as IP geolocation.
Technical information: Technical information includes information such as your browser type, your internet provider or your screen resolution.
Source of origin: Of course, both ourselves and Google Analytics are also interested in which website or which advertisement brought you to our site.
Other data includes contact details, any ratings, media playback (e.g. when you play a video on our site), sharing content via social media or adding our website to your favourites. This list does not claim to be exhaustive and serves only as a general point of reference for data storage by Google
Analytics.
Google has servers all over the world. Most servers are located in the USA, and therefore, your data is usually stored on servers in the USA. You can check the exact locations of the Google data centres here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de
Your data is distributed across various physical data carriers. This has the advantage that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. Each Google data centre has appropriate disaster recovery measures in place for your data. For example, if Google’s hardware fails or natural disasters cause its servers to go down, the risk of 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 do have the option of choosing the retention period for user data ourselves.
We have five options for this:
When the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data linked to cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g. cookies from the DoubleClick domain). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is the result of grouping individual data into a larger unit.
According to the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, you have the right to obtain information about your data, the right to update your data, the right to delete your data and the right to restrict the processing of your data. You can use a browser add-on to disable Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js) and prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en-GB. Please note that this add-on only deactivates data collection by Google Analytics.
If you want to fundamentally disable, delete or manage cookies (independent of Google Analytics), there are separate instructions for each browser:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=311233935. We hope that we were able to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google Analytics. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/gb/ and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=en.
We have implemented the Google Analytics IP address anonymization feature on this website. This function was developed by Google to allow websites to comply with relevant data protection provisions and recommendations from local data protection authorities, if these prohibit the storage of complete IP addresses. The IP anonymization/masking takes place as soon as data is received by Google Analytics, before any storage or processing takes place.
You can find more information about this at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=en.
We have activated the features for advertising reports in Google Analytics. The Demographics and Interests reports contain information about age, gender and interests. These reports provide us with a more detailed picture of our users. However, the data in these reports cannot be assigned to individual persons. You can find out more about advertising features at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=en&utm_id=ad. You can stop the activity and information associated with your Google account from being used by deactivating the check box at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.
When you subscribe to our newsletter, you transmit the personal data you have entered to us and consent to us contacting you via email. The data stored during the process of subscribing to the newsletter is used exclusively for the purpose of providing you with the newsletter and is not passed on to third parties.
Should you decide to unsubscribe from the newsletter – there is a link to do this at the bottom of every newsletter – then we will delete all data that was stored when you subscribed to the newsletter.
We have embedded elements from social media services on our website in order to display pictures, videos and texts. When you visit pages that present such elements, data is transferred from your browser to the respective social media service, where it is stored. We do not have access to this data. The following links take you to the websites of the respective social media services, where you can find a policy explaining how they handle your data:
We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network operated by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. Using these tools
allows us to provide you, and other people interested in our products and services, with the best possible experience when you use our website. In the following section, we will provide you with an overview of the various Facebook tools, which data is sent to Facebook
and how you can delete this data.
In addition to a wide range of other products, Facebook also offers “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official name given to this range of tools by Facebook. However, because few people are familiar with this term, we have decided to simply refer to these tools as “Facebook tools”. These include:
Facebook expands services using these tools and has the option to receive information about user activities outside of Facebook.
We want to present our services and products to people that are actually interested in them. By using Facebook Ads, we can reach exactly these people. However, in order to show users relevant adverts, Facebook needs information about the wants and needs of individuals. To enable this, the company is provided with information about user behaviour (and contact data) on our website. This allows Facebook to collect better user data and enables the company to show interested parties relevant advertisements about our products and services. As a result, these tools enable personalised advertisement campaigns on Facebook.
Data related to your behaviour on our website is referred to as “event data” by Facebook. This data is also used for measurement and analysis services. Using this data, Facebook can draw up “Campaign reports” about the impact of our advertising campaigns at our request. Moreover, analyses give us a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. Therefore, we use some of these tools to optimise your user experience when you use our website. For example, you can share content from our website directly on Facebook using the social plug-ins.
The use of particular Facebook tools can result in personal data (customer data) being sent to Facebook. The data that can be sent includes customer data such as name, address, telephone number and IP address. The data sent depends on which tools are used.
Facebook compares this information with the data it holds about you itself (provided that you have a Facebook account). A hashing process takes place before customer data is sent to Facebook. This means that a dataset of any size is transformed into a string of characters. This also encrypts the data.
In addition to contact information, “event data” is also transferred. “Event data” refers to any information about you that we receive via our website. For example, which sub-pages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers), except where express authorisation has been obtained or where the company is legally required to do so. “Event data” can also be linked to contact information. This allows Facebook to show you advertisements that are personalised to a greater extent. After the previously mentioned comparison process, Facebook deletes the contact information again.
In order to optimise the way it shows advertisements, Facebook only uses event data when this data is has been grouped with other data (that was collected a different way). Facebook also uses event data for security, protection, development and research purposes. Lots of this data is transferred to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files used to store data/information in browsers. The number of cookies placed in your browser varies depending on the tools used and whether or not you have a Facebook account. We describe the individual Facebook cookies in greater detail in the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools. You can find general information about the use of Facebook cookies at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.
In general, Facebook stores data until it is no longer required for their own services and Facebook products. Your data is stored on Facebook servers, which are distributed all over the world. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours of the data being compared with Facebook’s own user data.
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to be informed about your data, the right to rectification of your data, the right to data portability and the right to erasure of your data.
Complete deletion of your data only occurs when you completely delete your Facebook account. Here is how to delete your Facebook account:
1) On Facebook, click “Settings” on the right-hand side of the page.
2) Then click on “Your Facebook information” from the menu on the left-hand side.
3) Now click on “Deactivation and deletion”.
4) Select “Delete account” and then click on “Continue to account deletion”.
5) Enter your password, then click “Next” and then click on “Delete account”.
One of the ways in which data that Facebook receives about our website is stored is via cookies (e.g. for social plug-ins). In your browser, you can disable, clear and manage all cookies or individual cookies. The process for doing this differs depending on which browser you use. The following guides show you how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser in such a way that it will notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This gives you the opportunity to manually decide to either permit or reject the placement of every single cookie.
Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We hope that we were able to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Facebook tools. If you would like to find out more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend Facebook’s Data Policy, which you can access at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.
On our website, we use social plug-ins from the LinkedIn social media platform, which is operated by LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. These social plug-ins can relate to feeds, sharing content or linking to our LinkedIn page. The social plug-ins are clearly identified by the famous LinkedIn logo and allow users to share interesting content directly from our website, for example. LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place in Dublin is responsible for data processing in the European Economic Area and Switzerland.
By embedding these plug-ins, data can be sent to, as well as stored and processed by LinkedIn In this privacy notice, we want to inform you what data this is, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data retention.
LinkedIn is the world’s largest social network for business contacts. Unlike Facebook, for example, the company concentrates exclusively on developing business contacts. Companies can use the platform to present their products and services and connect with business contacts. Lots of people also use LinkedIn to search for jobs or to find suitable employees for their own company. The network has more than 11 million members in Germany alone. There are 1.3 million members in Austria.
We know how busy you are. You cannot keep up with following every single social media channel. Even if it would really be worth it, as it is with our channels, since we are always posting interesting news and articles that are worth sharing. Therefore, on our website we have created the opportunity to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn, or to refer directly to our LinkedIn page. We consider built-in social plugins as an extended service on our website. The data collected by LinkedIn also helps us to display potential advertising measures only to people who are interested in our products and services.
LinkedIn does not save any personal data as a result of merely integrating the social plug-ins. LinkedIn refers to the data that is generated by plug-ins as “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”. This occurs 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. This allows the company to log various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this can include login data, device information or information about your Internet or mobile phone provider. If you access LinkedIn services via your smart phone, your location can also be recorded (after you have given your permission). LinkedIn can also pass this data on to third-party advertisers in a hashed format. Hashing means that a dataset is transformed into a character string. This allows the data to be encrypted so that people can no longer be identified.
Most of the data about your user behaviour 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-c2e2d7235c16311233935-
Purpose: This cookie is known as a “browser ID cookie” and stores your
identification number (ID).
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: lang
Value: v=2&lang=de-de
Purpose: This cookie saves your default or preferred language.
Expiration date: after the session ends
Name: lidc
Value: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G311233935…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the routes you followed
to
reach LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website.
Expiration date: after 24 hours
Name: rtc
Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX
Purpose: No further information could be found about this
cookie.
Expiration date: after 2 minutes
Name: JSESSIONID
Value: ajax:3112339352900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous
user sessions through the server.
Expiration 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.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: fid
Value: AQHj7Ii23ZBcqAAAA…
Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 7 days
Note: LinkedIn also works with third parties. That is why we recognised the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat in our test.
In principle, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company considers it necessary to offer its own services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn retains some data in summarised and anonymized form even after you delete your account. As soon as you delete your account, other people can no longer see your data within a day. LinkedIn generally deletes the data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data when it is legally required to do so. Data that can no longer be assigned to any person remains saved even after the account is closed. The data is stored on various servers in the USA and probably also in Europe.
You have the right to access and delete your personal data at any time. You can manage, modify and delete your data in your LinkedIn account. You can also request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn.
How to access the account information in your LinkedIn profile:
Click on your profile icon in LinkedIn and select “Settings & Privacy”. Then click on “Data privacy” and in the “How LinkedIn uses your data” section, click on “Change”. In just a short time, you can download selected data on your web activity and your account history.
You also have the option in your browser to prevent data processing by LinkedIn. As already mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most of the data via cookies that are set in your browser. You can manage, disable or delete these cookies. The process for this varies slightly depending on which browser you have. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
You can also set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is about 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 Framework. This framework ensures correct data transmission between the USA and the European Union. You can find out more about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000L0UZAA0. We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by LinkedIn. You can find even more information on data processing by the social media network LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.
On our website we use social plug-ins from the social media network Xing, which is operated by Xing SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany. With these functions, you can, for example, share content on Xing directly via our website, log in via Xing or follow interesting content. You can recognise the plug-ins by the company name or the Xing logo. If you call up a website that uses a Xing plug-in, data can be transmitted to the “Xing server”, stored and evaluated. In this privacy notice, we want to information you what data this involves and how you can manage or prevent the storage of your data.
Xing is a social network with its headquarters in Hamburg. The company specialises in managing professional contacts. This means that, unlike other networks, Xing is primarily about professional networking. Users often use the platform to search for jobs or to find employees for their own company. Xing also offers interesting content on various professional topics. Its global counterpart is the American company LinkedIn.
These days, there is a flood of social media channels, and we are well aware that your time is very precious. It is not always possible to keep a close eye every single social media channel of a company. Therefore, we want to make your life as easy as possible so that you can share or follow interesting content on Xing directly from our website. We use “social plug-ins” to expand the services on our website. In addition, the data collected by Xing help us to carry out targeted advertising measures on the platform. This means that our service is only shown to people who are really interested in it.
Xing offers the share button, the follow button and the log-in button as a plug-in for websites. As soon as you open a page in which a social plug-in from Xing is embedded, your browser connects to servers in a data centre used by Xing. In the case of the share button – according to Xing – no data should be saved that could directly relate to a person. In particular, Xing does not save any of your IP addresses. Furthermore, no cookies are set in connection with the share button. This means that there is no evaluation of your user behaviour. You can find more information at 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 and browser data, as well as the 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 login button and are not yet logged in to Xing. Please keep in mind that this list is not exhaustive and only serves as an example:
Name: AMCVS_0894FF2554F733210A4C98C6%40AdobeOrg
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is used to create and store identifications of website visitors.
Expiration date: after the session ends
Name: c_
Value: 157c609dc9fe7d7ff56064c6de87b019311233935-8
Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiration date: after one day
Name: prevPage
Value: wbm%2FWelcome%2Flogin
Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the previous website that you visited.
Expiration date: after 30 minutes
Name: s_cc
Value: true
Purpose: This Adobe Site Catalyst cookie determines whether cookies are enables in the browser.
Expiration date: after the session ends
Name: s_fid
Value: 6897CDCD1013221C-39DDACC982217CD1311233935-2
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify a unique visitor.
Expiration 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.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name:_session_id
Value: 533a0a6641df82b46383da06ea0e84e7311233935-2
Purpose: This cookie creates a temporary session ID that is
used as the in-session user ID. The cookie is absolutely necessary to provide the functions of Xing.
Expiration date: after the session ends
As soon as you are logged in to Xing or a member of Xing, further personal data will definitely be collected, processed and saved. Xing also passes on personal data to third parties if this is necessary for the fulfilment of its own business purposes, if you have given your consent or if there is a legal obligation to do so.
Xing stores the data on different servers in various data centres. The company stores this data until you delete the data or until you delete your user account. Of course, this only applies to users who are already Xing members.
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. The process for this varies slightly depending on which browser you have. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here:
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
You can also set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is about to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.
We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Xing. You can find even more information on data processing by the social media network Xing at https://privacy.xing.com/en/privacy-policy.
We have embedded Twitter content on our website. The content includes embedded tweets, timelines, buttons or hashtags. Twitter is a microblogging service and social media platform operated by Twitter Inc., One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2 D02 AX07, Ireland.
To our knowledge, in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, a mere integration of the Twitter function does not transfer any personal data or data about your web activities to Twitter. Only when you interact with the Twitter functions, such as clicking a button, can data be sent to Twitter, stored and processed there. We have no influence on this data processing and are not responsible for this. As part of this privacy notice, 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.
Some people refer to Twitter as a news service, others call it a social media platform and some even refer to it as a microblogging service. All of these terms are justified and mean more or less the same thing.
Both private individuals and companies use Twitter to communicate with interested people via short messages. Twitter only allows 280 characters per message. These messages are referred to as “tweets”. In contrast to Facebook, for example, the service does not focus on expanding a network of “friends”, but wants to be viewed as a global and open news platform. You can also have an anonymous account on Twitter and tweets can be deleted by companies on the one hand and by the users themselves on the other.
Like many other websites and companies, we try to offer our services and communicate with our customers through various channels. Twitter in particular has grown dear to us as a useful “little” news service. We are constantly tweeting or retweeting exciting, funny or interesting content. We realise that you cannot follow every one of our social media channels separately. After all, you have plenty of other things to do. That is why we have also integrated Twitter functions on our website. You can experience our Twitter activity “on site” or come to our Twitter page via a direct link. By embedding Twitter functions on our website, we are aiming to improve the services on our website and make it more user-friendly.
You will find the embedded Twitter functions on some of our sub-pages. If you interact with the Twitter content, e.g. by clicking a button, Twitter can collect and save data. This occurs even if you don’t have a Twitter account. Twitter refers to this data as “log data”. This includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, the ID of your smartphone, hashed email addresses, as well as 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 mostly takes place via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually set in your browser and transmit various information to Twitter.
We will now show you which cookies are set if you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a website with embedded Twitter functions. Please consider this list as an example. We cannot guarantee completeness here, as the choice of cookies is always changing and depends on your individual actions with the Twitter content.
These cookies were used in our test:
Name: personalization_id
Value: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE311234598”
Purpose: This cookie saves information on how you use the website and
which
advertisement may have brought you to Twitter.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: lang
Value: de
Purpose: This cookie saves your default or preferred language.
Expiration date: after the session ends
Name: guest_id
Value: 311234598v1%3A157132626
Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: fm
Value: 0
Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find any information on the purpose of this
cookie.
Expiration date: after the session ends
Name: external_referer
Value: 3112345982beTA0sf5lkMrlGt
Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data, such as how often you visit Twitter
and
the length of your Twitter visits.
Expiration date: after 6 days
Name: eu_cn
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores user activity and is used by Twitter for various
advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after one year
Name: ct0
Value: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966
Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find any information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 6 hours
Name: _twitter_sess
Value: 53D%253D–dd0248311234598-
Purpose: This cookie allows you to use functions within the Twitter website.
Expiration date: after the session ends
Note: Twitter also works with third parties. That is why we recognised the three Google Analytics cookies _ga, _gat, _gid in our test.
One the one hand, Twitter uses the collected data to better understand user behaviour and thus to
improve its own services and advertising offers. On the other hand, the data is also use for internal security measures.
If Twitter collects data from other websites, this data will be deleted, aggregated or otherwise obfuscated after a maximum of 30 days. The Twitter servers are located in various data centres in the United States. It can therefore be assumed that the data collected will be collected and stored in the USA. During our research, we were unable to definitively ascertain whether or not Twitter also has its own servers in Europe. In principle, Twitter can store the collected data until it is no longer useful to the company, until you delete the data or until a the end of statutory deletion period is reached.
In its Privacy Policy, Twitter repeatedly emphasises that it does not save any data from external website visits if you or your browser are located in the European Economic Area or in Switzerland. However, if you interact directly with Twitter, Twitter will of course also save your data.
If you have a Twitter account, you can manage your data by clicking on “More” underneath the “Profile” button. Then click on “Settings and privacy”. Here you can manage data processing individually.
If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com and then click on “Personalization”. You can manage your personal data that has been collected in the “Personalization and data” section.
As already mentioned above, most of the data is stored via cookies and you can manage, disable or delete these in your browser. Please note that you can only “edit” the cookies in the browser you have chosen. This means that if you use a different browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookies there again according to your wishes. Instructions for managing cookies in the most popular browsers can be found below.
Chrome: Clear, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data in Safari
Firefox: Clear cookies and site data in Firefox
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
You can also configure your browser so that you are informed of each individual cookie. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.
Twitter also uses the data for personalised advertising both within and outside of Twitter. In the settings, you can switch off personalised advertising under “Personalization and data”. If you use Twitter on a browser, you can deactivate personalised 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 about this 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 reading the Twitter Privacy Policy at https://twitter.com/de/privacy.
Source: Created with the Datenschutz Generator from AdSimple in cooperation with hashtagmann.de
