smart packing solutions by manufacturers

Data Protection Policy

1. Data protection at a glance

General information

The following notes provide a simple overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit our website. Personal data are all data with which you can be personally identified. For detailed information on the subject of data protection, please refer to our data protection declaration listed below this text.

Data collection on our website

Who is responsible for data collection on this website?

The data processing on this website is carried out by the website operator. His contact details can be found in the imprint of this website.

How do we collect your data?

On the one hand, your data is collected when you provide it to us. This can be data that you enter in a contact form, for example.

Other data is automatically collected by our IT systems when you visit the website. These are mainly technical data (e.g. internet browser, operating system or time of the page call). This data is collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do we use your data for?

Part of the data is collected to ensure that the website is provided without errors. Other data can be used to analyze your user behavior.

What rights do you have with regard to your data?

You have the right to receive information free of charge about the origin, recipient and purpose of your stored personal data at any time. You also have the right to demand the correction, blocking or deletion of this data. For this purpose, as well as for further questions regarding data protection, you can contact us at any time at the address given in the legal notice. Furthermore, you have a right of appeal to the responsible supervisory authority.

Automatic data storage

When you visit websites today, certain information is automatically created and stored, as on this website.When you visit our website as you are doing right now, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores information such as 

  • the address (URL) of the accessed web page Browser and browser version
  • the operating system used
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)
  • the host name and IP address of the device being accessed
  • Date and time

in files (web server log files).

Usually web server log files are stored for two weeks and are then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of illegal behavior.

Analytical and Third-Party Tools

When you visit our website, your surfing behavior can be evaluated statistically. This is mainly done with cookies and with so-called analytical programs. The analysis of your surfing behavior is usually anonymous; the surfing behavior cannot be traced back to you. You can object to this analysis or prevent it by not using certain tools. You will find detailed information on this in the following data protection declaration.

You can contradict this analysis. We will inform you about the possibilities of objection in this data protection declaration.

2. General notes and mandatory information

Data Protection

The operator of this site considers the protection of your personal data to be very important. We treat your personal data confidentially and according to the legal data protection regulations as well as this privacy policy.

When you use this website, various personal data is collected. Personal data is data with which you can be personally identified.This data protection declaration explains what data we collect and what we use it for.  It also explains how we do this and for what purpose.

We would like to point out that data transmission over the Internet (e.g. communication by e-mail) can have security gaps. It is not possible to completely protect data from access by third parties.

Notes on the responsible body

The company responsible for data processing on this website is:

alpha-pack GmbH Otto-Hahn-Allee 1 D - 50374 Erftstadt

Phone: 02235 - 47048-0 E-Mail: info_at_alphapack.de

The responsible body is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (e.g. names, e-mail addresses, etc.).

Revocation of your consent to data processing

Many data processing operations are only possible with your explicit consent. You can revoke a previously given consent at any time. For this purpose, an informal notification by e-mail to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing that took place until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

Right of appeal to the responsible supervisory authority

In the event of violations of data protection laws, the person concerned has a right of appeal to the responsible supervisory authority. The responsible supervisory authority in data protection matters is the data protection commissioner of the federal state in which our company is located. A list of the data protection officers and their contact details can be found by following this link: https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html.

Right to data transferability

You have the right to have data, which we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract, handed over to you or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If you request the direct transfer of the data to another responsible party, this will only be done to the extent technically feasible.

SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as orders or inquiries that you send to us as site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the fact that the address line of your browser changes from "http://" to "https://" and by the lock symbol in your browser line.

If the SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information, blocking, deletion

Within the framework of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right to obtain information free of charge at any time about your stored personal data, its origin and recipients and the purpose of the data processing and, if applicable, a right to correct, block or delete this data. For this purpose, as well as for further questions regarding personal data, you can contact us at any time at the address given in the legal notice.

Objection against advertising mails

The use of contact data published within the scope of the legal notice obligation to send advertising and information material not expressly requested is hereby prohibited. The operators of the site expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the event of unsolicited sending of advertising information, such as through spam e-mails.

3. Data protection officer

Data protection officer required by law

The data protection officer of the responsible party is:

alpha-pack GmbH – Data protection officer

Otto-Hahn-Allee 1

50374 Erftstadt

Germany

Phone 02235 - 47048-0

Fax 02235 - 47048-21

E-Mail: info_at_alphapack.de

4. Data collection on our website

Cookies

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

What exactly are cookies?

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

One thing is not to be dismissed: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, since there are other cookies for other applications. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, so to speak 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 return to our site, your browser transmits the "user-related" information back to our site. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default settings. 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 site, third-party cookies are created by partner sites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie is unique because 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 information on your PC.

This is how cookie data can look like, for example:

  • name: _ga
  • Expiration period: 2 years
  • Usage: differentiation of website visitors
  • Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311168175

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

  • A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes
  • At least 50 cookies should be able to be stored per domain
  • A total of at least 3000 cookies should be stored.
What types of cookies do exist?

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

You can distinguish 4 types of cookies:

Essential Cookies These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and only proceeds to checkout later. 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 the behavior of the website with different browsers.

Target-oriented cookies These cookies ensure a better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are stored.

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

Usually, when visiting a website for the first time, you will be asked which of these types of cookies you wish to accept. And of course this decision is also stored in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

How and whether you want to use cookies is up to you. Regardless of which service or website the cookies originate from, you always have the option to delete cookies, to allow them only partially or to deactivate them. For example, you can block third-party cookies, but allow all other cookies.

If you want to find out which cookies are stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can find this in your browser settings:

Chrome: Cookies in Chrome löschen, aktivieren und verwalten

Safari: Verwalten von Cookies und Websitedaten mit Safari

Firefox: Cookies löschen, um Daten zu entfernen, die Websites auf Ihrem Computer abgelegt haben

Internet Explorer: Löschen und Verwalten von Cookies

Microsoft Edge: Löschen und Verwalten von Cookies

If you generally refuse cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever you receive a cookie. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether or not you wish to accept it. The procedure varies depending on the browser. The best thing to do is to look for the instructions in Google with the search term "Delete cookies Chrome" or "Deactivate cookies Chrome" in the case of a Chrome browser or replace the word "Chrome" with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

What about my personal data protection?

The so-called "cookie guidelines" have been in place since 2009. This states that the storage of cookies requires the consent of the website visitor (i.e. you). Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these guidelines. In Germany, the cookie guidelines have not been implemented as national law. Instead, the implementation of these guidelines was largely carried out in § 15 para.3 of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

If you want to learn more about cookies and are not afraid of technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called "HTTP State Management Mechanism".

Server log files

The provider of the pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:

  • Browser type and version
  • Operating system used
  • Referrer URL
  • Hostname of the accessing computer
  • Time of the server request
  • IP address

This data is not merged with other data sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO, which permits the processing of data for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.

Contact form

If you send us inquiries via the contact form, your details from the inquiry form, including the contact data you provide there, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing the inquiry and in the event of follow-up questions. We will not pass on this data without your consent.

The processing of the data entered in the contact form is thus exclusively based on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke this consent at any time. For this purpose, an informal communication by e-mail to us is sufficient. The legality of the data processing operations carried out up to the point of revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data you enter in the contact form will remain with us until you request us to delete it, revoke your consent to its storage or the purpose for which it was stored ceases to apply (e.g. after your inquiry has been processed). Mandatory legal provisions - in particular retention periods - remain unaffected.

If you send us personal data by e-mail - thus off this website - we cannot guarantee secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data by e-mail without encryption.

Registration on this website

You can register on our website to use additional features on the site. We will use the data entered for this purpose only for the purpose of using the respective offer or service for which you have registered. The mandatory data requested during registration must be provided in full. Otherwise we will refuse the registration.

In the event of important changes, for example in the scope of the offer or technically necessary changes, we will use the e-mail address provided during registration to inform you in this way.

The processing of the data entered during registration is based on your consent (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). You can revoke any consent you have given at any time. All you need to do is send us an informal message by e-mail. The legality of the data processing already carried out remains unaffected by the revocation.

The data collected during registration is stored by us for as long as you are registered on our website and is then deleted. Legal retention periods remain unaffected.

5. Analytical tools and advertising

Google Analytics

On our website we use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) from the American company Google LLC (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). Google Analytics collects data about your activities on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. The reports we receive from Google Analytics help us better tailor our website and services to your needs. In the following we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and inform you in particular about what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that is used for traffic analysis of 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 get reports about your user behavior. These reports can include the following:

  • Target group reports: Through target group reports we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
  • Advertising reports: Advertising reports help us to analyze and improve our online advertising.
  • Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information on how we can get more people interested in our service.
  • Behavioral Reports: Here we learn how you interact with our website. We can track which path you take on our site and which links you click on.
  • Conversion reports: Conversion is the process by which you perform a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when you go from a mere website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. We use these reports to learn more about how our marketing activities are received by you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
  • Real-time reports: Here we always know immediately what is happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

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

The statistically evaluated data gives us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that it can be found more easily by potential customers on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. We therefore know exactly what we need to improve on our website in order to offer you the best service possible. 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.

Which data is stored by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID associated with 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 stored together with this user ID. This makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.

Through identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs, your interactions on our website are measured. 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 authorize it. Exceptions may be made if required by law.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga Value:2.1326744211.152311168175-5 Purpose: By default analytics.js uses the cookie _ga to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to differentiate between website visitors. Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gid Value:2.1687193234.152311168175-1 Purpose: The cookie is also used to differentiate between website visitors. Expiration 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 the Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_ <property-id>. Expiration date: after 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN Value: not specified 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 logout, a request or an error. Expiration date: after 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma Value:1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1 Purpose: This cookie allows you to track your behavior on the site and measure its performance. The cookie is updated each time information is sent to Google Analytics. Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: __utmt Value: 1 Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_<property-id> 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 every 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 establish new sessions for returning visitors.This 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: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our site. This means that the cookie stores where you came from to our website. This may have been another site or an advertising campaign. Expiration date: after 6 months

Name: __utmv Value: not specified Purpose: The cookie is used to store user-defined user data. It is always updated when information is sent to Google Analytics.  Expiration date: after 2 years

Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, as Google always changes the choice of its cookies.

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

Heat maps: Google creates so-called heat maps. With heatmaps you can see exactly the areas you click on. This way we get information where you are " on the move" on our site.

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.

Bouncerate: A bouncer is when you only view one page on our website and then leave our website.

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 called IP-location determination.

Technical Information: Technical information includes your browser type, your internet provider or your screen resolution.

Source of origin: Google Analytics or we are naturally also interested in which website or which advertisement brought you to our site.

Further data are contact details, any ratings, playing media (e.g. when you play a video on our site), sharing content via social media or adding to your favorites. This list does not claim to be exhaustive and serves only as a general orientation for data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

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

Your data is distributed on different physical media. This has the advantage that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In every Google data center there are appropriate emergency programs for your data. If, for example, Google's hardware 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 do have the option to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. We have five options for this:

  • 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 associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g., DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a fusion of individual data into a larger unit.

How can I delete or prevent data storage?

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

If you generally want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies (independent of Google Analytics), there are separate instructions for each browser.

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=311168175. We hope 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: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

IP Anonyzation

We have activated the IP anonymization function on this website. This means that your IP address will be truncated by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before it is transmitted to the USA. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transferred to a Google server in the USA and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on the website activities and to provide further services to the website operator in connection with the use of the website and the Internet. The IP address transmitted by your browser within the scope of Google Analytics is not combined with other data from Google.

More information on IP anonymization can be found at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=de.

Google Analytics reports on demographic characteristics and interests

We have enabled the advertising reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographic and interest reports include information on age, gender and interests. This enables us to get a better picture of our users without having to assign this data to individual persons. You can read more about the advertising features here: auf https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad.

You can stop the use of the activities and information of your Google Account under "Advertising settings" on  https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated by ticking the checkbox.

Google Analytics deactivation link

If you click on the following deactivation link, you can prevent Google from recording further visits to this website. Attention: Deleting cookies, using the incognito/private mode of your browser, or using another browser will result in data being collected again.

Google Analytics addition for data processing

We have entered into a direct customer agreement with Google for the use of Google Analytics by accepting the "Data Processing Addendum" in Google Analytics.

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

Google Analytics Google Signals Data Protection Statement

We have activated the Google signals in Google Analytics. This will update existing Google Analytics features (advertising reports, remarketing, cross-device reports, and reports on interests and demographics) to provide aggregated and anonymized information about you, if you have allowed personalized ads in your Google Account.

The special feature is that this is cross-device tracking. This means your data can be analyzed across devices. By enabling Google signals, data is collected and linked to your Google Account. Google can thus recognize, for example, when you view a product on our website via a smartphone and only buy the product later via a laptop. Thanks to the activation of Google signals, we can launch device-spanning remarketing campaigns that would otherwise not be possible in this form. Remarketing means that we can also show you our offer on other websites.

Google Analytics also uses Google signals to collect additional visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and information about your actions on our website. This allows Google to provide us with better advertising reports and more useful information about your interests and demographics. These include your age, what language you speak, where you live, or what gender you are. In addition, social criteria such as your profession, marital status or income are also added. All these characteristics help Google Analytics to define groups of people or target groups.

The reports also help us to better assess your behavior, wishes and interests. This enables us to optimize and adapt our services and products for you. These data expire by default 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 data of individual persons. You can manage or delete this data in your Google Account.

Browser Plugin

You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the collection of data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) to Google and the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de.

Objection to data collection

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent the collection of your information on future visits to this site: Disable Google Analytics.

You can find more information on how Google Analytics handles user data in the Google privacy policy:https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de

Contract data processing

We have concluded a contract with Google for commissioned data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

Matomo (previously Piwik)

This website uses the open source web analysis service Matomo. Matomo uses so-called "cookies". These are text files which are stored on your computer and which enable an analysis of your use of the website. For this purpose the information generated by the cookie about the use of this website is stored on our server. The IP address is anonymized before being saved.

Matomo cookies remain on your end device until you delete them.

The storage of Matomo-Cookies is based on art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the anonymized analysis of user behavior in order to optimize both his web offer and his advertising.

The information generated by the cookie about the use of this website is not passed on to third parties. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website.

If you do not agree with the storage and use of your data, you can deactivate the storage and use here. In this case an opt-out cookie will be stored in your browser, which prevents Matomo from storing usage data. If you delete your cookies, the Matomo Opt-Out-Cookie will be deleted as well. The Opt-Out must be reactivated when you visit our site again.

[Hier Matomo iframe-Code einfügen] (Klick für die Anleitung)

6. Plugins and Tools

YouTube

Our website uses plugins from the YouTube site operated by Google. The operator of the pages is YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

When you visit one of our sites equipped with a YouTube plugin, a connection to the YouTube servers is established. This tells the YouTube server which of our pages you have visited.

If you are logged in to your YouTube account, you allow YouTube to associate your surfing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used in the interest of an attractive presentation of our online offers. This represents a legitimate interest in the sense of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO.

Further information on the handling of user data can be found in YouTube's privacy policy under: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy.

What is Youtube?

On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment and upload videos for free. Over the last few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels worldwide. To enable us to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a code snippet that we have integrated into our site.

Why do we use Youtube videos on our website?

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

What data is stored by YouTube?

When you visit one of our sites that has a YouTube video embedded, YouTube at least sets a cookie that stores your IP address and our URL. If you are logged in with your YouTube account, YouTube can associate your interactions on our site with your profile, usually by using cookies. This includes information such as session duration, bounce rate, approximate location, technical information such as browser type, screen resolution, or your Internet service provider. Other data may include contact information, any ratings, sharing content through social media, or adding to your favorites on YouTube.

If you are not signed in with a Google Account or YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier associated with your device, browser or app. For example, your preferred language setting is preserved. But much interaction data cannot be stored because fewer cookies are set.

In the following list we show cookies that were set in the browser in a test. 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 logged in account. The list cannot claim to be complete, because the user data always depends on the interactions on YouTube.

Name: YSC Value: b9-CV6ojI5Y Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed. Expiration date: after session end

Name: PREF Value: f1=50000000 Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google gets statistics about how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF. Expiration date: after 8 months

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

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

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

Name: APISID Value: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7311168175- Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. The data is used for personalized advertisements. Expiration 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 use various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes, to verify users and protect user data from unauthorized attacks. Expiration date: after 19 years

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

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

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

Name: SID Value: oQfNKjAsI311168175- Purpose: This cookie stores your Google Account ID and your last login time in digitally signed and encrypted form. Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: SIDCC Value: AN0-TYuqub2JOcDTyL Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the site and what advertisements you may have seen prior to visiting our site. Expiration date: after 3 months

How long and where is the data stored?

The data that YouTube receives from you and processes 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. So the data can be retrieved faster and is better protected against manipulation.

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you do not want cookies, you can set your browser to inform you whenever a cookie is set. This way you can decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not. Since YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, there is a common data protection declaration. If you want to learn more about how we handle your data, we recommend you read the data protection declaration at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

YouTube Subscribe Button Data Protection Policy

We have integrated the YouTube Subscribe button on our website. You can usually recognize the button by the classic YouTube logo. The logo shows the words "Subscribe" or "YouTube" in white letters on a red background and the white "Play" symbol to the left. But the button can also be displayed in a different design.

Our YouTube channel always offers you interesting videos. With the built-in "Subscribe Button" you can subscribe to our channel directly from our website and do not need to visit the YouTube website. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to access our extensive content. Please note that YouTube may store and process data about you.

If you see a built-in subscription button on our site, YouTube - according to Google - sets at least one cookie. This cookie stores your IP address and our URL. YouTube can also learn information about your browser, your approximate location and your default language. In our test, the following four cookies were set without being logged into YouTube:

Name: YSC Value: b9-CV6ojI5311168175Y Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed. Expiration date: after session end

Name: PREF Value: f1=50000000 Purpose: This cookie also registers your unique ID. Google gets statistics about how you use YouTube videos on our website via PREF. Expiration date: after 8 months

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

Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE Value: 31116817595Chz8bagyU Purpose: This cookie tries to estimate the bandwidth of the user on our websites (with built-in YouTube video). Expiration date: after 8 months

Note: These cookies were set after a test and cannot claim to be complete.

If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube may use cookies to store many of your actions/interactions on our site and associate them with your YouTube account. This allows YouTube to learn, for example, how long you have been browsing our site, what type of browser you are using, what screen resolution you prefer, or what actions you take.

YouTube uses this information to improve its own services and offers and to provide analysis and statistics for advertisers (who use Google Ads).

Facebook Data Protection Policy

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

What are Facebook tools?

Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called "Facebook Business Tools". This is the official name of Facebook. But since the term is hardly known, we decided to call them simply Facebook Tools. Among them you will find

  • Facebook Pixels
  • social plug-ins (such as the "Like" or "Share" button)
  • Facebook Login
  • Account Kit
  • APIs (Application 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 ability to obtain information about user activities outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We want to show our services and products only to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads) we can reach exactly these people. However, in order to be able to show users suitable ads, Facebook needs information about people's wishes and needs. For example, information about user behavior (and contact information) is provided to the company on our website. In this way, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate advertising about our products or services. The tools thus enable customized advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website "event data". This data is also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus create "campaign reports" on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analyses give us a better insight into how you use our services, website or products. This allows us to optimize your user experience on our website 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 stored 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 match the data with its own data it has about you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is sent to Facebook, a so-called "hashing" process takes place. This means that a data record of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact data, "event data" is also transmitted. Event data" refers to the information that we receive about you on our website. 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" may also be linked to contact information. This allows Facebook to provide better personalized advertising. After the aforementioned matching process, Facebook will delete the contact data again.

In order to deliver ads in an optimized way, Facebook only uses the event data if it has been combined with other data (which has been collected by Facebook in another way). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development and research purposes. Much of this data is transferred to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools you use 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 will go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies. General information about the use of Facebook cookies can also be found at: https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, 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 is 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 Data Protection Basic Regulation, you have the right to obtain information on, correct, transfer and delete your data.

A complete deletion of the data will only take place if you completely delete your Facebook account. And this is how deleting your Facebook account works:

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

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 using cookies (e.g. social plugins). You can deactivate, delete or manage individual or all cookies in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways.

If you do not wish to receive cookies at all, you can set your browser to inform you whenever a cookie is set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not.

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 we have provided you with the most important information about the use and data processing by 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 of the company Facebook Inc. are integrated on our website. You can recognize these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the "Like" button (the hand with raised thumb) or by a clear "Facebook Plug-in" label. A social plug-in is a small part of Facebook that is integrated into our site. Each plug-in has its own function. The most commonly used functions are the familiar "Like" and "Share" buttons.

The following social plug-ins are offered by Facebook:

  • "Save" button
  • "like" button, share, send and quote
  • Page plug-in
  • Comments
  • Messenger plug-in
  • Embedded contributions and video players
  • Group Plug-in

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

If you have a Facebook account or have visited facebook.com before, Facebook has already set at least one cookie in your browser. In this case, your browser uses this cookie to send information to Facebook whenever you visit our site or interact with social plug-ins (such as the "Like" button).

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

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

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 website you visit can be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to point out that we do not know the exact content of the data. However, according to our current state of knowledge, we try to inform you as well as possible about data processing. How Facebook uses the data, you can also read in the company's data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

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

Name: dpr Value: not specified Purpose: This cookie is used to make the social plug-ins on our website work. Expiration date: after session end

Name: fr Value: 0jieyh4311168175c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j...1.0.Bde09j Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to work 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 manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/grundsätzlich. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers.

If you want to learn more about Facebook's privacy policy, we recommend that you review the company's own privacy policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Facebook-Pixel Data Protection Policy

We use the Facebook pixel of Facebook on our website. We have implemented a code for this on our website. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions that Facebook can use to track your user actions if you came to our website via Facebook ads. For example, when you purchase a product on our website, the Facebook pixel is triggered and stores your actions on our website 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 of your Facebook account. Then Facebook deletes this data again. The collected data is anonymous and cannot be viewed by us and is only used for advertising purposes. If you yourself are a Facebook user and are logged in, your visit to our website is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.

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

In the following, we show you those cookies that were set by including Facebook pixels on a test page. Please note that these are only sample cookies. Different cookies are set depending on the interaction on our website.

Name: _fbp Value: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6311168175-7 Purpose: This cookie uses Facebook to display advertising products. Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: fr Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r..Bdeiuf...1.0.Bdeiuf. Purpose: This cookie is used to make Facebook pixels work properly. Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062311168175-3 Value: name of the author Purpose: This cookie stores the text and name of a user who, for example, leaves a comment. Expiration date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062 Value: https%3A%2F%2Fww.test page...%2F (URL of the author) Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the website that the user enters in a text field on our website. Expiration date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062 Value: e-mail address of the author Purpose: This cookie stores the e-mail address of the user, if he/she has posted it on the website. Expiration date: after 12 months

Note: The above mentioned cookies refer to individual user behavior. Especially when using cookies, changes can never be ruled out on Facebook.

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 always manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/. There you have the possibility to deactivate or activate providers.

If you would like to learn more about Facebook's privacy policy, we recommend that you review the company's own data policies at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Facebook Automatic Advanced Matching Privacy Policy

We have also activated Automatic Advanced Matching as part of the Facebook pixel function. This pixel feature allows us to send hashed emails, name, gender, city, state, zip code and date of birth or phone number to Facebook as additional information if you have provided us with this information. This activation enables us to tailor advertising campaigns on Facebook even more precisely to people who are interested in our services or products.

Google Ads (Google AdWords) Conversion Tracking Privacy Policy

We use Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) as an online marketing measure to promote our products, offers and services. In this way we want to make more people aware of the high quality of our offers on the Internet. As part of our advertising measures through Google Ads, we use conversion tracking from Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA ("Google") on our website. This free tracking tool allows us to better tailor our advertising offerings to your interests and needs. In the following article we will explain in more detail 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 (Legality 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 proprietary online advertising system of Google LLC. We can use Google Ads to create online ads to introduce our products or services to interested people. We are convinced of the quality of our offer and want as many people as possible to get to know our website. In the online area Google Ads offers the best platform for this. Of course, we also want to get an exact overview of the cost-benefit factor of our advertising campaigns. Therefore we use the conversion tracking tool of Google Ads.

But what is a conversion actually? A conversion occurs when you go from being a purely interested website visitor to an acting visitor. This happens whenever you click on our ad and then perform another action, such as visiting our website. With Google's conversion tracking tool, we record what happens after a user clicks on our Google Ads ad. For example, we can see if products are purchased, services are used or if users have subscribed to our newsletter.

Why do we use Google Ads conversion tracking on our website?

We use Google Ads to draw attention to our offer on other websites as well. The goal is to ensure that our advertising campaigns really only reach those 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 make a conversion. With this data we can 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 website more interesting for you and to adapt our advertising offer even more individually to your needs.

What information is stored in Google Ads conversion tracking?

We have included a conversion tracking tag or code snippet on our website to better analyze certain user actions. If you now click on one of our Google Ads ads, the "conversion" cookie from a Google domain is stored 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 expiration time: after 3 months Example value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ311168175

Name: _gac Expiration time: after 3 months Example value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE

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

As soon as you complete an action on our website, Google recognizes the cookie and saves your action as a so-called conversion. As long as you are surfing on our website and the cookie has not expired, we and Google recognize that you have found us through our Google Ads display. 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 further refined and improved using Google Analytics. For ads that Google displays in multiple locations on the web, our domain may set cookies named "__gads" or "_gac". Since September 2017, various campaign information has been stored by analytics.js with the _gac cookie. The cookie saves this data as soon as you visit 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 website. We do not collect or receive any personal data. We receive a report with statistical evaluations from Google. For example, we find out the total number of users who clicked on our advertisement and we 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 by 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 named "Conversion" and "_gac" (which is used in conjunction with Google Analytics) have an expiration date of 3 months.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the option not to participate in Google Ads conversion tracking. If you disable the Google Conversion Tracking cookie through your browser, you are blocking conversion tracking. In this case you will not be included in the tracking tool statistics. You can change the cookie settings in your browser at any time. This works slightly differently in each browser. 

If you do not wish to receive cookies at all, you can set your browser to inform you whenever a cookie is set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether or not you wish to accept it. Downloading and installing this browser plug-in on https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996 will also disable all "advertising cookies". Remember that by deactivating these cookies you do not prevent advertising, only personalized advertising.

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

Google Web Fonts

We use Google Fonts from the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA) on our website.

To use Google fonts, you do not need to log in or provide a password. 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 do not need to worry about your Google Account information being submitted to Google while using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this information securely. We will see in detail how the data storage looks exactly.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is an interactive directory of more than 800 fonts provided by Google LLCfor free use.

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

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

With Google Fonts we can use fonts on our own website and do not have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important component to keep the quality of our website high. All Google fonts are automatically optimized for the web and this saves data volume and is a great advantage especially for use on mobile devices. If you visit our site, the low 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 visually distort some texts or entire web pages. Thanks to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN), there are no cross-platform problems with Google Fonts. Google Fonts supports all major 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).

So we use Google Fonts to make our entire online service as beautiful and consistent as possible. According to Art. 6 para. 1 f lit. F DSGVO, this already constitutes a "legitimate interest" in the processing of personal data. In this case, "legitimate interest" means both legal and economic or idealistic interests that are recognized by the legal system.

Which data is stored by Google?

When you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded via a Google server. This external call transfers data to the Google servers. In this way Google also recognizes that you or your IP address is visiting our website. The Google Fonts API was developed to reduce the collection, storage and use of end user data to what is necessary for an efficient provision of fonts. By the way, API stands for "Application Programming Interface" and serves, among other things, as a data transmitter in the software sector.

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

However, it should also be noted that every Google Font request automatically transfers information such as IP address, language settings, screen resolution of the browser, browser version and browser name to the Google servers. Whether this data is also stored cannot be clearly determined or is not clearly communicated by Google.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google stores requests for CSS assets for one day on your servers, which are mainly located outside the EU. This allows us to use the fonts with the help of a Google style sheet. A stylesheet is a style template that allows you to easily and quickly change, for example, the design or font of a web page.

The font files are stored at Google for one year. Google's goal is to improve the loading time of web pages. If millions of web pages link to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and reappear immediately on all other web pages 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 be deleted easily. The data is automatically transferred to Google when the page is viewed. To delete this data prematurely, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311168175. In this case you only prevent data storage if you do not visit our site.

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So we have unlimited access to a sea of fonts and can thus get the optimum for our website. You can find more information about Google Fonts and other questions at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311168175. There Google does address privacy issues, but it does not provide really detailed information about data storage. It is relatively difficult (almost impossible) to get really detailed information about stored data from Google.

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

7. Rights according to the German Data Protection Ordinance

In accordance with the provisions of the DSGVO, you are basically entitled to the following rights:

  • Right of rectification (Article 16 DSGVO)
  • Right of deletion ("right to be forgotten") (Article 17 DSGVO)
  • Right to restrict processing (Article 18 DSGVO)
  • Right of notification - Obligation to notify in connection with the correction or deletion of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 DPA)
  • Right to data transferability (Article 20 DSGVO)
  • Right of objection (Article 21 DSGVO)
  • Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 DPA)

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have otherwise been violated in any way, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI): Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit (BfDI).

8. Evaluation of visitor behavior

In the following data protection policy, we inform you whether and how we evaluate data from your visit to this website. The evaluation of the collected data is usually anonymous and we cannot draw any conclusions about your personal behavior on this website.

You can find out more about how to object to this evaluation of visit data in the following data protection declaration.

9. TLS encryption with https

We use https to transmit data tap-proof on the Internet (data protection through technology design Article 25 Paragraph 1 DSGVO. By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission on the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data. You can recognize the use of this data transmission security by the small lock symbol in the upper left corner of the browser and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our internet address.

10. Google Maps Data Protection Policy

On our website we use Google Maps from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With Google Maps we can visually improve the presentation of locations and thus improve our service. By using Google Maps, data is transferred to Google and stored on Google's servers. Here we would like 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 is Google Maps?

Google Maps is an online map service of the company Google Inc. With Google Maps you can search the Internet via a PC or an app for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodations or companies. If companies are represented on Google My Business, additional information about the company is displayed next to the location. In order to display the directions, map sections of a location can be integrated into a website 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 accurate representations are possible.

Why do we use Google Maps on our website?

All our efforts on this page are aimed at providing you with a useful and meaningful time on our website. 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 have our headquarters. The route description always shows you the best or fastest way to reach us. You can call up the directions for routes by car, public transport, on foot or by bicycle. For us the provision of Google Maps is part of our customer service.

Which data is stored by Google Maps?

In order for Google Maps to be able to offer its service completely, the company must collect and store data about you. This includes the search terms you enter, your IP address and the latitude and longitude coordinates. If you use the route planner function, the entered start address is also stored. However, this data storage happens on the websites of Google Maps. We can only inform you about it, but we cannot influence it. Since we have integrated Google Maps into our website, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behavior. Google uses this data primarily 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
  • Use: NID is used by Google to match ads to your Google search. Google uses the cookie to "remember" your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. So you always get customized ads. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect the user's personal preferences for advertising purposes.
  • Example Value: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ311168175

Note: We cannot guarantee the completeness of the stored data. Especially when using cookies, changes in Google can never be ruled out. 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 located in data centers around the world. However, most servers are located in America. For this reason, your data is also increasingly stored in the USA. Here you can find out exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de.

Google distributes the data on different data carriers. This way the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against possible manipulation attempts. Each data center also has special emergency programs. For example, if there are problems with the Google hardware or a natural disaster affects the servers, the data is still protected with a high probability.

Some data is stored by Google for a fixed period of time. 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 and 18 months respectively.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

With the automatic deletion of location and activity data introduced in 2019, location and web/app activity information is stored for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your decision, and then deleted. You can also manually delete this data from your history at any time via your Google Account. If you want to completely prevent your location data from being recorded, you must pause the "Web and App activity" section in your Google Account. Click "Data and personalization" and then click the "Activity setting" option. Here you can enable or disable the activities.

You can also disable, delete or manage individual cookies in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways.

If you do not wish to receive cookies at all, you can set your browser to inform you whenever a cookie is set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not.

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 on this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. If you want to learn more about Google's data processing, we recommend that you read the company's own privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.