Data protection

We have written this privacy statement (version 25.12.2020-311244331) to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the DGeneral Data Protection (EU) 2016/679, what information we collect, how we use data and what decision-making options you have as a visitor to this website.

Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible when creating them.

Automatische Datenspeicherung

Nowadays, when you visit websites, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.

When you visit our website, as you are doing right now, our web server (computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores data 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 from which access is made
• the date and time

in files (web server log files).

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

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Cookies

Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.

Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you browse the Internet, you use a browser. Popular 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 can’t be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as 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 placed in the cookie folder, effectively 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 cookies, our site knows who you are and offers you your usual default setting. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. Also, the expiration time of a cookie varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “pests”. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.

For example, cookie data may look like this:

• Name: _ga
• Expiration time: 2 years
• Usage: Differentiation of website visitors
• Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311244331

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

• A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes
• It should be possible to store at least 50 cookies per domain
• A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored

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What types of cookies are there?

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

We can distinguish between 4 types of cookies:

Absolutely necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are needed when a user adds a product to the shopping cart, then continues browsing on other pages, and only later goes to the checkout. 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. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behavior of the website with different browsers.

Target-oriented cookies

These cookies provide 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 convenient, but also very annoying.

Usually, when you visit a website for the first time, you are asked which of these cookie types you want to allow. And of course, this decision is also stored in a cookie.

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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 come from, you always have the option to delete, only partially allow or disable cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.

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

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you do not want to have cookies in principle, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow the cookie or not. The procedure varies depending on the browser. The best way is to search the instructions in Google with the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “disable cookies Chrome” in case of a Chrome browser or replace the word “Chrome” with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

What about my privacy?

Since 2009, there are the so-called “Cookie Guidelines”. This states that storing cookies requires your consent. Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. In Germany, the Cookie Directives have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

If you want to know 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”.

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Storage of personal data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as name, e-mail address, address or other personal information in the context of submitting a form or comments on the blog, will be used by us together with the time and IP address only for the purpose stated in each case, stored securely and not disclosed to third parties.

We thus use your personal data only for communication with those visitors who expressly request contact and for the processing of the services and products offered on this website. We do not disclose your personal data without your consent, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be accessed in the event of unlawful conduct.

If you send us personal data by e-mail – thus away from 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.

According to Artikel 6 Absatz 1 a DSGVO (lawfulness of processing), the legal basis is that you give us consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time – an informal e-mail is sufficient, you will find our contact details in the imprint.

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Rights according to the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR, you are generally entitled to the following rights:

• Right to rectification (Article 16 DSGVO)
• Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)
• Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 DSGVO)
• Right to notification – obligation to provide notification in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)
• Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
• Right to object (Article 21 GDPR)
• Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing – including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

If you 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).

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Evaluation of visitor behavior

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

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

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TLS encryption with https

We use https to transmit data tap-proof on the Internet (data protection by design of technology Article 25(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 protection of data transmission by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.

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Google Analytics Privacy Policy

We use on our website the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) of the American company Google Inc. For the European area the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions 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 better tailor our website and service to your preferences. In the following, we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and, in particular, inform you about what data is stored and how you can prevent this.

What is Google Analytics?

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

Google processes the data and we receive reports about your user behavior. These reports may include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Audience reports: Audience reports help us get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service
• Ad reports: Ad reports help us analyze and improve our online advertising
• Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information on how to attract more people to our service
• Behavioral reports: This is where we learn how you interact with our website. We can track the paths you take on our site and the links you click
• Conversion reports: conversion is when you take a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when you go from being just a website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts are working for you. Here’s how we aim 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 reading this text

Why we use Google Analytics on our website

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

The statistically evaluated data shows 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 interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. Thus, we know very well what we need to improve on our website in order to provide you with the best possible service. The data also helps us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and cost-effective way. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.

What 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 in the first place.

Through identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs, your interactions on our website are measured. Interactions are all types of actions that you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated through Google Analytics may be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share Google Analytics data unless we, as the website operator, authorize it. Exceptions may occur if required by law.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Merit: 2.1326744211.152311244331-5
Purpose: y default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Merit: 2.1687193234.152311244331-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish the website visitors.
Expiration date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_
Merit: 1
Purpose: Used to lower the request rate. If Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie will be named _dc_gtm_ .
Expiration date: fter 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Purpose: not specified

Purpose: Das Cookie hat einen Token, mit dem eine User ID vom AMP-Client-ID-Dienst abgerufen werden kann. Andere mögliche Werte weisen aufThe cookie has a token that can be used to retrieve a user ID 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
Merit: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie is used to track your behavior on the website and measure performance. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: __utmt
Merit: 1
Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA_ to throttle the request rate.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes

Name: __utmb
Merit: 3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time new data or info is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 30 minutes

Name: __utmc
Merit: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to set new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie, and it is only stored until you close the browser again.
Expiration date: After you close the browser.

Name: __utmz
Merit: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. That is, the cookie stores from where you came to our website. This may have been another page or an advertisement.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Name: __utmv
Merit: not specified
Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is updated whenever information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years

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

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

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Heatmaps allow you to see exactly those areas that you click on. This gives us information about 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. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.

Bounce rate: A bounce is when you view only one page on our site and then leave our site.

Account creation: when you create an account or make an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.

IP address: The IP address is only shown in a shortened 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 referred to as IP- location determination.

Technical information: Technical information includes, but is not limited to, your browser type, internet service provider, or screen resolution.

Source of origin: Google Analytics, or us, is of course also interested in which website or which advertisement you came to our site from.

Other data include contact details, any ratings, playing media (for example, if you play a video via our site), sharing content via social media or adding to your favorites. The enumeration does not claim to be complete and only serves as a general orientation of the data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has your servers spread all over the world. Most servers are located in America and consequently your data is mostly stored on American servers. You can find out exactly where Google’s data centers are located here: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de

Your data is distributed on different physical disks. This has the advantage that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In each Google data center, there are corresponding emergency programs for your data. If, for example, the hardware at Google fails or natural disasters paralyze servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google still remains low.

Google Analytics has a standard retention period of 26 months for your user data. Then your user data is deleted. However, we have the option to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. We have five variants available for this purpose:

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

Once the specified period has expired, 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 separately from user data. Aggregated data is a merging of individual data into a larger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

According to the European Union data protection law, you have the right to obtain information about your data, update it, delete it or restrict it. Using the browser add-on to disable 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 collection of data by Google Analytics.

If you generally want to disable, delete or manage cookies (independently of Google Analytics), there are separate instructions for each browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari.
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
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 governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=311244331. We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information regarding Google Analytics data processing. 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.

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Google Analytics IP-Anonymisierung

We have implemented Google Analytics IP address anonymization on this website. This feature was developed by Google to enable this website to comply with applicable data protection regulations and recommendations of local data protection authorities if they prohibit storage of the full IP address. The anonymization or masking of the IP takes place as soon as the IP addresses arrive at the Google Analytics data collection network and before any storage or processing of the data takes place.

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

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Google Analytics reports on demographic characteristics and interests

We have enabled promotional reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographic and interest reports contain information on age, gender and interests. This allows us – without being able to assign this data to individual persons – to get a better picture of our users. You can learn more about advertising features at 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 https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated via checkbox.

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Google Analytics Google Signals Privacy Policy

We have enabled Google signals in Google Analytics. This updates existing Google Analytics features (ad reports, remarketing, cross-device reports, and interest and demographic reports) to get aggregated and anonymized data from you, provided you have allowed personalized ads in your Google account.

What makes this special is that it is cross-device tracking. That means your data can be analyzed across devices. By enabling Google signals, data is collected and linked to the Google account. Google can thus recognize, for example, if 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 cross-device remarketing campaigns that would otherwise not be possible in this form. Remarketing means that we can also show you our offer on other websites.

In Google Analytics, Google signals also collect other visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history and data about your actions on our website. This gives us better advertising reports from Google and more useful information about your interests and demographics. This includes your age, what language you speak, where you live, or what gender you are. Furthermore, social criteria such as your profession, your marital status or your 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, your wishes and interests. This allows us to optimize and adapt our services and products for you. By default, this data expires after 26 months. Please note that this data collection only occurs if you have allowed personalized advertising in your Google account. This is always aggregated and anonymous data and never individual person data. In your Google account, you can manage this data or delete it.

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Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy

We use the Facebook pixel from Facebook on our website. For this purpose, we have implemented a code on our website. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions that allow Facebook to track your user actions if you came to our website through 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 allow Facebook to match your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with your Facebook account data. Then Facebook deletes this data again. The collected data is anonymous and not visible to us and can only be used in the context of ad placements. If you yourself are a Facebook user and are logged in, the visit to our website is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.

We want to show our services or products only to those people who are really interested in them. With the help of Facebook pixels, our advertising measures can be better tailored to your wishes and interests. Thus, Facebook users (if they have allowed personalized advertising) get to see suitable advertising. 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 embedding Facebook Pixel 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
Merit: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6311244331-7
Purpose: This cookie is used by Facebook to display promotional products.
Expiration date: after 3 months

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

Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062311244331-3
Merit: Name of the author
Purpose: This cookie stores the text and name of a user who leaves a comment, for example.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Merit: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.testseite…%2F (author’s URL)
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
Merit: Author’s email address
Purpose: This cookie stores the user’s email address if he/she has provided it on the website.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Note: The above cookies refer to an individual user behavior. Especially when using cookies, Facebook changes can never be excluded.

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

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

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Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy

For our website we use the Google Tag Manager of the company Google Inc. For the European area the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. This Tag Manager is one of many helpful marketing products from Google. Through the Google Tag Manager, we can centrally incorporate and manage code sections from various tracking tools that we use on our website.

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

What is Google Tag Manager?

Google Tag Manager is an organizational tool that allows us to include and manage website tags centrally and through a user interface. Tags are small sections of code that, for example, record (track) your activities on our website. For this purpose, JavaScript code sections are inserted into the source code of our page. The tags often come from Google-internal products such as Google Ads or Google Analytics, but tags from other companies can also be included and managed via the manager. Such tags perform different tasks. They can collect browser data, feed marketing tools with data, embed buttons, set cookies and also track users across multiple websites.

Why do we use Google Tag Manager for our website?

As the saying goes: organization is half the battle! And of course this also applies to the maintenance of our website. In order to make our website as good as possible for you and all the people who are interested in our products and services, we need various tracking tools such as Google Analytics. The collected data from these tools show us what you are most interested in, where we can improve our services and which people we should still show our offers to. And for this tracking to work, we need to embed appropriate JavaScript codes into our website. In principle, we could include each code section of each tracking tool separately in our source code. However, this requires quite a lot of time and it’s easy to lose track. That’s why we use the Google Tag Manager. We can easily incorporate the necessary scripts and manage them from one place. Moreover, Google Tag Manager offers an easy-to-use interface and you don’t need any programming skills. This is how we manage to keep order in our tag jungle.

What data is stored by Google Tag Manager?

The Tag Manager itself is a domain that does not set any cookies or store any data. It acts as a mere “manager” of the implemented tags. The data is collected by the individual tags of the various web analytics tools. The data is virtually passed through to the individual tracking tools in the Google Tag Manager and is not stored.

However, the situation is quite different with the embedded tags of the various web analytics tools, such as Google Analytics. Depending on the analysis tool, various data about your web behavior is usually collected, stored and processed with the help of cookies. For this, please read our privacy texts on the individual analysis and tracking tools that we use on our website.

In the account settings of the Tag Manager, we have allowed Google to receive anonymized data from us. However, this is only about the use and usage of our Tag Manager and not your data stored via the code sections. We allow Google and others to receive selected data in anonymized form. We thus consent to the anonymous sharing of our website data. Which summarized and anonymous data is forwarded exactly, we could not find out – despite long research. In any case, Google deletes all information that could identify our website. Google combines the data with hundreds of other anonymous website data and creates user trends as part of benchmarking measures. Benchmarking compares our own results with those of our competitors. Processes can be optimized on the basis of the information collected.

How long and where is the data stored?

When Google stores data, this data is stored on Google’s own servers. The servers are distributed all over the world. Most of them are located in America. At https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de you can read exactly where the Google servers are located.

How long the individual tracking tools store data from you can be found in our individual privacy texts for the individual tools.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

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

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&tid=311244331. If you want to learn more about Google Tag Manager, we recommend the FAQs at https://www.google.com/intl/de/tagmanager/faq.html.

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Newsletter Privacy Policy

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

If you unsubscribe from the newsletter – you will find the link for this at the bottom of each newsletter – we will delete all data that was stored with the registration to the newsletter.

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Embedded Social Media Elements Privacy Policy

We embed elements of social media services on our website to display images, videos and texts.

By visiting pages that display these elements, data is transmitted from your browser to the respective social media service and stored there. We do not have access to this data.

The following links will take you to the pages of the respective social media services where it is explained how they handle your data:

• Instagram privacy policy: https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875
• For YouTube, the Google privacy policy applies: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de
• Facebook privacy policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy
• Twitter privacy policy: https://twitter.com/de/privacy

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Facebook Privacy 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 who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer. Below we provide an overview of the different 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. However, since the term is hardly known, we decided to just call them Facebook Tools. Among them are:

• Facebook Pixel
• social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button)
• Facebook Login
• Account Kit
• APIs (programming interface)
• SDKs (collection of programming tools)
• platform integrations
• plugins
• codes
• specifications
• documentation
• technologies and services.

Through these tools, Facebook extends services and has the ability to obtain information about user activity 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 show suitable ads to users, Facebook needs information about people’s wants and needs. Thus, information about user behavior (and contact data) on our website is made available to the company. As a result, 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.

Data about your behavior on our website is called “event data” by Facebook. This 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, analytics give us better insight into how you use our services, website or products. As a result, we use some of these tools to optimize your user experience on our website. For example, social plug-ins allow you 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, phone number and IP address may be sent.

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it itself has from you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is sent to Facebook, a process called “hashing” 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 associated with contact information. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact data again.

In order to be able to deliver ads in an optimized way, Facebook only uses event data if it has been combined with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). 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 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. We go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies in the descriptions of each Facebook tool. 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?

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

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

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

1) On the right side of Facebook, click 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 “Continue and delete account”.
5) Now enter your password, click “Continue” and then click “Delete account”.

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

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome#
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

If you generally don’t want cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow it or not.

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

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Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

So-called social plug-ins of the company Facebook Inc. are installed 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 well-known “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 posts and video player
• Group plug-in.

Visit https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins for more detailed information on how each plug-in is used. We use the social plug-ins on the one hand to offer you a better user experience on our site, and on the other hand because Facebook can optimize our advertisements through them.

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 sends information to Facebook via this cookie as soon as you visit our site or interact with social plug-ins (e.g. the “Like” button).

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

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

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

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

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

Name: fr
Merit: 0jieyh4311244331c2GnlufEJ9..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.

Provided you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your ad settings 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/. 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 read the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

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Instagram privacy policy

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

In the following, we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what kind of data it is and how you can largely control the data processing. Since Instagram is part of Facebook Inc., we draw our information on the one hand from the Instagram policies, but on the other hand also from the Facebook data policies themselves.

What is Instagram?

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

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is that social media platform that really went through the roof in the last few years. And of course, we have also responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That’s why a varied preparation of our content is a matter of course for us. Through the embedded Instagram features, we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected can also serve us for personalized advertising on Facebook. This way, only people who are really interested in our products or services receive our ads.

Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We get aggregate statistics and thus more insight about your preferences and interests. It’s important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data is stored by Instagram?

When you come across one of our pages that have Instagram features (such as Instagram images or plug-ins) built in, your browser automatically connects to Instagram’s servers. In the process, data is sent to Instagram, stored and processed. And this is regardless of whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our website, about your computer, about purchases made, about advertisements you see and how you use our offer. Furthermore, the date and time of your interaction with Instagram is also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram stores significantly more data about you.

Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the case with Instagram. Customer data is, for example, name, address, phone number and IP address. It is important to mention that this customer data is only transmitted to Instagram if you have been “hashed” beforehand. Hashing means that a data record is transformed into a string. This allows you to encrypt the contact data. In addition, the “event data” mentioned above is also transmitted. By “event data” Facebook – and consequently Instagram – understands data about your user behavior. It may also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The collected contact data is matched with the data that Instagram already has from you.

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

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

In the following, we show you cookies that are set in your browser at least when you click on an Instagram function (such as button or an Insta image). In our test, we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. Of course, if you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies are set in your browser.

These cookies were used in our test:

Name: csrftoken
Merit: “”
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons, to prevent falsification of requests. However, we could not find out more precisely.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: mid
Merit: “”
Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie to optimize its own services and offers on and off Instagram. The cookie sets a unique user ID.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

Name: fbsr_311244331124024
Merit: not specified
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

Name: rur
Merit: ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that ensures functionality on Instagram.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

Name: urlgen
Merit: “{\”194.96.75.33\”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe311244331”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiration date: after the end of the session.

Note: We cannot make any claim to completeness here. Which cookies are set in individual cases depends on the embedded features and your use of Instagram.

How long and where is the data stored?

Instagram shares the information it receives between Facebook companies with external partners and with people you connect with around the world. The data processing is carried out in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world, partly for security reasons. Most of these servers are located in the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

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

And this is how deleting Instagram account works:

First, open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go down and click on “Help section”. Now you will get to the company’s website. On the webpage, click “Manage account” and then click “Delete your account”.

If you delete your account entirely, Instagram will delete posts such as your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you does not belong to your account and consequently will not be deleted.

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

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

You can also basically set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.

Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC . We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about data processing by Instagram. You can learn even more about Instagram’s data policies at https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875.

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Twitter privacy policy

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

To our knowledge, in the European Economic Area and in Switzerland, no personal data or data relating to your web activities are transmitted to Twitter by the mere inclusion of the Twitter function. Only when you interact with the Twitter functions, such as clicking on a button, can data be sent to Twitter, stored there and processed. We have no influence on this data processing and bear no responsibility for it. Within the scope of this privacy policy, we want to give you an overview of what data Twitter stores, what Twitter does with this data and how you can protect yourself from the data transmission to a large extent.

What is Twitter?

For some, Twitter is a news service, for others a social media platform, and still others speak of a microblogging service. All these terms have their justification 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 called “tweets.” Unlike Facebook, for example, the service does not focus on expanding a network for “friends”, but wants to be understood as a worldwide and open news platform. On Twitter, you can also have an anonymous account and tweets can be deleted by the company on the one hand and by the users themselves on the other.

Why do we use Twitter on our website?

Like many other websites and companies, we try to offer our services and communicate with our customers through different channels. Especially Twitter has grown on us as a useful “little” news service. Again and again we tweet or retweet exciting, funny or interesting content. We realize that you can’t follow every channel separately. After all, you also have something else to do. That’s why we have included Twitter features on our website. You can follow our Twitter activity “on the spot” or follow a direct link to our Twitter page. Through this integration, we want to strengthen our service and user-friendliness on our website.

What data is stored by Twitter?

On some of our subpages you will find the built-in Twitter functions. When you interact with the Twitter content, such as clicking on a button, Twitter may collect and store data. This is the case even if you do not have a Twitter account yourself. Twitter calls this data “log data.” It includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, your smartphone’s ID, hashed email addresses, and information about what pages you visited on Twitter and what actions you took. Twitter, of course, stores more data if you have a Twitter account and are logged in. Most of the time, this storage happens via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually set in your browser and transmit different information to Twitter.

We will now show you which cookies are set when you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a website with built-in Twitter features. Please consider this list as an example. We can in no way guarantee a claim to completeness here, as the choice of cookies always changes and depends on your individual actions with Twitter content.

These cookies were used in our test:

Name: personalization_id
Merit: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE311244331”
Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and through which advertisements you may have come to Twitter.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: lang
Merit: en
Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: guest_id
Merit: 311244331v1%3A157132626
Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: fm
Merit: 0
Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find out the purpose of this cookie.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: external_referer
Merit: 3112443312beTA0sf5lkMrlGt
Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data, such as how often you visit Twitter and how long you visit Twitter.
Expiration date: After 6 days

Name: eu_cn
Merit: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores user activity and is used for various advertising purposes by Twitter.
Expiration date: After one year

Name: ct0
Merit: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966
Purpose: Unfortunately, we have not found any information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 6 hours

Name: _twitter_sess
Merit: 53D%253D–dd0248311244331-
Purpose: This cookie allows you to use functions within the Twitter website.


xpiration date
: after end of session

Note: Twitter also works with third-party vendors. That is why we also detected the three Google Analytics cookies _ga, _gat, _gid during our test.

Twitter uses the collected data on the one hand to better understand user behavior and thus improve its own services and advertising offers, and on the other hand the data is also used for internal security measures.

How long and where is the data stored?

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Twitter repeatedly emphasizes in its privacy policy that it does not store data from external website visits if you or your browser are located in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. However, if you interact with Twitter directly, Twitter will of course store data from you.

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

If you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com

and then click on “Individualization”. Under the “Individualization and data” item, you can manage your collected data.

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

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

You can also manage your browser in such a way that you are informed for each individual cookie. Then you can always decide individually whether you allow a cookie or not.

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

Twitter is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TORzAAO.

We hope we have given you a basic overview of Twitter’s data processing. We do not receive any data from Twitter, nor do we bear any responsibility for what Twitter does with your data. If you have any further questions on this topic, we recommend that you read the Twitter privacy statement at https://twitter.com/de/privacy.

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YouTube Privacy Policy

We have incorporated YouTube videos on our website. This allows us to present interesting videos directly on our site. YouTube is a video portal that has been a subsidiary of Google since 2006. The video portal is operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you call up a page on our website that has a YouTube video embedded, your browser automatically connects to the YouTube or Google servers. In the process, various data are transferred (depending on the settings). Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all data processing in the European area.

In the following, we would like to explain in more detail what data is processed, why we have embedded YouTube videos and how you can manage or delete your data.

What is YouTube?

On YouTube, users can watch, rate, comment on and upload videos themselves free of charge. Over the past few years, YouTube has become one of the most important social media channels in the world. In order for us to display videos on our website, YouTube provides a snippet of code that we have included on 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 possible user experience on our website. And of course, interesting videos can’t be missing from that. With the help of our embedded videos, we provide you with other helpful content in addition to our text and images. In addition, the embedded videos make our website easier to find on the Google search engine. Also, when we run ads through Google Ads, Google – thanks to the data it collects – can really only show these ads to people who are interested in what we have to offer.

What data is stored by YouTube?

As soon as you visit one of our pages that has a YouTube video embedded, YouTube sets at least one cookie that stores your IP address and our URL. If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can usually assign your interactions on our website to your profile using cookies. This includes data such as session duration, bounce rate, approximate location, technical information such as browser type, screen resolution or your internet provider. Other data may include contact details, any ratings, sharing content via social media or adding to your favorites on YouTube.

If you are not logged into a Google account or a YouTube account, Google stores data with a unique identifier associated with your device, browser, or app. For example, your preferred language setting is retained. But a lot of interaction data can’t be stored because fewer cookies are set.

In the following list, we show cookies that were set in a test in the browser. On the one hand, we show cookies that are set without a YouTube account logged in. 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
Merit: b9-CV6ojI5Y311244331-1
Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video watched.
Expiration date: after session end

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

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

Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE
Merit: 95Chz8bagyU
Purpose: This cookie tries to estimate the user’s bandwidth on our web pages (with embedded YouTube video).
Expiration date: after 8 months

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

Name: APISID
Merit: zILlvClZSkqGsSwI/AU1aZI6HY7311244331-
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. Used for personalized advertisements.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: CONSENT
Merit: YES+AT.en+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
Merit: AcRwpgUik9Dveht0I
Purpose: This cookie is used to create a profile about your interests. This data helps to display personalized advertising.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: LOGIN_INFO
Merit: AFmmF2swRQIhALl6aL…
Purpose: This cookie stores information about your login details.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: SAPISID
Merit: 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
Merit: oQfNKjAsI311244331-.
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
Merit: AN0-TYuqub2JOcDTyL
Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and what advertisements you may have seen before 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 Google servers. Most of these servers are located in America. You can see exactly where Google data centers are located at https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de . Your data is distributed across the servers. Thus, the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation.

Google stores the collected data for different lengths of time. Some data you can delete at any time, others are automatically deleted after a limited time, and still others are stored by Google for a longer period of time. Some data (such as items from “My Activity”, photos or documents, products) stored in your Google Account will remain stored until you delete it. Even if you are not signed into 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?

Basically, you can delete data in Google Account manually. With the automatic deletion feature of location and activity data introduced in 2019, information will be stored depending on your decision – either 3 or 18 months and then deleted.

Whether you have a Google account or not, you can configure your browser to delete or disable cookies from Google. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

If you generally don’t want cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow it or not. Since YouTube is a subsidiary of Google, there is a common privacy policy. If you want to learn more about how your data is handled, we recommend the privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

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Vimeo Privacy Policy

We also use videos from the company Vimeo on our website. The video portal is operated by Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA. With the help of a plug-in, we can show you interesting video material directly on our website. In the process, certain data may be transferred from you to Vimeo. In this privacy policy, we will show you what data is involved, why we use Vimeo and how you can manage or prevent your data or the data transfer.

What is Vimeo?

Vimeo is a video platform that was founded in 2004 and has enabled streaming of videos in HD quality since 2007. Since 2015, it has also been possible to stream in 4k Ultra HD. The portal is free to use, but paid content can also be published. Compared to the market leader YouTube, Vimeo prioritizes high-quality content. On the one hand, the portal offers a lot of artistic content, such as music videos and short films, and on the other, documentaries on a wide variety of topics that are worth knowing.

Why do we use Vimeo on our website?

The goal of our web presence is to provide you with the best content possible. And to do so as easily accessible as possible. Only when we have achieved this, we are satisfied with our service. The video service Vimeo helps us to achieve this goal. Vimeo gives us the opportunity to present you with high-quality content directly on our website. Instead of just giving you a link to an interesting video, you can watch the video right there on our site. This expands our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. Thus, in addition to our texts and images, we also offer video content.

What data is stored on Vimeo?

When you call up a web page on our website that has a Vimeo video embedded, your browser connects to the servers of Vimeo. This results in a data transmission. This data is collected, stored and processed on the Vimeo servers. Regardless of whether you have a Vimeo account or not, Vimeo collects data about you. This includes your IP address, technical info about your browser type, operating system or very basic device information. Furthermore, Vimeo stores information about which website you use the Vimeo service and which actions (web activities) you perform on our website. These web activities include, for example, session duration, bounce rate or which button you clicked on our website with built-in Vimeo function. Vimeo may track and store these actions using cookies and similar technologies.

If you are logged into Vimeo as a registered member, more data can usually be collected because more cookies may have already been set in your browser. In addition, your actions on our website are directly linked to your Vimeo account. To prevent this, you must log out of Vimeo while “surfing” our website.

Below we show you cookies that are set by Vimeo when you are on a website with an integrated Vimeo function. This list is not exhaustive and assumes that you do not have a Vimeo account.

Name: player
Merit: “”
Purpose: This cookie saves your settings before you play an embedded Vimeo video. This will give you your preferred settings again the next time you watch a Vimeo video.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: vuid
Merit: pl1046149876.614422590311244331-4
Purpose: This cookie collects information about your actions on web pages that have a Vimeo video embedded.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Note: These two cookies are always set once you are on a web page with an embedded Vimeo video. When you watch the video and click the button to “share” or “like” the video, for example, other cookies are set. These are also third-party cookies such as _ga or _gat_UA-76641-8 from Google Analytics or _fbp from Facebook. Exactly which cookies are set here depends on your interaction with the video.

The following list shows a sample of possible cookies that are set when you interact with the Vimeo video:

Name: _abexps
Merit: %5B%5D
Purpose: This Vimeo cookie helps Vimeo remember the settings you have made. For example, it may be a preset language, region, or username. In general, the cookie stores data about how you use Vimeo.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: continuous_play_v3
Merit: 1
Purpose: This cookie is a first-party cookie from Vimeo. The cookie collects information about how you use the Vimeo service. For example, the cookie stores when you pause or replay a video.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _ga
Merit: GA1.2.1522249635.1578401280311244331-7
Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Google. By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gcl_au
Merit: 1.1.770887836.1578401279311244331-3
Purpose: This third-party cookie from Google AdSense is used to improve the efficiency of ads on websites.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: _fbp
Merit: fb.1.1578401280585.310434968
Purpose: This is a Facebook cookie. This cookie is used to display ads or advertising products from Facebook or other advertisers.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Vimeo uses this data, among other things, to improve its own service, to communicate with you and to set its own targeted advertising measures. Vimeo emphasizes on its website that only first-party cookies (i.e. cookies from Vimeo itself) are used for embedded videos, as long as you do not interact with the video.

How long and where is the data stored?

Vimeo is headquartered in White Plains, New York State (USA). However, the services are offered worldwide. In doing so, the company uses computer systems, databases and servers in the USA and also in other countries. Your data can therefore also be stored and processed on servers in America. The data remains stored at Vimeo until the company no longer has an economic reason for storing it. Then the data is deleted or anonymized. Vimeo complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and is therefore allowed to collect, use and transfer data of users from the EU to the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You always have the option to manage cookies in your browser according to your preferences. For example, if you do not want Vimeo to set cookies and thus collect information about you, you can always delete or disable cookies in your browser settings. Depending on your browser, this works a bit differently. Please note that after disabling/deleting cookies, various features may no longer be available to the full extent. The following instructions show how to manage or delete cookies in your browser.

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

Falls Sie ein registriertes Vimeo-Mitglied sind, können Sie auch in den Einstellungen bei Vimeo die verwendeten Cookies verwalten.

Vimeo is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt00000008V77AAE&status=Active. You can learn more about Vimeo’s use of cookies at https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy, Iand you can read information about Vimeo’s privacy policy at https://vimeo.com/privacy nachlesen.

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WooCommerce Privacy Policy

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

What is WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is an online store system that has been part of the WordPress directory since 2011 and is specifically designed for WordPress websites. It is a customizable, open source eCommerce platform built on WordPress and also included as a WordPress plugin on our website.

Why do we use WooCommerce on our website?

We use this convenient online store solution to offer you our physical or digital products or services in the best possible way on our website. The goal is to provide you with a simple and easy access to our offer, so that you can easily and quickly get to your desired products. With WooCommerce we have found a good plugin that meets our requirements for an online store.

What data is stored by WooCommerce?

Information that you actively enter into a text field in our online store can be collected and stored by WooCommerce or Automattic. So when you register with us or order a product, Automattic can collect, process and store this data. This may include credit card or billing information in addition to email address, name or address. Automattic may subsequently use this information for its own marketing campaigns.

In addition, there is also information that Automattic automatically collects from you in so-called server log files:

• IP address
• Browser information
• Default language setting
• Date and time of web access

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

Here we show you an example list of possible cookies that can be set by WooCommerce:

Name: woocommerce_items_in_cart
Merit: 1
Purpose: The cookie helps WooCommerce determine when the content in the cart changes.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: woocommerce_cart_hash
Merit: 447c84f810834056ab37cfe5ed27f204311244331-7
Purpose: This cookie is also used to detect and save the changes in your shopping cart.
Expiration date: after session end

Name: wp_woocommerce_session_d9e29d251cf8a108a6482d9fe2ef34b6
Merit: 1146%7C%7C1589034207%7C%7C95f8053ce0cea135bbce671043e740311244331-4aa
Purpose: This cookie contains a unique identifier for you so that the shopping cart data can be found in the database.
Expiration date: after 2 days

How long and where is the data stored?

Unless there is a legal obligation to keep data for a longer period of time, WooCommerce deletes the data when it is no longer needed for its own purposes for which it was stored. For example, server log files that receive technical data about your browser and IP address are deleted after about 30 days. Until then, Automattic uses the data to analyze the traffic on its own websites (for example, all WordPress sites) and to fix possible problems. The data is stored on American servers of Automattic.

How can I delete my data or prevent the data storage?

You have the right to access and object to the use and processing of your personal data at any time. You can also file a complaint with a state supervisory authority at any time.

In your browser, you also have the option to individually manage, delete or disable cookies. However, please note that disabled or deleted cookies have possible negative effects on the functions of our WooCommerce online store. Depending on which browser you use, managing cookies works slightly differently. Below you can see links to the instructions for the most popular browsers:

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

Automattic is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000CbqcAAC.

More details about the privacy policy and what data is collected in what way by WooCommerce can be found at https://automattic.com/privacy/ and general information about WooCommerce at https://woocommerce.com/.

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Sofortüberweisung Privacy Policy

We offer on our website the payment method “Sofortüberweisung” of the company Sofort GmbH for cashless payment. Sofort GmbH has belonged to the Swedish company Klarna since 2014, but has its headquarters in Germany, Theresienhöhe 12, 80339 Munich.

If you decide to use this payment method, among other things, personal data will be transmitted to Sofort GmbH or Klarna, stored and processed there. With this data protection text we give you an overview of the data processing by Sofort GmbH.

What is an “Sofortüberweisung”?

Sofortüberweisung is an online payment system that allows you to place an order via online banking. In this case, the payment processing is carried out by Sofort GmbH and we immediately receive information about the payment made. This method can be used by any user who has an active online banking account with PIN and TAN. Only a few banks do not support this payment method yet.

Why do we use “Sofortüberweisung” on our website?

Our goal with our website and our integrated online store is to provide you with the best possible service. This includes not only the overall experience on the website and in addition to our offers, but also a smooth, fast and secure payment processing of your orders. To ensure this, we use “Sofortüberweisung” as a payment system.

What data is stored by “Sofortüberweisung”?

When you make an Sofortüberweisung via the Sofort/Klarna service, data such as name, account number, bank code, subject, amount and date are stored on the company’s servers. We also receive this information via the payment confirmation.

As part of the account coverage check, Sofort GmbH checks whether your account balance and overdraft facility cover the payment amount. In some cases, it is also checked whether Sofort transfers have been made successfully in the last 30 days. In addition, your user identification (such as user number or contract number) in abbreviated (“hashed”) form and your IP address are collected and stored. For SEPA transfers, the BIC and IBAN are also stored.

According to the company, no other personal data (such as account balances, turnover data, drawing limits, account lists, cell phone number, authentication certificates, security codes or PIN/TAN) is collected, stored or passed on to third parties.

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

Name: SOFUEB
Merit: e8cipp378mdscn9e17kajlfhv7311244331-5
Purpose: This cookie stores your session ID.
Expiration date: after the end of the browser session

Name: User[user_cookie_rules]
Merit: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores your consent to use cookies.
Expiration date: after 10 years

Name: _ga
Merit: GA1.2.69759879.1589470706
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish the website visitors. This is a cookie from Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Note: The cookies listed here do not claim to be complete. It can always be that Sofortüberweisung also uses other cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

All collected data is stored within the legal obligation to retain it. This obligation can last between three and ten years.

Klarna/Sofort GmbH tries to store data only within the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA). If data is transferred outside the EU/EEA, the data protection must comply with the GDPR, the country must be in an EU adequacy decision or have the US Privacy Shield certificate.

How can I delete my data or prevent data retention?

You can withdraw your consent for Klarna to process personal data at any time. You also always have the right to information, correction and deletion of your personal data. To do so, you can simply contact the company’s data protection team by emailing datenschutz@sofort.com.

Possible cookies that Sofortüberweisung uses, you can manage, delete or disable in your browser. Depending on your preferred browser, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in the most popular browsers:

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: delete and manage cookies

If you want to learn more about the data processing by the “Sofortüberweisung” of the company Sofort GmbH, we recommend the privacy policy at https://www.sofort.de/datenschutz.html.