Data protection

Introduction and overview

We have written this privacy statement (version 14.01.2023-122394152) in order to provide you with information in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws to explain which personal data (data for short) we as the controller – and the processors (e.g. providers) we commission – process, will process in the future and what lawful options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral.
In short: We inform you comprehensively about data we process about you.

Privacy statements usually sound very technical and use legal terminology. This privacy policy, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. To the extent that it is conducive to transparency, technical Terms explained in a reader-friendly way, links to further information provided and Graphics put to use. We thus inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data in the course of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible by making the most concise, unclear and legalistic statements possible, as is often standard practice on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative, and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information you did not know.
If you still have questions, we would like to ask you to contact the responsible office mentioned below or in the imprint, to follow the existing links and to look at further information on third party sites. Of course, you will also find our contact details in the imprint.

Scope

This data protection declaration applies to all personal data processed by us in the company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (order processors). By personal data, we mean information within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 1 DSGVO, such as a person’s name, e-mail address and postal address. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and invoice our services and products, whether online or offline. The scope of this privacy policy includes:

• all online presences (websites, online stores) that we operate
• Social media appearances and e-mail communication
• mobile apps for smartphones and other devices

In short: The privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in a structured manner within the company via the aforementioned channels. If we enter into legal relations with you outside of these channels, we will inform you separately if necessary.

Legal basis

In the following privacy statement, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal basis of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.
As far as EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 27 April 2016. You can of course access this EU General Data Protection Regulation online on EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679 read.

We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:

1. Consent (Article 6(1)(a) DSGVO): You have given us your consent to process data for a specific purpose. An example would be the storage of your entered data of a contact form.
2. Contract (Article 6 paragraph 1 lit. b DSGVO): In order to fulfill a contract or pre-contractual obligations with you, we process your data. For example, if we enter into a purchase agreement with you, we require personal information in advance.
3. Legal obligation (Article 6(1)(c) DSGVO): If we are subject to a legal obligation, we process your data. For example, we are required by law to keep invoices for accounting purposes. These usually contain personal data.
4. Legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) DSGVO): In the case of legitimate interests that do not restrict your fundamental rights, we reserve the right to process personal data. For example, we need to process certain data in order to operate our website in a secure and economically efficient manner. This processing is therefore a legitimate interest.

Other conditions, such as the performance of recordings in the public interest and the exercise of public authority, as well as the protection of vital interests, do not usually arise in our case. If such a legal basis should be relevant, it will be indicated at the appropriate place.

In addition to the EU regulation, national laws also apply:

• In Austria this is the Federal Act on the Protection of Individuals with regard to the Processing of PersonalData (Data Protection Act), in short DSG.
• In Germany the Federal Data Protection Act, in short BDSG, applies.

If other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you about them in the following sections.

Contact details of the responsible person

If you have any questions regarding data protection or the processing of personal data, you will find the contact details of the responsible person or office below:
Jürgen Hochbein
Kingdom of Heaven 6 | A-5020 Salzburg
Austria
Authorized to represent: Jürgen Hochbein
Email: office@hotelsalzburg.at
Phone: +43 (0) 662 85 68 00
Imprint: https://hotelsalzburg.at/impressum/

Storage duration

The fact that we only store personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products applies as a general criterion at our company. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for the data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are required by law to store certain data even after the original purpose has ceased to exist, for example for accounting purposes.

Should you wish your data to be deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as soon as possible and insofar as there is no obligation to store it.

We will inform you about the specific duration of the respective data processing below, provided that we have further information on this.

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with Articles 13, 14 of the GDPR, we inform you about the following rights you have to ensure that data processing is fair and transparent:

• According to Article 15 of the GDPR, you have a right to information about whether we process data about you. If this is the case, you have the right to obtain a copy of the data and to know the following information:
  
  • the purpose for which we carry out the processing;
  • the categories, i.e. the types of data that are processed;
  • who receives this data and, if the data is transferred to third countries, how security can be guaranteed;
  • how long the data will be stored;
  • the existence of the right to rectification, erasure or restriction of processing and the right to object to processing;
  • that you can complain to a supervisory authority (links to these authorities can be found below);
  • the origin of the data if we have not collected it from you;
  • whether profiling is carried out, i.e. whether data is automatically evaluated in order to arrive at a personal profile of you.
• You have a right to rectify data according to Article 16 of the GDPR, which means that we must correct data if you find errors.
• According to Article 17 of the GDPR, you have the right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”), which specifically means that you may request the deletion of your data.
• According to Article 18 of the GDPR, you have the right to restriction of processing, which means that we may only store the data but not use it any further.
• According to Article 20 DSGVO, you have the right to data portability, which means that we will provide you with your data in a common format upon request.
• According to Article 21 of the GDPR, you have a right to object, which, once enforced, entails a change in processing.
  
  • If the processing of your data is based on Article 6 para. 1 lit. e (public interest, exercise of official authority) or Article 6 para. 1 lit. f (legitimate interest), you may object to the processing. We will then check as quickly as possible whether we can legally comply with this objection.
  • If data is used to conduct direct advertising, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may not use your data for direct marketing thereafter.
  • If data is used to perform profiling, you can object to this type of data processing at any time. We may not use your data for profiling thereafter.
• According to Article 22 of the GDPR, you may have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing (for example, profiling).
• You have the right to complain according to Article 77 of the GDPR. This means that you can complain to the data protection authority at any time if you believe that the data processing of personal data violates the GDPR.

In short: You have rights – do not hesitate to contact the responsible body listed above with us!

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the data protection authority, whose website you can find at https://www.dsb.gv.at/ find. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) . The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:

Austria data protection authority

Head: Mag. Dr. Andrea Jelinek
Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna
Phone: +43 1 52 152-0
E-mail address: dsb@dsb.gv.at
Website: https://www.dsb.gv.at/

Data transmission to third countries

We only transfer or process data to countries outside the EU (third countries) if you consent to this processing, if this is required by law or contractually necessary and in any case only to the extent that this is generally permitted. Your consent is in most cases the most important reason for us to have data processed in third countries. Processing personal data in third countries such as the U.S., where many software vendors provide services and have their server locations, may mean that personal data is processed and stored in unexpected ways.

We expressly point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. Data processing by US services (such as Google Analytics) may result in data not being processed and stored anonymously where applicable. In addition, U.S. government authorities may have access to individual data. In addition, collected data may be linked to data from other services of the same provider, if you have a corresponding user account. If possible, we try to use server locations within the EU, if this is offered.

We will inform you in more detail about data transfer to third countries, if applicable, at the appropriate places in this privacy policy.

Data processing security

To protect personal data, we have implemented both technical and organizational measures. Where possible, we encrypt or pseudonymize personal data. In doing so, we make it as difficult as possible for third parties to infer personal information from our data.

Article 25 of the GDPR refers to “data protection through technical design and data protection-friendly default settings” and thus means that both software (e.g., forms) and hardware (e.g., access to the server room) should always be designed with security in mind and that appropriate measures should be taken. In the following, we still go into concrete measures, if necessary.

TLS encryption with https

TLS, encryption and https sound very technical and they are. We use HTTPS (the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure stands for “secure hypertext transfer protocol”) to transfer data over the Internet in a tap-proof manner.
This means that the complete transmission of all data from your browser to our web server is secured – no one can “listen in”.

In this way, we have introduced an additional layer of security and comply with data protection by design of technology(Article 25(1) of the GDPR). 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 protection by the small lock symbol  at the top left of the browser, to the left of the Internet address (e.g., beispielseite.de) and the use of the https scheme (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.
If you would like to know more about encryption, we recommend doing a Google search for “Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure wiki” to get good links to more in-depth information.

Communication

Communication summary 👥 Affected parties: All those who communicate with us by telephone, e-mail or online form 📓 Processed data: e.g. phone number, name, e-mail address, form data entered. More details can be found at the respective contact type used 🤝 Purpose: Handling communication with customers, business partners, etc. 📅 Storage period: duration of the business case and legal requirements ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

When you contact us and communicate by phone, e-mail or online form, personal data may be processed.

The data will be processed for the handling and processing of your question and the related business transaction. The data is stored for as long as the law requires.

Persons concerned

All those who seek contact with us via the communication channels provided by us are affected by the aforementioned processes.

phone

When you call us, the call data is stored pseudonymously on the respective terminal device and with the telecommunications provider used. In addition, data such as name and telephone number can subsequently be sent by e-mail and stored for the purpose of responding to inquiries. The data is deleted as soon as the business case has been terminated and legal requirements permit.

e-mail

If you communicate with us by e-mail, data may be stored on the respective end device (computer, laptop, smartphone,…) and data is stored on the e-mail server. The data is deleted as soon as the business case has been terminated and legal requirements permit.

Online forms

If you communicate with us using an online form, data is stored on our web server and may be forwarded to an e-mail address of ours. The data is deleted as soon as the business case has been terminated and legal requirements permit.

Legal basis

The processing of the data is based on the following legal bases:

• Art. 6 par. 1 lit. a DSGVO (Consent): You give us your consent to store and further use your data for purposes related to the business case;
• Art. 6 par. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract): There is a need for the performance of a contract with you or a processor such as the telephone provider, or we need to process the data for pre-contractual activities, such as preparing an offer;
• Art. 6 par. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests): We want to conduct customer inquiries and business communications in a professional setting. This requires certain technical facilities, such as e-mail programs, exchange servers and mobile operators, in order to be able to operate the communication efficiently.

cookies

Cookies summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: depending on the cookie. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. Data processed: Depending on the cookie used in each case. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📅 Storage duration: depends on the respective cookie, can vary from hours to years ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests) To manage the cookies and similar technologies used (tracking pixels, web beacons, etc.) and related consents, we use the consent tool “Real Cookie Banner”. Details on how “Real Cookie Banner” works can be found at <a href=”https://devowl.io/de/rcb/datenverarbeitung/” rel=”noreferrer” target=”_blank”>https://devowl.io/de/rcb/datenverarbeitung/</a>. Legal bases for the processing of personal data in this context are Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c DS-GVO and Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest is to manage the cookies and similar technologies used and the related consents. The provision of personal data is neither contractually required nor necessary for the conclusion of a contract. You are not obliged to provide the personal data. If you do not provide the personal information, we will not be able to manage your consents.

What are 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.

Whenever you browse 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 cannot 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 website knows who you are and offers you the setting you are used to. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

The following graphic shows a possible interaction between a web browser such as Chrome and the web server. In this process, the web browser requests a website and receives a cookie back from the server, which the browser uses again as soon as another page is requested.

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. The expiration time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “pests”. Cookies also cannot access information from your PC.

For example, cookie data can look like this:

Name: _ga
Wert: GA1.2.1326744211.152122394152-9
Intended use: Differentiation of website visitors
Expiration date: after 2 years

A browser should be able to support these minimum sizes:

• At least 4096 bytes per cookie
• At least 50 cookies per domain
• At least 3000 cookies in total

What are the types of cookies?

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 4 types of cookies:

Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functionality. For example, it needs these cookies when a user adds a product to the shopping cart, then continues surfing 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.

Purposeful 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.

Targeted cookies
These cookies provide a better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are saved.

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.

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

Purpose of processing via cookies

The purpose ultimately depends on the cookie in question. You can find more details about this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.

What data is processed?

Cookies are small helpers for many different tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generalize which data is stored in cookies, but we will inform you about the processed or stored data in the following privacy policy.

Cookies storage duration

The storage period depends on the cookie in question and is specified below. Some cookies are deleted after less than an hour, others can remain stored on a computer for several years.

You also have influence on the storage duration yourself. You can manually delete all cookies at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies based on consent will be deleted at the latest after revocation of your consent, whereby the legality of the storage remains unaffected until then.

Right to object – how can I delete cookies?

How and whether you want to use cookies, you decide. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option to delete, disable or only partially allow 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: Managing 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 do not want cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. Thus, for each individual cookie, you can decide whether to allow the cookie or not. The procedure varies depending on the browser. The best way is to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “disable cookies Chrome” in case of a Chrome browser.

Legal basis

The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have been in place since 2009. This states that the storage of cookies is a Consent (Article 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO) is required from you. Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in § 96 para. 3 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). In Germany, the Cookie Guidelines have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

For absolutely necessary cookies, even if no consent has been given, there are legitimate interests (Article 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and for this, certain cookies are often absolutely necessary.

If cookies are used that are not absolutely necessary, this is only done with your consent. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.

In the following sections, you will be informed in more detail about the use of cookies, if used software uses cookies.

Customer data

Customer data summary 👥 Affected parties: customers or business and contractual partners 🤝 Purpose: Provision of the contractually or pre-contractually agreed services, including associated communication. 📓 Processed data: Name, address, contact data, e-mail address, telephone number, payment information (such as invoices and bank data), contract data (such as term and subject of the contract), IP address, order data. 📅 Storage period: the data is deleted as soon as it is no longer required for the provision of our business purposes and there is no legal obligation to retain it. Legal basis: Legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO), contract (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO)

What is customer data?

In order to be able to offer our service or contractual services, we also process data of our customers and business partners. Among these data there are always personal data. Customer data means all information that is processed on the basis of a contractual or pre-contractual cooperation in order to be able to provide the services offered. Customer data is therefore all collected information that we collect and process about our customers.

Why do we process customer data?

There are many reasons why we collect and process customer data. The most important one is that we simply need various data to provide our services. Sometimes your e-mail address is sufficient here, but if you purchase a product or service, for example, we also need data such as name, address, bank data or contract data. We also use the data subsequently for marketing and sales optimization, so that we can improve our overall service to our customers. Another important point is also our customer service, which is always very important to us. We want you to be able to come to us with questions about our offers at any time, and for that we need at least your e-mail address.

What data is processed?

Exactly which data is stored can only be described here on the basis of categories. This always depends on the services you receive from us. In some cases, you simply provide us with your email address so that we can contact you, for example, or so that we can answer your questions. In other cases, you purchase a product or service from us and for this we need significantly more information, such as your contact details, payment details and contract details.

Here is a list of possible data we receive from you and process:

• Surname
• Contact address
• E-mail address
• Phone number
• Date of birth
• Payment data (invoices, bank data, payment history, etc.)
• Contract data ( term, content)
• Usage data (websites visited, access data ect.)
• Metadata (IP address, device information)

How long will the data be stored?

As soon as we no longer need the customer data to fulfill our contractual obligations and our purposes, and the data is also no longer necessary for possible warranty and liability obligations, we delete the corresponding customer data. This is the case, for example, when a business contract ends. Thereafter, the limitation period is generally 3 years, although longer periods are possible in individual cases. Of course, we also comply with the statutory retention obligations. Your customer data will certainly not be passed on to third parties unless you have explicitly given your consent to do so.

Legal basis

Legal bases for the processing of your data are Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b DSGVO (contract or pre-contractual measures), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (legitimate interests)  and in special cases (e.g. medical services) Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a. GDPR (processing of special categories).

In the case of the protection of vital interests, the data processing is carried out in accordance with Art. 9 para. 2 lit. c. GDPR. For the purposes of health care, occupational medicine, medical diagnostics, health or social care or treatment, or for the management of health or social care systems and services, the processing of personal data is carried out in accordance with Art. 9 para. 2 lit. h. GDPR. If you voluntarily provide data of the special categories, the processing is based on Art. 9 para. 2 lit. a. GDPR.

Social media introduction

Social Media Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Presentation and optimization of our service performance, contact with visitors, interested parties, etc., advertising. 📓 Processed data: Data such as phone numbers, email addresses, contact details, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details on this in the respective social media tool used. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the social media platforms used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is social media?

In addition to our website, we are also active on various social media platforms. In the process, user data may be processed so that we can target users who are interested in us via the social networks. In addition, elements of a social media platform may also be embedded directly in our website. This is the case, for example, when you click on a so-called social button on our website and are redirected directly to our social media presence. So-called social media or social media are websites and apps through which logged-in members can produce content, share content openly or in specific groups, and network with other members.

Why do we use social media?

For years, social media platforms have been the place where people communicate and connect online. Our social media presences enable us to bring our products and services closer to prospective customers. The social media elements embedded on our website help you to quickly switch to our social media content without complications.

The data that is stored and processed through your use of a social media channel is primarily for the purpose of being able to perform web analyses. The aim of these analyses is to be able to develop more precise and personalized marketing and advertising strategies. Depending on your behavior on a social media platform, appropriate conclusions can be drawn about your interests with the help of the evaluated data and so-called user profiles can be created. This also allows the platforms to present you with tailored advertisements. Mostly, cookies are set in your browser for this purpose, which store data about your usage behavior.

We generally assume that we remain responsible under data protection law, even if we use services of a social media platform. However, the European Court of Justice has ruled that in certain cases the operator of the social media platform may be jointly responsible with us within the meaning of Art. 26 GDPR. If this is the case, we will point this out separately and work on the basis of an agreement to this effect. The essence of the agreement is then reproduced below with the platform concerned.

Please note that when using social media platforms or our built-in elements, data from you may also be processed outside the European Union, as many social media channels, for example Facebook or Twitter, are American companies. As a result, you may no longer be able to claim or enforce your rights with respect to your personal data as easily.

What data is processed?

Exactly which data is stored and processed depends on the respective provider of the social media platform. But usually it is data such as phone numbers, email addresses, data you enter in a contact form, user data such as which buttons you click, who you like or follow, when you visited which pages, information about your device and your IP address. Most of this data is stored in cookies. Especially if you yourself have a profile on the visited social media channel and are logged in, data can be linked to your profile.

All data collected via a social media platform is also stored on the providers’ servers. Thus, only the providers have access to the data and can give you the appropriate information or make changes.

If you want to know exactly what data is stored and processed by the social media providers and how to object to the data processing, you should carefully read the respective privacy policy of the company. Also, if you have questions about data storage and data processing or wish to assert corresponding rights, we recommend that you contact the provider directly.

Duration of data processing

We will inform you about the duration of the data processing below, provided that we have further information on this. For example, the social media platform Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own purpose. However, customer data that is matched with the user’s own data is deleted within two days. In general, we process personal data only as long as it is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. If it is required by law, as in the case of accounting, for example, this storage period may also be exceeded.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers such as embedded social media elements at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. For example, you can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser.

Since social media tools may use cookies, we also recommend that you read our general privacy policy on cookies. To find out exactly which of your data is stored and processed, you should read the privacy statements of the respective tools.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, if you have given your consent, your data will also be used on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in a fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners stored and processed. Nevertheless, we only use the tools if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Information on specific social media platforms – if available – can be found in the following sections.

Facebook privacy policy

Facebook Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance 📓 Processed data: Data such as customer data, user behavior data, information about your device and your IP address. You can find more details about this below in the privacy policy. 📅 Storage duration: until the data is no longer useful for Facebook’s purposes. ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What are Facebook tools?

We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network of the company Meta Platforms Inc. or for the European area of the company Meta Platforms Ireland Limited, 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.

If data is collected from you and forwarded via our embedded Facebook elements or via our Facebook page (Fanpage), both we and Facebook Ireland Ltd. are responsible for this. Facebook is solely responsible for the further processing of this data. Our joint commitments have also been set out in a publicly available agreement at https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum anchored. This states, for example, that we must clearly inform you about the use of Facebook tools on our site. Furthermore, we are also responsible for ensuring that the tools are securely integrated into our website in accordance with data protection law. Facebook, on the other hand, is responsible for the data security of Facebook products, for example. If you have any questions about data collection and processing by Facebook, you can contact the company directly. If you submit the question to us, we are required to forward it to Facebook.

Below we provide an overview of the different Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.

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 (Application Programming Interface)
• SDKs (collection of programming tools)
• Platform integrations
• Plugins
• Codes
• Specifications
• Documentations
• 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 only want to show our services and products to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads), we can reach exactly these people. However, in order to show users suitable advertising, Facebook needs information about people’s wishes and needs. Thus, the company is provided with information about user behavior (and contact details) on our website. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate ads 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”. These are also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus generate “campaign reports” on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, through analytics we get a 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, 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) may be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, phone number and IP address can 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 transmitted to Facebook, a so-called “hashing” takes place. This means that a data set of any size is transformed into a string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact data, “event data” is also transmitted. “Event Data” means that information 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” can also be associated with contact data. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the aforementioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact data again.

In order to deliver ads in an optimized manner, Facebook only uses event data when it has been aggregated with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, safety, 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. In the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools, we go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies. You can also learn general information about the use of Facebook cookies on 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 spread all over the world where its data is stored. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been compared with the user’s own 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) Click Settings on the right side of Facebook.

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

3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.

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

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

The storage of data that Facebook receives via our site takes place, 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. Under the section “Cookies” you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

If you generally do not want cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. Thus, for each individual cookie, you can decide whether to allow it or not.

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by embedded Facebook tools, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be used on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in a fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners stored and processed. Nevertheless, we only use the tools if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view Facebook’s privacy policy or cookie policy.

Facebook also processes data from you in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

Facebook uses so-called standard contractual clauses (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are templates provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data complies with European data protection standards even if it is transferred to and stored in third countries (such as the USA). Through these clauses, Facebook undertakes to comply with the European level of data protection when processing your relevant data, even if the data is stored, processed and managed in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding standard contractual clauses here, among other places: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=de

Facebook’s data processing terms and conditions, which comply with the standard contractual clauses, can be found at https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/dataprocessing.

We hope we have provided you with 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 policies on https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

Our website contains so-called social plug-ins of the company Meta Platforms Inc. built in. 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

At https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins you will get more detailed 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, and on the other hand because Facebook can optimize our ads through them.

Provided you have a Facebook account or https://www.facebook.com/ have visited 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 obtained is deleted or anonymized again 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.

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 while visiting the website.

If you are not logged into 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 may be transferred to Facebook. We would like to point out that we do not know the exact content of the data. However, we try to inform you about the data processing as good as possible according to our current knowledge. You can also find out how Facebook uses the data in the company’s data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update read.

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

Name: dpr
Value: no specification
Purpose: This cookie is used to enable the social plug-ins on our website to function.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: fr
Wert: 0jieyh4122394152c2GnlufEJ9..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.

As long as you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for ads at https://www.facebook.com/adpreferences/advertisers/ change itself. If you are not a Facebook user, you can click on https://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/?tid=122394152 basically manage your usage-based online advertising. There you have the option to disable or enable 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?tip=122394152.

Instagram privacy policy

Instagram Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Optimization of our service performance 📓 Processed data: Data such as user behavior data, information about your device, and your IP address. You can find more details about this below in the privacy policy. 📅 Storage period: until Instagram no longer needs the data for its purposes ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is Instagram?

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 Meta Platforms Inc. since 2012. and belongs to the Facebook products. Embedding Instagram content on our website is called embedding. This allows us to show you content like buttons, photos or videos from Instagram directly on our website. When you access web pages of 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 Meta Platforms Inc. we obtain our information from Instagram’s policies on the one hand, but also from the meta-privacy policies themselves on the other.

Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks in the world. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with those of audiovisual platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. You can upload photos and short videos to “Insta” (as many of the users casually call the platform), edit them with various filters, and also share 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 the social media platform that has really gone through the roof in recent years. And of course we have also responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That is why a varied preparation of our content is a matter of course for us. The embedded Instagram features allow us to enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected may also serve us for personalized advertising on Facebook. This way, only people who are really interested in our products or services receive our advertisements.

Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We get aggregated statistics and thus more insight about your wishes and interests. It is 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 that’s whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our website, about your computer, about purchases you have made, about advertisements you see and how you use our services. 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 are, for example, name, address, telephone number and IP address. This customer data will only be transmitted to Instagram if you have been “hashed” beforehand. Hashing means that a data set is transformed into a character string. This allows you to encrypt the contact data. In addition, the above-mentioned “event data” are also transmitted. By “event data” Facebook – and consequently Instagram – means data about your user behavior. It may also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The contact data collected is matched with the data 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 features used and whether you have an Instagram account yourself, different amounts of data are stored.

We assume that Instagram’s data processing works the same way as Facebook’s. This means that if you have an Instagram account or www.instagram.com have visited, Instagram has set at least one 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. After 90 days at the latest (after matching), this data is deleted or anonymized again. Although we have taken a close look at Instagram’s data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores.

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

These cookies were used in our test:

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

Name: mid
Value: “”
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 end of session

Name: fbsr_122394152124024
Value: no data
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiration date: after end of session

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

Name: url
Value: “{“194.96.75.33″: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe122394152”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiration date: after end of session

Note: We cannot claim 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. Data processing is carried out in compliance with its own data policy. For security reasons, among others, your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world. 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 of access, portability, rectification 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 need to permanently delete your Instagram account.

And this is how the deletion of the Instagram account works:

First, open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go to the bottom and click on “Help Area”. Now you will come to the company’s website. On the web page, click “Manage your 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. Under the section “Cookies” you will find the corresponding links to the respective instructions of the most popular browsers.

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

Legal basis

If you have consented that data from you can be processed and stored by integrated social media elements, this consent is considered the legal basis of the data processing (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO). In principle, your data will also be used on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO) in a fast and good communication with you or other customers and business partners stored and processed. Nevertheless, we only use the integrated social media elements if you have given your consent. Most social media platforms also set cookies in your browser to store data. That is why we recommend that you read our privacy text about cookies carefully and view the privacy policy or cookie policy of the respective service provider.

Instagram and Facebook, respectively, also process data in the USA, among other places. We would like to point out that, in the opinion of the European Court of Justice, there is currently no adequate level of protection for data transfers to the USA. This may be accompanied by various risks to the lawfulness and security of data processing.

Facebook uses standard contractual clauses approved by the EU Commission (= Art. 46. para. 2 and 3 DSGVO) as the basis for data processing for recipients located in third countries (outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, i.e. in particular in the USA) or a data transfer there. These clauses oblige Facebook to comply with the EU level of data protection when processing relevant data outside the EU. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the resolution and the clauses here, among other places: https://germany.representation.ec.europa.eu/index_de.

We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about Instagram’s data processing. At https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875
you can take a closer look at Instagram’s data policies.

Web design introduction

Web design privacy policy summary 👥 Parties concerned: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: Improve user experience 📓 Data processed: Which data is processed depends heavily on the services used. In most cases, this includes IP address, technical data, language settings,  browser version, screen resolution and browser name. You can find more details about this in the respective web design tools used. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the tools used ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests)

What is web design?

We use various tools on our website that serve our web design. Web design is not, as often assumed, just about making our website look pretty, but also about functionality and performance. But of course, the appropriate look of a website is also one of the great goals of professional web design. Web design is a branch of media design and deals with the visual as well as the structural and functional design of a website. The goal is to improve your experience on our website with the help of web design. In web design jargon, this is referred to as user experience (UX) and usability. User experience refers to all impressions and experiences that the website visitor experiences on a website. A sub-item of user experience is usability. This is about the user-friendliness of a website. The main focus here is on ensuring that content, subpages or products are clearly structured and that you can easily and quickly find what you are looking for. To provide you with the best possible experience on our website, we also use so-called third-party web design tools. In this privacy policy, the category “web design” therefore includes all services that improve the design of our website. These can be, for example, fonts, various plugins or other integrated web design functions.

Why do we use web design tools?

How you absorb information on a website depends very much on the structure, functionality and visual perception of the website. Therefore, a good and professional web design became more and more important for us as well. We are constantly working to improve our website and also see this as an extended service to you, the website visitor. Furthermore, a beautiful and functioning website also has economic advantages for us. After all, you will only visit us and make use of our offers if you feel completely at ease.

What data is stored by web design tools?

When you visit our website, web design elements may be embedded in our pages that may also process data. Exactly what data is involved depends, of course, heavily on the tools used. Further below you can see exactly which tools we use for our website. We recommend that you also read the respective privacy policy of the tools used for more detailed information on data processing. In most cases, you will find out there which data is processed, whether cookies are used and how long the data is stored. Through fonts such as Google Fonts, for example, information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution and browser name are also automatically transmitted to Google servers.

Duration of data processing

How long data is processed is very individual and depends on the web design elements used. For example, when cookies are used, the retention period can be as short as a minute or as long as a few years. Please do your research in this regard. For this purpose, we recommend on the one hand our general text section on cookies as well as the privacy statements of the tools used. There you will usually find out exactly which cookies are used and what information is stored in them. Google font files, for example, are stored for one year. This is to improve the loading time of a website. In principle, data is always kept only as long as is necessary for the provision of the service. In the case of legal requirements, data may also be stored for longer periods.

Right of objection

You also have the right and the possibility to revoke your consent to the use of cookies or third-party providers at any time. This works either via our cookie management tool or via other opt-out functions. You can also prevent data collection through cookies by managing, disabling or deleting cookies in your browser. However, among web design elements (mostly with fonts) there is also data that cannot be deleted quite so easily. This is the case when data is automatically collected directly when a page is accessed and transmitted to a third-party provider (such as Google). In this case, please contact the support of the corresponding provider. In the case of Google, you can reach support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de.

Legal basis

If you have consented to web design tools being used, the legal basis of the corresponding data processing is this consent. This consent constitutes, according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a DSGVO (consent) constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data as it may occur during the collection by web design tools. From our side, there is also a legitimate interest to improve the web design on our website. After all, only then we can provide you with a beautiful and professional web offer. The corresponding legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO (Legitimate Interests). Nevertheless, we only use web design tools if you have given your consent. In any case, we want to emphasize that again here.

Information on specific web design tools – if available – is provided in the following sections.

Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy

On our website we use Google Fonts from Google Inc. The company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European area. We have embedded the Google fonts locally, i.e. on our web server – not on Google’s servers. This means that there is no connection to Google servers and therefore no data transfer or storage.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts used to be called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory of over 800 fonts that can be Google free of charge. With Google Fonts, you could use fonts without uploading them to your own server. But to prevent any information transfer to Google servers in this regard, we have downloaded the fonts to our server. In this way, we act in a privacy compliant manner and do not send any data to Google Fonts.

Explanation of used terms

We always try to write our privacy policy as clear and understandable as possible. However, this is not always easy, especially when it comes to technical and legal topics. It often makes sense to use legal terms (such as personal data) or certain technical terms (such as cookies, IP address). However, we would not like to use them without explanation. Below you will now find an alphabetical list of important terms used that we may not have adequately addressed in the previous privacy statement. If these terms are taken from the GDPR and are definitions, we will also cite the GDPR texts here and add our own explanations if necessary.

Consent

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

“Consent” of the data subject shall mean any freely given specific, informed and unambiguous indication of his or her wishes in the form of a statement or other unambiguous affirmative act by which the data subject signifies his or her agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her;

Explanation: As a rule, websites provide such consent via a cookie consent tool. I’m sure you’re familiar with this. Whenever you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked via a banner whether you agree or consent to data processing. In most cases, you can also make individual settings and thus decide for yourself which data processing you allow and which you do not. If you do not consent, no personal data of yours may be processed either. In principle, consent can of course also be given in writing, i.e. not via a tool.

Personal data

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

“personal data”  any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter “data subject”); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person;

Explanation: Personal data is therefore all data that can identify you as a person. This is usually data such as:

• Surname
• Address
• E-mail address
• Postal address
• Phone number
• Date of birth
• Identification numbers such as social security number, tax identification number, identity card number or matriculation number
• Bank data such as account number, credit information, account balances, and more.

According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address to the personal data. IT experts can use your IP address to at least determine the approximate location of your device and, subsequently, you as the connection owner. Therefore, the storage of an IP address also requires a legal basis within the meaning of the GDPR. There are also still so-called “special categories” of personal data that also require special protection. These include:

• racial and ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or ideological convictions
• the union affiliation
• Genetic data, such as data taken from blood or saliva samples
• biometric data (this is information on mental, physical or behavioral characteristics that can identify a person).
  Health data
• Data on sexual orientation or sexual life

Profiling

Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR

For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:

“Profiling” any type of automated processing of personal data that consists of using such personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyze or predict aspects relating to that natural person’s job performance, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or change of location;

Explanation: Profiling involves gathering various pieces of information about a person in order to learn more about that person. In the web sector, profiling is often used for advertising purposes or even for credit checks. For example, web or advertising analytics programs collect data about your behavior and interests on a website. This results in a special user profile that can be used to target advertising to a specific group.

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