We have drawn up this privacy policy (version 26.06.2020-311189355) to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, what information we collect, how we use data and what choices 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.

Automatic data storage

When you visit websites these days, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.

When you visit our website as you are currently doing, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically saves data such as

the address (URL) of the website accessed

Browser and browser version

the operating system used

the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)

the hostname and IP address of the device from which access is made

Date and time

in files (web server log files).

Web server log files are generally stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not share this data, but cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of illegal activity.

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

One thing is undeniable: cookies are truly useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. To be more precise, they are HTTP cookies, as there are other cookies for other purposes as well. HTTP cookies are small files that our website stores on your computer. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, the "brain" of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more additional attributes must be specified.

Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal site settings. When you visit our site again, your browser transmits the "user-related" information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default settings. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

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

For example, cookie data can look like this:

Name: _ga

Expiry time: 2 years

Use: Distinguishing between website visitors

Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311189355

A browser should support the following minimum sizes:

A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes

At least 50 cookies should be able to be stored per domain

A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored

What types of cookies are there?

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

There are four types of cookies:

Strictly necessary cookies

These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functions. For example, these cookies are needed when a user adds a product to their shopping cart, then continues browsing to other pages and only proceeds to checkout later. These cookies ensure that the shopping cart is not deleted even when the user closes their browser window.

Functional cookies

These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives any error messages. These cookies also measure the loading time and behavior of the website in different browsers.

Targeted cookies

These cookies improve 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 useful, but also very annoying.

Typically, when you first visit a website, you'll be asked which of these cookie types you'd like to allow. And, of course, this decision will also be saved in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of the service or website from which the cookies originate, you always have the option to delete cookies, allow only some of them, or disable them. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.

If you want to find out 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: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you absolutely do not want cookies, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be placed. This allows you to decide for each individual cookie whether or not to accept it. The procedure varies depending on your browser. The best way to do this is to search for instructions on Google using the search term "delete cookies Chrome" or "disable cookies Chrome" if you are using a Chrome browser, or replace the word "Chrome" with the name of your browser, e.g., Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

What about my data protection?

The so-called "Cookie Directive" has been in place since 2009. It stipulates that the storage of cookies requires your consent. However, reactions to these guidelines vary considerably across EU countries. In Germany, the Cookie Directive has not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the German Telemedia Act (TMG).

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

Storage of personal data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as name, email address, address or other personal information when submitting a form or comments on the blog, together with the time and IP address, will be used by us only for the specified purpose, stored securely and not passed on to third parties.

We therefore use your personal data only for communication with those visitors who expressly request contact and for the processing of the services and products offered on this website. We will not share your personal data without your consent, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data will be viewed in the event of illegal activity.

If you send us personal information via email – outside of this website – we cannot guarantee the secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential information unencrypted via email.

The legal basis, according to Article 6, Paragraph 1a of the GDPR (lawfulness of processing), is your consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time – an informal email is sufficient. You can find our contact details in the imprint.

Rights under 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 GDPR)

Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)

Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 GDPR)

Right to notification – obligation to notify in connection with the rectification or erasure of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)

Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)

Right of objection (Article 21 GDPR)

Right not to be subjected 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 that 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).

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 collected data is generally evaluated anonymously, and we cannot draw any conclusions about your identity from your behavior on this website.

You can find out more about how to object to this analysis of visit data in the following privacy policy.

TLS encryption with https

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

Google Analytics IP anonymization

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 from local data protection authorities when these prohibit the storage of the full IP address. IP anonymization or masking occurs as soon as the IP addresses arrive in the Google Analytics data collection network and before the data is stored or processed.

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

Google Analytics Demographics and Interests Reports

We have enabled advertising reporting features in Google Analytics. The demographic and interest reports contain information about age, gender, and interests. This allows us to gain a better understanding of our users—without being able to assign this data to specific individuals. You can learn more about advertising features at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad.

You can stop the use of your Google Account activities and information by checking the box in “Advertising Settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated.

Google Analytics deactivation link

By clicking the following deactivation link, you can prevent Google from tracking future visits to this website. Please note: Deleting cookies, using your browser's incognito/private mode, or using a different browser will result in data being collected again.

Deactivate Google Analytics

Google Analytics Data Processing Addendum

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

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

Google Analytics Google Signals Privacy Policy

We have enabled Google Signals in Google Analytics. This will update existing Google Analytics features (Advertising Reporting, Remarketing, Cross-Device Reporting, and Interest and Demographic Reporting) to receive aggregated and anonymized data from you, provided you have allowed personalized ads in your Google Account.

What's special about this is that it's cross-device tracking. This means your data can be analyzed across devices. By activating Google Signals, data is collected and linked to your Google account. This allows Google to recognize, for example, if you view a product on our website using a smartphone and only later purchase the product using 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 products on other websites.

In Google Analytics, Google Signals also collect additional visitor data such as location, search history, YouTube history, and data about your actions on our website. This allows us to receive better advertising reports from Google and more useful information about your interests and demographic characteristics. This includes your age, language, where you live, and gender. Social criteria such as your occupation, marital status, or income are also taken into account. All of these characteristics help Google Analytics define groups of people or target audiences.

The reports also help us better assess your behavior, preferences, and interests. This allows us to optimize and tailor our services and products for you. This data expires after 26 months by default. Please note that this data collection only occurs if you have allowed personalized advertising in your Google Account. This data is always aggregated and anonymous and never data about individual people. You can manage or delete this data in your Google Account.

Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy

We use the Facebook pixel from Facebook on our website. We have implemented code for this purpose on our website. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions with which Facebook can track your user actions if you came to our website via Facebook ads. For example, if you purchase a product on our website, the Facebook pixel is triggered and saves your actions on our website in one or more cookies. These cookies enable Facebook to compare your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data in your Facebook account. Facebook then deletes this data again. The data collected is anonymous and not visible to us and is only used to display advertisements. If you are a Facebook user yourself and are logged in, your visit to our website will be automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.

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

Below, we show you the cookies that were set by integrating Facebook Pixel on a test page. Please note that these are only example cookies. Different cookies are set depending on your interaction on our website.

Name: _fbp

Value: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6311189355-7

Purpose: This cookie is used by Facebook to display advertising products.

Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: fr

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

Purpose: This cookie is used to ensure that Facebook Pixel functions properly.

Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062311189355-3

Value: Author's name

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

Expiry date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062

Value: https://www.testseite…/ (Author's URL)

Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the website that the user enters in a text field on our website.

Expiry date: after 12 months

Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062

Value: Author's email address

Purpose: This cookie stores the user's email address if they have provided it on the website.

Expiry date: after 12 months

Note: The cookies mentioned above relate to individual user behavior. Especially when using cookies, Facebook can never rule out changes.

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

Facebook Automatic Enhanced Matching Privacy Policy

We have also enabled Automatic Advanced Matching as part of the Facebook Pixel feature. This pixel feature allows us to send hashed email addresses, names, gender, city, state, zip code, date of birth, or phone number to Facebook as additional information, provided you have provided us with this data. This activation allows us to tailor Facebook advertising campaigns even more precisely to people who are interested in our services or products.

Newsletter Privacy Policy

By subscribing to our newsletter, you submit the above-mentioned personal data and give us the right to contact you via email. We will use the data stored during your newsletter registration exclusively for our newsletter and will not share it with third parties.

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

MailChimp Data Processing Agreement

We have entered into a data processing agreement (Data Processing Addendum) with MailChimp. This agreement protects your personal data and ensures that MailChimp adheres to applicable data protection regulations and does not share your personal data with third parties.

More information about this agreement can be found at https://mailchimp.com/legal/data-processing-addendum/.

Embedded social media elements Privacy Policy

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

When you visit pages that display these elements, data is transferred from your browser to the respective social media service and stored there. We have no access to this data.

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

Instagram Privacy Policy: https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875

The Google Privacy Policy applies to YouTube: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de

Facebook Data Policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy

Twitter Privacy Policy: https://twitter.com/de/privacy

Facebook Privacy Policy

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

What are Facebook tools?

Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called "Facebook Business Tools." This is Facebook's official name. However, since the term is hardly known, we've decided to simply call them Facebook Tools. These include:

Facebook Pixel

social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button)

Facebook Login

Account Kit

APIs (application programming interfaces)

SDKs (collection of programming tools)

Platform integrations

Plugins

Codes

Specifications

Documentation

Technologies and services

Through these tools, Facebook expands its services and has the ability to obtain information about user activities outside of Facebook.

Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?

We want to show our services and products only to people who are genuinely interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads), we can reach precisely these people. However, in order to show users suitable advertising, Facebook needs information about people's wishes and needs. This provides the company with information about user behavior (and contact details) on our website. This allows Facebook to collect better user data and show interested people suitable advertisements about our products or services. These tools thus enable customized advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website "event data." This is also used for measurement and analytics services. Facebook can thus create "campaign reports" on our behalf about the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analytics give us better insight into how you use our services, website, or products. This allows us to use some of these tools to optimize your user experience on our website. For example, you can use social plug-ins to share content from our site directly on Facebook.

What data are stored by Facebook tools?

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

Facebook uses this information to compare the data with the data it has about you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transmitted to Facebook, a process called "hashing" occurs. This means that a data set of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact details, "event data" is also transmitted. "Event data" refers to the information we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you purchase from us. Facebook does not share the information received with third parties (such as advertisers) unless the company has explicit permission or is legally obligated to do so. "Event data" can also be linked to contact details. This enables Facebook to offer better, personalized advertising. After the aforementioned matching process, Facebook deletes the contact details.

In order to deliver optimized advertisements, 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 that are used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools used and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies will be created in your browser. We go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies in the descriptions of the individual Facebook tools. 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?

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

According to the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, rectification, portability and erasure of your data.

Complete deletion of your data will only occur if you completely delete your Facebook account. Here's how to delete your Facebook account:

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

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

3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.

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

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

The data Facebook receives from our site is stored, among other things, via cookies (e.g., social plugins). You can deactivate, delete, or manage individual or all cookies in your browser. This works differently depending on the browser you use. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you prefer not to accept cookies, you can set your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be placed. This allows you to decide whether to accept or reject each individual cookie.

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

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

Our website contains so-called social plug-ins from Facebook Inc. You can recognize these buttons by the classic Facebook logo, such as the "Like" button (a hand with a 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 frequently used functions are the familiar "Like" and "Share" buttons.

The following social plug-ins are offered by Facebook:

“Save” button

Like, Share, Send and Quote

Page plug-in

Comments

Messenger plug-in

Embedded posts and video players

Group plug-in

You can find more information about how the individual plug-ins are used at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins. We use social plug-ins both to offer you a better user experience on our site and because they allow Facebook to optimize our advertising.

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

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

To prevent Facebook from collecting a lot of data during your visit to our website and linking it to 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 will send less information to Facebook because you have fewer Facebook cookies. However, data such as your IP address or the website you visit may still be transmitted to Facebook. We would like to expressly point out that we do not know the exact content of the data. However, we will try to inform you about data processing as best as possible based on our current knowledge. You can also read about 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 at least when you visit a website with social plug-ins from Facebook:

Name: dpr

Value: not specified

Purpose: This cookie is used to enable the social plug-ins on our website.

Expiry date: after end of session

Name: fr

Value: 0jieyh4311189355c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j

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

Expiry date: after 3 months

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

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your ad settings yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can generally 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 would like to learn more about Facebook’s privacy practices, we recommend that you read the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Facebook Login Privacy Policy

We have integrated the practical Facebook login into our website. This allows you to easily log in with your Facebook account without having to create another user account. If you choose to register using Facebook login, you will be redirected to the social media network Facebook. There, you will log in using your Facebook user data. Through this login process, data about you and your user behavior will be stored and transmitted to Facebook.

Facebook uses various cookies to store data. Below, we list the most important cookies that are set in your browser or already exist when you log in to our site using Facebook:

Name: fr

Value: 0jieyh4c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j

Purpose: This cookie is used to ensure that the social plugin on our website works as well as possible.

Expiry date: after 3 months

Name: datr

Value: 4Jh7XUA2311189355SEmPsSfzCOO4JFFl

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

Expiry date: after 2 years

Name: _js_datr

Value: deleted

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

Expiry date: after end of session

Note: The cookies listed are only a small selection of the cookies available to Facebook. Other cookies include, for example, fbp, sb, and wd. A complete list is not possible, as Facebook has a large number of cookies and uses them variably.

The Facebook Login offers you a quick and easy registration process, and it also allows us to share data with Facebook. This allows us to better tailor our offerings and promotions to your interests and needs. Data we receive from Facebook in this way is public data, such as

Your Facebook name

Your profile picture

a stored email address

Friends lists

Button information (e.g. “Like” button)

Birthday date

Language

Place of residence

In return, we provide Facebook with information about your activities on our website. This includes information about the device you use, which subpages you visit, and which products you have purchased from us.

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

If 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.

Instagram Privacy Policy

We have integrated Instagram functions into 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 visit web pages on our website that have an integrated Instagram function, data is transmitted to, stored and processed by Instagram. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data is therefore processed across all Facebook companies.

Below, we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what data it collects, and how you can largely control data processing. Since Instagram is part of Facebook Inc., we obtain our information from both Instagram's guidelines and Facebook's own data guidelines.

What is Instagram?

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

Why do we use Instagram on our website?

Instagram is the social media platform that has really taken off in recent years. And of course, we've responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That's why we take a natural approach to presenting our content in a varied way. 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 can also be used to personalize advertising on Facebook. This way, our ads only reach people who are genuinely interested in our products or services.

Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We receive aggregated statistics and thus gain more insight into your preferences and interests. It's important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.

What data does Instagram store?

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

Facebook differentiates between customer data and event data. We assume that this is also the case with Instagram. Customer data includes, for example, name, address, telephone number, and IP address. It is important to note that this customer data is only transmitted to Instagram after it has been "hashed." Hashing means converting a data set into a character string. This allows contact details to be encrypted. The aforementioned "event data" is also transmitted. Facebook – and consequently Instagram too – defines "event data" as data about your user behavior. It may also happen that contact details are combined with event data. The collected contact details are compared with the data that Instagram already has about you.

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

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

Below, we show you the cookies that are set in your browser at a minimum when you click on an Instagram feature (such as a button or an Instagram image). For our test, we assume that you don't have an Instagram account. If you are logged in to Instagram, significantly more cookies will naturally be 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 forged requests. However, we were unable to determine this further.

Expiry 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.

Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: fbsr_311189355124024

Value: not specified

Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.

Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: rur

Value: ATN

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

Expiry date: after the end of the session

Name: urlgen

Value: “{\”194.96.75.33\”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe311189355”

Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.

Expiry date: after the end of the session

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

How long and where is the data stored?

Instagram shares the information it receives between Facebook companies, external partners, and people you connect with around the world. Data processing is carried out in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is distributed across 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 General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to access, transfer, rectification, and erasure of your data. You can manage your data in your Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you must permanently delete your Instagram account.

Here's how to delete your Instagram account:

First, open the Instagram app. On your profile page, scroll down and click on "Help Center." This will take you to the company's website. On the website, click on "Manage Account" and then "Delete Your Account."

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

As mentioned above, Instagram primarily stores your data via cookies. You can manage, disable, or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the process works a little differently. Here are the instructions for the most important browsers.

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

You can also generally configure your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is about to be set. You can then decide individually whether you want to accept the cookie or not.

Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook Inc., and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures correct data transfer between the USA and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Instagram. At https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875

you can learn more about Instagram’s data policies.

YouTube Subscribe Button Privacy Policy

We have integrated the YouTube Subscribe button on our website. You can usually recognize the button by its classic YouTube logo. The logo features the words "Subscribe" or "YouTube" in white lettering against a red background, with the white "Play" symbol to the left. However, the button can also be displayed in a different design.

Our YouTube channel regularly offers you funny, interesting, or exciting videos. Using the built-in "Subscribe" button, you can subscribe to our channel directly from our website without having to visit the YouTube website. We want to make access to our comprehensive content as easy as possible for you. Please note that this allows YouTube to store and process your data.

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

Name: YSC

Value: b9-CV6ojI5311189355Y

Purpose: This cookie registers a unique ID to store statistics of the video viewed.

Expiry date: after end of session

Name: PREF

Value: f1=50000000

Purpose: This cookie also records your unique ID. PREF provides Google with statistics on how you use YouTube videos on our website.

Expiry date: after 8 months

Name: GPS

Value: 1

Purpose: This cookie registers your unique ID on mobile devices to track GPS location.

Expiry date: after 30 minutes

Name: VISITOR_INFO1_LIVE

Value: 31118935595Chz8bagyU

Purpose: This cookie attempts to estimate the user's bandwidth on our websites (with embedded YouTube video).

Expiry date: after 8 months

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

If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can save many of your actions/interactions on our website using cookies and associate them with your YouTube account. This allows YouTube to receive information such as how long you browse our site, what browser type you use, your preferred screen resolution, and what actions you perform.

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

Custom Google Search Privacy Policy

We have integrated the Google Custom Search plug-in on our website. Google is the largest and best-known search engine in the world and is operated by the US company Google Inc. Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European region. Google Custom Search may transfer your data to Google. This privacy policy explains why we use this plug-in, what data is processed, and how you can manage or prevent this data transfer.

What is Google Custom Search?

The Google Custom Search plug-in is a Google search bar directly on our website. The search is performed just like on www.google.com, except the search results focus on our content and products or on a limited search area.

Why do we use Google Custom Search on our website?

A website with a lot of interesting content often becomes so large that it's easy to lose track. Over time, we've also accumulated a lot of valuable material, and as part of our service, we want you to find our content as quickly and easily as possible. Custom Google Search makes finding interesting content a breeze. The built-in Google plug-in improves the overall quality of our website and makes searching easier for you.

What data is stored through Google Custom Search?

Through the custom Google search, data about you is only transferred to Google if you actively use the Google search built into our website. This means that only when you enter a search term in the search bar and then confirm this term (e.g. click "Enter") will your IP address and the search term be sent to Google, saved there and processed. Based on the cookies set (such as 1P_JAR), it can be assumed that Google also receives data about website usage. If you search for content using the built-in Google search function during your visit to our website and are logged in to your Google account at the same time, Google can also assign the collected data to your Google account. As website operators, we have no influence on what Google does with the collected data or how Google processes the data.

The following cookies are set in your browser when you use Google Custom Search and are not logged in with a Google Account:

Name: 1P_JAR

Value: 2020-01-27-13311189355-5

Purpose: This cookie collects statistics on website usage and measures conversions. A conversion occurs, for example, when a user becomes a purchaser. The cookie is also used to display relevant ads to users.

Expiry date: after one month

Name: CONSENT

Value: WP.282f52311189355-9

Purpose: This cookie stores the user's consent status for using various Google services. CONSENT also serves security purposes to verify users and protect user data from unauthorized attacks.

Expiry date: after 18 years

Name: NID

Value: 196=pwIo3B5fHr-8

Purpose: NID is used by Google to tailor ads to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google "remembers" your entered search queries or your previous interactions with ads. This way, you always receive tailored ads.

Expiry date: after 6 months

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

How long and where is the data stored?

Google's servers are located all over the world. Since Google is an American company, most data is stored on American servers. You can see exactly where Google's servers are located at https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de.

Your data is distributed across multiple physical storage devices. This makes it faster to access and better protected against potential tampering. Google also has emergency backup programs for your data. If, for example, Google experiences internal technical issues and its servers stop working, the risk of service interruption and data loss remains low.

Depending on the type of data, Google stores it for different lengths of time. You can delete some data yourself; other data is automatically deleted or anonymized by Google. However, Google also stores certain data for longer if necessary for legal or business reasons.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Under European Union data protection law, you have the right to access, update, delete, or restrict the use of your data. There is some data you can delete at any time. If you have a Google Account, you can delete data about your web activity there or specify that it be deleted after a certain period of time.

You also have the option to deactivate, delete, or manage cookies according to your preferences in your browser. Here are instructions for the most important browsers:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

Google is an active participant in the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google. If you would like to learn more, we recommend reading Google's comprehensive privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Klarna Checkout Privacy Policy

We use the online payment system Klarna Checkout from the Swedish company Klarna Bank AB on our website. Klarna Bank has its headquarters at Sveavägen 46, 111 34 Stockholm, Sweden. If you choose to use this service, personal data, among other things, will be sent to Klarna, stored, and processed. In this privacy policy, we would like to provide you with an overview of Klarna's data processing.

What is Klarna Checkout?

Klarna Checkout is a payment system for orders in an online shop. The user selects the payment method, and Klarna Checkout handles the entire payment process. Once a user has made a payment through the checkout system and entered the relevant information, future online purchases can be made even faster and easier. The Klarna system then recognizes the existing customer simply by entering the email address and postal code.

Why do we use Klarna Checkout for our website?

Our goal with our website and our integrated online shop is to offer you the best possible service. This includes not only the overall website experience and our offers, but also smooth, fast, and secure payment processing for your orders. To ensure this, we use the Klarna Checkout payment system.

What data does Klarna Checkout store?

As soon as you choose the Klarna payment service and pay using the Klarna Checkout payment method, you also transmit personal data to the company. On the Klarna Checkout page, technical data such as browser type, operating system, our Internet address, date and time, language settings, time zone settings, and IP address are collected from you and transmitted to Klarna's servers, where they are stored. This data is stored even if you have not yet completed an order.

When you order a product or service through our shop, you must enter your personal information in the specified fields. This data will be processed by Klarna for payment processing. Klarna may specifically store and process the following personal data (as well as general product information) for credit and identity verification purposes:

Contact information: name, date of birth, national ID number, title, billing and shipping address, email address, phone number, nationality or salary.

Payment information such as credit card details or your account number

Product information such as tracking number, type of item and price of the product

There is also data that can be collected optionally, provided you consciously choose to do so. These include political, religious, or ideological beliefs, or various health data.

In addition to the above-mentioned data, Klarna may also collect data about the goods or services you purchase or order, either directly or through third parties (such as us or public databases). This may include, for example, the tracking number or the type of item ordered, but also information about your creditworthiness, income, or credit approval. Klarna may also share your personal data with service providers such as software providers, data storage providers, or us as a merchant.

When data is automatically entered into a form, cookies are always involved. If you do not wish to use this feature, you can deactivate these cookies at any time. Further down in the text, you will find instructions on how to delete, deactivate, or manage cookies in your browser. Our tests have shown that Klarna does not set any cookies directly. If you select the "Klarna Sofort" payment method and click "Order," you will be redirected to the Sofort website. After successful payment, you will be taken to our thank you page. There, sofort.com sets the following cookie:

Name: SOFUEB

Value: e8cipp378mdscn9e17kajlfhv7311189355-4

Purpose: This cookie stores your session ID.

Expiry date: after the browser session ends

How long and where is the data stored?

Klarna strives to store your data only within the EU or the European Economic Area (EEA). However, it may also happen that data is transferred outside the EU/EEA. If this happens, Klarna ensures that data protection is in compliance with the GDPR, that the third country has been subject to an adequacy decision by the European Union, or that the country has been certified by the US Privacy Shield. The data is always stored for as long as Klarna needs it for the processing purpose.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You can revoke your consent to Klarna processing your personal data at any time. You also always have the right to access, correct, and delete your personal data. To do so, simply contact the company or its data protection team by email at datenschutz@klarna.de. You can also contact Klarna directly via the Klarna website's "My Data Protection Request."

You can delete, disable, or manage cookies that Klarna may use for its features in your browser. This works differently depending on the browser you use. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

We hope we have provided you with a good overview of Klarna's data processing practices. If you would like to learn more about how your data is handled, we recommend reading Klarna's privacy policy at https://cdn.klarna.com/1.0/shared/content/legal/terms/0/de_at/privacy.

Sofortüberweisung privacy policy

We offer the "Sofortüberweisung" payment method from Sofort GmbH for cashless payments on our website. Sofort GmbH has been part of the Swedish company Klarna since 2014, but is headquartered in Germany at Theresienhöhe 12, 80339 Munich.

If you choose this payment method, personal data will be transmitted to, stored by, and processed by Sofort GmbH or Klarna. This privacy statement provides you with an overview of data processing by Sofort GmbH.

What is an “instant transfer”?

Sofortüberweisung is an online payment system that allows you to place an order via online banking. Payment processing is handled by Sofort GmbH, and we immediately receive notification of the payment. This method is available to any user with an active online banking account with a PIN and TAN. Only a few banks do not yet support this payment method.

Why do we use “Sofortüberweisung” on our website?

Our goal with our website and our integrated online shop is to offer you the best possible service. This includes not only the overall website experience and our offerings, but also smooth, fast, and secure payment processing for your orders. To ensure this, we use "Sofortüberweisung" as our payment system.

What data is stored by “Sofortüberweisung”?

When you make an instant transfer using the Sofort/Klarna service, data such as your 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 balance check, Sofort GmbH verifies whether your account balance and overdraft limit cover the payment amount. In some cases, it also checks whether any instant transfers have been successfully completed within the last 30 days. Furthermore, your user identification (such as your authorisation number or contract number) is collected and stored in abbreviated (hashed) form, as well as your IP address. For SEPA transfers, your BIC and IBAN are also stored.

According to the company, no other personal data (such as account balances, sales data, credit limit, account lists, mobile phone number, authentication certificates, security codes or PIN/TAN) will be collected, stored or passed on to third parties.

Sofortüberweisung also uses cookies to make its 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. The following three cookies are set here:

Name: SOFUEB

Value: e8cipp378mdscn9e17kajlfhv7311189355-5

Purpose: This cookie stores your session ID.

Expiry date: after the browser session ends

Name: User[user_cookie_rules] Value: 1

Purpose: This cookie stores your consent to the use of cookies.

Expiry date: after 10 years

Name: _ga

Value: GA1.2.69759879.1589470706

Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the cookie _ga to store the user ID. It is primarily used to distinguish website visitors. This is a Google Analytics cookie.

Expiry date: after 2 years

Note: The cookies listed here do not claim to be complete. Sofortüberweisung may also use other cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

All collected data will be stored within the statutory retention period. This retention period can last between three and ten years.

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

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You can revoke your consent to Klarna processing your personal data at any time. You also always have the right to access, correct, and delete your personal data. To do so, simply contact the company's data protection team by email at datenschutz@sofort.com.

You can manage, delete, or deactivate any cookies that Sofortüberweisung uses in your browser. This works differently depending on your preferred browser. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in the most common browsers:

Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari

Firefox: Clear cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer

Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies

Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you would like to learn more about data processing through the “Sofortüberweisung” service of Sofort GmbH, we recommend that you read the privacy policy at https://www.sofort.de/datenschutz.html.