When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.

An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.

If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.

Cookies

If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

When you enter our site you will be prompted with info and cookie consent. Your decision will be stored with additional cookie, so you don’t have to decide for each page view.

Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website.

These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracing your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.

If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue.

For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.

If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.

You can always exercise the following rights under the contact details of our data protection officer:

• Information about your stored data and their processing,
• Correction of incorrect personal data,
• Deletion of your stored data,
• Restriction of data processing, unless we are not yet allowed to delete your data due to legal obligations,
• Objection to the processing of your data by us and
• Data portability, if you have consented to the data processing or have concluded a contract with us.

If you have given us your consent, you can withdraw it at any time with respective effect for the future.

You can always contact the supervisory authority responsible for you with a complaint. Your competent supervisory authority will depend on the state of your domicile, work or alleged violation. A list of the non-public-sector supervisory authorities can be found at:

https://www.bfdi.bund.de/DE/Infothek/Anschriften_Links/anschriften_links-node.html

We process your personal data only for the purposes stated in this privacy policy. A transfer of your personal data to third parties for purposes other than those mentioned does not take place. We only share your personal information with third parties if:

• You have given your explicit consent
• the processing is required to execute a contract with you,
• the processing is necessary to fulfill a legal obligation,

 The processing is necessary to protect legitimate interests and there is no reason to believe that you   have an overriding legitimate interest in not disclosing your information.

We adhere to the principles of data avoidance and data economy. Therefore, we only store your personal data for as long as is necessary to achieve the purposes mentioned here or as provided for by the various storage periods provided for by law. After discontinuation of the respective purpose or expiration of these deadlines, the corresponding data will be routinely and in accordance with the statutory provisions blocked or deleted.

Like many other websites, we also use so-called “cookies”. Cookies are small text files that are transferred from a website server to your hard drive. This automatically gives us certain data, such as IP address, browser used, operating system and your connection to the Internet.

Cookies cannot be used to launch programs or to transfer viruses to a computer. Based on the information contained in cookies, we can facilitate navigation and enable the correct display of our websites.

In no case will the data collected by us be passed on to third parties or a link with personal data will be established without your consent.

Of course, you can also view our website without cookies. Internet browsers are regularly set to accept cookies. In general, you can disable the use of cookies at any time through the settings of your browser. Please use the help features of your internet browser to find out how to change these settings. Please note that some features of our website may not work if you have disabled the use of cookies.

When registering for the use of our personalized services, some personal information will be collected, such as name, address, contact and communication information such as telephone number and e-mail address. If you are registered with us, you can access content and services that we offer only to registered users. Registered users also have the option of changing or deleting the data specified during registration at any time. Of course, we also provide you with information about the personal data we hold about you at any time. We are happy to rectify or delete these at your request, as far as no statutory storage requirements preclude. To contact us in this context, please use the contact details given at the end of this Privacy Policy.

To protect the security of your data during transmission, we use state-of-the-art encryption techniques (such as SSL) over HTTPS.

On the basis of your expressly given consent, we will regularly send you our newsletter or comparable information by e-mail to your specified e-mail address.

For the receipt of the newsletter the indication of your E-Mail address is sufficient. When you sign up to receive our newsletter, the data you provide will be used exclusively for this purpose. Subscribers may also be notified by email about circumstances relevant to the service or registration (such as changes to the newsletter offer or technical conditions).

For an effective registration we need a valid e-mail address. In order to verify that an application is actually made by the owner of an e-mail address, we use the “Double opt-in” procedure. For this purpose we record the order of the newsletter, the dispatch of a confirmation mail and the receipt of the requested answer. Further data is not collected. The data will be used exclusively for the newsletter and will not be passed on to third parties.

The consent to the storage of your personal data and their use for the newsletter can be revoked at any time. Each newsletter has a link to it. In addition, you can unsubscribe from this website at any time or inform us of your request via the contact option indicated at the end of this Privacy Notice.

When contacting us by e-mail, the personal data which you transmit to us along with the e-mail will be stored. We additionally offer a contact form on our website which you can use to contact us. If you use this form, the data you enter will be transmitted to us and stored.

• Title
• First name
• Surname
• E-mail address
• Phone
  If we do not use a third party specified below to provide the option to contact us, your data will not be passed on to any third parties. In addition, we collect your IP address and the time of sending.
  The processing of the above personal data only serves to process your contact requests. The processing of additional personal data, which are generated through the use of the contact form provided on our website, serves to prevent misuse and to safeguard the security of our information technology systems.
  If you send us an e-mail with the intention of entering into a contract with us, this creates an additional legal basis for its processing under Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR. If this is not the case, the processing within the specified scope and in the specified manner is in our legitimate interest (Art. 6 para. 1 clause 1 lit. f GDPR).
  Subject to statutory retention periods, the data will be deleted as soon as we have completed processing your request. If you contact us by e-mail, you can object to the storage of your personal data at any time. We point out, however, that we will not be able to process your request any further in this case. You can object by sending an e-mail to the e-mail address specified in the legal notice.

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (following: Google). Google Analytics uses so-called “cookies”, ie text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, due to the activation of IP anonymization on these websites, your IP address will be shortened beforehand by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. The IP address provided by Google Analytics as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data.

The purposes of the data processing are the evaluation of the use of the website and the compilation of reports on activities on the website. Based on the use of the website and the Internet, other related services will be provided. The processing is based on the legitimate interest of the website operator.

You can prevent the storage of cookies by a corresponding setting of your browser software; however, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use all the features of this website to the fullest extent possible. In addition, you may prevent the collection by Google of the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading the browser plug-in available under the following link and install: Browser Add On to disable Google Analytics, http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

In addition or as an alternative to the browser add-on, you can prevent tracking by Google Analytics on our pages by clicking this link. An opt-out cookie will be installed on your device. This will prevent the collection by Google Analytics for this website and for this browser in the future, as long as the cookie remains installed in your browser.

This website uses Google Maps API to visually display geographic information. When using Google Maps, Google also collects, processes and uses data about the use of map features by visitors. For more information about Google’s data processing, you can the Google Privacy Notice remove. There you can also change your personal privacy settings in the privacy center. http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html

Detailed instructions on how to manage your own data related to Google products You will find here, http://www.dataliberation.org/

Our website uses Google Conversion Tracking. If you have reached our website via an advertisement sent by Google, Google Adwords will set a cookie on your computer. The conversion tracking cookie is set when a user clicks on a Google-served ad. These cookies lose their validity after 30 days and are not used for personal identification. If the user visits certain pages on our website and the cookie has not expired, we and Google may recognize that the user clicked on the ad and was redirected to this page. Each Google AdWords customer receives a different cookie. Cookies can not be tracked through AdWords advertisers’ websites. The information gathered using the conversion cookie is used to generate conversion statistics for AdWords advertisers who have opted for conversion tracking. Customers are told the total number of users who clicked on their ad and were redirected to a conversion tracking tag page. However, they do not receive information that personally identifies users.

If you do not want to participate in the tracking, you can refuse the required setting of a cookie – for example via a browser setting that generally disables the automatic setting of cookies or sets your browser to block cookies from the domain “googleleadservices.com”.

Please note that you can not delete the opt-out cookies as long as you do not want to record measurement data. If you have deleted all your cookies in the browser, you must set the respective opt-out cookie again.

We reserve the right to amend this privacy policy to always comply with the latest legal requirements or to implement changes to our privacy policy, such as the introduction of new services. Your new visit will be subject to the new privacy policy

We process and/or store your personal data on a server of an external provider “Hostpress”, based in Germany. This safeguards compliance with the standards and regulations of European data protection law.

We use “Google Tag Manager” on our website, a service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter referred to as “Google”). Google Tag Manager allows us, as an advertiser, to manage web page tags from a single interface. The tool Google Tag Manager, which implements the tags, is a cookie-free domain and does not collect any personal data by itself. The Google Tag Manager causes other tags to be activated which may, for their part, register data under certain circumstances. The Google Tag Manager does not access these data. If a deactivation was made at the domain- or cookie level, this remains in place for all tracking tags that are implemented by the Google Tag Manager.
Third-party information: Google Ireland Limited, Google Building Gordon House, Barrow St, Dublin 4, Ireland
Further information on data protection can be found on the following Google websites:

• Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
• FAQ Google Tag Manager: https://support.google.com/tagmanager/?hl=en#topic=3441530
• Google Tag Manager Terms of Use: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/tag-manager/use-policy/

On our website, we use the remarketing or “similar audiences” function of Google Ireland Limited (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”). If your usual place of residence is within the European Economic Area or Switzerland, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is the controller (responsible body) of your data. Google Ireland Limited is in this case the company affiliated with Google, which is responsible for the processing of your data and compliance with the applicable data protection legislation. This service is used for the purpose of analysing visitor behaviour and visitor interests. Google uses cookies to analyse website usage, which form the basis for displaying advertisements based on interest. Cookies are used to record visits to the website and collect anonymous data on the use of the website. No personal data of visitors to the website are stored. On subsequent visits to other websites within the Google Display Network, advertisements are displayed which will very likely be based on the products and information viewed by the visitor on the previously visited websites. Your data may also be transmitted to the USA. Google is certified under the US-EU data protection agreement “Privacy Shield” and thus commits itself to compliance with EU data protection requirements. Data processing, in particular the setting of cookies, takes place based on your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time, without affecting the legality of processing carried out on the basis of consent until the time of revocation. Additional information on Google Remarketing and Google’s associated privacy policy can be found at: https://www.google.com/privacy/ads/.

We use the online advertising program “Google Ads” on our website, and the possibilities offered by this program for conversion tracking. Google Conversion Tracking is an analytical service provided by Google Ireland Limited (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”). If your usual place of residence is within the European Economic Area or Switzerland, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland) is the controller (responsible body) of your data. Google Ireland Limited is in this case the company affiliated with Google, which is responsible for the processing of your data and compliance with the applicable data protection legislation. When you click an ad delivered by Google, a cookie for conversion tracking is stored on your computer. These cookies have a limited validity period, they contain no personal data and are therefore not used for personal identification. If you visit certain pages within our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognise that you have clicked the advertisement and have been directed to that page. Each Google AdWords customer has a different cookie. There is therefore no way for cookies to be tracked through the websites of advertisers. The information collected using the conversion cookie is used for the purpose of generating conversion statistics. This tells us the total number of users who clicked on one of our ads and were redirected to a page with a conversion tracking tag. We do not obtain any information that can be used to identify users personally. Your data may also be transmitted to the USA. Google is certified under the US-EU data protection agreement “Privacy Shield” and thus commits itself to compliance with EU data protection requirements. Data processing, in particular the setting of cookies, takes place based on your consent in accordance with Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time, without affecting the legality of processing carried out on the basis of consent until the time of revocation. For additional information as well as for the Google privacy policy, please visit: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.