Privacy

We have written this privacy statement (version 02/18/2021-311263403) 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 decision-making options you have as a visitor to this website.

Privacy statements usually sound very technical. This version, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and clearly as possible. As far as possible, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly manner. We would also like to convey that we only collect and use information with this website if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible with the most concise, technical explanations possible, as is often standard practice on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you will find the following explanations interesting and informative and perhaps there is one or the other piece of information you did not know yet.
If you still have questions, we would like to ask you to follow the existing links and look at further information on third party sites, or simply write us an e-mail. You can find our contact details in the imprint.

Automatic data storage

Nowadays, when you visit websites, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website. This collected data should be collected as sparingly as possible and only with justification. By the way, by website we mean the entirety of all web pages on your domain, i.e. everything from the home page (homepage) to the very last subpage (like this one). By domain we mean, for example, example.de or sampleexample.com.

Even while you are visiting our website right now, our web server – that is the computer on which this website is stored – usually automatically saves data such as

  • the complete Internet address (URL) of the accessed web page (e. g. B. https://www.beispielwebsite.de/beispielunterseite.html/)
  • Browser and browser version (e.g. Chrome 87)
  • the operating system used (e.g. Windows 10)
  • the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL) (e. g. B. https://www.beispielquellsite.de/vondabinichgekommen.html/)
  • the hostname and IP address of the device being accessed from (e.g. COMPUTERNAME and 194.23.43.121)
  • Date and time
  • in files called web server log files.

As a rule, these files are stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be viewed by the authorities in the event of unlawful conduct.

In short, your visit is logged by our provider (company that runs our website on special computers (servers)), but we do not share your data!

Cookies

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

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you browse the Internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. Most web pages 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 your usual default setting. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.

There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. 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
  • Expiration time: 2 years
  • Usage: differentiation of website visitors
  • Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311263403

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 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.

Functional cookies
These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives any error messages. In addition, these cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behavior of the website with different browsers.

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.

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, only partially allow or disable cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies, but allow all other cookies.

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

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: 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 the instructions in Google with the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “disable cookies Chrome” in case of Chrome browser or replace the word “Chrome” with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.

What about my privacy?

The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have been in place since 2009. It states that the storage of cookies requires your consent. Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these directives. 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).

If you want 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, e-mail address, address or other personal information in the context of submitting a form or comments on the blog, will be used by us together with the time and IP address only for the purpose stated in each case, kept secure and not disclosed to third parties.

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

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

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

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

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

  • Right of rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
  • Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)
  • Right to restriction of processing (Article 18 DSGVO)
  • 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 to object (Article 21 GDPR)
  • Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have been violated in any other 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 evaluation of the collected data is usually anonymous and we cannot infer your person from your behavior on this website.

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

TLS encryption with https

TLS, encryption and https sound very technical and they are. We use HTTPS (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) DSGVO). By using TLS (Transport Layer Security), an encryption protocol for secure data transmission on the Internet, we can ensure the protection of confidential data.
You can recognize the use of this data transmission protection by the small lock symbol in the upper left corner of the browser to the left of the Internet address (e.g. examplepage.de) and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.
If you’d 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.

Google Fonts Privacy Policy

On our website we use Google Fonts. These are the “Google Fonts” of the company Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services.

You do not need to log in or set a password to use Google Fonts. Furthermore, no cookies are stored in your browser. The files (CSS, fonts) are requested via the Google domains fonts.googleapis.com and fonts.gstatic.com. According to Google, CSS and fonts requests are completely separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you do not need to worry that your Google account data, while using Google Fonts, will be transmitted to Google. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and stores this data securely. We will take a detailed look at how the data storage looks exactly.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is a directory of over 800 fonts that Google makes available to its users free of charge.

Many of these fonts are released under the SIL Open Font License, while others are released under the Apache license. Both are free software licenses.

Why do we use Google Fonts on our website?

Google Fonts allows us to use fonts on our own website, but we don’t have to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an important component to keep the quality of our website high. All Google fonts are automatically optimized for the web and this saves data volume and is a great advantage especially for use with mobile devices. When you visit our site, the low file size ensures fast loading time. Furthermore, Google Fonts are secure web fonts. Different image synthesis systems (rendering) in different browsers, operating systems and mobile devices can lead to errors. Such errors can sometimes visually distort texts or entire web pages. Thanks to the fast Content Delivery Network (CDN), there are no cross-platform issues with Google Fonts. Google Fonts supports all major browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera) and works reliably on most modern mobile operating systems, including Android 2.2+ and iOS 4.2+ (iPhone, iPad, iPod). So we use the Google Fonts so that we can present our entire online service as beautifully and consistently as possible.

What data is stored by Google?

When you visit our website, the fonts are reloaded via a Google server. This external call transmits data to the Google servers. In this way, Google also recognizes that you or your IP address visit our website. The Google Fonts API is designed to reduce the use, storage, and collection of end-user data to what is necessary for proper font delivery. By the way, API stands for “Application Programming Interface” and serves, among other things, as a data transmitter in the software field.

Google Fonts stores CSS and font requests securely at Google and is therefore protected. By collecting usage figures, Google can determine how well each font is received. Google publishes the results on internal analytics pages, such as Google Analytics. In addition, Google also uses data from its own web crawler to determine which web pages use Google fonts. This data is published in Google Fonts’ BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use Google’s BigQuery web service to explore and move large amounts of data.

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

How long and where is the data stored?

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

The font files are stored by Google for one year. Google thus pursues the goal of fundamentally improving the loading time of websites. When millions of web pages reference the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and immediately reappear on all other web pages visited later. Sometimes Google updates font files to reduce file size, increase language coverage, and improve design.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

The data that Google stores for a day or a year cannot simply be deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is called up. To delete this data ahead of time, you will need to contact Google Support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311263403. Data storage you prevent in this case only if you do not visit our site.

Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. So we can access an unlimited sea of fonts and get the most out of our website. For more on Google Fonts and other issues, visit https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311263403. There, Google addresses privacy-related matters, but really detailed information about data storage is not included. It is relatively difficult to get really precise information from Google about stored data.

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

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

We use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) of the American company Google Inc. on our website. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. With the help of the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better customize our website and service to meet your needs. In the following, we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and, in particular, inform you about what data is stored and how you can prevent it.

What is Google Analytics?

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

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

  • Target group reports: Through target group reports, we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
  • Ad reports: Ad reports make it easier for us to analyze and improve our online advertising.
  • Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information on how to get more people interested in our service.
  • Behavioral reports: This is where we learn how you interact with our website. We can track which path you take on our site and which links you click on.
  • Conversion reports: Conversion is the name given to a process in which you take a desired action as a result of a marketing message. For example, if you go from being just a website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. These reports help us learn more about how our marketing efforts are resonating with you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
  • Real-time reports: Here we always find out immediately what is happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.

Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?

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

The statistically evaluated data gives us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site to make it easier for interested people to find it on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. Thus, we know very well what we need to improve on our website in order to provide you with the best possible service. The data also serve us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures in a more individual and cost-effective manner. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.

What data is stored by Google Analytics?

Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID associated with your browser cookie. This is how Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This is what makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles in the first place.

Identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs measure your interactions on our website. Interactions are all types of actions you take on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated via Google Analytics may be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share Google Analytics data unless we, as the website owner, authorize it. Exceptions may occur when required by law.

The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:

Name: _ga
Wert: 2.1326744211.152311263403-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to distinguish the website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gid
Wert: 2.1687193234.152311263403-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration date: after 24 hours

Name: _gat_gtag_UA_Value: 1
Intended use: Used to lower the request rate. When Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_ .
Expiration date: after 1 minute

Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: no data
Purpose: The cookie has a token that can be used to retrieve a user ID from the AMP client ID service. Other possible values indicate a logout, a request, or an error.
Expiration date: after 30 seconds up to one year

Name: __utma
Wert: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie is used to track your behavior on the website and measure performance. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Via heatmaps you can see exactly those areas you click on. This way we get information where you are “traveling” on our site.

Session duration: Google refers to the time you spend on our site without leaving the site as session duration. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session will end automatically.

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

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

IP address: The IP address is only shown in abbreviated form so that no clear assignment is possible.

Location: The IP address can be used to determine the country and your approximate location. This process is also referred to as IP location determination.

Technical information: Technical information may include your browser type, Internet service provider, or screen resolution.

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

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

How long and where is the data stored?

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

Your data is distributed on different physical media. This has the advantage that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. There are appropriate emergency programs for your data in every Google data center. For example, if Google’s hardware fails or natural disasters cripple servers, the risk of service interruption at Google still remains low.

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

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

Once the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g. DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a merging of individual data into a larger unit.

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 your data. Using the browser add-on to disable Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js) you prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only disables data collection by Google Analytics.

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

Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome

Safari: 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

Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=311263403. We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information about the data processing of Google Analytics. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.

IONOS WebAnalytics Privacy Policy

We use the analysis tool IONOS WebAnalytics of the German company 1&1 IONOS SE, Elgendorfer Straße 57, 56410 Montabaur, Germany on our website. The tool helps us analyze our website and data is also collected and stored for this purpose. However, this tool does not collect any data that could identify you as a person. Nevertheless, in this privacy statement we would like to inform you in more detail about data processing and storage and also explain why we use IONOS WebAnalytics.

What is IONOS WebAnalytics?

IONOS WebAnalytics is, as the name suggests, a tool that serves to analyze our website. The software program collects data such as how long you stay on our website, which buttons you click or from which other websites you have found us. This gives us a good overview of user behavior on our website. All this information is anonymous. This means that we do not identify you as a person through this data, but only receive general usage information and statistics.

Why do we use IONOS WebAnalytics on our website?

Our goal is to provide you with the best possible experience on our website. We are convinced of our offers and want our website to be a helpful and useful place for you. To do this, we need to customize our website to your needs and concerns as much as possible. With a web analytics tool such as IONOS WebAnalytics and the resulting data, we can improve our website in this regard. The data may also be useful for us to design advertising and marketing measures more individually. With all these web analytics, however, we still care about the protection of personal data. Contrary to other analysis tools, IONOS WebAnalytics does not store and process any data that could identify you as a person.

What data is stored by IONOS WebAnalytics?

The data is collected and stored by log files or by a so-called pixel. A pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions that can be used to track user behavior. WebAnalytics deliberately refrains from using cookies.

IONOS does not store any personal data about you. When a page request is transmitted, your IP address is transmitted, but then immediately anonymized and processed in such a way that you cannot be identified as a person.

The following data is stored by IONOS WebAnalytics:

  • Your browser type and version
  • which website you have visited before (referrer)
  • which specific web page you have accessed with us
  • which operating system you use
  • which end device you are using (PC, tablet or smartphone)
  • when you came to our site
  • Your IP address in anonymized form

The data is not passed on to any third-party providers and is only used for statistical analysis.

How long and where is the data stored?

The data will be stored until the contract between IONOS WebAnalytics and us expires. The data is stored in our log directory in case of a regular web hosting plan and graphical statistics are generated from it. These logs are deleted every 8 weeks. In the case of a MyWebsite tariff, the data is determined via a pixel. Here, the data is only stored and processed within IONOS WebAnalytics.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

In principle, you have the right to information, correction or deletion and restriction of the processing of your personal data at any time. You can also revoke your consent to the processing of the data at any time. However, since no personal data is stored or processed via IONOS WebAnalytics and therefore an assignment of you as a person is not possible, there is also no possibility to delete such data.

We hope we were able to provide you with the most important information about the truly economical data processing of IONOS WebAnalytics. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend that you read the company’s privacy policy at https://www.ionos.de/hilfe/datenschutz/datenverarbeitung-von-webseitenbesuchern-ihres-11-ionos-produktes/webanalytics/?tid=311263403.

Embedded Social Media Elements Privacy Policy

We incorporate elements of social media services on our website to display images, videos and text.
By visiting pages that display these elements, data is transmitted from your browser to the respective social media service and stored there. We do not have access to this data.
The following links will take you to the pages of the respective social media services where it is explained how they handle your data:

Facebook privacy policy

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

What are Facebook tools?

Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official name of Facebook. 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. This provides the company with information about user behavior (and contact information) 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. General information about the use of Facebook cookies can also be found at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

Basically, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers located all over the world where your 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. 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: 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 it or not.

Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which governs the accurate and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, visit 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 want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend that you read the data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

Facebook Social Plug-ins Privacy Policy

Our website contains so-called social plug-ins of the company Facebook 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

Visit https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins for more information on how to use each plug-in. 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.

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

The information 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 state of knowledge. You can also read about how Facebook uses 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 to function.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: fr
Wert: 0jieyh4311263403c2GnlufEJ9..Bde09j…1.0.Bde09j
Purpose: The cookie is also necessary for the plug-ins to work properly.
Expiration date:: after 3 months

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

Provided you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your ad settings yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/grundsätzlich. 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.

Instagram privacy policy

We have incorporated Instagram features on our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. since 2012. and 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 belongs to Facebook Inc. we obtain our information from Instagram’s policies on the one hand, but also from Facebook’s own data policies on the other.

What is Instagram?

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 such as 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 analytics 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. It’s important to note that this customer data is only sent to Instagram after you’ve 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 in the same way as Facebook’s. This means that if you have an Instagram account or have visited www.instagram.com, 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 the end of the session

Name: fbsr_311263403124024
Value: no data
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiration date: after the end of the session

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

Name: urlgen
Wert: “{”194.96.75.33”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe311263403”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiration date: after the end of the 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. Here we show you the instructions of the most important browsers.

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

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

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

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

We use social plug-ins of the social media network LinkedIn, of the company LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA on our website. The social plug-ins may be feeds, sharing content, or linking to our LinkedIn page. The social plug-ins are clearly marked with the familiar LinkedIn logo and allow, for example, interesting content to be shared directly via our website. For the European Economic Area and Switzerland, LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place in Dublin is responsible for data processing.

By embedding such plug-ins, data can be sent to LinkedIn, stored and processed there. In this privacy statement, we want to inform you about what data is involved, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent data storage.

What is LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is the largest social network for business contacts. Unlike Facebook, for example, the company focuses exclusively on building business contacts. Companies can present services and products on the platform and establish business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn for job hunting or to find suitable employees for their own company. In Germany alone, the network has over 11 million members. In Austria, the figure is around 1.3 million.

Why do we use LinkedIn on our website?

We know how busy you are. You can’t follow all the social media channels individually. Even if, as in our case, it would be worth it. Because time and again we post interesting news or reports that are worth spreading. That is why we have created the possibility on our website to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn or to link directly to our LinkedIn page. We consider built-in social plug-ins as an extended service on our website. The data that LinkedIn collects also helps us to show possible advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offer.

What data is stored by LinkedIn?

Only through the mere integration of the social plug-ins LinkedIn does not store any personal data. LinkedIn calls this data generated by plug-ins passive impressions. However, when you click on a social plug-in, for example to share our content, the platform stores personal data as so-called “active impressions”. And that’s whether or not you have a LinkedIn account. If you are logged in, the collected data will be assigned to your account.

Your browser establishes a direct connection to LinkedIn’s servers when you interact with our plug-ins. Thus, the company logs various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this may include login data, device information, or information about your Internet or mobile service provider. If you access LinkedIn services from your smartphone, your location (after you allow it) can also be detected. LinkedIn may also share this data in “hashed” form with third-party advertisers. Hashing means that a data set is transformed into a character string. This makes it possible to encrypt the data in such a way that people can no longer be identified.

Most data about your user behavior is stored in cookies. These are small text files that are usually set in your browser. Further, LinkedIn may also use web beacons, pixel tags, display tags, and other device detections.

Various tests also show which cookies are set when a user interacts with a social plug-in. The data found cannot claim to be complete and serve only as an example. The following cookies have been set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Wert: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16311263403-
Purpose: The cookie is a so-called “browser ID cookie” and consequently stores your identification number (ID).
Expiration date: After 2 years

Name: long
Value: v=2&lang=en-en
Purpose: This cookie stores your preset or preferred language.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: lidc
Wert: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G311263403…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the ways you came to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the site there.
Expiration date: after 24 hours

Name: rtc
Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX
Purpose: No further information could be obtained about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 2 minutes

Name: JSESSIONID
Wert: ajax:3112634032900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions through the server.
Expiration date: after end of session

Name: bscookie
Value: “v=1&201910230812…
Purpose: This cookie is a security cookie. LinkedIn describes it as a secure-browser ID cookie.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: fid
Value: AQHj7Ii23ZBcqAAAA…
Purpose: No further information could be found for this cookie.
Expiration date: after 7 days

Note: LinkedIn also works with third-party providers. That is why we also detected the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat during our test.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company deems it necessary to provide its own services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn retains some data in aggregate and anonymized form even after you delete your account. Once you delete your account, other people will not be able to see your data within a day. LinkedIn generally deletes the data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data when required by law. Data that can no longer be assigned to a person remains stored even after the account has been closed. The data is stored on various servers in America and presumably also in Europe.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and also delete your personal data at any time. In your LinkedIn account you can manage, modify and delete your data. In addition, you may also request a copy of your personal information from LinkedIn.

Here’s how to access the account information in your LinkedIn profile:

In LinkedIn, click on your profile icon and select the “Settings and Privacy” section. Now click on “Privacy” and then in the section “How LinkedIn uses your data” click on “Change”. In just a short time, you can download selected data about your web activity and account history.

You also have the option in your browser to prevent data processing by LinkedIn. As mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most data via cookies that are set in your browser. You can manage, disable or delete these cookies. Depending on which browser you have, the management works slightly differently. You can find the instructions for the most popular browsers here:

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

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.

LinkedIn is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures correct data transfer between the USA and the European Union. Visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000L0UZAA0 to learn more. We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about LinkedIn’s data processing. At https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy you can learn even more about the data processing of the social media network LinkedIn.

We use the AdSimple Cookie Manager of the software development and online marketing company AdSimple GmbH, Fabriksgasse 20, 2230 Gänserndorf on our website. The AdSimple Cookie Manager offers us, among other things, the possibility to provide you with a comprehensive and privacy-compliant cookie notice so that you can decide for yourself which cookies you allow and which you do not. By using this software, data from you will be sent to AdSimple and stored. In this privacy policy we inform you why we use the AdSimple Cookie Manager, which data is transferred and stored and how you can prevent this data transfer.

AdSimple Cookie Manager is a software that scans our website and identifies and categorizes all existing cookies. In addition, you as a website visitor will be informed about the use of cookies via a cookie hint script and decide for yourself which cookies you allow and which you do not.

We want to offer you maximum transparency in the area of data protection. To ensure this, we first need to know exactly which cookies have ended up on our website over time. Due to the fact that AdSimple’s Cookie Manager regularly scans our website and detects all cookies, we have full control over these cookies and can thus act in a DSGVO-compliant manner. We can thereby inform you accurately about the use of cookies on our website. Furthermore, you will always receive an up-to-date and privacy-compliant cookie notice and decide for yourself via checkbox system which cookies you accept or block.

If you agree to cookies on our website, the following cookie will be set by AdSimple Cookie Manager:

Name: acm_status
value: “:true, “statistics”:true, “marketing”:true, “socialmedia”:true, “settings”:true}
Purpose: This cookie stores your consent status. This allows our website to read and follow the current status even on future visits.
Expiration date: after one year

How long and where is the data stored?

All data collected by the AdSimple Cookie Manager is transmitted and stored exclusively within the European Union. The collected data is stored on AdSimple’s servers at Hetzner GmbH in Germany. Only AdSimple GmbH and Hetzner GmbH have access to this data.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You have the right to access and also delete your personal data at any time. You can prevent data collection and storage, for example, by rejecting the use of cookies via the cookie hint script. Another possibility to prevent data processing or to manage it according to your wishes is offered by your browser. Depending on the browser, cookie management works slightly differently. Here you can find the instructions for the currently most popular browsers:

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

We hope we have provided you with a good overview of the traffic and data processing performed by AdSimple Cookie Manager. If you want to learn more about this tool, we recommend you to visit the description page on https://www.adsimple.at/adsimple-cookie-manager/.

Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy

Our primary goal is to secure and protect our website in the best possible way for you and for us. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With reCAPTCHA we can verify that you are a real flesh and blood human being and not a robot or some other spam software. By spam we mean any unsolicited information sent to us electronically. In the classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or picture puzzles for review. With reCAPTCHA from Google, we usually don’t have to bother you with such riddles. Here, in most cases, it is enough to simply check a box to confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don’t even have to check a box. You will find out exactly how this works and, above all, which data is used for this purpose in the course of this privacy policy.

What is reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA is a free captcha service from Google that protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. Most often, this service is used when you fill out forms on the Internet. A captcha service is a kind of automatic Turing test designed to ensure that an action on the Internet is performed by a human and not a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing), a human establishes the distinction between a bot and a human. With captchas, the computer or a software program also takes care of this. Classic captchas work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve, but present significant difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to actively solve puzzles. The tool uses advanced risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here you only need to check the “I am not a robot” text box, or with Invisible reCAPTCHA even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is included in the source code and then the tool runs in the background and analyzes your user behavior. The software calculates a so-called captcha score from these user actions. Google uses this score to calculate how likely you are to be human even before you enter the captcha. reCAPTCHA or captchas in general are used whenever bots could manipulate or abuse certain actions (such as registrations, surveys, etc.).

Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?

We only want to welcome flesh and blood people to our side. Bots or spam software of various kinds can safely stay at home. That’s why we do everything we can to protect ourselves and provide the best possible user experience for you. For this reason, we use Google reCAPTCHA from the company Google. This way we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. By using reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google to determine whether you are actually a human. reCAPTCHA therefore serves the security of our website and, by extension, your security. For example, without reCAPTCHA, it could happen that a bot registers as many e-mail addresses as possible during registration in order to subsequently “spam” forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA we can avoid such bot attacks.

What data is stored by reCAPTCHA?

reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users in order to determine whether actions on our website actually originate from people. Thus, the IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service can be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always shortened beforehand within the member states of the EU or other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data lands on a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with other data from Google unless you are logged in with your Google account while using reCAPTCHA. First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks if Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube. Gmail, etc.) are already placed on your browser. Then, reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and captures a snapshot of your browser window.

The following list of collected browser and user data, does not claim to be complete. Rather, they are examples of data that, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.

  • Referrer URL (the address of the page from which the visitor comes)
  • IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)
  • Info about the operating system (the software that allows your computer to run. Known operating systems are Windows, Mac OS X or Linux).
  • Cookies (small text files that store data in your browser)
  • Mouse and keyboard behavior (every action you perform with the mouse or keyboard is saved)
  • Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC will be saved)
  • All JavaScript objects (JavaScript is a programming language that allows websites to adapt to the user. JavaScript objects can collect all kinds of data under one name).
  • Screen resolution (shows how many pixels the image display consists of)

It is undisputed that Google uses and analyzes this data even before you click on the “I am not a robot” checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, there is even no checkboxing and the whole recognition process runs in the background. How much and which data Google stores exactly, one does not learn from Google in detail.

The following cookies are used by reCAPTCHA: Here we refer to the reCAPTCHA demo version from Google at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo. All these cookies require a unique identifier for tracking purposes. Here is a list of cookies that Google reCAPTCHA has set on the demo version:

Name: IDE
Value: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-311263403-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by the DoubleClick company (also owned by Google) to register and report a user’s actions on the website in dealing with advertisements. In this way, advertising effectiveness can be measured and appropriate optimization measures can be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: 1P_JAR
Value: 2019-5-14-12
Purpose: This cookie collects statistics about website usage and measures conversions. A conversion occurs, for example, when a user becomes a buyer. The cookie is also used to display relevant advertisements to users. Furthermore, the cookie can be used to prevent a user from seeing the same ad more than once.
Expiration date: after one month

Name: ANID
Wert: U7j1v3dZa3112634030xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We could not find out much info about this cookie. Google’s privacy policy mentions the cookie in connection with “advertising cookies” such as “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored under domain google.com.
Expiration date: after 9 months

Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.com+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to the use of various services provided by Google. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users, prevent credential fraud and protect user data from unauthorized attacks.
Expiration date: after 19 years

Name: NID
Wert: 0WmuWqy311263403zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customize ads to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google “remembers” your most entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. This way you will always get customized ads. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect personal settings of the user for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months

Name: DV
Wert: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc311263403-4
Purpose: Once you have checked the “I am not a robot” box, this cookie will be set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalized advertising. DV collects information in anonymous form and is further used to make user distinctions.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes

Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as Google’s experience shows that it changes its choice of cookies time and again.

How long and where is the data stored?

By inserting reCAPTCHA, data is transferred from you to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored, Google does not make clear, even after repeated inquiries. Without having received confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, time spent on the website or language settings are stored on Google’s European or American servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is generally not merged with other Google data from other Google services. However, if you are logged into your Google account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. The deviating data protection provisions of the Google company apply to this.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

If you do not want any data about you and your behavior to be transmitted to Google, you must log out of Google completely and delete all Google cookies before visiting our website or using the reCAPTCHA software. In principle, the data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you call up our page. To delete this data again, you need to contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311263403.

Thus, by using our website, you consent to the automatic collection, processing and use of data by Google LLC and its agents.

You can learn a little more about reCAPTCHA on Google’s web developer page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Google does go into more detail here about the technical development of reCAPTCHA, but you will search in vain for precise information about data storage and privacy-related topics there as well. A good overview of Google’s basic use of data can be found in its in-house privacy policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Source: Created with the privacy generator of AdSimple in cooperation with fashiongott.de