Collection of general information

When you access our website, information of a general nature is automatically collected. This information (server log files) includes, for example, the type of web browser, the operating system used, the domain name of your Internet service provider, and similar information. This is exclusively information that does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about your person. This information is technically necessary in order to correctly deliver the content you have requested from websites and is mandatory when using the Internet. Anonymous information of this kind is statistically evaluated by us in order to optimize our website and the technology behind it.

Cookies

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 provides us with certain data, such as your IP address, the browser you are using, your operating system, and your connection to the Internet.

Cookies cannot be used to start programs or transfer viruses to a computer. The information contained in cookies enables us to make navigation easier for you and to ensure that our web pages are displayed correctly.

Under no circumstances will the data we collect be passed on to third parties or linked to personal data without your consent.

Of course, you can also view our website without cookies. Internet browsers are usually set to accept cookies. You can deactivate the use of cookies at any time via your browser settings. Please use the help functions of your Internet browser to find out how to change these settings. Please note that individual functions of our website may not work if you have deactivated the use of cookies.

SSL encryption

To protect the security of your data during transmission, we use state-of-the-art encryption methods (e.g., SSL) via HTTPS.

Contact form

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

We therefore only use your personal data to communicate with visitors who expressly wish to be contacted and to process the services and products offered on this website. We do not pass on your personal data without your consent, but we cannot rule out the possibility that this data may be accessed in the event of illegal behavior.

If you send us personal data by email—i.e., outside of this website—we cannot guarantee the secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data unencrypted by email.

Rights under the General Data Protection Regulation

Under 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 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 lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority.

Use of Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (hereinafter: Google). Google Analytics uses “cookies,” which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will generally be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. However, due to the activation of IP anonymization on these web pages, your IP address will be truncated by Google within member states of the European Union or in other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated 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 transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data.

You can prevent cookies from being stored by adjusting your browser software settings accordingly; however, we would like to point out that in this case you may not be able to use all functions of this website to their full extent. You can also prevent Google from collecting the data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) and from processing this data by downloading and installing the browser plug-in available under the following link: Browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics.

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

Use of script libraries (Google Web Fonts)

In order to display our content correctly and in a graphically appealing manner across browsers, we use script libraries and font libraries such as Google Web Fonts (https://www.google.com/webfonts/) on this website. Google Web Fonts are transferred to your browser's cache to avoid multiple loading. If your browser does not support Google Web Fonts or prevents access, content will be displayed in a standard font.

Calling up script libraries or font libraries automatically triggers a connection to the library operator. It is theoretically possible—although currently unclear whether and, if so, for what purposes—that operators of such libraries collect data.

The privacy policy of the library operator Google can be found here: https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/

Use of Google Maps

This website uses Google Maps API to visually display geographic information. When using Google Maps, Google also collects, processes, and uses data about visitors' use of the map functions. For more information about data processing by Google, please refer to Google's privacy policy. There you can also change your personal privacy settings in the privacy center.

Detailed instructions on managing your own data in connection with Google products can be found here.

Embedded YouTube videos

We embed YouTube videos on some of our web pages. The operator of the corresponding plugins is YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you visit a page with the YouTube plugin, a connection to YouTube servers is established. YouTube is informed which pages you visit. If you are logged into your YouTube account, YouTube can assign your surfing behavior to you personally. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account beforehand.

When a YouTube video is started, the provider uses cookies that collect information about user behavior.

If you have disabled the storage of cookies for the Google Ad program, you will not have to expect such cookies when watching YouTube videos. However, YouTube also stores non-personal usage information in other cookies. If you want to prevent this, you must block the storage of cookies in your browser.

Further information on data protection at YouTube can be found in the provider's privacy policy at: https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/

Google AdWords

Our website uses Google conversion tracking. If you have reached our website via an advertisement placed by Google, Google AdWords will place a cookie on your computer. The cookie for conversion tracking is set when a user clicks on an advertisement placed by Google. These cookies expire after 30 days and are not used for personal identification. If the user visits certain pages on our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognize that the user clicked on the ad and was redirected to this page. Each Google AdWords customer receives a different cookie. Cookies cannot therefore be tracked across the websites of AdWords customers. The information collected using the conversion cookie is used to generate conversion statistics for AdWords customers who have opted for conversion tracking.

Customers learn the total number of users who clicked on their ad and were redirected to a page tagged with a conversion tracking tag. However, they do not receive any information that could be used to personally identify users.

If you do not wish to participate in tracking, you can refuse the setting of a cookie required for this purpose—for example, by setting your browser to generally disable the automatic setting of cookies or by setting your browser to block cookies from the domain “googleleadservices.com.”

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

Your rights to information, correction, blocking, deletion, and objection

You have the right to obtain information about your personal data stored by us at any time. You also have the right to correct, block, or, apart from the prescribed data storage for business transactions, delete your personal data. Please contact our data protection officer for this purpose. You will find the contact details at the bottom of this page.

To ensure that data can be blocked at any time, this data must be stored in a block file for control purposes. You can also request the deletion of the data, provided that there is no legal obligation to archive it. If such an obligation exists, we will block your data upon request.

You can make changes or revoke your consent by notifying us accordingly with effect for the future.

Changes to our privacy policy

We reserve the right to occasionally amend this privacy policy so that it always complies with current legal requirements or to implement changes to our services in the privacy policy, e.g., when introducing new services. The new privacy policy will then apply to your next visit.

Questions for the data protection officer

If you have any questions about data protection, please send us an email.