Privacy Policy

We have written this privacy policy (version 20.07.2020-211130756) to explain to you in accordance with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 what information we collect, how we use data, and what choices you have as a visitor to this website. Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.

Automatic Data Storage

When you visit websites these days, certain information is automatically created and saved, just as on this website. When you visit our website as you are now, our web server (computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores data such as

• the address (URL) of the accessed website
• browser and browser version
• the used operating system
• the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)
• the hostname and the IP address of the device from which access is made
• date and time

in files (web server log files). As a rule, web server log files are stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of illegal behavior.

Cookies

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

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you surf the internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies. One thing cannot be denied: cookies are truly useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other application areas. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically placed in the cookie folder, essentially 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 visit our site again, your browser sends the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the setting you are used to. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file. There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, while third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g., Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiration time of a cookie also varies, ranging 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 on your PC. For example, cookie data might look like this: Name: _ga Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152211130756-6 Purpose: Differentiating website visitors Expiration date: after 2 years This is the minimum size a browser should be able to support:

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

What types of cookies are there?

The question of which specific cookies we use depends on the services used and is explained in the following sections of the privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly discuss the different types of HTTP cookies. There are 4 types of cookies:

Essential Cookies

These cookies are necessary to ensure the basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are needed when a user puts a product in the shopping cart, continues surfing on other pages, and only goes to the checkout later. These cookies ensure that the shopping cart is not deleted, even if the user closes their browser window.

Functional Cookies

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

Targeted Cookies

These cookies ensure a better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes, or form data are stored.

Advertising Cookies

These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They serve to deliver individually tailored advertising to the user. This can be very convenient, but also very annoying. Usually, on your first visit to a website, you will be asked which of these types of cookies you would like to accept. And of course, this decision is also stored in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

Whether and how you want to use cookies is up to you. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option to delete, deactivate, or only partially allow cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies. If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, or 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: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove the information websites have stored on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you don’t want any cookies at all, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. This way, for each individual cookie, you can decide whether or not to allow it. The procedure varies depending on the browser. It’s best to search for the instructions on Google with the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser.

What about my data protection?

Since 2009, there have been the so-called “Cookie Guidelines”. It states that storing cookies requires your consent. However, there are still very different reactions to these guidelines within the EU countries. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in § 96 Abs. 3 of the Telecommunications Act (TKG). If you want to know more about cookies and aren’t deterred by technical documentation, we recommend https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.

Storage of personal data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as your name, email address, address, or other personal information in the context of submitting a form or comments in the blog, are used by us along with the time and IP address only for the specified purpose, kept safe, and not passed on to third parties. Thus, we use your personal data only for communication with those visitors who expressly wish to make contact and for processing the services and products offered on this website. We do not pass on your personal data without your consent, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of illegal behavior. If you send us personal data by email – thus away from this website – we cannot guarantee secure transmission and protection of your data. We advise you never to send confidential data unencrypted by email.

Rights according to the General Data Protection Regulation

According to the provisions of the GDPR and the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG), you generally have the following rights:

• Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR)
• Right to erasure (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 GDPR)
• Right to restrict processing (Article 18 GDPR)
• Right to be informed – notification obligation related to the rectification or deletion 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 your data protection rights have otherwise been infringed, you can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, which in Austria is the Data Protection Authority. You can find its website at https://www.dsb.gv.at/.

Evaluation of visitor behavior

In the following data protection declaration, we inform you about 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 identity from your behavior on this website. You can learn more about options to object to this evaluation of visitor data in the following data protection declaration.

TLS Encryption with https

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

Google 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 don’t have 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, the requests for CSS and fonts are completely separate from all other Google services. If you have a Google account, you don’t have to worry about your Google account data being transmitted to Google while using Google Fonts. Google records the use of CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and the fonts used and securely stores this data. We will take a closer look at what the data storage looks like in detail.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts (formerly Google Web Fonts) is a directory of over 800 fonts that Google offers to its users for free. Many of these fonts are published 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?

With Google Fonts, we can use fonts on our website without having to upload them to our own server. Google Fonts is an essential component in maintaining the quality of our website. All Google fonts are automatically optimized for the web, which saves data volume and is particularly beneficial when used on mobile devices. When you visit our site, the small file size ensures a fast loading time. Furthermore, Google Fonts are secure web fonts. Different image synthesis systems (rendering) in various browsers, operating systems, and mobile devices can lead to errors. Such errors can sometimes distort texts or entire web pages visually. 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). We use Google Fonts to present our entire online service as beautifully and consistently as possible.

What data does Google store?

When you visit our website, fonts are reloaded from a Google server. This external call transmits data to Google’s servers. In this way, Google also recognizes that you or your IP address visited our website. The Google Fonts API was 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 sector. Google Fonts securely stores CSS and font requests with Google, making them protected. Through the collected usage numbers, Google can determine the popularity of individual fonts. Google publishes the results on internal analysis pages, such as Google Analytics. Additionally, Google uses data from its web crawler to determine which websites use Google fonts. This data is published in Google Fonts’ BigQuery database. Entrepreneurs and developers use the Google web service BigQuery to examine and move large amounts of data. However, it’s important to note that each Google Font request also transmits information such as language settings, IP address, browser version, browser screen resolution, and browser name automatically to Google’s servers. Whether this data is also stored cannot be clearly determined and is not explicitly communicated by Google.

How long and where is the data stored?

Requests for CSS assets are stored by Google 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 template that allows for easy and quick changes to the design or font of a website, for example. Font files are stored by Google for one year. Google’s aim is to improve the loading time of websites in general. When millions of websites refer to the same fonts, they are cached after the first visit and immediately appear on all other websites 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 be simply deleted. The data is automatically transmitted to Google when the page is called up. To delete this data prematurely, you need to contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=211130756. In this case, you can only prevent data storage if you do not visit our site. Unlike other web fonts, Google gives us unrestricted access to all fonts. This means we can access a vast array of fonts and get the most out of our website. You can find more about Google Fonts and other questions at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=211130756. Although Google addresses data protection matters there, it does not contain really detailed information on data storage. It’s relatively difficult to get precise information from Google about stored data. You can also read about what data is generally collected by Google and how this data is used at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/. Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy On our website, we use Google Fonts from Google Inc. For the European area, Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible. We have integrated Google fonts locally, i.e., on our web server – not on Google’s servers. As a result, there is no connection to Google servers and, therefore, no data transfer or storage.

What are Google Fonts?

Google Fonts used to be called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory with over 800 fonts that Google provides for free. With Google Fonts, one could use fonts without having to upload them to their own server. However, to prevent any transmission of information to Google servers, we have downloaded the fonts to our server. This way, we act in compliance with data protection and do not send any data to Google Fonts. Unlike other web fonts, Google gives us unrestricted access to all fonts. This means we can access a vast array of fonts and get the most out of our website. You can find more about Google Fonts and other questions at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=211130756.

Google Analytics Privacy Policy

We use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) from the American company Google Inc. on our website. For the European region, 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, if you click 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 tailor our website and our service to your preferences. In the following, we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and inform you, above all, about which data is stored and how you can prevent it.

What is Google Analytics?

Google Analytics is a tracking tool that serves to analyze the traffic of our website. For Google Analytics to work, a tracking code is embedded in the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions you perform on our website. As soon as you leave our website, these data are sent to the Google Analytics servers and stored there. Google processes the data, and we receive reports on your user behavior. This can include the following reports, among others:

• Target audience reports: Through target audience reports, we get to know our users better and understand more precisely who is interested in our service.
• Ad reports: Ad reports allow us to more easily analyze and improve our online advertising. Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports provide us with helpful information on how we can excite more people for our service.
• Behavioral reports: Here, we learn how you interact with our website. We can trace the path you take on our site and which links you click on.
• Conversion reports: A conversion is a process in which you perform a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when you go from being a mere website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. With these reports, we learn more about how our marketing measures are received by you. Thus, we aim to increase our conversion rate.
• Real-time reports: Here, we immediately find out what is currently happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are reading this text right now.

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. The statistics and data from Google Analytics help us achieve this goal. The statistically evaluated data provide us with a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that it is more easily found by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us better understand you as a visitor. Thus, we know exactly what we need to improve on our website to offer you the best possible service. The data also serves us to make our advertising and marketing measures more individual and cost-effective. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested in them.

What data does Google Analytics store?

Google Analytics generates a random, unique ID using a tracking code, which is associated with your browser cookie. This way, Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user. When you visit our site again, you are recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This is the only way to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles. Identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs measure your interactions on our website. Interactions are all types of actions you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated by Google Analytics can be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not share any Google Analytics data unless we, as website operators, approve it. Exceptions may occur if required by law. The following cookies are used by Google Analytics: Name: _ga Value: 2.1326744211.152211130756-5 Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Primarily, it’s used to differentiate website visitors. Expiry: after 2 years Name: _gid Value: 2.1687193234.152211130756-1 Purpose: This cookie is also used to differentiate website visitors. Expiry: after 24 hours Name: _gat_gtag_UA_ Value: 1 Purpose: Used to reduce the request rate. If Google Analytics is deployed via Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named _dc_gtm_. Expiry: after 1 minute Name: AMP_TOKEN Value: no details given Purpose: The cookie contains a token that allows a user ID to be retrieved from the AMP client ID service. Other possible values indicate an opt-out, a request, or an error. Expiry: from 30 seconds up to one year Name: __utma Value: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1 Purpose: This cookie can track your behavior on the website and measure performance. The cookie is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics. Expiry: after 2 years Name: __utmt Value: 1 Purpose: This cookie is used, like _gat_gtag_UA_, to throttle the request rate. Expiry: 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 information is sent to Google Analytics. Expiry: after 30 minutes Name: __utmc Value: 167421564 Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions for returning visitors. It is a session cookie and is only stored until you close the browser. Expiry: Upon 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 means the cookie stores where you came to our site from. This could have been another page or an advertisement. Expiry: after 6 months Name: __utmv Value: no details given Purpose: The cookie is used to store custom user data. It is updated every time information is sent to Google Analytics. Expiry: after 2 years Note: This list may not be exhaustive, as Google changes their cookie choices from time to time. Here we give you an overview of the most important data collected with Google Analytics: Heatmaps: Google creates so-called heatmaps. Through heatmaps, you can see the exact areas you click on. This gives us information about where you are “on the move” on our site. Session duration: Google refers to the time you spend on our site without leaving it as the session duration. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically. Bounce rate: A bounce refers to when you view only one page on our website and then leave our site. Account creation: If you create an account or place an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data. IP address: The IP address is only displayed in a shortened form so that no clear assignment is possible. Location: The country and your approximate location can be determined via the IP address. This process is also called IP location determination. Technical information: Technical information includes, among other things, your browser type, your internet provider, or your screen resolution. Source: Google Analytics, and of course us, are also interested in which website or which advertisement brought you to our site. Other data includes contact details, any reviews, the playback of media (e.g., if you play a video through our site), sharing content via social media, or adding to your favorites. This list is not exhaustive and serves only as a general orientation of data storage by Google Analytics.

How long and where is the data stored?

Google has distributed its servers all over the world. Most servers are located in America, and consequently, your data is mostly stored on American servers. Here you can read exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de. Your data is spread across various physical data carriers. This has the advantage that the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. Each Google data center has appropriate emergency programs for your data. For instance, if Google’s hardware fails or natural disasters paralyze servers, the risk of service interruption at Google remains low. By default, Google Analytics has a retention period of 26 months for your user data. After that, your user data is deleted. However, we have the option to choose the retention period for user data ourselves. We have five variations available:

• 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, data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data linked with cookies, user identification, and advertising IDs (e.g., cookies from the DoubleClick domain). Report results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a merger of individual data into a larger unit.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Under the data protection law of the European Union, you have the right to obtain information about your data, to update, delete, or restrict it. Using the browser add-on for disabling 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 from https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only deactivates data collection by Google Analytics. If you generally want to deactivate, delete, or manage cookies (regardless of Google Analytics), there is a separate guide for each browser:

• Chrome: Delete, enable, and manage cookies in Chrome
• Safari: Manage 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, ensuring the correct and secure transfer of personal data. More information on this can be found at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=211130756. We hope we have been able to provide you with the essential information about Google Analytics’ data processing. 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.

Google Analytics IP Anonymization

We have implemented the IP address anonymization of Google Analytics on this website. This function was developed by Google so that this website can comply with the applicable data protection regulations and recommendations of local data protection authorities when they prohibit the storage of the complete IP address. The anonymization or masking of the IP takes place as soon as the IP addresses arrive in the Google Analytics data collection network and before any storage or processing of the data takes place. More information about IP anonymization can be found at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=de.

Google Analytics Reports on Demographic Characteristics and Interests

We have turned on the advertising reporting features in Google Analytics. The reports on demographic characteristics and interests provide details about age, gender, and interests. This allows us to get a better picture of our users without being able to assign this data to individual persons. You can learn more about the advertising functions at https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/3450482?hl=de_AT&utm_id=ad. You can stop the use of the activities and information of your Google Account under “Ad Settings” at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated by using the checkbox.

Google AdSense Privacy Policy

We use Google AdSense on this website. This is an advertisement program of the company Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway Mountain View, CA 94043, USA). With Google AdSense, we can display advertisements on this website that are relevant to our content. Thus, we provide you with advertisements that ideally represent real added value for you. In the context of this privacy policy on Google AdSense, we explain to you why we use Google AdSense on our website, which data from you are processed and stored, and how you can prevent this data storage.

What is Google AdSense?

The advertising program Google AdSense has existed since 2003. Unlike Google Ads (formerly: Google AdWords), you can’t place advertisements yourself. Through Google AdSense, advertisements are displayed on websites, such as ours. The biggest advantage of this advertising service compared to some others is that Google AdSense only shows you ads that match our content. Google has its own algorithm that calculates which advertisements you see. Naturally, we want to offer you advertising that interests you and provides you with added value. Based on your interests or user behavior and our offer, Google checks which advertisements are suitable for our website and our users. At this point, we would also like to mention that we are not responsible for the selection of the advertisements. We only provide the advertising space on our website. Google decides which advertising is displayed. Since August 2013, the ads have also been adapted to the respective user interface. This means that no matter whether you visit our website from your smartphone, PC, or laptop, the advertisements adjust to your device.

Why do we use Google AdSense on our website?

Operating a high-quality website requires a lot of dedication and effort. Essentially, we’re never truly done with the work on our website. We constantly strive to maintain our site and keep it as up-to-date as possible. Naturally, we aim to achieve economic success with our efforts. That’s why we chose to incorporate advertisements as a source of revenue. However, the most important aspect for us is not to disturb your visit to our website with these ads. With the help of Google AdSense, you are only presented with advertisements that align with our topics and your interests. Similar to Google’s indexing for a website, a bot examines the respective content and offerings on our site. The advertisements are then adjusted in content and displayed on the website. In addition to the overlap between the ad and the website content, AdSense also supports interest-based targeting. This means that Google also uses your data to provide you with personalized advertising. In this way, you receive advertisements that ideally offer real value to you, and we have a higher chance of earning a bit in return.

What data is stored by Google AdSense?

To display tailored advertising to you through Google AdSense, cookies are used among other things. Cookies are small text files that store specific information on your computer. In AdSense, cookies are meant to enable better advertising. These cookies do not contain personally identifiable data. However, it’s worth noting that Google considers data like “pseudonymous cookie IDs” (where a name or another identifying feature is replaced with a pseudonym) or IP addresses as non-personally identifiable information. In the context of the GDPR, these data can be considered personal data. After each impression (which happens whenever you see an advertisement), every click, and every other activity leading to a call to the Google AdSense servers, Google AdSense sends a cookie to the browser. If the browser accepts the cookie, it is stored there. Third parties, under certain circumstances within the framework of AdSense, might place and read cookies in your browser or use web beacons to store data that they obtain from ad serving on the website. Web beacons are small graphics that facilitate a log file analysis and a log file recording. This analysis allows for a statistical evaluation for online marketing. Google can collect certain information about your user behavior on our website via these cookies. This includes:

• Information on how you interact with an advertisement (clicks, impressions, mouse movements)
• Information about whether an advertisement has previously been displayed in your browser. This data helps to prevent showing the same ad to you multiple times.

Google analyzes the data on the displayed advertising media and your IP address and evaluates them. Google primarily uses the data to measure the effectiveness of an ad and to improve the advertising offer. This data is not linked to personal data that Google might have about you from other Google services. Below, we introduce you to the cookies that Google AdSense uses for tracking purposes. We refer to a test website that only has Google AdSense installed:

• Name: uid
  Value: 891269189211130756-0
  Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain adform.net. It provides a uniquely assigned, machine-generated user ID and collects data about the activity on our website.
  Expiration: after 2 months
• Name: C
  Value: 1
  Purpose: This cookie identifies whether your browser accepts cookies. The cookie is stored under the domain track.adform.net.
  Expiration: after 1 month
• Name: cid
  Value: 8912691894970695056,0,0,0,0
  Purpose: This cookie is stored under the domain track.adform.net and stands for Client-ID. It is used to enhance the advertising for you. It can forward more relevant advertising to the visitor and helps to improve reports on campaign performance.
  Expiration: after 2 months
• Name: IDE
  Value: zOtj4TWxwbFDjaATZ2TzNaQmxrU211130756-3
  Purpose: The cookie is stored under the domain doubleclick.net. It serves to register your actions after viewing or clicking the ad. This can measure how well an ad is received by our visitors.
  Expiration: after 1 month
• Name: test_cookie
  Value: No details provided
  Purpose: The “test_cookie” checks if your browser supports cookies. The cookie is stored under the domain doubleclick.net.
  Expiration: after 1 month
• Name: CT592996
  Value: 733366
  Purpose: Stored under the domain adform.net. The cookie is set as soon as you click on an advertisement. We could not find detailed information about the use of this cookie.
  Expiration: after one hour

Note: This list may not be exhaustive, as Google tends to change its choice of cookies periodically.

How long and where are the data stored?

Google records your IP address and various activities you perform on the website. Cookies store this information about interactions on our website. According to Google, the company collects and stores the provided information securely on its own Google servers in the USA. If you don’t have a Google account or are not logged in, Google typically stores the collected data with a unique identifier (ID) mostly on your browser. The unique IDs stored in cookies, for instance, are used to ensure personalized advertising. If you are logged into a Google account, Google can also collect personal data. Some of the data that Google stores can be deleted by you at any time (see next section). Many pieces of information stored in cookies are automatically deleted after a certain period of time. However, there are also data that Google retains for a longer period. This is the case when Google needs to store certain data for an indefinite, extended period due to economic or legal necessities.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

You always have the option to delete or deactivate cookies on your computer. How this works exactly depends on your browser. Here you will find instructions on how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Delete, activate, and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Managing cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data stored by websites on your computer
Internet Explorer: Deleting and managing cookies
Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies
If you generally don’t want any cookies, you can set up your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether or not you want to allow it. By downloading and installing this browser plugin at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996, all “advertising cookies” will also be deactivated. Keep in mind that by deactivating these cookies, you do not prevent advertisements but only personalized advertising. If you have a Google account, you can disable personalized advertising on the website https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated. Again, you will still see ads, but they will no longer be tailored to your interests. However, the ads are displayed based on a few factors, such as your location, browser type, and search terms used. You can read which data Google generally collects and what they use this data for at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.

Source: Created with the Data Protection Generator from firmenwebseiten.at

Microsoft Clarity Privacy Policy

What is Microsoft Clarity?

We use the analysis software Microsoft Clarity for our website. The service is provided by Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA.

We use it to statistically evaluate visitor data. Microsoft Clarity is a service that analyzes user behavior and feedback on our website through a combination of analysis and feedback tools. We receive reports and visual representations from Microsoft Clarity that show us where and how you “move” on our site. Personal data is automatically anonymized and never reaches Microsoft Clarity’s servers. This means you are not personally identified as a website user, and we still learn a lot about your user behavior.

Microsoft also processes your data in the USA, among other locations. Clarity and Microsoft are part of the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which ensures the safe and proper transfer of personal data from EU citizens to the USA. For more information, please visit https://commission.europa.eu/document/fa09cbad-dd7d-4684-ae60-be03fcb0fddf_en

Additionally, Microsoft uses so-called Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46 para. 2 and 3 GDPR). These Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) are provided by the EU Commission and are intended to ensure that your data in third countries (such as the USA) also complies with European data protection standards. Through the EU-US Data Privacy Framework and the Standard Contractual Clauses, Microsoft commits to maintaining the European data protection level when processing your data, even if it is stored in the USA. These clauses are based on an implementing decision of the EU Commission. You can find the decision and the corresponding Standard Contractual Clauses at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2021/914/oj?locale=en

For more information on Standard Contractual Clauses at Microsoft, please visit https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/regulatory/ offering/eu-model-clauses

Details on data processing by Microsoft can be found in the privacy policy: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-us/privacystatement

Why do we use Microsoft Clarity on our website?

As mentioned in the previous section, Microsoft Clarity helps us analyze the behavior of our site visitors. The tools offered by Microsoft Clarity include heatmaps, conversion funnels, visitor recording, incoming feedback, feedback polls, and surveys (more information can be found at https://clarity.microsoft.com/). Microsoft Clarity helps us offer you a better user experience and better service. It provides good analysis of online behavior and also gives us valuable feedback on the quality of our website. Besides all the analytical aspects, we naturally also want to know your opinion about our website. And with the feedback tool, this is exactly possible.

Legal Basis

The use of Microsoft Clarity requires your consent, which we obtained with our cookie popup. This consent constitutes the legal basis for the processing of personal data, as may occur in the collection by web analytics tools, according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (Consent).

In addition to consent, we have a legitimate interest in analyzing the behavior of website visitors to improve our offer technically and economically. With the help of Microsoft Clarity, we can identify website errors, detect attacks, and improve profitability. The legal basis for this is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR (Legitimate Interests).