We have prepared this privacy policy (version 28.08.2020-111401236) to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, what information we collect, how we use data, and what choices you have as a visitor to this website. Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible when creating them.

Automatic Data Storage

Nowadays, when you visit websites, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website. When you visit our website just as you are now, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores data such as:

• the address (URL) of the website accessed
• browser and browser version
• the operating system used
• the address (URL) of the previously visited page (referrer URL)
• the host name and 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 this data on, but we cannot rule out the possibility of this data being viewed in the event of unlawful behavior.

Cookies

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

What exactly are cookies?

Whenever you surf the internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Microsoft Edge. Most websites save 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 also other cookies for other areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, the “brain” of your browser, so to speak. 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 transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings 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 website, 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 expiry time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans, or other “malware.” Cookies also cannot access information on your PC. For example, cookie data can look like this:

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1326744211.152111401236-9
Purpose: Differentiation of website visitors
Expiration date: after 2 years

A browser should be able to support these minimum sizes:

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

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 explain the different types of HTTP cookies.

What types of cookies are there?

There are 4 different types of cookies:

Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functions. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping cart, then 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. These cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behavior of the website with different browsers.

Targeted cookies
These cookies ensure better user-friendliness. 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 practical, but also very annoying.

When you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked which of these types of cookies you would like to allow. And of course this decision is also saved in a cookie.

How can I delete cookies?

You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option of deleting, deactivating, or only partially allowing 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, 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 data that websites have stored on your computer
• Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
• Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you do not want any cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. You can then decide for each individual cookie whether or not to allow it. The procedure differs depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser.

What about my data protection?

The so-called “cookie guidelines” have been in place since 2009. These state that you must give your consent for cookies to be stored. However, there are still very different reactions to these directives within the EU countries. In Austria, however, this directive has been implemented in Section 96 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (TKG).

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

Storing Personal Data

Personal data that you transmit to us electronically on this website, such as your name, email address, address, or other personal details when 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, stored securely, and not passed on to third parties.

We therefore use your personal data only for communication with those visitors who expressly wish to contact us and for the processing of the services and products offered on this website. We do not disclose your personal data without consent, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data will be viewed in the presence of unlawful conduct. If you send us personal data by email—thus outside of this website—we cannot guarantee secure transmission and the protection of your data. We recommend that you never transmit confidential data unencrypted by email.

Rights According to the General Data Protection Regulation

In accordance with the provisions of the GDPR and the Austrian Data Protection Act (DSG), you have in principle 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 correction or deletion of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 GDPR)
• Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR)
• Right of objection (Article 21 GDPR)
• The right not to be subjected to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 GDPR)

If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can complain to the supervisory authority, which is the data protection authority in Austria, whose website you can find at https://www.dsb.gv.at/.

Analysis of Visitor Behavior

In the following privacy policy 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 conclude from your behavior on this website that you are a person.

You can find out more about ways to object to this evaluation of the visitor data in the following data protection declaration.

TLS Encryption with HTTPS

We use https to transmit data securely on the Internet (data protection by technical design Article 25 (1) GDPR). 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 see the use of this data transfer protection by the small lock icon in the upper left corner of the browser and the use of the https schema (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.

Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy

We use the Facebook pixel on our website. For this we have implemented a code on our website. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of features which allow Facebook to track your user actions if you have come to our website via Facebook ads. For example, when you purchase a product on our website, the Facebook pixel is triggered and stores your actions on our website in one or more cookies. These cookies allow Facebook to match your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data of your Facebook account. Facebook then deletes this data. The data collected is anonymous and cannot be viewed by us and can only be used in the context of advertising. If you are a Facebook user and are logged in, your visit to our website is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.

We want to show our services or products only to those people who are really interested in them. With the help of Facebook pixels, our advertising measures can be better tailored to your wishes and interests. For example, Facebook users (if they have allowed personalized advertising) will be able to see appropriate advertising. Furthermore, Facebook uses the collected data for analysis purposes and its own advertisements.

In the following we show you those cookies that have been set by integrating Facebook pixels on a test page. Please note that these are only sample cookies. Depending on the interaction on our website, different cookies are set.

Name: _fbp
Purpose: This cookie uses Facebook to display advertising products.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: fr
Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r…
Purpose of use: This cookie is used to make Facebook Pixel work properly.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Value: Author’s name
Purpose: This cookie stores the text and name of a user who, for example, leaves a comment.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Value: https%3A%2F%2Fwww.testpage…%2F (author’s URL)
Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the website that the user enters in a text field on our website.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Value: Author’s email address
Purpose: This cookie stores the email address of the user if they have disclosed it on the website.
Expiration date: after 12 months

Note: The cookies mentioned above relate to individual user behavior. Changes at Facebook can never be ruled out, especially when using cookies.

If you are logged in to Facebook, you can change your settings for advertisements yourself at https://www.facebook.com/ads/preferences/?entry_product=ad_settings_screen. If you are not a Facebook user, you can generally manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/. There you have the option to deactivate or activate providers.

If you want to learn more about Facebook’s privacy policy, we recommend the company’s own data policy at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.

Facebook Automatic Advanced Matching Privacy Policy

As part of the Facebook pixel function, we have also activated automatic advanced matching. This pixel function allows us to send hashed emails, names, gender, city, state, zip code, and date of birth or phone number as additional information to Facebook, provided you have made this data available to us. This activation allows us to tailor advertising campaigns on Facebook even more precisely to people who are interested in our services or products.

Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy

For our website we use the Google Tag Manager from Google Inc. For the European region, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. This Tag Manager is one of many helpful marketing products from Google. Through the Google Tag Manager, we can centrally integrate and manage code sections from various tracking tools that we use on our website.

In this privacy policy we want to explain to you in more detail what the Google Tag Manager does, why we use it, and in what form data is processed.

What is the Google Tag Manager?

The Google Tag Manager is an organizational tool with which we can integrate and manage website tags centrally and via a user interface. Tags are small code sections that, for example, record (track) your activities on our website. For this purpose, JavaScript code sections are inserted into the source code of our page. The tags often come from Google internal products such as Google Ads or Google Analytics, but tags from other companies can also be integrated and managed via the manager. Such tags perform different tasks. They can collect browser data, feed marketing tools with data, embed buttons, set cookies, and also track users across multiple websites.

Why do we use the Google Tag Manager for our website?

As they say: organization is half the battle! And that of course also applies to the maintenance of our website. In order to design our website as well as possible for you and all people who are interested in our products and services, we need various tracking tools such as Google Analytics. The data collected by these tools show us what you are most interested in, where we can improve our services, and which people we should still show our offers to. And for this tracking to work, we have to integrate appropriate JavaScript codes into our website. In principle, we could integrate each code section of the individual tracking tools separately into our source code. However, this requires a relatively large amount of time and it is easy to lose track. That’s why we use the Google Tag Manager. We can easily integrate the necessary scripts and manage them from one place. In addition, the Google Tag Manager offers an easy-to-use user interface and you do not need any programming knowledge. This is how we manage to keep order in our tag jungle.

What data is stored by the Google Tag Manager?

The Tag Manager itself is a domain that does not set cookies and does not store data. It acts as a mere “manager” of the implemented tags. The data is captured by the individual tags of the different web analysis tools. The data is passed through to the individual tracking tools in the Google Tag Manager and is not stored.

However, things are quite different with the integrated tags of the various web analysis tools, such as Google Analytics. Depending on the analysis tool, various data about your web behavior is usually collected, stored, and processed with the help of cookies. For this, please read our privacy texts on the individual analysis and tracking tools that we use on our website.

In the Tag Manager’s account settings, we have allowed Google to receive anonymized data from us. However, this only concerns the use and utilization of our Tag Manager and not your data, which is stored via the code sections. We enable Google and others to receive selected data in anonymized form. We therefore agree to the anonymous sharing of our website data. Despite extensive research, we were unable to find out exactly which aggregated and anonymous data is forwarded. In any case, Google deletes all information that could identify our website. Google combines the data with hundreds of other anonymous website data and creates user trends as part of benchmarking measures. Benchmarking compares one’s own results with those of competitors. Processes can be optimized based on the information collected.

How long and where is the data stored?

When Google stores data, this data is stored on Google’s own servers. The servers are distributed all over the world. Most are located in America. You can read exactly where the Google servers are located at https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de.

You can find out how long the individual tracking tools store your data in our individual privacy texts for the individual tools.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

The Google Tag Manager itself does not set cookies, but manages tags from various tracking websites. In our privacy texts for the individual tracking tools, you will find detailed information on how to delete or manage your data.

Google is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information about this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&tid=111401236. If you want to learn more about the Google Tag Manager, we recommend the FAQs at https://www.google.com/intl/de/tagmanager/faq.html.

Hotjar Privacy Policy

We use Hotjar from Hotjar Limited (Level 2, St Julian’s Business Centre, 3, Elia Zammit Street, St Julian’s STJ 1000, Malta) on our website to statistically evaluate visitor data. Hotjar is a service that analyzes your behavior and feedback as a user on our website through a combination of analysis and feedback tools. We receive reports and visual representations from Hotjar that show us where and how you “move” on our site. Personal data is automatically anonymized and never reaches Hotjar’s servers. This means you are not personally identified as a website user, and we still learn a lot about your user behavior.

What is Hotjar?

As mentioned in the section above, Hotjar helps us analyze the behavior of our site visitors. The tools that Hotjar offers include heatmaps, conversion funnels, visitor recording, incoming feedback, feedback polls, and surveys (you can find more information about this at https://www.hotjar.com/). Hotjar helps us provide you with a better user experience and better service. On the one hand, it provides a good analysis of online behavior, and on the other hand, we also receive good feedback on the quality of our website. Because in addition to all the analytical aspects, we naturally also simply want to know your opinion about our website. And with the feedback tool, that is exactly what is possible.

Why do we use Hotjar on our website?

In recent years, the importance of user experience (i.e., user experience) on websites has increased significantly. And for good reason. A website should be structured in such a way that you feel comfortable as a visitor and can easily find your way around. Thanks to Hotjar’s analysis tools and feedback tools, we can make our website and our offer more attractive. Hotjar’s heatmaps prove to be particularly valuable for us. Heatmaps are a form of representation for the visualization of data. Through Hotjar’s heatmaps, we can see very precisely, for example, what you like to click, tap, and where you scroll.

What data is stored by Hotjar?

While you surf through our website, Hotjar automatically collects information about your user behavior. In order to be able to collect this information, we have integrated our own tracking code on our website. The following data can be collected via your computer or your browser:

• Your computer’s IP address (collected and stored in an anonymous format)
• Screen size
• Browser information (which browser, which version, etc.)
• Your location (but only the country)
• Your preferred language setting
• Visited websites (subpages)
• Date and time of access to one of our subpages (websites)
• Cookies also store data that is placed on your computer (usually in your browser).

No personal data is collected in this. In principle, Hotjar does not pass on any collected data to third parties. However, Hotjar expressly points out that it is sometimes necessary to share data with Amazon Web Services. Then parts of your information are stored on their servers. However, Amazon is bound by a confidentiality obligation not to disclose this data.

Only a limited number of people (Hotjar employees) have access to the stored information. Hotjar’s servers are protected by firewalls and IP restrictions (access only to approved IP addresses). Firewalls are security systems that protect computers from unwanted network access. They are intended to serve as a barrier between Hotjar’s secure internal network and the Internet. Furthermore, Hotjar also uses third-party companies for its services, such as Google Analytics or Optimizely. These companies can also store information that your browser sends to our website.

The following cookies are used by Hotjar. Since we are referring, among other things, to the cookie list from Hotjar’s privacy policy at https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/cookie-information, not every cookie has an exemplary value. The list shows examples of Hotjar cookies used and does not claim to be complete.

Name: ajs_anonymous_id
Value: %2258832463-7cee-48ee-b346-a195f18b06c3%22111401236-5
Purpose: This cookie is usually used for analysis purposes and helps count visitors to our website by tracking whether you have been to this page before.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: ajs_group_id
Value: 0
Purpose: This cookie collects data on user behavior. This data can then be assigned to a specific visitor group based on commonalities among website visitors.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjid
Value: 699ffb1c-4bfb-483f-bde1-22cfa0b59c6c
Purpose: This cookie is used to maintain a Hotjar user ID that is unique to the website in the browser. This way, user behavior can be assigned to the same user ID on subsequent visits.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjMinimizedPolls
Value: 462568111401236-8
Purpose: Whenever you minimize a feedback poll widget, Hotjar sets this cookie. The cookie ensures that the widget actually remains minimized when you surf on our pages.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjIncludedInSample
Value: 1
Purpose: This session cookie is set to inform Hotjar whether you are part of the selected people (sample) used to generate funnels.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjClosedSurveyInvites
Purpose: This cookie is set when you see an invitation to a feedback survey via a popup window. The cookie is used to ensure that this invitation only appears once for you.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjDonePolls
Purpose: As soon as you finish a feedback “question round” with the so-called Feedback Poll Widget, this cookie is set in your browser. This prevents Hotjar from sending you the same surveys again in the future.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjDoneTestersWidgets
Purpose: This cookie is used as soon as you enter your data in the “Recruit User Tester Widget.” With this widget, we want to recruit you as a tester. To prevent this form from appearing again and again, the cookie is used.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjMinimizedTestersWidgets
Purpose: So that the “Recruit User Tester” actually remains minimized on all our pages once you have minimized it, this cookie is set.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _hjShownFeedbackMessage
Purpose: This cookie is set when you have minimized or completed the incoming feedback. This is done so that the incoming feedback is immediately loaded as minimized when you navigate to another page where it is to be displayed.
Expiration date: after one year

How long and where is the data stored?

We have integrated a tracking code on our website that is transmitted to Hotjar’s servers in Ireland (EU). This tracking code contacts Hotjar’s servers and sends a script to your computer or device with which you access our site. The script captures certain data related to your interaction with our website. This data is then sent to Hotjar’s servers for processing. Hotjar has imposed a 365-day data retention period on itself. This means that all data collected by Hotjar that is older than one year is automatically deleted again.

How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?

Hotjar does not store any personal data from you for analysis. The company even advertises with the slogan “We track behavior, not individuals” (i.e., “We track user behavior, but not identifiable, individual data”). You also always have the option to prevent the collection of your data. To do this, you just have to go to the “opt-out page” and click on “Disable Hotjar.” Please note that deleting cookies, using your browser’s private mode, or using a different browser will result in data being collected again. Furthermore, you can also activate the “Do Not Track” button in your browser. In the Chrome browser, for example, you have to click on the three bars at the top right and go to “Settings.” There you will find the option “Send a ‘Do Not Track’ request with browser access” in the “Privacy” section. Now just activate this button and no data will be collected by Hotjar.

You can find more details about the privacy policy and what data is collected by Hotjar and how at https://www.hotjar.com/legal/policies/privacy?tid=111401236.

Newsletter Privacy Policy

If you sign up for our newsletter, you transmit the personal data mentioned above and give us the right to contact you by email. We use the data stored as part of the newsletter registration exclusively for our newsletter and do not pass it on.

If you unsubscribe from the newsletter—you will find the link for this at the very bottom of every newsletter—we will delete all data that was stored with the newsletter registration.

Google Ads (Google AdWords) Conversion Tracking Privacy Policy

We use Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) as an online marketing measure to advertise our products and services. In this way, we want to make more people on the Internet aware of the high quality of our offers. As part of our advertising measures through Google Ads, we use conversion tracking from Google Inc. on our website. However, in Europe, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With the help of this free tracking tool, we can better adapt our advertising offer to your interests and needs. In the following article, we want to go into more detail about why we use conversion tracking, what data is stored, and how you can prevent this data storage.

What is Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords) is the in-house online advertising system of Google Inc. We are convinced of the quality of our offer and want as many people as possible to get to know our website. In the online sector, Google Ads offers the best platform for this. Of course, we also want to get an accurate overview of the cost-benefit factor of our advertising campaigns. That’s why we use the conversion tracking tool from Google Ads. But what is a conversion actually? A conversion occurs when you go from being a purely interested website visitor to an acting visitor. This happens whenever you click on our ad and then perform another action, such as visiting our website. With Google’s conversion tracking tool, we capture what happens after a user clicks on our Google Ads ad. For example, we can see whether products are purchased, services are used, or whether users have signed up for our newsletter.

Why do we use Google Ads Conversion Tracking on our website?

We use Google Ads to draw attention to our offer on other websites as well. The goal is for our advertising campaigns to really only reach those people who are interested in our offers. With the conversion tracking tool, we see which keywords, ads, ad groups, and campaigns lead to the desired customer actions. We see how many customers interact with our ads on a device and then perform a conversion. This data allows us to calculate our cost-benefit factor, measure the success of individual advertising measures, and consequently optimize our online marketing measures. We can also use the data obtained to make our website more interesting for you and adapt our advertising offer even more individually to your needs.

What data is stored with Google Ads Conversion Tracking?

We have integrated a conversion tracking tag or code snippet on our website in order to better analyze certain user actions. If you now click on one of our Google Ads ads, the cookie “Conversion” is stored on your computer (usually in the browser) or mobile device by a Google domain. Cookies are small text files that store information on your computer.

Here is the data of the most important cookies for Google’s conversion tracking:

Name: Conversion
Value: EhMI_aySuoyv4gIVled3Ch0llweVGAEgt-mr6aXd7dYlSAGQ111401236-3
Purpose: This cookie stores every conversion you make on our site after you came to us via a Google ad.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: _gac
Value: 1.1558695989.EAIaIQobChMIiOmEgYO04gIVj5AYCh2CBAPrEAAYASAAEgIYQfD_BwE
Purpose: This is a classic Google Analytics cookie and is used to record various actions on our website.
Expiry date: after 3 months

Note: The _gac cookie appears only in connection with Google Analytics. The list above does not claim to be complete, as Google also uses other cookies from time to time for analytical evaluation.

Once you complete an action on our website, Google recognizes the cookie and stores your action as a so-called conversion. As long as you browse our website and the cookie has not yet expired, we and Google can recognize that you found us via our Google Ads ad. The cookie is read and sent back to Google Ads together with the conversion data. It’s also possible that other cookies are used to measure conversions. Google Ads conversion tracking can be further refined and improved with the help of Google Analytics. For ads that Google displays in various places on the web, cookies named “__gads” or “_gac” may be set under our domain. Since September 2017, various campaign details have been stored by analytics.js in the _gac cookie. The cookie stores this data as soon as you visit one of our pages for which Google Ads auto-tagging has been set up. Unlike cookies set for Google domains, Google can only read these conversion cookies when you are on our website. We do not collect or receive any personal data. We receive a report from Google with statistical analyses. This tells us, for example, the total number of users who clicked our ad, and we can see which advertising measures were well received.

How long and where is the data stored?

At this point, we would like to point out that we have no influence on how Google further uses the data collected. According to Google, the data is encrypted and stored on secure servers. In most cases, conversion cookies expire after 30 days and do not transmit any personal data. The cookies named “Conversion” and “_gac” (used in connection with Google Analytics) have an expiration date of 3 months.

How can I delete my data or prevent it from being stored?

You can choose not to participate in Google Ads conversion tracking. If you disable the Google conversion tracking cookie in your browser, you block conversion tracking. In that case, you will not be included in the tracking tool’s statistics. You can change the cookie settings in your browser at any time. This works a little differently in each browser. Here you can find instructions on how to manage cookies in your 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 stored on your computer
• Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
• Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you generally don’t want any cookies, you can set up your browser to always inform you when a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether to allow it or not. Downloading and installing this browser plug-in at https://support.google.com/ads/answer/7395996 also disables all “advertising cookies”. Please note that disabling these cookies does not prevent ads from being shown, but only personalized advertising.

Through certification under the U.S.-EU data protection agreement “Privacy Shield”, the U.S. corporation Google LLC must comply with the data protection laws applicable in the EU. If you would like to learn more about data protection at Google, we recommend Google’s general privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.

Facebook Privacy Policy

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

What are Facebook tools?

Alongside many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. That is Facebook’s official term. However, since the term is hardly known, we decided to simply call them Facebook tools. These include, among others:

• 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
• Documentation
• Technologies and services

These tools expand Facebook’s services and enable it to obtain information about user activities 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 genuinely interested in them. With ads (Facebook Ads), we can reach exactly those people. However, for users to be shown suitable advertising, Facebook needs information about people’s wishes and needs.

This provides the company with information about user behavior (and contact details) on our website. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the right ads for our products and/or services. The tools therefore enable tailored advertising campaigns on Facebook.

Facebook calls data about your behavior on our website “event data”. This is also used for measurement and analytics services. On our behalf, Facebook can create “campaign reports” about the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns. In addition, analytics give us better insight into how you use our services, website, or products. This allows us to optimize your user experience on our website with some of these tools. For example, social plug-ins let you share content from 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 may be transmitted.

Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it already has about you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is transmitted to Facebook, so-called “hashing” takes place. This means that a dataset of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.

In addition to contact details, “event data” is also transmitted. “Event data” refers to the information we receive about you on our website—for example, which subpages you visit or which products you 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 linked to contact details. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the matching process mentioned above, Facebook deletes the contact details again.

To deliver ads in an optimized way, Facebook uses event data only when it has been combined with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development, and research purposes. Much of this data is transmitted to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files used to store data and information in browsers. Depending on the tools used 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 specific Facebook cookies. You can also find general information about the use of Facebook cookies at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.

How long and where is the data stored?

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

How can I delete my data or prevent it from being stored?

In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to access, rectification, portability, and deletion of your data.

Your data is only completely deleted if you fully delete your Facebook account. Here’s how to delete your Facebook account:

1. Click Settings on the right-hand side of Facebook.
2. Then click “Your Facebook Information” in the left column.
3. Now click “Deactivation and Deletion”.
4. Select “Delete Account” and then click “Continue to Account Deletion”.
5. Enter your password, click “Continue”, and then click “Delete Account”.

The data that Facebook receives via our site is stored, among other ways, via cookies (e.g., for social plug-ins). 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: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
• Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer
• Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
• Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you generally don’t want any cookies, you can set up your browser to always inform you when a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each cookie whether to allow it or not. Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the proper and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We hope we have provided you with the most important information about the use and processing of data through Facebook tools. If you want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend the data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.

LinkedIn Privacy Policy

We use social plug-ins from the social media network LinkedIn on our website, operated by LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Social plug-ins may include feeds, sharing content, or linking to our LinkedIn page. The social plug-ins are clearly marked with the well-known 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, Dublin, is responsible for data processing. By embedding such plug-ins, data can be sent to LinkedIn, stored, and processed there. In this privacy policy, we want to inform you 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 to search for jobs or to find suitable employees for their company. In Germany alone, the network has over 11 million members. In Austria, it’s around 1.3 million.

Why do we use LinkedIn on our website?

We know you’re busy. You can’t follow every social media channel individually. Even if, as in our case, it would be worthwhile—because we regularly post interesting news or reports that are worth sharing. That’s why we’ve made it possible on our website to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn or to link directly to our LinkedIn page. We see embedded social plug-ins as an extended service on our website. The data LinkedIn collects also helps us show potential advertising measures only to people who are interested in our offering.

What data is stored by LinkedIn?

Simply integrating the social plug-ins does not mean LinkedIn stores personal data. LinkedIn refers to the data generated by plug-ins as passive impressions. However, if you click a social plug-in—for example, to share our content—the platform stores personal data as so-called “active impressions”. This happens regardless of whether you have a LinkedIn account or not. If you are logged in, the collected data is assigned to your account. Your browser establishes a direct connection to LinkedIn’s servers when you interact with our plug-ins. This allows the company to log various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this may include login data, device information, or information about your internet or mobile provider. If you access LinkedIn services via your smartphone, your location may also be determined (after you have allowed it). LinkedIn may also pass this data on to third-party advertisers in “hashed” form. Hashing means a dataset is converted into a character string. This encrypts the data so that individuals 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. LinkedIn may also use web beacons, pixel tags, ad tags, and other device recognition methods. Various tests also show which cookies are set when a user interacts with a social plug-in. The data found does not claim to be complete and serves only as an example. The following cookies were set without being logged in to LinkedIn:

Name: bcookie
Value: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16111401236-
Purpose: This cookie is a so-called “browser ID cookie” and therefore stores your identification number (ID).
Expiration date: after 2 years

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

Name: lidc
Value: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G111401236…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the paths of how you came to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website there.
Expiration date: after 24 hours

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

Name: JSESSIONID
Value: ajax:1114012362900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions via the server.
Expiration date: after the end of the 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’s why, in our test, we also detected the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat.

How long and where is the data stored?

In principle, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as the company considers it necessary to provide its services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn retains some data in aggregated and anonymized form even after your account is deleted. Once you delete your account, other people can no longer see your data within one day. LinkedIn generally deletes the data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data if it is necessary due to a legal obligation. Data that can no longer be linked to any person remains stored even after the account is closed. The data is stored on various servers in the United States and presumably also in Europe.

How can I delete my data or prevent it from being stored?

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

How to access account data in your LinkedIn profile:

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

You can also prevent LinkedIn from processing data in your browser. 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 use, management works a bit differently. You can find instructions for the most common browsers here:

• 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 stored on your computer
• Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
• Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

You can also set up your browser so that you are always informed when a cookie is about 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 proper data transfer between the USA and the European Union. You can learn more at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000L0UZAA0. We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by LinkedIn. You can learn more about data processing by the LinkedIn social media network at https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy.

Vimeo Privacy Policy

We also use videos from Vimeo on our website. The video portal is operated by Vimeo LLC, 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA. With the help of a plug-in, we can show you interesting video material directly on our website. In doing so, certain data about you may be transmitted to Vimeo. In this privacy policy, we show you what data is involved, why we use Vimeo, and how you can manage or prevent your data or the data transfer.

What is Vimeo?

Vimeo is a video platform founded in 2004 that has enabled streaming videos in HD quality since 2007. Since 2015, streaming in 4K Ultra HD has also been possible. Using the portal is free, but paid content can also be published. Compared to market leader YouTube, Vimeo primarily focuses on high-quality content. The portal offers many artistic contents such as music videos and short films, as well as informative documentaries on a wide range of topics.

Why do we use Vimeo on our website?

The goal of our web presence is to provide you with the best possible content—made as easy to access as possible. Only when we achieve that are we satisfied with our service. Vimeo helps us reach this goal. Vimeo gives us the opportunity to present high-quality content directly on our website. Instead of only giving you a link to an interesting video, you can watch the video right here with us. This expands our service and makes it easier for you to access interesting content. So, in addition to our texts and images, we also offer video content.

What data is stored on Vimeo?

When you visit a page on our website that has an embedded Vimeo video, your browser connects to Vimeo’s servers. This results in a data transfer. This data is collected, stored, and processed on Vimeo’s servers. Regardless of whether you have a Vimeo account or not, Vimeo collects data about you. This includes your IP address, technical information about your browser type, your operating system, or very basic device information. Vimeo also stores information about which website you use the Vimeo service on and which actions (web activities) you perform on our website. These web activities include, for example, session duration, bounce rate, or which button you clicked on our website with the embedded Vimeo function. Vimeo can track and store these actions with the help of cookies and similar technologies.

If you are logged in to Vimeo as a registered member, more data can usually be collected because more cookies may already be set in your browser. In addition, your actions on our website are directly linked to your Vimeo account. To prevent this, you must log out of Vimeo while browsing our website.

Below we show cookies that are set by Vimeo when you are on a website with an integrated Vimeo function. This list does not claim to be complete and assumes that you do not have a Vimeo account.

Name: player
Value: “”
Purpose: This cookie stores your settings before you play an embedded Vimeo video. This means that the next time you watch a Vimeo video, you will get your preferred settings again.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: vuid
Value: pl1046149876.614422590111401236-4
Purpose: This cookie collects information about your actions on websites that have an embedded Vimeo video.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Note: These two cookies are always set as soon as you are on a website with an embedded Vimeo video. If you watch the video and click the button to, for example, “share” or “like” the video, additional cookies are set. These also include third-party cookies such as _ga or _gat_UA-76641-8 from Google Analytics or _fbp from Facebook. Which cookies are set depends on your interaction with the video.

The following list shows a selection of possible cookies that are set when you interact with the Vimeo video:

Name: _abexps
Value: %5B%5D
Purpose: This Vimeo cookie helps Vimeo remember the settings you have chosen. This can include, for example, a preset language, a region, or a username. In general, the cookie stores data about how you use Vimeo.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: continuous_play_v3
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is a first-party cookie from Vimeo. The cookie collects information about how you use the Vimeo service. For example, it stores when you pause a video or play it again.
Expiration date: after one year

Name: _ga
Value: GA1.2.1522249635.1578401280111401236-7
Purpose: This cookie is a third-party cookie from Google. By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. It is generally used to distinguish website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years

Name: _gcl_au
Value: 1.1.770887836.1578401279111401236-3
Purpose: This third-party cookie from Google AdSense is used to improve the efficiency of ads on websites.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Name: _fbp
Value: fb.1.1578401280585.310434968
Purpose: This is a Facebook cookie. This cookie is used to display ads or advertising products from Facebook or other advertisers.
Expiration date: after 3 months

Vimeo uses this data, among other things, to improve its own service, to communicate with you, and to run its own targeted advertising measures. Vimeo emphasizes on its website that only first-party cookies (i.e., cookies from Vimeo itself) are used for embedded videos as long as you do not interact with the video.

How long and where is the data stored?

Vimeo is headquartered in White Plains, New York (USA). However, the services are offered worldwide. The company uses computer systems, databases, and servers in the USA and in other countries. Your data may therefore also be stored and processed on servers in the USA. Vimeo keeps the data stored until the company no longer has an economic reason to store it. Then the data is deleted or anonymized. Vimeo complies with the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework and is therefore allowed to collect, use, and transfer data from users in the EU to the USA.

How can I delete my data or prevent it from being stored?

You always have the option to manage cookies in your browser according to your preferences. For example, if you don’t want Vimeo to set cookies and collect information about you, you can delete or disable cookies at any time in your browser settings. Depending on the browser, this works a little differently. Please note that after disabling/deleting cookies, various functions may no longer be fully available. The following instructions show how to manage or delete cookies in your 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 stored on your computer
• Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
• Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies

If you are a registered Vimeo member, you can also manage the cookies used in Vimeo’s settings.

Vimeo is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the proper and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt00000008V77AAEstatus=Active. You can learn more about the use of cookies at Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy, and you can read information about data protection at Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/privacy.

Zoom Privacy Policy

We use the Zoom video conferencing tool from the American software company Zoom Video Communications for our website. The company headquarters are in San Jose, California, 55 Almaden Boulevard, 6th Floor, CA 95113. Thanks to “Zoom”, we can easily hold a video conference with customers, business partners, clients, and employees—without installing any software. In this privacy policy, we take a closer look at the service and inform you about the most important data protection-related aspects.

What is Zoom?

Zoom is one of the best-known video conferencing solutions worldwide. With the “Zoom Meetings” service, we can, for example, hold an online video conference with you, as well as with employees or other users, via a digital conference room. This makes it very easy for us to connect digitally, discuss various topics, send text messages, or make phone calls. Zoom also allows screen sharing, file exchange, and the use of a whiteboard.

Why do we use Zoom on our website?

It’s important to us that we can communicate with you quickly and easily. And that’s exactly what Zoom enables. The software also works directly via a browser. That means we can simply send you a link and start the video conference right away. In addition, extra features such as screen sharing or exchanging files are very practical.

What data is stored by Zoom?

When you use Zoom, data about you is also collected so that Zoom can provide its services. This includes, on the one hand, data that you knowingly provide to the company, such as your name, phone number, or email address. However, data is also automatically transmitted to Zoom and stored. This includes, for example, technical data about your browser or your IP address. Below, we take a closer look at the data Zoom may collect and store about you:

If you provide data such as your name, username, email address, or phone number, this data is stored by Zoom. Content you upload while using Zoom is also stored. This includes, for example, files or chat logs.

The technical data that Zoom automatically stores includes, in addition to the IP address already mentioned above, the MAC address, other device IDs, device type, which operating system you use, which client you use, camera type, microphone and speaker type. Your approximate location is also determined and stored. Zoom also stores information about how you use the service—for example, whether you “Zoom” via desktop or smartphone, whether you use a phone call or VoIP, whether you participate with or without video, or whether you request a password. Zoom also records so-called metadata such as the duration of the meeting/call, the start and end of meeting participation, the meeting name, and chat status.

In its own privacy policy, Zoom states that the company does not use advertising cookies or tracking technologies for its services. These tracking methods are only used on its own marketing websites, such as www.zoom.us. Zoom does not sell personal data and does not use it for advertising purposes.

How long and where is the data stored?

Zoom does not specify a concrete time frame, but emphasizes that the collected data remains stored for as long as necessary to provide the services and/or for its own purposes. Data is only stored longer if required for legal reasons. In principle, Zoom stores the collected data on U.S. servers, but data may be processed worldwide in different data centers.

How can I delete my data or prevent it from being stored?

If you don’t want data to be stored during the Zoom meeting, you must not attend the meeting. However, you always have the right and the option to have all your personal data deleted. If you have a Zoom account, you can find instructions on how to delete your account at https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201363243-How-Do-I-Delete-Terminate-My-Account. Zoom Video Communications is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the proper and secure transfer of personal data. You can find more information at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TNkCAAWstatus=Active.

We hope we have provided you with an overview of data processing by Zoom. Of course, it can always happen that the company’s privacy policies change. Therefore, for more information, we recommend Zoom’s privacy policy at https://zoom.us/de-de/privacy.html.

Note: When we refer to processing in our privacy policy, we mean any type of data processing. This includes, as mentioned above in the original GDPR statement, not only the collection but also the storage and processing of data.

All texts are protected by copyright.

Source: Created with the Privacy Policy Generator Austria by AdSimple