We would like to point out that we take data protection very seriously and process or store all data with the utmost care. Nevertheless, every internet user must realize that absolute security, to safeguard all data completely against access by third parties, can never be guaranteed. Quite often, the behavior of the user is responsible for offering security vulnerabilities. For example transmission of data via regular e-mail can offer security vulnerabilities and cannot be safeguarded by us. We cannot assume any liability for damages arising as a result of such security vulnerabilities.
However, we do everything in our power to protect your data in the best possible way. To comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU-GDPR) we have added an amendment statement to this Privacy Policy. You can find the amendment statement if you scroll down on this page.
This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their 'Personally identifiable information' (PII) is being used online. PII, as used in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context. Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.
What personal information do we collect from the people that visit our blog, website or app?
When ordering or registering on our site, as appropriate, you may be asked to enter your name, email address or other details to help you with your experience.
When do we collect information?
We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to a newsletter, respond to a survey, fill out a form or enter information on our site.
How do we use your information?
We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:
- To personalize user's experience and to allow us to deliver the type of content and product offerings in which you are most interested.
- To ask for ratings and reviews of services or products
How do we protect visitor information?
Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are bound by contract to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
All transactions (including payment transactions) are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.
We aim to use vulnerability scanning and/or scannings to achieve PCI standards as often as we can. We also aim to use regular Malware Scannings.
Do we use 'cookies'?
Yes we do use cookies. It is necessary for a professional user experience and an important part of the technology used in our affiliate program.
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser's Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you disable cookies off, some features will be disabled that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.
However, you can still make a purchase.
Third-party disclosure
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information unless we provide users with advance notice. This does not include website hosting partners and other parties who assist us in operating our website, conducting our business, or serving our users. All involved parties have either explicitly by agreement or implicitly by their own Privacy Policy agreed to keep this information confidential. We may also release information when it's release is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect ours or others' rights, property, or safety.
However, non-personally identifiable visitor information may be provided to other parties for marketing, advertising, or other uses.
Third-party links
We do not include or offer third-party products or services on our website.
Google
Google's advertising requirements can be summed up by Google's Advertising Principles. They are put in place to provide a positive experience for users.
Google Adwords Policy
In the future we may use Google AdSense Advertising on our website (currently we don't).
Google, as a third-party vendor, uses cookies to serve ads on our site. Google's use of the DART cookie enables it to serve ads to our users based on previous visits to our site and other sites on the Internet. Users may opt-out of the use of the DART cookie by visiting the Google Ad and Content Network privacy policy.
We have or we may in the future implement the following:
- Remarketing with Google AdSense
- Google Display Network Impression Reporting
- Google Analytics
- And maybe more if new Google products are made available that we think might help us to better serve our customers
We along with third-party vendors, such as Google use first-party cookies (such as the Google Analytics cookies) and third-party cookies (such as the DoubleClick cookie) or other third-party identifiers together to compile data regarding user interactions with ad impressions and other ad service functions as they relate to our website.
Opting out
Users can set preferences for how Google advertises to you using the Google Ad Settings page. Alternatively, you can opt out by visiting the Network Advertising initiative opt out page or permanently using the Google Analytics Opt Out Browser add on.
California Online Privacy Protection Act
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law's reach stretches well beyond California to require a person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this policy. See more at: California online privacy protection act (Caloppa)
According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:
Users can visit our site anonymously. To assure that you are using our website anonymously we kindly ask you to use a so called 'In Private' browser window with the appropriate settings. To learn more about this, please read the help section of your browser.
Once this privacy policy is created, you will find a link to it at the bottom of our webpage or on our home page or as a minimum on the first significant page after entering our website.
Our Privacy Policy link includes the word 'Privacy' and can easily be found on the page specified above.
Users will be notified on this page about any privacy policy changes
Users are able to change their personal information
- By logging into their account and change it for themselves or
- by contacting us - using the information given on the 'About us' page - and telling us that you want your account to be deleted. We will then delete your account permanently and unrecoverable as soon as we can.
How does our site handle do not track signals?
Our page does not handle this kind of signals at all. If you want to visit our site without being tracked or plant cookies or use of advertising we kindly ask you to use a so called 'In Private' browser window with the appropriate settings. Please read the help section of your browser to learn more about this feature.
Does our site allow third-party behavioral tracking?
It's also important to note that we allow third-party behavioral tracking.
COPPA (Children Online Privacy Protection Act)
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation's consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children's privacy and safety online.
We do not specifically market to children under 13.
Fair Information Practices
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.
In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur:
We will notify the official authorities that are responsible for our business. Baden-Württemberg Data Security Officer for Data Security and Informational Self-Determination After having consulted the authorities that are responsible for our business we may also notify the users by email and/or in-site notification.
- Notification of the official authorities: preferably within 72h after we got notice of the data breach
- Notification of the users by email and/or in-site notification (if applicable): 7 days after the consultations with the official authorities came to an end
We also agree to the Individual Redress Principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or government agencies to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.
CAN SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:
- Send information, marketing, respond to inquiries, and/or other requests or questions.
To be in accordance with CANSPAM we agree to the following:
- NOT use false or misleading subjects or email addresses.
- Identify the message as an advertisement in some reasonable way.
- Include the physical address of our business or site headquarters.
- Monitor third-party email marketing services for compliance, if one is used.
- Honor opt-out/unsubscribe requests quickly.
- Allow users to unsubscribe by using the link at the bottom of each email.
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future e-mails, you can e-mail us with the unsubscribe e-mail address that we provide in our 'About us' page. We will then promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.
Contacting Us
If there are any questions regarding this privacy policy you may contact us using the information in our 'About us' page.
Amendment statement to correlate with the EU-GDPR
Many of the topics covered below are already discussed in the sections above. But in some cases the new amendment statement outperforms the sections above to comply with the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU-GDPR).
Responsible entity in the sense of the data protection laws, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation (EU-GDPR), is:
ABC-Usability UG (haftungsbeschränkt)
('haftungsbeschränkt' means limited)
You can contact our data protection officer with the contact details provided in our 'About us' page.
Your rights as a user
You can always exercise the following rights under the contact details of our data protection officer:
- Information about your stored data and their processing,
- Correction of incorrect personal data,
- Deletion of your data stored with us,
- Restriction of data processing, if we are not yet allowed to delete your data due to legal obligations,
- Objection to the processing of your data with us and
- Data portability, if you have consented to the data processing or have signed a contract with us.
If you have given us your consent, you can revoke it at any time with effect for the future.
You can always contact the regulator responsible for you with a complaint. Your competent supervisory authority will depend on the state of your domicile, work or alleged violation. A list of the supervisory authorities (for the non-public area) with address can be found under: this link.
Purposes of data processing by the responsible entity and third parties
We process your personal data only for the purposes stated in this privacy statement. A transfer of your personal data to third parties for purposes other than those mentioned does not take place. We will only share your personal information with third parties if:
- You have given your express consent,
- processing is required to complete a contract with you,
- processing is required to fulfill a legal obligation
processing is necessary to protect legitimate interests and there is no reason to believe that you have an overriding legitimate interest in not disclosing your information.
Collecting general information when visiting our website
When you access our website, a cookie automatically records information of a general nature. This information (server log files) includes, for example, the type of web browser, the operating system used, the domain name of your Internet service provider and the like. This is only information that does not allow conclusions about your person.
This information is technically necessary to properly deliver content from web pages requested by you and is mandatory when using the internet. They are processed in particular for the following purposes:
- Ensure a hassle-free connection to the site,
- Ensuring a smooth use of our website,
- Evaluation of system security and stability as well as
- for further administrative purposes.
The processing of your personal data is based on our legitimate interest for the purposes mentioned above for collecting data. We do not use your information to draw conclusions about you. The recipient of the data is only the responsible entity and possibly the processor.
Anonymous information of this kind may be statistically evaluated by us to optimize our website and the underlying technology.
Cookies
Like many other websites, we also use so-called "cookies". Cookies are small text files that are transferred from a website server to your hard drive. This automatically gives us certain data, such as IP address, browser used, operating system and your connection to the Internet.
Cookies can not be used to start programs or to transfer viruses to a computer. Based on the information contained in cookies, we can facilitate navigation and enable the correct display of our web pages.
In no case will the data collected by us be disclosed to third parties or a link to personal data will be established without your consent.
Of course you can also view our website without cookies. Internet browsers are regularly set to accept cookies. In general, you can disable the use of cookies at any time through the settings of your browser. Please use the help features of your internet browser to find out how to change these settings. Please note that some features of our website may not work if you have disabled the use of cookies.
Registration on our website
When registering for the use of our personalized services, some personal information will be collected, such as name, address, contact and communication information such as telephone number and e-mail address. If you are registered with us, you may access content and services that we only offer to registered users. Registered users also have the option of changing or deleting the data specified during registration at any time. Of course, we also provide you with information about the personal data we hold about you at any time. We are happy to correct or delete these at your request, as far as no statutory storage requirements preclude. To contact us in this regard, please use the contact details given on our page 'About us'.
Provision of paid services
To provide paid services, we ask for additional information in order to complete your order. We store these data in our systems at least until the legal retention periods have expired. Information about payment details is not stored on our systems, but processed and stored by our external payment service provider. If you would like to know who our current payment processing service provider is, please contact us with the contact details given in the 'About us' page.
SSL encryption
To protect the security of your data during transmission, we use state-of-the-art encryption techniques (such as SSL) over HTTPS.
Comments
If users leave comments on our site, they will also save the time of their creation and the username previously chosen by the site visitor. This is for our safety, as we may be prosecuted for any illegal content on our website, even if created by users.
Newsletter
On the basis of your expressly given consent, we will regularly send you our newsletter or comparable information by e-mail to your specified e-mail address.
Providing your e-mail address is sufficient to receive the newsletter. When you sign up to receive our newsletter, the data you provide will be used exclusively for this purpose. Subscribers may also be notified by email about circumstances relevant to the service or registration (such as changes to the newsletter offer or technical conditions).
For an effective registration we need a valid e-mail address. In order to verify that an application is actually made by the owner of an e-mail address, we use the "Double opt-in" procedure. For this purpose we record the order of the newsletter, the dispatch of a confirmation mail and the receipt of the requested answer. Further data is not collected. The data will be used exclusively for newsletter delivery and will not be passed on to third parties.
You can revoke your consent to the storage of your personal data and its use for the newsletter dispatch at any time. Each newsletter has a link to it. In addition, you can unsubscribe at any time directly on this website or tell us your request via the contact option indicated at the end of this privacy policy.
Contact
If you have questions of any kind contact us by e-mail or contact form, you thereby give us your voluntary consent to contact you. This requires the specification of a valid e-mail address. This serves for the assignment of the request and the subsequent answering of the same. The specification of further data is optional. The information you provide will be stored for the purpose of processing the request and for possible follow-up questions. After completing the request, older personal data will be deleted manually from time to time.
Using Google Analytics
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc. (following: Google). Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies", ie text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. However, due to the activation of IP anonymization on these websites, your IP address will be shortened beforehand by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. On behalf of the operator of this website, Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity and to provide other services related to website activity and internet usage to the website operator. According to Google the IP address provided by Google Analytics as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with other Google data.
The purposes of data processing are the evaluation of the use of the website and the compilation of reports on activities on the website. Based on the use of the website and the Internet, other related services will be provided. The processing is based on the legitimate interest of the website operator.
You can prevent the storage of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly; however, please note that if you do this, you may not be able to use all the features of this website to the fullest extent possible. In addition, you may prevent the collection by Google of the data generated by the cookie and related to your use of the website (including your IP address) as well as the processing of this data by Google by downloading the browser plug-in available under the following link and install:
Google Analytics Disable Browser Add On.
Additionally or as an alternative to the browser add-on, you can prevent Google Analytics tracking on our pages by settingclick this link. An opt-out cookie will be installed on your device. This will prevent the collection by Google Analytics for this website and for this browser in the future, as long as the cookie remains installed in your browser.
Using Script Libraries (Google Webfonts)
In order to present our content in a correct and graphically appealing way, we use script libraries and font libraries on this website. For example, Google Webfonts. Google web fonts are transferred to the cache of your browser to prevent multiple loading. If the browser does not support Google Web fonts or prohibits access, content will be displayed in a standard font.
The call of script libraries or font libraries automatically triggers a connection to the operator of the library. It is theoretically possible - but currently also unclear whether and for what purposes - that operators of such libraries collect data.
The library operator's privacy policy can be found here:Google Privacy Policy
Embedded YouTube videos
We embed Youtube videos on some of our websites. The corresponding plug-ins are operated by YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. When you visit a page with the YouTube plug-in, it will connect to Youtube's servers. Youtube will be informed which pages you visit. If you are logged into your Youtube account, Youtube can assign your surfing behavior to you personally. This can be prevented by logging out of your Youtube account beforehand.
If a Youtube video is started, the provider uses cookies that collect information about user behavior.
Anyone who has disabled the storage of cookies for the Google Ad program will not have to expect such cookies even when watching YouTube videos. Youtube also stores non-personal usage information in other cookies. If you want to prevent this, you must block the storage of cookies in the browser.
For more information on data protection at "Youtube", please see the privacy policy of the provider at YouTube Privacy Policy.
Social Plugins
We offer on our website the possibility of using so-called "social media buttons". To protect your data, we aim to implement the solution "Shariff" on our website as soon as it's functionality has been developed to a stable solution for WordPress. As a result, these buttons will be integrated on the website only as a graphic that contains a link to the corresponding website of the button provider. By clicking on the graphic you will be redirected to the services of the respective provider. Only then will your data be sent to the respective provider. Unless you click on the graphic, there will be no exchange between you and the providers of the social media buttons. Information about the collection and use of your data in the social networks can be found in the respective terms of use of the respective providers. More information about the Shariff solution can be found here:Shariff Social Media Buttons
We have integrated the social media buttons of the following companies on our website:
Facebook HQ
1 Hacker Way,
Menlo Park, CA 94025
USA
Twitter, Inc.
1355 Market Street, Suite 900
San Francisco, CA 94103
USA
Google LLC
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
USA
Google AdWords
Our website uses Google Conversion Tracking. If you have reached our website via an advertisement sent by Google, Google Adwords will set a cookie on your computer. The conversion tracking cookie is set when a user clicks on a Google-served ad. These cookies lose their validity after 30 days and are not used for personal identification. If the user visits certain pages on our website and the cookie has not expired, we and Google may recognize that the user clicked on the ad and was redirected to this page. Each Google AdWords customer receives a different cookie. Cookies can not be tracked through AdWords advertisers' websites. The information gathered using the conversion cookie is used to generate conversion statistics for AdWords advertisers who have opted for conversion tracking. Customers are told the total number of users who clicked on their ad and were redirected to a conversion tracking tag page. However, they do not receive information that personally identifies users.
Affiliates Program
Our website uses an affiliate program to reward the people who promote us or even just tell their firends about us. The technology behind this reward program is more or less the same as the Google Conversion Tracking technology which is explained in the previous section above.
No Tracking
If you do not want to participate in the tracking, you can refuse the required setting of a cookie - for example, via a browser setting that generally deactivates the automatic setting of cookies or sets your browser so that cookies from the domain "googleleadservices.com" will be blocked.
Please note that you are not allowed to delete opt-out cookies as long as you do not want to record measurement data. If you have deleted all your cookies in the browser, you must set the respective opt-out cookie again.
Using Google Remarketing
This website uses Google Inc.'s remarketing feature. It's designed to present interest-based ads to web site visitors within the Google Network. A so-called "cookie" is stored in the browser of the website visitor, which makes it possible to recognize the visitor when he or she visits websites that belong to the advertising network of Google. On these pages, visitors can be presented with ads that relate to content that the visitor previously viewed on websites that use Google's remarketing feature.
Google says it does not collect any personal information during this process. However, if you do not wish to use Google Remarketing, you can opt out by using the appropriate settings atGoogle Remarketing Settings. Alternatively, you can disable the use of cookies for interest-based advertising through the Network Initiative by following the instructions at Networkadvertising.org Opt-Out.
Changes to our privacy policy
We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy to always comply with the current legal requirements or to implement changes to our services in the Privacy Policy, e.g. when introducing new services. Your new visit will be subject to the new Privacy Policy.
Ask the Privacy Officer
If you have questions about privacy, please contact us with the contact details given in the 'About us' page.
Miscellaneous
We reserve the right to take legal steps in the case of the unsolicited sending of advertising information, by means of spam mail, to our own e-mail addresses or if any kind of bots (internet bots, www robots, web robots) sign-up on our webpage for the purpose of automated data and information retrieval.
The Privacy Policy was created with the help of the privacy statement generator of active? Mind AG and then adjusted to our needs.
In case you are a lawyer and find any kind of contradiction between the first part and the second part (GDPR) of our Privacy Policy then please give us a hint and contact us so we have a chance to correct it. Thank you!