Security and protection of your personal data

We consider it our primary task to maintain the confidentiality of the personal data you provide and to protect it from unauthorized access. We therefore take the utmost care and apply the latest security standards to ensure maximum protection of your personal data.

As a company under private law, we are subject to the provisions of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the provisions of the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG). We have taken technical and organizational measures to ensure that the data protection regulations are observed both by us and by our external service providers.

Definitions

The legislator requires that personal data be processed lawfully, fairly and in a manner that is comprehensible to the data subject ("lawfulness, fairness and transparency"). To ensure this, we inform you about the individual legal definitions that are also used in this privacy policy:

• Personal data
  "Personal data" means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (hereinafter referred to as "data subject"); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.
• Processing
  "Processing" means any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.
• Restriction of processing
  "Restriction of processing" is the marking of stored personal data with the aim of restricting its future processing.
• Profiling
  "Profiling" means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyze or predict aspects concerning that natural person's performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or movements.
• Pseudonymization
  "Pseudonymization" means the processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organizational measures to ensure that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person.
• File system
  "File system" means any structured collection of personal data that is accessible according to specific criteria, regardless of whether this collection is managed centrally, decentrally or according to functional or geographical aspects.
• Person responsible
  "Controller" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law.
• Processor
  "Processor" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.
• Receiver
  "Recipient" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or another body, to which the personal data are disclosed, whether a third party or not. However, public authorities which may receive personal data in the framework of a particular inquiry in accordance with Union or Member State law shall not be regarded as recipients; the processing of those data by those public authorities shall be in compliance with the applicable data protection rules according to the purposes of the processing.
• Third
  "Third party" means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or body other than the data subject, controller, processor and persons who, under the direct authority of the controller or processor, are authorized to process personal data.
• Consent
  Consent" of the data subject is any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.

Lawfulness of the processing

The processing of personal data is only lawful if there is a legal basis for the processing. The legal basis for processing may be in accordance with Article 6 (1)
lit. a - f GDPR in particular:

• a. The data subject has given their consent to the processing of their personal data for one or more specific purposes;
• b. processing is necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party or in order to take steps at the request of the data subject prior to entering into a contract;
• c. the processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation to which the controller is subject;
• d. processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person;
• e. processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
• f. processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data subject is a child.

Information on the collection of personal data

(1) In the following, we provide information about the collection of personal data when using our website. Personal data are e.g. name, address, e-mail addresses, user behavior.

(2) If you contact us by e-mail, the data you provide (your e-mail address, your name and telephone number if applicable) will be stored by us in order to answer your questions. We delete the data arising in this context after storage is no longer necessary, or processing is restricted if there are statutory retention obligations.

Collection of personal data when visiting our website

If you use the website for informational purposes only, i.e. if you do not register or otherwise provide us with information, we only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. If you wish to view our website, we collect the following data, which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure stability and security (legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR):

• IP address
• Date and time of the request
• Time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
• Content of the request (specific page)
• Access status/HTTP status code
• Amount of data transferred in each case
• Website from which the request comes
• Browser
• Operating system and its interface
• Language and version of the browser software.

Use of cookies

(1) In addition to the aforementioned data, cookies are stored on your computer when you use our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your hard disk and assigned to the browser you are using and through which certain information flows to the place that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot execute programs or transfer viruses to your computer. They are used to make the website more user-friendly and effective overall.

(2) This website uses the following types of cookies, the scope and function of which are explained below:

• Transient cookies (see a.)
• Persistent cookies (see b.).
• a.) Transient cookies are automatically deleted when you close the browser. These include session cookies in particular. These store a so-called session ID, with which various requests from your browser can be assigned to the joint session. This allows your computer to be recognized when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log out or close the browser.
• b.) Persistent cookies are automatically deleted after a specified period, which may vary depending on the cookie. You can delete the cookies at any time in the security settings of your browser.
• c.) You can configure your browser settings according to your wishes and B. refuse to accept third-party cookies or all cookies. So-called "third party cookies" are cookies that are set by a third party and therefore not by the actual website you are currently visiting. We would like to point out that you may not be able to use all the functions of this website if you deactivate cookies.

Other functions and offers on our website

(1) In addition to the purely informational use of our website, we offer various services that you can use if you are interested. To do so, you must generally provide additional personal data that we use to provide the respective service and to which the aforementioned data processing principles apply.

(2) In some cases, we use external service providers to process your data. These have been carefully selected and commissioned by us, are bound by our instructions and are regularly monitored.

(3) Furthermore, we may pass on your personal data to third parties if we offer participation in promotions, competitions, contracts or similar services together with partners. You will receive more detailed information on this when you provide your personal data or in the description of the offer below.

(4) If our service providers or partners are based in a country outside the European Economic Area (EEA), we will inform you of the consequences of this circumstance in the description of the offer.

Children

Our services are generally aimed at adults. Persons under the age of 18 should not transmit any personal data to us without the consent of their parents or legal guardians.

Rights of the data subject

(1) Revocation of consent
If the processing of personal data is based on consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. The withdrawal of consent shall not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.

You can contact us at any time to exercise your right of withdrawal.

(2) Right to confirmation
You have the right to request confirmation from the controller as to whether we are processing personal data concerning you. You can request confirmation at any time using the contact details above.

(3) Right to information
If personal data is processed, you can request information about this personal data and the following information at any time:

• a.) the purposes of the processing;
• b.) the categories of personal data that are processed;
• c.) the recipients or categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, in particular recipients in third countries or international organizations;
• d.) where possible, the envisaged period for which the personal data will be stored, or, if not possible, the criteria used to determine that period;
• e.) the existence of a right to rectification or erasure of personal data concerning you or to restriction of processing by the controller or a right to object to such processing;
• f.) the existence of a right of appeal to a supervisory authority;
• g.) if the personal data are not collected from the data subject, all available information about the origin of the data;
• h.) the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, referred to in Article 22(1) and (4) GDPR and, at least in those cases, meaningful information about the logic involved, as well as the significance and envisaged consequences of such processing for the data subject.

If personal data is transferred to a third country or to an international organization, you have the right to be informed of the appropriate safeguards pursuant to Article 46 GDPR in connection with the transfer. We will provide a copy of the personal data that is the subject of the processing. For any further copies you request, we may charge a reasonable fee based on administrative costs. If you make the request electronically, the information shall be provided in a commonly used electronic format, unless it specifies otherwise. The right to receive a copy in accordance with paragraph 3 must not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of other persons.

(4) Right to rectification 

You have the right to obtain from us without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning you. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, you have the right to have incomplete personal data completed, including by means of providing a supplementary statement.

(5) Right to erasure ("right to be forgotten")

You have the right to obtain from the controller the erasure of personal data concerning you without undue delay and we are obliged to erase personal data without undue delay where one of the following grounds applies:

• a.) The personal data are no longer necessary for the purposes for which they were collected or otherwise processed.
• b.) The data subject withdraws consent on which the processing is based according to point (a) of Article 6(1), or point (a) of Article 9(2) GDPR, and where there is no other legal ground for the processing.
• c.) The data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Article 21(1) GDPR and there are no overriding legitimate grounds for the processing, or the data subject objects to the processing pursuant to Article 21(2) GDPR.
• d.) The personal data has been processed unlawfully.
• e.) The deletion of personal data is necessary to fulfill a legal obligation under Union law or the law of the Member States to which the controller is subject.
• f.) The personal data was collected in relation to information society services offered in accordance with Article 8 (1) GDPR.

Where the controller has made the personal data public and is obliged pursuant to paragraph 1 to erase the personal data, the controller, taking account of available technology and the cost of implementation, shall take reasonable steps, including technical measures, to inform controllers which are processing the personal data that the data subject has requested the erasure by such controllers of any links to, or copy or replication of, those personal data.

The right to erasure ("right to be forgotten") does not exist if the processing is necessary:

• to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information;
• for compliance with a legal obligation which requires processing by Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject or for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller;
• for reasons of public interest in the area of public health in accordance with Article 9(2)(h) and (i) and Article 9(3) GDPR;
• for archiving purposes in the public interest, scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes in accordance with Article 89(1) GDPR in so far as the right referred to in paragraph 1 is likely to render impossible or seriously impair the achievement of the objectives of that processing, or
• for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims.

(6) Right to restriction of processing

You have the right to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data if one of the following conditions is met:

• a.) the accuracy of the personal data is contested by the data subject, for a period enabling the controller to verify the accuracy of the personal data,
• b.) the processing is unlawful and the data subject opposes the erasure of the personal data and requests the restriction of their use instead;
• c.) the controller no longer needs the personal data for the purposes of the processing, but they are required by the data subject for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims, or
• d.) the data subject has objected to processing pursuant to Article 21(1) GDPR pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject.

Where processing has been restricted in accordance with the above conditions, such personal data shall, with the exception of storage, only be processed with the data subject's consent or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims or for the protection of the rights of another natural or legal person or for reasons of important public interest of the Union or of a Member State.

To assert the right to restriction of processing, the data subject can contact us at any time using the contact details provided above.

(7) Right to data portability

You have the right to receive the personal data concerning you, which you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format and you have the right to transmit those data to another controller without hindrance from the controller to which the personal data have been provided, where one of the following applies

• a.) the processing is based on consent pursuant to Article 6(1)(a) or Article 9(2)(a) or on a contract pursuant to Article 6(1)(b) GDPR, and
• b.) the processing is carried out by automated means.

When exercising the right to data portability pursuant to paragraph 1, you have the right to have the personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another, where technically feasible. The exercise of the right to data portability does not affect the right to erasure ("right to be forgotten"). This right does not apply to processing that is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the controller.

(8) Right of objection

You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to processing of personal data concerning you which is based on point (e) or (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR, including profiling based on those provisions. The controller shall no longer process the personal data unless the controller demonstrates compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override the interests, rights and freedoms of the data subject or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

Where personal data are processed for direct marketing purposes, you have the right to object at any time to processing of personal data concerning you for such marketing, which includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct marketing. If you object to processing for direct marketing purposes, the personal data will no longer be processed for these purposes.

In the context of the use of information society services, and notwithstanding Directive 2002/58/EC, you may exercise your right to object by automated means using technical specifications.

You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing of personal data concerning you for scientific or historical research purposes or statistical purposes pursuant to Article 89(1), unless the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for reasons of public interest.

You can exercise your right to object at any time by contacting the respective controller.

(9) Automated decisions in individual cases including profiling

You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, which produces legal effects concerning you or similarly significantly affects you. This does not apply if the decision:

• a.) is necessary for the conclusion or performance of a contract between the data subject and the controller,
• b.) is authorized by Union or Member State law to which the controller is subject and which also lays down suitable measures to safeguard the data subject's rights and freedoms and legitimate interests; or
• c.) with the express consent of the data subject.

The data controller shall implement suitable measures to safeguard the data subject's rights and freedoms and legitimate interests, at least the right to obtain human intervention on the part of the controller, to express his or her point of view and to contest the decision.

The data subject can exercise this right at any time by contacting the respective controller.

(10) Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority

Without prejudice to any other administrative or judicial remedy, you also have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement if the data subject considers that the processing of personal data relating to him or her infringes this Regulation.

(11) Right to an effective judicial remedy

Without prejudice to any available administrative or extrajudicial remedy, including the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority pursuant to Article 77 GDPR, you have the right to an effective judicial remedy if you consider that your rights under this Regulation have been infringed as a result of the processing of your personal data in non-compliance with this Regulation.

Use of social media plugins

(1) We currently use the following social media plug-ins: [Xing, LinkedIn]. We use the so-called two-click solution. This means that when you visit our website, no personal data is initially passed on to the providers of the plug-ins. You can recognize the provider of the plug-in by the marking on the box above its initial letter or the logo. We give you the opportunity to communicate directly with the provider of the plug-in via the button. Only if you click on the marked field and thereby activate it will the plug-in provider receive the information that you have accessed the corresponding website of our online offering. In addition, the data collected when you visit our website is transmitted. In the case of Xing, according to the respective providers in Germany, the IP address is anonymized immediately after collection. By activating the plug-in, your personal data is therefore transmitted to the respective plug-in provider and stored there (for US providers in the USA). As the plug-in provider collects data in particular via cookies, we recommend that you delete all cookies via your browser's security settings before clicking on the grayed-out box.

(2) We have no influence on the data collected and data processing procedures, nor are we aware of the full scope of data collection, the purposes of processing or the storage periods. We also have no information on the deletion of the data collected by the plug-in provider.

(3) The plug-in provider stores the data collected about you as usage profiles and uses these for the purposes of advertising, market research and/or the needs-based design of its website. Such an evaluation is carried out in particular (even for users who are not logged in) to display needs-based advertising and to inform other users of the social network about your activities on our website. You have the right to object to the creation of these user profiles, whereby you must contact the respective plug-in provider to exercise this right. We offer you the opportunity to interact with the social networks and other users via the plug-ins so that we can improve our offering and make it more interesting for you as a user. The legal basis for the use of the plug-ins is Art. 6 para. 1 sentence 1 lit. f GDPR.

(4) Data is transferred regardless of whether you have an account with the plug-in provider and are logged in there. If you are logged in with the plug-in provider, your data collected by us will be assigned directly to your existing account with the plug-in provider. If you click the activated button and, for example, link the page, the plug-in provider also saves this information in your user account and shares it publicly with your contacts. We recommend that you log out regularly after using a social network, but especially before activating the button, as this way you can avoid being assigned to your profile with the plug-in provider.

(5) Further information on the purpose and scope of data collection and its processing by the plug-in provider can be found in the data protection declarations of these providers provided below. There you will also find further information on your rights in this regard and setting options to protect your privacy.

(6) Addresses of the respective plug-in providers and URL with their data protection notices:

a.) Xing AG, Gänsemarkt 43, 20354 Hamburg, DE; https://www.xing.com/privacy.

b.) LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, California 94043, USA; https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy. LinkedIn has submitted to the EU-US Privacy Shield, httpss://www.privacyshield.gov/EU-US Framework.

Newsletter

To subscribe to the newsletter offered on our website, you can register using our form. We use the so-called double opt-in procedure. A confirmation email will first be sent to the email address you have provided, asking you to confirm your registration. The registration only becomes effective when you click on the activation link contained in the confirmation e-mail. We use your data transmitted to us exclusively for sending the newsletter, which may contain information or offers.

We use CleverReach to send our newsletter. Your data will therefore be transmitted to CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG. CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG is prohibited from using your data for purposes other than sending the newsletter. CleverReach GmbH & Co. KG is not permitted to pass on or sell your data. KG is not permitted to pass on or sell your data. CleverReach is a German, certified newsletter software provider that has been carefully selected in accordance with the requirements of the GDPR and the BDSG.

You can revoke your consent to the storage of data and its use for sending the newsletter at any time, e.g. via the unsubscribe link in the newsletter.

Plugins and tools

OpenStreetMap

We use the OpenStreetMap (OSM) map service. We integrate the map material from OpenStreetMap on the server of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, St John's Innovation Center, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WS, United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is considered a safe third country under data protection law. This means that Great Britain has a level of data protection that corresponds to the level of data protection in the European Union. When using the OpenStreetMap maps, a connection is established to the servers of the OpenStreetMap Foundation. Among other things, your IP address and other information about your behavior on this website may be forwarded to the OSMF. For this purpose, OpenStreetMap may store cookies in your browser or use comparable recognition technologies. The use of OpenStreetMap is in the interest of an appealing presentation of our online offers and an easy findability of the places indicated by us on the website. This constitutes a legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR and § 25 para. 1 TTDSG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information in the user's terminal device (e.g. device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TTDSG. Consent can be revoked at any time.

Cookie Banner

We use the "Real Cookie Banner" consent tool to manage the cookies and similar technologies used (tracking pixels, web beacons, etc.) and related consents. Details on how "Real Cookie Banner" works can be found at https://devowl.io/de/rcb/datenverarbeitung/.

The legal basis for the processing of personal data in this context is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR and Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the management of the cookies and similar technologies used and the related consents.

The provision of personal data is neither contractually required nor necessary for the conclusion of a contract. You are not obliged to provide the personal data. If you do not provide the personal data, we will not be able to manage your consent.

WordPress Emojis

WordPress Emojis is an emoji set that is loaded from wordpress.org when an old browser is used, which could not display emojis without the integration of the service. This requires the processing of the user's IP address and metadata. No cookies or cookie-like technologies are set on the user's client. Cookies or cookie-like technologies can be stored and read. These contain the test result and the date of the last test as to whether the browser can display emojis.
Use on the legal basis of: Consent
Provider: WordPress.org, 660 4TH St, San Francisco, CA, 94107, USA
E-mail: dpo@wordpress.org
Privacy policy: https://de.wordpress.org/about/privacy/

Google Maps

Google Maps makes it possible to embed maps directly into websites in order to improve the website. This requires the processing of the user's IP address and metadata. Cookies or cookie-like technologies can be stored and read. These may contain personal data and technical data such as user IDs, consents, card software settings and security tokens. This data can be used to record websites visited, to compile detailed statistics on user behavior and to improve Google's services. This data may be linked by Google with the data of users logged in to Google's websites (e.g. google.com and youtube.com). Google makes personal data available to its affiliated companies, other trusted companies or persons who can process this data on the basis of Google's instructions and in accordance with Google's data protection regulations.
Use on the legal basis of: Consent
Provider: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland
Phone: +1 650 253 0000
E-mail: dpo-google@google.com
Contact form: https://support.google.com/
Privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Imprint: https://www.google.de/contact/impressum.html

Google reCAPTCHA

We use "Google reCAPTCHA" (hereinafter "reCAPTCHA") on this website. The provider is Google Ireland Limited ("Google"), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. The purpose of reCAPTCHA is to check whether data is entered on this website (e.g. in a contact form) by a human or by an automated program. For this purpose, reCAPTCHA analyzes the behavior of the website visitor based on various characteristics. This analysis begins automatically as soon as the website visitor enters the website. For the analysis, reCAPTCHA evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, time spent on the website by the website visitor or mouse movements made by the user). The data collected during the analysis is forwarded to Google. The reCAPTCHA analyses run completely in the background. Website visitors are not informed that an analysis is taking place. The data is stored and analyzed on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in protecting its website from abusive automated spying and SPAM. If a corresponding consent has been requested, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR and § 25 para. 1 TTDSG, insofar as the consent includes the storage of cookies or access to information in the user's terminal device (e.g. device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TTDSG. Consent can be revoked at any time.

For more information about Google reCAPTCHA, please refer to the Google Privacy Policy and
the Google Terms of Use under the following links:
httpss://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de and httpss://policies.google.com/terms?hl=de.