We have drawn up this Privacy Policy (version 03.11.2020-311227498) to explain to you, in accordance with the provisions of the Basic Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679, what information we collect, how we use data and what decision-making options you have as a visitor to this website.
Unfortunately, it is in the nature of things that these explanations sound very technical, but we have tried to describe the most important things as simply and clearly as possible.
Automatic data storage
When you visit websites today, certain information is automatically created and stored, including on this website.
When you visit our website as you are visiting it right now, our web server (the computer on which this website is stored) automatically stores information such as
the address (URL) of the accessed web page
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 being accessed
Date and time
in files (web server log files).
Usually web server log files are stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not pass on this data, but cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of illegal behavior.
Cookies
Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.
In the following we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following Privacy Policy.
What exactly are cookies?
Whenever you surf the Internet, you are using a browser. Some well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.
One thing is not to be dismissed: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, since there are other cookies for other applications. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, quasi the “brain” of your browser. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified.
Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you return to our site, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to the cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you your usual default settings. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file, in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.
There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our site, third-party cookies are created by partner sites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie is unique because each cookie stores different data. The expiration 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 may look like this:
Name: _ga
Expiration period: 2 years
Usage: differentiation of website visitors
Example value: GA1.2.1326744211.152311227498
A browser should support the following minimum sizes:
A cookie should be able to contain at least 4096 bytes
At least 50 cookies should be able to be stored per domain
A total of at least 3000 cookies should be able to be stored
What types of cookies are there?
The question 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 discuss the different types of HTTP cookies.
You can distinguish 4 types of cookies:
Absolutely necessary cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic functions of the website. For example, these cookies are needed when a user adds a product to the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and only goes to checkout later. These cookies do not delete the shopping cart, even if the user closes his 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 in different browsers.
Target-oriented cookies
These cookies ensure a better user experience. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are stored.
Advertising cookies
These cookies are also called targeting cookies. They are used to deliver customized advertising to the user. This can be very practical, but also very annoying.
Usually the first time you visit a website, you will be asked which of these types of cookies you want to allow. And of course this decision is also stored in a cookie.
How can I delete cookies?
How and whether you want to use cookies is up to you. Regardless of the service or website from which the cookies originate, you always have the option of deleting cookies, allowing them only partially or deactivating them. For example, you can block third-party cookies, but allow all other cookies.
If you want to find out which cookies are stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can find this in your browser settings:
Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether or not you wish to accept it. The procedure varies depending on the browser. The best thing to do is to look for the instructions in Google with the search term “Delete cookies Chrome” or “Deactivate cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser or replace the word “Chrome” with the name of your browser, e.g. Edge, Firefox, Safari.
What about my privacy?
Since 2009 there are the so-called “cookie guidelines”. This states that the storage of cookies requires your consent. Within the EU countries, however, there are still very different reactions to these guidelines. In Germany, the cookie guidelines have not been implemented as national law. Instead, the implementation of this guideline was largely carried out in § 15 para.3 of the Telemediengesetz (TMG).
If you want 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”.
Storage of Personal Data
Personal information that you submit to us electronically on this website, such as your name, e-mail address, postal address or other personal information when submitting a form or comments on the blog, together with the time and IP address, will only be used by us for the purpose stated, kept secure and not disclosed to third parties.
Thus, we use your personal data only for communication with those visitors who expressly request contact and for the processing of the services and products offered on this website. We will not pass on your personal data without your consent, but we cannot exclude the possibility that this data may be viewed in the event of unlawful behaviour.
If you send us personal data by e-mail – thus off this website – we cannot guarantee secure transmission and protection of your data. We recommend that you never send confidential data by e-mail without encryption.
According to article 6 paragraph 1 a DSGVO (legality of processing), the legal basis is that you give us your consent to process the data you have entered. You can revoke this consent at any time – an informal e-mail is sufficient, you will find our contact details in the imprint.
Rights in accordance with the basic data protection ordinance
In accordance with the provisions of the DSGVO, you are basically entitled to the following rights:
Right of rectification (Article 16 DSGVO)
Right of deletion (“right to be forgotten”) (Article 17 DSGVO)
Right to restrict processing (Article 18 DSGVO)
Right of notification – Obligation to notify in connection with the correction or deletion of personal data or the restriction of processing (Article 19 DPA)
Right to data transferability (Article 20 DSGVO)
Right of objection (Article 21 DSGVO)
Right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling (Article 22 DPA)
If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or your data protection rights have otherwise been violated in any way, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI).
Evaluation of visitor behavior
In the following Privacy Policy, we inform you whether and how we evaluate data from your visit to this website. The evaluation of the collected data is usually anonymous and we cannot draw any conclusions about your personal behavior on this website.
You can find out more about how to object to this evaluation of your visit data in the following Privacy Policy.
TLS encryption with https
We use https to transmit data tap-proof on the Internet (data protection through technology design article 25 paragraph 1 DSGVO). 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 recognize the use of this data transmission security by the small lock symbol in the upper left corner of the browser and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our internet address.
Google Maps Privacy Policy
On our website we use Google Maps from Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With Google Maps we can show you locations better and thus adapt our service to your needs. By using Google Maps, data is transferred to Google and stored on the Google servers. Here we would like to go into more detail about what Google Maps is, why we use this Google service, what data is stored and how you can prevent this.
What is Google Maps?
Google Maps is an internet map service of the company Google. With Google Maps, you can search online for exact locations of cities, sights, accommodations or businesses using a PC, tablet or app. If companies are represented on Google My Business, additional information about the company is displayed next to the location. In order to display the directions, map sections of a location can be integrated into a website using HTML code. Google Maps shows the surface of the earth as a road map or as an aerial or satellite image. Thanks to the Street View images and the high-quality satellite images, very accurate representations are possible.
Why do we use Google Maps on our website?
All our efforts on this site are aimed at providing you with a useful and meaningful time on our website. By integrating Google Maps we can provide you with the most important information about various locations. You can see at a glance where we have our headquarters. The route description always shows you the best or fastest way to reach us. You can call up the directions for routes by car, public transport, on foot or by bicycle. For us the provision of Google Maps is part of our customer service.
What data is stored by Google Maps?
In order for Google Maps to be able to offer its service completely, the company must collect and store data about you. This includes the search terms you enter, your IP address and also the latitude and longitude coordinates. If you use the route planner function, the entered start address is also stored. However, this data storage happens on the websites of Google Maps. We can only inform you about it, but we cannot influence it. Since we have integrated Google Maps into our website, Google sets at least one cookie (name: NID) in your browser. This cookie stores data about your user behavior. Google uses this data primarily to optimize its own services and to provide individual, personalized advertising for you.
The following cookie is set in your browser due to the integration of Google Maps:
Name: NID
Wert: 188=h26c1Ktha7fCQTx8rXgLyATyITJ311227498-5
Purpose: NID is used by Google to adapt advertisements to your Google search. Google uses the cookie to “remember” your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. So you always get customized ads. The cookie contains a unique ID that Google uses to collect your personal preferences for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Note: We cannot guarantee the completeness of the stored data. Especially when using cookies, changes can never be ruled out. In order to identify the cookie NID, a separate test page was created where only Google Maps was integrated.
How long and where is the data stored?
The Google servers are located in data centers around the world. However, most of the servers are located in America. For this reason, your data is also increasingly stored in the USA. Here you can find out exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de
Google distributes the data on different data carriers. This way the data can be accessed more quickly and is better protected against possible manipulation attempts. Each data center also has special emergency programs. If, for example, there are problems with the Google hardware or a natural disaster paralyses the servers, the data is still protected.
Some data is stored by Google for a fixed period of time. For other data, Google only offers the possibility to delete it manually. The company also anonymizes information (such as advertising data) in server logs by deleting part of the IP address and cookie information after 9 and 18 months respectively.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
With the automatic deletion of location and activity data introduced in 2019, location and web/app activity information is stored for either 3 or 18 months, depending on your decision, and then deleted. You can also manually delete this data from your history at any time via your Google Account. If you want to completely prevent your location data from being recorded, you must pause the “Web and App activity” section in your Google Account. Click “Data and personalization” and then click the “Activity setting” option. Here you can turn the activities on or off.
You can also disable, delete or manage individual cookies in your browser. Depending on which browser you use, this always works slightly differently. The following instructions show you how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is set. In this way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you want to allow it or not.
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 on this at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI. If you want to learn more about Google’s data processing, we recommend that you read the company’s own Privacy Policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de.
Google Fonts Local Privacy Policy
On our website we use Google Fonts from Google Inc. The company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for the European area. We have integrated the Google fonts locally, i.e. on our web server – not on the servers of Google. This means that there is no connection to Google servers and therefore no data transfer or storage.
What are Google Fonts?
In former times Google Fonts were also called Google Web Fonts. This is an interactive directory with over 800 fonts, which Google provides free of charge. With Google Fonts you could use fonts without uploading them to your own server. But to prevent any information transfer to Google servers, we downloaded the fonts to our server. In this way, we act in accordance with data protection laws and do not send any data to Google Fonts.
Unlike other web fonts, Google allows us unlimited access to all fonts. This means that we have unlimited access to a sea of fonts and can thus get the best out of our website. More about Google Fonts and other questions can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq?tid=311227498.
Google Analytics Privacy Policy
On our website we use the analysis tracking tool Google Analytics (GA) of the American company Google Inc. For the European area the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. Google Analytics collects data about your actions on our website. For example, when you click on a link, this action is stored in a cookie and sent to Google Analytics. With the help of the reports we receive from Google Analytics, we can better tailor our website and services to your needs. In the following we will go into more detail about the tracking tool and inform you in particular about what data is stored and how you can prevent this.
What is Google Analytics?
Google Analytics is a tracking tool that serves to analyze the data traffic on our website. To make Google Analytics work, a tracking code is built into the code of our website. When you visit our website, this code records various actions that you perform on our website. As soon as you leave our website, this data is sent to the Google Analytics servers and stored there.
Google processes the data and we receive reports about your user behavior. These reports may include the following:
Target group reports: Through target group reports we get to know our users better and know more precisely who is interested in our service.
Advertising reports: Advertising reports help us to analyze and improve our online advertising.
Acquisition reports: Acquisition reports give us helpful information on how we can get more people interested in our service.
Behavioral Reports: Here we learn how you interact with our website. We can track which path you take on our site and which links you click on.
Conversion reports: Conversion is the process by which you perform a desired action based on a marketing message. For example, when you go from a mere website visitor to a buyer or newsletter subscriber. We use these reports to learn more about how our marketing activities are received by you. This is how we want to increase our conversion rate.
Real-time reports: Here we always know immediately what is happening on our website. For example, we can see how many users are currently reading this text.
Why do we use Google Analytics on our website?
Our goal with this website is clear: We want to offer you the best possible service. The statistics and data from Google Analytics help us to achieve this goal.
The statistically evaluated data give us a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses of our website. On the one hand, we can optimize our site so that it can be found more easily by interested people on Google. On the other hand, the data helps us to better understand you as a visitor. We therefore know exactly what we need to improve on our website in order to offer you the best possible service. The data also helps us to carry out our advertising and marketing measures more individually and cost-effectively. After all, it only makes sense to show our products and services to people who are interested.
Which data is stored by Google Analytics?
Google Analytics uses a tracking code to create a random, unique ID associated with your browser cookie. This way Google Analytics recognizes you as a new user. The next time you visit our site, you will be recognized as a “returning” user. All collected data is stored together with this user ID. This makes it possible to evaluate pseudonymous user profiles.
Through identifiers such as cookies and app instance IDs, your interactions on our website are measured. Interactions are all kinds of actions you perform on our website. If you also use other Google systems (such as a Google account), data generated by Google Analytics can be linked to third-party cookies. Google does not pass on any Google Analytics data unless we as the website operator authorize it. Exceptions may be made if required by law.
The following cookies are used by Google Analytics:
Name: _ga
Wert: 2.1326744211.152311227498-5
Purpose: By default, analytics.js uses the _ga cookie to store the user ID. Basically, it is used to differentiate between website visitors.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: _gid
Wert: 2.1687193234.152311227498-1
Purpose: The cookie is also used to differentiate between website visitors.
Expiration date: after 24 hours
Name: gat_gtag_UA
Value: 1
Purpose: Used to lower the request rate. If Google Analytics is provided via the Google Tag Manager, this cookie is named dc_gtm .
Expiration date: after 1 minute
Name: AMP_TOKEN
Value: not specified
Purpose: The cookie has a token with which a user ID can be retrieved from the AMP Client ID Service. Other possible values indicate a logout, a request or an error.
Expiration date: after 30 seconds up to one year
Name: __utma
Wert: 1564498958.1564498958.1564498958.1
Purpose: This cookie allows us to track your behavior on the site and measure performance. The cookie is updated each time information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Name: _utmt Value: 1 Purpose: The cookie is used like _gat_gtag_UA to throttle the request rate.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes
Name: __utmb
Value: 3.10.1564498958
Purpose: This cookie is used to determine new sessions. It is updated every time new data or information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 30 minutes
Name: __utmc
Value: 167421564
Purpose: This cookie is used to establish new sessions for returning visitors. This is a session cookie, and it is only stored until you close the browser.
Expiration date: After closing the browser
Name: __utmz
value: m|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/
Purpose: The cookie is used to identify the source of traffic to our website. This means that the cookie stores where you came to our website from. This may have been another site or an advertising campaign.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Name: __utmv
Value: not specified
Purpose: The cookie is used to store user-defined user data. It is always updated when information is sent to Google Analytics.
Expiration date: after 2 years
Note: This list cannot claim to be complete, as Google constantly changes the choice of its cookies.
Here we show you an overview of the most important data collected with Google Analytics:
heat maps: Google creates so-called heat maps. With Heatmaps you can see exactly those areas that you click on. This way we get information where you are “on the road” on our site.
Session duration: Google defines session duration as the time you spend on our site without leaving the site. If you have been inactive for 20 minutes, the session ends automatically.
Bouncerate: A bouncer is when you only view one page on our website and then leave our website.
Account creation: When you create an account or place an order on our website, Google Analytics collects this data.
IP address: The IP address is only shown in abbreviated form so that no clear assignment is possible.
location: The IP address can be used to determine the country and your approximate location. This process is also known as IP location determination.
Technical Information: Technical information includes your browser type, your internet provider or your screen resolution.
Source of origin: Google Analytics or us, is of course also interested in which website or which advertisement brought you to our site.
Other data includes contact details, any ratings you may have received, media playback (e.g. when you play a video on our site), sharing content via social media or adding to your favorites. This list does not claim to be exhaustive and serves only as a general orientation for data storage by Google Analytics.
How long and where is the data stored?
Google has distributed your servers around the world. Most of the servers are located in America and therefore your data is usually stored on American servers. Here you can find out exactly where the Google data centers are located: https://www.google.com/about/datacenters/inside/locations/?hl=de
Your data is distributed on different physical media. This has the advantage that the data can be retrieved more quickly and is better protected against manipulation. In every Google data center there are appropriate emergency programs for your data. If, for example, Google’s hardware fails or natural disasters paralyze servers, the risk of a service interruption at Google remains low.
Google Analytics has a standard retention period of 26 months for your user data. Then your user data will be deleted. However, we do have the option to choose the retention period of user data ourselves. We have five options for this:
Deletion after 14 months
Deletion after 26 months
Deletion after 38 months
Deletion after 50 months
No automatic deletion
When the specified period has expired, the data is deleted once a month. This retention period applies to your data associated with cookies, user recognition and advertising IDs (e.g., DoubleClick domain cookies). Reporting results are based on aggregated data and are stored independently of user data. Aggregated data is a fusion of individual data into a larger unit.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
According to the data protection law of the European Union, you have the right to obtain information about your data, update it, delete it or restrict its storage. By using the browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics JavaScript (ga.js, analytics.js, dc.js) you prevent Google Analytics from using your data. You can download and install the browser add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de. Please note that this add-on only disables the data collection by Google Analytics.
If you basically want to deactivate, delete or manage cookies (independent of Google Analytics), there are separate instructions for each browser:
Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
Google Analytics is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, 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=311227498. We hope we have been able to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Google Analytics. If you want to learn more about the tracking service, we recommend these two links: http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html and https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/6004245?hl=de.
Facebook-Pixel Privacy Policy
We use the Facebook pixel of Facebook on our website. We have implemented a code for this on our website. The Facebook pixel is a snippet of JavaScript code that loads a collection of functions that Facebook can use to track your user actions if you came 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 enable Facebook to compare your user data (customer data such as IP address, user ID) with the data of your Facebook account. Then Facebook deletes this data again. The collected data is anonymous and cannot be viewed by us and is only used for advertising purposes. If you yourself are a Facebook user and are logged in, your visit to our website is automatically assigned to your Facebook user account.
We only want to show our services or products to 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. This way, Facebook users (provided they have allowed personalised advertising) can see suitable advertising. Furthermore, Facebook uses the collected data for analysis purposes and its own advertisements.
In the following, we show you those cookies that were set by including Facebook pixels on a test page. Please note that these are only sample cookies. Different cookies are set depending on the interaction on our website.
Name: _fbp
Wert: fb.1.1568287647279.257405483-6311227498-7
Purpose: This cookie uses Facebook to display advertising products.
Expiration date: after 3 months
Name: fr
Value: 0aPf312HOS5Pboo2r..Bdeiuf…1.0.Bdeiuf.
Purpose: This cookie is used to ensure that Facebook pixels work properly.
Expiration date: after 3 months
Name: comment_author_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062311227498-3
Value: Name of the author
Purpose: This cookie stores the text and the name of a user, who for example leaves a comment.
Expiration date: after 12 months
Name: comment_author_url_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: https%3A%2F%2Fww.test page…%2F (URL of the author)
Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the website, which the user enters in a text field on our website.
Expiration date: after 12 months
Name: comment_author_email_50ae8267e2bdf1253ec1a5769f48e062
Value: e-mail address of the author
Purpose: This cookie stores the user’s e-mail address, provided that the user has made it known on the website.
Expiration date: after 12 months
Note: The above mentioned cookies refer to individual user behavior. Especially when using cookies, changes can never be ruled out on Facebook.
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 always manage your usage-based online advertising at http://www.youronlinechoices.com/de/praferenzmanagement/. There you have the possibility to deactivate or activate providers.
If you would like to learn more about Facebook’s privacy policy, we recommend that you review the company’s own data policies at https://www.facebook.com/policy.php.
Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy
Our primary goal is to make our website as secure and secure as possible for you and for us. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google Inc. For the European area, the company Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street Dublin 4, Ireland) is responsible for all Google services. With reCAPTCHA we can determine whether you are really a flesh and blood person and not a robot or other spam software. By spam, we mean any unsolicited information sent to us electronically. With the classic CAPTCHAS, you usually had to solve text or image puzzles in order to check them. With reCAPTCHA from Google we usually do not have to bother you with such puzzles. In most cases it is enough to simply check the box and confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don’t even have to put a checkmark. How exactly this works and especially which data is used for this purpose, you will learn in the course of this Privacy Policy.
What is reCAPTCHA?
reCAPTCHA is a free Captcha service from Google, which protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. This service is most commonly used when you fill out forms on the Internet. A captcha service is a kind of automatic turing test, which is supposed to ensure that an action on the internet is done by a human and not by a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after the computer scientist Alan Turing) a human being determines the difference between a bot and a human being. In captchas this is also done by the computer or a software program. Classical captchas work with small tasks, which are easy to solve for humans, but have considerable difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA you don’t have to actively solve puzzles anymore. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here you only have to check the text field “I am not a robot” or with Invisible reCAPTCHA even this is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is integrated into the source code and then the tool runs in the background and analyzes your user behavior. From these user actions the software calculates a so-called Captcha-Score. Google uses this score to calculate the probability that you are a human being even before you enter the captcha. reCAPTCHA or captchas in general are used whenever bots could manipulate or abuse certain actions (such as registrations, surveys, etc.).
Why do we use reCAPTCHA on our website?
We only want to welcome people of flesh and blood on our site. Bots or spam-software of different kinds can stay at home. That’s why we do everything we can to protect ourselves and offer the best possible usability for you. For this reason we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google. So we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. Through the use of reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google to determine whether you are really a human being. reCAPTCHA serves the security of our website and consequently your security. For example, without reCAPTCHA, it could happen that a bot registers as many e-mail addresses as possible during registration in order to “spam” forums or blogs with unwanted advertising content. With reCAPTCHA we can avoid such bot attacks.
Which data is stored by reCAPTCHA?
reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users to determine whether the actions on our website are really from humans. This means that the IP address and other data that Google requires for the reCAPTCHA service can be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always shortened within the member states of the EU or other signatory states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data lands on a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with any other data held by Google unless you are logged into your Google Account while using reCAPTCHA. First, the reCAPTCHA algorithm checks whether Google cookies from other Google services (YouTube, Gmail, etc.) are already placed on your browser. Then reCAPTCHA sets an additional cookie in your browser and takes a snapshot of your browser window.
The following list of collected browser and user data is not complete. Rather, they are examples of data which, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.
Referrer URL (the address of the page the visitor comes from)
IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)
Information about the operating system (the software that allows your computer to run. Known operating systems are Windows, Mac OS X or Linux)
Cookies (small text files that store data in your browser)
Mouse and keyboard behavior (every action you perform with the mouse or keyboard is saved)
Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC is saved)
All Javascript objects (JavaScript is a programming language that allows websites to adapt to the user. JavaScript objects can collect all kinds of data under one name)
Screen resolution (shows how many pixels the image consists of)
It is indisputable that Google uses and analyzes this data even before you click on the checkbox “I am not a robot”. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, even the ticking is omitted and the whole recognition process runs in the background. How much and what kind of data Google exactly stores, you will not learn from Google in detail.
The following cookies are used by reCAPTCHA: Here we refer to the reCAPTCHA demo version of Google at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo. All these cookies require a unique identifier for tracking purposes. Here is a list of cookies that Google reCAPTCHA has set on the demo version
Name: IDE
Value: WqTUmlnmv_qXyi_DGNPLESKnRNrpgXoy1K-pAZtAkMbHI-311227498-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by the company DoubleClick (also owns Google) to register and report the actions of a user on the website in dealing with advertisements. In this way the advertising effectiveness can be measured and appropriate optimization measures can be taken. IDE is stored in browsers under the domain doubleclick.net.
Expiration date: after one year
Name: 1P_JAR
Value: 2019-5-14-12
Purpose: This cookie collects statistics about website usage and measures conversions. A conversion occurs, for example, when a user becomes a buyer. The cookie is also used to show users relevant advertisements. Furthermore, the cookie can be used to prevent a user from seeing the same ad more than once.
Expiration date: after one month
Name: ANID
Wert: U7j1v3dZa3112274980xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We could not find out much information about this cookie. In Google’s Privacy Policy, the cookie is mentioned in connection with “advertising cookies” such as “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored at domain google.com.
Expiration date: after 9 months
Name: CONSENT
Value: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to use various Google services. CONSENT is also used for security purposes, to verify users, to prevent fraudulent use of login information and to protect user data from unauthorized attacks.
Expiration date: after 19 years
Name: NID
Wert: 0WmuWqy311227498zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to adapt advertisements to your Google search. Google uses the cookie to “remember” your most frequently entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. So you always get customized ads. The cookie contains a unique ID in order to collect the user’s personal settings for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months
Name: DV
Wert: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc311227498-4
Purpose: As soon as you have checked the “I am not a robot” checkbox, this cookie is set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalised advertising. DV collects information in anonymous form and is also used to make user distinctions.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes
Note: This list cannot claim to be exhaustive, as experience has shown that Google always changes its choice of cookies.
How long and where is the data stored?
By inserting reCAPTCHA, data is transferred from you to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored is not clearly shown by Google, even after repeated requests. Without having received confirmation from Google, it can be assumed that data such as mouse interaction, time spent on the website or language settings are stored on Google’s European or American servers. The IP address that your browser transmits to Google is generally not merged with other Google data from other Google services. However, if you are logged into your Google account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. For this purpose, the different privacy policies of Google apply.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
If you do not want any data about you or your behavior to be transmitted to Google, you must completely log out of Google and delete all Google cookies before you visit our website or use the reCAPTCHA software. In principle, the data is automatically transmitted to Google as soon as you visit our website. To delete this data again, you must contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311227498.
So when you use our website, you agree that Google LLC and its representatives automatically collect, process and use data.
You can learn more about reCAPTCHA on Google’s web development page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Google will explain the technical development of reCAPTCHA in more detail here, but you will not find detailed information about data storage and data protection issues there. A good overview of the basic use of data at Google can be found in the company’s own Privacy Policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.
Source: Created with the data protection generator of AdSimple in cooperation with fashiongott.de