1. An overview of data protection

General information

The following information will provide you with an easy to navigate overview of what will happen with your personal data when you visit this website. The term “personal data” comprises all data that can be used to personally identify you. For detailed information about the subject matter of data protection, please consult our Data Protection Declaration, which we have included beneath this copy.

Data recording on this website

Who is the responsible party for the recording of data on this website (i.e., the “controller”)?

The data on this website is processed by the operator of the website, whose contact information is available under section “Information about the responsible party (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR)” in this Privacy Policy.

How do we record your data?

We collect your data as a result of your sharing of your data with us. This may, for instance be information you enter into our contact form.

Other data shall be recorded by our IT systems automatically or after you consent to its recording during your website visit. This data comprises primarily technical information (e.g., web browser, operating system, or time the site was accessed). This information is recorded automatically when you access this website.

What are the purposes we use your data for?

A portion of the information is generated to guarantee the error free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyze your user patterns.

What rights do you have as far as your information is concerned?

You have the right to receive information about the source, recipients, and purposes of your archived personal data at any time without having to pay a fee for such disclosures. You also have the right to demand that your data are rectified or eradicated. If you have consented to data processing, you have the option to revoke this consent at any time, which shall affect all future data processing. Moreover, you have the right to demand that the processing of your data be restricted under certain circumstances. Furthermore, you have the right to log a complaint with the competent supervising agency.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time if you have questions about this or any other data protection related issues.

Analysis tools and tools provided by third parties

There is a possibility that your browsing patterns will be statistically analyzed when your visit this website. Such analyses are performed primarily with what we refer to as analysis programs.

For detailed information about these analysis programs please consult our Data Protection Declaration below.

2. Hosting and Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

External Hosting

This website is hosted by an external service provider (host). Personal data collected on this website are stored on the servers of the host. These may include, but are not limited to, IP addresses, contact requests, metadata and communications, contract information, contact information, names, web page access, and other data generated through a web site.

The host is used for the purpose of fulfilling the contract with our potential and existing customers (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and in the interest of secure, fast, and efficient provision of our online services by a professional provider (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Our host will only process your data to the extent necessary to fulfil its performance obligations and to follow our instructions with respect to such data.

We are using the following host:

netcup GmbH
Daimlerstraße 25
76185 Karlsruhe
Germany

3. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

The operators of this website and its pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. Hence, we handle your personal data as confidential information and in compliance with the statutory data protection regulations and this Data Protection Declaration.

Whenever you use this website, a variety of personal information will be collected. Personal data comprises data that can be used to personally identify you. This Data Protection Declaration explains which data we collect as well as the purposes we use this data for. It also explains how, and for which purpose the information is collected.

We herewith advise you that the transmission of data via the Internet (i.e., through e-mail communications) may be prone to security gaps. It is not possible to completely protect data against third-party access.

Information about the responsible party (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR)

The data processing controller on this website is:

Malte Hellmeier
Bertoldstr. 4
44379 Dortmund

Phone: +49 (0) 231 95808563
E-mail: privacy [at-sign] return2.net

The controller is the natural person or legal entity that single-handedly or jointly with others makes decisions as to the purposes of and resources for the processing of personal data (e.g., names, e-mail addresses, etc.).

Storage duration

Unless a more specific storage period has been specified in this privacy policy, your personal data will remain with us until the purpose for which it was collected no longer applies. If you assert a justified request for deletion or revoke your consent to data processing, your data will be deleted, unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing your personal data (e.g., tax or commercial law retention periods); in the latter case, the deletion will take place after these reasons cease to apply.

Information on data transfer to the USA and other non-EU countries

Among other things, tools of companies domiciled in the United States or other from a data protection perspective non-secure non-EU countries, are integrated into our website. If these tools are active, your personal data may potentially be transferred to these non-EU countries and may be processed there. We must point out that in these countries, a data protection level that is comparable to that in the EU cannot be guaranteed. For instance, U.S. enterprises are under a mandate to release personal data to the security agencies and you as the data subject do not have any litigation options to defend yourself in court. Hence, it cannot be ruled out that U.S. agencies (e.g., the Secret Service) may process, analyze, and permanently archive your personal data for surveillance purposes. We have no control over these processing activities.

Revocation of your consent to the processing of data

A wide range of data processing transactions are possible only subject to your express consent. You can also revoke at any time any consent you have already given us. This shall be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.

Right to object to the collection of data in special cases; right to object to direct advertising (Art. 21 GDPR)

IN THE EVENT THAT DATA ARE PROCESSED ON THE BASIS OF ART. 6(1)(E) OR (F) GDPR, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO AT ANY TIME OBJECT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA BASED ON GROUNDS ARISING FROM YOUR UNIQUE SITUATION. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO ANY PROFILING BASED ON THESE PROVISIONS. TO DETERMINE THE LEGAL BASIS, ON WHICH ANY PROCESSING OF DATA IS BASED, PLEASE CONSULT THIS DATA PROTECTION DECLARATION. IF YOU LOG AN OBJECTION, WE WILL NO LONGER PROCESS YOUR AFFECTED PERSONAL DATA, UNLESS WE ARE IN A POSITION TO PRESENT COMPELLING PROTECTION WORTHY GROUNDS FOR THE PROCESSING OF YOUR DATA, THAT OUTWEIGH YOUR INTERESTS, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OR IF THE PURPOSE OF THE PROCESSING IS THE CLAIMING, EXERCISING OR DEFENCE OF LEGAL ENTITLEMENTS (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(1) GDPR).

IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS BEING PROCESSED IN ORDER TO ENGAGE IN DIRECT ADVERTISING, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR AFFECTED PERSONAL DATA FOR THE PURPOSES OF SUCH ADVERTISING AT ANY TIME. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO PROFILING TO THE EXTENT THAT IT IS AFFILIATED WITH SUCH DIRECT ADVERTISING. IF YOU OBJECT, YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL SUBSEQUENTLY NO LONGER BE USED FOR DIRECT ADVERTISING PURPOSES (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(2) GDPR).

Right to log a complaint with the competent supervisory agency

In the event of violations of the GDPR, data subjects are entitled to log a complaint with a supervisory agency, in particular in the member state where they usually maintain their domicile, place of work or at the place where the alleged violation occurred. The right to log a complaint is in effect regardless of any other administrative or court proceedings available as legal recourses.

Right to data portability

You have the right to demand that we hand over any data we automatically process on the basis of your consent or in order to fulfil a contract be handed over to you or a third party in a commonly used, machine readable format. If you should demand the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will be done only if it is technically feasible.

SSL and/or TLS encryption

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as purchase orders or inquiries you submit to us as the website operator, this website uses either an SSL or a TLS encryption program. You can recognize an encrypted connection by checking whether the address line of the browser switches from “http://” to “https://” and also by the appearance of the lock icon in the browser line.

If the SSL or TLS encryption is activated, data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Information about, rectification and eradication of data

Within the scope of the applicable statutory provisions, you have the right to at any time demand information about your archived personal data, their source and recipients as well as the purpose of the processing of your data. You may also have a right to have your data rectified or eradicated. If you have questions about this subject matter or any other questions about personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

Right to demand processing restrictions

You have the right to demand the imposition of restrictions as far as the processing of your personal data is concerned. To do so, you may contact us at any time. The right to demand restriction of processing applies in the following cases:

  • In the event that you should dispute the correctness of your data archived by us, we will usually need some time to verify this claim. During the time that this investigation is ongoing, you have the right to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data.
  • If the processing of your personal data was/is conducted in an unlawful manner, you have the option to demand the restriction of the processing of your data in lieu of demanding the eradication of this data.
  • If we do not need your personal data any longer and you need it to exercise, defend or claim legal entitlements, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of its eradication.
  • If you have raised an objection pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR, your rights and our rights will have to be weighed against each other. As long as it has not been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand a restriction of the processing of your personal data.

If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, these data – with the exception of their archiving – may be processed only subject to your consent or to claim, exercise or defend legal entitlements or to protect the rights of other natural persons or legal entities or for important public interest reasons cited by the European Union or a member state of the EU.

4. Recording of data on this website

Cookies

Our websites and pages use what the industry refers to as “cookies.” Cookies are small text files that do not cause any damage to your device. They are either stored temporarily for the duration of a session (session cookies) or they are permanently archived on your device (permanent cookies). Session cookies are automatically deleted once you terminate your visit. Permanent cookies remain archived on your device until you actively delete them, or they are automatically eradicated by your web browser.

In some cases, it is possible that third-party cookies are stored on your device once you enter our site (third-party cookies). These cookies enable you or us to take advantage of certain services offered by the third party (e.g., cookies for the processing of payment services).

Cookies have a variety of functions. Many cookies are technically essential since certain website functions would not work in the absence of the cookies (e.g., the shopping cart function or the display of videos). The purpose of other cookies may be the analysis of user patterns or the display of promotional messages.

Cookies, which are required for the performance of electronic communication transactions (required cookies) or for the provision of certain functions you want to use (functional cookies, e.g., for the shopping cart function) or those that are necessary for the optimization of the website (e.g., cookies that provide measurable insights into the web audience), shall be stored on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, unless a different legal basis is cited. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure the technically error free and optimized provision of the operator’s services. If your consent to the storage of the cookies has been requested, the respective cookies are stored exclusively on the basis of the consent obtained (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR); this consent may be revoked at any time.

You have the option to set up your browser in such a manner that you will be notified any time cookies are placed and to permit the acceptance of cookies only in specific cases. You may also exclude the acceptance of cookies in certain cases or in general or activate the delete function for the automatic eradication of cookies when the browser closes. If cookies are deactivated, the functions of this website may be limited.

In the event that third-party cookies are used or if cookies are used for analytical purposes, we will separately notify you in conjunction with this Data Protection Policy and, if applicable, ask for your consent.

Server log files

The provider of this website and its pages automatically collects and stores information in so-called server log files, which your browser communicates to us automatically. The information comprises:

  • The type and version of browser used
  • The used operating system
  • Referrer URL
  • The hostname of the accessing computer
  • The time of the server inquiry
  • The IP address

This data is not merged with other data sources.

This data is recorded on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in the technically error free depiction and the optimization of the operator’s website. In order to achieve this, server log files must be recorded.

Request by e-mail, telephone, or fax

If you contact us by e-mail, telephone or fax, your request, including all resulting personal data (name, request) will be stored and processed by us for the purpose of processing your request. We do not pass these data on without your consent.

These data are processed on the basis of Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR if your inquiry is related to the fulfillment of a contract or is required for the performance of pre-contractual measures. In all other cases, the data are processed on the basis of our legitimate interest in the effective handling of inquiries submitted to us (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR) or on the basis of your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) if it has been obtained.

The data sent by you to us via contact requests remain with us until you request us to delete, revoke your consent to the storage or the purpose for the data storage lapses (e.g. after completion of your request). Mandatory statutory provisions - in particular statutory retention periods - remain unaffected.

The comment function on this website

When you use the comment function on this website, information on the time the comment was generated and your e-mail-address and, if you are not posting anonymously, the username you have selected will be archived in addition to your comments.

Storage of the IP address

Our comment function stores the IP addresses of all users who enter comments. Given that we do not review the comments prior to publishing them, we need this information in order to take action against the author in the event of rights violations, such as defamation or propaganda.

Storage period for comments

Comments and any affiliated information shall be stored by us and remain on this website until the content the comment pertained to has been deleted in its entirety or if the comments had to be deleted for legal reasons (e.g., insulting comments).

Legal basis

Comments are stored on the basis of your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR). You have the right to revoke at any time any consent you have already given us. To do so, all you are required to do is sent us an informal notification via e-mail. This shall be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.

5. Social media

Twitter plug-in

We have integrated functions of the social media platform Twitter into this website. These functions are provided by Twitter International Company, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2, D02 AX07, Ireland. While you use Twitter and the “Re-Tweet” function, websites you visit are linked to your Twitter account and disclosed to other users. During this process, data are transferred to Twitter as well. We must point out, that we, the providers of the website and its pages do not know anything about the content of the data transferred and the use of this information by Twitter. For more details, please consult Twitter’s Data Privacy Declaration at: https://twitter.com/en/privacy.

The use of Twitter plug-ins is based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The operator of the website has a legitimate interest in being as visible as possible on social media. If a respective declaration of consent has been obtained, the data shall be processed exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. This declaration of consent may be revoked at any time.

Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here: https://gdpr.twitter.com/en/controller-to-controller-transfers.html.

You have the option to reset your data protection settings on Twitter under the account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings.

Instagram plug-in

We have integrated functions of the public media platform Instagram into this website. These functions are being offered by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.

If you are logged into your Instagram account, you may click the Instagram button to link contents from this website to your Instagram profile. This enables Instagram to allocate your visit to this website to your user account. We have to point out that we as the provider of the website and its pages do not have any knowledge of the content of the data transferred and its use by Instagram.

Data are stored and analyzed on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the highest possible visibility on social media. If a respective declaration of consent has been obtained, the data will be processed exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. Any such consent may be revoked at any time.

Insofar as personal data is collected on our website with the help of the tool described here and forwarded to Facebook or Instagram, we and Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland are jointly responsible for this data processing (Art. 26 DSGVO). The joint responsibility is limited exclusively to the collection of the data and its forwarding to Facebook or Instagram. The processing by Facebook or Instagram that takes place after the onward transfer is not part of the joint responsibility. The obligations incumbent on us jointly have been set out in a joint processing agreement. The wording of the agreement can be found under: https://www.facebook.com/legal/controller_addendum. According to this agreement, we are responsible for providing the privacy information when using the Facebook or Instagram tool and for the privacy-secure implementation of the tool on our website. Facebook is responsible for the data security of Facebook or Instagram products. You can assert data subject rights (e.g., requests for information) regarding data processed by Facebook or Instagram directly with Facebook. If you assert the data subject rights with us, we are obliged to forward them to Facebook.

Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/EU_data_transfer_addendum, https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875 and https://de-de.facebook.com/help/566994660333381.

For more information on this subject, please consult Instagram’s Data Privacy Declaration at: https://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.

6. Analysis tools and advertising

Matomo (formerly called Piwik)

This website uses the open-source web analysis service Matomo. Matomo uses technologies that make it possible to recognize the user across multiple pages with the aim of analyzing the user patterns (e.g. cookies or device fingerprinting). The information recorded by Matomo about the use of this website will be stored on our server. Prior to archiving, the IP address will first be anonymized.

Through Matomo, we are able to collect and analyze data on the use of our website-by-website visitors. This enables us to find out, for instance, when which page views occurred and from which region they came. In addition, we collect various log files (e.g. IP address, referrer, browser, and operating system used) and can measure whether our website visitors perform certain actions (e.g. clicks, purchases, etc.).

The use of this analysis tool is based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the analysis of user patterns, in order to optimize the operator’s web offerings and advertising. If a corresponding agreement has been requested (e.g. an agreement to the storage of cookies), the processing takes place exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; the agreement can be revoked at any time.

IP anonymisierung

For analysis with Matomo we use IP anonymization. Your IP address is shortened before the analysis, so that it is no longer clearly assignable to you.

Hosting

We host Matomo exclusively on our own servers so that all analysis data remains with us and is not passed on.

7. Plug-ins and Tools

YouTube with expanded data protection integration

Our website embeds videos of the website YouTube. The website operator is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

We use YouTube in the expanded data protection mode. According to YouTube, this mode ensures that YouTube does not store any information about visitors to this website before they watch the video. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean that the sharing of data with YouTube partners can be ruled out as a result of the expanded data protection mode. For instance, regardless of whether you are watching a video, YouTube will always establish a connection with the Google DoubleClick network.

As soon as you start to play a YouTube video on this website, a connection to YouTube’s servers will be established. As a result, the YouTube server will be notified, which of our pages you have visited. If you are logged into your YouTube account while you visit our site, you enable YouTube to directly allocate your browsing patterns to your personal profile. You have the option to prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

Furthermore, after you have started to play a video, YouTube will be able to place various cookies on your device or comparable technologies for recognition (e.g. device fingerprinting). In this way YouTube will be able to obtain information about this website’s visitors. Among other things, this information will be used to generate video statistics with the aim of improving the user friendliness of the site and to prevent attempts to commit fraud.

Under certain circumstances, additional data processing transactions may be triggered after you have started to play a YouTube video, which are beyond our control.

The use of YouTube is based on our interest in presenting our online content in an appealing manner. Pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, this is a legitimate interest. If a corresponding agreement has been requested, the processing takes place exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; the agreement can be revoked at any time.

For more information on how YouTube handles user data, please consult the YouTube Data Privacy Policy under: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Vimeo Without Tracking (Do-Not-Track)

This website uses plugins of the Vimeo video portal. The provider is Vimeo Inc., 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011, USA.

Whenever you visit one of our pages featuring Vimeo videos, a connection with the servers of Vimeo is established. In conjunction with this, the Vimeo server receives information about which of our sites you have visited. Vimeo also receives your IP address. However, we have set up Vimeo in such a way that Vimeo cannot track your user activities and does not place any cookies.

We use Vimeo to make our online presentation attractive for you. This is a legitimate interest on our part pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If a respective declaration of consent was requested (e.g. concerning the storage of cookies), processing shall occur exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; the given consent may be revoked at any time.

Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission and, according to Vimeo, on “legitimate business interests”. Details can be found here: https://vimeo.com/privacy.

For more information on the handling of user data, please consult Vimeo’s data privacy policy at: https://vimeo.com/privacy

Google Maps

This website uses the mapping service Google Maps. The provider is Google Ireland Limited (“Google”), Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland.

To enable the use of the Google Maps features, your IP address must be stored. As a rule, this information is transferred to one of Google’s servers in the United States, where it is archived. The operator of this website has no control over the data transfer. In case Google Maps has been activated, Google has the option to use Google web fonts for the purpose of the uniform depiction of fonts. When you access Google Maps, your browser will load the required web fonts into your browser cache, to correctly display text and fonts.

We use Google Maps to present our online content in an appealing manner and to make the locations disclosed on our website easy to find. This constitutes a legitimate interest as defined in Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. If a respective declaration of consent has been obtained, the data shall be processed exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. This declaration of consent may be revoked at any time.

Data transmission to the US is based on the Standard Contractual Clauses (SCC) of the European Commission. Details can be found here: https://privacy.google.com/businesses/gdprcontrollerterms/ and https://privacy.google.com/businesses/gdprcontrollerterms/sccs/.

For more information on the handling of user data, please review Google’s Data Privacy Declaration under: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en.

Spotify

We have integrated features of the Spotify music platform into this website. The provider is Spotify AB, Birger Jarlsgatan 61, 113 56 Stockholm, Sweden. You will be able to recognize Spotify plug-ins when you see the green logo on this website. An overview of Spotify’s plug-ins can be found at: https://developer.spotify.com.

The plug-in makes it possible to establish a direct connection between your browser and Spotify’s server when you visit this website. As a result, Spotify receives the information that you visited this website with your IP address. If you click the Spotify button while you are logged into your Spotify account, you have the option to link content from this website with your Spotify profile. Consequently, Spotify will be in a position to allocate your visit to this website to your user account.

We would like to point out that when using Spotify, cookies are used by Google Analytics so that your usage data can also be passed on to Google when using Spotify. Google Analytics is a tool of the Google Group for the analysis of user behavior with headquarters in the USA. Spotify alone is responsible for this integration. We as website operators have no influence on this processing.

Data are stored and analyzed on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the attractive acoustic presentation of the website. If a respective declaration of consent has been obtained (e.g. consent to the archiving of cookies), the data will be processed exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR. Any such consent may be revoked at any time.

For more information, please consult Spotify’s Data Protection Declaration under: https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/privacy-policy/.

If you do not want Spotify to be able to allocate the visit of this website to your Spotify user account, please log out of your Spotify user account while visiting our sites.

8. Online marketing and partner programs

Affiliate Programs on this website

The website operator participates in affiliate partner programs. If you click on a promotional ad on our website that participates in the partner program and subsequently engage in a transaction (e.g., a purchase), we will receive a commission from our affiliated partners. Hence, it is necessary that our affiliate partners can identify you and trace the fact that you were referred to the respective product through the promotional ad placed with us and that you have executed the predefined transaction. For this purpose, our affiliate partners use cookies or comparable recognition technology (e.g., device fingerprinting).

Data is stored and analyzed on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the correct computation of its affiliate compensation. If respective consent has been requested (e.g., consent to the storage of cookies), processing shall occur exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR; the consent may be revoked at any time.

We participate in the following affiliate programs:

Amazon partner program

The provider is Amazon Europe Core S.à.r.l. For details, please consult Amazon’s Data Privacy Declaration at: https://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201909010.