TLS encryption with https
We use https to transmit data over the internet in a tap-proof manner (data protection by design of technology Article 25(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 protection of data transmission by the small lock symbol at the top left of the browser and the use of the scheme https (instead of http) as part of our Internet address.
Embedded Social Media Elements Privacy Policy
We embed elements of social media services on our website to display images, videos and text.
By visiting pages that display these elements, data is transferred from your browser to the respective social media service and stored there. We do not have access to this data.
The following links will take you to the pages of the respective social media services where it is explained how they handle your data:
Facebook Privacy Policy
We use selected tools from Facebook on our website. Facebook is a social media network owned by Facebook Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2 Ireland. With the help of these tools we can offer you and people who are interested in our products and services the best possible offer. Below we provide an overview of the different Facebook tools, what data is sent to Facebook and how you can delete this data.
What are Facebook Tools?
Among many other products, Facebook also offers the so-called “Facebook Business Tools”. This is the official name of Facebook. However, since the term is hardly known, we decided to just call them Facebook Tools. Among them are:
- Facebook Pixel
- social plug-ins (such as the “Like” or “Share” button)
- Facebook login
- Account Kit
- APIs (application programming interface)
- SDKs (collection of programming tools)
- Platform integrations
- Plugins
- Codes
- Specifications
- Documentations
- Technologies and services
Through these tools, Facebook extends services and has the ability to obtain information about user activity outside of Facebook.
Why do we use Facebook tools on our website?
We want to show our services and products only to people who are really interested in them. With the help of advertisements (Facebook Ads) we can reach exactly these people. However, in order to show suitable ads to users, Facebook needs information about people’s wants and needs. Thus, information about user behavior (and contact data) on our website is made available to the company. As a result, Facebook collects better user data and can show interested people the appropriate advertising about our products or services. The tools thus enable customized advertising campaigns on Facebook.
Data about your behavior on our website is called “event data” by Facebook. This is also used for measurement and analysis services. Facebook can thus create “campaign reports” on our behalf about the impact of our advertising campaigns. Furthermore, analytics give us better insight into how you use our services, website or products. As a result, we use some of these tools to optimize your user experience on our website. For example, social plug-ins allow you to share content on our site directly on Facebook.
What data is stored by Facebook tools?
By using individual Facebook tools, personal data (customer data) may be sent to Facebook. Depending on the tools used, customer data such as name, address, phone number and IP address may be sent.
Facebook uses this information to match the data with the data it itself has from you (if you are a Facebook member). Before customer data is sent to Facebook, a process called “hashing” takes place. This means that a data record of any size is transformed into a character string. This also serves to encrypt data.
In addition to contact data, “event data” is also transmitted. Event data” refers to the information that we receive about you on our website. For example, which subpages you visit or which products you buy from us. Facebook does not share the information it receives with third parties (such as advertisers) unless the company has explicit permission or is legally required to do so. “Event data” may also be associated with contact information. This allows Facebook to offer better personalized advertising. After the matching process already mentioned, Facebook deletes the contact data again.
In order to be able to deliver ads in an optimized way, Facebook only uses event data if it has been combined with other data (collected by Facebook in other ways). Facebook also uses this event data for security, protection, development, and research purposes. Much of this data is transferred to Facebook via cookies. Cookies are small text files used to store data or information in browsers. Depending on the tools you use and whether you are a Facebook member, different numbers of cookies are created in your browser. We go into more detail about individual Facebook cookies in the descriptions of each Facebook tool. You can also learn general information about the use of Facebook cookies at https://www.facebook.com/policies/cookies.
How long is the data stored and where?
Basically, Facebook stores data until it is no longer needed for its own services and Facebook products. Facebook has servers located around the world where your data is stored. However, customer data is deleted within 48 hours after it has been matched with its own user data.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
In accordance with the Basic Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to information, correction, portability and deletion of your data.
A complete deletion of data only occurs if you delete your Facebook account completely. And this is how deleting your Facebook account works:
1) Click Settings on the right side of Facebook.
2) Then click “Your Facebook information” in the left column.
3) Now click “Deactivation and deletion”.
4) Now select “Delete account” and then click “Continue and delete account”.
5) Now enter your password, click “Continue” and then click “Delete account”.
The storage of data that Facebook receives via our site is done, among other things, via cookies (e.g. for social plugins). In your browser, you can disable, delete or manage individual or all cookies. Depending on which browser you use, this works in different ways. The following instructions show how to manage cookies in your browser:
Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome.
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies.
Microsoft Edge: Deleting and managing cookies.
If you generally don’t want cookies, you can set your browser to notify you whenever a cookie is about to be set. This way, you can decide for each individual cookie whether you allow it or not.
Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework, which regulates the correct and secure transfer of personal data. For more information, please visit https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC. We hope we have brought you closer to the most important information about the use and data processing by Facebook tools. If you want to learn more about how Facebook uses your data, we recommend that you read the Data Policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/update.
Instagram Privacy Policy
We have incorporated features from Instagram on our website. Instagram is a social media platform of the company Instagram LLC, 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA. Instagram has been a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. since 2012 and is one of Facebook’s products. Embedding Instagram content on our website is called embedding. This allows us to show you content such as buttons, photos or videos from Instagram directly on our website. When you call up web pages on our website that have an Instagram function integrated, data is transmitted to Instagram, stored and processed. Instagram uses the same systems and technologies as Facebook. Your data is thus processed across all Facebook companies.
In the following, we want to give you a more detailed insight into why Instagram collects data, what kind of data it is and how you can largely control the data processing. Since Instagram belongs to Facebook Inc., we obtain our information on the one hand from the Instagram policies, but on the other hand also from the Facebook data policies themselves.
What is Instagram?
Instagram is one of the most popular social media networks in the world. Instagram combines the advantages of a blog with the advantages of audiovisual platforms like YouTube or Vimeo. You can upload photos and short videos on “Insta” (as many of the users casually call the platform), edit them with various filters and also distribute them on other social networks. And if you don’t want to be active yourself, you can just follow other interesting users.
Why do we use Instagram on our website?
Instagram is that social media platform that has really gone through the roof in the last few years. And of course, we have also responded to this boom. We want you to feel as comfortable as possible on our website. That’s why a varied preparation of our content is a matter of course for us. Through the embedded Instagram features, we can enrich our content with helpful, funny or exciting content from the Instagram world. Since Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook, the data collected can also serve us for personalized advertising on Facebook. This way, only people who are really interested in our products or services receive our ads.
Instagram also uses the collected data for measurement and analysis purposes. We get aggregate statistics and thus more insight about your preferences and interests. It is important to note that these reports do not identify you personally.
What data is stored by Instagram?
When you come across one of our pages that have Instagram features (such as Instagram images or plug-ins) built in, your browser automatically connects to Instagram’s servers. In the process, data is sent to Instagram, stored and processed. And this is regardless of whether you have an Instagram account or not. This includes information about our website, about your computer, about purchases made, about advertisements you see and how you use our offer. Furthermore, the date and time of your interaction with Instagram is also stored. If you have an Instagram account or are logged in, Instagram stores significantly more data about you.
Facebook distinguishes between customer data and event data. We assume that this is exactly the case with Instagram. Customer data is, for example, name, address, phone number and IP address. It is important to mention that this customer data is only transmitted to Instagram if you have been “hashed” beforehand. Hashing means that a data record is transformed into a string. This allows you to encrypt the contact data. In addition, the “event data” mentioned above is also transmitted. By “event data” Facebook – and consequently Instagram – understands data about your user behavior. It may also happen that contact data is combined with event data. The collected contact data is matched with the data that Instagram already has from you.
Via small text files (cookies), which are usually set in your browser, the collected data is transmitted to Facebook. Depending on the Instagram functions used and whether you yourself have an Instagram account, different amounts of data are stored.
We assume that Instagram’s data processing works the same as Facebook’s. This means that if you have an Instagram account or have visited www.instagram.com, Instagram has at least set a cookie. If this is the case, your browser sends info to Instagram via the cookie as soon as you come into contact with an Instagram function. At the latest after 90 days (after matching), this data is deleted again or anonymized. Although we have intensively studied Instagram’s data processing, we cannot say exactly what data Instagram collects and stores.
In the following, we show you cookies that are set in your browser at least when you click on an Instagram function (such as button or an Insta image). In our test, we assume that you do not have an Instagram account. Of course, if you are logged into Instagram, significantly more cookies are set in your browser.
These cookies were used in our test:
Name: csrftoken
Value: “”
Purpose: This cookie is most likely set for security reasons, to prevent forgery of requests. However, we could not find out more precisely.
Expiration date: after one year.
Name: mid
value: “”
Purpose: Instagram sets this cookie to optimize its own services and offerings on and off Instagram. The cookie sets a unique user ID.
Expiration date: after the session ends.
Name: fbsr_311189308124024
Value:none specified.
Purpose: This cookie stores the log-in request for users of the Instagram app.
Expiration date: after the session ends.
Name: rur
Value:ATN
Purpose: This is an Instagram cookie that provides functionality on Instagram.
Expiration date: after the end of the session.
Name: urlgen
Wert: “{\”194.96.75.33\”: 1901}:1iEtYv:Y833k2_UjKvXgYe311189308”
Purpose: This cookie is used for Instagram’s marketing purposes.
Expiration date: after the end of the session.
Note: We can not claim completeness here. Which cookies are set in individual cases depends on the embedded features and your use of Instagram.
How long is the data stored and where?
Instagram shares the information it receives between Facebook companies with external partners and with people you connect with around the world. The data processing is done in compliance with its own data policy. Your data is distributed on Facebook servers around the world, partly for security reasons. Most of these servers are located in the United States.
How can I delete my data or prevent it from being stored?
Thanks to the Basic Data Protection Regulation, you have the right to access, portability, rectification and deletion of your data. You can manage your data in the Instagram settings. If you want to completely delete your data on Instagram, you need to permanently delete your Instagram account.
And this is how deleting Instagram account works:
First, open the Instagram app. On your profile page, go down and click on “Help section”. Now you will get to the company’s website. On the webpage, click “Manage account” and then click “Delete your account”.
If you delete your account entirely, Instagram will delete posts such as your photos and status updates. Information that other people have shared about you does not belong to your account and consequently will not be deleted.
As mentioned above, Instagram stores your data primarily via cookies. You can manage, disable or delete these cookies in your browser. Depending on your browser, the management always works a bit differently. Here we show you the instructions for the most important browsers.
Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome.
Safari: Manage Cookies and Website Data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies.
Microsoft Edge: Deleting and Managing Cookies
You can also basically set up your browser to always notify you when a cookie is about to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.
Instagram is a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. and Facebook is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can learn more at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000GnywAAC . We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about Instagram’s data processing. Auf https://help.instagram.com/519522125107875
you can take an even closer look at Instagram’s data policies.
Twitter privacy policy
On our website, we have incorporated features from Twitter. These are, for example, embedded tweets, timelines, buttons or hashtags. Twitter is a short message service and a social media platform of the company Twitter Inc, One Cumberland Place, Fenian Street, Dublin 2 D02 AX07, Ireland.
To our knowledge, in the European Economic Area and Switzerland, no personal data or data about your web activities is transmitted to Twitter by the mere inclusion of Twitter functions. Only when you interact with the Twitter functions, such as clicking on a button, can data be sent to Twitter, stored there and processed. We have no influence on this data processing and bear no responsibility for it. Within the framework of this privacy policy, we want to give you an overview of what data Twitter stores, what Twitter does with this data and how you can protect yourself from the data transmission to a large extent.
What is Twitter?
For some, Twitter is a news service, for others it is a social media platform, and still others refer to it as a microblogging service. All these terms have their justification and mean more or less the same thing.
Both private individuals and companies use Twitter to communicate with interested people via short messages. Twitter only allows 280 characters per message. These messages are called “tweets.” Unlike Facebook, for example, the service does not focus on expanding a network for “friends”, but wants to be understood as a worldwide and open news platform. On Twitter, it is also possible to have an anonymous account and tweets can be deleted by the company on the one hand, and by the users themselves on the other.
Why do we use Twitter on our website?
Like many other websites and companies, we try to offer our services and communicate with our customers through various channels. Twitter in particular has grown on us as a useful “little” news service. Again and again we tweet or retweet exciting, funny or interesting content. We realize that you can’t follow every channel separately. After all, you also have something else to do. That’s why we have included Twitter features on our website. You can follow our Twitter activity “on the spot” or follow a direct link to our Twitter page. Through the integration, we want to strengthen our service and user experience on our website.
What data is stored by Twitter?
On some of our subpages you will find the built-in Twitter features. When you interact with Twitter content, such as clicking on a button, Twitter may collect and store data. This is the case even if you do not have a Twitter account yourself. Twitter calls this data “log data.” It includes demographic data, browser cookie IDs, your smartphone’s ID, hashed email addresses, and information about what pages you visited on Twitter and what actions you took. Twitter, of course, stores more data if you have a Twitter account and are logged in. Most of the time, this storage happens via cookies. Cookies are small text files that are usually set in your browser and transmit different information to Twitter.
We will now show you which cookies are set when you are not logged in to Twitter but visit a website with built-in Twitter features. Please consider this list as an example. We can in no way guarantee a claim to completeness here, as the choice of cookies always changes and depends on your individual actions with Twitter content.
These cookies were used in our test:
Name: personalization_id
Wert: “v1_cSJIsogU51SeE311189308”
Purpose: This cookie stores information about how you use the website and which advertisements you may have come to Twitter from.
Expiration date: after 2 years.
Name:long.
Value: en
Purpose: This cookie stores your default or preferred language.
Expiration date: after session end.
Name: guest_id
Wert: 311189308v1%3A157132626
Purpose: This cookie is set to identify you as a guest.
Expiration date: after 2 years.
Name: fm
Value: 0
Purpose: Unfortunately, we could not find out the purpose for this cookie.
Expiration date: after session end.
Name: external_referer
Wert: 3111893082beTA0sf5lkMrlGt
Purpose: This cookie collects anonymous data, such as how often you visit Twitter and how long you visit Twitter.
Expiration date: After 6 days.
Name: eu_cn
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie stores user activity and is used for various advertising purposes by Twitter.
Expiration date: After one year.
Name: ct0
Wert: c1179f07163a365d2ed7aad84c99d966
Purpose: Unfortunately, we have not found any information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 6 hours.
Name: _twitter_sess
Wert: 53D%253D–dd0248311189308-
Purpose: This cookie allows you to use features within the Twitter website.
Expiration date: after session end.
Note: Twitter also works with third-party providers. That is why we also detected the three Google Analytics cookies _ga, _gat, _gid in our test.
Twitter uses the collected data on the one hand to better understand user behavior and thus improve their own services and advertising offers, on the other hand, the data also serve internal security measures.
How long and where is the data stored?
When Twitter collects data from other websites, it is deleted, aggregated, or otherwise obscured after a maximum of 30 days. Twitter’s servers are located on various server centers in the United States. Accordingly, it can be assumed that collected data is collected and stored in America. After our research, we could not clearly determine whether Twitter also has its own servers in Europe. In principle, Twitter can store the collected data until it is no longer useful to the company, you delete the data or there is a legal deletion period.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
Twitter repeatedly emphasizes in its privacy policy that it does not store data from external website visits if you or your browser are located in the European Economic Area or Switzerland. However, if you interact with Twitter directly, Twitter will of course store data from you.
If you have a Twitter account, you can manage your data by clicking “More” under the “Profile” button. Then click on “Settings and privacy”. Here you can manage the data processing individually.
If you do not have a Twitter account, you can go to twitter.com and then click on “Individualization”. Under the “Individualization and Data” section, you can manage your collected data.
Most of the data is stored via cookies, as mentioned above, and you can manage, disable or delete them in your browser. Please note that you only “edit” cookies in the browser you choose. That means: if you use another browser in the future, you will have to manage your cookies there again according to your wishes. Here are the instructions for cookie management of the most popular browsers.
Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome.
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: delete and manage cookies.
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies.
You can also manage your browser in such a way that you are informed about every single cookie. Then you can always decide individually whether to allow a cookie or not.
Twitter also uses the data for personalized advertising inside and outside of Twitter. In the settings, you can disable personalized advertising under “Individualization and data”. If you use Twitter on a browser, you can disable personalized advertising at http://optout.aboutads.info/?c=2&lang=EN.
Twitter is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the United States and the European Union. Go to https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000TORzAAO to learn more.
We hope we have given you a basic overview of Twitter’s data processing. We do not receive any data from Twitter, nor do we have any responsibility for what Twitter does with your data. If you have any further questions about this topic, we encourage you to review Twitter’s privacy policy at https://twitter.com/de/privacy.
LinkedIn Privacy Policy
We use social plug-ins of the social media network LinkedIn, of the company LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA on our website. The social plug-ins may be feeds, sharing content or linking to our LinkedIn page. The social plug-ins are clearly marked with the familiar LinkedIn logo and allow, for example, interesting content to be shared directly via our website. For the European Economic Area and Switzerland, LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company Wilton Place in Dublin is responsible for data processing.
By embedding such plug-ins, data can be sent to LinkedIn, stored and processed there. In this privacy policy, we want to inform you about what data is involved, how the network uses this data and how you can manage or prevent the data storage.
What is LinkedIn?
LinkedIn is the largest social network for business contacts. Unlike Facebook, for example, it focuses exclusively on building business contacts. Companies can present services and products on the platform and establish business relationships. Many people also use LinkedIn to look for jobs or to find suitable employees for their own company. In Germany alone, the network has over 11 million members. In Austria, there are about 1.3 million.
Why do we use LinkedIn on our website?
We know how busy you are. There’s no way to follow all the social media channels one by one. Even if, as in our case, it would be worth it. Because time and again we post interesting news or reports that are worth spreading. That’s why we’ve made it possible on our website to share interesting content directly on LinkedIn or to link directly to our LinkedIn page. We consider built-in social plug-ins as an extended service on our website. The data that LinkedIn collects also helps us to show possible promotional activities only to people who are interested in our offer.
What data is stored by LinkedIn?
Just by merely including the social plug-ins, LinkedIn does not store any personal data. LinkedIn calls this data generated by plug-ins passive impressions. However, when you click on a social plug-in to share our content, for example, the platform stores personal data as so-called “active impressions”. And this is regardless of whether you have a LinkedIn account or not. If you are logged in, the collected data is assigned to your account.
Your browser establishes a direct connection to LinkedIn’s servers when you interact with our plug-ins. In this way, the company logs various usage data. In addition to your IP address, this can be login data, device information or info about your internet or mobile provider, for example. If you access LinkedIn services via your smartphone, your location (after you have allowed this) can also be determined. LinkedIn may also share this data in “hashed” form with third-party advertisers. Hashing means turning a record into a string of characters. This makes it possible to encrypt the data in such a way that people can no longer be identified.
Most data about your user behavior is stored in cookies. These are small text files that are usually set in your browser. Furthermore, LinkedIn can also use web beacons, pixel tags, display tags and other device identifiers.
Various tests also show which cookies are set when a user interacts with a social plug-in. The data found cannot claim to be exhaustive and is provided as an example only. The following cookies were set without being logged into LinkedIn:
name: bcookie
Wert: =2&34aab2aa-2ae1-4d2a-8baf-c2e2d7235c16311189308-
Purpose: The cookie is a so-called “browser ID cookie” and consequently stores your identification number (ID).
Expiration date: After 2 years.
Name: long
Value: v=2&lang=en-en
Purpose: This cookie stores your preset or preferred language.
Expiration date: after session end.
Name: lidc
Wert: 1818367:t=1571904767:s=AQF6KNnJ0G311189308…
Purpose: This cookie is used for routing. Routing records the ways you came to LinkedIn and how you navigate through the website there.
Expiration date: after 24 hours.
Name: rtc
Value: kt0lrv3NF3x3t6xvDgGrZGDKkX
Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 2 minutes.
Name: JSESSIONID
Wert: ajax:3111893082900777718326218137
Purpose: This is a session cookie that LinkedIn uses to maintain anonymous user sessions through the server.
Expiration date: after session end.
Name: bscookie
Wert: “v=1&201910230812…
Purpose: This cookie is a security cookie. LinkedIn describes it as a secure-browser ID cookie.
Expiration date: after 2 years.
Name: fid
Value: AQHj7Ii23ZBcqAAAA…
Purpose: No further information could be found about this cookie.
Expiration date: after 7 days.
Note: LinkedIn also works with third-party providers. That’s why we also detected the two Google Analytics cookies _ga and _gat during our test.
How long and where is the data stored?
Generally, LinkedIn retains your personal data for as long as it deems necessary to provide its services. However, LinkedIn deletes your personal data when you delete your account. In some exceptional cases, LinkedIn retains some data in aggregate and anonymized form even after you delete your account. Once you delete your account, other people will not be able to see your data within one day. LinkedIn generally deletes data within 30 days. However, LinkedIn retains data if it is necessary due to legal obligation. Data that can no longer be assigned to individuals remain stored even after the account is closed. The data is stored on various servers in America and presumably also in Europe.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
You have the right to access and also delete your personal data at any time. In your LinkedIn account, you can manage, change and delete your data. In addition, you can also request a copy of your personal data from LinkedIn.
To access account data in your LinkedIn profile:
In LinkedIn, click on your profile icon and select the “Settings and Privacy” section. Now click on “Privacy” and then in the “How LinkedIn uses your data” section click on “Change”. In just a short time, you will be able to download selected data about your web activity and account history.
You also have the option in your browser to prevent LinkedIn from processing your data. As mentioned above, LinkedIn stores most data via cookies that are set in your browser. You can manage, deactivate or delete these cookies. Depending on which browser you have, the management works slightly differently. You can find instructions for the most popular browsers here:
Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome.
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies.
Microsoft Edge: Deleting and Managing Cookies
You can also basically set up your browser to always inform you when a cookie is about to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.
LinkedIn is an active participant in the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield Framework. This framework ensures proper data transfer between the U.S. and the European Union. You can learn more about it at https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt0000000L0UZAA0. We have tried to bring you closer to the most important information about LinkedIn’s data processing. On https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy you can learn even more about the data processing of the social media network LinkedIn.
XING Privacy Policy
We use social plugins of the social media network Xing, of the company Xing SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany, on our website. Through these functions, you can, for example, share content on Xing directly via our website, log in via Xing or follow interesting content. You can recognize the plug-ins by the company name or the Xing logo. If you call up a website that uses a Xing plug-in, data may be transmitted to the “Xing servers”, stored and analyzed. In this data protection declaration, we want to inform you about what data is involved and how you can manage or prevent this data storage.
What is Xing?
Xing is a social network headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company specializes in managing professional contacts. That is, unlike other networks, Xing is primarily about professional networking. The platform is often used for job searches or to find employees for one’s own company. In addition, Xing offers interesting content on various professional topics. The global counterpart to this is the American company LinkedIn.
Why do we use Xing on our website?
There is now a glut of social media channels and we are well aware that your time is very valuable. Not every company’s social media channel can be scrutinized closely. That’s why we want to make your life as easy as possible, so you can share or follow interesting content directly from our website on Xing. With such “social plug-ins” we expand our service on our website. In addition, the data collected by Xing helps us to carry out targeted advertising measures on the platform. This means our service is only shown to people who are really interested in it.
What data is stored by Xing?
Xing offers the share button, the follow button, and the log-in button as plug-ins for websites. As soon as you open a page where a social plug-in from Xing is built in, your browser connects to servers in a data center used by Xing. In the case of the share button, no data is to be stored – according to Xing – that could infer a direct reference to a person. In particular, Xing does not store your IP address. Furthermore, no cookies are set in connection with the share button. Thus, no evaluation of your user behavior takes place. You can obtain more information about this via https://www.xing.com/app/share%3Fop%3Ddata_protection.
For the other Xing plug-ins, cookies are only set in your browser when you interact with or click on the plug-in. Here, personal data such as your IP address, browser data, date and time of your page view may be stored at Xing. If you have a XING account and are logged in, collected data will be assigned to your personal account and the data stored therein.
The following cookies are set in your browser when you click on the follow or log in button and are not yet logged in to Xing. Please keep in mind that this is an exemplary list and we cannot claim completeness:
Name: AMCVS_0894FF2554F733210A4C98C6%40AdobeOrg
Value: 1
Purpose: This cookie is used to create and store website visitor identifiers.
Expiration date: after session end.
Name: c_
Wert: 157c609dc9fe7d7ff56064c6de87b019311189308-8
Purpose: We could not find out more information about this cookie.
Expiration date: after one day.
Name: prevPage
Value: wbm%2FWelcome%2Flogin
Purpose: This cookie stores the URL of the previous web page you visited.
Expiration date: after 30 minutes.
Name: s_cc
Value: true
Purpose: This Adobe Site Catalyst cookie determines whether cookies are generally enabled in the browser.
Expiration date: after session end.
Name: s_fid
Wert: 6897CDCD1013221C-39DDACC982217CD1311189308-2
Purpose: This cookie is used to identify a unique visitor.
Expiration date: after 5 years.
Name: visitor_id
Wert: fe59fbe5-e9c6-4fca-8776-30d0c1a89c32
Purpose: The visitor cookie contains a unique visitor ID and the unique identifier for your account.
Expiration date: after 2 years.
Name:_session_id
Wert: 533a0a6641df82b46383da06ea0e84e7311189308-2
Purpose: This cookie creates a temporary session ID that is used as an in-session user ID. The cookie is absolutely necessary to provide the features of Xing.
Expiration date: after session end.
As soon as you are logged in or a member of Xing, further personal data is definitely collected, processed and stored. Xing also discloses personal data to third parties if this is necessary for the fulfillment of its own business purposes, if you have given your consent or if there is a legal obligation.
How long is the data stored and where?
Xing stores data on various servers in various data centers. The company stores this data until you delete the data or until a user account is deleted. Of course, this only affects users who are already Xing members.
How can I delete my data or prevent the data from being stored?
You have the right to access and also delete your personal data at any time. Even if you are not a Xing member, you can use your browser to prevent possible data processing or manage it according to your wishes. Most data is stored via cookies. Depending on which browser you have, the management works slightly differently. You can find the instructions for the most common browsers here:
Chrome: Delete, enable and manage cookies in Chrome.
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have placed on your computer
Internet Explorer: deleting and managing cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies.
You can also basically set up your browser to always inform you when a cookie is about to be set. Then you can always decide individually whether you want to allow the cookie or not.
We have tried to provide you with the most important information about data processing by Xing. On https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung you can learn even more about the data processing of the social media network Xing.
Google reCAPTCHA Privacy Policy
Our primary goal is to keep our website as secure and safe as possible for you and for us. To ensure this, we use Google reCAPTCHA of the 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. With reCAPTCHA we can determine whether you are really a flesh and blood human being 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 to verify the information. With reCAPTCHA from Google, we usually don’t have to bother you with such puzzles. Here, in most cases, it is enough to simply check a box to confirm that you are not a bot. With the new Invisible reCAPTCHA version, you don’t even have to set a checkmark anymore. You’ll learn exactly how this works and, more importantly, what data is used to do it later in this privacy policy.
What is reCAPTCHA?
reCAPTCHA is a free captcha service from Google that protects websites from spam software and abuse by non-human visitors. The most common use of this service is when you fill out forms on the Internet. A captcha service is a kind of automatic Turing test, designed to ensure that an action on the Internet is performed by a human and not by a bot. In the classic Turing test (named after computer scientist Alan Turing), a human determines the distinction between a bot and a human. In captchas, the computer or a software program also does this. Classic captchas work with small tasks that are easy for humans to solve, but present significant difficulties for machines. With reCAPTCHA, you no longer have to actively solve puzzles. The tool uses modern risk techniques to distinguish humans from bots. Here, you only need to check the “I am not a robot” text box, or with Invisible reCAPTCHA, even that is no longer necessary. With reCAPTCHA, a JavaScript element is included in 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 even before the captcha is entered how likely you are to be a human. reCAPTCHA or captchas in general are always used when 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 flesh and blood people to our site. Bots or spam software of any kind may safely stay at home. That’s why we pull out all the stops to protect ourselves and provide the best possible user experience for you. For this reason we use Google reCAPTCHA from Google. This way we can be pretty sure that we remain a “bot-free” website. By using reCAPTCHA, data is transmitted to Google to determine whether you are actually human. reCAPTCHA is therefore used to ensure the security of our website and, by extension, 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.
What data is stored by reCAPTCHA?
reCAPTCHA collects personal data from users to determine if actions on our website are actually from humans. Thus, the IP address and other data required by Google for the reCAPTCHA service may be sent to Google. IP addresses are almost always shortened beforehand within the member states of the EU or other contracting states to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before the data ends up on a server in the USA. The IP address is not combined with other data from Google unless you are logged in with 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 places an additional cookie on your browser and collects a snapshot of your browser window.
The following list of collected browser and user data, does not claim to be exhaustive. Rather, they are examples of data that, to our knowledge, are processed by Google.
- Referrer URL (the address of the page from which the visitor comes)
- IP address (e.g. 256.123.123.1)
- Info 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 stored)
- Date and language settings (which language or date you have preset on your PC will be 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 (indicates how many pixels the image display consists of)
Indisputably, Google uses and analyzes this data even before you click the “I am not a robot” checkbox. With the Invisible reCAPTCHA version, even the ticking is omitted and the whole recognition process runs in the background. How much and which data Google stores exactly, Google does not tell you in detail.
The following cookies are used by reCAPTCHA: Here we refer to the reCAPTCHA demo version from Google at https://www.google.com/recaptcha/api2/demo. All of 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-311189308-8
Purpose: This cookie is set by the DoubleClick company (also owned by Google) to register and report a user’s actions on the website in dealing with advertisements. Thus, 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
Wert: 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 display relevant ads to users. 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: U7j1v3dZa3111893080xgZFmiqWppRWKOr
Purpose: We could not find out much info about this cookie. Google’s privacy policy mentions the cookie in the context of “advertising cookies” such as “DSID”, “FLC”, “AID”, “TAID”. ANID is stored under domain google.com.
Expiration date: after 9 months.
Name: CONSENT
Wert: YES+AT.de+20150628-20-0
Purpose: The cookie stores the status of a user’s consent to use different services from Google. CONSENT is also used for security purposes to verify users, prevent credential fraud, and protect user data from unauthorized attacks.
Expiration date: after 19 years.
Name: NID
Wert: 0WmuWqy311189308zILzqV_nmt3sDXwPeM5Q
Purpose: NID is used by Google to customize ads to your Google search. With the help of the cookie, Google “remembers” your most entered search queries or your previous interaction with ads. This way you will always get tailored ads. The cookie contains a unique ID to collect personal settings of the user for advertising purposes.
Expiration date: after 6 months.
Name: DV
Wert: gEAABBCjJMXcI0dSAAAANbqc311189308-4
Purpose: Once you have checked the “I am not a robot” box, this cookie will be set. The cookie is used by Google Analytics for personalized advertising. DV collects information in anonymous form and is further used to make user distinctions.
Expiration date: after 10 minutes.
Note: This enumeration can not claim to be complete, because Google experience shows that the choice of their cookies also changed again and again.
How long and where will the data be stored?
By inserting reCAPTCHA, data is transferred from you to the Google server. Where exactly this data is stored, Google does not make clear, 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 in to your Google account while using the reCAPTCHA plug-in, the data will be merged. The deviating data protection provisions of Google apply to this.
How can I delete my data or prevent data storage?
If you do not want any data about you and your behavior to be transmitted to Google, before you visit our website or use the reCAPTCHA software, you must log out of Google completely and delete all Google cookies. Basically, as soon as you visit our site, the data is automatically transmitted to Google. To delete this data again, you need to contact Google support at https://support.google.com/?hl=de&tid=311189308.
So, by using our website, you consent to the automatic collection, processing and use of data by Google LLC and its agents.
You can learn a bit more about reCAPTCHA on Google’s web developer page at https://developers.google.com/recaptcha/. Google does go into more detail about the technical development of reCAPTCHA here, but you will search in vain for precise information about data storage and privacy-related topics there as well. A good overview of Google’s basic use of data can be found in its in-house privacy policy at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/.
Source: Created with the Data Protection Generator by AdSimple in cooperation with slashtechnik.de