Privacy Policy

Personal data (usually referred to just as “data” below) will only be processed by us to the extent necessary and for the purpose of providing a functional and user-friendly website, including its contents, and the services offered there.

Per Art. 4 No. 1 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, i.e. the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the “GDPR”), “processing” refers to any operation or set of operations such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation, alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination, or otherwise making available, alignment, or combination, restriction, erasure, or destruction performed on personal data, whether by automated means or not.

The following privacy policy is intended to inform you in particular about the type, scope, purpose, duration, and legal basis for the processing of such data either under our own control or in conjunction with others. We also inform you below about the third-party components we use to optimize our website and improve the user experience which may result in said third parties also processing data they collect and control.

Our privacy policy is structured as follows:

I. Information about us as controllers of your data
II. The rights of users and data subjects
III. Information about the data processing

I. Information about us as controllers of your data

The party responsible for this website (the “controller”) for purposes of data protection law is:

Dr. Susanne Berger, Visual Science Communication
Im Balkenböhl 5
64342 Seeheim-Jugenheim
Germany

Telephone: 0049-151-51918474
Email: mail(AT)smukusch.de

The controller’s data protection officer is:

Dr. Susanne Berger

II. The rights of users and data subjects

With regard to the data processing to be described in more detail below, users and data subjects have the right

to confirmation of whether data concerning them is being processed, information about the data being processed, further information about the nature of the data processing, and copies of the data (cf. also Art. 15 GDPR);
to correct or complete incorrect or incomplete data (cf. also Art. 16 GDPR);
to the immediate deletion of data concerning them (cf. also Art. 17 DSGVO), or, alternatively, if further processing is necessary as stipulated in Art. 17 Para. 3 GDPR, to restrict said processing per Art. 18 GDPR;
to receive copies of the data concerning them and/or provided by them and to have the same transmitted to other providers/controllers (cf. also Art. 20 GDPR);
to file complaints with the supervisory authority if they believe that data concerning them is being processed by the controller in breach of data protection provisions (see also Art. 77 GDPR).

In addition, the controller is obliged to inform all recipients to whom it discloses data of any such corrections, deletions, or restrictions placed on processing the same per Art. 16, 17 Para. 1, 18 GDPR. However, this obligation does not apply if such notification is impossible or involves a disproportionate effort. Nevertheless, users have a right to information about these recipients.

Likewise, under Art. 21 GDPR, users and data subjects have the right to object to the controller’s future processing of their data pursuant to Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. In particular, an objection to data processing for the purpose of direct advertising is permissible.

III. Information about the data processing

Your data processed when using our website will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose for its storage ceases to apply, provided the deletion of the same is not in breach of any statutory storage obligations or unless otherwise stipulated below.

Cookies

a) Session cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files or other storage technologies stored on your computer by your browser. These cookies process certain specific information about you, such as your browser, location data, or IP address.

This processing makes our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure, allowing us, for example, to display our website in different languages or to offer a shopping cart function.

The legal basis for such processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b) GDPR, insofar as these cookies are used to collect data to initiate or process contractual relationships.

If the processing does not serve to initiate or process a contract, our legitimate interest lies in improving the functionality of our website. The legal basis is then Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

When you close your browser, these session cookies are deleted.

b) Third-party cookies

If necessary, our website may also use cookies from companies with whom we cooperate for the purpose of advertising, analyzing, or improving the features of our website.

Please refer to the following information for details, in particular for the legal basis and purpose of such third-party collection and processing of data collected through cookies.

c) Disabling cookies

You can refuse the use of cookies by changing the settings on your browser. Likewise, you can use the browser to delete cookies that have already been stored. However, the steps and measures required vary, depending on the browser you use. If you have any questions, please use the help function or consult the documentation for your browser or contact its maker for support. Browser settings cannot prevent so-called flash cookies from being set. Instead, you will need to change the setting of your Flash player. The steps and measures required for this also depend on the Flash player you are using. If you have any questions, please use the help function or consult the documentation for your Flash player or contact its maker for support.

If you prevent or restrict the installation of cookies, not all of the functions on our site may be fully usable.

If you register for our free newsletter, the data requested from you for this purpose, i.e. your email address and, optionally, your name and address, will be sent to us. We also store the IP address of your computer and the date and time of your registration. During the registration process, we will obtain your consent to receive this newsletter and the type of content it will offer, with reference made to this privacy policy. The data collected will be used exclusively to send the newsletter and will not be passed on to third parties.

The legal basis for this is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a) GDPR.

You may revoke your prior consent to receive this newsletter under Art. 7 Para. 3 GDPR with future effect. All you have to do is inform us that you are revoking your consent or click on the unsubscribe link contained in each newsletter.

Contact

If you contact us via email or the contact form, the data you provide will be used for the purpose of processing your request. We must have this data in order to process and answer your inquiry; otherwise we will not be able to answer it in full or at all.

The legal basis for this data processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b) GDPR.

Your data will be deleted once we have fully answered your inquiry and there is no further legal obligation to store your data, such as if an order or contract resulted therefrom.

User posts, comments, and ratings

We offer you the opportunity to post questions, answers, opinions, and ratings on our website, hereinafter referred to jointly as “posts.” If you make use of this opportunity, we will process and publish your post, the date and time you submitted it, and any pseudonym you may have used.

The legal basis for this is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a) GDPR. You may revoke your prior consent under Art. 7 Para. 3 GDPR with future effect. All you have to do is inform us that you are revoking your consent.

In addition, we will also process your IP address and email address. The IP address is processed because we might have a legitimate interest in taking or supporting further action if your post infringes the rights of third parties and/or is otherwise unlawful.

In this case, the legal basis is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in any legal defense we may have to mount.

Twitter

We maintain an online presence on Twitter to present our company and our services and to communicate with customers/prospects. Twitter is a service provided by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.

We would like to point out that this might cause user data to be processed outside the European Union, particularly in the United States. This may increase risks for users that, for example, may make subsequent access to the user data more difficult. We also do not have access to this user data. Access is only available to Twitter.

The privacy policy of Twitter can be found at

https://twitter.com/privacy

We maintain an online presence on LinkedIn to present our company and our services and to communicate with customers/prospects. LinkedIn is a service of LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Irland, a subsidiary of LinkedIn Corporation, 1000 W. Maude Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085, USA.

The LinkedIn privacy policy can be found here:

https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

Social media links via graphics

We also integrate the following social media sites into our website. The integration takes place via a linked graphic of the respective site. The use of these graphics stored on our own servers prevents the automatic connection to the servers of these networks for their display. Only by clicking on the corresponding graphic will you be forwarded to the service of the respective social network.

Once you click, that network may record information about you and your visit to our site. It cannot be ruled out that such data will be processed in the United States.

Initially, this data includes such things as your IP address, the date and time of your visit, and the page visited. If you are logged into your user account on that network, however, the network operator might assign the information collected about your visit to our site to your personal account. If you interact by clicking Like, Share, etc., this information can be stored your personal user account and possibly posted on the respective network. To prevent this, you need to log out of your social media account before clicking on the graphic. The various social media networks also offer settings that you can configure accordingly.

The following social networks are integrated into our site by linked graphics:

twitter

Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA

LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Irland, a subsidiary of LinkedIn Corporation, 1000 W. Maude Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085 USA.

Twitter plug-in

Our website uses the plug-in of the Twitter social network. The Twitter service is operated by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA (“Twitter”).

The legal basis is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in improving the quality of our website.

If the plug-in is stored on one of the pages you visit on our website, your browser will download an icon for the plug-in from Twitter’s servers in the USA. For technical reasons, it is necessary for Twitter to process your IP address. In addition, the date and time of your visit to our website will also be recorded.

If you are logged in to Twitter while visiting one of our plugged-in websites, the information collected by the plug-in from your specific visit will be recognized by Twitter. The information collected may then be assigned to your personal account at Twitter. If, for example, you use the Twitter Tweet button, this information will be stored in your Twitter account and may be published on the Twitter platform. To prevent this, you must either log out of Twitter before visiting our site or make the appropriate settings in your Twitter account.

Further information about the collection and use of data as well as your rights and protection options in Twitter’s privacy policy found at

https://twitter.com/privacy

Google Fonts

Our website uses Google Fonts to display external fonts. This is a service provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Irland (hereinafter: Google).

To enable the display of certain fonts on our website, a connection to the Google server in the USA is established whenever our website is accessed.

The legal basis is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the optimization and economic operation of our site.

When you access our site, a connection to Google is established from which Google can identify the site from which your request has been sent and to which IP address the fonts are being transmitted for display.

Google offers detailed information at

https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated

https://policies.google.com/privacy

in particular on options for preventing the use of data.

FontAwesome

In order to be able to display fonts and visual elements of our website, we use FontAwesome’s external fonts. FontAwesome is a service of

Fonticons Inc., 6 Porter Road, Apartment 3R, Cambridge, MA 02140, USA, hereinafter referred to as “FontAwesome”.

When you access our website, a connection is established to the FontAwesome server in the USA in order to enable and update the display of fonts and visual elements.

The legal basis is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the optimisation and economic operation of our website.

By connecting to the FontAwesome server when you access our website, FontAwesome can determine from which website your request was sent and to which IP address the font should be sent.

https://fontawesome.com/privacy

FontAwesome offers further information, in particular on the options for preventing data use.

MailChimp – Newsletter

We offer you the opportunity to register for our free newsletter via our website.

We use MailChimp, a service of The Rocket Science Group, LLC, 512 Means Street, Suite 404, Atlanta, GA 30318, USA, hereinafter referred to as “The Rocket Science Group”.

In addition, the Rocket Science Group offers further information about its data protection practices at

http://mailchimp.com/legal/privacy/

If you register for our free newsletter, the data requested from you for this purpose, i.e. your email address and, optionally, your name and address, will be processed by The Rocket Science Group. In addition, your IP address and the date and time of your registration will be saved. During the registration process, your consent to receive this newsletter will be obtained together with a concrete description of the type of content it will offer and reference made to this privacy policy.

The newsletter then sent out by The Rocket Science Group will also contain a tracking pixel called a web beacon. This pixel helps us evaluate whether and when you have read our newsletter and whether you have clicked any links contained therein. In addition to further technical data, such as data about your computer hardware and your IP address, the data processed will be stored so that we can optimize our newsletter and respond to the wishes of our readers. The data will therefore increase the quality and attractiveness of our newsletter.

The legal basis for sending the newsletter and the analysis is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a) GDPR.

Model Data Protection Statement for Anwaltskanzlei Weiß & Partner