Privacy

Dear user,
Thank you for visiting our website. Protecting your data during all business processes is a matter of great importance to us. The following data protection regulations provide information on how your data is used.

Access data
In order to improve the quality of our website, a standard data record is created regarding individual access to the website. This data record comprises:

the page from which the file was requested,
the name of the file requested,
the date and time of the enquiry,
the volume of data transmitted,
the access status (file transmitted, file not found, etc.),
a description of the type of web browser used,
the IP address of the computer making the request but without the last three digits.
This data is anonymised and stored in accordance with the German Telemedia Act (TMG). The creation of personal user profiles is thereby precluded.

User-related data
Any user-related data recorded is only stored for the duration of the business relationship and is used exclusively for the agreed business purposes as well as to inform you of news and services. The data is not passed on to third parties.

Cookies
If you use our website, small text files will be used which are stored on your computer (so-called „Cookies“). We use cookies to facilitate and to improve the use of our website.
Our cookies allow (re-)identification of recurrent users during visits to our website; however, no directly identifiable personal data, with the exemption of static IP addresses, will be processed.
To offer you the best possible service and website experience, we may use both „permanent cookies“ and „session cookies“.
Data stored in permanent cookies allow us to provide you with a comfortable use of our website, as these cookies allow us to identify recurrent visits. Data will only be used by us for this specific purpose.
Deactivation of permanent cookies does not affect the usability of our website.
Data stored in session cookies only affect your current visit to our website and will allow us to provide you with our services and give you the opportunity to make full use of our services, as well as experiencing a more comfortable use of our website.
When you disable session cookies, we cannot guarantee that you can make full use of all services we provide. The website may be partly or fully dysfunctional.
If you do not want cookies to be stored on your computer, you can change your browser settings (information can be found in the help function in the menu bar of your browser). Already on your computer stored cookies can be removed by deleting temporary files.

Google Analytics
We create pseudonymised user profiles in order to design our website appropriately. You can refuse to permit this at any time:
1.) You can stop cookies from being saved by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this, you may not be able to make full use of all the functions of this website.
2.) Depending on the browser you are using, you may be able to install a browser plug-in which prevents tracking. Please click here to install this.
3.) Another way to refuse a web analysis by Google Analytics is to set an opt-out cookie, which instructs Google not to use your data for the purposes of web analysis. Please note that with this solution, the web analysis will only be refused as long as the opt-out cookie is stored by the browser. If you would like to set the opt-out cookie, please click here.

Further information: This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service provided by Google, Inc. Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files saved on your computer, to enable your use of the website to be analysed. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website is transmitted to a Google server in the United States, where it is stored. Given that we have activated IP anonymisation on this website, your IP address will first be shortened by Google in a member state of the European Union or in another signatory country to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the United States and shortened there. At our request, Google will use this information for the purposes of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity, and providing us with other services relating to website activity and Internet use. Google will not associate the IP address transferred by your browser for Google Analytics with any other data held by Google.

You can prevent data generated by the cookie and relating to your use of the website (including your IP address) from being collected or processed by Google by using one of the three aforementioned options.

Mailchimp
Subscription to the newsletter is operated by Mailchimp, who therefore saves email addresses and further information required for sending out and analysing of the newsletter. HSCIF and Mailchimp have signed the Data Processing Addendum which states that Mailchimp processes the data only on behalf of HSCIF and respects the instructions made by HSCIF regarding your data. For the optimisation of the newsletter we look at how often it is opened by the readers and what links the readers click. Mailchimp is certified by the EU-US Privacy Shield, which guarantees that the necessary standard of data protection is maintained also in the USA. Learn more about Mailchimp privacy practice on their website. 

Newsletter
Learn more about our data privacy practice on the website of our service provider.
You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by clicking at the link in our emails. 

Google reCAPTCHA
This site uses tje reCAPTCHA service provided by Google Inc. (Google) to protect your submissions via internet submission forms. This plugin checks if you are a person in order to prevent certain website functions from being (ab)used by spam bots (particularly comments). This plugin query includes the sending of the IP address and possibly other data required by Google for the Google reCAPTCHA service. For this purpose your input will be communicated to and used by Google.
This data collection is subject to the data protection regulations of Google (Google Inc.). For more information about Google’s privacy policy, please visit: http://www.google.de/intl/en/policies/privacy/ or https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/

Security
We takes both technical and organisational security steps to protect your data as far as possible against unauthorised access. Apart from safeguarding the operating environment, certain web pages are encrypted. You can see which pages are encrypted in the status bar of your browser. Encrypted pages will show a locked padlock symbol and the address will begin with ‘https…’.

Your rights as a user
You have the right, at any time, to request information on which personal data we have saved and for what purpose. In addition, you can correct incorrect data or have data deleted if its storage is inadmissible or no longer necessary. You can object to your data being used at any time. If you wish to do so, please notify us of your objection at the email address given below.

Copyright
The content and works published on this website are governed by the copyright laws of Germany. Any duplication, processing, distribution or any form of utilisation beyond the scope of copyright law shall require the prior written consent of the author or authors in question.