11. Third-Party Services
We use the services of specialised third parties in order to carry out our activities and operations in a sustainable, user-friendly, secure and reliable manner. Such services enable us, among other things, to embed functions and content into our website. In the case of such embedding, the services used record the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of the users at least temporarily for compelling technical reasons.
For necessary security, statistical and technical purposes, third parties whose services we use may process data related to our activities and operations in an aggregated, anonymised or pseudonymised manner. This is, for example, performance or usage data in order to be able to offer the respective service.
We use in particular:
- Services from Google: Providers: Google LLC (USA) / Google Ireland Limited (Ireland) for users in the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland; general information on data protection: "Privacy and Security Principles", Privacy Policy, "We are committed to complying with applicable data protection laws", "Google Product Privacy Guide", "How Google uses information from sites or apps that use our services" (information from Google), "Types of cookies and other technologies used by Google", "Customized advertising" (enable/disable/settings).
- Services from Microsoft: Providers: Microsoft Corporation (USA) / Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited (Ireland) for users in the European Economic Area (EEA), the United Kingdom and Switzerland; general information on data protection: "Privacy at Microsoft", "Data Protection and Privacy (Trust Center)", Privacy Policy, Privacy Dashboard (Data and Privacy Settings).
11.1 Digital infrastructure
We use the services of specialised third parties to access the digital infrastructure required in connection with our activities and operations. These include, for example, hosting and storage services from selected providers.
We use in particular:
- METANET: Hosting; provider: METANET AG (Switzerland); information on data protection: Privacy policy, "Technical and organisational measures".
11.2 Contact opportunities
We use services from selected providers to better communicate with third parties such as potential and existing customers.
11.3 Audio and video conferences
We use specialised audio and video conferencing services to communicate online. We can use it to hold virtual meetings, for example, or to conduct online classes and webinars. For participation in audio and video conferences, the legal texts of the individual services, such as privacy policies and terms of use, apply in addition.
Depending on your life situation, we recommend muting the microphone by default when participating in audio or video conferences, as well as blurring the background or having a virtual background superimposed.
We use in particular:
- Microsoft Teams: Platform for audio and video conferencing, among other things; provider: Microsoft; Teams-specific details: "Privacy and Microsoft Teams”.
11.4 Social media functions and social media content
We use third-party services and plugins to embed features and content from social media platforms and to enable sharing of content on social media platforms and in other ways.
We use the option of having third parties such as social media platforms and search engines display targeted advertisements for our activities and operations.
With such advertising, we particularly want to reach people who are already interested in our activities and operations or who might be interested in them (remarketing and targeting). For this purpose, we may send corresponding – possibly also personal – information to third parties who enable such advertising. We can also determine whether our advertising is successful, i.e. in particular whether it leads to visits to our website (conversion tracking).
Third parties with whom we advertise and with whom you are registered as a user may be able to assign the use of our online services to your profile there.
We use in particular:
- Facebook advertising (Facebook ads): Social media advertising; providers: Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (Ireland) and other Meta companies (including in the USA); information on data protection: Remarketing and targeting in particular with the Facebook Pixel as well as Custom Audiences including Lookalike Audiences, Privacy Policy, "Ad Preferences" (user login required).
- Google Ads: Search engine advertising; provider: Google; Google Ads-specific information: Advertising based on search queries, among other things, using different domain names – in particular doubleclick.net, googleadservices.com and googlesyndication.com – for Google Ads, "Advertising" (Google), "Why am I seeing a certain ad?".
- Instagram ads: Social media advertising; providers: Meta Platforms Ireland Limited (Ireland) and other Meta companies (including in the USA); information on data protection: Remarketing and targeting in particular with Facebook Pixel as well as Custom Audiences including Lookalike Audiences, Privacy Policy (Instagram), Privacy Policy (Facebook), "Ad Preferences" (Instagram ) (user login required), "Ad Preferences" (Facebook) (user login required).
- LinkedIn ads: Social media advertising; providers: LinkedIn Corporation (USA) / LinkedIn Ireland Unlimited Company (Ireland); information on data protection: Remarketing and targeting in particular with the LinkedIn Insight Tag, "Privacy", Privacy Policy, Cookie Policy, option to opt out of personalised ads.
12. Extensions for the Website
We use extensions for our website to enable us to use additional functions.
We use in particular:
- Google reCAPTCHA: Spam protection (differentiation between wanted comments from humans and unwanted comments from bots as well as spam); provider: Google; Google reCAPTCHA-specific information: "What is reCAPTCHA?".
13. Performance and Reach Measurement
We try to find out how our online offer is used. Within this framework, we can, for example, measure the success and reach of our activities and operations as well as the effect of third-party links to our website. But we can also, for example, test and compare how different parts or versions of our online offer are used ("A/B test" method). Based on the results of the performance and reach measurement, we can, in particular, correct errors, strengthen popular content or make improvements to our online offer.
In most cases, the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses of individual users are stored for performance and reach measurement. In this case, IP addresses are fundamentally shortened ("IP masking") in order to follow the principle of data economy through the corresponding pseudonymisation.
Cookies may be used for performance and reach measurement and user profiles may be created. Any user profiles created include, for example, the individual pages visited or content viewed on our website, information on the size of the screen or browser window and the – at least approximate – location. In principle, any user profiles are created exclusively in pseudonymised form and are not used to identify individual users. Individual services of third parties to which users are logged in can at most assign the use of our online offer to the user account or user profile at the respective service.
We use in particular:
- Google Analytics: Performance and reach measurement; provider: Google; Google Analytics-specific information: Measurement also across different browsers and devices (cross-device tracking) as well as with pseudonymised Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which are only transmitted in full to Google in the USA in exceptional cases, "Privacy", "Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on".
- Google Tag Manager: Integration and administration of other services for performance and reach measurement as well as other services from Google and third parties; provider: Google; Google Tag Manager-specific details: "Data collected by Google Tag Manager"; further information on data protection can be found in the individual integrated and managed services.
14. Video Surveillance
We use video surveillance to prevent criminal offences and preserve evidence in the event of criminal offences, as well as to exercise our domiciliary right. If and insofar as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is applicable, these are overriding legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.
We store recordings from our video surveillance for as long as they are needed to preserve evidence.
We may secure recordings on the basis of legal obligations, to enforce our own legal claims and in the event of suspected criminal offences, as well as transmit them to competent bodies such as, in particular, court or law enforcement authorities.