Privacy Policy

Heise Magazine Publishing takes the privacy of personal data very seriously. We want you to know when and how we store and use personal data. As a private company we are subject to the regulations of the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz/BDSG (the German Federal Data Protection Act) and the Telemediengesetz/TMG (the German Telemedia Services Act). We have taken all possible measures to ensure that privacy regulations are adhered to by ourselves and our external service providers.

Personal data

Personal data is information that reveals aspects of your identity. This includes information such as your name, e-mail address, postal address and phone number. It does not include information which cannot be directly linked to your identity, such as the URL of your favorite website or website usage statistics.

You can use all of our basic online services without revealing any personal information. If you register for one of our personalized services, order a product or take out a subscription, we will ask you to give your name and other personal information. Whether you actually provide this information is subject to your own discretion.

We store our data on secure servers in Germany. Access to this data is limited to a small number of specifically authorized individuals who are in charge of the technical, commercial and editorial management of these servers.

As part of your relationship with us, data concerning IP addresses, dates and times of visits and visited pages will be temporarily stored on our servers for backup purposes. This information is never used in conjunction with personal data. We reserve the right to anonymize and evaluate statistics that relate to use of our websites.

We store IP addresses for a maximum period of 28 days. This storage takes place for data security purposes and to ensure the stability and safe operation of our system.

As far as Heise places online forums at the disposal of third parties, these third parties are not granted access to the stored personal data of our forum users. Administration of this data rests solely with Heise.

Forwarding of personal data to third parties

If you order products from us, your personal data will only ever be known or used within Heise Magazine Publishing and its affiliated companies. We do NOT communicate any personal data to third parties without your explicit consent. If data is forwarded to service providers within the context of commissioned data processing, all service providers are bound by the regulations of the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz/BDSG (the German Federal Data Protection Act) as well as by other legal provisions and the privacy policy of Heise Magazine Publishing. As far as we are bound by law or court order to forward your data to entities which are entitled to receive this information, we will do so.

Withdrawal of Consent

You can delete personal data that you have submitted to us at any time. Data that is used for accounting purposes is not covered by this stipulation.

Cookies and impression tracking

Our Web offerings use cookies. These are small files containing configuration information which we only use according to the regulations stipulated by the IVW, a neutral third-party society that tracks the circulation of various types of advertising media. Cookies help us to assess user numbers and frequency of visits to our Websites. The cookies we use do not capture personal data.

Many of our pages contain Javascript code that records page impression frequencies and forwards these to VG Wort. VG Wort is an independent company that monitors Websites for the exclusive purpose of paying earned royalties to the originators of online material.

Some of our online services use cookies to enable Web page functionality, and we draw the user’s attention to places where this is the case. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to inform users of the possible presence of cookies in third-party advertisements.

Our services can be used without activating cookies. Most Web browsers are configured to automatically accept cookies, but you can configure your browser to deny cookie access or to ask you what to do when cookies request access to browser data.

Minors

Individuals below the age of 18 years are requested not to send us any personal data without the explicit consent of their parents or legal guardians.

Links to Third-party Web Sites

Our online services contain links to other third-party websites. We claim no responsibility for the nature and content of the privacy policies implemented by their owners and operators.

Questions and comments

If you have any questions or comments regarding our privacy policy, please contact our data protection department at datenschutz@heise.de. The rapid evolution of the Internet requires periodic adjustments of our privacy policy. We will inform you of any changes we make at this address.

Hannover, February 3rd, 2010