Privacy Policy for Athenify

This privacy policy informs you about the nature, scope and purpose of the processing of personal data (hereinafter simply “data”) within our online offering and the associated web pages, functions and content. For the terms used below—such as “processing” or “controller”—please see the definitions in Art. 4 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Controller

Lukas von Hohnhorst
Kupfergasse 7
73728 Esslingen

info@athenify.de

Types of Data Processed

– Inventory data (e.g. names)
– Contact data (e.g. email addresses)
– Content data (e.g. text entries)
– Usage data (e.g. access times)
– Meta/communication data (e.g. device information, IP addresses)

Categories of Data Subjects

Visitors and users of the online offering (collectively referred to below as “users”).

Purpose of Processing

• Provision of the online offering, its functions and contents
• Responding to contact enquiries and communicating with users
• Security measures
• Reach measurement / marketing

Key Terminology

“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (“data subject”). A natural person is regarded as identifiable if he or she can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier (e.g. cookie) or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.

“Processing” means any operation or set of operations performed on personal data—whether or not by automated means. The term is broad and covers practically every handling of data.

“Pseudonymisation” means the processing of personal data in such a manner that the personal data can no longer be attributed to a specific data subject without the use of additional information, provided that such additional information is kept separately and is subject to technical and organisational measures to ensure that the personal data are not attributed to an identified or identifiable natural person.

“Profiling” means any form of automated processing of personal data consisting of the use of personal data to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to a natural person, in particular to analyse or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behaviour, location or movements.

A “controller” is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data.

A “processor” is a natural or legal person, public authority, agency or other body which processes personal data on behalf of the controller.

Relevant Legal Bases

In accordance with Art. 13 GDPR, we inform you of the legal bases for our data processing. Where the legal basis is not specified in this privacy policy, the following applies: The legal basis for obtaining consent is Art. 6 (1)(a) and Art. 7 GDPR; the legal basis for processing to fulfil our services and perform contractual measures as well as to respond to enquiries is Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR; the legal basis for processing to comply with our legal obligations is Art. 6 (1)(c) GDPR; and the legal basis for processing to protect our legitimate interests is Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. If vital interests of the data subject or another natural person make processing of personal data necessary, Art. 6 (1)(d) GDPR serves as the legal basis.

Security Measures

In accordance with Art. 32 GDPR, and taking into account the state of the art, implementation costs and the nature, scope, context and purposes of processing as well as the varying likelihood and severity of risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, we implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure a level of security appropriate to the risk.

Measures include securing the confidentiality, integrity and availability of data by controlling physical access, as well as access, input, transmission, availability safeguarding and separation of the data. We also have procedures in place to ensure data subject rights, erasure of data and response to data threats. Moreover, we take data protection into account when developing or selecting hardware, software and processes, in accordance with the principles of data protection by design and by default (Art. 25 GDPR).

Co‑operation with Processors and Third Parties

If, within the course of our processing, we disclose data to other persons and companies (processors or third parties), transmit data to them or otherwise grant them access to data, this is done only on the basis of a legal permission (e.g. if transmission of data to payment service providers is necessary for contract fulfilment under Art. 6 (1)(b)  GDPR), you have consented, a legal obligation requires it, or on the basis of our legitimate interests (e.g. use of agents, web‑hosts, etc.).

Where we commission third parties to process data on the basis of a “data processing agreement”, this is done on the basis of Art. 28 GDPR.

Transfers to Third Countries

If we process data in a third country (i.e. outside the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA)) or this happens in the context of the use of services of third parties or disclosure or transfer of data to third parties, this is only done to fulfil our (pre‑)contractual obligations, on the basis of your consent, due to a legal obligation or on the basis of our legitimate interests. Subject to legal or contractual permissions, we process or allow the data to be processed in a third country only under the special conditions of Art. 44 ff. GDPR. Processing therefore takes place, for example, on the basis of special safeguards such as the officially recognised determination of a level of data protection equivalent to that of the EU (e.g. the “Privacy Shield” for the USA) or compliance with officially recognised specific contractual obligations (so‑called “standard contractual clauses”).

Rights of Data Subjects

You have the right to obtain confirmation as to whether data concerning you are being processed and to obtain information about those data, as well as further information and a copy of the data in accordance with  Art. 15 GDPR.

In accordance with Art. 16 GDPR, you have the right to demand completion of data concerning you or rectification of inaccurate data concerning you.

In accordance with Art. 17 GDPR, you have the right to demand that data concerning you be deleted without delay, or alternatively, in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR, to demand restriction of processing of the data.

In accordance with Art. 20 GDPR, you have the right to receive the data concerning you that you have provided to us and to request their transmission to other controllers.

Furthermore, in accordance with Art. 77 GDPR you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.

You have the right to revoke consents granted pursuant to Art. 7 (3) GDPR with effect for the future.

Right to Object

You may object at any time to the future processing of data concerning you in accordance with Art. 21 GDPR. The objection may in particular be made against processing for direct marketing purposes.

Cookies and Right to Object to Direct Marketing

“Cookies” are small files stored on users’ devices. Various information can be stored within cookies. A cookie primarily serves to store information about a user (or the device on which the cookie is stored) during or after his or her visit to an online offering. “Session cookies” are deleted after a user leaves an online offering and closes the browser. “Permanent” or “persistent” cookies remain stored even after the browser is closed, so that a login status can be saved, for example. “Third‑party cookies” are cookies offered by providers other than the controller of the online offering (otherwise they are “first‑party cookies”).

We may use temporary and permanent cookies and explain this within our privacy policy.

If users do not want cookies stored on their device, they can disable the corresponding option in their browser’s system settings. Stored cookies can be deleted in the browser’s system settings. Excluding cookies may limit the functionality of this online offering.

A general objection to the use of cookies used for online marketing purposes can be declared for many services, especially in the case of tracking, via the US site http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or the EU site http://www.youronlinechoices.com/. Furthermore, cookies can be disabled in the browser settings. Please note that some functions of this online offering may then not be fully available.

Deletion of Data

Data processed by us are deleted or their processing restricted in accordance with Art. 17 and 18 GDPR. Unless expressly stated in this privacy policy, stored data are deleted as soon as they are no longer required for their intended purpose and deletion does not conflict with statutory retention obligations. Where data are not deleted because they are required for other and legally permissible purposes, their processing is restricted; i.e. the data are blocked and not processed for other purposes. This applies, for example, to data that must be retained for commercial or tax reasons.

In Germany the retention period is especially 10 years under § 147 (1) AO, § 257 (1) No. 1 and 4, § 257 (4) HGB (books, records, management reports, accounting documents, commercial books, documents relevant for taxation, etc.) and 6 years under § 257 (1) No. 2 and 3, § 257 (4) HGB (commercial letters).

In Austria the retention period is especially 7 years under § 132 (1) BAO (accounting documents, receipts/invoices, accounts, vouchers, business papers, statement of income and expenditure, etc.), 22 years in connection with real estate, and 10 years for documents relating to services supplied electronically, telecommunication, radio and television services provided to non‑entrepreneurs in EU member states and for which the Mini‑One‑Stop‑Shop (MOSS) is used.

Business‑related Processing

We also process

• Contract data (e.g. subject, term, customer category)
• Payment data (e.g. bank details, payment history) of our customers, prospects and business partners for the purpose of providing contractual services, service and customer care, marketing, advertising and market research.

External Payment Service Providers

We use external payment service providers via whose platforms users and we can carry out payment transactions (e.g. PayPal – Privacy Policy).

Within the framework of the fulfilment of contracts we use payment service providers on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR. Otherwise we use external payment service providers on the basis of our legitimate interests in offering users efficient and secure payment options under Art. 6 (1)(f)  GDPR.

The data processed by the payment service providers include inventory data, such as name and address, bank data (e.g. account or card numbers), passwords, TANs and checksums as well as contract, total and recipient related information. The information is necessary to carry out the transactions. However, the data entered are processed only by the payment service providers and stored by them. In other words, we do not receive any account or card information, but only information with confirmation or negative information of the payment. Under certain circumstances, the data are transmitted by the payment service providers to credit agencies for identity and credit checks. For this, we refer to the terms and privacy policies of the payment service providers.

Administration, Financial Accounting, Office Organisation, Contact Management

We process data within administrative tasks as well as organisation of our business, financial accounting and compliance with legal obligations (e.g. archiving). We process the same data that we process in the context of providing our contractual services. The bases for processing are Art. 6  (1)(c) GDPR and Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. Customers, prospects, business partners and website visitors are affected. The purpose and our interest in processing lie in administration, financial accounting, office organisation, archiving of data, tasks that serve the maintenance of our business activities, fulfilment of our tasks and provision of our services. Deletion of data with regard to contractual services and contractual communication corresponds to the information specified for these processing activities.

We disclose or transmit data to the tax authorities, consultants such as tax advisors or auditors, and other fee offices and payment service providers.

Furthermore, on the basis of our business interests, we store information on suppliers, organisers and other business partners, e.g. for the purpose of later contact. We generally store these predominantly company‑related data permanently.

Business Analyses and Market Research

In order to operate our business economically, recognise market trends and wishes of contractual partners and users, we analyse the data available to us on business processes, contracts, enquiries, etc. We process inventory, communication, contract, payment, usage and meta‑data on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR; data subjects include contractual partners, prospects, customers, visitors and users of our online offering.

Analyses are carried out for the purpose of business evaluations, marketing and market research. We can take into account the profiles of registered users with details such as the services they use. The analyses serve us to increase user friendliness, optimise our offering and business. The analyses are for our purposes only and are not disclosed externally, unless they are anonymous analyses with aggregated values.

If these analyses or profiles are personal, they are deleted or anonymised upon termination by the users, otherwise after two years from conclusion of the contract. Aggregate business analyses and general trend determinations are prepared anonymously wherever possible.

Participation in Affiliate Programmes

Within our online offering we use industry‑standard tracking measures on the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online offering) pursuant to Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR, insofar as these are necessary for the operation of the affiliate system.

Services offered by our contractual partners may also be advertised and linked on other websites (so‑called affiliate links or after‑buy systems, e.g. if links or services of third parties are offered after a contract has been concluded). Operators of the respective websites receive a commission if users follow affiliate links and subsequently take up the offers.

In summary, it is necessary for our online offering to be able to track whether users who are interested in affiliate links and/or the offers available with us take advantage of the offers at the instigation of the affiliate links or our online platform. For this purpose, the affiliate links and our offers are supplemented by certain values that can be components of the link or stored in another way, e.g. in a cookie. The values include in particular the referring website (referrer), time, online ID of the operator of the website on which the affiliate link was located, an online ID of the respective offer, an online ID of the user, as well as tracking specific values such as advertising medium ID, partner ID and categorisations.

Registration Function

Users can create a user account. During registration the required mandatory information is communicated to the users and processed on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR for the purpose of providing the user account. Processed data include in particular login information (name, password and an email address). The data entered during registration are used for the purpose of using the user account and its purpose.

Users can be informed by email about information relevant to their user account, such as technical changes. If users cancel their user account, their data with regard to the user account will be deleted, subject to a legal obligation to retain them. It is the users’ responsibility to back up their data before the end of the contract. We are entitled to irretrievably delete all data stored by the user during the contract period.

As part of the use of our registration and login functions and the use of the user account, we store the IP address and the time of the respective user action on the basis of our legitimate interests and those of the user in protection against misuse and other unauthorised use. In principle, this data is not passed on to third parties unless it is necessary to pursue our claims or there is a legal obligation to do so in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(c) GDPR. IP addresses are anonymised or deleted after no later than 7 days.

Contacting Us

When contacting us (e.g. via contact form, email, telephone or social media), the user’s details are processed for handling the contact request and its processing in accordance with Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR. User data may be stored in a Customer Relationship Management system (“CRM system”) or comparable enquiry organisation.

We delete the enquiries if they are no longer necessary; we review the necessity every two years; statutory archiving obligations apply.

Hosting and Email Delivery

The hosting services we use serve to provide the following services: infrastructure and platform services, computing capacity, storage space and database services, email delivery, security services as well as technical maintenance services, which we use for the purpose of operating this online offering.

Here we—or our hosting provider—process inventory data, contact data, content data, contract data, usage data, meta‑ and communication data of customers, prospects and visitors to this online offering on the basis of our legitimate interests in an efficient and secure provision of this online offering under Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR in conjunction with Art. 28 GDPR (conclusion of a processing agreement).

Collection of Access Data and Log Files

We—or our hosting provider—collect data on every access to the server on which this service is located (so‑called server log files) on the basis of our legitimate interests within the meaning of Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR. Access data include the name of the accessed web page, file, date and time of access, transferred data volume, notification of successful access, browser type and version, the user’s operating system, referrer URL (the previously visited page), IP address and the requesting provider.

Log file information is stored for security reasons (e.g. to investigate misuse or fraud) for a maximum of 7 days and deleted afterwards. Data that must be retained for evidence purposes are excluded from deletion until the respective incident is finally clarified.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service of Google LLC (“Google”), on the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online offering as defined in Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR). Google uses cookies. The information generated by the cookie about users’ use of the online offering is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield agreement and thereby guarantees to comply with European data protection law.

Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate use of our online offering by users, to compile reports on activities within this online offering and to provide us with further services associated with use of this online offering and the internet. Pseudonymous user profiles can be created from the processed data.

We use Google Analytics only with IP anonymisation enabled, meaning that Google truncates users’ IP addresses within EU member states or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the EEA. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address transmitted to a Google server in the USA and truncated there.

The IP address transmitted by the user’s browser is not merged with other Google data. Users can prevent the storage of cookies by setting their browser software accordingly; users can also prevent the collection of the data generated by the cookie and related to their use of the online offering by Google as well as the processing of these data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en.

Further information on Google’s data use, settings and opt‑out options can be found in Google’s privacy policy and in the settings for the display of ads by Google.

The personal data of users are deleted or anonymised after 14 months.

Google Universal Analytics

We use Google Analytics in the form of “Universal Analytics”. “Universal Analytics” refers to a procedure of Google Analytics in which user analysis is carried out based on a pseudonymous user ID and thus a pseudonymous profile of the user is created with information from the use of various devices (“cross‑device tracking”).

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield agreement and thereby guarantees compliance with European data protection law.

Stripe Payment Processing

We use Stripe, a payment service provided by Stripe, Inc., 510 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA ("Stripe"), for processing payments on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR (contract fulfilment) and Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in offering secure and efficient payment methods).

When you make a payment through Stripe, your payment information (such as credit card details, billing address, and payment amount) is transmitted directly to Stripe and processed by them. We do not store complete credit card information on our servers. Stripe processes your data in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) and uses this information solely to process your payment transaction.

Stripe is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and thereby guarantees compliance with European data protection law. For more information about how Stripe processes your data, please refer to Stripe's privacy policy at https://stripe.com/privacy.

DataFast Analytics

We use DataFast, an analytics service, on the basis of our legitimate interests (i.e. interest in the analysis, optimisation and economic operation of our online offering as defined in Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR). DataFast helps us understand how users interact with our platform by collecting and analyzing usage data.

The information collected by DataFast may include pages visited, features used, time spent on the platform, and technical information such as browser type, device type, and operating system. This data is used to improve our service, enhance user experience, and identify potential issues or areas for optimization.

The data collected is stored securely and retained only for as long as necessary for analytical purposes. For more information about DataFast's data processing practices, please refer to their privacy policy.

Postmark Email Delivery

We use Postmark, an email delivery service provided by Wildbit, LLC, 225 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA ("Postmark"), to send transactional emails and notifications on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(b) GDPR (contract fulfilment) and Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in reliable email communication).

Postmark processes your email address and name (if provided) to deliver emails such as registration confirmations, password resets, study reminders, milestone notifications, and other service-related communications. Postmark also collects technical data such as email open rates, click rates, and delivery status to ensure reliable email delivery and to help us improve our communications.

Postmark does not use your data for their own marketing purposes or share it with third parties for advertising. All email data is transmitted via encrypted connections and stored securely on Postmark's servers located in the United States.

Postmark is committed to compliance with international data protection standards. For more information about how Postmark processes your data, please refer to their privacy policy at https://postmarkapp.com/privacy-policy.

Data Stored and Processed on the Athenify Learning Platform

Static User Data

During the registration process users are asked to provide personal data. Users provide the following data during registration: email address, password.

Users additionally have the option to provide: student/pupil status, semester data, subjects, learning methods and learning units. All data serve the use of the app and are not shared with third parties. The data can be viewed only by the logged‑in user unless the user explicitly enables sharing with friends in the app. The data are securely stored on a Google server in Frankfurt, Germany.