Privacy Statement

Data Privacy Policy

Our website may be used without entering personal information. Different rules may apply to certain services on our site, however, and are explained separately below. We collect personal information from you (e.g. name, address, email address, telephone number, etc.) in accordance with the provisions of German data protection statutes. Information is considered personal if it can be associated exclusively to a specific natural person. The legal framework for data protection may be found in the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), the Telemedia Act (TMG), and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The provisions below serve to provide information as to the manner, extent and purpose for collecting, using and processing personal information by the provider.

Legal information:

Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI) constantly checks and updates the information on its web pages. Despite the utmost care taken, we cannot rule out that some of the data may since have become outdated. Therefore, we cannot accept liability for the currency, accuracy and completeness of the information displayed. The same applies to all other web pages that can be reached via hyperlink. HPI is not responsible for the content of websites which can be reached via such links. Furthermore, HPI reserves the right to make changes or additions to the information displayed. Content and structure of the HPI website is protected by copyright. The reproduction of information or data, in particular the use of texts, text excerpts or illustrative material, requires our prior approval.

Please be aware that data transfer via the internet is subject to security risks and, therefore, complete protection against third-party access to transferred data cannot be ensured.

Cookies

Our website makes use of so-called cookies in order to recognize repeat use of our website by the same user/internet connection subscriber. Cookies are small text files that your internet browser downloads and stores on your computer. They are used to improve our website and services. In most cases these are so-called “session cookies” that are deleted once you leave our website.

To an extent, however, these cookies also pass along information used to automatically recognize you. Recognition occurs through an IP address saved to the cookies. The information thereby obtained is used to improve our services and to expedite your access to the website.

You can prevent cookies from being installed by adjusting the settings on your browser software accordingly. You should be aware, however, that by doing so you may not be able to make full use of all the functions of our website.

Third party cookies

Youtube

This site embeds video, Flash and HTML5 content from YouTube. Pages with this embedded content may present cookies from these and other websites. We do not control the dissemination of such cookies. Please refer to the Youtube Privacy Statement.

Vimeo

This site embeds video, Flash and HTML5 content from Vimeo. Pages with this embedded content may present cookies from these and other websites. We do not control the dissemination of such cookies. Please refer to the Vimeo Privacy Statement.

Google Maps and Google Charts

This site embeds video, Flash and HTML5 content from Google Maps and Google Charts. Pages with this embedded content may present cookies from these and other websites. We do not control the dissemination of such cookies. Please refer to the Google Privacy Statement. 

Slideshare

This site embeds video, Flash and HTML5 content from Slideshare. Pages with this embedded content may present cookies from these and other websites. We do not control the dissemination of such cookies. Please refer to the Slideshare Privacy Statement.

Scribd

This site embeds video, Flash and HTML5 content from Scribd. Pages with this embedded content may present cookies from these and other websites. We do not control the dissemination of such cookies. Please refer to the Scribd Privacy Statement.

Manage your cookies

You can manage your cookies in your browser. Read here how to do it:

• Internet Explorer
• Chrome
• Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Adobe Flash

Server Data

For technical reasons, data such as the following, which your internet browser transmits to us or to our web space provider (so called server log files), is collected:

– type and version of the browser you use
– operating system
– websites that linked you to our site (referrer URL)
– websites that you visit
– date and time of your visit
– your Internet Protocol (IP) address.

This anonymous data is stored separately from any personal information you may have provided, thereby making it impossible to connect it to any particular person. The data is used for statistical purposes in order to improve our website and services.

Purpose of Registering

We offer our voluntary editors the opportunity to register at our website. The information entered when signing up is collected and stored solely for use by our website. When signing up for our website, we also store your IP address and the date and time you registered. This serves to protect us in the event a third party improperly and without your knowledge makes use of your data to sign up for our site. None of this information is transferred to third parties. Nor is any of this information matched to any information that may be collected by other components of our website.

Newsletter

Our website offers you the opportunity to subscribe to our newsletter. The newsletter provides you periodically with news and updates on new design thinking stories. To receive our newsletter, we require a valid email address (optional: your gender, first and second name to address you correctly). The data is collected via the sign-up form. We will review the email address you provide for the purpose of determining whether you are in fact the owner of the email address provided or whether the actual owner of said address is authorized to receive the newsletter. When subscribing to our newsletter, we will store your IP address as well as the date and time you subscribed. This serves to protect us in the event a third party improperly and without your knowledge makes use of your email address to subscribe to our newsletter. We will not collect any other data. The data thereby collected is used solely for the purpose of receiving our newsletter. No data is transferred to third parties other than the service provider MailChimp and its sub-processors that we use to manage and send our newsletter mails.  The sub-processors, as described in MailChimp’s Data Processing Agreement, perform some critical services, such as helping MailChimp prevent abuse and providing support to our customers. Nor is any of this information matched to any information that other components of our website may collect. You may cancel your subscription to the newsletter at any time. You will find additional details in the email confirming your subscription as well as in each newsletter.

Contacting Us

On our website we offer you the opportunity to contact us, either by email and/or by using a contact form. In such event, information provided by the user is stored for the purpose of facilitating communications with the user. No data is transferred to third parties. Nor is any of this information matched to any information that may be collected by other components of our website.

Posting Comments

On our website we offer you the opportunity to post comments about individual articles. For this purpose, the IP address of the user/internet connection subscriber is stored. This information is stored for our security in the event the author through his/her comments infringes against third party rights and/or unlawful content is entered. Consequently, we have a direct interest in the author’s stored data, particularly since we may be potentially liable for such violations. No data is transferred to third parties, except to Gravatar (see below) or if you use one of the offered social login options. Nor is any of this information matched to any information that may be collected by other components of our website.

Subscribing to Comments

On our website we offer you the opportunity to subscribe to subsequent comments about an article which you intend to comment on. When you choose this option, you will receive a confirmation email which is used to determine if you are actually the owner of the email address entered. You may at any time revoke your decision to subscribe to such follow-on comments. You will find additional details in the confirmation email. No data hereby obtained is transferred to third parties, except to Gravatar (see below) or if you use one of the offered social login options. Nor is any of this information matched to any information that may be collected by other components of our website.

Use of Google+ recommendation components

Our website employs the “+1“-buttom from Google+ belonging to Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 USA, hereinafter referred to as “Google“.
Each time our website receives an access request equipped with a “+1“ component, the component prompts your browser to download an image of this component from Google. Through this process, Google is informed precisely which page of our website is being visited.
As specified by Google, your visit undergoes additional analysis in the event you are not logged into your Google account.
If you access our site while logged into Google and press the “+1″ button, Google can collect information about your Google account, websites you recommend as well as your IP address, along with other browser-related information.
This allows your “+1“ recommendation to be stored and publicized. Your Google “+1“ recommendation can then appear as a reference in other Google services, such as search results, your Google account or other places, such as on websites and ads in the internet, , together with your account name and, if applicable, a picture you provided to Google. Furthermore, Google can link your visit to our site with data stored by Google. Google also records this information for the purpose of further improving Google services.
If you wish to minimize the collection of information by Google as previously described, you must log out of your Google account before visiting our website.

You can access Google‘s data protection policies relating to the “+1“ button together with all relevant information on the collection, transfer and use of data by Google, your rights in this regard as well as your profile settings options at the following link:

https://developers.google.com/+/web/buttons-policy

Use of Facebook components

Our website employs components provided by facebook.com. Facebook is a service of Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA.

Each time our website receives an access request equipped with a Facebook component, the component prompts your browser to download an image of this Facebook component. Through this process, Facebook is informed precisely which page of our website is being visited.

When you access our site while logged into Facebook, Facebook uses information gathered by this component to identify the precise page you are viewing and associates this information to your personal account on Facebook. Whenever you click on the “Like“ button, for example, or enter a comment, this information is transmitted to your personal account on Facebook and stored there. In addition, Facebook is informed of your visit to our website. This occurs regardless of whether you click on a component or not.

If you wish to prevent the transfer to and storage of data by Facebook about you and your interaction with our website, you must first log out of Facebook before visiting our website. The data protection policies of Facebook provide additional information, in particular about the collection and use of data by Facebook, your rights in this regard as well as the options available to you for protecting your privacy: https://de-de.facebook.com/about/privacy/

In addition, tools are freely available on the market that can be used to block Facebook social plug-ins with add-ons from being added to all commonly used browsers: http://comparitech.net/facebook-tracking

You can find an overview of Facebook plugins at https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/

Use of Twitter recommendation components

Our website employs components provided by Twitter. Twitter is a service of Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA.

Each time our website receives an access request equipped with a Twitter component, the component prompts your browser to download an image of this component from Twitter. Through this process, Twitter is informed precisely which page of our website is being visited.
We have no control over the data that Twitter collects in the process, or over the extent of the data that Twitter collects. To the best of our knowledge, Twitter collects the URL of each website accessed as well as the IP address of the user, but does so solely for the purpose of displaying Twitter components. Additional information may be obtained from the Twitter data privacy policy, at: http://twitter.com/privacy.

You may change your data privacy settings in your account settings, at http://twitter.com/account/settings.

Use of Xing recommendation components

Our website employs components provided by the network XING.com. These components are a service of XING AG, Dammtorstraße 29-32, 20354 Hamburg, Germany.
Each time our website receives an access request equipped with a XING component, the component prompts your browser to download an image of this component from XING.

To the best of our knowledge, XING does not store any personal information from the user obtained through accessing our website. XING also does not store IP addresses. In addition, no analysis of user activity occurs through the use of cookies in connection with the “XING Share-Button”. Additional information may be found in the data privacy provisions relating to the XING Share-Button, at: https://www.xing.com/app/share?op=data_protection

Use of LinkedIn recommendation components

Our website employs components provided by the network LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a service of LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Each time our website receives an access request equipped with a LinkedIn component, the component prompts your browser to download an image of this component from LinkedIn.
Through this process, LinkedIn is informed exactly which page of our website is being accessed. By clicking the LinkedIn “recommend button“ while logged into your LinkedIn account, you can link content from our website to your LinkedIn profile. This allows LinkedIn to associate your visit to our site with your LinkedIn account.

We have no control over the data that LinkedIn collects thereby, nor over the extent of the data that LinkedIn collects. Nor do we have any knowledge of the content of data transferred to LinkedIn. Details on data collection by LinkedIn as well as your rights in this regard and your browser setting options may be obtained from the LinkedIn data privacy policy, which may be accessed at: http://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

Tracking pixels from the Verwertungsgesellschaft WORT (VG WORT)

Our website employs so-called “tracking pixels” from the Verwertungsgesellschaft WORT in the form of SCM (“scaleable centralized measuring systems“) provided by INFOnline GmbH (INFOnline GmbH, Forum Bonn Nord, Brühler Str. 9, 53119 Bonn, Germany), which are used for ascertaining statistical indicators with respect to the probability that texts are being copied.

The data obtained are collected anonymously. The collection of user site hits to identify return visits to our website employs either so-called session cookies or a signature compiled from various information automatically transmitted by your browser. IP addresses are processed only in anonymized form. At no time are individual users identified for this purpose. This process is used to determine the probability that individual texts are being copied.

Use of Slideshare

Our website employs components provided by Slideshare.com, a service of SlideShare Inc., 1 Montgomery St., Suite 1300, San Francisco, CA 94104, USA and is integrated into our site using a so-called 2-click approach. No personal data is transmitted to Slideshare.com by merely accessing our website. Personal information is transferred to Slidewhare, Google Analytics and ComScore and stored in the US only when you manually activate Slideshare components. In addition, a cookie is placed on your browser. We have no control over data collected by Slideshare.com or their processing operations. Nor are we familiar with the full extent of the data collected, the purposes for which is collected or any storage periods which may be specified by Slideshare.com. Additional information is available at http://www.slideshare.net/privacy.

ComScore (Corporate Headquarters Reston, 11950 Democracy Drive, Suite 600, Reston, VA 20190, USA) stores the data thereby obtained by means of a “user profile”. Analysis of this “user profile“ by ComScore is used to provide advertisements tailored to meet market demands and/or for purposes of market research. You are entitled to the right to deny consent to the compiling and storage of this user profile by ComScore. To exercise this right, contact comScore, Inc., at 11950 Democracy Drive, Suite 600, Reston, VA 20190, USA. Additional information on the purpose and extent of data collection and its processing by comScore can be found at http://www.comscore.com/ger/Ueber_Uns/Datenschutz

Use of Pinterest

Our website employs the services of pinterest.com. Pinterest.com is a service of Pinterest, Inc., 808 Brannan St, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. Through the “Pin it“ button integrated into our website, Pinterest is informed that you have accessed that particular page of our site. If you are logged into Pinterest, Pinterest can associate your visit to our site with your Pinterest account and thereby create a link to the data collected. Pinterest stores the data that is transferred through clicks on “Pin it“ buttons. You can find more information with respect to the purpose and extent of data collected, how it is processed and used as well as your rights in this regard and what settings you can use to protect your privacy by consulting the Pinterest data protection policy, which you can access at http://pinterest.com/about/privacy/.

To prevent Pinterest from associating your visit to our website to your Pinterest account, you must first log out of your Pinterest account before visiting our site.

Use of Tumblr

Our website employs components provided by Tumblr. These components are a service of Tumblr, Inc., 35 East 21st St, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10010, USA. Each time our website receives an access request equipped with a Tumblr component, the component prompts your browser to download an image of this component from Tumblr. Through this process, AddThis is informed exactly which page of our website is being accessed by which IP address. We have no control over the extent of data collected or over the data that Tumblr collects using this component. To the best of our knowledge, the component is not used for any other purpose than to display the button. You can find more information in the Tumblr data privacy policy, at https://www.tumblr.com/policy/en/privacy. To prevent Tumblr from associating your visit to our website to your Tumblr account, you must first log out of your Tumblr account before visiting our site.

Use of WordPress.com-Stats

This website uses WordPress.com-Stats, a web analytics software provided by Automattic Inc., 60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110-4929, USA, using the tracking technology of Quantcast Inc., 201 3rd St, Floor 2, San Francisco, CA 94103-3153, USA. WordPress.com-Stats uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address anonymized prior to its storage) will be stored on the server in the USA. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser, however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. You can opt-out from being tracked by Quantcast with effect for the future by setting an opt-out cookie in your Browser: http://www.quantcast.com/opt-out. If you delete your browser’s cookies, you’ll have to set this opt-out cookie again.

Use of Matomo

This website uses the open source web analysis service Matomo.  Matomo uses so-called “cookies.” Cookies are text files that are saved at your computer and which enable your use of the website to be analyzed. For this reason, the information generated by the cookie about the use of our website is stored at our server. Prior to storage, the IP address is anonymized. The information obtained by cookies concerning your use of this website will not be forwarded to third parties. You can prevent the use of cookies through an appropriate setting of your browser software, however in this case it is possible that you will not be able to use all the functions of this website to their full extent. If you do not agree with the saving and analysis of the data from your visit, you can deactivate the saving and use at any time per mouse click. In this case, a so-called opt-out cookie will be stored in your browser, which will prevent Matomo from storing any session data. If you delete your cookies, this will also delete the opt-out cookie, and the opt-out must be reactivated on a return visit to our site.

Use of Gravatar (for comments pictures)

Our website uses the external Avatar-Service Gravatar for the display of pictures and avatars of users commenting on articles of this website. Gravatar is operated by Automattic Inc., 60 29th Street #343, San Francisco, CA 94110-4929, USA (“Automattic”). The email address provided in the comments will be transferred to Gravatar in order to show an avatar in the comments that might be connected with that email address. The email address will be encoded and send to Gravatar. Gravatar in turn delivers avatars to our website that will be integrated in the comments. By displaying these pictures Gravatar can store your IP-address. For more information regarding the evaluation and usage of data through Gravatar please visit the data protection information of Gravatar. If you do not wish to display a picture that is related to an email address of yours, we recommend using an email-address that is not deposited at Gravatar.

Information/cancellation/deletion

You may contact us at no cost if you have questions relating to the collection, processing or use of your personal information, if you wish to request the correction, blocking or deletion of the same, or if you wish to cancel explicitly granted consent. Please note that you have the right to have incorrect data corrected or to have personal data deleted, where such claim is not barred by any legal obligation to retain this data.

Your consent can be revoked at any time with future effect by sending an informal letter to: Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH, Prof. Dr. Helmert Strasse 2–3, 14482, Potsdam, Germany or by sending an email to thisisdesignthinking [at] hpi [dot] de

At your request, we will undertake the necessary steps to erase or block your data completely. In this case, please send your request in writing to:

Hasso Plattner Institute for Digital Engineering gGmbH
Data Protection Officer (Datenschutzbeauftragter)
Campus Griebnitzsee
Prof. Dr. Helmert Strasse 2-3
14482 Potsdam, Germany
or alternatively by email to: thisisdesignthinking [at] hpi [dot] de

Privacy and cookie statement modifications

This privacy policy page may be modified from time to time to comply with applicable laws or to reflect our updated business practices. Please check back from time to time for any changes. If you have further questions about our privacy policy or our data processing activities, please contact us.

The paragraphs of this Privacy Statement were generated via the Sample Data Privacy Policy Statement provided by the Law Offices of Weiß & Partner and the Datenschutz-Muster by “Rechtsanwalt Thomas Schwenke – I LAW it”. Additionally some paragraphs have been adapted or added.