We have prepared this privacy policy (version 18.03.2025-122966836) in order to explain to you, in accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and applicable national laws, which personal data (data for short) we as the controller – and the processors (e.g. providers) commissioned by us – process, will process in the future and what lawful options you have. The terms used are to be understood as gender-neutral.
In short, we provide you with comprehensive information about the data we process about you.
Data protection declarations usually sound very technical and use legal jargon. This privacy policy, on the other hand, is intended to describe the most important things to you as simply and transparently as possible. Where it is conducive to transparency, technical terms are explained in a reader-friendly way, links to further information are provided and graphics are used. We thus inform you in clear and simple language that we only process personal data as part of our business activities if there is a corresponding legal basis. This is certainly not possible by providing explanations that are as concise, unclear and legally technical as possible, as is often standard on the Internet when it comes to data protection. I hope you find the following explanations interesting and informative and perhaps there is one or two pieces of information that you did not yet know.
If you still have any questions, we would ask you to contact the responsible body named below or in the legal notice, follow the links provided and look at further information on third-party websites. Our contact details can of course also be found in the legal notice.
This privacy policy applies to all personal data processed by us in the company and to all personal data processed by companies commissioned by us (processors). By personal data, we mean information within the meaning of Art. 4 No. 1 GDPR, such as a person’s name, email address and postal address. The processing of personal data ensures that we can offer and bill our services and products, whether online or offline. The scope of this privacy policy includes
In short: the privacy policy applies to all areas in which personal data is processed in the company in a structured manner via the channels mentioned. If we enter into legal relationships with you outside of these channels, we will inform you separately if necessary.
In the following privacy policy, we provide you with transparent information on the legal principles and regulations, i.e. the legal bases of the General Data Protection Regulation, which enable us to process personal data.
As far as EU law is concerned, we refer to REGULATION (EU) 2016/679 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of April 27, 2016. You can of course read this EU General Data Protection Regulation online at EUR-Lex, the gateway to EU law, at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/DE/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32016R0679.
We only process your data if at least one of the following conditions applies:
Other conditions such as recording in the public interest, the exercise of official authority and the protection of vital interests do not generally apply to us. If such a legal basis is relevant, it will be indicated at the appropriate point.
In addition to the EU Regulation, national laws also apply:
If other regional or national laws apply, we will inform you about them in the following sections.
Contact details of the controller
If you have any questions about data protection or the processing of personal data, you will find below the contact details of the controller in accordance with Article 4(7) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Geoffrey Ball
Kögelestraße 40, 6094 Axams, Tyrol
Austria
E-mail: geoffreyballwebsite@gmail.com
Phone: +43 664 607055251
Legal notice: https://geoffreyball.com/imprint
It is a general criterion for us that we only store personal data for as long as is absolutely necessary for the provision of our services and products. This means that we delete personal data as soon as the reason for the data processing no longer exists. In some cases, we are legally obliged to store certain data even after the original purpose has ceased to exist, for example for accounting purposes.
If you wish your data to be deleted or revoke your consent to data processing, the data will be deleted as quickly as possible, provided there is no obligation to store it.
We will inform you below about the specific duration of the respective data processing if we have further information on this.
In accordance with Articles 13 and 14 GDPR, we inform you of the following rights to which you are entitled in order to ensure fair and transparent data processing:
If you believe that the processing of your data violates data protection law or that your data protection rights have been violated in any other way, you can lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. For Austria, this is the data protection authority, whose website can be found at https://www.dsb.gv.at/. In Germany, there is a data protection officer for each federal state. For more information, you can contact the Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI). The following local data protection authority is responsible for our company:
Head: Dr. Matthias Schmidl
Address: Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna
Telephone number: +43 1 52 152-0
E-mail address: dsb@dsb.gv.at
Website: https://www.dsb.gv.at/
| Cookies Summary 👥 Affected parties: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: depends on the cookie in question. You can find more details on this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📓 Processed data: Depending on the cookie used. You can find more details on this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie. 📅 Storage duration: depending on the cookie, can vary from hours to years ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR (consent), Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
Our website uses HTTP cookies to store user-specific data.
Below we explain what cookies are and why they are used so that you can better understand the following privacy policy.
Whenever you surf the internet, you use a browser. Well-known browsers include Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. Most websites store small text files in your browser. These files are called cookies.
One thing cannot be denied: Cookies are really useful little helpers. Almost all websites use cookies. More precisely, they are HTTP cookies, as there are also other cookies for other areas of application. HTTP cookies are small files that are stored on your computer by our website. These cookie files are automatically stored in the cookie folder, the “brain” of your browser, so to speak. A cookie consists of a name and a value. When defining a cookie, one or more attributes must also be specified.
Cookies store certain user data about you, such as language or personal page settings. When you visit our site again, your browser transmits the “user-related” information back to our site. Thanks to cookies, our website knows who you are and offers you the settings you are used to. In some browsers, each cookie has its own file; in others, such as Firefox, all cookies are stored in a single file.
There are both first-party cookies and third-party cookies. First-party cookies are created directly by our website, third-party cookies are created by partner websites (e.g. Google Analytics). Each cookie must be evaluated individually, as each cookie stores different data. The expiry time of a cookie also varies from a few minutes to a few years. Cookies are not software programs and do not contain viruses, Trojans or other “malware”. Cookies also cannot access information on your PC.
The question of which cookies we use in particular depends on the services used and is clarified in the following sections of the privacy policy. At this point, we would like to briefly explain the different types of HTTP cookies.
There are 4 types of cookies:
Essential cookies
These cookies are necessary to ensure basic website functions. For example, these cookies are needed when a user places a product in the shopping cart, then continues surfing on other pages and only goes to the checkout later. These cookies ensure that the shopping cart is not deleted even if the user closes the browser window.
Purposeful cookies
These cookies collect information about user behavior and whether the user receives any error messages. These cookies are also used to measure the loading time and the behavior of the website with different browsers.
Targeted cookies
These cookies ensure better user-friendliness. For example, entered locations, font sizes or form data are saved.
Advertising cookies
These cookies are also known as targeting cookies. They are used to deliver customized advertising to the user. This can be very practical, but also very annoying.
When you visit a website for the first time, you are usually asked which of these types of cookie you would like to allow. And of course this decision is also stored in a cookie.
If you would like to know more about cookies and are not afraid of technical documentation, we recommend https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc6265, the Request for Comments of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) called “HTTP State Management Mechanism”.
The purpose ultimately depends on the cookie in question. You can find more details on this below or from the manufacturer of the software that sets the cookie.
Cookies are little helpers for many different tasks. Unfortunately, it is not possible to generalize which data is stored in cookies, but we will inform you about the processed or stored data in the following privacy policy.
The storage period depends on the cookie in question and is specified below. Some cookies are deleted after less than an hour, others can remain stored on a computer for several years.
You can also influence the storage period yourself. You can delete all cookies manually at any time via your browser (see also “Right to object” below). Furthermore, cookies that are based on consent will be deleted at the latest after you withdraw your consent, whereby the legality of the storage until then remains unaffected.
You decide how and whether you want to use cookies. Regardless of which service or website the cookies come from, you always have the option of deleting, deactivating or only partially allowing cookies. For example, you can block third-party cookies but allow all other cookies.
If you want to find out which cookies have been stored in your browser, if you want to change or delete cookie settings, you can find this in your browser settings:
Chrome: Delete, activate and manage cookies in Chrome
Safari: Manage cookies and website data with Safari
Firefox: Delete cookies to remove data that websites have stored on your computer
Internet Explorer: Delete and manage cookies
Microsoft Edge: Delete and manage cookies
If you do not want any cookies, you can set up your browser so that it always informs you when a cookie is to be set. You can then decide for each individual cookie whether or not to allow it. The procedure differs depending on the browser. It is best to search for the instructions in Google using the search term “delete cookies Chrome” or “deactivate cookies Chrome” in the case of a Chrome browser.
The so-called “Cookie Guidelines” have been in place since 2009. These state that the storage of cookies requires your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). However, there are still very different reactions to these directives within the EU countries. In Austria, however, this directive was implemented in Section 165 (3) of the Telecommunications Act (2021). In Germany, the cookie directives have not been implemented as national law. Instead, this directive was largely implemented in Section 15 (3) of the Telemedia Act (TMG), which has been replaced by the Digital Services Act (DDG) since May 2024.
For strictly necessary cookies, even if no consent has been given, there are legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), which in most cases are of an economic nature. We want to provide visitors to the website with a pleasant user experience and certain cookies are often absolutely necessary for this.
If cookies that are not absolutely necessary are used, this is only done with your consent. The legal basis in this respect is Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR.
In the following sections, you will be informed in more detail about the use of cookies if the software used uses cookies.
| Webhosting summary 👥 Affected parties: Visitors to the website 🤝 Purpose: professional hosting of the website and securing its operation 📓 Processed data: IP address, time of the website visit, browser used and other data. You can find more details on this below or from the web hosting provider used. 📅 Storage period: depending on the respective provider, but usually 2 weeks ⚖️ Legal basis: Art. 6 para. 1 lit.f GDPR (legitimate interests) |
When you visit websites these days, certain information – including personal data – is automatically created and stored, including on this website. This data should be processed as sparingly as possible and only with justification. By website, we mean the entirety of all web pages on a domain, i.e. everything from the start page (homepage) to the very last subpage (like this one). By domain we mean, for example, example.de or example.com.
If you want to view a website on a computer, tablet or smartphone, you use a program called a web browser. You probably know some web browsers by name: Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox and Apple Safari. We call them browsers or web browsers for short.
In order to display the website, the browser must connect to another computer where the website code is stored: the web server. Operating a web server is a complicated and time-consuming task, which is why this is usually done by professional providers. They offer web hosting and thus ensure reliable and error-free storage of website data. A lot of technical terms, but please stay tuned, it gets better!
When the browser on your computer (desktop, laptop, tablet or smartphone) connects and during data transfer to and from the web server, personal data may be processed. On the one hand, your computer stores data; on the other hand, the web server must also store data for a certain period of time in order to ensure proper operation.
The purposes of data processing are
Professional hosting of the website and securing its operation
to maintain operational and IT security
Anonymous evaluation of access behavior to improve our offer and, if necessary, for criminal prosecution or prosecution of claims
Even while you are currently visiting our website, our web server, i.e. the computer on which this website is stored, usually automatically saves data such as
As a rule, the aforementioned data is stored for two weeks and then automatically deleted. We do not share this data, but we cannot rule out the possibility that authorities may access it in the event of unlawful behavior.
In short: Your visit is logged by our provider (the company that operates our website on specialized computers, known as servers), but we do not share your data without your consent!
The lawfulness of processing personal data in the context of web hosting is based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interests), as the use of professional hosting services is necessary to securely and user-friendly present our company online and to detect and respond to potential attacks or legal claims.
A data processing agreement (DPA) is usually in place between us and the hosting provider in accordance with Article 28 et seq. GDPR, ensuring compliance with data protection regulations and guaranteeing data security.
1&1 IONOS Web Hosting Privacy Policy Summary👥 Data Subjects: Website visitors |
To host our website, we use the web hosting services of IONOS by 1&1. In Germany, 1&1 IONOS SE is headquartered at Elgendorfer Str. 57, 56410 Montabaur. In Austria, you can find 1&1 IONOS SE at Gumpendorfer Straße 142/PF 266, 1060 Vienna.
IONOS provides various web hosting services, including domains, websites & online shops, hosting & WordPress, marketing, email & office solutions, IONOS cloud, and servers. With over 22 million domains, nearly 9 million customer contracts, and 100,000 servers, IONOS is one of Germany’s leading web hosting providers.
As mentioned in our introduction to web hosting, hosting services involve storing data from you and your device on IONOS servers. This primarily includes your IP address, which is classified as personal data. Additionally, technical data such as the URL of our website, the name of your internet browser, and the operating system you use is also collected.
IONOS was founded in Germany in 1988, meaning it has over 30 years of experience. However, that does not mean the company has stopped evolving technologically. In our view, this combination of experience and innovation provides an excellent foundation for our website.
After all, we want our website to run smoothly 24/7 while maintaining a high level of security. Since IONOS does not limit monthly data traffic and offers ample storage space, our website remains high-performing, even with high visitor numbers. We are very satisfied with our website speed, and the price-performance ratio currently meets our needs.
1&1 IONOS Web Hosting may also process personal data from you. When you visit our website, the following data from you or your device is stored on IONOS servers:
The collected data is used to increase website security, detect potential errors, and conduct anonymous statistical analysis. According to IONOS, the anonymized IP address is used solely to determine the location of access.
The data is stored on IONOS’s own servers. In principle, IONOS stores the data for as long as necessary to fulfill their obligations. Visitor data is stored for 8 weeks. However, it may also happen that data is stored longer to provide evidence for potential legal disputes. Visitor data is not shared with third parties and is not transferred to any country outside the EU.
You have the right to access, rectify, or delete your personal data at any time, as well as to restrict the processing of your data. You may also withdraw your consent for data processing at any time.
If you wish to disable, delete, or manage cookies, you can find links to instructions for the most popular browsers in the Cookies section.
From our side, we have a legitimate interest in using IONOS to provide our online service. Professional hosting with a provider is necessary to securely and user-friendly present our business online and to track potential cyberattacks. The relevant legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (Legitimate Interests).
For more information about data protection at IONOS, please refer to their privacy policy at https://www.ionos.de/terms-gtc/datenschutzerklaerung/. If you have any further questions about data protection, you can also contact the IONOS data protection team via email at datenschutz@ionos.de
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Blogs and Publishing Media Privacy Policy Summary 👥 Data Subjects: Website visitors |
We use blogs or other communication tools on our website that allow us to communicate with you, as well as allow you to communicate with us. This may involve the storage and processing of your data. This can be necessary to present content properly, ensure smooth communication, and enhance security. Our privacy policy provides a general overview of the types of data that can be processed. Specific details on data processing depend on the tools and functions used. You can find precise information about data processing in the privacy policies of the individual providers.
Our main goal with our website is to provide you with interesting and engaging content while also valuing your opinions and contributions. Therefore, we want to create a good interactive exchange between us and you. Through various blogs and publishing options, we can achieve this. For example, you can write comments on our content, reply to other comments, or, in some cases, even write your own posts.
The specific data processed depends on the communication functions we use. Very often, IP addresses, usernames, and published content are stored. This is primarily done to ensure security, prevent spam, and take action against unlawful content. Cookies may also be used for data storage. These are small text files that are stored with information in your browser. For more details about the data collected and stored, please refer to the specific sections of our privacy policy and the privacy policy of the respective provider.
We will inform you about the duration of data processing below, if we have further information. For example, data from post and comment functions will be stored until you revoke your consent for data storage. In general, personal data will only be stored for as long as it is necessary to provide our services.
You also have the right and the ability to withdraw your consent for the use of cookies or third-party communication tools at any time. This can be done either through our cookie management tool or other opt-out functions. For example, you can prevent data collection by cookies by managing, disabling, or deleting the cookies in your browser.
Since publishing media may also use cookies, we also recommend reviewing our general cookie privacy policy. To understand exactly what data of yours is stored and processed, you should read the privacy policies of the respective tools.
We primarily use communication tools based on our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR) in maintaining efficient communication with you or other customers, business partners, and visitors. If the use of these tools serves to fulfill or initiate contractual relationships, the legal basis is also Article 6(1)(b) GDPR.
Certain processing activities, particularly the use of cookies and the use of comment or messaging functions, require your consent. If and to the extent that you have consented to the processing and storage of your data through integrated publishing media, this consent serves as the legal basis for data processing (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). Most of the communication functions we use set cookies in your browser to store data. Therefore, we recommend thoroughly reading our cookie privacy policy and reviewing the privacy policy or cookie guidelines of the respective service provider.
You can find information about specific tools in the following sections, if applicable.
There are various online communication tools that we may use on our website. For instance, we use blog posts and comment features. This allows you to comment on content or create posts. If you use this feature, your IP address may be stored for security reasons. This helps us protect against unlawful content, such as insults, unauthorized advertisements, or prohibited political propaganda. To detect spam comments, we may also store and process user data based on our legitimate interest. If we conduct a survey, we will store your IP address for the duration of the survey to ensure that all participants can only vote once. Cookies may also be used for storage purposes. All data we store from you (such as content or personal information) will remain stored until you withdraw your consent.
We always strive to write our privacy policy as clearly and understandably as possible. However, especially with technical and legal topics, this is not always easy. It often makes sense to use legal terms (e.g., personal data) or certain technical expressions (e.g., cookies, IP address). We do not want to use these terms without explanation. Below you will find an alphabetical list of important terms used in our privacy policy that we may not have fully explained so far. If these terms are taken from the GDPR and they are definitions, we will also reference the GDPR texts here and, if necessary, provide our own explanations.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Processor” means a natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body that processes personal data on behalf of the controller.
Explanation:
As a company and website owner, we are responsible for all data that we process from you. In addition to the controller, there may also be so-called processors. This includes any company or person processing personal data on our behalf. Processors can therefore include service providers such as accountants, as well as hosting or cloud providers, payment or newsletter providers, or large companies like Google or Microsoft.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Consent” of the data subject means any freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous indication of the data subject’s wishes by which he or she, by a statement or by a clear affirmative action, signifies agreement to the processing of personal data relating to him or her.
Explanation:
On websites, consent is usually obtained through a cookie consent tool. You are likely familiar with this: whenever you visit a website for the first time, you are typically asked via a banner whether you agree to data processing. Often, you can also make individual settings to decide which data processing activities you allow and which you do not. If you do not give consent, personal data about you must not be processed. Of course, consent can also be given in writing rather than through a tool.
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (“data subject”); an identifiable natural person is one who 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, or one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural, or social identity of that natural person.
Explanation:
Personal data includes all information that can identify you as a person. These are typically details such as:
According to the European Court of Justice (ECJ), your IP address is also considered personal data. IT experts can determine at least the approximate location of your device using your IP address and potentially identify you as the subscriber. Therefore, storing an IP address requires a legal basis under the GDPR.
There are also special categories of sensitive personal data that are given additional protection, including:
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“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 analyze or predict aspects concerning that natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location, or movements.
Explanation:
Profiling involves collecting various pieces of information about a person to gain more insight into them. In the online sector, profiling is often used for advertising purposes or credit assessments. Web and advertising analytics programs, for example, collect data about your behavior and interests on a website. This results in a user profile, which helps display targeted advertisements to a specific audience.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Controller” means the natural or legal person, public authority, agency, or other body that alone or jointly with others determines the purposes and means of processing personal data; where the purposes and means of such processing are determined by Union or Member State law, the controller or the specific criteria for its nomination may be provided for by Union or Member State law.
Explanation:
In our case, we are the controller responsible for processing your personal data. If we pass on collected data to other service providers for processing, they are considered processors. For this, a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) must be signed.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Processing” means any operation or set of operations performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure, or destruction.
Note:
Whenever we refer to processing in our privacy policy, we mean any form of data processing. As mentioned in the original GDPR definition above, this includes not only collecting but also storing and using data.
Definition according to Article 4 of the GDPR
For the purposes of this Regulation, the term:
“Personal data breach” means a breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure of, or access to personal data transmitted, stored, or otherwise processed.
Explanation:
For example, a personal data breach can occur due to a data leak, a technical issue, or a cyberattack. If the breach poses a risk to the rights and freedoms of natural persons, the controller must report the incident to the competent supervisory authority immediately. Additionally, affected individuals must be informed if the breach presents a high risk to their rights and freedoms.
Congratulations! If you are reading these lines, you have either fought your way through our entire privacy policy or at least scrolled down to this point. As you can see from the length of our privacy policy, we take the protection of your personal data very seriously.
It is important to us to inform you as thoroughly as possible about the processing of personal data. We don’t just want to tell you which data is processed but also explain the reasons behind using various software programs.
Privacy policies are often written in a highly technical and legal manner. However, since most of our visitors are neither web developers nor lawyers, we aimed for a clear and simple language wherever possible. Of course, due to the legal nature of the topic, this is not always feasible. That is why we have included definitions of key terms at the end of our privacy policy.
If you have any questions about data protection on our website, please do not hesitate to contact us or the responsible authority. We hope you have a great time on our website and look forward to welcoming you back soon.
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Source: Privacy policy created using the Privacy Policy Generator for Austria by AdSimple.
