Data Protection Information

When you use this website, we process your personal data as data controllers and store them for the duration required to fulfill the defined purposes and legal obligations. In the sections below we inform you about the data this involves, how they will be processed and what rights you have in this regard.

Personal data, as defined by Article 4 (1) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), include all information related to an identified or identifiable natural person.

1. Name and contact information of controller and corporate data protection officer

This data protection information applies to data processing on our website www.photonica.fraunhofer.de by the controller:

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Hansastraße 27 c,
80686 München, Germany

on behalf of its Fraunhofer-Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM (hereinafter referred to as “Fraunhofer IPM”

E-Mail: info(at)ipm.fraunhofer.de
Telephone: +49 761 8857-0
Fax: +49 761 8857-224

The corporate data protection officer at Fraunhofer can be reached at the above-mentioned address, c/o Data Protection Officer or at datenschutz@zv.fraunhofer.de. Please feel free to contact the data protection officer directly at any time if you have questions concerning data protection law and/or your rights as data subject.

2. Processing of personal data and purposes of the data processing

a) When visiting the website

You may access our website without having to disclose any details on your identity. The browser installed on your device merely transmits information automatically to the server of our website (e.g., browser type and version, date and time of access) to enable a connection with the website. This includes the IP address of your requesting device. This information is temporarily stored in a so-called log file and will be deleted after 30 days.

The IP address is stored anonymously by removing the last block of characters.

Your IP address is processed for technical and administrative purposes regarding connection set-up and stability, to guarantee the security and functioning of our website and, if necessary, to be able to track any illegal attacks on the website.

The legal basis for processing the IP address is Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. Our legitimate interest ensues from said security interest and the necessity of the unobstructed availability of our website. We cannot draw any direct conclusions about your identity from processing the IP address and other information in the log file.

Moreover, we use cookies and analytics services when you visit our website. Further details can be found below in this data protection information.

b) When registering for events

We regularly offer a variety of events through our website, for which you can register online.

In order to register online, our website’s visitors have to provide some mandatory data, which generally include:

First and last name
Company/Organization
Address
Email address

Any other mandatory data are marked as such (e.g., with *). Often, additional information can be provided voluntarily.

The purpose of processing the mandatory data is to identify you as event participant, to reserve a spot for you as well as to establish and implement a contractual relationship regarding your participation, and to provide you before, during and after the event with information that will optimize your participation, and to help us plan and ensure a smooth event experience. Voluntary data allow us to plan and conduct the event based on participants’ interest.

We process data at your request, and it is mandatory pursuant to Article 6 (1) lit. b GDPR for the purposes named to fulfill the obligations of the participant agreement and implement precontractual measures.

We store the data we collect in the context of event registrations for 6 months unless you have consented to a longer storage period under Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR.

To accept event registrations via our online forms, we have commissioned the service provider Mailingwork GmbH, Birkenweg 7, 09569 Oederan („Mailingwork“). The purpose of working with the service provider is the professional management of online registrations. For this purpose the collected data are stored on the servers of Mailingwork in Germany.

We have entered into a data processing agreement with Mailingwork. By concluding this contract with us, Mailingwork undertakes to process the data on our behalf in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to ensure that the rights of the data subjects are protected.

c) When subscribing to a newsletter or other email list

Once you have given your explicit consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR, we will use your email address to regularly send you selected information about the research, service portfolio or events in our Institute and/or in other institutions and/or events of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. In addition to the e-mail address, you can voluntarily provide further information about yourself (e.g. first name, surname, title and company/organization).

Once you have subscribed using the online form on our webseite www.photonica.fraunhofer.de, you will receive a registration notification by email, which you need to confirm to receive the newsletter (double opt-in). Your email response serves as confirmation that you are in fact the person who initiated the subscription.

You may unsubscribe at any time, e.g., via a link at the end of each newsletter. Alternatively, you may send your request to cancel your subscription by email: info(at)pm.fraunhofer.de. Once we have received your cancellation request for the newsletter subscription, we will immediately delete your email address.

Our service provider, Mailingwork GmbH, Birkenweg 7, 09569 Oederan (“Mailingwork”), sends out our newsletter on our behalf. Mailingwork stores the email addresses of our newsletter recipients on their servers in Germany on our behalf. Mailingwork uses this information for the purpose of sending and analyzing newsletters on our behalf.

For this purpose, we entered into a data processing agreement with Mailingwork. By signing this agreement, Mailingwork undertakes to process the subscriber data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and to ensure that the rights of data subjects are protected.

Mailingwork has assured us that personal data are comprehensively protected against unauthorized access. Mailingwork is barred from using the data provided by our newsletter subscribers to contact the subscribers itself and is not authorized to transfer the subscriber data to third parties. As a reputable email sending service, Mailingwork is also certified by the Certified Senders Alliance.

d) Directions (OpenStreetMap)

On our website we embed the maps from OpenStreetMap. OpenStreetMap is a project of the OpenStreetMap Foundation, 132 Maney Hill Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B72 1JU, Great Britain, which collects public domain geodata and provides them in a database for free use. When you visit the website, initially no connection to OpenStreetMap’s servers is made. Instead of the embedded maps, you are initially shown only a preview image that we retrieve from our web server.
For any subsequent interaction on this website (such as a search by institute, region, continent, organizational unit) you are connected to the OpenStreetMap Foundation’s servers and data on the OpenStreetMap Foundation are transmitted in order to display embedded maps. Additional information concerning data protection in connection with OpenStreet Map can be found in the Privacy Policy of OpenStreetMap Foundation.

When connection is established to display the maps, the following data are transmitted to OpenStreetMap’s servers:

IP address
user’s browser and device
operating system
web page from which you were directed to the OpenStreetMap Foundation site (referring web page)
date and time the website was visited

If you have a user account with OpenStreetMap and are logged in when you visit our website, the following additional data will be transmitted to OpenStreetMap’s servers:

user ID
email address associated with your account
content blocked by the user and associated messages.

Embedding is done on the basis of Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR and with the purpose of making our website more user-friendly and interesting. This may be regarded as a legitimate interest within the meaning of the aforementioned provision.
You may prevent any data transfer to OpenStreetMap’s servers by deactivating JavaScript in your browser. In that case, however, you cannot use the map display.

Additional information on data protection in connection with OpenStreetMap may be found here.

3. Transfer of data

If we transfer personal data collected through websites to processors, we will notify you in this data protection information regarding the respective data processing operation, citing the specific recipient.

Aside from that, we will transfer your personal data only ifYou consented explicitly to the data transfer to a third party according to Article 6 para. 1, page 1 lit. a GDPR

You have given explicit consent pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR.
This is necessary pursuant to Article 6 (1) lit. b GDPR for the performance of a contract with you (for example, transfer to shipping companies for the purpose of delivering goods ordered by you, or transmitting payment information to payment service providers or credit institutions in order to process a payment transaction).
There is a legal obligation for transfer pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. c GDPR.

The recipients must not use the transferred data for any purposes other than the above-mentioned ones.

4. Web analysis through Leadlab (Wiredminds GmbH)

Our website uses the Leadlab service by Wiredminds GmbH and its tracking pixel technology to analyze user behavior and optimize our site accordingly. In particular, this service allows us to identify which companies have visited our site. In so doing we do not obtain any information that may identify you directly.

The use of Leadlab involves tracking pixels that allow statistical analysis of the use of this website based on your visits. Wiredminds uses a pseudonym to process the information in a usage profile for the purpose of analysis. The data are anonymized to the extent possible.

Without your specific permission, we neither use the data collected to identify you personally nor will we combine the data with personal data pertaining to the pseudonym associated with you.

If IP addresses are collected, they are immediately anonymized after collection by deleting the last number block.

For more information about data protection at Wiredminds, please visit the company’s website.

We process statistical data based on our legitimate interest pursuant to Article 6 (1) lit. f GDPR for the purpose of optimizing our online offering and our web presence. Wiredminds processes the data on our behalf based on a data processing agreement between us and Wiredminds. This agreement ensures that the data processing on our behalf is compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation and guarantees the protection of the data subjects’ rights.

5. Social media plug-ins

We use so-called social media buttons (also called social media plug-ins) on our website. These are small icons you can use to publish contents from our website on social networks under your own profile.
If you activate such an icon, a connection is established between our website and the social network. In addition to the contents in question, the operator of the social network obtains further, in part also personal information. For example, this includes the fact that you are currently visiting our site.

The social media buttons are integrated using the so-called Shariff solution. This solution prevents your device from establishing a link to the social network merely because you visit a website featuring a social media plug-in button without you having clicked on that button. This means that information is only transmitted to the social network when you activate the button.

We integrate the following social plug-ins on our website:

a) Facebook Ireland Limited: Sharing on Facebook

In part, information is transmitted to the parent company Facebook Inc., headquartered in the USA, to other Facebook-companies and external partners of Facebook, each of which may be located outside the European Union. Facebook utilizes standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and relies on the European Commission's adequacy decisions about certain countries.

For the purpose and scope of data collection, further processing and use of data by Facebook as well as your related rights and configuration options for protecting your privacy, please refer to Facebook’s privacy policy.

b) Twitter International Company: Sharing on Twitter

In part, information is transmitted to the parent company Twitter Inc., headquartered in the USA, to other Twitter-companies and external partners of Twitter, each of which may be located outside the European Union. Twitter utilizes standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and relies on your consent.

Further information on data protection on Twitter can be found in Twitter’s privacy policy.

c) NEW WORK SE (formerly: XING SE): Sharing on XING
In part, information is transmitted to other NEW WORK-companies and external partners of NEW WORK, each of which may be located outside the European Union. NEW WORK utilizes standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission or other appropriate safeguards as set forth in article 46 GDPR and relies on the European Commission's adequacy decisions about certain countries as well as your consent.

For the purpose and scope of data collection, further processing and use of data by NEW WORK as well as your related rights and configuration options for protecting your privacy, please refer to XING’s privacy policy.

d) LinkedIn Corporation: Sharing on LinkedIn
In part, information is transmitted to the parent company LinkedIn Corporation, headquartered in the USA, to other LinkedIn-companies and external partners of LinkedIn, each of which may be located outside the European Union. LinkedIn utilizes standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission.

Further information on data protection on LinkedIn can be found in the company’s privacy policy.

6. YouTube

We embed components (videos) of the video hosting service “YouTube” of the company Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (hereinafter “Google”) in our websites. The implementation is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR; our legitimate interest in this case is the smooth integration of the videos and the attractive design of our website.

We use the “privacy-enhanced mode” option provided by Google.

When you access a page containing an embedded video, a connection to the Google servers is established and the contents are displayed on the Internet page through a notification to your browser.

According to information from Google, in the “privacy-enhanced mode” your data – especially which of our website pages you visited as well as device-specific information including the IP address – is sent to the Google servers in the US only if you view the video.

If you are simultaneously logged into Google, this information is assigned to your Google member account. You can prevent this by logging out of your member account before visiting our website.

In part, information is transmitted to the parent company Google Inc., headquartered in the USA, to other Google-companies and external partners of Google, each of which may be located outside the European Union. Google utilizes standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission and relies on the European Commission's adequacy decisions about certain countries.

You find further information on the data protection in context with YouTube in the Google Data Protection Regulations.

7. Your Rights of the data subject

You have the right:

pursuant to Art. 7(3) GDPR, to withdraw your consent at any time. This means that we may not continue the data processing based on this consent in the future,
pursuant to Art. 15 GDPR, to obtain access to your personal data processed by us. In particular, you may request information about the purposes of the processing, the categories of personal data concerned, the categories of recipients to whom the personal data have been or will be disclosed, and the envisaged period for which the data will be stored. Moreover, you have the right to request rectification, erasure, or restriction of processing, to object to processing, the right to lodge a complaint, and to obtain information about the source of your data if they were not collected by us as well as about the existence of automated decision-making, including profiling, and, if applicable, meaningful information about the details involved,
pursuant to Art. 16 GDPR, to obtain without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate data or the completion of your personal data stored by us,
pursuant to Art. 17 GDPR, to obtain the erasure of personal data stored by us unless processing is necessary to exercise the right of freedom of expression and information, to comply with a legal obligation, for reasons of public interest, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims,
pursuant to Art. 18 GDPR, to obtain restriction of processing of your personal data if you contest the accuracy of the data, the processing is unlawful but you oppose the erasure of the personal data, or if we no longer need the personal data while you still require it for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims, or if you have filed an objection to the processing pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR,
pursuant to Art. 20 GDPR, to receive your personal data that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to demand the transfer of those data to another controller and
pursuant to Art. 77 GDPR, the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. Generally, you may contact the supervisory authority of your usual residence, place of work or the registered offices of our organization.

Information on your right to object pursuant to Art. 21 GDPR

You have the right to object, on grounds relating to your particular situation, at any time to processing of your personal data pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. e GDPR (data processing carried out in the public interest) and Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (data processing for purposes of legitimate interests). This also applies to any profiling as defined in Art. 4 (4) GDPR that is based on said provision in Art. 6.

If you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for processing that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or unless the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.

If your objection is directed against the processing of data for the purpose of direct advertising, we will stop the processing immediately. In this case, citing a special situation is not necessary. This includes profiling to the extent that it is related to such direct advertising.

If you would like to assert your right to object, simply send an email to datenschutz(at)zv.fraunhofer.de.

8. Data security

All your personal data are transmitted in encrypted format, using the widely used and secure TLS (Transport Layer Security) standard. TLS is a secure and proven standard that is also used, for instance, in online banking. You will recognize a secure TLS connection by the additional s after http (i.e., https://...) in the address bar of your browser or by the lock icon in the bottom part of your browser window.

In all other regards, we use suitable technical and organizational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulations, partial or complete loss, destruction, or the unauthorized access of third parties. We continuously improve our security measures in accordance with the state of the art.

9. Timeliness of the data and amendments to this data protection information

The further development of our website and the products and services offered or changed due to statutory or regulatory requirements, respectively, may make it necessary to amend this data protection information. You may access and print out the latest data protection information at any time from our website https://www.photonica.fraunhofer.de/en/data-protection-information.html