Cookies

Cookie Policy

Cookies

How do we use “cookies” and “log files”?

Rapid Meta (together “Rapid Meta/we/us”) are committed to ensuring that your privacy is protected. We aim to be as open and transparent as possible around the information we collect when you visit our websites, mobile sites or mobile apps, including through the use of “cookies”. This policy explains what cookies are and how we use them. It also explains the different types of cookies we use, and how you can change or delete them.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site. For all other types of cookies we need your permission.

This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.

  • Necessary cookies help make a website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. The website cannot function properly without these cookies.
  • Preference cookies enable a website to remember information that changes the way the website behaves or looks, like your preferred language or the region that you are in.
  • Statistic cookies help website owners to understand how visitors interact with websites by collecting and reporting information anonymously.
  • Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites. The intention is to display ads that are relevant and engaging for the individual user and thereby more valuable for publishers and third party advertisers.
  • Unclassified cookies are cookies that we are in the process of classifying, together with the providers of individual cookies.

If you have an account and you log in to this site, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.

When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed.

If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.

Business analysis and market research

In order to operate our business economically, to recognize market trends, wishes of the contractors and users, we analyze the data available to us for business transactions, contracts, inquiries, etc. We process stock data, communication data, contract data, payment data, usage data, metadata based on the nature 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR, whereby the data subjects include contractual partners, interested parties, customers, visitors and users of our online offer.

The analyses are carried out for the purpose of business analysis, marketing and market research. In doing so, we can take into account the profiles of the registered users with information, eg on their services used. The analyses serve us to increase the user-friendliness, the optimisation of our offer and the business economics. The analyses are for us alone and will not be disclosed externally unless they are anonymous, aggregated value analyses.

If these analyzes or profiles are personal, they will be deleted or anonymised upon termination of the users, otherwise after two years from the conclusion of the contract. Incidentally, the overall business analyzes and general trend provisions are created anonymously if possible.

If users leave comments or other contributions, their IP addresses may be based on our legitimate interests within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR be stored for 7 days. This is for our own safety, if someone leaves illegal content in comments and contributions (insults, prohibited political propaganda, etc.). In this case, we ourselves can be prosecuted for the comment or post and are therefore interested in the identity of the author.

Furthermore, we reserve the right, in accordance with our legitimate interests. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR to process the information of users for the purpose of spam detection.

On the same legal basis, we reserve the right, in the case of surveys, to store the IP addresses of users for the duration of their use and to use cookies to avoid multiple votes.

Within our news section, graphic emojis (or smilies), ie small graphical files expressing feelings used by external servers, are used. Here, the providers of the server, the IP addresses of the users. This is necessary so that the emojie files can be transmitted to the users’ browsers. The Emojie service is offered by Automattic Inc., 60 29th Street # 343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA. Automattic Privacy Notice. The server domains used are sworg and twemoji.maxcdn.com, which to our knowledge are so-called content delivery networks, that is, servers that only provide fast and secure transmission of the files and users’ personal data the transmission will be deleted.

The use of emojis is based on our legitimate interests, ie interest in an attractive design of our online offer acc. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR.

With the following information we inform you about the contents of our newsletter as well as the registration, dispatch and statistical evaluation procedures as well as your right of objection. By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to the receipt and the procedures described.

Content of the newsletter: We send newsletters, e-mails and other electronic notifications with advertising information (hereinafter “newsletter”) only with the consent of the recipient or a legal permission. Insofar as the contents of a newsletter are concretely described, they are authoritative for the consent of the users. Incidentally, our newsletter contains information about our services and us.

Double opt-in and logging: Registration for our newsletter is done in a so-called double-opt-in procedure. This means you will receive an e-mail after logging in to ask for confirmation of your registration. This confirmation is necessary so that nobody can register with external e-mail addresses. The registration for the newsletter will be logged in order to prove the registration process according to the legal requirements. This includes the storage of the login and the confirmation time, as well as the IP address. Likewise, changes to your data stored with the shipping service provider will be logged.

Credentials: To subscribe to the newsletter, it is sufficient to provide your e-mail address. Optionally, we ask you to give a name in the newsletter for personal address.

The dispatch of the newsletter and the associated performance measurement are based on a consent of the recipients acc. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a, Art. 7 GDPR in connection with § 7 Abs. 2 Nr. 3 UWG or if consent is not required based on our legitimate interests in direct marketing acc. Art. 6 para. 1 lt. F. GDPR in connection with § 7 Abs. 3 UWG.

The logging of the registration process is based on our legitimate interests in accordance with. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f DSGVO. Our interest lies in the use of a user-friendly and secure newsletter system, which serves both our business interests and the expectations of the users and also allows us to prove our consent.

Termination / Revocation – You can cancel the receipt of our newsletter at any time, ie revoke your consent. A link to cancel the newsletter can be found at the end of each newsletter. We may save the submitted email addresses for up to three years based on our legitimate interests before we delete them to provide prior consent. The processing of this data is limited to the purpose of a possible defense against claims. An individual request for cancellation is possible at any time, provided that at the same time the former existence of a consent is confirmed.

The newsletters contain a so-called “web beacon”, ie a pixel-sized file that is retrieved from the server when the newsletter is opened by our server or, if we use a shipping service provider. This call will initially collect technical information, such as information about the browser and your system, as well as your IP address and time of retrieval.

This information is used to improve the technical performance of services based on their specifications or audience and their reading habits, based on their locations (which can be determined using the IP address) or access times. Statistical surveys also include determining if the newsletters will be opened, when they will be opened and which links will be clicked. For technical reasons, this information can be assigned to the individual newsletter recipients. However, it is neither our goal nor, if used, that of the shipping service provider to observe individual users. The evaluations serve us much more to recognize the reading habits of our users and to adapt our content to them or to send different content according to the interests of our users.

A separate revocation of the performance measurement is unfortunately not possible, in this case, the entire newsletter subscription must be terminated.

We process the data of our customers as part of the ordering process in our online shop to allow them to select and order the selected products and services, as well as their payment and delivery, or execution.

The processed data includes inventory data, communication data, contract data, payment data and persons affected by the processing belong to our customers, prospects and other business partners. Processing is for the purpose of providing contractual services in the context of the operation of an online shop, billing, delivery and customer service. Here we use session cookies for the storage of the shopping cart contents and permanent cookies for the storage of the login status.

Processing is based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b (execution of order transactions) and c (legally required archiving) GDPR. The information marked as required for the establishment and fulfillment of the contract is required. We disclose the data to third parties only in the context of extradition, payment or in the context of legal permissions and obligations to legal advisors and authorities. The data will be processed in third countries only if this is necessary for the fulfillment of the contract (eg on customer request at delivery or payment).

Users can optionally create a user account, in particular by being able to view their orders. As part of the registration, the necessary mandatory information will be communicated to the users. The user accounts are not public and can not be indexed by search engines. If users have terminated their user account, their data will be deleted with regard to the user account, subject to their retention is for commercial or tax law reasons according to Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR necessary. Information in the customer account remains until its deletion with subsequent archiving in case of a legal obligation. It is the responsibility of the users to secure their data upon termination before the end of the contract.

As part of the registration and re-registration and use of our online services, we store the IP address and the time of the respective user action. The storage is based on our legitimate interests, as well as the user’s protection against misuse and other unauthorized use. A transfer of these data to third parties does not take place, unless it is necessary for the prosecution of our claims or there is a legal obligation in accordance with. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR.

The deletion takes place after expiry of legal warranty and comparable obligations, the necessity of keeping the data is checked every three years; in the case of legal archiving obligations, the deletion takes place after its expiration (end of commercial law (6 years) and tax law (10 years) retention obligation)

Users can create a user account. As part of the registration, the required mandatory information is communicated to the users and based on Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR processed for purposes of providing the user account. The processed data include in particular the login information (name, password and an e-mail address). The data entered during registration will be used for the purpose of using the user account and its purpose.

Users may be informed by e-mail about information relevant to their user account, such as technical changes. If users have terminated their user account, their data will be deleted with respect to the user account, subject to a statutory retention requirement. It is the responsibility of the users to secure their data upon termination before the end of the contract. We are entitled to irretrievably delete all user data stored during the term of the contract.

As part of the use of our registration and registration functions as well as the use of the user account, the IP address and the time of the respective user action will be saved. The storage is based on our legitimate interests, as well as the user’s protection against misuse and other unauthorized use. A transfer of these data to third parties does not take place, unless it is necessary for the prosecution of our claims or there is a legal obligation in accordance with. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR The IP addresses will be anonymized or deleted after 7 days at the latest.

Integration of services and contents of third parties

Based on our legitimate interests (ie interest in the analysis, optimization and economic operation of our online offer within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) lit. GDPR), we make use of content or services offered by third-party providers in order to provide their content and services Integrate services such as videos or fonts (collectively referred to as “content”).

This always presupposes that the third-party providers of this content perceive the IP address of the users, since they could not send the content to their browser without the IP address. The IP address is therefore required for the presentation of this content. We endeavour to use only content whose respective providers use the IP address solely for the delivery of the content. Third parties may also use so-called pixel tags (invisible graphics, also referred to as “web beacons”) for statistical or marketing purposes. The “pixel tags” can be used to evaluate information such as visitor traffic on the pages of this website.

The pseudonymous information may also be stored in cookies on the user’s device and may include, but is not limited to, technical information about the browser and operating system, referring web pages, visit time, and other information regarding the use of our online offer.

On the basis of our legitimate interests (ie interest in the economic operation of our online offer within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) lit. DSGVO), we are participants in the Amazon EU Affiliate Program, which was designed to provide a medium for websites by means of which the placement of advertisements and links to Amazon.co.uk advertising fee refund can be earned (so-called affiliate system). This means that as an Amazon partner, we earn qualified purchases.

Amazon uses cookies to track the origin of orders. Among other things, Amazon may recognize that you have clicked the affiliate link on this site and subsequently purchased a product from Amazon.

For more information about Amazon’s data usage and opt-out options, please read the company’s privacy policy.

Note: Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or one of its affiliates

Based on our legitimate interests, we rely on an efficient, secure and user-friendly comment management acc. Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f. GDPR the commenting service DISQUS offered by DISQUS, Inc., 301 Howard St, Floor 3 San Francisco, California 94105, USA. DISQUS is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European privacy legislation.

To use the DISQUS comment function, users can log in using their own DISQUS user account or an existing social media account (eg OpenID, Facebook, Twitter or Google). Here, the user credentials are obtained from the platforms through DISQUS. It is also possible to use the DISQUS comment feature as a guest without creating or using user accounts with DISQUS or any of the social media providers listed.

We only embed DISQUS with its features in our website, and we can influence the comments of the users. However, users enter into a direct contractual relationship with DISQUS, in which DISQS processes users ‘comments and acts as point of contact for any deletion of users’ data. Please refer to DISQUS privacy policy and users can assume that DISQUS has the comment content as well store their IP address and the time of the comment and store cookies on users’ computers and use them to display advertising. However, users may object to the processing of their data to display ads.

Based on our legitimate interests (ie interest in the analysis, optimization and economic operation of our online offer within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) f. GDPR) we use social plugins (“plugins”) of the social network facebook.com, which operated by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbor, Dublin 2, Ireland (“Facebook”). The plugins can represent interaction elements or content (eg videos, graphics or text contributions) and can be recognized by one of the Facebook logos (white “f” on blue tile, the terms “Like”, “Like” or a “thumbs up” sign ) or are marked with the addition “Facebook Social Plugin”. The list and appearance of Facebook Social Plugins can be viewed here.

Facebook is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European privacy legislation.

When a user invokes a feature of this online offering that includes such a plugin, their device establishes a direct connection to the Facebook servers. The content of the plugin is transmitted by Facebook directly to the device of the user and incorporated by him into the online offer. In the process, user profiles can be created from the processed data. We therefore have no influence on the amount of data that Facebook collects with the help of this plugin and therefore informs the users according to our knowledge.

By integrating the plugins, Facebook receives the information that a user has accessed the corresponding page of the online offer. If the user is logged in to Facebook, Facebook can assign the visit to his Facebook account. If users interact with the plugins, for example, press the Like button or leave a comment, the information is transmitted from your device directly to Facebook and stored there. If a user is not a member of Facebook, there is still the possibility that Facebook will find out and save their IP address. According to Facebook, only an anonymous IP address is stored in Germany.

The purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by Facebook, as well as the related rights and setting options for protecting the privacy of users, can be found in Facebook’s privacy policy.

If a user is a Facebook member and does not want Facebook to collect data about him via this online offer and link it to his member data stored on Facebook, he must log out of Facebook and delete his cookies before using our online offer. Other settings and inconsistencies regarding the use of data for advertising purposes are possible within the Facebook profile settings: https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads or via the US-American site http://www.aboutads.info / choices / or the EU page http://www.youronlinechoices.com/ . The settings are platform-independent, ie they are adopted for all devices, such as desktop computers or mobile devices

We use the services of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 on the basis of our legitimate interests (ie interest in the analysis, optimization and economic operation of our online service within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) lit. GDPR) , USA, (“Google”).

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European privacy legislation.

We use the AdSense service, which allows ads to appear on our website and reward us for their display or other use. For this purpose, usage data, such as the click on an ad and the IP address of the users are processed, whereby the IP address is shortened by the last two digits. Therefore, the processing of the users’ data is pseudonymised.

We use Adsense with personalised ads. In doing so, Google draws conclusions about their interests based on the websites visited by users or used apps and the user profiles created in this way. Advertisers use this information to align their campaigns with these interests, which benefits users and advertisers alike. For Google, ads are personalised when collected or known data determines or influences ad selection. These include past searches, activities, site visits, apps, demographics, and location information. Specifically, this includes demographic targeting, interest category targeting, re-marketing, and targeting to customer comparison lists and audience lists uploaded to DoubleClick Bid Manager or Campaign Manager.

For more information about Google’s data usage, hiring and disparaging options, please read Google’s Privacy Policy and Google’s Ads Ads Settings.

Based on our legitimate interests (ie interest in the analysis, optimization and economic operation of our online offer within the meaning of Art. 6 (1) lit. GDPR), we use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google LLC (“Google”). Google uses cookies. The information generated by the cookie about the use of the online offer by the users are usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European privacy legislation.

Google will use this information on our behalf to evaluate the use of our online offer by users, to compile reports on the activities within this online offer and to provide us with further services related to the use of this online offer and the internet usage. In this case, pseudonymous usage profiles of the users can be created from the processed data.

We only use Google Analytics with activated IP anonymization. This means that the IP address of the users will be shortened by Google within member states of the European Union or in other contracting states of the Agreement on the European Economic Area. Only in exceptional cases will the full IP address be sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there.

The IP address submitted by the user’s browser will not be merged with other data provided by Google. Users can prevent the storage of cookies by setting their browser software accordingly; Users may also prevent the collection by Google of the data generated by the cookie and related to its use of the online offer and the processing of such data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plug-in.

For more information about Google’s data usage, hiring and disparaging options, please read Google’s Privacy Policy and Google’s Ads Ads Settings.

The personal data of users will be deleted or anonymized after 14 months.

We include maps from the Google Maps service provided by Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. The processed data may include, in particular, users’ IP addresses and location data, but these are not collected without their consent (usually as part of the settings of their mobile devices). The data can be processed in the USA. Privacy Policy, opt-out.

Google Tag Manager is a solution that allows us to manage so-called website tags through a single interface (including integrating Google Analytics and other Google marketing services into our online offering). The tag manager itself (which implements the tags) does not process users’ personal data. With regard to the processing of users’ personal data, reference is made to the following information about Google’s services. Usage Policy.

We use the Gravatar service of Automattic Inc., 60 29th Street # 343, San Francisco, CA 94110, USA, within our online offering and specifically on the blog.

Gravatar is a service that allows users to log in and submit profile pictures and their email addresses. If users with the respective e-mail address on other online sites (especially in blogs) leave posts or comments, so their profile pictures can be displayed next to the posts or comments. For this purpose, the e-mail address communicated by the users to Gravatar is transmitted encrypted in order to check whether a profile is stored for it. This is the sole purpose of sending the e-mail address and it will not be used for other purposes, but will be deleted afterwards.

The use of Gravatar is based on our legitimate interests within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f) GDPR, because with the help of Gravatar we offer the post and comment writers the opportunity to personalize their posts with a profile picture.

By displaying the images, Gravatar has learned the IP address of the users, as this is necessary for communication between a browser and an online service. For more information about Gravatar’s collection and use of data, see the Automattic Privacy Notice.

Within our online offering, features and content of the Twitter service offered by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA, may be incorporated. This may include, for example, content such as images, videos or texts and buttons, with which users can share the contents of this online offer within Twitter.

If the users are members of the platform Twitter, Twitter can assign the call of the above mentioned contents and functions to the profiles of the users. Twitter is certified under the Privacy Shield Agreement, which provides a guarantee to comply with European privacy legislation. Privacy Policy, Opt-Out.

We embed the videos on the YouTube platform of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. Privacy Policy , opt-out.

Online presence in social media

We maintain online presence within social networks and platforms in order to communicate with customers, prospects and users active there and to inform them about our services. When calling the respective networks and platforms, the terms and conditions and the data processing guidelines apply to their respective operators.

Unless otherwise stated in our privacy policy, we process the users’ data as far as they communicate with us within the social networks and platforms, eg write articles on our online presence or send us messages.

For information on how your information is collected and used, please see our Privacy Center.

All of the major browsers offer tips and guidance for managing the cookies available on your browser including:

Cookie settings in Internet Explorer
Cookie settings in Firefox
Cookie settings in Chrome
Cookie settings in Safari for iOS
Cookie settins in Safari for Mountain Lion