Privacy Policy
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1. Introduction
Welcome to european-alternative.org (the "Website"). This Privacy Policy outlines how Ole Nepomuk Mai ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, processes, discloses, and protects your personal data when you visit our Website and interact with our services. We are committed to safeguarding your privacy in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other applicable data protection laws. By using our Website, you acknowledge the data practices described in this policy. Where specific actions require your consent (e.g., subscribing to a newsletter, accepting non-essential cookies), we will obtain this separately.
Effective Date: 19.04.2025
2. Data Controller Information
The entity responsible for the processing of your personal data (the "Data Controller") is:
Ole Nepomuk Mai
Goethestr. 70, 10625 Berlin, Germany
Email: hello@european-alternative.org
Phone: +49 30 3977 0918 (Please note: This number is not for customer support inquiries).
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please contact us using the details above.
3. Scope of This Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy applies exclusively to personal data collected through the european-alternative.org website and its associated services. It does not extend to the practices of third-party websites, services, or applications that may be linked to or accessed from our Website. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.
4. Personal Data We Collect, How We Use It, and Legal Basis for Processing
We collect and process personal data based on the legal grounds provided by Article 6 of the GDPR. The types of data collected and the corresponding purposes and legal bases are as follows:
a. Information You Provide Voluntarily:
Types of Data: Name, email address, postal address, telephone number, messages, queries, feedback, or other content you submit via contact forms, email communications, newsletter subscriptions, or interactive features.
Purpose of Processing: To respond to your inquiries, provide requested services, send newsletters (if subscribed), manage your participation in interactive features, and communicate with you.
Legal Basis:
Contractual Necessity (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR): When processing is necessary to fulfill your request (e.g., responding to a specific query asking for information).
Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): When you explicitly consent to specific processing, such as subscribing to a newsletter. You can withdraw this consent at any time.
Legitimate Interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): For responding to general inquiries where not strictly contractual, provided our interests are not overridden by your rights.
b. Data Automatically Collected (Technical and Usage Data):
Types of Data: IP address, browser type and version, operating system, device information, referring URLs, pages visited, time spent on pages, links clicked, access times, and other similar diagnostic data.
Purpose of Processing: To ensure the technical functionality and security of our Website, monitor and analyze website traffic and usage patterns, improve user experience, and prevent fraud or misuse.
Legal Basis:
Legitimate Interests (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR): For essential operational data, security monitoring, and basic, aggregated website analytics necessary for maintaining and improving the Website, provided these interests are balanced against your privacy rights.
Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR): For more detailed tracking, analytics, or personalized experiences using non-essential cookies or similar technologies (see Section 5).
5. Use of Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Our Website may use cookies (small text files stored on your device) and similar tracking technologies (e.g., pixels, web beacons) to enhance functionality, analyze performance, and support our operational needs.
Types of Cookies:
Essential (Strictly Necessary) Cookies: Required for the basic operation of the Website (e.g., navigation, security). These do not require consent but are necessary for functionality.
Non-Essential Cookies: Used for analytics, performance monitoring, and potentially marketing or functional enhancements. This may include:
Analytical/Performance Cookies: Help us understand how visitors interact with the Website.
Functional Cookies: Enable enhanced functionality and personalization.
Targeting Cookies: May be used by third parties (e.g., advertising partners) to build a profile of your interests.
Consent: We will request your explicit consent before placing any non-essential cookies on your device, typically via a cookie banner presented during your first visit.
Managing Cookies: You can manage your cookie preferences at any time through our [Link to Cookie Settings Tool, if available] or by adjusting your browser settings. Refusing non-essential cookies may impact your experience, but essential functions will remain available.
6. Disclosure of Your Personal Data
We may share your personal data with third parties only in the following circumstances and always ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place:
a. Hosting and Platform Provider (Ycode): Our Website is hosted and operated using the Ycode platform (Ycode, Inc., 228 Park Ave S, PMB 54955, New York, New York 10003-1502, USA). Ycode acts as a data processor on our behalf, processing data strictly according to our instructions and their privacy policy (available at: https://www.ycode.com/legal/privacy-policy) and DPA (https://www.ycode.com/legal/data-processing-addendum). This involves international data transfer (see Section 9).
b. Other Service Providers: We may engage other third-party companies and individuals ("Service Providers") to perform website-related services (e.g., analytics providers, email delivery services for newsletters). These Service Providers will only have access to your personal data to the extent necessary to perform these tasks on our behalf and are obligated contractually (via Data Processing Agreements where required) not to disclose or use it for any other purpose.
c. Legal Requirements: We may disclose your personal data if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court, law enforcement, or government agency).
d. Protection of Rights: We may disclose information where we believe it necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, or as evidence in litigation.
7. Data Retention
We retain your personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, as outlined in this policy, and to comply with our legal obligations (e.g., tax, accounting, or reporting requirements), resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.
Specific Retention Examples:
Website Log Data: Typically retained for a maximum of 6-12 months for security analysis and troubleshooting, unless a specific security incident requires longer retention for investigation or legal purposes.
Contact Form/Email Data: Retained for as long as needed to address your inquiry and potentially for a reasonable period afterwards for follow-up or record-keeping, unless you request earlier deletion.
Newsletter Subscription Data: Retained for as long as you remain subscribed. Upon unsubscribing, your data will be deleted or anonymized promptly, subject to any legal hold requirements.
Cookie Data: Retention periods vary by cookie type.
8. Your Data Protection Rights Under GDPR As a data subject under the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
Right of Access (Art. 15 GDPR): Request confirmation of whether we process your data and access to the data we hold about you.
Right to Rectification (Art. 16 GDPR): Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.
Right to Erasure ('Right to be Forgotten') (Art. 17 GDPR): Request deletion of your personal data, subject to certain legal limitations (e.g., ongoing legal obligations).
Right to Restrict Processing (Art. 18 GDPR): Request limitation of how we process your data under specific circumstances (e.g., while verifying accuracy).
Right to Data Portability (Art. 20 GDPR): Request your data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format, and the right to transmit that data to another controller where processing is based on consent or contract and carried out by automated means.
Right to Object (Art. 21 GDPR): Object to processing based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
Right to Withdraw Consent (Art. 7(3) GDPR): Where processing is based on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. This does not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before its withdrawal.
Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. For Germany, the relevant authority for our location is likely the:
Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit
Website: https://www.datenschutz-berlin.de/
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided in Section 2. We will respond to your request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
9. International Data Transfers
Your personal data may be transferred to, stored, and processed in countries outside the European Economic Area (EEA), including the United States, where our hosting provider Ycode is located. These countries may have data protection laws that differ from those in the EEA.
We ensure that any such transfers comply with GDPR requirements by implementing appropriate safeguards. For transfers to the US involving Ycode, we rely on mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the European Commission, as outlined in our data processing agreement with Ycode, to ensure an adequate level of data protection.
10. Data Security
We implement appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect your personal data against accidental or unlawful destruction, loss, alteration, unauthorized disclosure, or access. These measures include, where appropriate, encryption, access controls, and secure hosting environments. However, please be aware that no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.
11. Children's Privacy
Our Website is not intended for use by individuals under the age of 16 (or the relevant age of consent for data processing in your jurisdiction). We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under this age. If we become aware that we have inadvertently collected personal data from a child without appropriate parental consent, we will take steps to delete such information promptly. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under the specified age, please contact us.
12. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our data practices, legal requirements, or service offerings. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated "Effective Date" at the top. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about how we are protecting your information. Your continued use of the Website after any changes constitutes your acknowledgment of the modified policy.
13. Contact Us
If you have any questions, concerns, requests, or complaints regarding this Privacy Policy or our handling of your personal data, please contact us:
Ole Nepomuk Mai
Goethestr. 70, 10625 Berlin, Germany
Email: hello@european-alternative.org
Phone: +49 30 3977 0918 (No customer support)