When you use this website, we process your personal data as data controllers and save them for the duration required to fulfill the defined purposes and legal obligations. The sections below provide further details about the data this involves, how they will be processed and which 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 all websites of the Fraunhofer research group Smart Ocean Technologies (SOT) that refer to this data protection information. The controller is:
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V.
Hansastraße 27 c
80686 München, Germany
on behalf of its Fraunhofer research group Smart Ocean Technologies SOT
(hereinafter referred to as “Fraunhofer SOT”)
Email: info(at)sot.fraunhofer.de
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 with your questions concerning your data protection rights and/or your rights as data subject.
2. Processing personal data and purposes of processing
a) When visiting the website
You may access the website www.fraunhofer.dewithout having to disclose any details of your identity. What the browser on your terminal device does automatically is only to send information to the server of our website (e.g. browser type and version, date and time of access) so as to allow a connection with the website. This also includes the IP address of your requesting terminal device. It is temporarily stored in a so-called log file and automatically deleted after 4 days.
The 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 to be able to track any illegal attacks on the website, if required.
The legal basis for processing the IP address is the first sentence of point (f) of Article 6(1) 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 tracking pixel and analytics services when you visit our website. For more information on this, please refer to clauses 4 of this Data Protection Information.
b) When using the question form
We offer the option to ask a question via a contact form provided on the website. This involves the following mandatory information:
- Name (could also be a Pseudonym
- Email address
We require your data to determine who sent the question and to be able to answer it.
Moreover, you can voluntarily also indicate:
- Age
- Country
If given, we will use this information in the answer videos in the following form: [Name], [Age], from [Country]. Please note, that you can also use a pseudonym as name, it will never be validated. The information used in the answer videos is not meant to be identifying, we will not use it if an identification risk seems possible (e. g. in case of very uncommon names). This data processing in response to your question is necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests pursuant to Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR.
We will delete the personal data collected by us using the contact form after the campaign YourOceanQuestion is finished, unless statutory retention periods prohibit the erasure of your data.
3. Transfer of personal data to third parties
We forward your personal data to third parties only if:
you have given your express consent pursuant to the first sentence of point (a) of Article 6(1) GDPR,
it is necessary for the performance of a contract with you pursuant to the first sentence of point (b) of Article 6(1) GDPR,
A statutory obligation exists for transferring pursuant to the first sentence of point (c) of Article 6(1) GDPR.
In the event that personal data is transferred to a third country (outside the EU) or an international organisation, we will provide information accordingly.
4. 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. We use components (videos) of YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., 94066 San Bruno, CA, USA (hereinafter “YouTube”), a company of Google Inc., Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View CA 94043, USA, (hereinafter “Google”) on 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 option of “privacy-enhanced mode” 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.
Pursuant to Google specifications, in the “extended data protection mode” your data – especially which of our Internet pages you have visited as well as device-specific information including the IP address – is sent to the Google servers in the US only when you view the video. By clicking on the video, you give your consent to this transfer.
If you are simultaneously logged on to Google, this information is assigned to your Google member account. You may 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.
For more information on data protection in connection with YouTube, please refer to the data protection regulations of Google.
5. Rights of the data subject
You have the right:
pursuant to Article 7(3) GDPR, to withdraw the consent given to us at any time. This means that in future we may no longer continue to process the data as based on this consent;
pursuant to Article 15 GDPR, to obtain information about your personal data processed by us. More particularly, you may obtain information about the purpose of processing, the category of the personal data, the categories of recipients, to whom your data has been or is disclosed to, the storage period planned, the existence of a right to request from the controller rectification , erasure, restriction of processing or objection, the existence of a right to lodge a complaint, the source of your data if it has not been collected by us, as well as about the existence of automated decision-making including profiling and, if applicable, significant information about its details;
pursuant to Article 16 GDPR, to obtain the rectification of inaccurate personal data without undue delay or the completion of your personal data stored with us;
pursuant to Article 17 GDPR, to obtain the erasure of your personal data stored with us unless processing is necessary to exercise the right to freedom of expression and information, for compliance with a legal obligation , for reasons of public interest, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
pursuant to Article 18 GDPR, to obtain the restriction of the processing of your personal data if you contest the accuracy of the data, the processing is unlawful but you deny its erasure and we no longer need the data while you still require it for establishing, exercising or defending legal claims or if you have objected to processing pursuant to Article 21 GDPR;
pursuant to Article 20 GDPR, to receive your personal data that you have provided to us, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to obtain the transmission to another data controller and
pursuant to Article 77 GDPR, to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. For this, you may normally contact the supervisory authority of your habitual residence or workplace or our company headquarters.
6. Information on your right to object pursuant to Article 21 GDPR
You have the right to object, on grounds relating from your particular situation, at any time to processing of your personal data, which is based on point (e) of Article 6(1) GDPR (data processing for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest) and on point (f) of Article 6(1) GDPR (data processing for the purposes of the legitimate interests); this is also applicable to profiling pursuant to Article 4(4) GDPR based on this regulation.
If you file an objection, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or unless processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims. If your objection is directed against the processing of data for the purpose of direct marketing, we will stop the processing immediately. In this case, citing a special situation is not necessary. This is also applicable to profiling, insofar as it is related to such direct marketing.
If you wish to make use of your right to object, please send an email to datenschutz@zv.fraunhofer.de.
7. Data security
All your personal data is transferred in an encoded manner using the widely used and secure TLS (Transport Layer Security) encryption standard. TLS is a secure and proven standard that is also used for online banking, for instance. You will recognise a secure TLS connection by the additional s after http (i.e., https://..) in the address bar of your browser or from the lock icon in the lower part of your browser, among other things.
Besides, we use suitable technical and organisational security measures to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously being improved as the technology advances.
8. Timeliness and Amendments to this Data Protection Information
This data protection information as amended in January 2022 is currently applicable.
It may become necessary to change this data protection information due to the further development of our website and its offers or on account of amended legal or official requirements. You may always access and print the latest data protection information on the website.