Privacy policy

Thank you for visiting our website and for your interest in our company. The protection of your personal data is an important concern for us.

The use of the Internet pages of Meta-Level Software AG is possible without any indication of personal data. However, if a data subject wants to use special enterprise services via our website, processing of personal data could become necessary.

With this data protection information, we would like to inform you about the type, scope and purpose of the processing of personal data (hereinafter also referred to as "data"). Personal data is all data that has a personal reference to you, e.g. name, address, e-mail address or your user behaviour. This data protection notice applies to all data processing procedures carried out by us, both within the scope of our core activities and for the online media provided by us.

1. Name and address of the controller

The responsible party within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "GDPR"), other data protection laws applicable in the Member States of the European Union and other provisions of a data protection nature is:

Meta-Level Software AG Lyonerring 1 66121 Saarbrücken Germany Tel: +49(0)681 996870 Email: info@meta-level.de Website: www.meta-level.de

2. Name and address of the data protection officer

The data protection officer of the controller is:

Mr. Elmar Brachmann Meta-Level Software AG Lyonerring 1 66121 Saarbrücken Germany Tel: +49(0)681 996870 Fax: +49(0)681 99687-99 Email: datenschutz@meta-level.de

Any data subject may contact our data protection officer directly at any time with any questions or suggestions regarding data protection.

3. Processing of your data within the scope of the core activities of our company

If you are our customer or business partner or are interested in our services, the type, scope and purpose of the processing of your data depends on the contractual or pre-contractual relationship existing between us. In this sense, the data processed by us includes all those data which are or were provided by you for the purpose of using the contractual or pre-contractual services and which are required for processing your enquiry or the contract concluded between us. Unless otherwise stated in the further points of this data protection notice, the processing of your data and its transfer to third parties is limited to those data which are necessary and appropriate to answer your enquiries and/or to fulfil the contract concluded between you and us, to protect our rights and to fulfil legal obligations. We will inform you of the data required for this before or during the data collection process. Insofar as we use third-party providers to provide our services, the data protection notices of the respective third-party providers apply.

(a) Data concerned:

Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses)
Payment data (e.g. bank details, invoices)
Contact details (e.g. e-mail address, telephone number, postal address)
Contract data (e.g. subject matter of the contract, duration of the contract)

(b) Persons concerned Interested parties, business and contractual partners

(c) The purpose of the processing Handling contractual services, communication as well as responding to contact requests, office and organizational procedures.

(d) Restriction of processing Restriction of processing is the marking of stored personal data with the aim of limiting their future processing.

(e) Legal basis Contract fulfilment and pre-contractual enquiries, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, legal obligation, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR, legitimate interest, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.

4. Your rights according to the GDPR

According to the GDPR, you are entitled to the rights listed below, which you can assert at any time with the controller named in this privacy notice:

a) Right of access You have the right to request information from us as to whether and which of your data we process.

b) Right of rectification You have the right to request the correction of inaccurate data or the completion of incomplete data.

(d) Right of restriction In certain cases, you have the right to demand that we only process your data in a restricted manner.

(e) The right to data portability You have the right to request that we transfer your data to you or to another responsible person in a structured, common and machine-readable format.

(f) Right of appeal You have the right to complain to a supervisory authority. The supervisory authority of your usual place of residence, your place of work or our company headquarters is responsible.

The competent supervisory authority in Saarland is:

Unabhängiges Datenschutzzentrum Saarland Fritz-Dobisch-Str. 12 66111 Saarbrücken Email: poststelle@datenschutz.saarland.de Tel: +49 (0) 681 947810 Fax: +49 (0) 681 94781-29

g) Right of withdrawal You have the right to revoke your consent to data processing at any time.

h) Right of objection You have the right to object at any time to the processing of your data, which we base on our legitimate interest according to Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR. If you make use of your right to object, we ask you to explain the reasons. We will then no longer process your personal data unless we can prove to you that compelling reasons worthy of protection for the data processing outweigh your interests and rights. Independently of the above, you have the right at any time to object to the processing of your personal data for the purposes of advertising and data analysis. Please address your objection to the contact address of the controller indicated above.

5. When do we delete your data?

We delete your data when we no longer need it or when you instruct us to do so. This means that - unless otherwise stated in the individual points of this data protection notice - we will delete your data,

if the purpose of the data processing has ceased to exist and thus the respective legal basis mentioned in the individual data protection notices no longer exists, e.g. after termination of the contractual relationship existing between us (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR) or after our legitimate interest in the further processing or storage of your data has ceased to exist (Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR),
if you exercise your right of revocation and no other legal basis for processing within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b-f GDPR applies,
if you make use of your right to object and there are no compelling reasons worthy of protection against the deletion.

However, if we have to retain (certain parts of) your data for other purposes, for example because tax retention periods (generally 6 years for business correspondence or 10 years for accounting records) or the assertion, exercise or defence of legal claims arising from contractual relationships (up to four years) make this necessary, or if the data is needed to protect the rights of another natural or legal person, we will delete (that part of) your data only after these periods have expired. Until the expiry of these periods, however, we limit the processing of this data to these purposes (fulfilment of retention obligations).

6. Cookies

Our website uses cookies. Cookies are small text files consisting of a series of numbers and letters that are stored on the terminal device you are using. Cookies are primarily used to exchange information between the terminal device you are using and our websites. Two types of cookies are used when you visit our websites:

Temporary cookies (session cookies)

These store a so-called session ID, with which various inquiries of your browser can be assigned to the common session. Session cookies are deleted when you close your browser.

Permanent cookies

Permanent cookies remain stored even after the browser is closed. This allows our website to recognize your computer when you return to our web pages. For example, information on language settings or log-in information can be stored in these cookies. In addition, these cookies can be used to document and store your surfing behaviour. This data can be used for statistical, marketing and personalization purposes.

In addition to the above classification, cookies can also be distinguished in terms of their purpose:

Necessary cookies These are cookies that are absolutely necessary for the operation of our web pages in order to ensure the proper operation of the page and the page display for the duration of your session or cookies that are set for security reasons.
Statistics, marketing and personalization cookies These are cookies that are used for analysis purposes or reach measurement. In particular, information on search terms entered or the frequency of page views may be stored via such "tracking" cookies. In addition, the surfing behaviour of an individual user (e.g. viewing certain content, using functions, etc.) can also be stored in a user profile. Such profiles are used to display content to users that matches their potential interests. Insofar as we use services via which cookies are stored on your end device for statistical, marketing and personalisation purposes, we will inform you about this separately in the following sections of our data protection information or in the context of obtaining your consent.

(a) Data concerned:

Usage data (e.g. access times, web pages clicked on)
Communication data (e.g. information about the device used, IP address)

(b) Persons concerned: Users of our online offers

(c) The purpose of the processing: Deliver our Internet pages, guaranteeing the operation of our Internet pages, improving our Internet offer, communication and marketing.

(d) Legal basis: Legitimate interest, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR If we do not obtain your consent to the setting of cookies, we base the processing of your data on our legitimate interest in improving the quality and user-friendliness of our website, in particular its content and functions. You can use the security settings of your browser to object to the use of cookies set by us within the scope of our legitimate interest. There, you have the option of specifying whether you do not accept cookies from the outset or only accept them on request, or whether you specify that cookies are deleted each time you close your browser. If cookies are deactivated for our websites, it may no longer be possible to use all the functions of the websites to their full extent.

7. Contact

If you contact us via email, social media, telephone, fax, post, our contact form or by any other means and in doing so provide us with personal data such as your name, telephone number or email address, or provide further information about yourself or your request, we will process this data in order to respond to your request within the framework of the pre-contractual or contractual relationship existing between us.

(a) Data concerned

Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses)
Contact details (e.g. e-mail address, telephone number, postal address)
Content data (texts, photos, videos)
Contract data (e.g. subject matter of the contract, duration of the contract)

(b) Persons concerned Interested parties, customers, business and contractual partners

(c) The purpose of the processing Communication as well as answering contact requests, office and organizational procedures

(d) Legal basis Contract fulfilment and pre-contractual enquiries, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, legitimate interest, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR

8. The handling of your data in the job application process

If you apply for a job with us, we process the personal data you provide to us during the application process, such as your name, address, place of residence, age, application photo, e-mail and telephone number, professional background including schools, training, studies. If you send the data by e-mail or via a contact form on our website, the data is processed electronically. When sending your application via the contact form, the transmission of your data is encrypted according to the state of the art. In the case of unencrypted communication by e-mail, we cannot guarantee complete data security on the transmission path to our IT systems, so that we recommend encrypted communication or the postal service for information requiring a high degree of confidentiality. If an employment contract is concluded following the application process, we store your data for the purpose of processing the employment relationship in compliance with the statutory provisions.

(a) Data concerned:

Inventory data
Payment data (e.g. bank details, invoices)
Contact details (e.g. e-mail address, telephone number, postal address)
Contract data (e.g. subject matter of the contract, duration of the contract)

(b) Persons concerned Job candidate (m/f/d)

(d) Legal bases Contract fulfilment and pre-contractual enquiries, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, legal obligation, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. c GDPR

(e) Deletion If no employment contract is concluded, your data will be deleted after completion of the application process or at the latest 2 months after its completion. This does not apply if legal regulations prevent the deletion or if the further storage of your data is necessary for the purpose of providing evidence, for example in proceedings according to the General Act on Equal Treatment (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, AGG). The application procedure is considered to be completed when the rejection letter is sent to you.

9. Your comments or ratings

You have the possibility to comment on our contributions on the designated areas of our Internet presence (blog). Since we can be held liable for infringing content of your comment (insult, defamatory criticism, incitement of the people, forbidden depiction of violence, etc.), we store your IP address for a period of 14 days in order to be able to determine your identity. We reserve the right to terminate the 'ability to comment or rate' option at any time.

(a) Data concerned

Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses)
Content data (e.g. posts, photos, videos)
Usage data (e.g. access times, web pages clicked on)
Communication data (e.g. information about the device used, IP address)

(b) The purpose of the processing Performance of contractual obligations, communication and processing of requests, obtaining feedback, security measures.

10. Subscribe to comments

You have the option to subscribe to the comments following your post. You will then be notified when more people comment on the same post. To do this, you must activate a checkbox provided for this purpose and enter your e-mail address when submitting your comment. To ensure that your e-mail address has not been misused during registration, you will first receive a confirmation e-mail containing a link. By clicking on the link, you activate the receipt of the notification (double opt-in procedure). In order to prevent misuse, we store the date and time of registration as well as the IP address assigned to you at that time. We will delete the e-mail address you have provided either if you have not clicked on the confirmation link 1 month after the confirmation e-mail has been sent in the double opt-in procedure or immediately after you have revoked your subscription to the respective article. We reserve the right to terminate the 'Subscribe to comments' option at any time.

a) Legal basis Consent, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR

b) Revocation You can cancel the subscription at any time. When you subscribe, we will inform you by which means you can revoke your subscription - usually by e-mail to an e-mail address provided by us for this purpose. Even after revocation, we may store your email address for up to three years based on our legitimate interests before deleting it to prove that you have subscribed. We store your e-mail address after your revocation exclusively for this purpose. We will delete your email address early if you confirm that you have previously consented to the subscription.

11. Our online presence on social networks

We operate online presences within the social networks listed below. If you visit one of these sites, the respective provider will collect and process the data listed below. As a rule, this data is collected for advertising and market research purposes and usage profiles are created with it. Usage profiles may store data regardless of the device you are using. This is especially the case if you are a member of the respective platform and logged in to it. The usage profiles can be used by the providers to play interest-based advertising to you. You have a right of revocation against the creation of user profiles. To exercise this, you must contact the relevant provider. If you have an account with one of the providers listed below and are logged in when you visit our websites, the provider in question may collect data about your usage behaviour on our websites. To prevent such a linking of your data, you can log out of the provider's service before visiting our site. For what purpose and to what extent data is collected by the provider, you can see the respective, in the following communicated, privacy statements of the providers.

(a) Data concerned

Inventory and contact data (e.g. name, address, telephone number, e-mail address)
Content data (e.g. posts, photos, videos)
Usage data (e.g. access times, web pages clicked on)
Communication data (e.g. information about the device used, IP address)
Location data (usually not without your consent)

(b) The purpose of the processing Communication and marketing, tracking and analysis of user behaviour

(d) Possibilities of appeal For information on the respective opt-out options, please refer to the information provided by the providers linked below.

We maintain online presences on the following social networks:

**Facebook Service Provider: Facebook Inc, 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA Based in the EU: Facebook Ireland Ltd, 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland Website: https://www.facebook.com/ Privacy Policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/ Privacy policy for Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/informationaboutpageinsightsdata

Instagram Service Provider: Instagram Inc, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park CA 94025, USA Parent company: Facebook Inc, 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA Based in the EU: Facebook Ireland Limited, 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland Website: https://www.instagram.com/ Privacy Policy: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy

**LinkedIn Service Provider: LinkedIn Corporation, 1000 W Maude, Sunnyvale, CA 94085, USA Based in Germany: LinkedIn, Hofstatt 4th Floor, Sendlinger Str. 12, 80331 Munich, Germany Website: https://www.linkedin.com/?trk=nav_logo Privacy Policy: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy?trk=uno-reg-guest-home-privacy-policy

Twitter Service Provider: Twitter Inc, 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA Website: https://twitter.com/?lang=de Privacy Policy: https://twitter.com/de/privacy

XING Service Provider: New Work SE, Dammtorstraße 30, 20354 Hamburg, Germany Website: https://www.xing.com/ Privacy Policy: https://privacy.xing.com/de/datenschutzerklaerung

12. Online meetings, video conferencing and screen sharing

We use third-party offerings to facilitate online meetings, conference calls via video/audio circuit, and online coworking among employees and with prospects or customers. If you communicate with us via such a service, the data collected in this communication process will be processed both by us and by the third-party provider. Data that may be generated in such a communication process includes, but is not limited to, your login and contact information, posts in the chat window, your video and audio postings, and shared screen content. The data processed by the third-party provider we use primarily includes user data and metadata (e.g. IP address, computer system information). As a rule, the third-party providers process this data in order to check and ensure the security of the service. In addition, findings from the data processing are to be used to optimise the third-party provider's offer and to carry out corresponding marketing measures. Please refer to the privacy policy of the third party provider in this regard.

(a) Data concerned

Inventory data (e.g. names, addresses)
Contact details (e.g. e-mail address, telephone number)
User data (e.g. times of access, Internet pages visited, interest in content)
Meta and communication data (e.g. IP address, computer system information)

(b) Persons concerned Interested parties, customers, communication partners

(c) The purpose of the processing Processing of contact requests, internal and external communication with employees as well as interested parties and customers, fulfilment of our contractual services, service offer

(d) Legal basis Consent, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR, contract performance and pre-contractual requests, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. b GDPR, legitimate interest, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR

Services we use:

Microsoft Teams Services Offered: Video conferences, chats, voice conferences Service Provider: Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA Based in the EU: Microsoft Ireland, South County Business Park, One Microsoft Place, Carmanhall and Leopardstown, Dublin, D18 P521, Ireland Website: https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/microsoft-365/microsoft-teams/group-chat-software Privacy Policy: https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement

13. Content services

We use certain services in order to be able to display certain content or graphics (videos, images, music, fonts, maps) via our website. The services we use process the IP address assigned to you at the time of your visit to our website, as this is the only way to display the respective content in the browser you are using. In addition, the providers of these services may place other cookies on your terminal device, which are used to collect information about your usage behavior, your interests, the device and browser you are using, as well as the time and duration of your session. The providers regularly use this data for analysis, statistical and marketing purposes. In addition, this information can also be combined with information from other sources. This applies in particular if you yourself maintain an account with the service provider and are logged in there at the time of the session.

(a) Data concerned:

Usage data (e.g. access times, web pages clicked on)
Communication data (e.g. information about the device used, IP address)

(b) Persons concerned Users of our website

(c) The purpose of the processing Playing out our Internet pages, offering content, guaranteeing the operation of our Internet pages

(d) Legal basis: Consent via cookie consent banner, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. a GDPR, legitimate interests, Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR

We use the following content services:

Google Maps We use Google Maps on our website. Here Google collects and processes the IP address of the visitor. If you visit an internet page on which Google Maps is integrated, your IP address as well as your location data (the latter usually not without your consent) will be transmitted to Google, regardless of whether Google Maps is actually used or you are logged into your Google account. Your IP address will be assigned to your Google account if you are logged in there when you visit our website.

To use this service, we work with a click solution, through which consent is given before the service is called. I.e. you will be asked to click a button (button) before the service is loaded.

Service Provider: Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA Based in the EU: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland Website: https://www.google.de/maps Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy Opt-out option: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

Bing Maps We use Bing Maps on our website. Here, Microsoft collects and processes the IP address of the visitor. When you visit a website on which Bing Maps is integrated, your IP address and your location data (the latter usually not without your consent) are transmitted to Microsoft, regardless of whether Bing Maps is actually used or you are logged into your Microsoft account. Your IP address is assigned to your Microsoft account if you are logged in there when you visit our website. The use of Bing Maps and the information obtained via Bing Maps is subject to the Microsoft Bing Maps Terms of Use.

To use this service, we work with a click solution, through which consent is given before the service is called. I.e. you will be asked to click a button (button) before the service is loaded.

Service Provider: Microsoft Corporation, One Microsoft Way, Redmond, WA 98052-6399, USA Seat in the EU: Microsoft Ireland, South County Business Park, One Microsoft Place, Carmanhall and Leopardstown, Dublin, D18 P521, Irland Microsoft Bing Maps Terms of use: https://www.microsoft.com/maps/assets/docs/terms.aspx Datenschutzerklärung: https://privacy.microsoft.com/de-de/privacystatement

YouTube We use the YouTube.com platform to post our own videos and make them publicly available. We also use YouTube components to embed videos on our Internet pages so that they can be played via your Internet browser when you visit our Internet pages. During your visit to these Internet pages, both YouTube and Google are informed about which page or sub-page you have accessed by transmitting your IP address to Google's external servers in the USA. This transmission of information takes place regardless of whether the videos displayed are actually viewed or clicked on, or whether you are logged into your YouTube or Google account. This information is collected and assigned to your Google account, provided you are logged in there when you call up our Internet pages.

Service Provider: YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA Website: https://www.youtube.com/ Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy Opt-out option: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

Google My Business

We operate a so-called Google My Business entry. If you should find us in this way, we fall back on the information service offered by Google. When you visit and interact with our Google My Business listing, Google also collects your IP address and other information that is present in the form of cookies on your terminal device. This information is used to provide us, as the operator of the Google My Business listing, with statistical information about the use of Google services. The data collected about you in this context will be processed by Google. If you contact us via our Google My Business entry or other Google services by direct message, we cannot exclude that these messages can also be read and evaluated by Google (possibly also automatically). We therefore advise against providing us with personal data there. We delete conversations no later than 14 days after the last chat activity or immediately after switching to another communication channel. The use of this service is subject to the Google Privacy Policy, which you - with use - have already agreed to. As the provider of our Google My Business listing, we do not collect or process any other data from your use of this Google listing. What information Google receives and how it is used is generally described in Google's privacy policy.

Service Provider: Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA Based in the EU: Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland Website: https://www.google.com/intl/de_de/business/ Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=de

14. Security measures

We also take technical and organisational security measures in accordance with the state of the art in order to comply with the provisions of data protection laws and to protect your data against accidental or intentional manipulation, partial or complete loss, destruction or against unauthorised access by third parties.

15. Existence of automated decision making

As a responsible company, we do not use automatic decision-making or profiling.

16. Actuality and change of this data protection information

We reserve the right to change this privacy policy at any time with effect for the future.

The current version is available on the Meta-Level Software AG website. Please visit our website regularly and inform yourself about the applicable data protection regulations.

This data protection notice was created with the help of the data protection generator from SOS Recht and other sources.