Privacy policy

 

Terms and Conditions on Data Protection

“CONIPO” refers to the service provided subject to these General Terms and Conditions and/or CONIPO UG.

The protection of your personal data is of utmost concern to CONIPO.

In these terms and conditions on data protection CONIPO would like to inform you about how CONIPO treats your personal data and how you can exchange this data with other users of CONIPO.

 

1. Basic Principles of CONIPO for handling your Personal Data

 

CONIPO strictly adheres to the following basic principles in the protection of your Personal Data:

  • CONIPO shall collect, process and use your Personal Data in accordance with the laws and statutes on data protection of the Federal Republic of Germany and those of the European Union.
  • CONIPO shall use your Personal Data solely to provide you the CONIPO Services on the Internet for which you have registered. CONIPO will never pass your Personal Data on to any third party, neither for advertising, nor for marketing or for any other purposes without your consent.
  • With the exception of some general information about your profession you alone decide which of the Personal Data you have made available to CONIPO in your profile may be displayed by CONIPO to other members of CONIPO (cf. Section 3 of these Terms and Conditions on Data Protection).
  • Persons not registered with CONIPO may only view your Personal Data to the extent that you enable and allow them to do so (cf. Section 4).

 

2. Definitions

 

The following terms used in these Terms and Conditions on Data Protection shall have the following meanings:

  • "Personal Data" shall mean all data and/or information about your profession or your person.
  • "CONIPO Websites" shall mean all websites on which CONIPO provides the CONIPO Services.
  • "Social Network" shall mean the contact and communication forums that belong to the applications of the CONIPO service.
  • "Profile" shall mean the CONIPO Website where the Personal Data you have made available to CONIPO is displayed in accordance with your specifications and your consent.
  • "CONIPO Members" shall mean all registered users with a visible profile in the Social Network.
  • "CONIPO Services" shall mean all registration-based services provided by CONIPO on the CONIPO Websites.
  • "Registration Data" shall mean the Personal Data you are obliged to make available to CONIPO in the registration process for the CONIPO Services (mandatory fields).

 

3. What does CONIPO know about you, what do you give CONIPO and CONIPO Members permission to do, and what happens with your Personal Data?

 

3.1 Registration Data

 

In order for the CONIPO Services to function, CONIPO needs to collect and process certain elements of your Personal Data in the course of the registration process. First of all, this consists of the following data:

  • Username
  • Password

Your password and/or your username are never visible to any CONIPO Member at any time. CONIPO shall never disclose or pass your password and/or your username on to any third party.

 

Furthermore, you will need to fill out certain mandatory fields in the course of creating a Profile, such as:

  • Business e-mail account
  • Business telephone number
  • First name, last name, form of address
  • Date of birth
  • Professional status
  • Company name
  • Position (Title)
  • Industry
  • Country, state and city of your company

 

The following Personal Data from the Profile is accessible to other CONIPO Members without any restrictions:

  • First name, last name
  • Professional status
  • Company name
  • Position (Title)
  • Industry
  • Country, state and city of your company

 

With respect to the following Personal Data in the Profile, you may choose in each individual case whether the data shall be displayed to a specific other CONIPO Member or not:

  • Business e-mail account
  • Business telephone number
  • Date of birth

 

3.2 Voluntary Data in the Profile

 

If you wish, you may add more information about yourself to your Profile on a voluntary basis (hereinafter referred to as "Voluntary Data"), to allow other CONIPO Members to get to know you better and possibly encourage them to choose you as an appropriate business contact. At the moment, you are able to choose from the following Voluntary Data, for example: your interests, your education, companies you have previously worked for, what you have to offer to other CONIPO Members, what you are looking for from other CONIPO Members, etc. You may also upload a photograph of yourself, if you wish.

 

The Voluntary Data you choose to enter in your profile is accessible to all other CONIPO Members. With some of the Voluntary Data you may choose in each individual case if the data shall be displayed to a specific other CONIPO Member.

 

You can revoke Voluntary Data at any time by deleting the data in question from your profile.

 

3.3 Your Profile, Contact Management

 

The following sections of the Personal Data you have made available to CONIPO is visible to all other CONIPO Members:

  • First name, last name
  • Professional status
  • Company name
  • Position (Title)
  • Industry
  • Country, state and city of your company

 

All other CONIPO Members may access your Profile and view the information displayed on the Profile, including such Voluntary Data you have specified to be made available to all other CONIPO Members. Certain CONIPO Members may be able to access further of your Voluntary Data in accordance with your specifications (chosen settings) for the respective CONIPO Member in each individual case.

 

If you send CONIPO Members a request for personal contact, these CONIPO Members are then saved in your Profile on a contact list. Should a CONIPO Member confirm your request for contact, this CONIPO Member shall be listed as a so called "confirmed contact". Confirmed and unconfirmed contacts shall be registered separate from one another. Other CONIPO Members may only ever view your list of confirmed contacts.

 

CONIPO has set your privacy settings under "Privacy" by default so that your list of confirmed contacts is displayed to all CONIPO Members.

 

The following of your personal statistics are visible to all CONIPO Members at all times:

  • Number of your confirmed contacts
  • Number of hits on your Profile
  • Month and year of your membership
  • Type of membership

 

Other CONIPO Members may send you private messages in order to establish contact with you. CONIPO has set your privacy settings under "Privacy" by default so that all CONIPO Members may send you private messages. You may restrict the ability of CONIPO Members to send you private messages at any time to the effect that either no CONIPO Members or only selected contacts may send you private messages, for example only the direct contacts of your contacts (i.e. second-level contacts) or only third-level or fourth-level contacts.

 

3.4 Your comments

 

You can like, find interesting and comment on your contacts' activity (hereinafter referred to as "comments"). Your comments are then visible to the network of the contact on whose activity you commented. You can delete your comments at any time.

 

3.5 Billing details

 

If you use any of CONIPO's paid services, CONIPO will collect and use your billing details such as your credit card or bank details for billing and payment purposes. If you select credit card as your method of payment and pay with your MasterCard or Visa credit card (not American Express), shall process your billing data along with any other details required for billing purposes (e.g. name and billing address). To the extent required, your billing details are sent to, collected and processed by service providers such as credit card companies in order to process payments. Your billing details are saved in order to process payments for automatic user account extensions.

 

4. Visibility of your Profile to Non-Members of CONIPO

 

Under "Privacy" you can set the level of your Profile's privacy at any time. This means that you decide whether to increase your level of privacy or opt in favour of more visibility online, enabling more exposure of your profile for potential business partners. When you register, your default privacy settings rather promote the spirit of networking. The data contained in your profile is visible to non-members of CONIPO and traceable by search engines on the Internet. This, however, does not include personal contact details such as e-mail addresses or phone numbers.

 

5. Groups

 

On the CONIPO Websites, CONIPO offers certain groups, forums and similar services.

 

Each group has one (1) or more moderator(s). The moderator decides for each group whether the group is public or whether it is only accessible to a specific group of people, as well as who has read and/or write access for each relevant group. This information will be displayed on the CONIPO Websites for the relevant group. It is visible to CONIPO Members and it may also be visible to non-members of CONIPO, depending on the settings chosen by the moderator.

 

Please note: where a group is specified as "public" on the CONIPO Website and in the event that the moderator has not restricted the access rights to the group, all contributions of CONIPO Members to such a group can be read by all other CONIPO Members, and these contributions are then also accessible to non-members of CONIPO on the Internet without any restrictions.

 

6. Appointments, Activities, Event Management

 

On the CONIPO Websites, CONIPO offers you the possibility to enter your appointments, activities and events as well as similar services (collectively hereinafter referred to as "events"). With this function you may manage and coordinate your events with other CONIPO Members and/or with non-members of CONIPO, and you may also invite other CONIPO Members and/or non-members to specific events.

 

Each event has one (1) or more hosts (organisers). The host decides for each event if and which information about the event is visible to other CONIPO Members and/or for non-members of CONIPO. Among other things, this information may include whether the event is reserved to CONIPO Members or whether it is a public event and as such accessible to non-members, whether the number of participants is limited, whether the guest list is visible without any restrictions or if and which restrictions should apply to the visibility of the guest list. The above information shall be displayed on the CONIPO Websites for the relevant event. It is visible to CONIPO Members, and it may also be visible to non-members, depending on the settings chosen by the host.

 

7. API and data processing on behalf of users

 

CONIPO provides the CONIPO API to selected developers and companies ("API Partners") so that they can develop and manage applications that grant users of API Partner applications access to data and content beyond the CONIPO platform while also allowing said users to integrate external content on the CONIPO platform. The aim of integrating external applications is to make CONIPO more appealing and useful to CONIPO Members. API stands for Application Programming Interface, meaning that the CONIPO API is an interface provided by CONIPO that allows API partners to integrate one or more applications on the CONIPO platform provided they adhere to CONIPO’s contractual terms. CONIPO Members are required to provide their consent before using any of the applications.

 

API Partners are required to register on CONIPO and enter into an agreement with CONIPO that governs both the rights and duties of both parties. The API Partners are in particular required to give their consent in terms of accessing, saving and using personal data. CONIPO requires contractual agreements and has made technical provisions to prevent API Partners from potentially misusing personal data.

 

Every API Partner application that accesses the data and content of CONIPO Members requires the prior consent of CONIPO AG. CONIPO has therefore compiled a list of criteria in order to ensure that CONIPO Member data is both safe and secure.

 

If an application involves personal data being processed in countries outside of the European Union ("third countries"), CONIPO will stipulate the privacy policy required in order to ensure that API Partners in third countries maintain an appropriate level of data protection. If you would like to use an API Partner application, you need to grant the application access to data on CONIPO. Depending on the application in question, a separate declaration of consent for data processing may be required. When API Partners process CONIPO Member data, this is performed on behalf of the CONIPO Member that activated the application.

 

CONIPO provides its members with services allowing them to process their own data and/or that of third parties. If you activate such a CONIPO application or service, you are responsible for the personal data processed on your behalf. CONIPO provides you with features for managing and, in particular, for deleting data that CONIPO processes on your behalf. You have the right and option to terminate personal data processing on your behalf at any time.

 

8. Invitations

 

As a CONIPO Member you may invite others to join CONIPO. CONIPO shall process personal data collected in the course of the invitation on behalf of the CONIPO member solely for expanding their network, e.g. through contact suggestions, and shall not use it for any other purposes.

 

CONIPO will send a reminder e-mail ("automatic reminder") on behalf of the CONIPO member to the recipient of the invitation 30 days after you send the invitation. You can deactivate the automatic reminder feature in your settings. You are also able to send out manual reminder e-mails in addition to the automatic reminder feature. CONIPO only saves encrypted copies of the e-mail addresses to which you send invitations. This encryption is removed temporarily when you view these e-mail addresses in your CONIPO account. You can delete the data in your account at any time. Invitation recipients have the right to revoke the use of their e-mail address for invitation purposes at any time.

 

Please note that the following sections of your Personal Data are displayed to the recipient of the invitation:

  • Your name
  • Your company name
  • Your position
  • Your e-mail address
  • Your photograph
  • Your membership status

 

9. What does "Clickpath" mean?

 

"Clickpath" is a function of the CONIPO Services which registers access to CONIPO Members’ Profiles by other CONIPO Members, to event pages or access to specific information within CONIPO Members’ Profiles. The information registered by Clickpath is only available to Premium Members of CONIPO CONIPO and organizers who have booked the Event Plus option for their events.

 

By using Clickpath you can see which Profiles of other CONIPO Members you have visited. You can also check which other CONIPO Members have visited your Profile. By the same token, all other Premium Members of CONIPO can do the same, i.e. they may see whether you have visited their Profile. This feature is an essential part of contact management on CONIPO and as such an essential feature of the CONIPO Services: you are not able to deactivate this feature in your privacy settings. If you do not agree that other CONIPO Members may see that you have visited their Profile, you should not use the CONIPO Services.

 

Furthermore, Clickpath registers which CONIPO Members have visited your CONIPO "About me" page which you can set up within the framework of CONIPO Services, and which CONIPO Members have visited the website of one of your previous companies.

 

Any information registered by Clickpath is deleted by CONIPO automatically within three (3) months after its registration.

 

10. Search Functions

 

The CONIPO Services offer various possibilities to search for particular CONIPO Members, including a Conipo Search feature and a Search Agent feature. These various search functions may assist you, for example, in finding other CONIPO Members with similar interests. The search functions can also help you to initiate contact with other CONIPO Members who offer exactly what you are looking for. Thus, you can find the contacts you need - and systematically expand your personal network.

 

11. Newsletter, weekly status e-mails

 

CONIPO uses the electronic e-mail address(es) you entered to send you regular newsletters, status e-mails, advertising for similar products and services, and surveys for internal market research purposes (collectively hereinafter referred to as the "newsletter"), unless you object to such use. In these newsletters CONIPO may inform you, among other things, about new features on CONIPO, interesting contacts and certain personal statistics.

 

You may choose to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time by changing your notification settings on CONIPO or by sending an e-mail to the link provided at the end of each newsletter without costs arising by virtue thereof, other than transmission costs pursuant to the basic rates.

 

12. Cookies and pixels

 

"Cookies" are small files that enable us to store specific information related to you, the User, on your PC or other end device while using the CONIPO services. Cookies help to analyse usage frequency, the number of people who use our website, user behaviour on our website, advertising effectiveness, and to increased security and tailor our service offering to your needs.

 

After you have logged in to the CONIPO Services with your username and password, CONIPO uses so-called "session cookies" in order to identify you during the course of your session. Upon the termination of your session, the session cookie will be automatically deleted. You can save session cookies on your computer to enable automatic login for subsequent sessions by activating the function: "Login automatically on this computer". Session cookies will then store parts of your login data in encrypted form. If you select automatic login, please be aware that this will then only be possible on the same computer on which the cookie was first saved, i.e. an automatic login on two (2) different computers is not possible.

 

CONIPO Services also use "permanent cookies" to record information about visitors to the CONIPO Websites who repeatedly use the CONIPO Services. Permanent cookies are designed to help us continually improve the products and services we offer you. Permanent cookies do not contain personal information such as your name, IP address, etc., meaning that we do not generate profiles based on user behaviour.

 

You can edit the settings of your browser to prevent cookies from being stored, to limit the storage of cookies to certain websites, or such that your browser informs you every time a cookie is sent. You can also delete cookies from your PC’s hard drive at any time. However, please note that you will not be able to take advantage of the CONIPO Services if session cookies are deactivated.

 

Third-party cookies could also be stored on your PC or end device when using CONIPO and/or CONIPO applications which are partially or entirely provided by third parties. You can prevent such cookies from being stored in your browser by adjusting the browser settings accordingly.

 

CONIPO uses so-called pixels, Web beacons, clear GIFs and other similar mechanisms ("Pixels"). A pixel is an image file or link to an image file added to the Website code but not sent to your end device (e.g. PC, smartphone, etc.). Pixels are largely used for the same reasons as cookies, i.e. to analyse the number of people who use our website or, if the user's e-mail program allows HTML, to determine whether and when an e-mail was opened. Pixels help us to check and optimise the effectiveness of our Websites, offers and advertising campaigns. Pixels do not provide us with personal information and do not enable us to track users. Pixels are usually used in conjunction with cookies. If you have deactivated the use of cookies in your browser, then the pixel will only report an anonymous website visit.

 

We also use pixel-based and cookie-based conversion tracking technologies in order to be able to measure the success of our advertising campaigns, for example. To this end we use technologies provided by Google, Yahoo!, Bing etc. The following links contain information these providers have published with regard to cookies and opting out:

  • Google: How Google uses cookies
  • Yahoo!/Bing: Opt out of personalised advertising
  • NEXT AUDIENCE: Privacy information
  • Criteo: Opt out of AdClear tracking
  • Interest- and behaviour-related information and advertising

 

On our Websites we also use technologies to show you information and advertising based on your interests and behaviour. To do so, we use data-protection-friendly technologies based on data anonymisation and pseudonymisation. To this end, we use an external service provider who gathers on our behalf certain information about your activities on our Websites. Said service provider is never able to assign the information it gathers to a specific person, and IP addresses are immediately anonymised. Said service provider never stores Personal Data. Instead it performs calculations based on this and other non-personal information, which we then receive as recommendations for showing you information or advertising based on your interests and behaviour.

 

If you would no longer like to receive such information or advertising, you can click on the link below to revoke your permission and deactivate data collection by setting an opt-out cookie.

 

Please note that data will again be collected should you delete the opt-out cookie.

 

Web analysis

We need to analyse the browsing behaviour of visitors to our platform in order to optimise our services. To this end, we use web analysis methods that track CONIPO users and third parties who visit the CONIPO platform. The purpose of collecting and evaluating this data is to enable us to fix bugs and, in particular, optimise CONIPO in terms of user needs. Our web analyses methods also provide us with figures pertaining to the number of visitors, temporal distribution, preferred content, length of time spent on a page, etc.

 

We use Adobe Digital Analytics as our web analysis tool in conjunction with cookies. Web analysis is performed pseudonymously, meaning that we are unable to directly deduce information regarding your person when performing web analyses. The cookies used during web analysis contain an ID which allows us to identify your end device’s browser.

 

You can opt out of our Adobe Digital Analytics web analysis at any time by clicking on the following link and selecting the “opt-out” link: https://nats.CONIPO.com/optout.html?popup=1&locale=en_EN

 

Please note that a cookie is set when you click on the opt-out link. This means that you cannot opt out of the web analysis process if you delete the respective cookie.

 

The Adobe Digital Analytics version we use is fully compliant with data protection laws as we have concluded a corresponding data processing agreement. In order to comply with said agreement, we anonymise your IP addresses immediately after collection and personal data is processed within the European Union.

 

13. Log Files

 

Each time you access a website from the CONIPO Websites, CONIPO will save the following data in a log file (the so called "server log").

 

The time, status, and amount of the transferred data, as well as the website from which you have reached the requested page of the CONIPO Websites (the so-called "referrer")

The product and release information from your Internet browser (the so called "user agent").

 

CONIPO will not store your IP address once you leave the CONIPO Websites. Except for legislation regarding the storage of data, Users’ IP addresses will be deleted or anonymised once they end their session on the CONIPO Websites. Anonymisation means that IP addresses are modified in such a way that specific personal and/or factual information cannot be attributed to a certain identified or identifiable person or can only be attributed by deploying a disproportionately large amount of time, effort and cost.

 

CONIPO uses the data from this log file in anonymous form without reference to your person for statistical purposes. In doing so, CONIPO may analyse on which days and at which time the CONIPO Websites are particularly frequented and how much data volume is created on the CONIPO Websites. Furthermore, by using the log file, CONIPO can identify defects on the CONIPO Websites, such as defective hyperlinks or program defects, and thus continually improve the quality of the CONIPO Websites. CONIPO does not attribute the website demands stored in the log file to specific individual users. However, CONIPO reserves the right to review the log files if CONIPO has reasonable cause to believe that the member is using CONIPO Services and/or CONIPO Websites in breach of contractual agreements or the applicable legislation. In doing this, CONIPO is protecting other CONIPO Members and users, the safety of CONIPO Members’ and users' data, as well as CONIPO Websites and the CONIPO Services.

 

14. Minors

 

Membership of CONIPO Services is reserved for persons who have reached the legal age of 18. Parents and legal guardians are responsible for the protection of their children's privacy.

 

15. Accessibility of these Terms and Conditions on Data Protection

 

These Terms and Conditions on Data Protection are accessible from any website of the CONIPO Websites under the link "Data Protection".