Privacy Policy / Data Protection Notice of Whisky.com in Accordance with Art. 13 GDPR

The protection of our User’s personal data is a main concern to us.

We are convinced that such a portal can only be established on the basis of trust and observance of data protection. Since 25 May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (subsequently: GDPR) has been in force within the European Union. Below we want to inform you about the processing of personal data by Whisky.com GmbH & Co. KG (“Whisky.com”) in accordance with this new regulation (cf. article 13 GDPR). Please read our Data Protection Notice carefully. If you have any questions or comments regarding our Data Protection Notice, you can contact the e-mail address stated under point 2 at any time.

Cookies & Privacy Preferences

These Privacy Terms supplement Whisky.com platform’s (hereinafter "platform") General Terms of Use.

Contents:

1 Overview

2 Name and Contact Data of the Collector

3 Purposes of Data Processing, Legal Basis and Legitimate Interests, as Well as  

            Categories of Recipients

3.1 Accessing Our Website or Application

3.2 Data Processing for Advertising Purposes

3.3 Online Presence and Website Optimisation

3.4 Community Account

3.5 Contact Form and Contact via E-mail

4 Transmission to Recipients Outside the EU

5 Your Rights

6 Data Protection Measures

7 Changes to the Data Protection Notice

1 Overview

The following Data Protection Notice provides information on the type and extent of the processing of personal data by Whisky.com GmbH & Co. KG (subsequently: Whisky.com). Personal Data means any information that can directly or indirectly be assigned to your person.

When you access the websites of Whisky.com or when you use the Whisky.com community, various information is exchanged between your terminal equipment and our servers. This data can also be personal data. The data collected this way is used, amongst other things, to optimise our website or to display advertisements in the browser of your terminal equipment.

In accordance with the GDPR, you have various rights that you may assert against us. This includes the right to object to selected data processing procedures, especially data procession for the purpose of advertising.

If you have any questions regarding our Data Protection Notice, you can contact our body responsible for data protection (privacy@remove-this.whisky.com) at any time.

2 Name & Contact Data of the Collector and the Data Protection Officer

This Data Protection Notice applies to the processing of data by Whisky.com Media GmbH & Co. KG, Am Grundwassersee 4, 82404 Seeshaupt, Germany (“Collector”), and to the following websites or applications: www.Whisky.com as well as all associated domains and subdomains (<>Whisky.com/<>).

The data protection officer (“DPO”) of Whisky.com Media GmbH & Co. KG can be contacted at the address mentioned above or at privacy@remove-this.whisky.com.

3  Purposes of Data Processing, Legal Basis and Legitimate Interests of Whisky.com, as Well as Categories of Recipients

This section explains the purposes of data processing, the legal basis and legitimate interests pursued by Whisky.com, as well as categories of recipients of your personal data.

3.1  Accessing Our Website/Application

When you access our website/application, the browser used on your terminal equipment automatically sends information to the server of our website/application, which stores this information temporarily in a log file. We have no influence on this process. The following data is collected and stored, without any action on your part, until the time of automatic deletion: 

  • the IP address of the requesting web-enabled device,
  • date and time of the access, 
  • name and URL of the requested file, 
  • the website/application from which our site was accessed (referrer URL), 
  • the browser used by you and, where applicable, the operating system of your web-enabled computer as well as the name of your access provider.

The legal basis for the processing of the IP address is article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. Our legitimate interest derives from the subsequently listed purposes of data collection. Note that the data collected by us do not enable us to draw any direct conclusions regarding your identity and that we do not seek to draw any such conclusions.

The IP address of your terminal equipment and the data listed above are used by us for the following purposes

  • ensuring a smooth establishment of the connection,
  • ensuring the comfortable use of our website/application,
  • evaluating the security and stability of the system,
  • providing the data to law-enforcement authorities for the criminal prosecution of cyber attacks or cases of fraud.

The data are stored for a period of two months and subsequently deleted automatically unless they are subject to statutory storage obligations. Furthermore, we use so-called cookies, analysis tools, targeting procedures and social media plug-ins on our website/application. The exact procedures and how we use your data for these procedures are explained under point 3.4. 

If you have consented to so-called geolocalisation in your browser or your operating system or in other settings of your terminal equipment, we use this function to provide you with individual services tailored to your current location.  We process your location data solely for this function. When you terminate the use of our website/application, these data are deleted.

3.2 Data Processing for Advertising Purposes

The following section deals with the processing of personal data for advertising purposes. The GDPR declares such data processing to be conceivable in principle and to be a legitimate interest according to article 6(1)(f). The duration of data storage for advertising purposes does not adhere to any strict guidelines and is based upon the question whether storage is necessary for the advertising purposes.

3.2.1  Newsletter Dispatch

We offer you the opportunity to subscribe to our newsletter on our website. To make sure that no mistakes are made during entering the e-mail address, we use the so-called double-opt-in procedure: after you have entered your e-mail address in the registration field, we send you a confirmation link. Your e-mail address is only added to our mailing list after you have clicked on this confirmation link.

You can revoke this permission with future effect at any time. For this purpose, it is sufficient to click on the unsubscribe link at the end of each newsletter or to send a short e-mail notice to the e-mail address stated under point 2.

3.2.2  WhatsApp Community Broadcast

Via the provider WhatsApp (https://www.whatsapp.com) and the app of the same name, we offer you the opportunity to subscribe to our WhatsApp Community Broadcast. If you want to receive news from Whisky.com via WhatsApp, we need your explicit consent to send you messages via WhatsApp: You give this consent by adding our phone number to your WhatsApp contacts and by sending a one-time WhatsApp message to our number. From that moment, you receive our WhatsApp Community messages on your WhatsApp account until further notice. Your WhatsApp data (e.g. phone number, WhatsApp user name) are not used or processed by us for any other purpose.

You can revoke this permission for the WhatsApp community at any time. For this purpose, simply delete the Whisky.com contact from your phone directory and/or send us your revocation via WhatsApp (a simple “stop” is sufficient).

3.3  Online Presence and Website Optimisation

3.3.1  Cookies – General Notes

We use so-called cookies on our website. Provided these cookies contain personal data, we use them in accordance with article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. Our interest to optimise our website must be regarded as a legitimate interest in line with the regulation mentioned above. Cookies are small files that are automatically created by your browser and stored on your terminal equipment (laptop, tablet, smartphone etc.) when you visit our site. Cookies do not cause damage to your terminal equipment and do not contain viruses, Trojans or any other malware. The cookie stores information that arises in connection with the specific terminal equipment used by you. However, this does not mean that we can draw any direct conclusions regarding your identity from that. The use of cookies is intended, on the one hand, to optimise your user experience with our online presence. We use so-called session cookies to detect that you have already visited individual pages of our website or that you have already logged in to your user account. These cookies are automatically deleted when you leave our website or when you close your browser session. Furthermore, for usability reasons, we also use temporary cookies that are stored on your terminal equipment for a specified period of time. When you visit our site again to access our services, the cookie automatically detects that you have already visited our site and what entries and settings you have submitted so you do not have to re-enter this information.

If you have a community account on Whisky.com and you are logged in or have activated the function “Stay logged in”, the information stored in cookies is added to the information stored in your account. 

On the other hand, we use cookies to keep statistics on the use of our website and to evaluate these statistics for the purpose of optimising our services as well as to display information that is individually tailored to you. When you visit our website again, these cookies enable us to detect that you have already visited us before. These cookies are deleted after a specified period of time. Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can configure your browser in such a way that no cookies are stored on your computer or that the browser displays a notice every time a new cookie is to be created. Please note that the complete deactivation of cookies may result in you not being able to use all functions of our website. The storage period of the cookies depends on their purpose and is not the same for all cookies.

3.3.2  Google Analytics

For the purpose of designing our website according to demand and continuously optimising our website, we use Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google LLC (“Google”), Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, in accordance with article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. In this context, pseudonymised usage profiles are created and cookies are used. The information that the cookie generates on your usage of this website, such as

  • browser type/version,
  • operating system,
  • referrer URL (the website from which you accessed our site),
  • host name of the accessing computer (IP address),
  • time of day of the server request,

is transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. This information is used to evaluate the usage of the website, to compile reports on website activities and to provide other services in connection with website usage and internet usage for the purpose of market research and designing our website according to demand. Google may also transfer this information to third parties where required to do so by law, or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. In no event is your IP address associated with other data from Google. The IP addresses are anonymised so assigning an IP address to an individual is not possible (so-called IP masking).

You can prevent the installation of the cookies by adjusting your browser settings accordingly; however, please note that you might not be able to use all functions of our websites fully in that case. Furthermore, you can prevent the collection of the data related to your usage of the website (including your IP address) that is created by the cookie and the processing of these data by Google by downloading and installing this browser add-on. As an alternative to the browser add-on, especially when using browsers on mobile devices, you can also prevent the collection of data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link:

 

This sets an opt-out cookie that prevents the future collection of your data when you visit this website. The opt-out cookie is only valid in this browser and only for our website and is stored on your device. If you delete the cookies in this browser, you must set the opt-out cookie again.

You can find more information on data protection in connection with Google Analytics on the website of Google Analytics.

3.3.3  Targeting Procedures

The targeting procedures used by us, which are listed in the section below, are used in accordance with article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. By using these targeting procedures, we want to make sure that only advertisements that are tailored to your actual or presumed interests are displayed on your terminal equipment. It is both in our and in your interest not to bother you with advertisements that are not interesting to you.

3.3.3.1 Use of Google AdWords

For the purpose of promoting our website by displaying advertisements relevant to interests, we use the service Google AdWords. Google AdWords is a service of Google LLC (“Google”), 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA. Google AdWords allows advertisers to place advertisements in the search engine results of Google and in Google's advertising networks. For this purpose, the advertiser specifies certain key words in advance. When a user queries a search result that is relevant to a key word in Google's search engine, the advertisements are filtered accordingly. In addition, advertisements are placed on relevant websites in the Google advertising network by means of an automatic algorithm that takes the specified key words into account.

When a user is referred to a website of Whisky.com by a Google AdWords advertisement, a conversion cookie is set on the user's system by Google. Such a conversion cookie is valid for 30 days and is not used to identify the respective person but to check whether certain subpages of Whisky.com were accessed during the stated period of time, thereby making the success of the advertisement via AdWords measurable. The information collected by Google during this process can be used by Whisky.com for statistical purposes. However, during this process, it is not possible for Whisky.com or any other advertising customer of Google AdWords to identify the person concerned.

The conversion cookie from Google stores personal data, e.g. the websites you visited. Thus, each time you visit Whisky.com, personal data, including the IP address of the internet connection used by the person concerned, are transmitted to Google in the USA and stored there. Google may share these personal data with third parties under certain circumstances.

You can find more information and details on Google's privacy policy via this link.

3.3.3.2 Use of Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements on some of the subpages of Whisky.com. Google AdSense is a service of Google LLC (“Google”), 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA. Google AdSense enables advertisers to place advertisements on third-party websites. For this purpose, Google AdSense uses an algorithm that selects advertisements that match the contents of the third-party websites (such as Whisky.com).  Google AdSense allows for targeting internet users based on interests. This is achieved by generating individual user profiles.

When you access a website of Whisky.com that contains a Google AdSense advertising banner, Google places a cookie on your system. This cookie enables Google to analyse the usage of our website by the respective user. Each time you access one of the subpages of Whisky.com that contains an advertisement placed by AdSense, your internet browser sends personal data, such as your IP address, to Google in the USA where they are processed and stored for the purpose of online advertising and accounting of commissions. Google LLC may share these personal data with third parties under certain circumstances.

This link explains Google AdSense in more detail.

3.3.3.3 Onsite Targeting

Our website collects and evaluates information used for optimising the placement of advertisements by means of cookies. This information includes, for example, the kind of products you were interested in. This information is collected and evaluated completely pseudonymously and does not enable us to identify you. Above all, this information is not merged with personal information about you. This information enables us to display advertisements on our website that are tailored to your interests based on your past user behaviour. The cookie is deleted automatically after 30 days.

3.3.3.4 Appeal/Opt-Out Options

You can prevent the targeting procedures explained above by adjusting the cookie settings in your browser (cf. 3.4.1) and you can delete existing cookies via the settings of the internet browser or by means of other software. Besides, you have the option to deactivate preference-based advertising for several advertisers by means of the preference manager you can find here. The personalised advertising by Google can be deactivated on this site.

3.3.4  Use of Google Maps

On some sites, Whisky.com uses the Google Maps API to depict geographical information visually. Google Maps is a service of Google LLC (“Google”), 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA. When you use Google Maps, Google also collects, processes and uses data on the usage of the map function by the visitors of our website.

You can find more information on the data processing by Google in the terms of use and the privacy policy of Google Maps. 

3.3.5  Use of Google reCaptcha

On certain sites of our website and in the case of conspicuous accesses, we use the service “Google reCaptcha” (subsequently: “reCaptcha”) to protect us from automatic programmes (bots), spam or cyber attacks against our online presence. reCaptcha is a service of Google LLC (“Google”), 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA.

By means of the reCaptcha, we try to check whether data entered on our website (e.g. in the contact form or during registration) have been entered by a person or by a bot. For this purpose, reCaptcha analyses the behaviour of a user according to diverse characteristics. reCaptcha evaluates various information (e.g. IP address, behaviour on the respective site) for this analysis. The data collected during this process are transmitted to Google.

Data processing by means of the Google reCaptcha is carried out in accordance with article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR (legitimate interest). Whisky.com has a legitimate interest in protecting its online presence from misuse, cyber attacks and spam. We take these measures not least to protect the data stored on Whisky.com from being accessed by criminals.

You can find more information on Google reCaptcha in the privacy statement and the terms of use of Google

3.3.6  YouTube Videos on Whisky.com

The websites of Whisky.com embed videos from YouTube via plug-ins to enhance the user experience with high-performance videos. The embedded plug-ins are operated by YouTube LLC (“YouTube”), 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA, a subsidiary of Google LLC (“Google”), 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA.

Whisky.com embeds videos from YouTube solely in the so-called “enhanced data protection mode”, which means that YouTube, according to its own statements, does not store information on the users of Whisky.com if the video is not viewed. Your browser establishes a connection to the YouTube servers when you access a site with an embedded YouTube video, anyway, to display a preview of the video. During this process, YouTube/Google gets to know which site of Whisky.com you are currently visiting.

When you start an embedded video, Google uses cookies that collect information on your user behaviour. If you want to prevent this, you must block the saving of cookies in your browser in general. You can also completely prevent the loading of Google plug-ins with browser add-ons, for example with the script blocker “NoScript”.

If you are logged in to your YouTube or Google account while visiting our site, YouTube/Google can trace your surfing behaviour to you personally. You can prevent this by logging out of your Google or YouTube account beforehand.

You can find more information on YouTube's privacy policy in the privacy policy of Google and in the YouTube privacy and safety centre.

3.3.7  Links to Social Media Sites

We place links to and embed content from the social networks Facebook, Google+, Instagram and Twitter on our website to promote our company via these social networks. The underlying promotional purpose must be regarded as a legitimate interest in accordance with the GDPR.

However, for this purpose, we only use so-called “share” links, which are recognisable by the symbol of the respective social media site. By clicking on the symbol, you leave the website of Whisky.com. A website of the respective social network is then accessed. During this access, the current site of Whisky.com is also transmitted for the purpose of being able to share the information on the current site in the respective social network. No other data are transmitted from Whisky.com to the target site.

Please note, though, that when you click on the link and access the linked social media site, the respective privacy policies of that site apply, and the different providers may collect data themselves. It is the responsibility of the respective provider to operate their website in accordance with data protection regulations.

3.3.8  Instagram Content on Whisky.com

The websites of Whisky.com embed content from the social network Instagram via plug-ins. The embedded plug-ins are operated by Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Dublin 2, Ireland. This may include content such as images, videos or texts and buttons with which users can express their liking for this content and / or subscribe to contributions from the authors of this content and / or our contributions. The content can generally be recognized by the “Instagram symbol”.

When you visit a website on Whisky.com with embedded Instagram content, your browser connects to Instagram servers to generate a preview of the content. If you are registered as a user in the social network Instagram and are logged in to Instagram at the time the page is accessed with the browser you are using, the pages visited can be assigned to your account by Instagram.

We have to point out that the content of the transmitted data and their use by Instagram is beyond our knowledge. Further information on data protection at Instagram can be found in Instagram's data protection declaration.

3.3.9  Matomo Web Analysis

Whisky.de's websites use Matomo, an open source web analytics solution, to detect errors on the website and continuously improve the user experience. Matomo uses so-called cookies, which are stored on your computer and enable a statistical analysis of the use of the website. The collected data is stored anonymously on a German server of the provider. The collected IP address is made anonymous before it is saved and cannot be used to identify individual persons.

There is no linking of the data stored by Matomo with other data sources or passing on to third parties. You can prevent the installation of the cookies by adjusting your cookie preferences.

3.4  Community Account

We provide an online community dedicated to the exchange among whisky lovers and connoisseurs. The community includes the so-called whisky DB (https://www.Whisky.com/flaschen-db/<...>), the Whisky.com forum and the Whisky.com blog (https://www.Whisky.com/tfg/<...>). You need a community account to use the community.

The registration for a community account is voluntary and is based on your consent within the meaning of article 6(1)(a) of the GDPR. To set up a user account, you need to provide an e-mail address and a user name of your choice. Your e-mail address is not visible to other members. Providing additional information (e.g. picture, first name, last name) is optional and voluntary.

3.4.1  Login via Third Parties

To simplify the login to the Whisky.com community, Whisky.com also offers the option to log in via a Facebook account (Log in with Facebook) or a Google/YouTube account (Log in with Google/YouTube). This enables you to log in to the Whisky.com community with the data stored by the respective third party. When you use this function, Whisky.com queries the following data from the third party: ID, e-mail address, first name, last name and profile picture. The data are used solely to create the account and for subsequent logins and are not shared with any third parties. The transmission of data is encrypted.

Please note that when you make voluntary use of this option, the respective third party can trace your use of our website and may process this information, if applicable.

3.4.2  Deletion of the Community Account

You can delete your community account at any time. If you do so, your data that have been stored in the background (e-mail address, first name, last name, profile picture) are deleted. Please note, though, that your past activities in the community are not deleted but continue to be displayed.

3.5  Contact Form and Contact via E-Mail

To make contacting us easy, the online presence of Whisky.com offers you a contact form and the option to contact us via e-mail. When you contact Whisky.com via the contact form or via e-mail, the personal data transmitted by you are automatically stored. Personal data that have been voluntarily transmitted to us this way are stored for the purpose of handling the request or establishing contact to you. These data are not shared with any third parties.

4  Transmission to Recipients Outside the EU

Except for the processing described under 3.3.4 (WhatsApp Broadcast) and some of the processing described under 3.4 (Online Presence and Website Optimisation), we do not transmit your data to any recipients that are based outside the European Union or the European Economic Area. The processing described under 3.4 includes the transmission of data to the servers of the providers of analysis or targeting technologies commissioned by us. These servers are located in the United States of America. The data are transmitted according to the guidelines of the so-called Privacy Shield and on the basis of so-called standard contractual clauses of the EU commission.

5  Your Rights

5.1  Overview

Besides the right to revoke the permissions you have granted to us, you have the following additional rights if the legal requirements are met:

  • The right of access to your personal data that is stored by us in accordance with article 15 of the GDPR; in particular, you have the right to know about the purposes of processing, the category of the personal data, the categories of recipients to whom your data has been or will be disclosed, the planned period of storage and the origin of your data if they have not been collected directly from you,
  • the right to request rectification of incorrect data or completion of incomplete, but correct data according to article 16 of the GDPR,
  • the right of having your personal data that is stored by us erased according to article 17 of the GDPR, provided there are no statutory or contractual storage obligations or other legal requirements or rights to further store the data,
  • the right to restrict the processing your data according to article 18 of the GDPR, provided the accuracy of the data is contested by you; the processing is unlawful, but you oppose the erasure of the personal data; the collector does no longer need the data, but you require them for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims; or you have objected to the processing of the data according to article 21 of the GDPR,
  • the right to data portability according to article 20 of the GDPR, i.e. the right to receive the personal data concerning you in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format or to request the transfer to another collector,
  • the right to appeal to a supervisory authority.

If you believe that the processing of your data is unlawful or that your rights concerning data protection have been infringed in any other way, you can file an appeal with the competent supervisory authority, which is the Bavarian Data Protection Authority (Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht, Promenade 27, 91522 Ansbach, Germany).

5.2  Right to Object

Within the meaning of article 21(1) of the GDPR, a data subject can object to the processing of data on grounds relating to his or her particular situation.

The above-mentioned general right to object applies to all processing purposes described in this Data Protection Notice, where data is processed on the basis of article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR. In contrast to the special right to object regarding advertising purposes (cf. 3.2 above), according to the GDPR, we are only required to act on such a general objection if you provide us with reasons of overriding importance (e.g. danger to life or health). Furthermore, you have the right to appeal to the competent supervisory authority.

6  Data Protection Measures

All personal data provided by you, including your payment details, are transmitted using the commonly used and secure standard SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). SSL is a secure and tested standard that is also used in online banking, for example. You can recognize a secure SSL connection, amongst other things, by the attached s (i.e. ...) in the address bar of your browser or by the keypad symbol. 

Besides that, we take suitable technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data that is stored by us from manipulation, partial or complete loss and from the unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously improved by us or by the service providers commissioned by us in line with technological developments.

7  Changes to the Data Protection Notice

We reserve the right to make changes to this Data Protection Notice from time to time in order to adjust it to changed legal situations, changes in data processing or to updated services. Changes relating to your contractual relationship with Whisky.com or changes that require your consent as a user are only made with consent of the users.

We would like to ask customers, interested parties and users of Whisky.com to regularly enquire about the current content of the Data Protection Notice.

 

Last Update 26.11.2020