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The protection of your personal data is important to us and we want you to feel safe when visiting our website. We comply with the provisions of data protection law, in particular the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”).
In this privacy notice, we explain what information (including personal data) we process when you visit and use our website a-connect.com (“Website”). By accessing the Website on any computer, mobile phone, tablet, or other device, you agree to the terms of this privacy notice. If you do not agree to the notice, please do not use the Website.
We would like to point out that security gaps can occur during data transmission on the Internet (e.g. when communicating by e-mail). It is not possible to completely protect data from access by third parties. We maintain reasonable and appropriate measures designed to maintain information we collect in a secure manner. We have taken certain physical, electronic, and administrative steps to safeguard and secure the information we collect from visitors to the Website. Even though we follow reasonable procedures to try to protect the information in our possession, no security system is perfect and we cannot promise, and you should not expect, that your information will be secure in all circumstances.
The Website is not directed to children, nor do we knowingly collect any personal information from children under the age of thirteen without verifiable parental consent. If you believe that a child has provided personal information to us, please contact us promptly as described below, and we will endeavor to investigate and delete such information from our systems.
We may change this privacy notice from time to time, including as required to keep current with rules and regulations, new technologies and security standards. When we do, we will post the change(s) on the Website. If we change the notice in a material and retroactive manner, we will provide appropriate notice to you.
Responsible in the sense of data protection law is:
a-connect ag
Seefeldstrasse 293
CH – 8008 Zurich
phone +41 43 266 77 77
E-Mail: info@a-connect.com
You can access our website without directly providing any personal information (such as name, postal address or e-mail address). However, to enable you to access our website, we need to collect and store certain information.
1. Log files
We use log files to identify and diagnose issues related to the website’s functionality. The information collected in the Log Files is not used to profile users or gather personally identifiable data. The information automatically collected and stored when a user visits the a-connect site includes: the URL of the page visited, date and time of retrieval, notification of successful retrieval (HTTP response code), browser type and version, operating system, IP address and the requesting provider. We store this information in the log files for a limited period of time if this is necessary for security purposes or for a service provision. We reserve the right to review the log data retrospectively if there is a justified suspicion of unlawful use based on concrete indications.
2. Contacting us
If you contact us via one of the options offered on our website, we will process all personal data contained and specified in your message in order to process and respond to your inquiry.
3. Cookies
We use cookies to make our offer as user-friendly as possible. Cookies are small text files that are stored by your internet browser. With the help of these files, we can recognize the preferences of our visitors while surfing the website and design our website accordingly. Most of the cookies we use are so-called session cookies. They are automatically deleted when you leave the website. We also use permanent cookies. No personal data is collected via our cookies; they are also not suitable for making you identifiable on third-party websites, unless otherwise stated in this privacy policy with regard to specific tools. Partner and Affiliate Cookies are used if you access our services via an external advertising space. These cookies are used to settle accounts with the cooperation partners and do not contain personal information from you. You can adjust your browser settings to notify you when cookies are set. In this way, the use of cookies becomes more transparent for you. You can generally reject cookies via your browser settings. However, this may result in you not being able to use all the functions of our website.
4. Website analysis with Google Analytics
On our website, we also use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“Google”), to help us continuously improve our website. Google Analytics also uses cookies that are stored on your computer and allow an analysis of the use of this website. An enhanced version of Google Analytics is used on the website for the purpose of anonymized collection of IP addresses (also known as IP masking). Google uses the data collected on our behalf for the purpose of analyzing your use of our website, compiling reports on website activity and providing us with additional services relating to website usage. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google. You can disable the storage of cookies by changing the corresponding settings of your browser software. Please note that in this case you may not be able to use all functions of the website to their full extent. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies regarding your use of this website (including your IP address) from being recorded and transmitted to Google and the processing of this data by Google by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. An opt-out cookie will then be installed that prevents the collection of your data when visiting this website. For more information on Google Analytics privacy, please visit the following link: https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US and “How Google uses data when you use our partners’ sites or apps” located at www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners.
5. Use of Linkedin Social Plugins
This site uses plugins which are provided by LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“LinkedIn”) which can be identified by the LinkedIn logo of the “Share”-Button. If you access a page on our Website that includes this plugin, your browser sets up a direct connection to LinkedIn’s servers. Thereby LinkedIn receives the information that you and your IP address have accessed this Website. If you click on the LinkedIn „Share“-Button while you are logged into you LinkedIn account, you can link the content of this Website on your LinkedIn-Profile which enables LinkedIn to allocate the visit to our Website to your LinkedIn account. We as the Website operator do not know the content of the data transferred to LinkedIn or how LinkedIn uses such data.
For information on the purpose and extent of data collection, the further processing and use of such data by LinkedIn, as well as your rights in this regard and your setting options for the protection of your privacy, please refer to LinkedIn’s privacy policy: http://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy
6. Vimeo-PlugIn
We use the provider Vimeo for the integration of videos. Vimeo is operated by Vimeo, LLC with headquarters at 555 West 18th Street, New York, New York 10011.
On some of our web pages, we use plugins of the provider Vimeo. If you visit the internet pages of our internet presence provided with such a plugin, a connection is established to the Vimeo servers and the plugin is displayed. This transmits to the Vimeo server which of our internet pages you have visited. If you are logged in as a member of Vimeo, Vimeo assigns this information to your personal user account. When using the plugin, such as clicking on the start button of a video, this information is also assigned to your user account. You can prevent this assignment by logging out of your Vimeo user account before using our website and deleting the corresponding cookies from Vimeo.
Further information on data processing and notes on data protection by Vimeo can be found at https://vimeo.com/privacy.
7. Links to other websites
Our website also provides links to other websites (including our online presence on Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn). These links are not “social plug-ins” (i.e. buttons that allow the operator providing the relevant offer to collect information about our website users already when they access our website). However, please note that when you access this other offer, information (possibly including personal data) about your visit may be collected by the operator of this offer. Further information can be found in the data protection notice of the operator of the corresponding offer.
The personal data possibly contained in the log files are processed to enable you to use our website; the processing is carried out in accordance with Article 6 (1) f) GDPR to protect our legitimate interest in the proper and trouble-free operation of our website.
The data collected via cookies (including web analytics services, plug-ins and tools) are processed for advertising and market research purposes and for the purpose of user-friendly design of our website on the basis of Article 6 (1) f) GDPR to protect our legitimate interest in analyzing the use and user-friendly design of our website.
Data processing in the context of responding to an inquiry is based on Article 6 (1) f) GDPR to protect our legitimate interest in establishing and maintaining business contacts. Insofar as your inquiry relates to the conclusion of a contract or to pre-contractual measures, we process your personal data on the basis of Article 6 (1) b) GDPR. This also applies to the initiation, implementation and termination of employment relationships.
If you are an independent professional, we use your personal information to communicate with you, to establish and maintain a database of independent professionals, to review your application, to gather references, to verify your information, to communicate with you through our a-reward* program if you have decided to participate.
We may also process personal data processed in connection with your use of our website in order to comply with legal obligations to which we are subject; this is done on the basis of Article 6(1)(c) GDPR.
If you are a job applicant, we use your personal Information to communicate with you and evaluate your application, based on Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.
If you are a supplier or customer/client, we use your personal information to communicate with you and to establish and maintain a network of possible and actual suppliers and clients, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.
Where appropriate, we may also process personal data, in addition to the above purposes, to protect our legitimate interests or the interests of third parties; this is done on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interests include the assertion of legal claims and the defense of our interests in legal disputes, the prevention and investigation of criminal offences, and the management and further development of our business activities, including risk management.
The information required for ordering the email-newsletter is marked as mandatory in the relevant area of this website (e.g. in the corresponding online form). In order to respond to a request sent to us, we need at least your name and information on how we can contact you (e.g. postal address or e-mail address). We cannot process your request if we are not provided with the mandatory or required information.
If we collect additional personal data from you, we will inform you in the course of collecting your data whether the provision of this data is based on a legal or contractual obligation, or is a requirement necessary for the conclusion of a contract. In this regard, we usually mark the information that can be provided voluntarily and whose provision is not based on the aforementioned obligations or is not necessary for the conclusion of a contract. If you sign up for our email newsletter mailing list, we will send you informational emails. At any time, you can ‘unsubscribe’ yourself from our email list simply by clicking the ‘unsubscribe’ button.
If you do not wish to receive communications from us, you can opt-out of receiving these communications by following the instructions contained in the messages you receive. Even if you opt-out of receiving these messages, we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to the services we provide, and we may send you service announcements and administrative messages. We do not offer you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving those communications.
As a rule, your personal data is processed within our company. Depending on the type of personal data, only certain departments / organizational units have access to your personal data. A role and authorization concept limits access within our company to the functions required for the respective processing purpose and to the extent necessary in this regard.
To the extent permitted by law, we may also share your personal data with third parties outside our company. In particular, these external recipients may include the following:
In connection with the operation of our website, we do not use automated decision-making (including profiling) within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR. If we use such procedures in special cases, we will inform you separately to the extent provided for by law.
In the context of our web analytics services, plug-ins and tools, as well as in connection with the use of our website and contacting us, information may be transferred to recipients in “third countries”. “Third countries” are countries outside the European Union or the European Economic Area where it cannot be readily assumed that the level of data protection is comparable to that of the European Union. Insofar as the information transferred includes personal data and we are not obliged to transfer the data due to a legal obligation, we will ensure prior to a transfer that the required adequate level of data protection is complied with in the respective third country or by the recipient in the third country. This can be done in particular in the form of an “adequacy decision” of the European Commission, which ensures that an adequate level of data protection has been established for a specific third country as a whole. An adequacy decision currently exists amongst others for Switzerland where our company is based. Alternatively, we may also transfer data in particular on the basis of “EU standard contractual clauses” agreed with a recipient, if and to the extent this is required under applicable data protection laws. Upon request, we will be happy to provide you with further information on the appropriate and adequate safeguards for compliance with an adequate level of data protection; the relevant contact details can be found at the beginning of this information on data protection. For information on the EU standard contractual clauses, please visit: http://eur-lex.europa.eu and for information on adequacy decisions, please visit: https://ec.europa.eu.
As a rule, we store your personal data as long as we have a legitimate interest in storing it and this interest outweighs your interest in discontinuing its storage. We may continue to store the data even without a legitimate interest if we are required to do so by law (e.g. to fulfill archiving obligations). We delete your personal data without your intervention as soon as the data is no longer required to fulfill the purpose of processing or its storage is otherwise prohibited by law.
The personal data that we must store to fulfill archiving obligations will be stored until the expiration of the respective archiving obligation. Insofar as we store personal data only to fulfill archiving obligations, the data is generally blocked so that it can only be accessed if it is necessary for the purpose of the archiving obligation.
If you have given us your consent to process and store your personal data for defined purposes, we will do so until you revoke your consent. Please be informed that we may also in this case continue the processing of your data – probably with reduced information or purposes – if we are entitled to do so on the basis of a legal provision.
1. Within the geographical, factual and personal scope of application of the GDPR, the following rights apply to you:
a) The right to object according to Article 21 GDPR.
You have the right to object at any time to the processing of your personal data on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) or (1)(f) GDPR for reasons relating to your particular situation; this also applies to profiling based on these provisions. If you object to the processing, 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 for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.
If we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you are entitled to object to the processing of your personal data for such marketing purposes at any time; this also applies to profiling, insofar as this is related to direct marketing. If you object to processing for direct marketing purposes, the personal data will no longer be processed for these purposes.
b) Further rights
You have the right to:
You can revoke your consent to the data processing granted to us at any time with effect for the future. The lawfulness of any data processing carried out before your revocation remains unaffected by the revocation. Furthermore, data processing may continue despite your revocation of consent if there is another legal basis (e.g. Article 6(1)(b) GDPR or Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).
In addition, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority responsible for data protection, Article 77 GDPR.
2. California law permits our customers who are California residents to request certain information about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their own direct marketing purposes during the preceding calendar year. This request is free and may be made once a year. To make such a request, please write to us at the following address:
a-connect ag
Seefeldstrasse 293
CH – 8008 Zurich
ATTN: Customer Service Department—California Privacy Info.
If you are a California resident, California law provides you with the following rights with respect to your personal information:
When you exercise these rights and submit a request to us, we will verify your identity by asking you for your email address, or telephone number. We also may use a third-party verification provider to verify your identity.
Your exercise of these rights will have no adverse effect on the price and quality of our goods or services.
For the 12-month period prior to the date of this Privacy notice, we have not sold any personal information about our customers; nor do we have any plans to do so in the future.
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