Privacy policy

1. An overview of data protection

General information

The following information will provide you with an easy to navigate overview of what will happen with your personal data when you visit this website. The term “personal data” comprises all data that can be used to personally identify you. For detailed information about the subject matter of data protection, please consult our Data Protection Declaration, which we have included beneath this copy.

Data recording on this website

Who is the responsible party for the recording of data on this website (i.e., the “controller”)?

The data on this website is processed by the operator of the website, whose contact information is available under section “Information about the responsible party (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR)” in this Privacy Policy.

How do we record your data?

We collect your data as a result of your sharing of your data with us. This may, for instance be information you enter into our contact form.

Other data shall be recorded by our IT systems automatically or after you consent to its recording during your website visit. This data comprises primarily technical information (e.g., web browser, operating system, or time the site was accessed). This information is recorded automatically when you access this website.

What are the purposes we use your data for?

A portion of the information is generated to guarantee the error free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyze your user patterns.

What rights do you have as far as your information is concerned?

You have the right to receive information about the source, recipients, and purposes of your archived personal data at any time without having to pay a fee for such disclosures. You also have the right to demand that your data are rectified or eradicated. If you have consented to data processing, you have the option to revoke this consent at any time, which shall affect all future data processing. Moreover, you have the right to demand that the processing of your data be restricted under certain circumstances. Furthermore, you have the right to log a complaint with the competent supervising agency.

Please do not hesitate to contact us at any time if you have questions about this or any other data protection related issues.

2. Hosting

We are hosting the content of our website at the following provider:

External Hosting

This website is hosted externally. Personal data collected on this website are stored on the servers of the host. These may include, but are not limited to, IP addresses, contact requests, metadata and communications, contract information, contact information, names, web page access, and other data generated through a web site.

The external hosting serves the purpose of fulfilling the contract with our potential and existing customers (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR) and in the interest of secure, fast, and efficient provision of our online services by a professional provider (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR). If appropriate consent has been obtained, the processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR and § 25 (1) TDDDG, insofar the consent includes the storage of cookies or the access to information in the user’s end device (e.g., device fingerprinting) within the meaning of the TDDDG. This consent can be revoked at any time.

Our host(s) will only process your data to the extent necessary to fulfil its performance obligations and to follow our instructions with respect to such data.

We are using the following host(s):

Keyweb AG
Neuwerkstraße 45/46
99084 Erfurt, Germany

Encrypted backups of our systems are created and stored with Hetzner Online GmbH, Gunzenhausen, Germany. Hetzner Online GmbH acts as a processor on the basis of an agreement under Art. 28 GDPR. The backups serve solely to restore service after an outage, are overwritten automatically in the regular cycle and persist for no longer than 90 days. The deletion periods stated in this policy refer to the production systems; from backups, deleted data disappears when the respective backup generation is overwritten.

Data processing

We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service. This is a contract mandated by data privacy laws that guarantees that they process personal data of our website visitors only based on our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.

3. General information and mandatory information

Data protection

The operators of this website and its pages take the protection of your personal data very seriously. Hence, we handle your personal data as confidential information and in compliance with the statutory data protection regulations and this Data Protection Declaration.

Whenever you use this website, a variety of personal information will be collected. Personal data comprises data that can be used to personally identify you. This Data Protection Declaration explains which data we collect as well as the purposes we use this data for. It also explains how, and for which purpose the information is collected.

We herewith advise you that the transmission of data via the Internet (i.e., through e-mail communications) may be prone to security gaps. It is not possible to completely protect data against third-party access.

Information about the responsible party (referred to as the “controller” in the GDPR)

The data processing controller on this website is:

Gilbert Seilheimer
Leutkirchstr. 47
77723 Gengenbach, Germany

Phone: +49 15678 540779
E-mail: e-mail@gseilheimer.de

The controller is the natural person or legal entity that single-handedly or jointly with others makes decisions as to the purposes of and resources for the processing of personal data (e.g., names, e-mail addresses, etc.).

Storage duration

Unless a more specific storage period has been specified in this privacy policy, your personal data will remain with us until the purpose for which it was collected no longer applies. If you assert a justified request for deletion or revoke your consent to data processing, your data will be deleted, unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing your personal data (e.g., tax or commercial law retention periods); in the latter case, the deletion will take place after these reasons cease to apply.

General information on the legal basis for the data processing on this website

If you have consented to data processing, we process your personal data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR or Art. 9 (2)(a) GDPR, if special categories of data are processed according to Art. 9 (1) DSGVO. In the case of explicit consent to the transfer of personal data to third countries, the data processing is also based on Art. 49 (1)(a) GDPR. If you have consented to the storage of cookies or to the access to information in your end device (e.g., via device fingerprinting), the data processing is additionally based on § 25 (1) TDDDG. The consent can be revoked at any time. If your data is required for the fulfillment of a contract or for the implementation of pre-contractual measures, we process your data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Furthermore, if your data is required for the fulfillment of a legal obligation, we process it on the basis of Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR. Furthermore, the data processing may be carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest according to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Information on the relevant legal basis in each individual case is provided in the following paragraphs of this privacy policy.

Data transfer to third countries

We do not use any service that transfers personal data to third countries outside the European Union. Web fonts are delivered from our own server, the web analytics system runs on our own infrastructure, and no maps, videos, captcha services or advertising networks of third-party providers are embedded in this website. Should this change, we will amend this privacy policy before the service concerned goes into operation.

Recipients of personal data

In the scope of our business activities, we cooperate with various external parties. In some cases, this also requires the transfer of personal data to these external parties. We only disclose personal data to external parties if this is required as part of the fulfillment of a contract, if we are legally obligated to do so (e.g., disclosure of data to tax authorities), if we have a legitimate interest in the disclosure pursuant to Art. 6 (1)(f) GDPR, or if another legal basis permits the disclosure of this data. When using processors, we only disclose personal data of our customers on the basis of a valid contract on data processing. In the case of joint processing, a joint processing agreement is concluded.

Revocation of your consent to the processing of data

A wide range of data processing transactions are possible only subject to your express consent. You can also revoke at any time any consent you have already given us. This shall be without prejudice to the lawfulness of any data collection that occurred prior to your revocation.

Right to object to the collection of data in special cases; right to object to direct advertising (Art. 21 GDPR)

IN THE EVENT THAT DATA ARE PROCESSED ON THE BASIS OF ART. 6(1)(E) OR (F) GDPR, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO AT ANY TIME OBJECT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA BASED ON GROUNDS ARISING FROM YOUR UNIQUE SITUATION. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO ANY PROFILING BASED ON THESE PROVISIONS. TO DETERMINE THE LEGAL BASIS, ON WHICH ANY PROCESSING OF DATA IS BASED, PLEASE CONSULT THIS DATA PROTECTION DECLARATION. IF YOU LOG AN OBJECTION, WE WILL NO LONGER PROCESS YOUR AFFECTED PERSONAL DATA, UNLESS WE ARE IN A POSITION TO PRESENT COMPELLING PROTECTION WORTHY GROUNDS FOR THE PROCESSING OF YOUR DATA, THAT OUTWEIGH YOUR INTERESTS, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS OR IF THE PURPOSE OF THE PROCESSING IS THE CLAIMING, EXERCISING OR DEFENCE OF LEGAL ENTITLEMENTS (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(1) GDPR).

IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS BEING PROCESSED IN ORDER TO ENGAGE IN DIRECT ADVERTISING, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR AFFECTED PERSONAL DATA FOR THE PURPOSES OF SUCH ADVERTISING AT ANY TIME. THIS ALSO APPLIES TO PROFILING TO THE EXTENT THAT IT IS AFFILIATED WITH SUCH DIRECT ADVERTISING. IF YOU OBJECT, YOUR PERSONAL DATA WILL SUBSEQUENTLY NO LONGER BE USED FOR DIRECT ADVERTISING PURPOSES (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(2) GDPR).

Right to log a complaint with the competent supervisory agency

In the event of violations of the GDPR, data subjects are entitled to log a complaint with a supervisory agency, in particular in the member state where they usually maintain their domicile, place of work or at the place where the alleged violation occurred. The right to log a complaint is in effect regardless of any other administrative or court proceedings available as legal recourses.

Right to data portability

You have the right to have data that we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfillment of a contract handed over to you or to a third party in a common, machine-readable format. If you should demand the direct transfer of the data to another controller, this will be done only if it is technically feasible.

Information about, rectification and eradication of data

Within the scope of the applicable statutory provisions, you have the right to demand information about your archived personal data, their source and recipients as well as the purpose of the processing of your data at any time. You may also have a right to have your data rectified or eradicated. If you have questions about this subject matter or any other questions about personal data, please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.

Right to demand processing restrictions

You have the right to demand the imposition of restrictions as far as the processing of your personal data is concerned. To do so, you may contact us at any time. The right to demand restriction of processing applies in the following cases:

• In the event that you should dispute the correctness of your data archived by us, we will usually need some time to verify this claim. During the time that this investigation is ongoing, you have the right to demand that we restrict the processing of your personal data.
• If the processing of your personal data was/is conducted in an unlawful manner, you have the option to demand the restriction of the processing of your data instead of demanding the eradication of this data.
• If we do not need your personal data any longer and you need it to exercise, defend or claim legal entitlements, you have the right to demand the restriction of the processing of your personal data instead of its eradication.
• If you have raised an objection pursuant to Art. 21(1) GDPR, your rights and our rights will have to be weighed against each other. As long as it has not been determined whose interests prevail, you have the right to demand a restriction of the processing of your personal data.

If you have restricted the processing of your personal data, these data – with the exception of their archiving – may be processed only subject to your consent or to claim, exercise or defend legal entitlements or to protect the rights of other natural persons or legal entities or for important public interest reasons cited by the European Union or a member state of the EU.

SSL and/or TLS encryption

For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content, such as purchase orders or inquiries you submit to us as the website operator, this website uses either an SSL or a TLS encryption program. You can recognize an encrypted connection by checking whether the address line of the browser switches from “http://” to “https://” and also by the appearance of the lock icon in the browser line.

If the SSL or TLS encryption is activated, data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

4. Recording of data on this website

Cookies

Our websites and pages use what the industry refers to as “cookies.” Cookies are small data packages that do not cause any damage to your device. They are either stored temporarily for the duration of a session (session cookies) or they are permanently archived on your device (permanent cookies). Session cookies are automatically deleted once you terminate your visit. Permanent cookies remain archived on your device until you actively delete them, or they are automatically eradicated by your web browser.

This website sets only those cookies that are technically necessary for its operation. No consent banner is displayed, because no cookies requiring consent are used. Currently necessary are: the session cookie of the content management system, if you log in as an editor; and the cookie that stores an objection to statistical recording (see “Web analytics with Matomo”).

The legal basis for these strictly necessary cookies is Section 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG in conjunction with Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. We have a legitimate interest in the technically error-free operation of this website.

You have the option to set up your browser in such a manner that you will be notified any time cookies are placed and to permit the acceptance of cookies only in specific cases. You may also exclude the acceptance of cookies in certain cases or in general or activate the delete-function for the automatic eradication of cookies when the browser closes. If cookies are deactivated, the functions of this website may be limited.

Which cookies and services are used on this website can be found in this privacy policy.

Server log files

When you access this website, the web server automatically records the data your browser transmits: IP address, date and time of access, the address requested, the HTTP status code, the volume of data transferred, the page previously visited (referrer) and the browser and system identifier (user agent). This data is not combined with other data sources and is not used to identify you personally.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, which permits processing to safeguard legitimate interests. Our legitimate interest lies in the secure and uninterrupted operation of this website and in preventing and investigating attacks.

The website runs on a server operated by Keyweb AG, Erfurt, Germany. Keyweb AG acts as a processor on the basis of an agreement under Art. 28 GDPR; processing takes place in Germany and is contractually limited to member states of the European Union and the European Economic Area.

Log files are rotated weekly. In the process all IP addresses are automatically truncated — for IPv4 the last number field is set to 0, for IPv6 the device-side portion is removed. A complete IP address therefore exists for no longer than seven days. The truncated log files are automatically deleted four weeks later, at the latest 35 days after the access. Entries are kept longer only where a specific security incident requires their analysis; they are deleted once the incident has been resolved. For copies held in backups, see the note in the “External Hosting” section.

Contact form

When you send us an enquiry via the contact form, we process the details you enter — your name, e-mail address, telephone number where given, the subject you selected and your message — in order to handle that enquiry and any follow-up questions. We do not pass this data on without your consent.

The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where your enquiry is aimed at concluding a contract or at taking steps prior to one. In all other cases we rely on our legitimate interest in responding to enquiries addressed to us, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

What happens to your enquiry

Your details take three routes, all of which run on our own infrastructure in Germany:

• They reach us as an e-mail notification. At the same time you receive an automatic acknowledgement at the address you provided.
• They are stored in our enquiry management system so that no enquiry is lost and the processing status remains traceable.
• If your enquiry leads to a consulting or proposal process, a record is created in our customer management system.

We operate the applications used for this ourselves, on our own servers. There is no transfer to an external provider of form processing, marketing automation or customer management, and no transfer to a third country. The only party involved is the operator of the data centre (see the “Hosting” section), with whom a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR is in place.

If the technical transfer fails, your enquiry is placed in a separate error store so that it is not lost, and deleted there after 30 days.

How long we keep your enquiry

• Enquiries with no further contact: 6 months from receipt
• Enquiries that lead to a consulting or proposal process: 24 months from the last contact
• Processes that did not result in an engagement: 12 months
• Unprocessed technical field contents of the form: 30 days
• Technical error store for failed transfers: 30 days
• Data from an established business relationship: 6 years under Section 257 HGB or 8 years under Section 147 AO; during that period it is blocked for other purposes

Compliance with these periods is verified by a regular automated check.

About the confirmation below the form

The checkbox below the form confirms that you have taken note of this privacy policy. It is not a consent — processing your enquiry does not require one, because it rests on the legal bases stated above.

You may object to the processing at any time and request deletion of your data; an informal message to e-mail@gseilheimer.de is sufficient. Please note that we will then no longer be able to process your enquiry.

Protection against misuse of the contact form

To protect our contact form against automated and abusive submissions, we use a self-operated procedure that runs entirely on our own server. For every submission we evaluate technical characteristics: the time between loading the form and submitting it — we treat submissions made within three seconds as automated — and the content of the fields you filled in, including the number of links contained, an unusually high proportion of Cyrillic, East Asian, or Arabic characters, a check against a fixed list of signal words, and a check against the list of disallowed words that we maintain ourselves under Settings → Discussion.

We log rejected or flagged submissions so that we can monitor and fine-tune the procedure, and so that a mistakenly rejected enquiry can still be answered: time, the form concerned, the email address you provided, the reason for rejection, the score, and up to 300 characters of the message text. This log contains no IP address, not even in hashed form, and is capped at the last 200 entries; older entries are overwritten automatically.

The procedure sets no cookies and does not transmit any data to third parties. The only network connection it creates is your browser fetching a security token from an endpoint on our own website — there is no connection to any external server.

The legal basis is our legitimate interest in defending against abusive use and keeping our contact channel functional, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

Request by e-mail or telephone

When you contact us by e-mail or telephone, we process the details you provide in order to handle your request and any follow-up questions. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR where your request relates to a contract or to steps taken prior to one; in all other cases we rely on our legitimate interest in responding to enquiries addressed to us, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

We operate our e-mail accounts ourselves, on the same server as this website. There is no transfer to an external e-mail provider and no transfer to a third country.

E-mail correspondence is not deleted automatically. It remains in our mailboxes until it is no longer required for its purpose and we delete it. You may request deletion at any time; an informal message to e-mail@gseilheimer.de is sufficient. Statutory retention obligations remain unaffected: business correspondence qualifying as a commercial letter under Section 257 HGB is kept for six years, and tax-relevant records for eight years under Section 147 AO. During that period the data is blocked for other purposes.

Appointment booking

For arranging an initial consultation we provide a booking form that is operated on our own infrastructure at cloud.contic.de (Nextcloud with the Appointments application). When you complete it, we process the details you provide — as a rule your name, e-mail address and preferred appointment — solely in order to arrange the appointment and to prepare for the conversation.

No transfer to third parties takes place; the application runs on the same self-managed server as our other services. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR insofar as the booking serves to prepare a contract, and otherwise Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Appointment data is deleted once the appointment has been concluded and no statutory retention obligations stand in the way.

Links to social media profiles

We link to our profiles on external networks. These are plain hyperlinks, not embedded plugins: when you visit this website, no data is transmitted to the operators of those networks. Only when you click such a link do you leave our site; from that point onwards the privacy policy of the respective network applies, over whose processing we have no influence.

5. Analytics tools

Web analytics with Matomo

This website uses the open-source web analytics service Matomo to evaluate the use of our content statistically and to derive improvements from it.

Self-hosting

We operate Matomo on our own infrastructure at analytics.contic.de. No data is transmitted to third parties; there is no data processing relationship with an external analytics provider.

No cookies

Matomo is configured so that no cookies are set and no information is stored in or read from your end device when you visit this website. To distinguish visits, we generate an identifier on the server side from technical details of your request — including browser, operating system, language and the already truncated IP address. This identifier is not stored on your end device; the underlying individual records are deleted after 90 days. As no access to your end device takes place, consent pursuant to Section 25 (1) TDDDG is not required for this.

IP anonymisation

Your IP address is truncated by its last two bytes before any storage (example: 192.168.xxx.xxx). The attribution of a visit is likewise based exclusively on the truncated address. It is therefore not possible to attribute the data to you personally.

Geolocation

From the already truncated IP address we determine your approximate country and region. The database used for this is held on our own server; your IP address is not transmitted to any third party for this purpose. Because of the truncation, the determination is deliberately imprecise.

Referrer URL

Query parameters are removed from the address of the referring page before it is stored. Search terms or identifiers carried in a referring page’s URL therefore do not enter our analysis.

Do Not Track

If your browser sends the “Do Not Track” signal, you will not be recorded. You do not need to do anything further.

Storage period

Individual visit data (raw data) is deleted automatically after 90 days. Aggregated reports without reference to individual cases are deleted after 12 months; only basic metrics such as visit and page view counts are retained.

Legal basis and objection

The processing is carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest in the needs-based design and statistical evaluation of our content (Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR). You may object to this processing at any time — please use the button below.

Objection cookie

If you object to statistical recording, we store that decision in a cookie (mtm_consent_removed, lifetime two years). This cookie serves solely to respect your objection and is strictly necessary pursuant to Section 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG.

Status of this policy

Last updated: 1 August 2026. We update this policy as soon as the actual data processing on this website changes. The provider details required by law can be found in the imprint.