Privacy policy

Basic principles

Kithara Software GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Kithara, complies with the following guidelines for the protection of your personal data:

Kithara collects, processes and uses your personal data in compliance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG). You can find these legal provisions at https://gdpr-info.eu.

The basis for the processing of data at Kithara are according to article 6 lit. a, b and f of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

What is personal data?

Personal data is information about a person that can be used, for example, to individually indentify said person on the basis of name, location data, identification numbers or other related data.

What does Kithara use personal data for?

Kithara uses your personal data exclusively to enable you the utilization of Kithara internet services or to handle processes that are indispensable for business matters, such as answering enquiries as well as providing quotes and invoices. Under no circumstances will Kithara pass your personal data for promotional or marketing purposes to third parties.

How is your data protected?

Kithara protects your personal data with modern technological security procedures in order to reduce the risk of abuse or unauthorized access. For this purpose, secured servers, encrypted data carriers and firewalls are utilized, among other measures. Furthermore, customer data is only accessable by authorized personnel.

In order to make sure that your personal data during entry and transfer on our website is not intercepted by unauthorized persons, we use the SSL/TLS encryption method via HTTPS.

General information

In order to be able to use basic internet functions, it is necessary to exchange certain data between involved computers (servers and clients). Without this data exchange, content on websites could not be accessed. This includes, for example, the IP address of the computer that requests the page, but also time, status, transferred data volume, name of accessed files, the internet site from which you have accessed the requested website, the operating system as well as product and version information of the browser. This information is stored by Kithara into so-called log files in order to create anonymous statistics and optimize our internet presence.

Registration for the customer section

It is possible to register for the customer section of our website to receive exclusive technical information, access individualized downloads and to be able to use the service section. For this process, certain personal data is collected, such as company name, contact person, address and contact data.

In order to make sure the registration was indeed initiated by you, you will first receive an email with a link. By clicking this link, you verify the registration.

You can cancel the registration at any time and have your account deleted by sending us an email at .

Contact form

Any data that you send us via the contact form will be stored automatically and is only used for the processing of your enquiry.

Newsletter

You have the possibility to subscribe to our free newsletter. To do so, you have to put in your email address into the respective form. No further information is required. The email address is used exclusively for receiving the newsletter.

To make sure that you have subscribed to the newsletter and the email address you provided is correct, you will first receive an email with a verification link.

You can cancel the subscription of the newsletter at any time. To do so, use the respective link that is included in every newsletter or send an email to .

Every news within with the newsletter includes in encrypted form, a list ID (from when the newsletter was generated), a user ID (by which the recipient of the newsletter can be identified unambiguously) and a news ID (the set of news included). By clicking one of these links, the corresponding data is sent to Kithara. The collection of this data is used by Kithara only for statistical purposes, such as determining which topics are relevant for the recipient in order to better customize the newsletter to the desires of the recipient.

Cookies

The Kithara website uses so-called “cookies”. These are small text files that are stored on the data memory of your PC and which are used to allow for the individual recognition of the user. They are used solely for the functionality of the website and do not have a harmful impact on your PC

In general, the use of our website is, with limitations, also feasible without cookies. Modern web browsers allow users to regulate the application of cookies. For further information, please see the respective notes in the help section of the web browser you are using. However, it should be noted that in order to log into the customer section of our website, cookies must be enabled.

Use of social media

The Kithara websites include links to several social media platforms, such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter and others. These links are not “like buttons” but merely links to the respective social media sites. No personal data is stored by Kithara when clicking theses links. However, data might be stored by operators of these websites. For further information please refer to the data policies of the respective website operaors.

Google Maps

Kithara uses a plugin by Google Maps at kithara.com/en/enterprise/directions to allow for easier route planning to our office in Berlin. The address data you enter is sent directly to a Google server where it is processed.

In case you are already logged into a Google account while you are visiting the Kithara website, all information transferred to Google may be linked to your Google account. You can prevent this by logging out of your Google account beforehand.

Concerning which data and how much exactly is processed, please refer to policies.google.com/privacy.

Youtube videos

On certain pages, Kithara uses plugins for embedding videos, which are stored on servers of the provider Youtube. These videos are embedded via the so-called ”advanced privacy mode”. According to statements by Youtube, in this mode, no visitor information is stored unless they watch the video. In fact, while no cookies are created in this mode, there is, however, data in the local data memory of your web browser that is stored even after a session as ended. Among them is the “device ID”, whose function is unknown to Kithara. Furthermore, visiting web pages that include videos as well as playing the videos establishes a connection to Youtube and their DoubleClick network. This triggers data processings which Kithara has no influence on anymore. This applies in particular when you are already logged into a Youtube account. This way, for example, Youtube is able to recognize from which site the video has been played from and assign this information to your Youtube account. You can prevent this by logging out of your Youtube account.

Concerning which data and how much exactly is processed by Youtube please refer to the Youtube privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

Children

The service provided by Kithara is inherently not addressed to children. That is why Kithara assumes, no children are transmitting personal data to the Kithara website. In any event, Kithara will not intentionally collect, use for any purposes or pass to third parties any personal data of children.

Kithara recommends all parents and guardians to instruct children on safe and responsible use of personal data on the internet.

Your rights as an internet user

The GDPR entitles you, as an internet user, comprehensive rights in the articles 12 to 23. You have the right to access information about the personal data which is stored by us as well as rights to correction, blocking or deletion of said data. Furthermore, you have the right to object to the processing of your personal data and revoke the previous approval of data processing.

Regarding questions about the collection, correction, blocking or deletion of data please contact us at . If you have questions or complaints about our privacy policy, please contact us via email at .

Storage and deletion of data

Kithara stores personal data no longer than necessary for business processes. After the purpose of the data has been fulfilled or if the retention periods, stated by the legislator, have expired, the data is blocked or deleted according to regulations.

Transferability of data

According to article 20 of the GDPR, you have the right to obtain your personal data in a generally common and machine-readable format. You can also instruct Kithara to send the data to another party named by you, such as a new service provider, which has been commissioned with representing your interests. To do so, contact us at .

Changes to our privacy policy

Kithara reserves the right to change or amend this privacy policy at any time if the provided services or the legal circumstances so require.

Person responsible for the processing of data at Kithara

The person responsible for the privacy policy is:

  • Kithara Software GmbH
  • Uwe Jesgarz
  • Alte Jakobstraße 78, D-10179 Berlin
  • Telephone: +49 30 2789673-0, Fax: +49 30 2789673-20
  • Email:

Data protection officer

If you have questions regarding the privacy policy at Kithara, please contact us via email at .

Besides the internal privacy control, the BDSG includes supervisory authorities that help you exercise your rights. For Kithara, the supervisory authority is the federal state of Berlin:

  • Der Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit
  • Friedrichstraße 219, visitor entrance: Puttkamerstraße 16–18 (5th Floor), 10969 Berlin
  • Telephone: 030/138 89-0, Telefax: 030/215 50 50
  • E-mail: mailbox@datenschutz-berlin.de
  • Internet: www.datenschutz-berlin.de/berliner-beauftragte.html.