DE

Privacy Policy

In case of discrepancies between the English and German versions, the German version prevails.

Responsible person

Lukas Geiger
Geißbühlweg 1
79872 Bernau im Schwarzwald, Germany
Email:

General principle

This website collects as little personal data as possible. No cookies are set, no tracking is used, and no data is shared with third parties. There is no cookie banner because none is needed.

Server logs

When accessing this website, the hosting provider automatically collects technical access data (server log files). These include:

  • IP address (anonymised or deleted after at most 7 days)
  • Date and time of access
  • Page accessed and amount of data transferred
  • Browser type and operating system
  • Referrer URL

This data is collected solely to ensure technical operation and is not combined with other data sources. Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (legitimate interest in secure operation).

Hosting

This website is hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH, Industriestr. 25, 91710 Gunzenhausen, Germany. Servers are located in Germany. Hetzner processes data on our behalf and exclusively according to our instructions. More information: Hetzner Privacy Policy.

SSL/TLS encryption

This website uses SSL/TLS encryption for security reasons. An encrypted connection is indicated by "https://" in your browser's address bar.

Contact via email

Contact is possible via the contact form or the email address shown as an image in the imprint. When contacting us by email, the personal data provided by the user (name, email address, message content) is used exclusively for processing the enquiry. No data is shared with third parties. Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (legitimate interest in responding to enquiries) or Art. 6 (1) lit. b GDPR for pre-contractual communication.

Contact form

This website provides a contact form that allows you to send us a message directly. The following information is collected:

  • Name
  • Email address
  • Subject
  • Message content

The submitted data is not stored in a database but forwarded exclusively by email to us. To prevent abuse, a SHA256 hash of your IP address (with salt) is included in the email body; your actual IP address is not stored. No cookies are set and no login is required. Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (legitimate interest in responding to contact enquiries).

Like system

On article pages you can anonymously give a "like". No user account, no cookies, and no tracking are used. To prevent multiple likes, only a SHA256 hash of your IP address, a server-side salt, and the article slug is stored in a local SQLite database. It is not possible with reasonable effort to derive the actual IP address from the hash. Additionally, a timestamp (created_at) is stored to detect voting manipulation. No other personal data is collected or stored. Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (legitimate interest in anonymous reader feedback to improve content).

Contact database

For our work as a think tank, we maintain a local database containing contact details of institutions, research organisations, associations, foundations, and public figures. We only store data that the respective organisations or individuals have made publicly available themselves (e.g. on their websites, in legal notices, or on contact pages).

Stored data includes:

  • Name of the institution or person
  • Publicly available email address (e.g. press or info address)
  • Publicly available postal address and phone number
  • Thematic classification (e.g. energy policy, health)

The purpose of processing is to send position papers, open letters, and professional enquiries to thematically relevant recipients. Legal basis: Art. 6 (1) lit. f GDPR (legitimate interest in professional communication as a think tank). Data is not shared with third parties and is stored exclusively locally (not in the cloud).

Your contact details were obtained from publicly accessible sources. You may object to the processing at any time — write to the email address shown in the imprint with the subject line "Data deletion". We will delete your data without delay and set a blocking marker that prevents automatic re-collection.

Cookies

This website does not use cookies. Neither first-party nor third-party cookies are used.

Analytics and tracking

This website does not use any analytics or tracking tools. No Google Analytics, no Matomo, no Facebook Pixel, and no comparable system is used.

Embedded content

If external content is embedded in the future (e.g. videos, maps), this will be made transparent at the relevant point and this privacy policy will be updated accordingly.

Your rights

You have the right at any time to:

  • Access your stored data (Art. 15 GDPR)
  • Rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR)
  • Erasure of your data (Art. 17 GDPR)
  • Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
  • Object to processing (Art. 21 GDPR)
  • Data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)

To exercise your rights, please send an email to the address shown in the imprint.

Right to lodge a complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The competent authority is the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany (www.baden-wuerttemberg.datenschutz.de).

Last updated: April 2026 (updated when changes occur)