Privacy Policy

Privacy Statement GLS Sprachenzentrum

The GLS Community is a forum exclusively for GLS clients, i.e. for participants of one of the GLS language programs in Berlin and abroad. Its purpose is to enable students to communicate with each other, to find tandem partners, to upload photos and testimonials. Registration is only possible with a GLS password. With this privacy statement we would like to inform you about the nature, scope and purpose of the data you provide in the course of registration in the community.

1. Responsible authority/party and general information

The GLS community is a forum operated by GLS Sprachenzentrum, Owner: Barbara Jaeschke, Kasta-nienallee 82, 10435 Berlin, Telephone: +49 30 78008930, E-Mail: info@gls-sprachenzentrum.de (service provider within the definition of the German Telemedia Act (TMG) and responsible authority within the definition of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In this document, "GLS Sprachenzentrum" means the website www.gls-community.de, including all subpages, content and functions available (e.g. communication with other participants in a GLS language trip/course, upload of photos or testimonials from participants in GLS language courses). Our services are intended for use by the general public.

2. Collection and processing of personal data

As a rule, you can use online services that do not require payment or registration without providing personal information. In certain cases, however, we process the personal data listed in Section 3. This will only be done to the extent necessary to provide a functional website and our content and services.

3. Categories of processed data

Your personal data will not be disclosed. Those details are merely required for the application process to ensure that only GLS clients qualify as members. In the process the following data could i.a. be collected:

  • Basic personal data (name, date of birth)
  • Communication data (e-mail address)

Basic personal data and communication data are not visible to the public. Visible to the public are only the following:

  • The username which you created
  • Your country of origin
  • The country where you went or are going to with GLS
  • The program which you completed or are going to complete with GLS
  • Your age

Only GLS Community members can contact you via personal messages within the community but without seeing your personal e-mail address.

4. Privacy

The GLS Community is a social network built upon information that users agree to share about themselves, thus enabling others in the network to get to know each other. For this purpose only, we ask you to answer some questions in the profile, for example about your hobbies. This information is attributed to your username – i.e. your real name is not published.

5. No circulation of data to third parties

On principle, GLS does not disclose your personal data to third parties.

6. Data storage

Data is stored on extra secure servers and can only be accessed by a few authorised members of staff responsible for the technical maintenance. Regular updates and security systems such as firewalls are implemented to protect data as much as possible against viruses and illicit access. Your profile with all personal data that you provided will be automatically deleted if you do not activate your account 1 year after creation or if you do not log in for more than 2 years.

7. Information and your rights as a person concerned

At any point in time, you are entitled to demand information on the stored GLS Community data concerning you, as well as to demand those to be deleted. You can also correct and complete incorrect data.

8. Deletion, restriction and the right to be forgotten

You can delete your profile in the community at any point in time. You can do that yourself or ask GLS to do it for you - by mail to team@gls-community.de. In order to be able to identify you as a member of the community, please indicate your name, your username and the program completed with GLS in this e-mail. Your profile will be automatically deleted if you do not activate your account 1 year after creation or if you do not log in for more than 2 years. Any posts you have written (uploaded photos, reports) will be assigned to an anonymous profile named "Guest".

9. Cookies

We use cookies. Cookies are small files that your browser stores on your device in a designated directory. Through them it can be i.a. determined if you have visited a website before. If you agree, cookies may also store login information for an online service, so you do not need to enter this login information every time you visit the site. Many cookies contain a so-called Cookie ID. A Cookie ID is a unique identifier of the cookie. It consists of a string that allows websites and servers to be associated with the specific Internet browser in which the cookie was stored. This allows visited websites and servers to distinguish the individual's browser from other Internet browsers that contain other cookies. A particular web browser can be recognized and identified by the unique Cookie ID.

You can prevent the setting of cookies by us at any time by means of an appropriate setting of the Internet browser used and thus permanently contradict the setting of cookies. Furthermore, already set cookies can be deleted at any time via an internet browser or other software programs. This is possible in all common internet browsers. If you deactivate the setting of cookies in the Internet browser used, not all functions of our website may be fully usable.

Cookies cannot identify you as a person. In every case, the use of cookies on the basis of our legitimate interest in a needs-based design as well as the statistical evaluation of GLS Lan-guage Center justified is justified (Article 6, para. 1 lit. f, GDPR).

10. Google Analytics

We have integrated Google Analytics (with anonymization feature). Google Analytics is a web analytics service. Web analytics is the generation, collection and analysis of data about the behavior of visitors to websites. Among other things, a web analytics service collects information about which web site an affected person used to access a web site (so-called referrers), which subpages of the website were accessed, or how often and for what length of time a subpage was viewed. Web analytics is used primarily to optimize a website and the cost-benefit analysis of internet advertising. The operating company of the Google Analytics component is Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheater Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA. We use the addition "_gat._anonymizeIp" for web analysis via Google Analytics. This addendum will truncate and anonymize Google's IP address if Google accesses our websites from a Member State of the European Union or another state party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. The purpose of the Google Analytics component is to analyze the flow of visitors to our website. Google uses the data and information obtained, among other things, to evaluate the use of our website, to compile for us online reports showing the activities on our websites, and to provide other services related to the use of our website. Google Analytics uses a cookie on the information technology system of the person concerned. What cookies are, has already been explained above. By using the cookie, Google will be able to analyze the use of our website. Each time you visit any of the pages on this site operated by us and incorporating a Google Analytics component, the Internet browser on the subject's information technology system is automatically prompted by the respective Google Analytics component to submit the online analysis to Google. As part of this technical process, Google will be aware of personal data, such as the IP address of the person concerned, which serve, among other things, for Google to track the origin of the visitors and clicks, and subsequently make com-mission settlements possible. The cookie stores personally identifiable information, such as access time, the location from which access was made and the frequency of site visits by the data subject. Each time you visit our websites, this personal information, including the IP ad-dress of the Internet connection used by the data subject, is transferred to Google in the United States of America. This personal information is stored by Google in the United States of America. Google may transfer such personal data collected through the technical process to third parties. The affected person can prevent the setting of cookies through our website, as already described above, at any time by means of a corresponding setting of the Internet browser used and thus object to the setting of cookies permanently. Such a setting of the Internet browser used would also prevent Google from setting a cookie on the information technology system of the person concerned. In addition, a cookie already set by Google Analytics can be deleted at any time via the Internet browser or other software programs. Furthermore, the data subject has the option of objecting to and preventing the collection of data generated by Google Analytics and of the use of this website by Google. To do this, the person con-cerned must download and install a browser add-on under the link http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de . This browser add-on informs Google Analytics via JavaScript that no data and information about website visits may be transmitted to Google Analytics. The installation of the browser add-on is considered by Google as an objection. If the information technology system of the data subject is deleted, formatted or reinstalled at a later date, the data subject must reinstall the browser add-on in order to deactivate Google Analytics. If the browser add-on is uninstalled or disabled by the data subject or any other person within their sphere of control, it is possible to reinstall or reactivate the browser add-on. Additional information and Google's privacy policy can be found at https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/ and http://www.google.com/analytics/terms/en.html . Google Analytics is explained in more detail on the following link: https://www.google.com/intl/de_de/analytics/ .

11. Contact data

Should you have any questions related to data protection, please contact our Data Protection Officer:

Mr Dieter Klapproth
E-mail Address: d.klapproth@ains-a.de

Stand: 25. Mai 2018