document: title: privacy policy
text: #### 1\. Purpose of collecting and using data according to § 13 paragraph 1 of the Telemediengesetz (German Telemedia Act)

Collecting your data serves to provide you with user-friendly, efficient and secure internet services. We use the collected and processed personal data in order to provide those users who are interested with information. Furthermore, we generally process the data with the goal of improving our service and ensuring its security. No personal data is processed: we process the data anonymously or using pseudonyms. Whenever you complete transactions using our website, e.g. opening a user account and / or purchasing a publication, further data processing processes may take place, of which you will of course be separately informed.

#### 2\. The form and scope of collecting and processing personal data

a) Inventory data according to § 14 paragraph 1 of the German Telemedia Act

If you wish to receive a newsletter we need to save and use your e-mail address. We will then send electronic messages at appropriate intervals to the e-mail address you gave us, which may also contain topic-specific advertisements along with editorial information on our products and services. However, you can unsubscribe at any time.

  
b) Usage data according to § 15 paragraph 1 of the German Telemedia Act

As a general rule, you may access our websites without having to provide any personal data. Nevertheless, we will create a so-called utilization profile by using a pseudonym if you visit our websites as a registered or unregistered user. This implies that data will be collected and saved anonymously for marketing and optimization purposes. This data includes information on the website from which you were taken to our offer, information on your internet service provider and the offers you viewed on our website, as well as the date and length of your visit. On the basis of this already pseudonymous data a utilization profile will be created, along with a corresponding pseudonym. For this purpose, cookies may be used (see subparagraph 5 below). Authentication and tracking logs will be used to compile user statistics. This data will not contain any personally identifiable information.

#### 3\. Passing on data to third parties

We only pass on personal data to a third party to the extent necessary to fulfill our contractual relationship (if at all), if we are bound by law or if it should be necessary in order to implement our general terms and conditions of business or any other agreements concluded with you, or in order to enforce our rights and claims.  
Provided your personal data is passed on for other purposes we will ask for your approval in each individual case. If you do not approve we will of course not pass on the data.

#### 4\. Disclosure, rectification, deletion, account freezing

Provided you send us a request in writing, we will inform you about which personal data we have saved at any time. You may at any time demand that we freeze or delete your user account data and accordingly your personal data. Only data we need in order to process open tasks or to enforce our rights are exempt from deletion, as well as data we are required to save by law.

#### 5\. Cookies, etc.

We use so-called cookies or other instruments to analyze the usage of our website. Cookies are small files which are saved on your hard drive and which provide us with specific information. This information above all includes the IP address, your browser type, the URL click stream (the chronological order of our internet sites you visited), the date and the time of your visit on our website as well as the cookie number.  
Firstly, using cookies and similar instruments makes it possible to recognize you whenever you as a user access our internet sites again after the expiration of a session. Cookies also allow us to ideally adapt our products and services to your individual needs. Lastly, we use cookies to statistically record how often our internet sites are viewed as well as the general navigation in order to create encoded usage profiles (see above).

  
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses “cookies”, which are text files placed on your computer, to help the website analyze how users use the site. The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website (including your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers in the United States. The IP address will be truncated before transmission. On our behalf Google will use this information for the purpose of evaluating your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity and providing other services relating to website activity and internet activity in connection with the use of the website. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser; however please note that if you do this you may not be able to use the full functionality of this website. In addition to that you may prevent the collection of the information gererated by the cookie about your use of the website (including you IP address) and the processing of this data by Google if you download and install the browser plug-in available at the following link: http://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=de

  
We use affiliate networks operated by Digital Window Inc. (http://www.affiliatewindow.com), Value Click International Limited (http://de.cj.com) and Zanox.de AG (http://www.zanox.com). Whenever you are referred to our website by an advertisement on a website that is part of these affiliate networks (affiliate), the fact that you are coming from that website will be recorded. For this purpose, the respective company will set a cookie. If you make a purchase on our website or revisit our website within a certain period of time, the respective companies will be able to recognize you and attribute any purchases you make to the affiliate. A random pseudonym will be used so that this information cannot be linked to you personally. We will not combine this information with your personal data nor forward any personal data on you to third parties. You can prevent being tracked by choosing the appropriate preference in the privacy options of your browser or disable cookies or delete the cookie.

  
This website uses the third party tool “Sociomantic Sonar” operated by Sociomantic Labs GmbH, Paul- Lincke-Ufer 39/40, 10999 Berlin (www.sociomantic.com). Sociomantic Sonar delivers targeted ads on websites of its partner network to springer.com users that have vis-ited our website and have thus shown an interest in certain of our offers. Such targeted ads are displayed on the basis of information about the previous visits of the respective web pag-es that is inter alia stored in cookies which Sociomantic places on your computer. The data in these files is then retrieved in the course of subsequent visits of third party websites for specific product recommendations. The cookie includes a random identification number. Neither this number nor the information about your past use of the respective web pages can be attributed to you as an individual. Neither we nor Sociomantic will merge the information about the visits with any of your per-sonal data or disclose any of your personal data to any third party.  
You can prevent all tracking by Sociomantic Sonar by clicking on the following link and checking the corresponding opt-out box: https://www.sociomantic.com/privacy/en/. When you opt-out a new cookie is placed in your web browser that tells Sociomantic’s technology to cease any data collection and data processing in relation to your web browser. You can opt-in to Sociomantic’s ads again at any time by un-checking the box explained above. Your opt-out stays active as long as the opt-out cookie remains stored in your web browser. Please, remember that your must check the opt-out box for each web browser that you use.

  
This website uses the Criteo-Service to advertise on our site and third party websites to previous visitors of our site. Criteo-Service is operated by Criteo SA, Rue Blanche, 75009, Paris, France (http://www.criteo.com/).  
The advertisements are displayed on the basis of information that is stored in cookies which Criteo places on your computer. Cookies are small text files used to store a record. The text files include information, on your visit of our website, in particular product views that is read-out in the course of subsequent visits of this or third party websites for specific product recommendations. The cookie includes a random alias. In case you visit our website within a certain period of time and view our products, Criteo is able to recognize you by means of the alias. However, the information cannot be attributed to you personally. We or Criteo will not merge this information with your personal data and will not disclose any of your personal data to any third party. You can prevent the storing and using of information in a cookie placed by Criteo by clicking on the following link http://www.criteo.com/en/privacy-policy and using the controller next to “Opt-Out” by switching it to “ON”.  
When you opt-out, a new cookie (Opt-Out-Cookie) is placed in your web browser that tells Criteo to cease data collection from and ad delivery to your browser. You can opt-in to Criteo’s ads again at any time by switching the controller to “OFF”. Please be aware that this configuration will be necessary for each of your browsers. In case all of your cookies in a browser are deleted, also the Opt-Out-Cookie of Criteo will be affected.

#### 6\. Security

We employ technical and organizational security measures to guarantee that your data is protected from loss, incorrect modifications and unauthorized third-party access. To the greatest extent possible, we ensure that only authorized persons have access to your personal data and only insofar as it is necessary in the scope of the above-mentioned purposes.

#### 7\. Social Media

a) Facebook Social Plugins

Springer uses so-called social plugins („plugins“)of the social networking site facebook.com provided by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA ("Facebook"). The plugins can be identified by one of Facebook’s logos (white “f” on blue tile or a “thumps-up”-sign) or by the additional text “Facebook Social Plugin”. The list of Facebook Social Plugins and their appearance can be accessed via: http://developers.facebook.com/plugins.  
If a user visits one of the websites using such a plugin, the user’s browser directly connects to Facebook’s servers. The plugin and its content are made available directly on Facebook’s servers and included in the website by the user’s browser. For this reason, the provider of the website cannot influence which data Facebook connects via the plugin and thus informs the user according to his own knowledge.  
Due to the integration of the plugin Facebook collects the information that a user is visiting the corresponding website. If the user is logged in on Facebook at the moment he or she visits the website, Facebook may be able to connect the visit on the website to the user’s Facebook account. If the user interacts with the plugin – for example if he or she presses the like button or comments on something – the user’s browser transmits this information to Facebook. Facebook stores this information. If a user is not a member of Facebook, Facebook may collect and store the user’s IP-address. Facebook states that it only collects anonymized IP-addresses in Germany.  
The reason for and scope of the data acquisition and information about the way in which the data is processed and used by Facebook, as well as the user’s rights in this respect and settings options for protecting the users privacy can be found under: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php.  
If the user is a member of Facebook and does not wish Facebook to collect personal data via this homepage and to link this with his data stored on Facebook, the user needs to log off from Facebook before going to this homepage.  
The user may also block Facebook’s plugins using add-ons for the user’s browser, for example the „Facebook Blocker“.

  
b) Google’s +1-button

Springer uses the “+1”-button of the social network Google Plus provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States (“Google”). The button is market using the sign “+1” on a white or colored background  
If a user visits one of the websites using such a button, the user’s browser directly connects to Google’s servers. The “+1”-button and its content are loaded directly from Google’s servers and included in the website by the user’s browser. For this reason, the provider of the website cannot influence which data Google connects via the button. According to Google’s statements, personal data is only collected, if a user that is a Google Plus member and logged in on the network at the time of clicking on the “+1”-button.  
The reason for and scope of the data acquisition and information about the way in which the data is processed and used by Google, as well as the user’s rights in this respect and settings options for protecting the users privacy can be found in Google’s privacy statement relating to the “+1”-button: http://www.google.com/intl/de/+/policy/+1button.html.

  
c) Twitter

Springer uses the twitter-button. The button is provided by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. (“Twitter”) The buttons are marked using the text “Twitter” or “Follow” and a stylized blue bird. The button enables the user to share an article or a website of this homepage on Twitter or to follow the provider on Twitter.  
If a user visits one of the websites using such a button, the user’s browser directly connects to Twitter’s servers. The Twitter-button and its content are loaded directly from Twitter’s servers and included in the website by the user’s browser. For this reason, the provider of the website cannot influence which data Twitter connects via the button and thus informs the user according to his own knowledge. According to the provider’s knowledge, Twitter collects the user IP-address and the website’s URL when the button is loaded from Twitter’s servers. However, this data is only be used for loading and displaying the Twitter-button.  
Further information can be found in Twitter’s privacy statement under: https://twitter.com/privacy.

  
Should you have any questions regarding our privacy policy, please contact us via the e-mail address dataprotection@springer.com.

#### Opt-out

You maintain at all times the right to disallow the collection and saving of your data. To do so, please click here