Information on data protection

In today's multimedia world, the Internet in particular is opening up many new and fascinating opportunities. The Net is a source of comprehensive information on specialist or very mundane issues. We can send news in the form of e-mails or SMS or correspond in other ways with Internet surfers around the world. Not least, we can also shop over the Internet or conduct banking transactions. Many processes require us to give personal details, in order to make the service possible.
As part of this multimedia world and conscious of the risks this creates in terms of data protection, Search OK! takes the protection of your personal data very seriously. Search OK! has set itself the aim of making a wide range of online services available to you, while protecting your right to informational self-determination and guaranteeing the protection of your private sphere. Abiding by data protection regulations is a matter of course for us.

We would like to take this opportunity to tell you which of your personal details are collected by Search OK!, for what purposes these are required and how sensitively Search OK! handles your details. Please read through these notes on data protection on a regular basis, as they will be revised from time to time.

Search OK!' standpoint on data protection
1. Search OK! endeavours to provide you with most services on an anonymous usage basis.
2. Your personal details are only used within the framework of your authorisation. You are at liberty, however, to withdraw this authorisation at any time.
3. Without your express agreement, Search OK! will not divulge any personal information - unless it is not possible to enable you to use a service in any other way or Search OK! is legally obliged to disclose such information.
Important terms
Personal details refers to any information that enables you to be identified. This includes in particular your name, date of birth, address and telephone number.
In principle it is not possible, or at least only possible by going to quite considerable lengths, to identify you on the basis of anonymous data. Anonymous data includes, for instance, information you provide about your preferences or similar details. The evaluation of this data, which cannot be traced back to you, helps us to ascertain the habits of our users, in order to make our service more user-friendly as well as adapt it to our users' wishes and needs.

FAQ

1. What personal details will Search OK! request from me?
2. Who collects my details?
3. What does Search OK! do with my personal and anonymous details?
4. Do I have any influence on Search OK!' use of my details?
5. What does Search OK! do with my personal and anonymous details?
6. How can I review, amend or delete my details held by Search OK!?
7. What are cookies?
8. What technical measures does Search OK! take to protect my details?
9. What can I do myself to prevent my personal details getting into the wrong hands?
10. Legal texts

1. What personal details will Search OK! request from me?
At Search OK!, data is collected in a variety ways depending on the service being used. In principle, we only collect your personal details when absolutely necessary. For certain Search OK! services, for instance, you have to register. You will be asked in such circumstances for your name, your postal address and your e-mail address, your date of birth, your sex and your telephone number. Some of these details are optional.
On most Search OK! websites, however, you do not need to divulge any personal details. On occasion, only other information is required, such as indicating locations in order to use the route planner or the weather service. Sometimes, you will also be asked for information in connection with surveys. We need this information in order to make our services more attractive for you and to be able to always offer you the very latest in Search OK! services.
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2. Who collects my details?
In principle, all information you provide on Search OK! sites will be gathered only in Search OK! databanks, unless you are expressly told otherwise. This may be the case, for instance, with competitions, when by way of exception the competition prizes are handed out by Search OK! partner companies. In such cases, you will always be told who is collecting your details and can then decide whether the details you are disclosing to our partners can be passed on to us.
Please note that Search OK! partners (i.e. companies with which Search OK! collaborates and who as a rule offer services independently at Search OK!, advertising clients advertising on Search OK! and other Internet sites and services accessible via Search OK!) may also collect data about you. These companies have their own data protection guidelines, which are independent of this statement.
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3. What does Search OK! do with my personal and anonymous details?
In the majority of cases, Search OK! needs your personal details in order to carry out the service concerned. For example, for the Search OK! greeting cards service, Search OK! asks for your name and your e-mail address as well as the recipient's e-mail address. We require this information to send your greeting cards to the recipient and in order to notify the sender that the message has been sent. We always delete data once it is no longer required. So in the case of the greeting cards service, the information you provide is automatically deleted after 60 days, regardless of whether or not a card has been delivered. The information you provide also enables Search OK! to obtain, anonymously, statistical information about user habits, which we use to make standard adjustments to the respective services in line with users' needs.
Besides using personal information to enable individual services, we also collect anonymous data when our sites are visited. This information is helpful for marketing purposes as well to improve the services on offer. We are thus able to offer many of our services free of charge, such as dating, online shopping, news, translation service, free e-mail, chat and other services.
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4. Do I have any influence on Search OK!' use of my details?
Naturally, it is up to you and you alone whether and for what purposes we can use your details. Hence with various services, you have the option of receiving a newsletter with targeted information. You can cancel this at any time. There is generally an unsubscribe link at the end of the newsletter, which makes it easy to unsubscribe. Also, you alone determine whether your details will be passed on to third parties or whether we may use your details for the purposes of advice, advertising and market research. Again, you can withdraw such authorisation, once given, at any time. You can also influence the use of cookies (for more on cookies see Point 7 below). By changing your browser settings (usually found under "Options" or "Settings" in the browser menus), you can choose to accept all cookies, be informed when a cookie is set up, or reject all cookies. If you decide not to accept our cookies, it is possible that this may impede the quality of the experience on our sites, and you may not be able to use some services. We would ask for your understanding in this.
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5. Does Search OK! pass on my details to third parties?
Search OK! does not sell or lend any user information. If it is necessary to transfer your details in order to make a service available, this will only be done with your consent. Only in exceptional circumstances does the use of a service depend on your details being sent to our partner companies. In such cases you will, however, be informed before your details are collected and can choose whether you will agree to the details being passed on or would prefer not to use that particular service. We are occasionally asked by private individuals to disclose the identity of our users. In principle we only make our users' details available if we are legally obliged to do so. This may be the case if government institutions (e.g. criminal prosecution authorities) ask us for information or we receive a court order to that effect. Otherwise, we protect the confidentiality of your identity.
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6. How can I review, amend or delete my details held by Search OK!?
If you have registered to use a service, you will receive a member name and password. This gives you access to your details and you can update them or arrange for them to be deleted, if you no longer wish to use the service. Only in the case of our payable service (Comundo) are we entitled for invoicing purposes to store your details for a longer period.
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7. What are cookies?
Cookies are small volumes of data in the form of text information, sent by the web server to your browser. These are only stored on your hard disk. They can only be read by the server that previously stored them and contain information on what you are looking at on a website and when. With the aid of cookies, Internet usage can be made more effective. Industry standards apply to the use of cookies. Quite a lot of Internet providers use them to offer their customers useful functions. Cookies themselves only anonymously identify the IP address of the computer and do not store any personal information, such as your name. As no individual can be identified simply on the basis of such information, the use of cookies is permissible.

Search OK! may set and access cookies on your computer for a number of purposes:

1. To confirm and authenticate you as a registered Search OK! user and access your information when you sign in.
2. To tailor the content or design of our web pages during a single visit to a Search OK! website, to display the most appropriate advertising banners, based on users' registration details and to limit how often a particular advertisement or announcement is displayed on Search OK! websites.
3. To prompt you to re-enter your Search OK! password after a certain period of time has elapsed and to protect you against someone else accessing your Search OK! Mail account.
4. To estimate and report our total traffic and audience size.
5. To report how many times you visit a Search OK! web page or advertisement.
6. To collect statistics on the use of Search OK! services.

The Search OK Network Team