Data protection at MetaGer/SUMA-EV

For maximum transparency, we list the information we collect from you and how we use it. The protection of your data is important to us and it should be you, too.
Please read this statement thoroughly; it is in your interest.

Person responsible and contact person

MetaGer and related services are operated by SUMA-EV, which is also the author of this statement. By "we" in this statement usually SUMA-EV is meant.
Our contact details can be found in our site notice. We can be reached by e-mail via our contact form.

Principles

As a non-profit organization, we have committed ourselves to free access to knowledge. Since we know that free research is not compatible with mass surveillance, we also take privacy very seriously. We always only process the data that is necessary for the operation of our services. Data protection is always the standard we aim for. We do not operate profiling – i.e. the automatic creation of user profiles.

Accumulating data by context

1. Using the web search engine MetaGer

   When using our web search engine MetaGer via their web form or through their OpenSearch interface, the following data is generated:

   1. Internet protocol address

      The Internet protocol address (hereafter referred to as IP) is necessary to use web services such as MetaGer. This IP, in combination with a date similar to a telephone number, uniquely identifies Internet access and its owner.
      In general, the first three (out of four) blocks of an IP are not personal. When rear blocks of the IP are truncated, the truncated address identifies the approximate geographic area around the Internet connection.

      Examples (full IP address)

      154.67.88.47
      82.159.53.49

      Examples (only the first two blocks)

      154.67.0.0
      82.159.0.0

      What does MetaGer/SUMA-EV do with it?

      1. To protect our service from congestion, we need to limit the number of search queries per Internet connection. For this purpose alone, we store the full IP address and a timestamp for a maximum of 96 hours. If a noticeable number of searches are performed by an IP, this IP is temporarily stored in a revocation list (maximum 96 hours after the last search). Then the IP is deleted.
      2. In addition to donations and membership fees, we must finance our operation through non-personalized advertising on the results page. To receive this advertising, we give the first two blocks of the IP in connection with some non-identifying parts of the so-called user agent to our advertising partners
      3. If you use a MetaGer key, your IP address will not be stored. In this case, no data will be forwarded to any advertising partners.

      Which rights do I have as a user?

      Since the full form of the Internet Protocol address is personal, you have the following rights in particular: View rights

   2. Entered search query

      Entered search terms are mandatory for a web search. As a rule, personal data cannot be obtained from them; partly because they have no fixed structure.

      Examples

      Water consumption when showering
      Lyrics from the song There was a bird on a tree
      Grakvaloth
      WHO abbreviation

      What does MetaGer/SUMA-EV do with it?

      1. As an integral part of the Metasearch, the search query will be transmitted to our partners to get search results for display on the results page. The results, including the search term, are kept for display for a few hours.

   3. User Agent Name

      When a website is opened, your browser automatically sends an identifier, usually with data about the browser and operating system used. This browser identifier (the so-called user agent) can be used by web pages, for example, to recognize mobile devices and present them with a customized output.

      Example

      Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:59.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/59.0

      What does MetaGer/SUMA-EV do with it?

      1. We use the User Agent to provide users with the correct installation instructions for their browser as well as for spam prevention.
      2. In addition to donations and membership fees, we must finance our operation through non-personalized advertising on the results page. To receive this advertising, we give some non-identifying parts of the user agent—specifically the browser brand (eg. Firefox), if supplied the general device type (eg. mobile or desktop) and if supplied the operating system name (eg. Ubuntu)—in connection with the first two blocks of the so-called IP-Adress to our advertising partners.
      3. If you use a MetaGer key, your IP address will not be stored. In this case, no data will be forwarded to any advertising partners.

   4. User preferences

      In addition to form data and user agent, the browser often transmits additional data. These include language selection, search settings, accept header, do-not-track header and more.

      Examples

      interface=de sprachfilter=all fokus=web
      interface=de sprachfilter=de fokus=nachrichten
      interface=en sprachfilter=en fokus=web

      What does MetaGer / SUMA-EV do with it?

      1. We use this data (e.g., language settings) to answer the query.
      2. We store some of these data non-personally for statistical purposes.

   Use of the contact form

   When using the MetaGer contact form, we collect the following information that we store for reference purposes up to 2 months after your request has been completed:

   1. Contact data

      This includes the name you provided (first and last name) and your e-mail address. We only use this data to answer you and under no circumstances pass it on to third parties.

      Examples

      Max Mustermann, mail@example.com
      Erika Musterfrau, erika_m@domain.de
      

   2. Message

      The message entered here will be transmitted to us and used to process your request.

      Examples

      Feedback to MetaGer
      MetaGer as a browser plug-in
      

   Use of the donation form

   The following data submitted in the donation form will be stored for processing for 2 months:

   1. Contact data

      This includes the name you provided (first and last name) and your e-mail address. We use this data exclusively for any queries and under no circumstances pass them on to third parties.

      Examples

      Max Mustermann, mail@example.com
      Erika Musterfrau, erika_m@domain.de
      

   2. Payment data

      The payment data will be used exclusively to process the donation and under no circumstances will be passed on to third parties.

   3. Message (optional)

      The message entered here will be transmitted to us and considered when processing your donation.

   Purchase transaction MetaGer key

   1. Payment data

      During the checkout process for a MetaGer key, different payment data is required depending on the payment provider

      Examples

      John Sample, mail@example.com
      IBAN: DE1234567890123
      Last digits of the credit card number: XXXXXXXXXXX1234
      

   2. Invoice data

      You will send us invoice data if you require a receipt

      Examples

      John Sample, mail@example.com
      Any Street, Any City, Any State
      

   What does MetaGer/SUMA-EV do with it?

   1. For reasons of tax law, we are obliged to retain and thus store this data for 10 years. and thus to store it. The data is then automatically deleted and otherwise not further processed.

   Simple Website usage

   When visiting websites of the domain "suma-ev.de", the following data are collected and stored for up to one week:

   • Your IP-Address
   • Name and URL of the retrieved file
   • Date and time of access
   • The referrer you sent
   • The user agent you sent

   We use the aforementioned data to ensure the functionality of the website and to protect ourselves from attacks. The legal basis for the processing is, therefore, a legitimate interest under Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR.
   On the other websites of our domains, we process the collected data only to answer inquiries and in the context of the other points of this privacy policy.
   On the start page of our service MetaGer we use the User-Agent you have assigned, to show you the appropriate plug-in installation guide to your browser.

   Registration for the SUMA-EV newsletter

   To keep you up to date on our activities, we offer an e-mail newsletter. We store the following data until you cancel:

   1. Contact data

      This includes the name you provided (first and last name) and your e-mail address. We use this data exclusively for sending the newsletter and under no circumstances pass it on to third parties.

      Examples

      Max Mustermann, mail@example.com
      Erika Musterfrau, erika_m@domain.de
      

   Use of Maps.MetaGer.de

   When using the MetaGer map service, the following data is generated:

   
   
   1. IP-Adress: Will not be stored or shared.
   2. User-Agent: Will not be stored or shared.
   3. Search query: Will not be stored or shared.
   4. Location data: Will not be stored or shared.

   Use of the anonymizing proxy

   When using the anonymizing proxy, the following data is generated:

   
   
   1. IP-Adress: Will not be stored or shared.
   2. User-Agent: Will not be stored or shared.

   Using the citation search

   The entered search term is used to search for results in the citation database. In contrast to the web search with MetaGer, it is not necessary to pass the search term on to third parties, as the citation database is located on our server. Other data will not be stored or shared.

   Use of the associator

   The associator uses the search term to determine and display the terms associated therewith. Other data will not be stored or shared.

   Use of the MetaGer app

   Use of the MetaGer app is the same as using MetaGer via a web browser.

   Use of the MetaGer plugin

   When using the MetaGer plugin, the following data is generated:

   
   
   1. IP-Adress: Will not be stored or shared.
   2. User-Agent: Will not be stored or shared.

Hosting

Our services are administrated by us, the SUMA-EV, and operated on rented hardware at Hetzner Online GmbH.

Legal basis for processing

As a legal basis for processing your personal data, either Art. 6 (1) lit. a GDPR, if you consent to the processing by using our services, or Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR, if the processing is necessary for the protection of our legitimate interests, or another legal basis, if we inform you separately.

Your rights as a user (and our duties)

To be able to protect your personal data, we clarify (in accordance with Art. 13 GDPR) that you have the following rights:

1. Right to information:
You have the right (Art. 15 GDPR) to request information from us at any time, if and if so, which of your data we (metager.de and SUMA-EV) have about you. We will send you as soon as possible, i.e. within days, a full copy pursuant to Art. 15 (3) subparagraph 1 GDPR of the data stored about you or other data stored by us. For this, we prefer the electronic way according to article 15 (3) subparagraph 3 GDPR; For this we will save your e-mail address for the time of processing. Please inform us if you want to have the information expressly in paper form.
2. Right to rectification and supplementation:
In accordance with Art. 16 GDPR. If we have stored incorrect data about you, you can determine that they will be corrected. This also applies to missing components, here you have the right to supplement.
3. Right to deletion:
In accordance with Art. 17 GDPR
4. Right to restriction of processing:
In accordance with Art. 18 GDPR; For example, if you have asked us to erase or modify data about you, you may impose a processing ban on us for the time we need to do so. This is possible regardless of whether we ultimately change, delete, etc. the data in question.
5. Right to appeal:
In accordance with Art. 13 (2) d) GDPR you can complain about us to the data protection officer of the state of Lower Saxony. In the web: Data Protection Officer
6. Right to object to processing:
In accordance with Art. 21 GDPR; If, for example, you are on a list and you want to be listed there, you can still prohibit the processing or further processing of this data.
7. Right to Data Portability:
In accordance with Art. 20 GDPR; this means that we are required to provide you with the requested data in a readable, possibly machine-readable or common form, so that you would be able to make the data available to another person (to transfer).
8. Obligation to notify in connection with the correction or deletion of personal data or the restriction of processing:
In accordance with Art. 19 GDPR; if we have disclosed information you have entrusted to us to third parties (which we never do), we would be obliged to notify those that we performed a deletion, modification, etc. at your request.

To exercise these rights, it is sufficient to send us an e-mail via our encrypted contact form. If you prefer the letter form, please send us postal mail to our office address:

SUMA-EV
Röselerstraße 3
30159 Hannover

Changes to this statement

Like our offers, this privacy policy is subject to constant change. You should therefore read it again regularly.
This version of our Privacy Policy is dated 2023-04-17.