What are Cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by website owners in order to make their websites work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner (in this case, the International Kiteboarding Association) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website (e.g. like advertising, interactive content, and analytics). The parties that set these third-party cookies can recognize your computer both when it visits the website in question and also when it visits certain other websites.
Using cookies is safe. It is impossible to extract personal information such as phone numbers or e-mail addresses by using cookies. Therefore, they are unsuitable for direct marketing techniques like telemarketing and email spam.
Why do we use cookies?
We use first party and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Websites to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Websites or for or remarketing purposes.
Use of Cookies:
To the extent you use our website for informative purposes only, i.e. if you do not register for a service or otherwise provide us with information – e.g. in a contact form – we will only collect the personal data that your browser transmits to our server. So, if you wish to visit our website, we will collect the following data which is technically necessary for us to display our website to you and to ensure its stability and security in accordance with Art. 6 (1) sentence 1 point (f) EU GDPR:
- IP address
- date and time of the request
- time zone difference to the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)
- content of the request
- access status / http status code
- data volume transferred in each instance
- website from which the request originates
- browser used
- operating system and its interface
- language and version of the browser software
What types of cookies are used on the website?
Functional Cookies: For the duration of a visit to the website, mainly temporary session cookies are used. These cookies are necessary to be able to use the personalized service areas of the website. This enables the registration and later on the correct allocation to the profile of the user when logging on. When leaving the website, these session cookies are deleted.
Performance Cookies: Performance cookies are used to monitor, for example, page views and user access to the website. They are used for data analysis and may be queried by the International Kiteboarding Association in the form of statistics and reports. These evaluations are used for the ongoing optimization of the content and to improve the functionalities of the website (error handling). Google Analytics is used as an analysis tool, with IP addresses of users being the anonymized. For further information, see https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=en
More details such as type of cookie used, expiry, etc. are available at https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/collection/analyticsjs/cookie-usage
Targeting and Advertising Cookies: These cookies collect information on the behavior of users on our website to ensure that only advertising is displayed that may be of interest to our users. Targeting and advertising cookies may also be used to recognize visitors to our website or a website that is part of the advertising partner network of the GKA Event GmbH. IP addresses are stored in encrypted and anonymous form. The information to be displayed may be selected based on the interests of the users or also on the ads viewed by the user before. Moreover, these ensure that the ads are correctly displayed and prevents the same ad from being displayed too often. The cookies are also used to measure the efficiency of advertising campaigns. These cookies are stored for a period of three months. To view or to delete (opt-out) the data stored in anonymous form), please use the following link: http://me.adform.com. In order to view your digital footprint, please enter a password of your choice. If you want to directly delete the data, click on the following link http://site.adform.com/privacy-policy/en/.
Information Regarding the Web Analysis Service
This website uses Google Analytics, a web analysis service of Google Inc., USA (“Google”). Google Analytics uses so-called “Cookies”, these are text files stored on your computer that enable the analysis of your use of the website. The information generated by the cookie on your use of the website (including your IP address, which is then immediately anonymized) is sent to a server operated by Google in the U.S. and is stored there. The function for IP-anonymizing in Analytics sets last octet of the user’s IP address of type IPv4, and for IPv6 addresses the last 80 bits stored to zero right after they are sent for analysis to the Analytics data collection network. In this case, the complete IP address is therefore never written to the hard disk. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, to generate reports on website activity for the International Kiteboarding Association and also to supply services relating to the use of the website and the internet. Google may send this information to third parties if required by law or if third parties process the data on behalf of Google. Google will in no case link your IP address with other data of Google. You can prevent the installation of cookies by selecting the relevant settings in your browser software; however, we would like to point out that in this case it will not be possible to use all of the functions of this website to their full extent. We have entered into a corresponding agreement with Google regarding the processing of data on our behalf. Our purpose in the meaning the GDPR (legitimate interest) is the improvement of our range of offers and our website. By using this website you agree to Google processing your personal data we have collected in the form and manner described above and for the aforementioned purpose. The data is stored for a period of 26 months.
Administration of Cookie Settings:
Users may change their consent or rejection regarding cookies at any time in the browser. We have listed several examples of widely-used browser software below:
- Internet Explorer 11: Click on the top right on the browser on the settings icon and then on the subitem “Internet Options”. Now click on the tab “Data Protection”. If the marker is set to “medium” or lower, you permit the storage of cookies. All other settings block cookies. Furthermore, in Internet Explorer 11 under Windows 10 you may change the settings under “Advanced” to permit first-party cookies and third-party cookies or to block these.
- Microsoft Edge: Click on the three points in the upper right-hand corner and select “Settings” and then “Advanced”. Subsequently, click on the button “View advanced settings”. Under “Privacy and Services” you may select the desired cookie options.
- FrontMotion Firefox: Click at the top of the browser on the menu icon and select “Settings”. After selecting the data protection icon, a subitem “History” is displayed and opens a picklist “Firefox will:”; here you select “Remember my browsing and download history” and set your individual settings by checking or unchecking the box “Accept cookies”.
- Safari: In the menu button at the upper left corner of your browser under “Safari” select “Settings” and click on the tab “Privacy and Security”. Here you may select your settings under “Cookies and Website Data” (Cookies “Always block”, “Only permit from current website”, “Only permit from websites visited”, “Accept cookies always”).
- Google Chrome: Click on the upper right corner of the browser on the icon for the Chrome menu and then the subitem “Settings”. After clicking on “Advanced” and “Security and Privacy” and “Content settings”, you may make changes under “Cookies”.
Should you use other browsers on your end device, please read the details for the respective menu items (Help) for the browser.
Browser add-on to deactivate Google Analytics
If you want to prevent Google Analytics from storing cookies for the websites you visit in the future, you may download and install a browser add-on. As an alternative to a browser plugin, you may click here to prevent Google Analytics from creating cookies for this website. In this case, an opt-out cookie is stored on your end device. Delete your cookies and then click on the link again.
Cookies to Share the Contents of our Website Through Social Media
Our websites may feature social media such as Facebook, Twitter or Youtube which have their own privacy notices and policies. By using buttons, you can share the articles and videos you watch on our Website through social media. These buttons are controlled by social media cookies that are deployed by the social media providers, so they are able to recognize you when you would like to share articles or videos. The collection, use and processing of data via these cookies is subject to the privacy policies of the relevant social media provider.
Below you can find information about the third parties from which we may use cookies and their privacy notice:
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/policy.ph
Our website uses social plugins (“plugins”) from the social network facebook.com, operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA (“Facebook”). To find out more about the purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by Facebook as well as your related rights and settings options to protect your privacy, please refer to Facebook’s privacy policy: http://www.facebook.com/policy.php. Incidentally, you can block Facebook social plugins with add-ons for your browser, such as Facebook Blocker. - Instagram – http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/
Our website also uses plugins from the social network Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA (“Instagram”). You can identify the Instagram plugin by the Instagram Button on our page.
If you click on the Instagram Button while logged in to your Instagram account, you can link the contents of our pages to your Instagram profile. This allows Instagram to associate your visit to our pages with your user account. We wish to point out that we are not aware of the content of the transmitted data and their use by Pinterest. For more information, see Instagram’s privacy policy: http://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/ - Twitter – https://twitter.com/en/privacy
Our website uses social plugins (“plugins”) from the social network Twitter, operated by Twitter Inc., located at 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA (“Twitter”). To find out more about the purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by Twitter as well as your related rights and settings options to protect your privacy, please refer to Twitter’s privacy policy: https://twitter.com/privacy. - YouTube – https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en
How can I control Cookies?
If you do not want websites to place cookies on your computer or mobile device at all, you can adapt your browser settings as such that you will be notified before any cookie is placed. You can likewise adapt the settings as such so that your browser refuses all cookies or only the third-party cookies. Likewise, you can remove any of your cookies that have already been placed. Please note that you will have to separately adapt the settings for each browser, mobile device, and computer you use.
Please be aware that if you do not want cookies, we can no longer guarantee our website to function properly. Some functions of the site may be lost, while you may no longer be able to see certain websites. What’s more, refusing cookies will not mean you will no longer see any advertisements. It’s just that the advertisements will then no longer be tailored to your interests and will be repeated more often.
Each browser has a different method to adapt the settings. If necessary, consult your browser’s “help” function, or go to your browser’s manual. If you wish to disconnect cookies of specific parties, you can do this through www.youronlinechoices.eu.
In addition, most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.