How does Supertext treat your personal data?

Privacy Policy | Last updated: May 2023

We want to make this easy for you. And comply with the the GDPR’s requirement for transparency. That’s why this privacy policy is written in plain language – and therefore in a clear and understandable way.


Section 1

Introduction

Supertext Deutschland GmbH provides various language services over the internet. We provide these services in cooperation with a large network of freelance language professionals. These include copywriters, authors, journalists, translators, editors, proofreaders and plain language specialists.

Protecting your personal data is very important to us. This policy explains how we handle your.

Do you want to use the services provided by Supertext Deutschland GmbH? Then you must accept this data protection policy. You must also be aware that this policy can change from time to time. This data privacy policy guarantees your rights. We will not limit your rights without your consent. We will publish any changes on this page. In case of any major changes, we will always personally inform our customers and contacts as well. We also archive older versions of this policy. We will be happy to provide access to these versions if you ask for it.

Section 2

Which law applies?

Our website is subject to German and European data protection law. This includes the Federal on Data Protection Act (FDPA) and especially the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU) in particular.

Section 3

What personal data do we save and process?

In the Supertext system, we create individual profiles for current and potential customers, partners and freelance partners. These profiles mainly contain contact details that visitors of the website provide themselves, including:

  • Name
  • Gender
  • Contact addresses (private or business)
  • Email addresses
  • Websites
  • Phone numbers
  • Profile pictures

If needed, we also store data that is important for managing orders and supporting customers, such as:

  • Documents that we assign for editing/translation
  • Notes from conversations
  • Log files that record order-related system activities in the customer’s profile.

For security reasons, we may also store the IP address, time and date. We do this to help prevent abuse, such as identity theft and spam mail.

Newsletters may contain graphics and web links that allow us to collect information to determine whether recipients have opened a particular newsletter and which web links they have clicked on. This allows us to understand how the newsletters are used and make improvements.

The law allows us to store and collect data based on the principles set out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Art. 6, Para. 1 lit. a, b and f. We have a legitimate interest in network and information security.

Section 4

Where do we store this data?

Our website, its Supertext system and the entire database are hosted by Microsoft Azure in Ireland and the Netherlands. Microsoft Azure creates standard web server log files each time our website is accessed. These log files store the following details:

  • IP address
  • Date
  • Time
  • Browser request, including origin of the request (“referrer”)
  • What is known as the “user agent” is also important. This identifies the type of browser being used – in particular, the language, version and operating system.

The Supertext system also stores files for logging errors and function calls. These log files may include user data. The log files help us identify technical problems and ensure security. We delete all log files within a maximum period of 365 days.

Ireland and the Netherlands comply with the same data protection standards as all EU member states. The legal basis for keeping log files is found in the GDPR, Art. 6, Para. 1 lit. a, b and f. We have a legitimate interest in network and information security. Additional information can also be found in the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Section 5

How do we use the data?

All of the data we collect is used exclusively for:

  • Processing current orders/jobs
  • Assisting and advising our customers
  • Sales analyses (with and without reference to persons)
  • Web traffic analysis (with and without reference to persons)
  • Sales and marketing activities within the Supertext Group.

This may also include our passing on data to third parties. For example, when the newsletter tool provider or freelance translators need certain data to complete their tasks. However, we only pass on data that is required for our specific purposes – and never for further use by third parties.

Section 6

How do we ensure data security?

We have taken several procedural, physical and technical security measures in order to protect your data against loss, theft and unauthorized access. However, due to the nature of electronic data communications, we cannot guarantee 100% confidentiality. A small risk still remains.

As a customer, you are responsible for safeguarding your login details, email account and the API authentication token (see Para. 7). You are using transport encryption (SSL/TLS) when you access our website.

Section 7

What services do we outsource to third parties?

To complete our daily copywriting and translation jobs, we use partner companies of the Supertext Group and rely on our global network of freelance copywriters, translators, proofreaders, editors and plain language specialists. They receive only the documents provided to us by our clients – and no other personal data.

What is important for you to know is that our partners are obligated to protect the confidentiality of all personal data. There are two categories of partners:

  1. Most partners in the United States guarantee an adequate level of data protection in line with the GDPR. They follow similar rules for processing data and work with standard contractual clauses. They document their data protection standards in a contract.
  2. Companies located in EU member states are responsible for complying with the GDPR. Adequate data protection is therefore guaranteed here, too. The legal basis for data protection within European companies is set out in the GDPR, Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a and b.

Category a services

We use MailChimp (USA) for our contact forms and to send our newsletters. More information can be found in the detailed MailChimp Terms of Service.

We use SendGrid (USA) to send automated emails from the Supertext system. More information can be found in the detailed SendGrid Privacy Policy.

We use QuickBooks from Intuit, Inc. (USA) for our accounting. More information can be found in the detailed Intuit, Inc. Privacy Statement.

Our website uses the Intercom (USA) chat platform. More information can be found in the detailedIntercom Terms & Policies.

We embed maps on our site with Google Maps, use Google Analytics for the statistical analysis of how visitors use our website and Google Ads for search engine advertising. We also use YouTube to embed videos. When these services are used, data is sent to Google LLC, located in the US. More information on this can be found in Google’s detailed Privacy Policy.

The GDPR: Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f is the legal basis for the use of videos. We have a legitimate interest in the operation of our website and network and information security.

We use Type Network (USA) to embed fonts. More information can be found in the detailed Type Network privacy statement.


Category b services

We use the Office365 suite from Microsoft (Ireland) to carry out our daily business activities, such as emails, file storage, team chats, etc. More information on this can be found in the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

We use DMARC Analyzer (Netherlands) for the analysis of email problems. More information on this topic can be found in the DMARC Analyzer Privacy Statement.

We use TextShuttle or DeepL Pro (Germany) for neural machine translation (NMT). More information on this can be found in the DeepL Privacy Statement. Send an email to privacy@supertext.ch to ask for the TextShuttle data protection statement.


Furthermore, we offer several integrations of our copywriting and translation platform for third-party systems (such as content management systems like WordPress and Drupal as well as the ns.publish publishing software). These integrations let you, the customer, place and manage your Supertext Deutschland GmbH orders directly within the third-party system. To use these integrations, you must first use an API authentication token to identify yourself and activate the link between the systems. We automatically generate this token for each user. You can access this in your Supertext user account. Please store the token securely to prevent any abuse.

Section 8

How do we use cookies?

Supertext Deutschland GmbH uses cookies to make using our services more effective, faster and more secure. Supertext’s services, including our various websites, APIs, email notifications and advertisements, use this technology for a variety of purposes, including:

  • To register you in the Supertext system
  • To save your settings
  • To personalize the displayed content
  • To guard against spam mail and abuse.

We do not use cookies to display personalized advertising (remarketing).

What are cookies?
Cookies are small files saved by websites on your computer as you browse the internet. Like many other websites, we also use cookies to find out how people use our services and how we can improve them.

Why do we use this technology?
Cookies allow us to provide, analyze and improve our services in a variety of different ways. We use them for the following purposes:

Authentication and security:

  • To provide you a login to the Supertext system
  • To protect your security
  • To access content that is not available to all users
  • To detect and prevent spam mail and abuse.

These technologies, for example, help prove your identity when you access the Supertext system and prevent the unlawful access to your account by third parties.

Settings:
Cookies help us, for example, to save your language or current country settings, allowing us to display content in the selected language – so that we don’t have to ask which language you prefer every time you log into the system.

Do we use on and off-site targeting?
No. “Targeting” is the practice of precisely aiming online and offline marketing at a certain target group. This requires identifying the target groups before carrying out the planned advertising campaign. Modern technologies make it possible to target specific groups with a given campaign.

Are there any third-party cookies?
Yes. The integrated Google Analytics service, for instance, creates a cookie to track your browsing behavior on the Supertext website. The same thing happens if you access our website via one of our ads on GoogleAds.

How can I disable the saving of cookies?
Google offers a browser add-on that lets you disable Google Analytics. You can also configure your browser to save cookies only with your consent or only in specific instances.

Section 9

How do we use social media?

We have profiles on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube . When you interact with our profiles, your data is also collected on the platforms. We have no control over how these platforms use your data. You can read the data privacy policies from the platforms here:

We use our social media profiles to communicate directly with other users. We also use them to find potential clients. That means our sales team may contact you if you respond to our campaigns or posts.

Section 10

What rights do I have as a data subject?

Anyone can request information, free of charge, about if we have processed their personal data and if so, which personal data. You also have the right to:

  • Restrict how your personal data may be processed
  • Request a copy of the data records relevant to you
  • Correct, delete (“right to be forgotten”) or block access to your personal data
  • Revoke any consent you have given in the past
  • Object to the collection of your personal data.

Anyone whose personal data we have processed has a right of appeal to a competent data protection supervisory authority. Switzerland’s supervisory authority for data protection is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).

Section 11

Concluding information

You can unsubscribe from our newsletter at any time. To do so, click the link included in each newsletter email or contact Supertext Deutschland GmbH directly.

Accessing our website – as is the case for all websites – is subject to the mass surveillance carried out by security authorities in Germany, the EU, the US and other states. This surveillance can happen at any time, even if your internet use is not suspicious.

Section 12

Responsibility and contact addresses

Diego Mosca is the data protection officer at Supertext Deutschland GmbH. Data subjects and supervisory authorities can contact us by email or conventional mail:

privacy@supertext.de
Supertext Deutschland GmbH | Mehringdamm 32/34 | 10961 Berlin | Germany