StartIn response to a large number of requests, we also provide our Privacy Statement in English (see below). However, the German version of the Privacy Statement shall be binding upon all users and form part of the contract entered into. The German version shall prevail in the event of any differences between the two versions.
Privacy and data security
textunes GmbH, Mehringdamm 57, 10967 Berlin, Germany (hereinafter referred to as "textunes"), represented by its managing directors Volker Oppmann, Simon Seeger, Michael Oesterreich, Dr. Andreas Laabs, registered at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg, Commercial Register No. HRB 119902, offers free-of-charge and paid services through the web pages accessible via the domain textunes.de (hereinafter collectively referred to as "textunes website") and through the textunes application (hereinafter collectively referred to as "textunes app"). textunes greatly values the security and confidential treatment of your personal data. We therefore exclusively apply state-of-the-art security standards to protect your data. The following sections explain what we do to ensure that your data is safe and secure:
Use of your data
textunes collects, stores or processes data only for the purpose of pursuing its ordinary business activity, particularly for providing you with access to our services subject to registration and/or payment, or to render and invoice services.
Our services are generally available to all users without collecting personal data. You do not have to register to use the textunes website or textunes app. However, textunes asks for your personal data whenever you register, create a textunes user account to be able to use certain features, or purchase content through your user account.
Collection of general information
Whenever you access our services, information of a general nature is collected automatically. For instance, this information includes the type of web browser or device, the operating system used and similar data. None of these details permits any conclusions regarding your identity. In addition, such data is also generated upon any access to any other website on the Internet, which means that this type of data collection is not specific to our services. Information of this type is always rendered anonymous and analyzed statistically by us.
Collected data
Upon registration for a textunes user account, when placing orders or making out related invoices, personal information is collected, such as your name, address, contact and communications details (e.g. telephone number and email address), and, if and when required, payment and account details. Additional data may be requested depending on the specific service. For paid services, we also gather contractual and billing information. You may also provide us with additional details, such as information about your interests or details on the type of information you wish to receive via email, including newsletters.
Handling of your personal information
textunes stores your personal information on a server in Germany that provides a particularly high level of security. We use our best efforts to implement any and all required technical and organizational security measures in order to store your personal data in such a way that they are protected against any unauthorized access and misuse.
Our employees are under the obligation to comply with the provisions of the Telemediengesetz (TMG; Telemedia Act) and Bundesdatenschutzgesetz (BDSG; Federal Data Protection Act) when handling your data.
We frequently use encryption procedures (such as SSL) in order to ensure the security of your information when transferring it. Our servers are protected by firewalls and anti-virus software. We routinely use backup and recovery procedures and roles and privileges.
textunes collects, stores and uses user information particularly for the purpose of contractual performance and execution, such as for the billing of services or establishing contact as part of the contractual relationship. We use your email address to send our newsletter to you – provided you have subscribed to it – and to send you messages containing information about our current offerings and promotions. If you do not wish to receive these information messages or our newsletter (anymore), you may directly unsubscribe from these at any time and with no cost attached, using a link embedded in the relevant email message.
For payment processing, textunes partly uses third-party service providers acting on our behalf and rendering contract data processing services pursuant to section 11 BDSG. Encryption is always used for data transfer.
For the purpose of checking the address or creditworthiness, a payment processor that is in possession of address and creditworthiness details of the ordering user that are stored in its database (including data based on mathematical/statistical methods) will provide us with this information if we substantiate a legitimate interest in this information.
Any other disclosure of data to third parties without your express consent happens only to the extent to which this is prescribed or permitted by law, particularly in the case of requests submitted by law enforcement authorities.
We also provide anonymous use and purchase information to other clients in order to inform our users and to make recommendations (e.g. "clients who bought X also bought Y" or "best-seller lists", "XY was quoted from this book",...). However, your personal information is not used or published in this process.
Sometimes use and purchase information is also disclosed in a non-anonymous fashion as part of social media features or to the extent to which recommendations are made in the corresponding networks or services, albeit only by mentioning your first name (e.g. "John has downloaded book XY 5 minutes ago"). You may object to such use of your information at any time, taking effect for any future transactions. For this purpose, you may exclude the transfer of data to other users in your privacy settings.
Use of cookies and similar technical methods
Like many other Internet-based services, textunes uses so-called "cookies" and similar technical methods by which an identification label is transferred to your computer.
Using this method, textunes automatically receives certain information about your computer and your connection to the Internet, such as your IP address, the browser you are using, or your operating system. In addition, we capture your use history, which includes the services of our offering used by you, including sequence, date and time. Data collected in such a way is generally not used to identify individual users.
These methods enable textunes to analyze how our services are used in order to optimize our overall offering and tailor content to your personal needs, for instance for the purpose of recognizing you when you use our service again.
In addition, these methods provide you with the option of not having to register again every time you log on to our offering as a user of personalized services.
Without your consent, however, the personal information captured by these methods is not disclosed to third parties, nor is any link to personal information established.
You may also generally use our services without cookies. Internet browsers are usually set to accept cookies. You may deactivate the use of cookies in your browser settings at any time if you so wish. Please use the help features of your web browser to learn how to change these settings. Please note that some features of our website may not be fully functional when you have deactivated the use of cookies.
Privacy provisions of our partners
Certain content, information and services accessible through the textunes website or textunes app are provided by textunes partners or third parties. textunes expressly points out that our partners usually apply their own data protection and privacy provisions, which are beyond the control of textunes. We thus exclude any liability and responsibility for the privacy provisions applied by our partners.
Period of data storage
We adhere to the principles of data reduction and data economy. Consequently, we store your personal information only as long as required for fulfilling the purposes mentioned in this document or for complying with the various storage periods prescribed by law. When the specific purpose has been fulfilled or the relevant period expired, affected data are routinely locked or deleted in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.
Right to information, correction, locking, deletion and objection
You may at any time request information about your personal data stored at textunes. Likewise, you have the right to correction, locking or deletion (except mandatory storage of data for pursuing our business activity) of your personal information. For this purpose, please contact our customer service at +49 30 - 66 77 30 20 / via email to be sent to support@textunes.de or by post to be sent to textunes GmbH, Mehringdamm 57, 10967 Berlin, Germany.
To the extent to which textunes is under the legal obligation to keep data on file, such data is not deleted but locked instead. In order for any locking of data to be recognized at any time, this data must be kept in a lock file for checking purposes. Alternatively, you may also request deletion of your data.
Amendments to our privacy policy
We reserve the right to amend this privacy policy from time to time so that it always complies with the current legal requirements, or in order to implement changes to our services in the privacy policy, such as during the launch of new services. You are then bound to the amended privacy policy during any subsequent visit of our website.
If you have registered with us or used certain of our paid services, you will be informed of any such amendment at least thirty (30) days before in written or electronic form (usually by email). In this message, we will explain to you the content of, and reason for, the amendment. The amendment becomes effective if you do not object to it during the notice period.
If you object to the amendment, the previous policy continues to apply. You or textunes may then terminate the contract on which your registration is based for cause. If you do not terminate the contract, or if the notification of the amendment could not be served, textunes may lock your data in full or in part until you have acknowledged the new privacy policy and were able to give your consent. This lock may restrict the extent to which you are able to use our services, in particular new services. If no further contact is established, we may delete locked data after a reasonable period.
If the amendment was made in order to respond to applicable laws and regulations, your data is always locked if you object to the amendment or if the notification of the amendment could not be served. In this case, textunes may delete the data immediately after locking.
Any such amendment does not affect your rights to information, correction, locking, deletion and objection.
Last amended: December 2010
