Data protection

Data protection

Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG takes protecting your personal information very seriously. We treat your personal information confidentially and handle it in conformity with statutory data protection provisions and this data protection statement. 

Our website can normally be used without entering any personal information. When personal information is collected on our site (such as your name, address or e-mail address), it is always provided by you voluntarily. This information is not forwarded to third parties without your express consent. 

Please note that data transmitted over the internet (in e-mail communication, for example) may be exposed to security vulnerabilities. There is no way to fully protect data from being accessed by third parties.

Your right to obtain, delete and lock data

You have the right to obtain, at any time and at no cost, information on the personal data stored about you, including their source, the parties that have received them, and the purpose for which they have been processed. You also have the right to correct, lock or delete these data. To learn more about this and other issues related to your personal information, feel free to contact us at any time at the address given in the legal notice.

Server log files

The website provider automatically collects and stores information in what are known as server log files, which your browser sends to us automatically. This information includes:

This information cannot be linked to a specific individual. Neither do we associate this information with other sources of information. However, we reserve the right to review this information at a later time if any reasonable suspicion of illegal use comes to our attention.

Contact form

If you send us a request via the contact form, the information in the form, including the contact information you have provided there, will be stored by us for the purpose of processing your request and any follow-on questions. We will not forward this information without your consent.

Newsletter

If you would like to receive the newsletter offered on our website, we will need your e-mail address as well as information that allows us to confirm that the e-mail address provided belongs to you and that you agree to receive the newsletter. We do not collect any other information. We use this information exclusively to send you the material you have requested, and we do not forward it to third parties. 

Once you have given us your consent to store your information and e-mail address and to use them to send you the newsletter, you can revoke your consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link in the newsletter, for example.

Comment functions

We collect personal information (such as your name and e-mail address) via the comment function when you post a comment on our content, but we only collect what you provide to us. When your comment is published, we store the e-mail address you have provided but we do not publish it. Your name, however, will be published, unless you use a pseudonym.

Cookies

Some of our pages use cookies. Cookies cannot harm your device and do not contain viruses. Cookies help us make our service more user-friendly, more effective and more secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your device and in your browser. 

Most of the cookies we use are session cookies. These cookies are automatically deleted when you leave our website. Other cookies remain on your device until you delete them. These cookies enable us to recognise your browser the next time you visit our site. 

You can set your browser to notify you when we set cookies and to only allow cookies individually, to only accept cookies in certain cases, or to always block cookies. You can also set your browser to automatically delete cookies when you close the browser. However, you should be aware that deactivating cookies may limit website functionality.

Purchasing tickets through BeckerBillet

Information required for business activities is processed and stored according to Section 33 of Germany’s Federal Data Protection Act and Section 13 ff. of the German Telemedia Act. We collect, process and use information for this purpose only. 

You can decide for yourself whether to make a purchase using your own customer account or a guest account. You only need to provide a postal address if you want to receive an invoice. Otherwise, an e-mail address is the only information you need to provide and the only information we will store. 

An e-mail address is required so we can send you a PDF ticket. A postal address is required for an invoice. 

No information is forwarded to third parties. If you want to receive an invoice, it will be sent via a password-protected interface. This is the only way to view an invoice in the administrative tool. 

The online shop can only be accessed via a secure SSL connection. The current certificate uses SHA-1 encryption. 

Registered administrators can view sales transactions. This allows them to view and re-send tickets. BeckerBillett can access the web server remotely and with MySQL. 

BeckerBillet uses Google Analytics to track traffic to the site. You can prevent information that is generated by cookies and that relates to your use of the site (including your IP address) from being sent to Google and processed by Google. To do so, click on the following link, then download and install the opt-out browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. 

BeckerBillet is a PCI DSS-certified e-commerce provider, so it does not process credit card information.

FundraisingBox

If you make a donation to Zoo Berlin, sponsor an animal, or include us in your will, we will use your contact information and payment information to carry out the transaction. 

Our donation forms are provided by FundraisingBox. We chose this provider in order to ensure the highest level of security for your information. Your personal information will be transmitted to us via a secure connection. Your payment information will be sent to the payment service provider using an encrypted connection.



Donating via direct debit


If you make a donation using direct debit, your information will be sent to our bank, Bank für Sozialwirtschaft, via an encrypted connection after you send off the donation form. 

Donating via PayPal


If you make a donation using PayPal, after you send off the form you will be taken directly to the PayPal website, where you can complete the transaction the way you normally would. We do not receive any account information; we are only notified that your payment has been made. 

Donating via Sofortüberweisung


If you make a donation using Sofortüberweisung, after you send off the form you will be taken directly to the website of payment provider Sofort AG. We do not receive any account information; we are only notified that your payment has been made. 

Furthermore, we only use the information you provide in Zoo Berlin’s online forms to serve the aims of the association, to request further donations, and to send you more information about Zoo Berlin. You can quickly and easily deny us further use of your information at any time, for instance by sending an e-mail to datenschutz@noSpamzoo-berlin.de with a brief reference to the form you completed. However, forms normally contain separate data protection information including their own e-mail addresses, via which you can deny us further use of your personal information.

Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; hereinafter “Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies, which are small text files that are stored on your device and employed by us to analyse how you use our website. Information generated by the cookie about your use of the website is normally forwarded to a Google server in the United States, where the information is then stored. Google uses that information on behalf of the website owner in order to analyse your use of the site, to generate reports on site activity, and to provide the site owner with further services associated with site use and internet use.

Protection for your personal information

This website uses IP anonymisation for Google Analytics in order to protect your personal information. When IP anonymisation is enabled, as it is for this site, Google shortens your IP address within the member states of the European Union and in other states party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area before sending it to a Google server. Only in rare cases will your full IP address be sent to a Google server in the US and then shortened there. Google does not associate the IP address that your browser sends to Google Analytics with any other information in Google’s possession. 

If we are in possession of any further personal information about our website users, we will not associate it with website-tracking information or other non-personal information.

Disabling website tracking

You can prevent cookies from being stored by changing the relevant settings in your browser. However, please note that doing so may prevent you from using all of the functions on this and other websites to their full extent. In addition, you can prevent information generated by a cookie and relating to your use of the site (including your IP address) from being sent to Google and processed by Google. To do so, click on the following link, then download and install the opt-out browser add-on: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en. In addition, we offer you the option of disabling the collection of information on how you use this website. To do that, click on the following link: disable Google Analytics. Opt-Out-Link This sets a special opt-out cookie that prevents your usage data from being collected if you visit this website in the future.

Google Analytics advertising functions

Besides the standard Google Analytics configuration, this website uses Google Analytics functions that support interest-based advertising and advertising based on users’ browsing habits. Google Analytics does this using a third-party cookie from DoubleClick, which allows it to analyse the browsing patterns of users as they visit different websites. The information provided in this way enables statistical statements to be generated about demographic data and the interests of website users. 

We would like to emphasise that we cannot view any information about individual users, nor can we trace the statistical data we use back to specific users. 

Some visitors to our website may see our advertising on other websites after they visit our site. This type of advertising is called remarketing or retargeting. If you do not wish to see these adverts, we recommend you use one of the options described above that allow website users to disable website tracking. In addition, Google offers you the option to control advertising cookies for yourself: https://www.google.co.uk/intl/en/policies/technologies/ads/.

Data protection statement for Facebook users

Our site incorporates plug-ins from the social network Facebook (Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA). Facebook plug-ins display the Facebook logo or the Facebook “Like” button. You can find an overview of Facebook plug-ins here: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/. 

When you visit our site, the plug-in creates a direct connection between your browser and Facebook’s servers. This tells Facebook that you and your IP address have visited our site and enables Facebook to associate your visit to our site with your Facebook account. Note that Facebook does not share any knowledge with us, the site owner, about the content of the data being transmitted or how those data are used. You can learn more about this in Facebook’s data policy at https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy. 

If you do not want Facebook to associate your visit to our site with your Facebook account, log out of Facebook before visiting our site.

Data protection statement for Twitter users

Our site also incorporates Twitter functions. These functions are offered by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. When you use Twitter and the Retweet function, the sites you have visited are linked to your Twitter account and shared with other users. Data are also transmitted to Twitter. Note that Twitter does not share any knowledge with us, the site owner, about the content of the data being transmitted or how those data are used. You can learn more about this in Twitter’s privacy policy at https://twitter.com/en/privacy. 

You can change your Twitter privacy settings in your account settings at https://twitter.com/account/settings.

Data protection statement for Instagram users

Our site also incorporates Instagram functions. These functions are offered by Instagram Inc., 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. When you are logged in to your Instagram account and you click on the Instagram button, you can link the content on our site to your Instagram profile. This enables Instagram to associate your visit to our site with your Instagram account. Note that Instagram does not share any knowledge with us, the site owner, about the content of the data being transmitted or how those data are used. 

You can learn more about this in Instagram’s privacy policy at https://instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/.

Use of social media buttons with “2-Klick” solution

To improve data protection for visitors to our site, plug-ins are incorporated in the site using “2-Klick” technology from German company Heise Online. This technology ensures that when you open a page on our website that contains such plug-ins this does not automatically create a connection to a Facebook, Google or Twitter server. Your browser will not create a direct connection to a Google, Facebook or Twitter server until you enable the plug-ins and thus agree to have your data transmitted. The respective provider then sends the content from its plug-in directly to your browser and incorporates that into its site. The incorporated plug-in tells the provider that your browser has opened a specific page on our website even if you do not have a profile with that provider or are not logged in to your account at that time. Your browser sends this information (including your IP address) directly to one of the provider’s servers in the United States, where it is stored. If you are logged in to a social network, the provider can directly associate your visit to our site with your profile on Facebook or Google+. If you interact with a plug-in such as the “Like” button, the +1 button, or the Tweet button, this information will also be sent directly to the provider’s servers and stored there. In addition, this information will be published to the relevant social network and displayed to your contacts there. 

To learn about the purpose and scope of a provider’s collection, processing and use of data, as well as your rights in this regard and what settings you can adjust to protect your privacy, see the provider’s data protection policy. 

Facebook’s data policy: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy

Google’s buttons policy: https://www.google.com/intl/en/+/policy/+1button.html 

Twitter’s privacy policy: https://twitter.com/en/privacy

If you do not want Google, Facebook or Twitter to directly associate the information collected on our website with your Google, Facebook or Twitter profile, you must log out of that profile before you enable the plug-ins. 

For more information about the 2-Klick solution, go to https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Datenschutz-und-Social-Media-Der-c-t-Shariff-ist-im-Einsatz-2470103.html (only available in German). 

Our website incorporates the 2-Klick solution for the following social networks: 

Facebook Inc. (1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA) 

Twitter Inc. (795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA) 

Data protection statement for users of YouTube videos

Privacy-enhanced mode is enabled for YouTube videos embedded on this website. Privacy-enhanced mode prevents YouTube from storing cookies for users who open a web page with an embedded YouTube video player that is in privacy-enhanced mode but who do not click on the video to play it. Although YouTube may store cookies on such a user’s device after the user activates the YouTube video player, no personally identifiable information will be stored in the cookie when the user plays an embedded video that is in privacy-enhanced mode.

Google conversion tracking

We also use Google AdWords conversion tracking, an analytics service from Google Inc. Google Adwords sets a cookie on your device (“conversion cookie”) if you used a Google ad to reach our site. These cookies expire after 30 days and do not contain any personally identifiable information. If you visit certain pages of ours before such a cookie has expired, both we and Google can tell that someone clicked on a Google ad and was brought to our site that way. 

Each AdWords client receives a different cookie. This means there is no way to track cookies via the website of an AdWords client. The information collected by a conversion cookie helps create conversion statistics for AdWords clients who have opted for conversion tracking. AdWords clients are told the total number of users who click on their ad and get taken to a page containing a conversion-tracking tag. But they do not receive any information that can be used to personally identify users. If you do not want to be tracked, you can stop tracking cookies from being set – for example, by adjusting your browser settings to stop cookies from being set automatically. You can also disable cookies used for conversion tracking by setting your browser to block cookies from the domain googleadservices.com. You can find Google’s privacy statement on conversion tracking at https://services.google.com/sitestats/en.html.

Remarketing and the “Similar Audiences” function from Google Inc.

We use remarketing technology from Google Inc. (1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA; “Google”). This technology enables targeted advertising that re-addresses users on pages in the Google partner network if those users have already visited our website and online services and have shown an interest in them. The advertisements are displayed with the help of cookies (small text files that are stored on a user’s device). These text files enable Google to analyse the browsing activity of site visitors and use that analysis to provide targeted product recommendations and interest-based advertising. 

If you do not wish to receive interest-based advertising, you can prevent Google from using cookies for this purpose by going to https://www.google.com/settings/ads. Alternatively, you can opt out of third-party cookies by visiting the website of the Network Advertising Initiative at https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/. 

By using our offerings, you agree to allow Google to process data collected about you in the manner described here, for the purpose mentioned above. Note that Google has its own data protection guidelines, which are separate from ours. We assume no responsibility or liability for those guidelines and processes. Please inform yourself about Google’s data protection provisions before you use our website.

Use of Google Adsense

In addition, we use Google AdSense, an advertising service from Google Inc., to display advertisements (text, banners, etc.). This service may require your browser to store a cookie sent from Google or a third party. Information stored in this cookie can be recorded, collected and analysed by Google or such a third party. In addition to this, Google Adsense uses small invisible graphics to collect information that enables Google to perform simple actions like recording, collecting and analysing website traffic. Information generated by this cookie and/or these graphics about your use of our website is forwarded to a Google server in the United States, where the information is then stored. Google uses the information it receives in this manner to analyse user behaviour with regard to AdSense advertisements. Google may also send this information to third parties if it is legally required to do so or if third parties are processing this information on Google’s behalf. Google does not associate your IP address with other information that Google stores. You can stop cookies from being stored on your hard drive and the graphics from being displayed. To do so, take the same steps as given for the cookies described in previous sections by setting your browser to block cookies.

Data protection officer

Zoologischer Garten Berlin AG’s data protection officer is responsible for fulfilling and monitoring our data protection duties. If you would like more information about data protection and privacy issues, feel free to e-mail our data protection officer at datenschutz@noSpamzoo-berlin.de.

Notes about cookies

You will find the overview of the used cookies here (www.zoo-berlin.de/en/cookies).