Privacy Policy

1. Privacy at a Glance

General Information

The following notes provide a simple overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit this website. Personal data is any data by which you can be personally identified. For detailed information on data protection, please refer to our privacy policy listed below.

Data Collection on This Website

Who is responsible for data collection on this website?
Data processing on this website is carried out by the website operator. You can find their contact details in the section "Note on the Responsible Party" in this privacy policy.

How do we collect your data?
Your data is collected on the one hand by you providing it to us — for example, data you enter in a contact form.
Other data is collected automatically or with your consent when you visit the website by our IT systems. This is primarily technical data (e.g. internet browser, operating system or time of page access). This data is collected automatically as soon as you enter this website.

What do we use your data for?
Some of the data is collected to ensure the error-free provision of the website. Other data may be used to analyse your user behaviour.

What rights do you have regarding your data?
You have the right at any time to receive information free of charge about the origin, recipient and purpose of your stored personal data. You also have the right to request the correction or deletion of this data. If you have given consent to data processing, you can revoke this consent at any time for the future. You also have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data under certain circumstances. Furthermore, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent supervisory authority.
You can contact us at any time for these and other questions on the subject of data protection.

Analysis Tools and Third-Party Tools

When visiting this website, your browsing behaviour may be statistically analysed. Detailed information can be found in the following privacy policy.

2. Hosting

Strato

We host the content of our website with the following provider:

The provider is Strato AG, Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7, 10249 Berlin (hereinafter "Strato"). When you visit our website, Strato collects various log files including your IP addresses.
For more information, please refer to Strato's privacy policy: https://www.strato.de/datenschutz/.

The use of Strato is based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. We have a legitimate interest in displaying our website as reliably as possible. Where corresponding consent has been requested, processing is carried out exclusively on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TDDDG. Consent can be revoked at any time.

Data Processing Agreement: We have concluded a data processing agreement (DPA) for the use of the above-mentioned service, ensuring that this provider processes personal data of our website visitors only in accordance with our instructions and in compliance with the GDPR.

3. General Notes and Mandatory Information

Data Protection

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data confidentially and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.
We point out that data transmission on the internet may have security gaps. Complete protection of data against access by third parties is not possible.

Note on the Responsible Party

The responsible party for data processing on this website is:

Denis Herrmann
Steglitzer Damm 39
12169 Berlin

Phone: 01711258332
Email: kontakt@without-me.com

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data.

Retention Period

Unless a more specific retention period has been specified within this privacy policy, your personal data will remain with us until the purpose for data processing no longer applies. If you make a legitimate request for deletion or revoke your consent to data processing, your data will be deleted unless we have other legally permissible reasons for storing it (e.g. tax or commercial law retention periods).

General Notes on the Legal Bases for Data Processing on This Website

If you have consented to data processing, we process your personal data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR or Art. 9(2)(a) GDPR if special categories of data are processed. If your data is required for the fulfilment of a contract or pre-contractual measures, we process it on the basis of Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR. Data processing may also be carried out on the basis of our legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Information about the relevant legal bases in each individual case is provided in the following paragraphs of this privacy policy.

Recipients of Personal Data

We only pass on personal data to external parties if this is necessary for the fulfilment of a contract, if we are legally obliged to do so, if we have a legitimate interest pursuant to Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, or if another legal basis permits the transfer.

Revocation of Your Consent to Data Processing

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You can revoke consent you have already given at any time. The legality of the data processing carried out prior to the revocation remains unaffected.

Right to Object to Data Collection in Special Cases and to Direct Marketing (Art. 21 GDPR)

IF DATA PROCESSING IS CARRIED OUT ON THE BASIS OF ART. 6(1)(E) OR (F) GDPR, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT AT ANY TIME TO OBJECT TO THE PROCESSING OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA ON GROUNDS ARISING FROM YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION; THIS ALSO APPLIES TO PROFILING BASED ON THESE PROVISIONS. IF YOU OBJECT, WE WILL NO LONGER PROCESS YOUR AFFECTED PERSONAL DATA UNLESS WE CAN DEMONSTRATE COMPELLING LEGITIMATE GROUNDS FOR THE PROCESSING WHICH OVERRIDE YOUR INTERESTS, RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS, OR THE PROCESSING IS FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT, EXERCISE OR DEFENCE OF LEGAL CLAIMS (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(1) GDPR).

IF YOUR PERSONAL DATA IS PROCESSED FOR DIRECT MARKETING PURPOSES, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO OBJECT AT ANY TIME TO SUCH PROCESSING; THIS ALSO APPLIES TO PROFILING INSOFAR AS IT IS RELATED TO SUCH DIRECT MARKETING (OBJECTION PURSUANT TO ART. 21(2) GDPR).

Right to Lodge a Complaint with the Competent Supervisory Authority

In the event of breaches of the GDPR, data subjects have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of their habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged breach.

Right to Data Portability

You have the right to have data that we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfilment of a contract handed over to you or to a third party in a commonly used, machine-readable format.

Registered users can download all their stored data as a JSON file at any time via their profile under Settings ("Export my data").

Information, Correction and Deletion

Within the scope of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right at any time to obtain free information about your stored personal data, its origin and recipient and the purpose of data processing and, if necessary, the right to correct or delete this data.

Right to Restriction of Processing

You have the right to request the restriction of the processing of your personal data in the following cases:

SSL and TLS Encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content. You can recognise an encrypted connection by the "https://" prefix and the lock symbol in your browser. If encryption is activated, the data you transmit to us cannot be read by third parties.

Objection to Advertising Emails

The use of contact data published as part of the imprint obligation for the purpose of sending unsolicited advertising materials is hereby objected to. The operators expressly reserve the right to take legal action in the event of the unsolicited sending of advertising information, such as through spam emails.

4. Data Collection on This Website

Cookies

Our website uses so-called "cookies". Cookies are small data packets that do not cause any damage to your device. They are stored either temporarily for the duration of a session (session cookies) or permanently (persistent cookies). Session cookies are automatically deleted after your visit. Persistent cookies remain stored on your device until you delete them yourself or until they are automatically deleted by your web browser.

Necessary cookies are stored on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. You can set your browser to inform you about cookies and to only allow them in individual cases. If cookies are deactivated, the functionality of this website may be restricted.

Cookies used on this website

All cookies used on this website are technically necessary (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR / § 25(2) TDDDG). No tracking, analytics or advertising cookies are used.

Name Purpose Retention Type
access_token Login session (JWT) for registered users 7 days Technically necessary, HttpOnly
lang_pref Stores the selected language (DE/EN) 1 year Technically necessary, HttpOnly
csrftoken Protection against Cross-Site Request Forgery (form security) Session (until browser is closed) Technically necessary
wm_anon_id Prevents multiple votes by anonymous users; set only on first vote 1 year Technically necessary, HttpOnly

Local Storage

In addition to cookies, this website uses the browser's local storage for purely functional purposes. This data remains exclusively in the user's browser, is not transmitted to the server and has no expiry date (until the user clears their browser data).

Legal basis: legitimate interest / functionally necessary for the user's chosen settings (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Server Log Files

The provider of the pages automatically collects and stores information in server log files, which your browser automatically transmits to us. These are: browser type and version, operating system, referrer URL, hostname of the accessing computer, time of the server request, IP address. This data is not merged with other data sources. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

Registration on This Website

You can register on our website to use additional functions (e.g. voting on topics and participating in discussions). The mandatory information requested during registration (username, email address, password) must be provided in full. For important changes we use the email address provided during registration to inform you.

The processing of registration data is carried out on the basis of your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR) and for the fulfilment of a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR). The data is stored for as long as you are registered on our website.

Protection against unauthorized access attempts

To protect user accounts against automated login attempts (so-called brute-force attacks), we record the number of failed login attempts and, where applicable, a point in time until which the account is temporarily locked. After several consecutive failed attempts, the affected account is locked for a limited period. These values are automatically reset upon the next successful login and are not stored permanently. The legal basis is our legitimate interest in the security of user accounts (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Contact Form

If you send us enquiries via the contact form, your details from the enquiry form, including the contact data provided, will be stored for the purpose of processing the enquiry. We do not pass on this data without your consent.

Processing is based on Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (contract-related enquiries) or Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in effective processing of enquiries).

IP address storage: In addition to the message content, the sender's IP address is stored in plaintext when the contact form is submitted. Purpose: protection against spam and misuse. Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in protection against misuse). The IP address is automatically deleted (set to NULL) after 90 days; the message itself is retained for processing purposes.

The data you enter in the contact form will remain with us until you request deletion, revoke your consent, or the purpose for data storage no longer applies. Mandatory statutory retention periods remain unaffected.

Enquiries by Email, Telephone or Fax

If you contact us by email, telephone or fax, your enquiry including all resulting personal data will be stored for the purpose of processing your request. Processing is based on Art. 6(1)(b) or Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. The data will remain with us until you request deletion or the purpose for storage no longer applies.

Comment Function on This Website

Comments on this platform can only be submitted by registered, logged-in users. When you post a comment, the following data is stored: the comment text, the time of posting, and the link to your user account (no separate name or email address is required, as these are already known via the account).

No IP address is stored for comments. As comments are exclusively linked to registered accounts, the user is already identifiable via their account; a separate IP address record is not necessary.

Retention period: Comments remain on this website until the commented content is completely deleted, the comments must be deleted for legal reasons, or the user account is deleted.

Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR (consent). You can revoke your consent at any time by contacting us informally by email.

Voting Function (Without-Me Votes)

Users can vote on topics ("without me" vote). This is possible for both logged-in and anonymous users.

Logged-in users: The vote is linked to the user account to prevent duplicate voting. No IP address is stored.

Anonymous users: Two mechanisms are used to prevent multiple votes:

  1. A cookie wm_anon_id (see cookie table above) with a randomly generated identifier, set on the first vote.
  2. A cryptographic hash (SHA-256) of the IP address. Important: the IP address itself is not stored — only a one-way, irreversible hash value (computed with a secret salt) is stored. The original IP address is never stored in plaintext at any point.

Purpose: Protection against manipulation and multiple voting to ensure meaningful results.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in protection against manipulation).
Retention: The IP hash is automatically deleted (set to NULL) after 90 days; the vote itself is retained anonymously.

Source: eRecht24

5. Plugins and Tools for Security and Moderation

Cloudflare Turnstile

We use Cloudflare Turnstile provided by Cloudflare Inc., 101 Townsend St, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA ("Cloudflare"), to protect our forms against spam and automated bots. Turnstile analyses visitor behaviour (e.g. IP address, mouse movements, time spent) to determine whether it is a human or a bot. This analysis begins automatically when the website is accessed.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in protecting against abuse). Data transfer to the USA is based on the EU Commission's standard contractual clauses and the adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

AI-Assisted Content Moderation and Content Creation

Comment moderation: To ensure a safe and legally compliant discussion culture, we use AI services for automated pre-screening of comments. When you post a comment, the text you entered (without your name or email address) is transmitted to the servers of the following providers to check for policy violations (e.g. hate speech, threats of violence, spam):

Processing is based on Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in efficient moderation). We have configured the API interfaces so that these providers are not permitted to use this data to train their own AI models. Where applicable, data may be transferred to servers in the USA on the basis of the EU Commission's standard contractual clauses and the adequacy decision for the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

AI-generated content (Transparency notice pursuant to the EU AI Act): The short summaries ("TL;DR") of news topics displayed on the platform and the thematic classification are created in an automated process using AI (Google Gemini). This processing concerns publicly available news content only — not personal data of website visitors. No personal data of visitors is transmitted to AI providers for this purpose. Users are informed that these summaries are AI-generated and may contain errors.