Privacy Policy

Personal data (usually referred to just as "data" below) will only be processed by us to the extent necessary and for the purpose of providing a functional and user-friendly website, including its contents, and the services offered there.

Per Art. 4 No. 1 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679, i.e. the General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter referred to as the "GDPR"), "processing" refers to any operation or set of operations such as collection, recording, organization, structuring, storage, adaptation, alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination, or otherwise making available, alignment, or combination, restriction, erasure, or destruction performed on personal data, whether by automated means or not.

The following privacy policy is intended to inform you in particular about the type, scope, purpose, duration, and legal basis for the processing of such data either under our own control or in conjunction with others. We also inform you below about the third-party components we use to optimize our website and improve the user experience which may result in said third parties also processing data they collect and control.

Our privacy policy is structured as follows:

I. Information about us as controllers of your data
II. The rights of users and data subjects
III. Information about the data processing
IV. Information about the use of resources

I. Information about us as controllers of your data

The responsible party for your data and content is:
Pensoft Publishers
12 Prof. Georgi Zlatarski Street
1700 Sofia
Bulgaria

Pavel Stoev
Telephone: +359-2-8704281
Fax: +359-2-8704282
Email: projects@pensoft.net

II. The rights of users and data subjects

With regard to the data processing to be described in more detail below, users and data subjects have the right

• to confirmation of whether data concerning them is being processed, information about the data being processed, further information about the nature of the data processing, and copies of the data (cf. also Art. 15 GDPR);
• to correct or complete incorrect or incomplete data (cf. also Art. 16 GDPR);
• to the immediate deletion of data concerning them (cf. also Art. 17 GDPR), or, alternatively, if further processing is necessary as stipulated in Art. 17 Para. 3 GDPR, to restrict said processing per Art. 18 GDPR;
• to receive copies of the data concerning them and/or provided by them and to have the same transmitted to other providers/controllers (cf. also Art. 20 GDPR);
• to file complaints with the supervisory authority if they believe that data concerning them is being processed by the controller in breach of data protection provisions (see also Art. 77 GDPR).

In addition, the controller is obliged to inform all recipients to whom it discloses data of any such corrections, deletions, or restrictions placed on processing the same per Art. 16, 17 Para. 1, 18 GDPR. However, this obligation does not apply if such notification is impossible or involves a disproportionate effort. Nevertheless, users have a right to information about these recipients.

Likewise, under Art. 21 GDPR, users and data subjects have the right to object to the controller's future processing of their data pursuant to Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. In particular, an objection to data processing for the purpose of direct advertising is permissible.

III. Information about the data processing

Your data processed when using our website will be deleted or blocked as soon as the purpose for its storage ceases to apply, provided the deletion of the same is not in breach of any statutory storage obligations or unless otherwise stipulated below.

Server data

For technical reasons, the following data sent by your internet browser to us or to our server provider will be collected, especially to ensure a secure and stable website: These server log files record the type and version of your browser, operating system, the website from which you came (referrer URL), the webpages on our site visited, the date and time of your visit, as well as the IP address from which you visited our site.

The data thus collected will be temporarily stored, but not in association with any other of your data.

The basis for this storage is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the improvement, stability, functionality, and security of our website.

The data will be deleted within no more than seven days, unless continued storage is required for evidentiary purposes. In which case, all or part of the data will be excluded from deletion until the investigation of the relevant incident is finally resolved.

Data protection

Data collected from the website and ICP is stored on Pensoft’s servers, located in Sofia, Bulgaria, EU. This includes document files, images and audio, such as external and internal PoshBee documents and survey response datasets.  The data storage infrastructure enables a reliable backup process. Data is duplicated on a second server to allow retrieval of datasets in case of data loss, caused by hardware or software failure, data corruption or a human-caused event, such as a virus, or accidental deletion of data. Backup copies allow data to be restored from an earlier point in time. To meet compliance requirements, data is securely encrypted. Data backup occurs on a daily basis to ensure that no information is irreversibly lost or deleted.

If consortium partners process and/or store data at other repositories, e.g. institutional ones, they will ensure that equivalent data security measures are implemented.  

Cookies

a) Session cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files or other storage technologies stored on your computer by your browser. These cookies process certain specific information about you, such as your browser, location data, or IP address.  

This processing makes our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure, allowing us, for example, to allow the "Remember me" function.

The legal basis for such processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b) GDPR, insofar as these cookies are used to collect data to initiate or process contractual relationships.

If the processing does not serve to initiate or process a contract, our legitimate interest lies in improving the functionality of our website. The legal basis is then Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR.

When you close your browser, these session cookies are deleted.

b) Disabling cookies

You can refuse the use of cookies by changing the settings on your browser. Likewise, you can use the browser to delete cookies that have already been stored. However, the steps and measures required vary, depending on the browser you use. If you have any questions, please consult the documentation for your browser or contact its maker for support. Browser settings cannot prevent so-called flash cookies from being set. Instead, you will need to change the setting of your Flash player. The steps and measures required for this also depend on the Flash player you are using. If you have any questions, please use the help function or consult the documentation for your Flash player or contact its maker for support.

If you prevent or restrict the installation of cookies, not all of the functions on our site may be fully usable.

Account/registration

If you have an account to internal communication platform, we will use the data you entered during registration (e.g. your name, your email address) exclusively for services leading up to the usage of the provided features, and to provide customer care. We also store your IP address and the date and time of your registration. This data will not be transferred to third parties.

During the registration process, your consent will be obtained for this processing of your data, with reference made to this privacy policy. The data collected by us will be used exclusively to provide your account. 

If you give your consent to this processing, Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. a) GDPR is the legal basis for this processing.

You may revoke your prior consent to the processing of your personal data at any time under Art. 7 Para. 3 GDPR with future effect. All you have to do is inform us that you are revoking your consent.

The data previously collected will then be deleted as soon as processing is no longer necessary.

Contact

If you contact us via email or the contact form, the data you provide will be used for the purpose of processing your request. We must have this data in order to process and answer your inquiry; otherwise we will not be able to answer it in full or at all.

The legal basis for this data processing is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. b) GDPR.

Your data will be deleted once we have fully answered your inquiry and there is no further legal obligation to store your data, such as if an order or contract resulted therefrom.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics on our website. This is a web analytics service provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043 (hereinafter: Google).

Through certification according to the EU-US Privacy Shield https://www.privacyshield.gov/participant?id=a2zt000000001L5AAI&status=Active Google guarantees that it will follow the EU's data protection regulations when processing data in the United States.

The Google Analytics service is used to analyze how our website is used. The legal basis is Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the analysis, optimization, and economic operation of our site.

Usage and user-related information, such as IP address, place, time, or frequency of your visits to our website will be transmitted to a Google server in the United States and stored there. However, we use Google Analytics with the so-called anonymization function, whereby Google truncates the IP address within the EU or the EEA before it is transmitted to the US.

The data collected in this way is in turn used by Google to provide us with an evaluation of visits to our website and what visitors do once there. This data can also be used to provide other services related to the use of our website and of the internet in general.

Google states that it will not connect your IP address to other data. In addition, Google provides further information with regard to its data protection practices at https://www.google.com/intl/de/policies/privacy/partners, including options you can exercise to prevent such use of your data.

In addition, Google offers an opt-out add-on at https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout?hl=en in addition with further information. This add-on can be installed on the most popular browsers and offers you further control over the data that Google collects when you visit our website. The add-on informs Google Analytics' JavaScript (ga.js) that no information about the website visit should be transmitted to Google Analytics. However, this does not prevent information from being transmitted to us or to other web analytics services we may use as detailed herein

Sendinblue – Newsletter

Sendinblue attaches particular importance to the respect for the privacy of the Users and of the confidentiality of their personal data, and is thus committed to processing the data in compliance with the applicable laws and regulations, and in particular Law No. 78-17 of 6 January 1978 relating to Information Technology, Data Files and Civil Liberties (hereafter referred to as the "Data Protection Act"), and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data (hereafter referred to as the "GDPR").

More information is available at https://www.sendinblue.com/legal/privacypolicy/.

IV. Information about the use of resources

Copyright compliance and disclaimer

We strictly follow copyright legislation, making sure all the materials on our website are used in a way, which respects both the creator’s intellectual property and the privacy rights of the people visible in the materials. Specifically: 

• we collect consent from the people visible in our materials,

• and we comply with the Fair Use principles and the Creative Commons copyright licences when using third-party materials.

Consequently, none of the materials on our website can be reproduced, modified, re-circulated, commercially exploited or re-used in any form whatsoever without the prior written consent of their creator and the people appearing on them. Accordingly, we do not accept responsibility for any content from our website, which is reproduced, re-circulated, or re-used by a third party. 

Third-party resources

The third-party resources to which the PoshBee website links are intended to provide public access to the activities and results of the PoshBee project. And while we take extensive consideration in using third-party contents on our website, we do not guarantee that they are accurate, complete or current, nor do we accept any responsibility for the content.