Fraunhofer-GesellschaftThis data protection notice is being issued in accordance with the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and covers the processing of personal data in connection with Facebook fan pages (“fan pages”) of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V. (“Fraunhofer” or “we/us”), which can be accessed at www.facebook.com or in the Facebook app.
Personal data are collected whenever you use our fan pages. Responsibility for the processing of this personal data sometimes lies with us (see section 3), sometimes with Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland within the EU and the European Economic Area (“Facebook”) (see section 4), and sometimes it is shared jointly by us and Facebook (see section 5). The majority of data processing is handled by Facebook. In the information below, we explain how this works and what rights you have as the data subject.
1. General information on provision of the fan pages and the processing of personal data
By visiting our fan pages, users have the opportunity to receive information, reports and other materials relating to Fraunhofer, its institutes and its research activities. In addition, we regularly use the fan pages to publish information about research projects, cooperation activities or miscellaneous events.
Users are able to comment on this information and/or use the integrated Like button if, for example, this information appeals to them. Users can also contribute their own posts to our fan pages. These comments, likes and posts are publicly visible to other fan page users, meaning that the user who posted them may be publicly identifiable as well. In addition, users are able to send us messages that are not publicly visible. It is also possible to subscribe to the fan pages, in which case the user will automatically be informed of fan page news in their Facebook user profile. The subscription can be canceled or modified at any time. To modify it, the user must make the relevant settings in their user profile.
2. Alternative ways of receiving information and contacting us
We wish to advise users of the fact that they use the fan pages and the functions of these under their own responsibility. This particularly applies to use of the interactive functions (e.g., writing a comment, sharing a post, reacting, etc.). Your user behavior plays a major role in determining how your personal data are processed when you visit our fan pages, and to what extent. As such, you as the user have some control over these aspects. If you want to know more about us, you are also welcome to visit our website at www.fraunhofer.de. For information about how data are processed in connection with our website, see our website Data Protection Policy at https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/data-protection-policy.html.
3. Processing of personal data by Fraunhofer
3.1 Name and address of the controller with responsibility for the fan pages | Contact details of our data protection officer
Whenever you actively use our fan pages, we are responsible for the processing of your personal data as described below. You can get in touch with us and our data protection officer using the following contact details:
Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e. V.
Hansastrasse 27 c
80686 München, Germany
Email: info@zv.fraunhofer.de
Phone: +49 89 1205-0
Fax: +49 89 1205-7531
The Fraunhofer data protection officer can be reached at the above address (attn: data protection officer) or at datenschutz@zv.fraunhofer.de.
Please feel free to contact our data protection officer directly at any time if you have any questions concerning data protection legislation or your rights as the data subject.
3.2 Purposes of processing personal data disclosed to us by users via the fan pages | Legal basis/bases
Communication with us
When users disclose information to us in direct messages submitted via the fan pages or Facebook Messenger (e.g., user name, name, profile picture, contact details or a communication addressed to us − “communication data”), we process these data so that we can deal with the user’s concern effectively and/or can communicate with the user regarding this matter. In this case, the legal basis for data processing is article 6 (1) point (b) GDPR when it is a question of taking steps prior to entering into a contract or of performing a contract (e.g., participation in an event); otherwise, the legal basis is article 6 (1) point (f) GDPR, our legitimate interest here being to respond to your concern using a modern communication channel of your choice.
We will delete the communication data if they are no longer required for communication and we no longer need the communication data for the pursuit or defense of legal claims or to comply with legal storage periods.
Community function
Fan page users can also select various integrated community functions in order to interact with us; e.g., by posting on our wall , leaving comments or liking/ sharing posts.
When you use the community functions, we process your user name, your profile picture, your interactions with our posts in terms of active clicks (likes, shares etc.) as well as your comments, posts and any other content you make available to us on our fan pages (“community data”). All community functions are processed by us for the purpose of making them available to users in the proper manner. Without these data, we would not be able to provide you with the relevant community functions. The legal basis for processing is the overriding legitimate interest we have in making your content and the fan pages and their functions available to you and the other users of our fan pages (article 6 (1) point (f) GDPR).
We will only process your personal data for as long as necessary. As a general rule, this means while we continue to operate our fan pages or while your action remains active on our fan pages. In addition, we will only store your community data for the pursuit or defense of legal claims or to comply with any legal storage periods.
3.3 Notice regarding sensitive data
Please do not post or include any personal data concerning third parties or any other sensitive data on our fan pages or when communicating with us in direct messages.
3.4 No data profiles
We do not create any profiles of you (no decision-making based exclusively on automated processing, including profiling) and do not combine your communication and community data with any other data we may hold concerning you.
3.5 Data recipient in the case of processing by Fraunhofer
In order to provide our fan pages and the abovementioned content, we rely on the technical platform and services of Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.
Other recipients: Other than that, we will only transmit your action data to other recipients in individual cases if and insofar as this is prescribed or permitted by law or for the purpose of enforcing legal claims; or to investigate or prevent actual or suspected unlawful activities. In such cases, we will inform you separately of the transmission if and insofar as this is legally required and permissible.
Within this context, we wish to advise users of the fact that these areas are publicly accessible and that all personal information that is published there or becomes visible on log-in can also be viewed by other users. We cannot monitor or control how this information is used by other users of our fan pages. In particular, we cannot prevent unwanted messages from being sent by other users.
4. Processing of personal data by Facebook
As part of providing the Facebook social network, Facebook may process other information and personal data concerning users or their user behavior when they visit our fan pages.
When you visit our fan pages via a browser or the Facebook app, Facebook may process information about your use of our fan pages and the Facebook platform as a whole that Facebook has collected by using cookies and similar technologies − such as tracking pixels, web beacons and local storage or app interfaces (graph.facebook.com) − on your PC or other device. Furthermore, advertisers or other Facebook partners may place cookies or similar technologies on your device, which is something over which we have no control.
We do not have any control over which data Facebook processes, in what way and to what extent, or whether Facebook transmits these data to third parties, particularly ones located in countries outside of the European Union and European Economic Area.
The processing of your personal data by Facebook is subject to Facebook’s Data Policy. This also contains information on how to contact Facebook as well as the available privacy settings. The Data Policy is available via the following link: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy
Facebook Ireland Ltd. bears sole responsibility (i.e., is the sole controller) for the processing of personal data within this context. The above link to the Facebook Data Policy may be changed by Facebook in the future. If the above link does not take you to the required information, please access the relevant Facebook web pages directly if you need to.
5. Joint processing of usage statistics (Page Insights) by Fraunhofer and Facebook
When you use our fan pages, the following personal data concerning you − to the best of our knowledge − are collected by Facebook (“usage data”):
- The total number of page access requests, likes, page activities, interactions with posts (shares, recommendations, comments, reactions, instances of posts or comments being reported and hidden), interactions with a story, subscriptions, video views or requests to access other content associated with the fan pages
- Clicks on links that take you to the fan pages from other pages; hovering with the mouse over links, names or profile pictures to get a preview of the content; clicks on buttons on a fan page and data about the device (computer or mobile device) via which you have logged on
- Data concerning the Facebook groups and stores linked to our fan pages, access requests for and reactions to events, clicks on an event ticket link, initiation of a messenger chat
- Information about actions of this kind, such as the date and time of the action, country/city (estimated using the IP address or − in the case of logged-in users − imported from the user profile), language code (taken from the HTTP header of the browser and/or the language setting), age group/gender category (taken from the user profile, only in the case of logged-in users), previously visited web pages (taken from the HTTP header of the browser), whether the action was performed on a computer or a mobile device (taken from the browser user agent or app attributes) and the Facebook user ID (only in the case of logged-in users)
We do not receive these usage data directly. The Page Insights analysis function allows us to access certain statistical data about the behavior of our fan page users in aggregated − i.e., summarized − form (“insights data”). We are not able to identify you personally from insights data. Details are available at: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/144825579583746?id=939256796236247
The usage data is − to the best of our knowledge − collected by Facebook using cookies and similar technologies and provided to us in aggregated form as insights data. We can only alter the time period we want to be included when viewing the analysis. In addition, we can define certain target group settings for our posts that, in turn, affect the insights data statistics. We are not able to switch off the Insights function.
We can use the insights data and other visible data to optimize our offering on our fan pages. For instance, we can use the information about when users visit the pages to ensure optimum scheduling of our posts. Information about the device types used helps us to design our posts, etc., so that they display perfectly on all device types.
Without our fan pages, we would not be able to obtain the insights data. Therefore, we and Facebook share the responsibility for processing the usage data and are classed as joint controllers in this context. This means that we and Facebook process these data for the shared purpose of learning about the user behavior of those who use our fan pages. In cases of joint controller responsibility like this, the GDPR requires us to conclude an agreement with Facebook according to article 26 GDPR; however, it is Facebook and Facebook alone that takes the decisions about insights data processing. This agreement can be accessed here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms/page_controller_addendum. This agreement contains further details and explanations of the responsibility we share with Facebook in the context of Page Insights.
Our involvement in the joint processing serves the legitimate interest we have in the usage data from the perspective of designing our fan pages and other offerings in accordance with users’ needs and making our advertising more appropriate for specific target groups. The legal basis for this processing is article 6 (1) point (f) GDPR. We will not link the aggregated data from Page Insights to data that would allow users to be identified.
6. Your rights as the data subject under the GDPR
6.1 Your rights in relation to us
As a controller, we are required to inform you of the rights you have under the GDPR (rights of the data subject).
The GDPR grants you certain rights in relation to your personal data. For an explanation, visit https://www.fraunhofer.de/en/data-protection-policy.html (section titled “Rights of the data subject”).
6.2 Your rights in relation to Facebook
To find out about your data protection rights in relation to Facebook and how you can manage or delete information posted on Facebook, visit the Facebook support page at https://www.facebook.com/about/basics/manage-your-privacy.
6.3 Your rights in relation to us and Facebook concerning Page Insights
To assert the data subject rights you have in relation to the usage statistics (Page Insights), you can contact us or Facebook Ireland.
7. Changes to this data protection notice
This data protection notice was last updated on December 10, 2021.
The further development of our fan pages may also affect how personal data are handled. Therefore, we reserve the right to make changes to this data protection notice in the future within the scope of the applicable data protection legislation and, where applicable, to adapt it in line with changes in data processing circumstances. For this reason, we recommend that users visit our fan pages occasionally to familiarize themselves with any updates to our data protection notice. In the event of any significant changes, we will notify you that our data protection notice has been updated.