Privacy Policy

Rheinwerk Publishing Inc. Data Protection for Event Customers

It is a part of Rheinwerk Publishing’s corporate responsibility to protect the data our customers share with us. We acknowledge and respect your right to privacy and your right to control your personal data. With this policy on the use and protection of your data, we aim to help you exercise these rights.

This privacy policy will explain which of your data we process, and for what purpose.

This privacy policy applies to events (conferences, seminars, online courses, webinars, as well as recordings of any of the aforementioned) that we offer and conduct as online events (hereinafter "Events") under the Rheinwerk Publishing brand. It informs you about the nature, scope, and purposes of the processing of personal data when you visit the associated websites, access related information, and register for and participate in the Events.

The processing of your personal data is entirely based on applicable legal regulation, in particular the General Data Protection Regulation (EU 2016/679, hereafter referred to as GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (hereafter referred to as CCPA).

Please take a few moments to consider the following information. We hope for your understanding that this policy will need to be amended when new legal requirements go into effect or new technology is implemented in our sites and apps. We recommend, therefore, to review this policy from time to time.

Download the privacy policy as a PDF file

Responsible Entity and Contact

The responsible entity (controller) for data processing pursuant to Art. 4, No. 7 GDPR is:

If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions regarding data privacy, please don’t hesitate to contact us at:  dataprivacy@rheinwerk-publishing.com

What Is Personal Data?

Personal data is information that can be used to identify or contact a person. This includes information about you, such as your name, address, e-mail address, phone number, and date of birth. It also includes information that is generated while you shop with us or browse our website, including information on the start, end, and scope of your use of our website, and your order number.

Statistical data that we collect during your visit to our store or to our apps that cannot be traced back to you is not personal data. This includes general statistical information on the most popular pages on our site, or how many users visit which page, for example.

When Do We Process Your Data?

We process your data in limited ways, for example, when we process your Event registration or recommend products to you that match your interests. Our goal is to provide you with the best possible shopping and service experience. We handle your data responsibly and adhere to the principles of data privacy, such as avoiding the nonessential use of your data, being transparent about how we use your data, and securing the data that we do use.

When Do We Collect Data About You?

Protecting your personal data means that we only collect the data that is absolutely necessary to provide the services you request.

We collect personal data:

• When you visit the Event website
• When you subscribe to a newsletter about an Event
• When you participate in surveys
•  When you register for an Event
• When you participate in an Event
• When we provide materials and information for the preparation and follow-up of an Event
• When you submit a service request to us

In most of our logs, your IP address is anonymized. We save your full IP address only for the purpose of understanding potential technical errors and hacker attacks, as well as for logging consent (for newsletter subscriptions, for example).

What Do We Use Your Data For?

We use your data specifically for:

• Providing information about your participation in an Event
• Sending email newsletters, if you have subscribed
• Providing features on our websites
• Optimizing our service offerings
• Sending our own product recommendations
• Our own marketing purposes
• Our own analyses and general statistical purposes
• Responding to your service inquiries (including via social media channels)

When our digital offerings provide the opportunity to submit personal data, it is up to you to decide if you would like to share your data with us. If a specific field is not required, it is marked as “optional”. For information on the type, purpose, and scope of this optional data, please refer to the following sections about each processing activity. If a field is marked as “required”, it means that we need the information to process your order or inquiry.

Registration, Execution, and Administration of the Event

We currently use "pretix," a product of pretix GmbH, as our booking system for participation in our Events. If you wish to register for an Event on our website and click on the corresponding button or link, you will be redirected to the pretix website.

When you purchase a ticket, pretix collects and processes the following personal data on behalf of Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc.:

• Name
• Email address
• Billing address
• Payment details
• Information about booked and attended Events

You can find out what tasks pretix performs as a data processor and how personal data is processed and protected on behalf of Rheinwerk Publishing Inc. at the following link: https://pretix.eu/about/en/privacy

As the Event organizer, we receive your personal data from pretix in order to administer and authenticate you as a participant in the Event and to provide you with information before and after the Event that you need to take advantage of the full range of services.

The data is therefore processed on the basis of Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR. This means that you provide us with the data based on the contractual relationship between you and Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc.

The pretix event platform is a product of pretix GmbH, Berthold-Mogel-Straße 1, 69126 Heidelberg, Germany.

Product Recommendations

If you register for an Event, you will receive information from us by email if we can assume without doubt that you have an interest in that specific information. This includes, among other things, important news about the Event, the provision of new services for participants, changes to the schedule, program, or lineup, further information about speakers and presentations, and any changes to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, provided the corrections require us to notify you.

As a participant in the Event, you will also receive recommendations for similar Events from Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc. or other suitable products from our portfolio by email. You will receive these recommendations from us regardless of whether you have subscribed to a newsletter. In doing so, we strictly adhere to legal requirements.

Data processing for the provision of information useful for participation in an Event you have registered for is based on Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR. Data processing for the sending of Event or product recommendations is based on Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Our interest in informing you about future editions of the Event or advertising our own, related products is considered legitimate within the meaning of the aforementioned provision.

If you no longer wish to receive information from us about the Event you have registered for or related product recommendations, you can withdraw your consent at any time without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs. An informal notification to us by letter, fax, or email (dataprivacy@rheinwerk-publishing.com) is sufficient. Of course, you will find an unsubscribe link in every email.

Newsletters

With our newsletters, which you can subscribe to on our Event websites, we regularly inform you about news, offers, and topics that might be of interest for you. Please note that you must be at least 16 years old at the time of subscribing to the newsletter.

To receive our newsletters, you need a valid email address. Before a newsletter is sent, you must expressly confirm, as part of the so-called double opt-in process, that we should activate the newsletter service for you. You will then receive an email from us for authorization, asking you to click the link contained in this email to confirm that you actually wish to receive our newsletter. You can voluntarily provide us with personal information (title, first name, last name) as part of the registration process so that we can address you personally. Unless you provide this additional information, no data other than your email address is collected. This data is also used only for sending the newsletter and will not be shared with third parties. When you subscribe to newsletters, we save your IP address and the date of registration. This serves solely as evidence in the event that a third party misuses an email address and registers to receive the newsletter without the knowledge of the authorized user.

You can revoke your consent at any time with future effect in accordance with Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR. You can revoke your consent via a link in any of our newsletters or by informal notification by letter, fax, or email (dataprivacy@rheinwerk-publishing.com), without incurring any costs other than the transmission costs.

Participation in Event Surveys

You can participate in surveys without providing any personal data. We evaluate your responses completely anonymously and purely for our own general statistical purposes as well as for product improvement. Your participation is based on Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR and is voluntary and can be revoked at any time.

Further Emails and Telephone Customer Service

You will only receive additional email messages from us if you expressly request them. For example, if you request notification or a response to your feedback or customer service inquiry. We will only make an exception if we can assume you have an unquestionable interest, such as suggestions for improving a product, the postponement or cancellation of an Event you have registered for, or, if applicable, changes to our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy, provided the corrections require us to notify you.

We may also process your data if you contact our customer service by telephone to record your request for further processing or to resolve a complaint. You can voluntarily provide us with information about how we may get back to you, for example, an email address or telephone number. We will use your data exclusively for the contact you expressly requested and will delete it immediately once the respective customer service case has been resolved.

If you have registered for an Event and contact us with questions about your participation, the legal basis for processing your data within the scope of your customer service inquiries (including on social media pages) is Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR. This means that you provide us with the data on the basis of the contractual relationship between you and Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc., which arises through your registration for the event.

If we do not use your contact details for marketing purposes, we will store the data collected for contract processing for the legally specified periods. During this period (usually ten years from the conclusion of the contract), the data may be processed again for audits by the tax authorities, for financial and tax audit purposes, and to investigate possible criminal offenses.

For customer service inquiries that are outside the scope of a completed Event booking, and in the case of our notifications in cases of unquestionable interest, the legal basis for processing is Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Our interest in generating customer satisfaction is considered legitimate within the meaning of the aforementioned regulation. Emails are stored for ongoing business purposes in accordance with legal regulations.

Use of Server Log Files

We ourselves (or our website provider) collect data about access to our website (so-called server log files) during your visit. We use this log data only for general statistical evaluations for the purpose of operation, security, error analysis, and optimization of our website.

Access data includes:

• Name of the accessed website
• File, date, and time of access
• Amount of data transferred
• Notification of successful access
• Browser type and version
• User's operating system
• Referrer URL (URL of the previously visited website)
• IP address
• Requesting provider
• Time of the server request
• For smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices, the manufacturer and type designation, if applicable

We reserve the right to subsequently review server log files that have not yet been deleted if there is reasonable suspicion of illegal use of our website based on concrete evidence.

Data processing is carried out on the basis of Article 6 (1) (f) GDPR in order to provide a technically error-free website optimized for smooth use. Furthermore, data processing during an order process is carried out on the basis of Article 6 (1) (b) GDPR for the fulfillment of a contract or pre-contractual measures. The collection of data to provide the website and the storage of data in server log files is therefore necessary for the provision of the ordering functions on the website.

We do not use the collected data to draw conclusions about you personally.

Use of Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies on our website. You can find further information about this in the cookie banner.

Presences on Social Platforms

We maintain presences on the social platforms Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. We use these to provide users on the platforms with information about our company and our products and to offer them the opportunity to contact us.

When using social platforms, personal data may be processed outside the European Union. All platforms from US providers on which we maintain presences are based on standard data protection clauses in accordance with Art. 46, Sentence 2, Letter c of GDPR and are therefore committed to complying with EU data protection standards. For further information, please refer to the privacy policies of the respective third-party provider.

We reserve the right to process your data as part of your interaction with us on the social platforms—for example, ratings, comments, delivered messages, and surveys.

User data on social platforms is processed by these third-party providers for purposes such as personalization, market research, and advertising. For this purpose, user behavior is stored in cookies, and user profiles are created to deliver targeted content and advertisements on the platforms and on other websites that are associated with the user's interests. Usage data can be collected across different devices and incorporated into the user profiles, provided the user is logged in on the devices with the same user ID.

Data processing on our social platforms is based on Article 6 (1) (a) GDPR, depending on the type of data.

Further information on the processing of personal data on social platforms, as well as the option to object to the processing of data, can be found on the respective providers' websites:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/about/privacy/ and opt-out at https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads
• YouTube: https://policies.google.com/privacy and opt-out at https://adssettings.google.com/authenticated
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy and opt-out at https://www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls/retargeting-opt-ou

As website operators, we have no access to data stored and processed on social platforms. To assert your user rights on social platforms, please contact the providers directly. Only the providers themselves can provide information, delete data, and take other measures. Contact details can be found in the aforementioned privacy policies of the providers.

Whom Do We Share Personal Data With?

At Rheinwerk Publishing, your data is accessible only by those employees who need access in order to perform the processing purposes for which the data was collected.

We do not sell or lend personal data to third parties.

When Do Service Providers and Contract Processors Receive Data from Us?

We only share your stored data with third parties to the extent absolutely necessary for the proper processing of your booking, registration, participation, and follow-up of our events, as well as for the technical provision of our infrastructure or the provision of our services.

These service providers are carefully selected and contractually bound to handle your personal data confidentially and to not use it for their own purposes. If these service providers are considered processor pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR, the data processing performed by the processor is governed by a contract pursuant to Art. 28, No. 3 GDPR.

Are There Other Recipients of Your Data?

We will only transfer your data to authorized bodies if we are legally obliged to do so or by court order.

These may be authorities or government institutions such as public prosecutors, courts, or tax authorities to whom we are required to transfer personal data for legal reasons.

What Do We Do to Protect Your Data?

The security of your personal data is our highest priority. We therefore protect your data with technical and organizational measures, particularly against loss, manipulation, or unauthorized access. We regularly adapt our security precautions to ongoing technological developments. Comprehensive information and training of our employees, as well as their obligation to maintain data confidentiality, ensure that your data is treated confidentially. Our security measures also include occasionally asking you for proof of your identity, especially when contacting our customer service by telephone.

We exercise the greatest possible care when storing your data and adhere to the latest technical security standards. To protect your data from unauthorized access during transmission over the Internet, we encrypt the security-relevant data traffic between you and our website using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology. We use the most secure standard encryption with a 2048-bit key, similar to that used by banks, for example.

Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that data transmission over the Internet or via Wi-Fi is never completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee the security, protection, or integrity of the data transmitted between you and us and are not liable to you or third parties for the disclosure, loss, misuse, or alteration of such data, unless we have acted with gross negligence or intent.

Is Your Data Processed Outside the E.U.?

Rheinwerk Publishing, Inc. is incorporated and operates as a U.S. entity, so all of your data is processed outside the E.U. 

To the extent that the service providers or third-party providers named in this privacy policy are affected, we ensure before transferring data that, outside of legally permitted exceptions, the recipient either has an appropriate level of data protection (e.g., through an adequacy decision of the European Commission or through suitable guarantees or the agreement of so-called EU standard contractual clauses of the European Union with the recipient) or that your sufficient consent has been obtained.

Do You Find Third-Party Offers on Our Website?

It may happen that third-party content, such as videos from YouTube, maps from Google Maps, RSS feeds, or graphics from other websites, is integrated into our online offerings. This always requires that the providers of this content perceive the user's IP address. Without the IP address, they would not be able to send the content to the respective user's browser. The IP address is therefore required to display this content. We endeavor to only use content whose respective providers use the IP address solely for delivering the content. However, in these cases, we have no influence over whether these third-party providers store the IP address for statistical purposes. As far as we are aware of this, we will inform you. However, we have no influence on the design, content, or function of these third-party services. Please contact the providers of these third-party services directly if necessary.

How Long Do We Store Your Data and When Do We Delete Data?

For the storage period of personal data, please refer to the respective chapter on data processing.

In addition, the following generally applies: We store your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes (for example, to fulfill the contract when registering for an Event), for the legally specified periods (usually 10 years) or—in the case of consent—as long as you have not revoked your consent. In the event of an objection, we will delete your personal data unless its further processing is permitted under the relevant legal provisions.

We will also delete your personal data if we are legally obliged to do so.

What Are Your Rights, and How Can You Exercise Them?

When your data is processed, you as a data subject have several rights.

Right to Information (“Right to Know” under CCPA)

You are entitled to receive information on what personal data we store about you. 

Right to Rectification and Erasure (“Right to be Forgotten” or “Right to Delete” under CCPA)

You can require us to correct wrong data and—if the legal requirements are met—to delete your data.

Right to Restriction of Processing

You can require us—if the legal requirements are met—to restrict processing of your data.

Right to Data Portability

If you submitted personal data based on a contract or on consent you can require us—if the legal requirements are met—to provide you with the data in a structured, common, and machine-readable format, or to send the data to a third party.

Objection to Processing for Direct Marketing

Based on the legal basis of “legitimate interest”, we process your personal data for the purpose of direct marketing. You can object to this kind of processing at any time.

Objection to Processing Based on „Legitimate Interest“

You have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to processing of your personal data that is based on our “legitimate interest” of marketing our products to our customers. If you object, we will stop processing your data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing. These grounds would have to override your interests, rights, and freedoms or provide for the establishment, exercise, or defense of legal claims.

Objection to Sale of Data (“Right to Opt Out” under CCPA)

While we do not sell or lend personal data to third parties, California residents have the right to formally opt-out of the sale of your personal information as defined by Sec. 5, 1798.120 CCPA.

Withdrawal of Consent

If you gave us consent for processing your data, you can withdraw this consent at any time. The legality of the processing between the consent and the objection is not affected by this withdrawal.

Right to File a Complaint with the Supervising Authority

In addition, you have the right to file a complaint with the relevant supervising authority if you believe that our processing your data violates current law. For this purpose, you can contact the data privacy authority that is in charge of your place of residence or country, or the authority that is in charge of us.

Rights of California Residents

California residents have certain rights regarding our collection, use, and disclosure of Personal Information (CCPA). To learn how Rheinwerk collects, uses, and discloses Personal Information (hereafter referred to as personal data), see Section 3 of this Privacy Policy. California residents may submit a request that we delete your personal data (a “Right to Delete request”); opt-out of the sale of your personal data (a “Right to Opt-Out request”); and request information about our collection, use, and disclosure of your personal data (a “Right to Know request”). To learn more about your rights, see above. Send these requests via email to dataprivacy@rheinwerk-publishing.com. However, please be aware that requesting to delete your account means that you will no longer be able to use any services that require an active account.

How to Contact Us

If you have questions regarding the processing of your data, your rights as a data subject, or a specific consent given, you can contact us without incurring any costs other than the cost to transmit your message.

For exercising any of the rights listed in Section 9, please send an e-mail to:
dataprivacy@rheinwerk-publishing.com.

Please be aware that GDPR requires us to document incoming data privacy requests. This documentation serves as evidence for the supervising authority and during court-mandated audits, and is used to update requestors on the status of their request. The documentation is solely used for these purposes and will be deleted after a period of three years following the completion of the request.

You can also send us mail to the mailing address mentioned in Section 1. If you’d like to revoke a consent, you can simply use the contact channel that you used for giving consent. When contacting us, please make sure that we can easily identify you.

Rheinwerk Publishing’s data privacy officer is:

You can reach her directly at:
kellyo@rheinwerk-publishing.com

Rheinwerk Publishing’s representative in the E.U. pursuant to Art. 27 EU-GDPR is:

Version and Updates

The most recent version of this privacy policy is in effect. This policy was last updated on August 8, 2025.