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Carbon Copy - Privacy Policy

 

May 28, 2024

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1. General Information

 

Introduction

 

At Carbon Copy (CC), the protection of your data is important to us.

 

We want you to feel secure when using our CC online services. The following information provides an overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit our websites, use our apps and online services, or contact us. We explain what personal data we collect and process, the purposes for which we use it, who has access to this data, how long we store it, and your rights regarding the processing of your personal data.

 

This privacy policy aligns with both the Swiss Data Protection Act (DSG) and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Whether the GDPR applies to a specific processing operation depends on the individual case.

 

Responsible Entity

 

The responsible entity (Controller) is the association Carbon Copy, Oescherstrasse 26, CH-8702 Zollikon, whose website you visit, app or online service you use, or with whom you get in contact.

 

The Carbon Copy offerings include: www.carbon-copy.org, www.ccopy.org, Carbon Copy ZH Application, @gora Application.

 

Scope

 

This privacy policy applies to all data processing of personal data within the entire scope of the Carbon Copy association. The individual offers of the Carbon Copy association may supplement this privacy policy with specific data protection notices. In certain situations, such as job applications, additional specific data protection notices may apply. Please also refer to further data protection notices when using our websites, apps, and social media presences, as well as information about cookies.

 

CC reserves the right to occasionally adjust the data protection provisions. You should therefore regularly read this privacy policy. The respective update date (status) can be found at the beginning of this privacy policy.

 

What categories of personal data do we process and for what purposes?

 

Personal data is information that relates to an identifiable person and can be used to identify you personally.

 

We process the following categories of personal data for the purposes described:

 

Master Data

This includes, for example, your name, phone number, address, or email address, copies of official IDs, and other personal information you provide to us when registering on the CC website, an app, for a newsletter, when using blog features, participating in surveys, events, contests, or contacting us.

 

Contract Data

This includes data processed during contract initiation and conclusion. This includes customer, supplier, and application data as well as billing, insurance, financial, and tax data, and all data we are legally obliged to process.

 

Communication Data

When you contact us, we process the communication content by mail, email, chat messages, social media posts, comments on our websites, phone calls, video conferences, and documents, depending on the type and reason for contact.

 

Analysis and Usage Data

Data collected via cookies or when using online services such as the ccopy.org website or the apps and blog: we record when you visit our offering from where, how long you stay, what you consume during that time, and where you go after leaving. We perform anonymized usage measurement for data collection. This data is used to ensure the error-free provision of our websites and apps, to analyze usage and optimize our offerings, and for opinion research and political analysis to relay public opinions to politics. This data also flows into the storage of your preferences when using our offerings. Data processing also ensures our offerings meet the various interests of our audience. Further information on cookie usage can be found in our cookie information (see below). If you create a user account online on a CC website or via our apps, we create an anonymous identifier. This identifier is used for performance analysis to better understand user behavior on the CC websites and mobile applications and to improve our offering and user experience.

 

Content Notices and Marketing

We inform you from time to time about our range of offers if you have given us your consent. This exclusively includes our own events, programs, content, and offers. This can include contests or competitions. We process personal data and send you written or electronic communications for this purpose. When we contact you via social media, we pseudonymize and encrypt your data before transmitting it to these providers. The social platforms use the transmitted data solely to match whether you have a profile on their platform. They delete your data afterward and do not use it for any other purposes.

 

Technical Data

When using our websites, apps, or other online services, we collect technical data such as your IP address, log data, or assign you a user ID or cookie. Generally, our offering is used without a connection to your person. We can only connect this technical data to you personally if you have given us consent or are logged in via the CC app.

 

Data Security

To secure our IT systems and ensure the data security of our users, we process your personal data. This mainly involves technical data.

 

Artificial Intelligence

We may use artificial intelligence to process personal data. The purpose is to better understand and properly use artificial intelligence. We always ensure human oversight and naturally protect your data.

 

Legal Requirements

To ensure legal conditions when using our offering, we collect, for example, your IP address to geo-block certain content. We also process personal data for legal enforcement and defense (inclthe issuance, management, and enforcement of bans).

 

On what legal grounds does CC process personal data?

 

If a legal basis is required for data processing, the following legal grounds may apply:

 

  • Consent: If we obtain your consent for the processing of personal data, this serves as the legal basis. This is the case with our websites, apps, newsletters, comments, any contact with or from you, or contests.

  • Legitimate Interest: We also process your personal data based on our association's goal to strengthen democracy, promote public discourse, foster collective learning, build trust, and bridge gaps between different interest groups. This includes processing for the purpose of providing and optimizing the online offering, particularly for usage and reach measurement.

  • Contractual Basis: We process your personal data based on a contract or pre-contractual measure, such as participating in a service tender, applying for a job, handling an employment contract, or other contractual agreements.

  • Legal Obligation: If processing personal data is based on a legal obligation, this serves as the legal basis. This can be the case, for example, when passing on personal data to third parties or retaining certain documents.

 

Transfer of Personal Data to Third Parties

 

All personal data collected when you contact CC or one of its initiatives is shared within the CC association if necessary for the respective processing purpose. You can always object to this sharing and processing unless other legal reasons prevent it (e.g., freedom of the press, journalistic guidelines).

 

Additionally, data may be transferred to third parties if we are legally obliged to do so or based on a corresponding official or judicial order.

 

When processing data, we also use service providers, who are generally engaged as so-called processors. These are always required to process the personal data of users of our online offering only according to our instructions and to take appropriate measures to ensure the security of this data. For example, your email address may be passed on to a service provider so that they can send you a requested newsletter.

 

Your personal data will generally only be passed on to third parties outside the Carbon Copy Association if you have given consent or if we have a legitimate interest. Your personal data will not be sold to third parties.

 

Transfer of Personal Data to Recipients in a Third Country (Outside CH/EU/EFTA)

 

We also transfer personal data to third parties or processors who are not located in Switzerland or EU/EFTA countries.

 

In this case, we ensure before the transfer that the recipient has an adequate level of data protection (e.g., using standard contractual clauses of the European Union and considering the recommendations of the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner).

 

How long do we store your personal data?

 

We store your data as long as necessary to provide our services and the associated services, or as long as we have a legitimate interest in further storage. In all other cases, we delete your personal data unless we are legally obliged to retain it (e.g., commercial, tax, or social security retention obligations).

 

What rights do you have regarding your personal data?

 

You have the right to free information about the identity and contact details of the controller, the processed personal data as such, the processing purpose, the retention period of the personal data, or, if not possible, the criteria for determining this period, the available information on the origin of the personal data if not collected directly from you, any automated decision-making and the logic on which this decision is based, any recipients or categories of recipients to whom personal data is disclosed, and information about processors processing personal data on our behalf, as well as a right to data release and portability. Additionally, you generally have the right to correction, deletion, restriction of processing, withdrawal of your consent, or objection to processing.

 

You can submit your request or inquiry in writing, enclosing a copy of your identity card or passport, to our postal address:

 

Carbon Copy 

Oescherstrasse 26 

CH-8702 Zollikon

 

If you submit a request or inquiry on behalf of another person, you must provide a power of attorney or another appropriate statement explicitly referring to the exercise of the respective data protection right.

 

You can also reach us via email, but please note that data will then be transmitted unencrypted and will also be answered in the same way: hi(at)carbon-copy.org

 

Additionally, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority, which would be the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (EDÖB) in CH-3003 Bern.

 

 

 

2. Tracking Online Usage

 

Information on Cookies

 

In addition to the data mentioned in our privacy policy, we use technical tools for various functions during your use of our websites and apps, particularly cookies, which may

 

 be stored on your device.

 

Cookies are text files or information stored on your hard drive and associated with the browser you use, allowing the entity that sets the cookie to receive certain information. Cookies cannot execute programs or transmit viruses to your computer; they primarily serve to make the internet offering faster and more user-friendly. We use the following types of cookies:

 

  • Transient Cookies: These are automatically deleted when you close your browser. This includes session cookies, which store a session ID that allows various requests from your browser to be assigned to a common session. This allows your computer to be recognized when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log out or close your browser.

  • Persistent Cookies: These are automatically deleted after a predetermined period, which varies depending on the cookie. You can view the set cookies and their durations in your browser settings at any time and manually delete the cookies.

  • Other Technologies: These functions do not rely on cookies but on similar technical mechanisms, such as Flash cookies, HTML5 objects, or an analysis of your browser settings. This allows us to use the techniques described below. You can also consent to or object to these.

 

Essential, Technically Necessary Functions for Displaying the Website

The technical setup of the website requires that we use techniques, particularly cookies. Without these, our website cannot be displayed (fully correctly), or support functions cannot be enabled. These are generally transient cookies that are deleted after your visit, at the latest when you close your browser. You cannot opt-out of these cookies if you wish to use our website.

 

Optional Cookies with Your Consent

We use various cookies only with your consent, which you can select via our cookie banner on your first visit to our website. The functions are activated (according to GDPR) or deactivated (according to DSG) only with your consent and can serve to analyze and improve visits to our website, facilitate operation across different browsers or devices, recognize you on a return visit, or display advertising, potentially tailored to your interests or measuring the effectiveness of ads. When accessing our offerings, and at any time thereafter, you can choose whether to allow cookies or similar technologies. You can configure your browser settings to block certain cookies or similar technologies or delete existing cookies and other stored data. You can also expand your browser with software (so-called "plug-ins") to block tracking by certain third parties. More information can be found in your browser's help pages (usually under "privacy").

 

Log Files

Certain data is automatically transmitted by your internet browser and stored by us in so-called log files:

 

  • Information about the browser type and version used

  • The user's operating system

  • The user's internet service provider

  • The user's IP address

  • Date and time of access

  • Websites from which the user's system accessed our website

  • Websites accessed by the user's system via our website

  • Name of the retrieved file

  • Data volume transferred

  • Notification of successful retrieval

 

We store log files mainly for troubleshooting and security purposes. Log files needed for evidence purposes are excluded from deletion until the respective incident is finally clarified and may be passed on to investigative authorities on a case-by-case basis.

 

Web Analytics Tools

We need statistical information about the use of our online offering to make it more user-friendly and conduct market research. For this purpose, we use web analytics tools. The usage profiles created by the tools using analysis cookies or evaluating log files are not combined with personal data. The tools either do not use users' IP addresses at all or shorten them immediately after collection. The providers of the web analytics tools process data only as processors according to our instructions and not for their own purposes.

 

In our cookie preference center (cookie banner), you will find information on each web analytics tool used, the respective provider, and whether/how you can object to data collection and processing by the tool. For tools using opt-out cookies, note that the opt-out function is device- or browser-specific and generally only applies to the currently used device or browser.

 

Content on Third-Party Platforms

We are also present on third-party platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram. We have no influence on the data protection settings of these third-party platforms.

 

The operators of third-party platforms (e.g., in the case of Instagram: Meta) process your data for their own purposes. The third-party platforms also use cookies to track user behavior on other websites and apps within the group, especially if you are already registered on these third-party platforms. Detailed information can be found in the respective data protection information of the operators.

 

We receive only anonymized evaluations of usage data from these platform operators. We do not receive a user-specific profile of you. The anonymous usage statistics help us tailor our offerings better to the needs and interests of our audience.

 

For these purposes, Meta/Instagram, for example, provides us with anonymized data grouped by categories such as age, gender, place of residence (nation and region or city).

 

The total data collected by the respective third-party platform and its processing purposes are unknown to us. Please contact the respective platform operator for more information.

 

To evaluate anonymized data and public interactions (comments, likes, etc.), we use services of third-party platforms or service providers for comment management and analysis.

 

Anonymized statistical data is provided daily by Instagram, for example, and available for an analysis period including the previous day. To track developments, parts of the data provided by Instagram are archived. However, these are exclusively anonymized statistical data that do not allow conclusions about you. Comments and public interactions like likes and shares are archived for journalistic purposes.

 

We point out that the platform operators are mostly American companies, and your data may also be processed outside Switzerland and the European Union. This can pose risks as it may make it difficult to enforce your rights. Detailed information is available in the privacy policies of the individual providers.

 

Third-Party Providers

The privacy policies of third-party providers and information on the data subject rights with these providers can be found on their websites:

 

  • Google

  • Pinterest

  • Spotify

  • Snapchat

  • TikTok

  • LinkedIn

  • Facebook

  • YouTube

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

 

When registering with a third-party platform, you must accept the terms of use and the data processing described therein. We have no influence on this usage contract. Alternatively, you can access our offerings on our own websites.

 

 

3. Social Plugins and Embedded Functions

 

We integrate functions and content elements into our online offering that are obtained from the servers of the respective providers (hereinafter referred to as "third-party providers"). This may include graphics, videos, or maps (collectively referred to as "content"). The integration always requires that the third-party providers of these contents process your IP address, as they cannot send the contents to your browser without the IP address. The IP address is, therefore, necessary for displaying these contents or functions. We strive to use only those contents whose respective providers use the IP address solely for delivering the contents.

 

You can recognize such social plugins by the logo of the respective third-party provider of the social network.

 

If you want to prevent third-party providers from assigning the data collected via our online presence to your personal profile (if available) in the respective social network, you must log out of the respective social network before visiting our website. You can also prevent the loading of plugins entirely with specialized add-ons for your browser.

 

Third-party providers may also use so-called pixel tags (invisible graphics, also known as "web beacons") for statistical or marketing purposes. Pixel tags can be used to evaluate information such as visitor traffic on the pages of this website or app. These pseudonymous information can also be stored as cookies on your device and include technical information about your browser and operating system, referring websites, visit time, and other details about the use of our online offering. They can also be combined with such information from other sources.

 

 

 

4. Use of Our Apps

 

This section concerns data processing when using our apps. Otherwise, our privacy policy applies.

 

When downloading one of our apps from an App Store/Play Store, the necessary information is transmitted to this store, particularly your username, email address, and customer number of your account, as well as the time of download. We process this data only as far as necessary for downloading the app to your mobile device. If you download an app not from the App Store but through our website, further user data is processed, which we inform about here in the privacy policy.

 

When using one of our apps, we process technically necessary data to offer you the app's functions and ensure the necessary stability and security. The legal basis is our legitimate interest. Specifically, these include IP address, date and time of the request, time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), content of the request (visited page), access status/HTTP status code, amount of data transferred, previously visited page, browser, operating system, language, and version of the browser software.

 

We also need your device identification, the unique number of the device (IMEI = International Mobile Equipment Identity), the unique number of the network subscriber (IMSI = International Mobile Subscriber Identity), the mobile phone number (MSISDN), the MAC address for WLAN use, the name of your mobile device, and your email address to provide the app's services.

 

In addition to the aforementioned data, technical tools for various functions are used when using our mobile app, particularly cookies that can be stored on your device. You can control these via the app's cookie banner.

 

When using our apps, you will notice that there are many opinion polls or quizzes. These are used to obtain information about civil society and align with our purpose: to inform and stimulate dialogue and new ways of learning and finding solutions together. It also aims to strengthen public discourse, foster collective learning, build trust, and bridge gaps between different interest groups. Overall, the voice and wishes of the public should be more strongly involved in policymaking.

 

Please note that data and information from opinion polls are always anonymized. In our app, you always have the option to skip a survey. If you do, no data is collected in your name.

 

In some cases, we have collaborated with other non-commercial organizations to create a learning module. In these cases, we have agreed to share data such as survey data, quiz statistics, module-specific information with the respective organization. Please note that the data and information shared with third-party organizations, such as opinion polls, are always anonymized.

 

5. User-Generated Content

 

We integrate functionalities into the Carbon Copy association's online offering that allow you, as our users, to produce and publish your own contributions. This integration is essential for the Carbon Copy association to actively involve you in media creation. These functionalities require you to register and consent to processing.

 

Your contributions as users (User Generated Content) are personal data. They are stored in a log file (logfile) and serve only their original purpose, such as forum, comment, chat, or blog contributions. Once storage is no longer necessary, they are deleted.

 

Please note that especially in the dialogue functions of our app, which allow users to add their own arguments and comments, or in the forums, your comments are publicly visible. The arguments appear without name disclosure. Blog entries, on the other hand, appear with your username or your priority line. Overall, this again serves our goal of reversing political alienation and promoting collective learning and decision-making.

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