Privacy policy

This English translation is provided for convenience only. The German version is legally binding.

On this website, Sencutt processes only the personal data it needs to run the site, to answer your enquiry and – with your consent – to produce visitor statistics. Without your consent, the website sets no cookies for visitors, uses no analytics tools and loads fonts and scripts only from its own server. Google Analytics only runs if you allow it in the consent notice. Videos from YouTube or Vimeo are only loaded once you allow this with a click.

Controller

The controller responsible for processing personal data on this website, within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), is:

Sencutt Inh. Paul Senholdt e.K.
Owner: Paul Senholdt
Hoher Weg 13, 31188 Holle, Germany
Email: kontakt@sencutt.com

You will find further details about the provider in the legal notice. Please send any questions about data protection to the email address above.

Hosting and server log files

Sencutt hosts this website with STRATO GmbH, Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7, 10249 Berlin, Germany (‘STRATO’). According to STRATO, its servers are located in its own data centres in Berlin and Karlsruhe, Germany. When you open a page, your browser automatically sends technical data to the server, which stores it in log files:

• IP address of the requesting device
• Date and time of the request
• Page or file requested
• Website you came from (referrer)
• Browser and operating system (user agent)
• HTTP status code and amount of data transferred

This data is used to deliver the website securely and reliably, to find errors and to fend off attacks. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Sencutt’s legitimate interest lies in running the website securely and without errors. According to STRATO, full IP addresses are stored for no more than seven days in order to detect and fend off attacks. In the access statistics and log files that Sencutt can retrieve from the STRATO customer area, IP addresses appear only in anonymised form.

STRATO processes this data on Sencutt’s behalf as a processor (Art. 28 GDPR). The connection to the website is TLS-encrypted – you can tell by the ‘https://’ in the address bar.

For data security, Sencutt regularly makes backup copies of the website. They are stored with STRATO in Germany and overwritten after a few weeks, so deleted enquiries also gradually disappear from the backups.

Enquiry form, email and phone

Enquiry form

You can send Sencutt an enquiry using the enquiry form on the contact page. When you do, Sencutt processes the following details:

• Name (required)
• Company (optional)
• Email address (required)
• Phone number (optional)
• Type of enquiry (your choice under ‘What would you like to create?’)
• Message (required)

The website also stores the date and time the enquiry was received and the address of the page you sent the form from. Sencutt needs your name, email address and message to answer your enquiry. Company and phone number are optional.

Your enquiry is stored in the non-public WordPress back end of this website. At the same time, Sencutt receives the content of the enquiry as an email notification, which is sent via STRATO’s mail server and stored in Sencutt’s mailbox with STRATO. No automatic confirmation email is sent to your address.

Sencutt uses your details only to process and answer your enquiry. If your enquiry relates to a potential contract, the legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR (steps prior to entering into a contract). Otherwise, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR applies. Sencutt’s legitimate interest lies in answering enquiries.

Sencutt deletes enquiries once they have been dealt with, at the latest six months after the last message. If an enquiry leads to a contract, the correspondence is kept for as long as statutory retention obligations require.

Spam protection

To stop bots misusing the form, it contains a field that people cannot see and a timing check: a signed timestamp in the form shows whether it was submitted suspiciously quickly or after a very long time. Both work without cookies and without third parties.

The website also limits how many enquiries a single connection can send within a short time. To do this, it stores a pseudonymised check value (hash) of your IP address with each enquiry sent – not the IP address itself. The entry expires one hour after the last enquiry, after which WordPress removes it automatically.

The legal basis for spam protection is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Sencutt’s legitimate interest lies in protecting the website and the inbox from misuse.

Contact by email or phone

If you email Sencutt directly, Sencutt processes your email address, your name and the content of your message in order to reply. The messages are stored in Sencutt’s mailbox with STRATO (see Hosting and server log files for the address). STRATO processes them on Sencutt’s behalf as a processor, on servers in Germany. The legal basis and retention period are the same as for the enquiry form.

If you call Sencutt or send a text message, Sencutt processes your phone number, your name and the content of the call or message in order to deal with your request. Here, too, the legal basis and retention period are the same as for the enquiry form. If you use a messaging service, that provider’s privacy policy also applies.

Cookies

Without your consent, this website sets no cookies for visitors. Only if you allow Google Analytics does it set the cookies ‘_ga’ and ‘_ga_<ID>’ (see Web analytics with Google Analytics). If you click to load an embedded video, the video provider may set cookies (see Embedded videos). The website stores your choice in the consent notice not in a cookie but in your browser’s local storage (see Your choice in the consent notice).

One exception: the back-end login page (/wp-login.php) is intended only for the website’s editorial team. Anyone who opens it receives two technically necessary cookies: ‘wordpress_test_cookie’ checks whether the browser accepts cookies (until the browser is closed), and ‘llar_login_flow’ protects against automated login attempts (24 hours). After logging in, WordPress sets further cookies that keep the session active. All of these cookies are strictly necessary (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). The legal basis for the related processing is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR.

To protect the login area against attacks, Sencutt uses the WordPress plugin ‘Limit Login Attempts Reloaded’. If a login fails, it stores the IP address, the username entered and the time in this website’s database with STRATO and temporarily blocks the IP address after several failed attempts. The data does not leave the server. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR; Sencutt’s legitimate interest lies in protecting the website against unauthorised access. Sencutt clears the log regularly, at the latest after three months.

Fonts and scripts

Fonts and scripts are loaded from this website’s own server. Sencutt does not use Google Fonts or external content delivery networks (CDNs). This means no data is passed to such third parties when you visit the site.

Exception: if you allow Google Analytics, your browser loads the analytics script from Google’s servers (see Web analytics with Google Analytics).

Web analytics with Google Analytics (only with your consent)

Sencutt would like to know which pages are read and how visitors find the website, in order to improve its content and structure. For this, Sencutt uses Google Analytics 4, a service of Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland (‘Google’) – but only if you click ‘Allow statistics’ in the consent notice. Until then, the website loads no script from Google, sets no analytics cookies and sends no data to Google.

Data: If you consent, your browser loads the Google Analytics script from Google’s servers (www.googletagmanager.com) and sends usage data to Google on every page view, in particular: a random identifier from a cookie (client ID), pages viewed and page titles, date and time, the page you came from, interactions such as scrolling, clicks on links to other websites and file downloads, device category, browser, operating system, language setting and your IP address. According to Google, for users in the EU the IP address is only used to derive an approximate location (country, region) and is then discarded, i.e. neither logged nor stored. Sencutt has switched off the collection of granular location and device data (such as city or device model).

Cookies: Google Analytics stores the cookies ‘_ga’ (distinguishes visitors) and ‘_ga_<ID>’ (keeps the session state) on your device. They expire after 12 months or when you withdraw your consent.

No advertising: Sencutt uses Google Analytics for statistics only, not for advertising. Google signals, ads personalisation, links to Google Ads and sharing the data with Google for Google’s own purposes are switched off. Sencutt does not combine the data with other data about you.

Legal basis: your consent – Section 25(1) TDDDG for storing and reading cookies and device information, and Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR for the further processing. Consent is voluntary; you can use the website fully without it.

Processor: Google processes the data on Sencutt’s behalf under the Google Ads Data Processing Terms (Art. 28 GDPR).

Transfers to the USA: Google may also transfer data to Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA, and process it there. Google LLC is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework; transfers are covered by the European Commission’s adequacy decision of 10 July 2023 (Art. 45 GDPR). Should that decision cease to apply, Google’s data processing terms provide for the EU standard contractual clauses (Art. 46(2)(‌c) GDPR).

Retention: Google Analytics deletes event data linked to the cookie identifier after 2 months. Aggregated reports (such as page views per month) are kept, without individual visitors being identifiable in them.

Withdrawal: You can withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future – via ‘Cookie settings’ at the bottom of every page or directly here: Open cookie settings. The website then deletes the Google Analytics cookies and stops sending data to Google. Processing carried out before withdrawal remains lawful.

More: How Google uses information from sites or apps that use its services and Google’s privacy policy.

Your choice in the consent notice

So that the notice does not appear on every page, the website stores your decision (allowed or declined), the date and the version of the notice text in your browser’s local storage (localStorage, entry ‘sencutt-einwilligung’). The entry contains no identifier, is not sent to the server and is strictly necessary to remember your decision as you requested (Section 25(2) no. 2 TDDDG). After 12 months, or when Sencutt changes the services it uses, the website asks again. If you delete the site data in your browser, the entry is removed and the notice appears again.

Links to social networks

Sencutt does not use advertising tools or social media plugins.

Where Sencutt links to profiles on social networks such as LinkedIn in the footer, these are plain links, not embedded plugins. Data is only sent to the provider if you click such a link and open its website, where the provider’s privacy policy applies.

Embedded videos

Where Sencutt embeds videos hosted on YouTube or Vimeo on a page, the website first shows only a placeholder with a play button in their place when you open that page. At that point there is no connection to YouTube or Vimeo and no cookies are set. Only when you click ‘Play video on YouTube’ or ‘Play video on Vimeo’ does your browser connect to the provider’s servers.

For technical reasons, the provider then receives, among other things, your IP address, details of your browser and device, the address of the page and information about playback. The provider may also set cookies or store and read information in your browser’s storage.

The legal basis is the consent you give by clicking (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, Section 25(1) TDDDG). It applies only to the video you clicked and only to the current page visit; Sencutt does not store it. If you reload or leave the page, the connection ends, and playing the video again requires a new click. You can delete cookies that have already been set in your browser.

YouTube

For users in the European Economic Area, YouTube is provided by Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. Sencutt embeds YouTube videos in privacy-enhanced mode (domain youtube-nocookie.com). According to Google, playback in this mode is not used to personalise your browsing on YouTube or advertising outside YouTube. If you are signed in to a Google account, Google may still link the visit to your account.

Data may be transferred to Google LLC in the USA. Google LLC is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, so the European Commission’s adequacy decision of 10 July 2023 applies to such transfers (Art. 45 GDPR). For details, see Google’s privacy policy.

Vimeo

Vimeo is provided by Vimeo.com, Inc., 330 West 34th Street, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10001, USA. Sencutt embeds Vimeo videos with the ‘dnt=1’ (Do Not Track) parameter. According to Vimeo, the player then sets no new cookies other than those needed for its secure operation. Your browser may still send cookies that Vimeo set on earlier visits.

Vimeo also processes data in the USA. Vimeo is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, so the European Commission’s adequacy decision applies to such transfers (Art. 45 GDPR). For details, see Vimeo’s privacy policy.

Blog

Sencutt uses the blog to publish articles and announce events. Comments are switched off, as are pingbacks and trackbacks, so you cannot leave anything under the posts and Sencutt processes no data for that purpose. When you read the blog, the same applies as on every other page – see Hosting and server log files.

Sencutt App

The Sencutt App is a separate web application and is expected to launch in early 2027. It will have its own privacy policy, published at launch. This privacy policy covers the website only. If you request access to the app via the enquiry form, the Enquiry form, email and phone section applies.

By way of derogation from the deletion period in that section: if you choose ‘Access to the Sencutt App’ in the form, Sencutt stores your name and email address until the app launches in order to inform you once, at the latest until 31 December 2027; the details are then deleted. The legal basis is Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, as you request access yourself. You can end this at any time by emailing kontakt@sencutt.com.

Your rights

You have the following rights against Sencutt in respect of your personal data:

• Access to the data stored about you (Art. 15 GDPR)
• Rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16 GDPR)
• Erasure (Art. 17 GDPR)
• Restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR)
• Data portability (Art. 20 GDPR)
• Objection to processing (Art. 21 GDPR)
• Withdrawal of consent you have given, at any time and with effect for the future (Art. 7(3) GDPR), e.g. for Google Analytics via ‘Cookie settings’ at the bottom of every page or for playing embedded videos

To exercise any of these rights, simply send an email to kontakt@sencutt.com.

Obligation to provide data and automated decisions

The server log data is technically necessary for your browser to load the pages; without it, the website cannot be visited. You are not obliged to provide Sencutt with any data via the enquiry form, by email or by phone; without your name, email address and message, however, Sencutt cannot answer your enquiry. Sencutt does not make any solely automated decisions and does not create profiles (Art. 22 GDPR).

Right to object

Where Sencutt processes your data on the basis of Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, you may object to this processing at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation (Art. 21 GDPR). Sencutt will then stop processing the data, unless there are compelling legitimate grounds for the processing that override your interests, or the processing is for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Right to lodge a complaint

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority (Art. 77 GDPR), in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, your place of work or the place of the alleged infringement. The supervisory authority responsible for Sencutt is the State Commissioner for Data Protection of Lower Saxony (Der Landesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz Niedersachsen), Prinzenstraße 5, 30159 Hannover, Germany, www.lfd.niedersachsen.de.

Changes

Sencutt updates this privacy policy whenever the website, the services it uses or the legal position changes. The version currently published on this page applies. Its date is shown at the top, under ‘Last updated’.