Privacy Policy

Please note: This privacy policy has been drafted for the website viewnamic.com. The website scientview.com is a beta version of viewnamic.com. There are no differences between the two sites regarding the handling of user data. All provisions applicable to viewnamic.com also apply to scientview.com. Therefore, the following privacy policy is also valid for scientview.com.

Last updated on May 12, 2024.

Viewnamic (“us”, “we”, or “our”) collects data from users and website visitors (“you”) to enhance the functionality and improve the experience of its services.

This privacy policy informs you about the type of personal data that is collected by us as the responsible entity, the purpose for which it is collected, and the extent to which this data is made accessible to third parties.

The responsible body is:
Weiss, Dreher & Herbermann GbR
Leostraße 29
33098 Paderborn
Germany

Data Protection Officer:
Felix Dreher
Email: felix.dreher@viewnamic.com

You can contact us with any inquiry regarding this privacy policy here.

1. Legal Basis for Processing
The processing of personal data requires a legal basis, which we would like to introduce to you. For the processing of personal data for which we obtain consent from the data subject, Article 6(1)(a) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) serves as the legal basis. When processing personal data necessary for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is party, Article 6(1)(b) GDPR serves as the legal basis. This also includes processing operations necessary for carrying out pre-contractual measures. Insofar as processing of personal data is necessary to fulfill a legal obligation to which our company is subject, Article 6(1)(c) GDPR serves as the legal basis. If processing is necessary to protect a legitimate interest of our company or a third party, and the interests, fundamental rights, and freedoms of the data subject do not override the first-mentioned interest, then Article 6(1)(f) GDPR serves as the legal basis for processing. The legitimate interest of our company lies in conducting our business activities and in analyzing, optimizing, and maintaining the security of our online services.

2. Rights of Users and Data Subjects
With regard to the data processing described in more detail below, users and data subjects have the right

a) to confirmation as to whether data concerning them are being processed, to information about the processed data, to further information about the data processing, and to copies of the data (cf. also Art. 15 GDPR);

b) to correction or completion of incorrect or incomplete data (cf. also Art. 16 GDPR);

c) to 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 restriction of processing in accordance with Art. 18 GDPR;

d) to receive the data concerning them and provided by them and to transmit these data to other providers/controllers (cf. also Art. 20 GDPR);

e) to file complaints with the supervisory authority if they believe that data concerning them is being processed by the provider in violation of data protection provisions (cf. also Art. 77 GDPR).

In addition, the provider is obliged to inform all recipients to whom data has been disclosed by the provider about any correction or deletion of data or the restriction of processing, which takes place pursuant to Articles 16, 17 Para. 1, 18 GDPR. However, this obligation does not exist insofar as this notification is impossible or involves a disproportionate effort. Notwithstanding this, the user has a right to information about these recipients.

Also, according to Art. 21 GDPR, users and data subjects have the right to object to the future processing of data concerning them, provided that the data is processed by the provider in accordance with Art. 6 Para. 1 lit. f) GDPR. In particular, an objection to data processing for the purposes of direct advertising is permissible.

Data storage duration:
Unless we have provided specific storage instructions for particular points, the following applies: We store personal data for the duration of the respective legal retention period or as long as the purpose of the collection exists. After the expiration of the retention period, the data are routinely deleted unless they are required for the initiation or fulfillment of a contract. If user data is not deleted because it is required for other legally permissible purposes, their processing will be restricted as much as possible. Accordingly, the data will be blocked, as far as possible, and not processed for other purposes. This applies, for example, to user data that must be retained for commercial or tax law reasons.

3. Your information is kept safe – Hosting provider
Protecting your privacy and securing your personal information are priorities for us. We host our website with IONOS, Europe’s largest hosting provider, to ensure reliable and secure data handling. Your personal and usage data are stored in data centers that comply with the ISO 27001 standard, offering the highest level of data security. This international norm specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an information security management system (ISMS). For further information about how IONOS processes your data we recommend to read the following articles:
Webhosting
Webanalytics
The IONOS privacy policy can be viewed here: IONOS Privacy Policy

3. What information we collect and why
3.1. Public information
When you use our service to enhance your PDFs by integrating dynamic content, please be aware that the PDFs you upload and the associated dynamic content are publicly accessible via a unique link. This functionality is fundamental to the services we provide. The documents, along with the embedded dynamic content, can be accessed through this unique link in the Viewnamic PDF-Viewer.

Unless you implement specific measures to restrict access, such as setting a password on our website or reaching out to us to limit public access, your PDFs will remain openly accessible. By uploading your files, you expressly agree to allow them to be accessed and viewed via this method.

3.2. Contact information and password
We use your email address and password to authenticate your account and keep it secure, preventing fraud, abuses, and spam. We need your email to set up unique user accounts, to be able to get in touch with you, and to send you personalized messages. You can always modify your email address directly from your account, and you can reset your password at any time. If you need any help with that visit our contact site here.

In addition, your password is non-reversible encrypted before being saved to the database for your protection, so it cannot be copied or stolen, even in case of a hacking attack. We also use your email address to get in touch with you and send you information about our services and market according to your country’s laws.

In order to better understand market trends and user preferences, we invite you to provide optional information such as your industry, company name, and how you discovered our services. To facilitate personalized communication, we also request your first and last name. Please note that providing this information is entirely voluntary and not required for account creation. Any data you choose to provide is securely stored on servers provided by IONOS, ensuring your information is handled with the utmost care and security.

In case of an initial contact by you via email or a contact form we save the corresponding data. We do not generally share your data with third parties unless applicable data protection regulations justify a transfer or we are legally obligated to do so. You may revoke your consent at any time with effect for the future. In the event of revocation, your data will be promptly deleted, unless a legal exception exists for further processing. Otherwise, your data will be deleted once we have processed your request or the purpose for data storage no longer applies and there are no other legal exceptions that prevent deletion.

3.3. Additional information we receive about you
In addition to the data that you provide to us directly by either typing it in on our site or uploading it, we also use technology to track various aspects of site usage. All the data that we collect or track is needed to operate our services. We do not sell your information. Furthermore, we do not share your private information with anyone, except with trusted third-party service providers, only if it’s necessary for operating our services or because it’s required by law. See the below list to see which third party services we use to collect data and / or share it to improve our service.

Cookies. A cookie is a small file stored on your computer’s hard drive, ready for future access when you return to our site. We use cookies to deliver web content specific to you and collect website usage data. Cookies contain session identification numbers that allow our systems to recall previous sessions for authentication efforts and assemble information from our gathered data. Cookies cannot pass viruses, harm your computer or pass on private information such as an email address without the user’s intervention. You can configure your computer’s browser to alert you when a site is attempting to send you a cookie and allow you to accept or refuse the cookie. 

Location. We get information about your signup and current location (country and city) from your IP address and device settings. (An IP address is a number assigned to your device by your Internet Service Provider when you are accessing the Internet.) In addition, you may receive personalized messages based on your location.

Link clicks. In order to operate our service, we keep track of how you interact with our site and what links you decide to click on. It may include links on the website, blog, help center, emails, ads, and live chat support.

Log activity. We receive information every time you view or interact with content on our site, even if you don’t have an account. Log activity information covers a variety of data that is available either through 3rds party service providers or collected directly by us: browser information, OS type, the device used, IP, chat activity, date, time, and duration for each site visit, referring web page, page visits, search terms, location, cookies, clicks, views and session duration for all site pages. We generally analyze data sets to make sure our services are fully functional and to ensure reliable and secure performance.

4. Who gets access to your data and why
All data collected at Viewnamic is safe and secure. We will not make public any private information or content published privately on our site. We may, however, disclose your private personal data to a few reliable third-party service providers (processors) solely for the purpose of operating our services: to help us provide, analyze, and improve the service, including data storage, maintenance services, database management, web analytics, payment processing, and improvement of the site’s functionality. These third parties have access to your information only for the purpose of performing these tasks on our behalf and under obligations similar to those in this Privacy Policy. If you are an EU resident, you need to be aware that the personal data we collect about you may be transferred to and processed by recipients outside the European Economic Area, some of which are certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework and some not. We have taken all necessary measures to ensure that transfers out of the EEA are adequately protected as required by applicable data protection law. All these third-party apps that have access to your data have a GDPR-compliant privacy policy, and they will only use your data on our behalf and pursuant to our instructions.

We collect and share as little personal data as possible to function. Whenever you delete your account, we will initiate a process that will remove your data from all these processors, if possible. In some cases, it is physically impossible to distinctly identify specific users when data is used collectively for research and statistical purposes, or it may be needed for accounting purposes.

4.1. List of 3rd party service providers
We engage trusted third-party companies to manage payments, analyze user behavior, store data, and handle advertising. Please be aware that the information regarding our use of third-party companies provided in this privacy policy may become outdated over time. Therefore, we recommend that you contact us directly to obtain the most current information regarding any changes that are relevant to the protection and processing of your data.

IONOS: Not only is IONOS responsible for our website hosting but with its web analytic tool we get insights in user behavior. Further information can be found here 

Paid Memberships Pro: This tool manages our membership services, including registration and subscription payments. It collects personal and payment information necessary to process memberships.

For further details on how these tools process your data and for more specific information on their privacy practices, we encourage you to review the privacy policies on the respective third-party websites. It’s important to stay informed about how your data is being used and to understand the privacy practices of the services we employ on our website.

4.2 Datatransfer to another country
If we transfer data to third countries, i.e., countries outside the European Union, the transfer is carried out exclusively in compliance with the legally defined admissibility requirements. If the transfer of data to a third country does not serve to fulfill our contract with you, we do not have your consent, the transfer is not necessary for the assertion, exercise or defense of legal claims, and there is also no exception according to Art. 49 GDPR, we will only transfer your data to a third country if an adequacy decision according to Art. 45 GDPR or appropriate guarantees according to Art. 46 GDPR exist.

4.3. Legal entities
We must disclose information when requested to comply with court orders, judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants, orders, laws, regulations, or legal processes, to protect the safety of any person, to protect the safety or integrity of the platform, including the prevention of spam, abuse, malicious actors on our site, to explain why we have removed content or accounts from our site, to prevent fraud, technical issues or to protect the rights of our users.

5. Change to our privacy policy
We may, on occasion, update our Policy. We encourage you to periodically review our site and this policy for any changes or reach out to us via email. By continuing to access and use our service you agree to be bound by our Privacy Policy.

Questions or comments regarding this privacy policy should be sent by email to felix.dreher@viewnamic.com