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Privacy Notice

a-connect (group) ag ("a-connect", "us", "we", or "our") operates http://www.a-connect.com (the "Site"). This page informs you of our policies regarding the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information we receive from users of the Site.

We use your Personal Information only for providing and improving the Site (see chapter "Privacy and Use of the Site"). In certain cases, we also use your Personal Information for legitimate business purposes (see chapter "Data Processing for Business Purposes"). By using the Site, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this notice.

Collection, Processing and Use of Data
While using our Site, we may ask you to provide us with certain personally identifiable information that can be used to contact or identify you. Personally identifiable information may include, but is not limited to your name and e-mail address ("Personal Information"). With regard to our legitimate business purposes, Personal Information can also comprise data such as education, business affiliations, job functions etc.

Access and Correction

You have the right to know what Personal Information regarding your person we keep on our servers and you may ask for a copy. You are also entitled to have incorrect data corrected. 

You have the right to request that we delete your Personal Information entirely or partially. Please note that in case of a deletion we are – as the case may be – no longer able or limited to communicate with you.

For deletion requests and any questions you may have relating Data Privacy, please contact us at: privacy@a-connect.com

Security

The security of your Personal Information is important to us, but remember that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. While we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.

Changes To This Privacy Notice

This Privacy Notice is effective as of 06.12.2016 and will remain in effect except with respect to any changes in its provisions in the future, which will be in effect immediately after being posted on this page.

We reserve the right to update or change our Privacy Notice at any time and you should check this Privacy Notice periodically. Your continued use of the Site after we post any modifications to the Privacy Notice on this page will constitute your acknowledgment of the modifications and your consent to abide and be bound by the modified Privacy Notice.

Privacy and Use of Site

Like many site operators, we collect information that your browser sends whenever you visit our Site ("Log Data").

This Log Data may include information such as your computer's Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser type, browser version, the pages of our Site that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages and other statistics.

In addition, we may use third party services such as Google Analytics that collect, monitor and analyze this.

Currently, we use the following tools:

1. Use of Cookies

a-connect uses "cookies" to make your interaction with the platform individually identifiable and optimised. A cookie is a text file that is either stored temporarily in the computer's memory ("session cookies") or saved on the hard drive ("permanent cookie"). Cookies contain information about your previous requests to the appropriate server or information on what offers have been made so far. Cookies are not used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. The main purpose of cookies is to provide a tailor-made offer and make the use of the Service as comfortable as possible.

Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. However, you can configure your browser so that it rejects or requests you to confirm the acceptance of cookies. If you choose to decline cookies, however, this may have the consequence that not all of our offerings are available to you.

a-connect uses session cookies, partner and affiliate cookies and permanent cookies:
a) Session Cookies are not stored on your hard drive and are deleted when the browser is closed. Session cookies are used for login authentication and to balance the system load. b) Partner and Affiliate Cookies are used if you access our services via an external advertising space. These cookies are used to settle accounts with the cooperation partners and do not contain personal information from you. c) Permanent cookies are used to save your personal settings. This allows for personalisation and improves the a-connect service, because you are able to find your personal settings again on subsequent visits.

2. Use of Google Universal Analytics

a-connect analyses members’ online behavior. We create anonymous user profiles in order to improve our service to you. For this we use Google Analytics, among other things (with the feature Universal Analytics), a web analytics service provided by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA ("Google"), but with the extension "_anonymizeIp ()". Only the shortened IP addresses are processed, excluding direct reference to individuals.

The information generated by the cookie about your use of the website will be transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. Google will use this information to evaluate your use of the website, compiling reports on website activity for website operators and providing others with website and internet related services. Reports created by Google contain demographic and interests data that have been based on your interaction with advertisements, or your visits to sites of advertisements. Google may also transfer this information to third parties unless required by law or where such third parties process the information on Google's behalf. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google. You may refuse the use of cookies by selecting the appropriate settings on your browser. We point out, however, that you may not be able to use all features of this website in this case.

You can object to the collection and analysis of your use of the Service Google Universal Analytics. Please use the browser add-on to disable Google Universal Analytics.

For more information on Terms of Use and Privacy Policy can be found at:

www.google.com/analytics/terms/gb.html

http://www.google.com/intl/en/analytics/privacyoverview.html

3. Use of Intercom

a-connect uses Intercom, a third party analytics service provided by Intercom, Inc. ("Intercom") to help understand your use of our services and to communicate with you by sending you service-related notifications in the a-connect interface. a-connect uses Intercom to collect data for analytics purposes when you use our services. Intercom analyzes your use of our website and/or service and our relationship with you, so that we can improve our services. For more information on the privacy practices of Intercom, please check http://docs.intercom.io/privacy. Intercom’s services are governed by Intercom’s terms of use, which can be found at http://docs.intercom.io/terms.

4. Use of Google DoubleClick

a-connect uses the remarketing technology of Google (Google DoubleClick). Through this technology users who have already visited the a-connect site and have shown interest in the service, are again targeted with advertising on the pages owned by the Google partner network. These advertisements are different to those aimed at users who have not shown interest in the a-connect services. The ad overlay is done through the use of cookies, which are small text files that are stored on the user's computer. With the help of text files, user behavior can be analyzed when you visit the site and then used for targeted product recommendations and interest-based advertising.

If you prefer not to receive interest-based advertising, you can disable the use of cookies by Google for these purposes by configuring the deactivation settings https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/ or install the plugin available there.

5. Use of Facebook Social Plugins

a-connect uses social plugins ("plugins") provided by the social network facebook.com, operated by Facebook Inc., 1601 S. California Ave, Palo Alto, CA 94304, USA ("Facebook"). These plugins are identified by a Facebook logo. If you use a social plugin on an a-connect site, your browser establishes a direct connection with the Facebook servers. Facebook then transmits the plugin content to your browser, and then integrates it into the website.

Thereby Facebook obtains the information that you have accessed on the corresponding a-connect page. If you are logged in to Facebook, Facebook can assign the a-connect visit to your Facebook account. If you interact with the Facebook plugins (e.g. press the "Like" button), the corresponding information is transmitted from your browser to Facebook and stored there. For the purpose and scope of data collection and the further processing and use of data by Facebook, and your rights in this respect and settings options for protecting your privacy, please refer to the privacy policies of Facebook.

If you do not want Facebook to collect data of this kind, we recommend that you log out before your visit a-connect on Facebook.

6. Use of Twitter Social Plugins

a-connect continues to use social plugins ("plugins") from the social network twitter.com, operated by Twitter Inc., 795 Folsom St., Suite 600, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA. The plugins are marked with a Twitter logo. When you select an a-connect website that contains a social plugin, your browser establishes a direct connection with the Twitter servers. Twitter transmits the contents of the plugin directly to your browser, which integrates it into the website. This gives Twitter the information that you have accessed on the corresponding page a-connect. If you are currently logged into Twitter, Twitter can assign your visit to your Twitter account. If you are using the Twitter plugins to interact (eg. a tweet to an article post), the corresponding information is transmitted from your browser directly to Twitter and stored there. Purpose and scope of data collection and the further processing and use of data by Twitter as well as your rights in this respect and settings options for Protecting your privacy can be found in the Twitter Privacy Policy under https://twitter.com/privacy.

If you do not want Twitter to collect data about you, we advise you to log out of Twitter before you’re a-connect visit.

7. Use of Linkedin Social Plugins

This site uses plugins which are provided by LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA (“LinkedIn”) which can be identified by the LinkedIn logo of the “Share”-Button. If you access a page on our Website that includes this plugin, your browser sets up a direct connection to LinkedIn’s servers. Thereby LinkedIn receives the information that you and your IP address have accessed this Website. If you click on the LinkedIn „Share“-Button while you are logged into you LinkedIn account, you can link the content of this Website on your LinkedIn-Profile which enables LinkedIn to allocate the visit to our Website to your LinkedIn account. We as the Website operator do not know the content of the data transferred to LinkedIn or how LinkedIn uses such data.

For information on the purpose and extent of data collection, the further processing and use of such data by LinkedIn, as well as your rights in this regard and your setting options for the protection of your privacy, please refer to LinkedIn’s privacy policy: http://www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy

Data Processing for Business Purposes

We together with its affiliated companies collects and processes your Personal Information for legitimate business purposes.   

Legitimate Business Purposes

We have a legitimate business interest to maintain business contacts and to acquire new business. Therefore, we collect Personal Information when you communicate with us, when you ask us to send marketing materials to you or when you sign up or participate at one of our events. In some cases, we collect Personal Data from other sources such as websites, search engines, social media, third party newsletters.

We maintain a network of independent professionals who assist us in rendering services to our clients. For this legitimation business purpose, we collect and process Personal Information about our independent professionals.

We also collect and process Personal Information of our job applicants and employees. 

Use of your Personal Information

In general, we collect your Personal Information to perform our business and to maintain our list of contacts complete and accurate. We do not make your Personal Data available to any third party, unless stated otherwise in this Privacy Notice or upon your prior approval. As we are an international group of companies, your Personal Information may be transferred to other jurisdictions. 

If you are a (potential) client of ours, we use your Personal Information to communicate with you and to send you information about us.

If you are an independent professional, we use your Personal Information to communicate with you, to establish and maintain a database of independent professionals, to review your application, to gather references, to verify your information, to communicate with you through our a-reward* program if you have decided to participate and to present you and your expertise to third parties such as our (potential) clients.

If you are a job applicant, we use your Personal Information to communicate with you and evaluate your application. In case we do not offer you a job, we will not keep any personal information on file beyond your name and address.

If you are a supplier, we use your Personal Information to communicate with you and to establish and maintain a network of possible and actual suppliers.

*a-reward is only available to active independent professionals in our pool

Storage of your Personal Information

Your Personal Information is stored on servers in Switzerland, the European Union and US as well as in a cloud. We have implemented and maintain appropriate technical and organizational means to protect your Personal Data against loss and against access by unauthorized persons.

For requests to view your personal data or to have the data deleted, please contact our Global Business Support team any time.