We are very pleased about your interest in our offer of the web application "Vodle" (hereinafter only "App"). With this privacy policy, we inform you, among other things, about the nature, scope and purpose of the personal data processed by us within the scope of the App and your rights as a data subject. This privacy policy covers processing operations within the scope of our App. Separate information on the processing of your data when visiting our website can be found here.
The responsible body for data processing pursuant to Article 4 No. 7 GDPR is the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) e.V., Telegrafenberg A 31, 14473 Potsdam (hereinafter "we" or "us"), unless otherwise stated in this privacy policy.
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding data protection and the enforcement of your rights as a data subject, please contact us at any time using the following contact details:
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) e.V.
Telegrafenberg A 31,
14473 Potsdam
datenschutzanfrage@pik-potsdam.de.
Our data protection officer Dr.-Ing. Thomas Nocke can be reached at the following address:
Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) e.V.
Telegrafenberg A 56
14473 Potsdam.
+49 331 288 2626.
You can access our app at the URL http://app.vodle.it or by clicking on the "my vodle" tab on our website. The "Vodle software" is loaded directly into your browser for the purpose of platform-independent use. Insofar as information is retrieved from or stored on your terminal device in the process, this is permissible under Section 25 (2) No. 2 of the German Telecommunications and Telemedia Data Protection Act (TTDSG).
You can download the source code of our "Vodle software" from the GitHub platform at this link. If you click on the link, you will be redirected to an external offer. A data protection responsibility according to Article 4 No. 7 GDPR exists exclusively for the operators of the linked offer themselves. Please inform yourself about the scope of the possible processing of your personal data there in the respective data protection information.
In order to use our app, your registration as a user is required. As part of the registration, we will ask you for your e-mail address and ask you to assign a password of your choice. The information you enter in this way in the app is stored unencrypted on your device. It is initially stored in the "local storage" of your browser.
When you log in, the information from the "local storage" is transmitted to our standard database server "Vodle Cloud". For this purpose, your device establishes a secure connection to the database server. The information is output by your device in the hash procedure as an individual sum of numbers. Only the total sum of a data record, not its concrete content, will be transmitted to us in the following. Insofar as information is retrieved from or stored on your terminal device in the process, this is permissible under Section 25 (2) No. 2 of the German Telecommunications and Telemedia Data Protection Act (TTDSG).
Your login data in the "local storage" of your browser will be deleted as soon as you log out of the app. A deletion of your data in the "Vodle Cloud" takes place at your instigation if you delete the data or change it in the settings.
The processing of your data takes place at your request for the use of our app and thus serves to fulfill our performance obligations arising from the user relationship with you. The legal basis is Article 6 (1) lit. b) GDPR.
In this section you can find out about frequently requested topics in connection with the use of our app. In the section you will also receive a contact option to send us feedback or to report a technical problem.
Our app contains contact information for sending feedback or reporting problems. If you contact us by e-mail, we will process your e-mail address and other personal data that may be contained in your message.
If you contact us by e-mail, we will store your data until the end of our active communication relationship and then delete the data immediately.
The processing takes place exclusively to answer your request. The legal basis for this is Article 6 (1) lit. f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest lies in the aforementioned purpose.
In the settings of our app, you can configure the user interface of the "Vodle Software" according to your needs. The configurations you have made are stored unencrypted on your device. The storage takes place first in the "local storage" of your browser. In connection with the configuration, you enter, among possible other configuration parameters, for example, the following information in our app.
Language settings
Preferred color scheme
Notification options
When you are logged in, this information is transferred from the "local storage" to our standard database server "Vodle Cloud". For this purpose, your device establishes a secure connection with the database server. The information is thereby encrypted by your device using the password you have assigned. Only the encrypted data is transmitted to us in the following. The encrypted information is assigned to the hash value of your login key. Storage in the cloud enables device-independent storage of your configurations of our app (“roaming”). Insofar as information is retrieved from or stored on your end device in the process, this is permissible under Section 25 (2) No. 2 TTDSG.
The information about preferred configurations in the "local storage" of your browser is deleted as soon as you log out of the app. A deletion of your data in the "Vodle Cloud" takes place at your instigation if you delete the data or change it in the settings.
The processing of your data takes place at your request for the use of our app and thus serves to fulfill our performance obligations arising from the user relationship with you. The legal basis is Article 6 (1) lit. b) GDPR.
If you click on a link to participate in a poll created by a third party in our app, you will be redirected to an external offer. A data protection responsibility according to Article 4 No. 7 GDPR exists exclusively for the operators of the linked poll themselves. Please inform yourself about the scope of the possible processing of your personal data there in the respective data protection information. Any possible processing of personal data in the “Vodle Cloud” in this context shall be carried out exclusively on the instructions of the organizers of a poll.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise in this privacy policy, only persons within our corporation will have access to your personal data within the scope of the aforementioned processing. Furthermore, these persons must be responsible for processing the requests and have appropriate access to the IT system. In addition, we only use external service providers, apart from those explicitly mentioned, insofar as we cannot or cannot reasonably perform services ourselves. In principle, a transfer to third countries does not take place.
There are also statutory retention obligations that we must comply with insofar as they extend to us as a non-profit organization. Certain documents in accordance with Section 257 of the German Commercial Code (HGB) and Section 147 of the German Fiscal Code (AO), as well as in accordance with social insurance and labor law, may have to be retained. Data that you submit to us via email or as part of our app features may be subject to these legal requirements. These documents may also contain personal data. Specifically, these are the following records:
Books and records, inventories, annual financial statements, individual financial statements pursuant to Section 325 (2a) of the German Commercial Code (HGB), consolidated financial statements, management reports, group management reports, the opening balance sheet as well as the operating instructions and other organizational documents required for their understanding, accounting records, documents pursuant to Article 15 (1) and Article 163 of the Union Customs Code. These documents shall be kept for 10 years.
Received commercial or business letters, copies of sent commercial or business letters, other documents, if they are relevant for taxation. These documents must be kept for 6 years.
The respective retention period begins at the end of the calendar year in which the last entry in the accounts, the inventory, the opening balance sheet, the annual financial statements or the management report, the received or sent commercial or business letter, the created accounting record, the created record or the other documents were created. The legal basis for this processing is Article 6 (1) lit. c) GDPR.
The General Data Protection Regulation guarantees you certain rights that you can assert against us – insofar as the legal requirements are met.
Article 15 GDPR – Right of access of the data subject:
You have the right to request confirmation from us as to whether personal data concerning you is being processed and, if so, what these are, as well as the detailed circumstances of the data processing.
Article 16 GDPR – Right to rectification:
You have the right to obtain from us without undue delay the rectification of inaccurate personal data concerning you. Taking into account the purposes of the processing, you also have the right to request the completion of incomplete personal data – also by means of a supplementary declaration.
Article 17 GDPR – Right to erasure:
You have the right to request that we delete personal data concerning you without undue delay.
Article 18 GDPR – Right to restriction of processing:
You have the right to demand that we restrict processing.
Article 20 GDPR – Right to data portability:
In the event of processing based on consent or for the performance of a contract, you have the right to receive the personal data concerning you that you have provided to us in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, and to transmit this data to another controller without hindrance from us or to have the data transmitted directly to the other controller, as far as this is technically feasible.
Article 21 GDPR – Right to object:
You have the right, for reasons arising from your particular situation, to object at any time to the processing of personal data concerning you which is necessary on the basis of a legitimate interest on our part or to safeguard a task in the public interest, or which is carried out in the exercise of official authority.
If you object, we will no longer process your personal data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which override your interests, rights and freedoms, or for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
Article 77 GDPR Right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority:
You have the right to lodge a complaint at any time with a supervisory authority, in particular in the Member State of your habitual residence, place of work or place of the alleged infringement, if you believe that the processing of your personal data infringes applicable law.
If you have given us your consent, you have the right to revoke this consent at any time. This can be done by e-mail to datenschutzanfrage@pik-potsdam.de. This does not affect the lawfulness of the previous processing operations.
You have no contractual or legal obligation to provide us with personal data. However, without the data you provide, we are sometimes unable to offer you all our services.
Within the framework of our app, when processing personal data, you will never be subject to automated decision-making that would have a legal effect on you or could affect you in any other way.
We may change this privacy policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting it here or by any other appropriate means.
The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research e.V., Telegrafenberg A 31, 14473 Potsdam, (hereafter “PIK”) operates a backend as a service for using “VODLE”. VODLE is a decentralized social app for democratic group decision making with proportional power.
Please read these terms of use (hereafter the „Agreement“) carefully before using the website and services offered by PIK. This Agreement sets forth the legally binding terms and conditions for your use of all services in connection with VODLE provided by PIK. By using the services of PIK, you (hereafter „You“) agree to be bound by this Agreement. If you do not agree with the terms below, please do not use the services of PIK for VODLE.
1. Subject of the Agreement
1.1 For using VODLE You need both, an app, which is provided as Open Source Software under the GNU Affero General Public License, version 3, at http://www.vodle.it and https://github.com/pik-gane/vodle, and a backend with database server, which can either be operated by Yourself or any third party or for which a service of PIK can be used. In case you want to use the backend server of PIK for VODLE, this Agreement applies.
1.2 PIK’s services are intended to be used by researchers and academia and only for the purpose of conducting and participating in collective decisions. PIK may, in its sole discretion, refuse to offer access to or use of the services to any person or entity for any reason at any time.
2. Services provided by PIK
2.1 PIK operates a database server that can be selected in the VODLE app to process the data generated during use of VODLE. The data is transferred to the database server in encrypted form only. All personal data is processed in accordance with the applicable data protection laws. For further information, please have a look at PIK’s privacy policy. Please note that you may need to comply with applicable data protection law yourself if you conduct decision making via VODLE.
2.2 The services are free of charge and may be discontinued at any time at the discretion of PIK.
2.3 PIK does not represent or warrant that the services will be available at all times.
3. Account
3.1 You are required to create an account to use the database server of PIK. You have to provide a valid email address in order to complete the signup process via MyVodle. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account and password.
3.2 Accounts registered by automated methods (e.g. bots) are not permitted.
3.3 Accounts may be used for several decision making processes. You can delete an account at any time in the settings at MyVodle.
4. Your Obligations
4.1 You agree to not to use the services in a way that infringes applicable law or is outside the purpose of use as provided in sec. 1 above. In particular, you agree to refrain from using the services for purposes
which constitute a criminal offence or a statutory offence,
which violate copyright law, trademark law or unfair competition law,
which are insulting, racist, discriminatory or pornographic in character or
which contain commercial advertising.
4.2 You agree to refrain from using discriminatory or otherwise disrespectful language in texts you may enter in the VODLE app, and to refrain from including links to discriminatory, disrespectful or unlawful content.
4.3 You agree to use the services only to a reasonable extent and not to send automated queries to the database server of PIK.
5. Liability
5.1 PIK provides the services “as is”. PIK does not guarantee operability and availability of the services.
5.2 PIK shall only be liable for fatal or physical injuries, damage of health and in accordance with the law on product liability in case of deliberate acts or gross negligence.
6. Term, Termination
6.1 The term of this Agreement commences upon Your use of the services.
6.2 You may terminate the Agreement at any time by no longer using the services.
6.3 PIK may terminate the Agreement with immediate effect by not continuing to offer the services.
6.4 In the event of termination of the Agreement, the provisions in sections 5 and 7 shall continue to apply.
7. General Provisions
7.1 The Agreement shall be governed exclusively by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. The application of German international private law and the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) is excluded.
7.2 If any provision of this Agreement is or becomes invalid, illegal or unenforceable, such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability shall not affect the remainder of this Agreement.
Status: June 2022