Privacy policy, notes and rules of conduct

As part of his press and public relations work, the BfDI uses the open, non-commercial microblogging service Mastodon and operates his own, data protection-friendly instance in Mastodon’s decentralised architecture. On this instance, the BfDI has set up a social media account. The following privacy policy as well as notes and rules of conduct refer to this account.

I. Privacy policy (in accordance with Article 13 of the European General Data Protection Regulation — GDPR)

1.    Scope and purpose of the processing 

This privacy policy applies to the processing of personal data under the data protection responsibility of the BfDI as the operator of a social media account on the instance of the microblogging service Mastodon. The instance is also operated by him. In addition, reference is made to the privacy policy of the instance.

The purpose of the operation (maintenance) of the account is its use as a medium in the context of press and public relations work. The processing operations necessarily associated with the operation are derived from this.

2.    Contact with the controller

Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit

(English “The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information”)

Graurheindorfer Str. 153, 53117 Bonn

• Central phone number: 0228/997799-0
• Functional e-mail address: socialmedia@bfdi.bund.de

3.    Contact details of the data protection officer:

Behördlicher Datenschutzbeauftragter -persönlich-

Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit

(English:Data protection officer –personal address—

The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information)

Graurheindorfer Str. 153, 53117 Bonn

• E-mail: bdsb@bfdi.bund.de

Note:

Use direct contact with our data protection officer only for questions and concerns relating to data protection! For all other concerns regarding the BfDI’s Mastodon account, please use the contact details mentioned in section 2 above, in particular our functional e-mail address: socialmedia@bfdi.bund.de

4.    Legal basis for the processing of personal data

• The data processing associated with the access, registration and further use is carried out in the context of the use of an offer of the BfDI in connection with his official press and public relations work on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) GDPR. This includes processing for the fulfilment of required technical and organizational protective measures.
• If in the context of using the Mastodon instance a user communicates with the BfDI by e-mail, the associated data (e-mail addresses and contents) will also be processed to the extent necessary for the duration of the processing of the request as well as in accordance with the provisions relevant to the file keeping and will also be processed on the basis of Article 6(1)(e) GDPR and subsequently deleted.

5.    Data processing operations of the account

• People following the account will be publicly displayed. When you send a message, the date and time is also stored along with the information about which application you used to send it. Such messages may contain media attachments such as images and videos.
• Direct posts (“direct messages”) are not end-to-end encrypted and therefore generally accessible to the administrators of the instance of the BfDI and the recipient instance. Sensitive information should therefore be exchanged depending on the trustworthiness of the recipient instance and on other communication channels.
• All interactions with the account (sharing, boosting or citing posts) are also displayed publicly. This applies both to actions of third parties in relation to posts of the BfDI- account as well as to those of the BfDI-account in relation to posts from third parties. 

6.    Your rights

As a user of the offer, you have the rights referred to in Articles 15 to 18 and 20 to 21 of the GDPR, in particular:

a) Right of access

In accordance with Art. 15 GDPR, you can request information about the data processed about you at any time. Please note that your right of access may be restricted under certain circumstances in accordance with the statutory provisions (in particular Section 34 of the Federal Data Protection Act — BDSG).

b) Right to rectification

If data about your person are not (any longer) correct, you can request a rectification in accordance with Article 16 GDPR. If your data are incomplete, you can request completion.

c) Right to erasure

You can request the erasure of your personal data under the conditions of Article 17 GDPR. However, this is only possible if the personal data concerning you are no longer necessary, are processed unlawfully or if your consent has been revoked. The exceptions to this right laid down in Section 35 BDSG shall apply.

d) Right to restriction of processing

Within the framework of the provisions of Article 18 GDPR, you have the right to request a restriction of the processing of the data concerning you. This allows you to prevent further processing for the time being.

e) Right to data portability

In accordance with Article 20 GDPR, you have the possibility to receive personal data concerning you in a common, machine-readable format in order to have them forwarded if necessary.

f) Right to object

Pursuant to Article 21 GDPR, you have the right to object to the processing of data concerning you at any time on grounds relating to your particular situation. However, this cannot always be complied with, e.g. when legislation requires processing. The exceptions to this right laid down in Section 36 BDSG shall apply.

7.    Data Protection Supervision

Due to the BfDI’s special position, there is no right to lodge a complaint with a (another) supervisory authority; the data protection supervision is carried out internally by means of self-control and in particular via the BfDI’s data protection officer (contact options under point 2).

II.        Scope of use of the offer

The availability of the account is subject to change; the BfDI reserves the right to discontinue maintenance and operation of the account temporarily or completely at any time.

The BfDI restricts the use of his account —also for the protection of personal data — to content within the framework of the BfDI’s press and public relations work. Administrative services of the BfDI (e.g. receiving formal complaints of any kind, petitions or notification) or communication beyond the aforementioned purpose of use are not offered, processed or answered by the service. Corresponding concerns can be addressed to the BfDI via the usual contact channels. The existing contact options can be found on the BfDI website.

III.        Posts from the BfDI

Posts without additional information are those of the BfDI, Prof. Kelber, in persona; other posts from his authority are marked with the addition ‘ÖA’ (abbreviation of the public relations section).

IV.        Social media rules of conduct

Notwithstanding compliance with general conditions of use and other statutory provisions, posts not complying with the following principles may be concealed/deleted without giving reasons, or persons may be permanently excluded (blocked) from the discussion. The objective of the BfDI’s offer is a lively dialogue with a responsible and respectful interaction with each other. Therefore, the following actions are not permitted:

• Advertising/commercial posts, spam, insults, slander, defamation, provocation as well as posts with vulgar, violent glorifying, discriminatory, racist, anti-Semitic, sexist, hateful and/or illegal expressions or content
• Posts without material reference to the topic
• Posts with (mere) links without reference and without any own content post to the topic
• Posts with incorrect or missing source or author information, if these are required in the course of an appropriate post
• Posts containing personal data that merit protection, in particular those of third parties
• Posts in any other language than German or English, because the BfDI is otherwise not able to check their content

V. Legal notice and declaration of liability

This account is published by:
Der Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit

Graurheindorfer Straße 153
53117 Bonn

Phone: 0228/997799-0
E-mail: mastodon@bfdi.bund.de

Responsible person/authorised representative:

Prof. U. Kelber, J. H. Müller

Liability for own and external content

Under Section 7 (1) TMG (“Telemedia Act”), the BfDI is solely responsible for his own content in his account pursuant to the general laws.

Under Sections 8 to 10 TMG, he is not obliged to monitor transferred or stored third-party information or to investigate circumstances indicating illegal activity. This does not affect any obligations to remove or block information in accordance with general laws. Upon becoming aware of such legal infringements, the BfDI reserves the right to take appropriate action against them immediately.

Liability for links

Links to contents of third-party websites (“third-party content”) have been created – as far as they were created by the BfDI -  to the best of our knowledge and with due regard to the greatest possible care and only provide access to “third-party content”. Other links are outside the sphere of influence of the BfDI with regard to their selection.

In principle, the BfDI has no influence on the content of linked websites. Therefore, no responsibility is assumed for these websites. The respective operator or provider of the linked site is always responsible for linked content.

If you believe that the linked external sites violate applicable law or otherwise have inappropriate content, please let us know.

Copyright

The created content is subject to German copyright law. Reproduction, processing, distribution and any kind of exploitation outside the limits of copyright law generally require the written consent of the respective copyright holder. Should you become aware of a copyright infringement, the BfDI would like to ask for a corresponding notification. Upon becoming aware of violations of rights, the BfDI reserves the right to take action against them.

Insofar as the BfDI provides or refers to his own information material on this Mastodon instance, this material may be used in accordance with Section 5 paragraph 2 of the Copyright Act in conjunction with the terms of use of Data License Germany — Attribution — Version 2.0 (www.govdata.de/dl-de/by-2-0) stating the source “The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information”, unless expressly stated otherwise in the individual publication.