Privacy Policy

This privacy policy applies to the services provided by KnowS IT GmbH, Nordstrasse 190, 8037 Zurich ("KnowS") at http://www.knows.com (as well as at http://www.knows.ch and other websites, collectively the "Website" or "KnowS.com").

KnowS.com

The Internet platform www.knows.com (Internet platform) is a marketplace for services of all kinds and is -operated by KnowS IT GmbH (CHE392-.618.876), Nordstrasse 190, 8037 Zurich.

KnowS.com is highly responsible about security and is therefore committed to complying with the legal requirements for data protection.

KnowS.com makes every effort to protect the information you entrust to us from unauthorized access: With the help of a differentiated system of access authorisations and technical protective measures such as SSL encryption, great data security is guaranteed. The input of account or credit card data takes place with KnowS.com only after switching to a particularly secured Internet connection.

The data you entrust us with is safe with us. At KnowS.com there is no sale, exchange or other unauthorized use of personal data and information. 

We ensure that your personal data will not be disclosed to other companies or organizations unless this is necessary to fulfill the purpose for which the data was collected, for example, to fulfill contractual obligations, to respond to their inquiries, for our legitimate business purposes or due to legal requirements. Personal data may be disclosed to or processed by the third parties listed below, if necessary, for the above purposes:
Employees: all employees are bound to secrecy. We keep your personal data secure and strictly adhere to organizational and technical security provisions in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
Affiliated companies: The relationship and handling of personal data is governed by intra-group agreements that provide for compliance with the legal requirements of applicable laws.

Authorities: When required by applicable laws or when ordered to do so by a court.

Internal business infrastructure: We use cyon.ch as a hosting platform to provide our services and Switzerland as a hosting location. In addition, we use other third parties to operate our internal business infrastructure and to provide the Services, for example for backup, storage, payment process, support tool or electronic signatures.

When we share your personal data with such third parties, reasonable precautions are taken to ensure proper and secure data processing in compliance with applicable data protection laws (e.g., EU standard contractual clauses, data processing contracts, confidentiality agreements). We do not allow our third parties to use the personal data we provide to them for their marketing purposes or for purposes other than in connection with the services they provide to us.

To provide the KnowS.com service, it is necessary that KnowS.com collects, stores, processes and uses the personal data entrusted to it in accordance with the privacy policy. This only occurs if you consent to the collection, storage, processing and use by KnowS.com or companies contracted by KnowS.com of the personal data required for the performance of the services arising from the use of the services or if the above-mentioned use of data is already permissible on the basis of legal justifications, e.g. insofar as this is necessary for the performance of the contract or the initiation of the contract. Furthermore, the processing of personal data may result from the fact that KnowS is subject to a legal obligation which requires the processing of personal data, for example to fulfil tax obligations. The processing of personal data may also be necessary to protect the legitimate interests of our company or a third party, unless the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the person concerned, which require the protection of personal data, predominate. In this context it is, for example, a legitimate interest of KnowS to run our business for the benefit of all our employees and shareholders.

KnowS collects and stores only the personal data provided by the users during registration or automatically collected by cookies. In particular, this concerns the following data: Name, first name, gender, date of birth, e-mail address, company address, telephone number, credit card details and bank account details, possibly proof of identity (e.g. copies of ID, passport or driving licence).

The data transmitted by KnowS will be used and processed exclusively for the provision of contractual services. Access to the personal data is restricted to KnowS employees and third parties who enlist KnowS to provide the contractual services (e.g. the external payment provider Stripe, www.stripe.com). The payment service provider may require further information from the user in order to process the payment transaction. This is stated in the privacy policy of the respective payment service provider.

In this context, data may be transferred to countries outside Switzerland or the European Economic Area (EEA). Personal data are transferred outside the EEA on the basis of adequacy decisions or other appropriate safeguards, in particular the standard data protection clauses adopted by the European Commission. Please contact us if you wish to request a copy of the specific guarantees for the export of your information.

We process and store your personal data for as long as it is necessary for the fulfilment of our contractual and legal obligations or otherwise the purposes pursued with the processing, i.e. for example for the duration of the entire business relationship (from the initiation, processing to the termination of a contract) as well as beyond that in accordance with the legal storage and documentation obligations. It is possible that personal data may be stored for the period in which claims can be asserted against our company and to the extent that we are otherwise legally obliged to do so or justified business interests require it (e.g. for purposes of proof and documentation). As soon as your personal data are no longer required for the above-mentioned purposes, they will be deleted or anonymised as far as possible.

KnowS stores personal data on servers located in Switzerland or at an affiliated company. Switzerland has been approved by the EU Commission as a country outside the EU and the EEA that ensures sufficient safeguards for the protection of personal data (adequacy decision of the EU Commission pursuant to Art. 45 GDPR).

When the user visits the Internet platform, information can be automatically stored on his computer. This happens in the form of so-called "cookies" or a similar file that helps KnowS in various ways, such as getting to know the preferences of visitors and improving the Internet platform. We ask for personal information when you visit our website, use our services, create a user account, make bookings, register for the newsletter, programs, apply for a job or send the CV and when you generally contact us. Cookies are not used to run programs or download viruses to your computer. The main purpose of cookies is rather to provide you with a specially tailored offer and to make the use of the service as time-saving as possible. Most browsers are set by default to accept cookies. However, you can change your browser so that it rejects cookies or requires you to confirm them beforehand. If you reject cookies, not all of our offers will work for you without problems.

Most browsers allow you to delete cookies, prevent their installation, or generate a warning before a cookie is installed. The user can find further information on this subject in the browser instructions. KnowS will use automatically stored information exclusively for statistical evaluations and, in particular, will not associate it with any personal data provided to KnowS.

5.1 Subscription to our newsletter

On the KnowS IT GmbH website, users are given the opportunity to subscribe to the newsletter of our company. Which personal data is transmitted to KnowS when ordering the newsletter is determined by the input mask used for this purpose.

KnowS IT GmbH informs its customers and business partners in regular intervals by means of a newsletter about offers of the company. The newsletter of our company can only be received by the person concerned if (1) the person concerned has a valid e-mail address and (2) the person concerned registers to receive the newsletter. For legal reasons, a confirmation e-mail in the double opt-in procedure will be sent to the e-mail address entered for the first time by a person concerned for the purpose of sending the newsletter. This confirmation e-mail is used to check whether the owner of the e-mail address as the person concerned has authorised receipt of the newsletter.

When registering for the newsletter, we also store the IP address assigned by the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to the computer system used by the person concerned at the time of registration as well as the date and time of registration. The collection of this data is necessary in order to be able to track the (possible) misuse of the e-mail address of a person concerned at a later point in time and therefore serves to legally safeguard KnowS.

The personal data collected in the course of registering for the newsletter will be used exclusively to send our newsletter. Furthermore, subscribers to the newsletter could be informed by e-mail if this is necessary for the operation of the newsletter service or registration in this respect, as might be the case in the event of changes to the newsletter offer or changes to the technical conditions. The personal data collected as part of the newsletter service will not be passed on to third parties. The subscription to our newsletter can be cancelled by the person concerned at any time. The consent to the storage of personal data, which the person concerned has given us for the newsletter dispatch, can be revoked at any time. For the purpose of revoking your consent, you will find a corresponding link in every newsletter. Furthermore, it is possible to unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time directly on the website or to inform us of this in any other way.

5.2 Newsletter-Tracking

The KnowS IT GmbH newsletter contains so-called tracking pixels. A tracking pixel is a thumbnail image embedded in emails sent in HTML format to enable log file recording and analysis. This allows a statistical evaluation of the success or failure of online marketing campaigns to be carried out. Based on the embedded pixel, KnowS IT GmbH can recognize if and when an e-mail was opened by an affected person and which links in the e-mail were accessed by the affected person.

Such personal data collected via the pixel-code contained in the newsletters are stored and evaluated by KnowS in order to optimise the newsletter dispatch and to adapt the content of future newsletters even better to the interests of the person concerned. This personal data will not be passed on to third parties. Affected persons are entitled at any time to revoke the relevant separate declaration of consent submitted via the double opt-in procedure. After a revocation these personal data are deleted. If you unsubscribe from the newsletter, KnowS IT GmbH automatically interprets this as a revocation.

Rights of the data subject

You have the right to information, correction, deletion, the right to restrict data processing and otherwise object to our data processing and to the surrender of certain personal data for the purpose of transfer to another location (so-called data portability) within the framework of the data protection law applicable to you and to the extent provided for therein (such as in the case of the DSGVO).

Please note, however, that we reserve the right to assert the statutory restrictions on our part, for example if we are obliged to store or process certain data, if we have an overriding interest in it (to the extent that we may invoke it) or if we need it for the assertion of claims. If you incur any costs, we will inform you in advance. We have already informed you about the possibility of withdrawing your consent in certain situations. Note that exercising these rights can conflict with contractual agreements and can have consequences such as premature contract termination or cost consequences. In this case, we will inform you in advance if this is not already contractually regulated.

Every data subject also has the right to have his or her rights enforced in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern, (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch). The Data Protection Commissioner in the Canton of Zurich, P.O. Box, 8090 Zurich, +41 43 259 39 99 (https://www.datenschutz.ch). Data Protection Officer KnowS: support@knows.com

6.1 Privacy policy for the use of Google Analytics

On its website KnowS has integrated the component Google Analytics (with anonymization function). Google Analytics is a web analytics service. Web analysis is the collection, collection and evaluation of data about the behavior of visitors to Internet sites. A web analysis service collects data on, among other things, from which website a person concerned has accessed a website (so-called referrers), which subpages of the website have been accessed or how often and for how long a subpage has been viewed. A web analysis is mainly used for the optimization of a website and for the cost-benefit analysis of Internet advertising.

The operating company of the Google Analytics component is Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA.

We use the addition "gat._anonymizeIp" for the web analysis via Google Analytics. This addition is used by Google to shorten and anonymize the IP address of the Internet connection of the person concerned if access to our Internet pages is from a Member State of the European Union or from another Contracting State to the Agreement on the European Economic Area.

The purpose of the Google Analytics component is to analyse the flow of visitors to our website. Google uses the data and information obtained, among other things, to evaluate the use of our website, to compile online reports for us showing the activities on our website and to provide other services in connection with the use of our website.

Google Analytics places a cookie on the information technology system of the person concerned. What cookies are has already been explained above. By setting the cookie, Google is able to analyse the use of our website. Each time one of the individual pages of this website is accessed on which a Google Analytics component has been integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the person concerned is automatically prompted by the respective Google Analytics component to transmit data to Google for the purpose of online analysis. As part of this technical process, Google obtains knowledge of personal data, such as the IP address of the person concerned, which Google uses, among other things, to track the origin of visitors and clicks and subsequently to enable commission statements.

The cookie is used to store personal information, such as the access time, the location from which an access originated and the frequency of visits to our website by the person concerned. Each time you visit our website, this personal data, including the IP address of the Internet connection used by the person concerned, is transmitted to Google in the United States of America. This personal data is stored by Google in the United States of America. Google may share this personal information collected through the technical process with third parties.

The person concerned can prevent the setting of cookies by our website at any time, as described above, by means of an appropriate setting of the Internet browser used and thus permanently object to the setting of cookies. Such a setting of the Internet browser used would also prevent Google from setting a cookie on the information technology system of the person concerned. In addition, a cookie already set by Google Analytics can be deleted at any time via the Internet browser or other software programs.

Furthermore, it is possible for the person concerned to object to and prevent the collection of data generated by Google Analytics and relating to the use of this website and the processing of this data by Google. To do this, the person concerned must download and install a browser add-on under the tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout link. This browser add-on tells Google Analytics via JavaScript that no data and information about visits to Internet pages may be transmitted to Google Analytics. The installation of the browser add-on is considered by Google as a contradiction. If the data subject's information technology system is later deleted, formatted or reinstalled, the data subject must reinstall the browser add-on in order to deactivate Google Analytics. If the browser add-on is uninstalled or deactivated by the person concerned or by another person within his/her sphere of control, the browser add-on can be reinstalled or reactivated.

Further information and Google's current privacy policies can be found at www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/ and www.google.com/analytics/terms/de.html . Google Analytics is explained in more detail under this link www.google.com/intl/de_de/analytics/ .

6.2 Privacy policy on the use and enjoyment of Facebook

KnowS has integrated components of the company Facebook on this website. Facebook is a social network.

A social network is an Internet-based social meeting place, an online community that usually enables users to communicate with each other and interact in virtual space. A social network can serve as a platform for the exchange of opinions and experiences or enables the Internet community to provide personal or company-related information. Facebook enables users of the social network to create private profiles, upload photos and network via friend requests, among other things.

The operating company of Facebook is Facebook, Inc. 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, CA 94025, USA. If a data subject lives outside the USA or Canada, the person responsible for processing personal data is Facebook Ireland Ltd., 4 Grand Canal Square, Grand Canal Harbour, Dublin 2, Ireland.

Each time one of the individual pages of this website is accessed, which is operated by the data controller and on which a Facebook component (Facebook plug-in) has been integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the person concerned is automatically prompted by the respective Facebook component to download a representation of the corresponding Facebook component from Facebook. A complete overview of all Facebook plug-ins can be found at developers.facebook.com/docs/plugins/. As part of this technical process, Facebook obtains information about which specific subpage of our website is visited by the person concerned.

If the person concerned is logged into Facebook at the same time, Facebook recognizes which specific page of our website the person concerned is visiting each time the person visits our website and for the entire duration of that person's stay on our website. This information is collected by the Facebook component and assigned by Facebook to the respective Facebook account of the person concerned. If the data subject clicks on one of the Facebook buttons integrated into our website, such as the "Like" button, or if the data subject comments, Facebook assigns this information to the data subject's personal Facebook user account and stores this personal data.

Facebook receives information through the Facebook component that the individual concerned has visited our website whenever the individual concerned is logged into Facebook at the same time as accessing our website, regardless of whether the individual concerned clicks on the Facebook component or not. If the person concerned does not want this information to be transmitted to Facebook in this way, they can prevent it from being transmitted by logging out of their Facebook account before accessing our website.

Facebook's published data policy, which is available at de-de.facebook.com/about/privacy/, provides information about Facebook's collection, processing and use of personal data. It also explains which settings Facebook offers to protect the privacy of the person concerned. In addition, various applications are available that make it possible to suppress data transmission to Facebook. Such applications can be used by the data subject to suppress data transmission to Facebook.

6.3 Privacy policy regarding the use of Linkedin

KnowS has integrated components of the LinkedIn Corporation on this website. LinkedIn is an Internet-based social network that enables users to connect to existing business contacts and to make new business contacts. Over 400 million registered people use LinkedIn in more than 200 countries. LinkedIn is currently the largest platform for business contacts and one of the most visited websites in the world.

LinkedIn is operated by LinkedIn Corporation, 2029 Stierlin Court Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. For privacy matters outside the United States, LinkedIn Ireland, Privacy Policy Issues, Wilton Plaza, Wilton Place, Dublin 2, Ireland, is responsible.

Each time you visit our website, which is equipped with a LinkedIn component (LinkedIn plug-in), this component causes the browser used by the person concerned to download a corresponding display of the LinkedIn component. More information about the LinkedIn plug-ins can be found at developer.linkedin.com/plugins. As part of this technical process, LinkedIn obtains information as to which specific subpage of our website is visited by the person concerned.

If the person concerned is logged in to LinkedIn at the same time, LinkedIn recognizes which specific subpage of our website the person concerned is visiting each time the person concerned accesses our website and for the entire duration of that person's stay on our website. This information is collected by the LinkedIn component and assigned by LinkedIn to the respective LinkedIn account of the person concerned. If the person concerned clicks on an integrated LinkedIn button on our website, LinkedIn assigns this information to the personal LinkedIn user account of the person concerned and saves this personal data.

LinkedIn will always receive information through the LinkedIn component that the person concerned has visited our website if the person concerned is logged in to LinkedIn at the same time as accessing our website, regardless of whether the person concerned clicks on the LinkedIn component or not. If such a transfer of this information to LinkedIn is not intended by the person concerned, he can prevent the transfer by logging out of his LinkedIn account before accessing our website.

LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/psettings/guest-controls offers the ability to unsubscribe from email messages, SMS messages, targeted ads, and manage ad settings. LinkedIn also uses partners such as Quantcast, Google Analytics, BlueKai, DoubleClick, Nielsen, Comscore, Eloqua and Lotame who can set cookies. Such cookies can be rejected at  www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy  LinkedIn's current privacy policy can be found at  www.linkedin.com/legal/privacy-policy  LinkedIn's cookie policy can be found at www.linkedin.com/legal/cookie-policy 

6.4 Privacy policy on the use and application of Twitter

KnowS has integrated Twitter components on this website. Twitter is a multilingual, publicly accessible microblogging service on which users can publish and distribute so-called tweets, i.e. short messages limited to 140 characters. These short messages can be accessed by anyone, including people who are not registered on Twitter. The tweets are also displayed to the so-called followers of the respective user. Followers are other Twitter users who follow a user's tweets. In addition, Twitter enables a broad audience to be addressed via hashtags, links or retweets.

The operating company of Twitter is Twitter, Inc. 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA.

Each time one of the individual pages of this website is accessed, on which a Twitter component (Twitter button) has been integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the person concerned is automatically prompted by the respective Twitter component to download a display of the corresponding Twitter component from Twitter. Further information about the Twitter buttons can be found at about.twitter.com/en/resources/buttons. As part of this technical process, Twitter receives information about which specific subpage of our website is visited by the person concerned. The purpose of integrating the Twitter component is to enable our users to redistribute the content of this site, to make this site known in the digital world and to increase our traffic.

If the person concerned is logged in to Twitter at the same time, Twitter recognizes which specific page of our website the person concerned is visiting each time the person concerned accesses our website and for the entire duration of that person's stay on our website. This information is collected by the Twitter component and assigned by Twitter to the respective Twitter account of the person concerned. If the person concerned activates one of the Twitter buttons integrated on our website, the data and information transmitted will be assigned to the personal Twitter user account of the person concerned and stored and processed by Twitter.

Twitter will always receive information via the Twitter component that the person concerned has visited our website if the person concerned is logged in to Twitter at the same time as accessing our website, regardless of whether the person concerned clicks on the Twitter component or not. If the person concerned does not wish to transmit this information to Twitter in this way, he or she can prevent the transmission by logging out of his or her Twitter account before accessing our website.

Twitter's current privacy statements are available at twitter.com/privacy 

6.5 Privacy policy on the use and enjoyment of YouTube

KnowS has integrated components from YouTube on this website. YouTube is an Internet video portal that allows video publishers to post video clips and other users to view, rate and comment on them free of charge. YouTube allows the publication of all types of videos, which is why complete film and television programmes as well as music videos, trailers or videos made by users themselves can be accessed via the Internet portal.

The operating company of YouTube is YouTube, LLC, 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066, USA. YouTube, LLC is a subsidiary of Google Inc, 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy, Mountain View, CA 94043-1351, USA.

Each time a YouTube component (YouTube video) has been integrated on one of the individual pages of this website, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the person concerned is automatically prompted by the respective YouTube component to download a representation of the corresponding YouTube component from YouTube. Further information on YouTube can be found at https://www.youtube.com/yt/about/de/ As part of this technical process, YouTube and Google obtain information about which specific subpage of our website is visited by the person concerned.

If the person concerned is logged into YouTube at the same time, YouTube recognizes which specific subpage of our website the person concerned is visiting by calling up a subpage containing a YouTube video. This information is collected by YouTube and Google and assigned to the respective YouTube account of the person concerned.

YouTube and Google will receive information through the YouTube component that the person concerned has visited our website whenever that person is logged into YouTube at the same time as accessing our website, regardless of whether that person clicks on a YouTube video or not. If such transmission of this information to YouTube and Google is not intended by the data subject, the data subject may prevent such transmission by logging out of his/her YouTube account before accessing our website.

The privacy statements published by YouTube, which can be accessed at  https://www.google.de/intl/de/policies/privacy/provide information about the collection, processing and use of personal data by YouTube and Google.

6.6 Privacy Statement on the Use and Usage of Instagram

KnowS has integrated components of the Instagram service on this website. Instagram is a service that qualifies as an audiovisual platform that enables users to share photos and videos and also to disseminate such data on other social networks.

The operating company of Instagram's services is Instagram LLC, 1 Hacker Way, Building 14 First Floor, Menlo Park, CA, USA.

Each time one of the individual pages of this website is called, on which an Instagram component (Insta button) has been integrated, the Internet browser on the information technology system of the person concerned is automatically prompted by the respective Instagram component to download a representation of the corresponding Instagram component. As part of this technical process, Instagram obtains knowledge of which specific page of our website is visited by the person concerned.

If the person concerned is logged in to Instagram at the same time, Instagram recognizes which specific page the person concerned is visiting each time the person visits our website and for the entire duration of that person's stay on our website. This information is collected by the Instagram component and mapped by Instagram to the Instagram account of the person concerned. If the data subject clicks on one of the Instagram buttons integrated into our website, the data and information transmitted will be assigned to the personal Instagram user account of the data subject and stored and processed by Instagram.

Instagram receives information from the Instagram component that the person concerned has visited our site whenever they are logged into Instagram at the same time as they visit our site, regardless of whether or not they click on the Instagram component. If the person concerned does not want Instagram to receive such information, they can prevent the transmission by logging out of their Instagram account before accessing our website.

Further information and Instagram's current privacy statements can be found at  https://help.instagram.com/155833707900388 ans https://www.instagram.com/about/legal/privacy/

Within the framework of the statutory provisions, we can evaluate user profiles under a pseudonym, i.e. not personal, but anonymous, for the purposes of advertising, market research and improving our services. However, this will only take place if you have not made use of your legal right to object to this use of your data.

The users of the internet platform can demand at any time that KnowS send them a copy of the personal data which concern them or give them information about their use. Furthermore, KnowS will correct or delete this data at any time at the request of the user.

You have the right to request the information in electronic form and, where necessary, to request rectification of the personal data should it be incorrect. In cases where the Personal Data is not necessary to provide the Services, you may request that such Personal Data be irrevocably and securely deleted.

We want to keep your personal information up to date. If you would like to receive information about the personal data we hold about you, or if you would like to have your personal data deleted, please send an email to support@knows.com with your company reference and/or name. Your request will be processed in due course and in any event within one month of receipt of such request. If KnowS is only the data processor of your personal data, KnowS will forward your request to the data controller as soon as possible.

KnowS can demand a reasonable handling fee from the user for any resulting activities.

Every data subject also has the right to have his or her rights enforced in court or to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority. The competent data protection authority in Switzerland is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner, Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern, (http://www.edoeb.admin.ch). The Data Protection Commissioner in the Canton of Zurich, P.O. Box, 8090 Zurich, +41 43 259 39 99 (https://www.datenschutz.ch). Data Protection Officer KnowS: support@knows.com

KnowS is entitled to change this privacy policy at its own discretion. The changes are displayed to the user on the Internet platform.

This Privacy Policy shall be governed exclusively by Swiss substantive law, without further reference to its conflict of law rules, and excluding all international conventions. Any disputes arising out of or in connection with this Privacy Policy shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the competent courts in the Canton of Zurich, Switzerland.