Privacy

Controller and applicable law

The controller is the publisher named below. We process personal data under Swiss data protection law and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) where it applies.

Hosting, security and server statistics

Hosting is provided by Kreativ Media GmbH, Höschgasse 45, 8008 Zürich, Switzerland. Its published documents name Metanet AG as a Swiss server provider. Technical connection data can include IP address, time, requested address, response status, transferred volume and browser, device and referring-site information. We use this for delivery, security, troubleshooting and server-side usage statistics, not to combine tool answers into advertising profiles. Where the GDPR applies, the basis is legitimate interests in secure operation (Article 6(1)(f)).

Logs are kept only as needed for those purposes; no single fixed retention period is promised. Concrete security incidents, legal claims or legal duties can require longer storage. The provider describes daily backups retained for up to 30 days. Its infrastructure description does not guarantee that every processing operation remains exclusively in Switzerland.

Local tools and health information

Answers in our tools are processed in the current browser window. The site does not send them to us or Google and does not permanently store them. Reloading can erase them. Files you deliberately print or save remain your responsibility. The menopause diary, appointment sheet and couples worksheet do not load our advertising, Google consent or Analytics scripts. We disable Analytics and reader comment forms on health articles; advertising consent technology may still connect to Google there.

Reader comments where offered

A submitted display name, text, article reference, timestamp and moderation status are processed to moderate and, after approval, publish the contribution. Do not post health details or other people’s personal information. No email address is required. Contributions are checked before publication. Pending contributions are normally deleted after 30 days; published posts remain until removed or the discussion closes. Abuse-protection records are retained for two days. Where the GDPR applies, legitimate interests in a safe discussion and abuse prevention are the basis.

Opening the writing function sets the necessary __Host-eu_reader session cookie, limited to HTTPS and inaccessible to JavaScript. Server-side validity ends after 30 minutes of inactivity. The browser cookie normally ends with the session, although browser session restoration can preserve it. Deletion requests should identify the article, display name and text.

Contact by email or telephone

Our mailbox is provided by GMX, 1&1 Mail & Media GmbH, Zweigniederlassung Karlsruhe, Brauerstr. 48, 76135 Karlsruhe, Germany. We process contact details, message content, attachments and technical communication information to answer enquiries. The basis, where applicable, is legitimate interests in answering (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), or contract-related necessity (Article 6(1)(b)). Contact does not subscribe you to marketing.

Enquiries are deleted when resolved unless follow-up, legal retention or a concrete legal claim requires retention. Recipients include the publisher and necessary communication providers. Processing involves Switzerland and Germany; exclusive processing in one country is not guaranteed.

Google advertising and consent

Google AdSense and its consent platform involve Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC in the United States. Google and other selected advertising partners can process IP address, page URL, browser/device information, online identifiers and advertisement interactions. Purposes include delivery, limiting repetition, measurement, security and, where authorised, personalisation. Partners and their purposes are shown in the Google consent message. Google does not act solely as our processor for all advertising operations.

Google code connects before a choice to show the consent message and check existing choices. Consequently, refusal does not mean there has been no connection to Google. We initially pause ad requests and show our own reading suggestions. Advertising is released only after a valid decision with the permissions required by the integration. All content remains accessible when you refuse. Health pages request non-personalised ads; Google can still receive their URL and technical connection data.

Consent and legal bases

Non-essential access to or storage on your device requires consent where Section 25(1) of the German TDDDG applies. Consent-dependent processing uses Article 6(1)(a) GDPR where applicable. Necessary consent management relies on legitimate interests in a reliable record of choices and, where applicable, the strictly necessary exception in Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG. This does not authorise general advertising tracking.

Some partners list legitimate interests for specific purposes and provide an objection option. That does not replace required consent to device access. Non-personalised ads can also use identifiers. You may reopen the choices or withdraw consent for the future in Privacy settings. The site may reload to stop a previous execution. Withdrawal does not change the lawfulness of earlier processing; browser controls can additionally remove cookies.

Optional Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics with measurement ID G-2WW3PEB61N only when the shared Google consent dialog returns explicit permission for analytics. Advertising and analytics choices are managed in this one dialog; there is no separate statistics prompt. Missing or denied permission keeps Analytics off, and continuing to read is not consent. We do not measure health articles or tools, search, legal/contact pages or comment administration with Analytics.

On eligible pages, Analytics receives page-use and technical data, pseudonymous identifiers and optional events for reading depth and a visible advertising position. We do not send tool answers, search text, comment text or a User-ID. Google Signals and Analytics advertising personalisation are disabled. Detailed location/device collection is disabled in the property; coarse country/region and traffic-source reporting can remain. This is not a promise of anonymous processing.

Advertising revenue and measurement limits

The Analytics property is linked to AdSense for revenue analysis. Google may add advertisement events such as ad_click, ad_impression and ad_query and associated revenue information. Our own eu_ad_slot_reached event records visibility of a position, including an own-magazine suggestion; it does not measure a click or prove an AdSense impression. Our scrolling events describe interaction, not reading comprehension.

Storage periods and choice records

Our Analytics cookies _ga and _ga_2WW3PEB61N are configured for 180 days without refreshing expiry on new activity. The property retains event data for 14 months and user data for two months, with activity-based reset disabled; these settings do not necessarily limit aggregated reports. Google’s consent platform records the shared choice. We create no new separate statistics choice record. A previous eu_analytics_choice_v1 entry may remain in local browser storage; it contains version, choice and decision time, originally valid for at most 180 days without renewal on visits. A previous refusal stored in that entry remains effective even after the original expiry until you reopen the shared dialog and complete a new choice. We then try to remove the old entry. A previous explicit statistics permission counts as knowledge of the analytics notice only within its original 180-day validity. It contains no article visits or health inputs.

To prevent an older Google choice without previous statistics permission from silently enabling analytics, we store the notice version under eu_cmp_analytics_notice_v2 after you complete a new choice in the displayed shared dialog. This necessary local browser record contains notice version 2 and the time of the latest completed choice, with no consent decision, identifier or usage history. The time is updated after each new choice so other open tabs can detect the change and reload to apply Google’s current choice. It remains until browser data is cleared or a later notice version replaces it. It is stored whether you accept or decline. The record never grants permission: Analytics still requires current explicit permission from Google’s consent platform. If storage fails, an older Google choice not previously recognised remains insufficient to activate analytics.

Google lists FCCDCF for consent and __gads and __gpi for advertising/security with example lifetimes of 13 months. Actual use depends on choice, browser and configuration. Cookie expiry is not the retention period of every resulting record. Consult the partner list and Google’s cookie information for provider-specific details.

International processing and your rights

Google and partners may process data outside Switzerland and the European Economic Area, including the United States. Google describes adequacy arrangements, applicable EU–US and Swiss–US Data Privacy Framework certification, and standard contractual clauses where needed. The applicable safeguard depends on the recipient and transfer. Processing only in Switzerland or the EU is not guaranteed.

Subject to applicable conditions, you may request access, correction, deletion, restriction, data portability and objection, and withdraw consent for the future. Proportionate identity verification may be necessary. The website does not make solely automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. Contact the publisher. You can complain to the Swiss FDPIC/EDÖB, Feldeggweg 1, 3003 Bern, or the competent GDPR supervisory authority where applicable.