Privacy Policy

Last updated: April 2025

1. Introduction

Welcome to GermanSteps! Your privacy is very important to us. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, process, and protect your personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

2. Definitions

  • Personal Data: Any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person.
  • Processing: Any operation performed on personal data, such as collection, storage, use, disclosure, or deletion.
  • Data Controller: The natural or legal person who determines the purposes and means of processing personal data. In this case: GermanSteps.

3. Contact Information

GermanSteps
Email: privacy@germansteps.academy
Country: Germany

4. What Data We Collect

  • Name and email address (e.g., newsletter signup, account registration)
  • User-generated content: quiz scores, lesson progress (for registered users)
  • Technical data (IP address, browser type, device info)
  • Cookies and analytics data (e.g., page views, session duration)
  • Data from embedded content (e.g., YouTube videos)
  • Payment-related data (e.g., billing name, email, transaction ID)

5. How We Collect Data

  • Through forms you submit voluntarily
  • Via lesson interaction and quiz participation
  • Automatically through cookies and tracking tools
  • Through embedded third-party media (e.g., video players)
  • When you purchase a paid service (future feature)

6. Purpose of Data Processing

  • To provide access to lessons, quizzes, and member-only content
  • To personalize your learning experience (e.g., tracking quiz progress)
  • To send newsletters and updates (with consent)
  • To analyze website usage and improve services
  • To process and manage payments for paid content (when active)
  • To maintain site security and prevent abuse

7. Legal Basis for Processing

  • Consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR)
  • Contract performance (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR)
  • Legal obligations (Art. 6(1)(c) GDPR)
  • Legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR, e.g. analytics)
  • Payment processing for paid services (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR)

8. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies for functionality, performance analysis, and to embed external media. You may disable cookies in your browser, though this may limit some features.

9. Embedded Content

Some pages include embedded videos (e.g., from YouTube). These third-party providers may collect data such as IP address and user behavior as if you visited their own website.

10. Web Fonts

We may use fonts hosted by third parties (e.g., Google Fonts). Where possible, fonts are loaded locally to minimize external data transfer.

11. Quizzes and Learning Progress

Our content includes interactive quizzes. If you’re a registered user, your quiz results and lesson progress may be saved to personalize your learning experience. This data is securely stored and not shared with third parties.

12. Payments and Billing

When paid features become available, we may collect basic billing information such as your name, email address, and payment method. Payments are processed by secure third-party providers (e.g., PayPal, Stripe). We do not store complete payment information such as credit card numbers on our servers.

13. Data Retention

We retain data only as long as necessary for the purposes listed above. Usage data is anonymized and retained for statistical purposes. Payment data is kept only as long as legally required.

14. Data Recipients

We do not sell or share your personal data. Some technical data may be processed by service providers we use for hosting, analytics, email delivery, or payment processing. These providers act under strict data protection agreements.

15. Data Security

We apply SSL encryption, strong passwords, and regular updates to protect your data. Access is restricted to authorized administrators only.

16. Your Rights

You have the right to:

  • Access and review your data
  • Request correction or deletion
  • Withdraw consent at any time
  • Request restriction or objection to processing
  • File a complaint with a data protection authority

To exercise your rights, contact us at: privacy@germansteps.academy

17.Data Collected to Manage Your Membership

At checkout, we will collect your name, email address, username, and password. This information is used to setup your account for our site. If you are redirected to an offsite payment gateway to complete your payment, we may store this information in a temporary session variable to setup your account when you return to our site.

At checkout, we may also collect your billing address and phone number. This information is used to confirm your credit card. The billing address and phone number are saved by our site to prepopulate the checkout form for future purchases and so we can get in touch with you if needed to discuss your order.

At checkout, we may also collect your credit card number, expiration date, and security code. This information is passed to our payment gateway to process your purchase. The last 4 digits of your credit card number and the expiration date are saved by our site to use for reference and to send you an email if your credit card will expire before the next recurring payment.

When logged in, we use cookies to track some of your activity on our site including logins, visits, and page views.

18.Comment

We collect information about visitors who comment on Sites that use our Akismet Anti-spam service. The information we collect depends on how the User sets up Akismet for the Site, but typically includes the commenter’s IP address, user agent, referrer, and Site URL (along with other information directly provided by the commenter such as their name, username, email address, and the comment itself).

19. Updates to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy as our services evolve or regulations change. The latest version is always available on this page.