Privacy Policy
Last updated: April 30, 2026
Impressum
Dr. Laila Berning
Affiliated Researcher, University of Freiburg
Tennenbacher Str. 4, 79106 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Email: lailaberning[at]gmail.com
Phone: +49 17647661251
Photo credit: Yannick Noah Layer
Disclaimer
External links on this website lead to third-party websites. We have no control over their content or privacy practices and accept no liability for them.
1. Responsible Person (Controller)
The person responsible for data processing on this website within the meaning of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is:
Dr. Laila Berning
Affiliated Researcher, University of Freiburg
Tennenbacher Str. 4, 79106 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
Email: lailaberning[at]gmail.com
Phone: +49 17647661251
2. What Data We Collect and Why
This is a personal website. We collect personal data only in the following limited circumstances:
a) Contact Form
When you voluntarily use the contact form, we collect:
- Your name
- Your email address
- Your message content
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — legitimate interest. We have a legitimate interest in receiving and responding to messages that you actively choose to send us. This processing is limited to what is strictly necessary to handle your enquiry.
Contact form submissions are forwarded to and stored in a Gmail inbox operated by Google LLC. Google therefore acts as a data processor for the personal data contained in your message (name, email address, and message content). As Google is a US-based company, data may be transferred to and processed in the United States under Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR). For more information, see Google’s privacy policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
b) Server Access Logs
When you visit this website, our hosting provider (Namecheap) automatically records technical access data in server logs. This may include:
- Your IP address
- Date and time of access
- Pages requested
- Browser type and version
- Referring URL
This data is collected automatically by the server infrastructure and is not actively used by us. We have no direct control over this logging.
Legal basis: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — legitimate interest in the secure and stable operation of this website.
3. Cookies
This website uses strictly necessary cookies only. These are required for basic website functions to operate correctly. No consent is required for strictly necessary cookies pursuant to § 25(2) No. 2 TDDDG (Telekommunikation-Digitale-Dienste-Datenschutz-Gesetz).
We do not use:
- Analytics or tracking cookies
- Advertising or marketing cookies
- Social media plugins or pixels
4. Third-Party Services
Cloudflare Turnstile (Bot Protection)
We use Cloudflare Turnstile solely on our contact form to protect it against automated spam and bot submissions. No other Cloudflare services are used on this website.
When you submit the contact form, Turnstile collects the following technical signals to distinguish human users from bots:
- IP address
- User-Agent header (browser/device type)
- TLS fingerprint
- Sitekey and associated origin
This data is not used to identify, profile, or track individual users. It does not set marketing or tracking cookies.
Cloudflare acts in a dual role with respect to this data:
- As a data processor on our behalf, for the purpose of protecting our contact form from bots (Art. 28 GDPR)
- As an independent data controller, for the purpose of improving Turnstile’s bot detection capabilities, under its own legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR)
As Cloudflare, Inc. is a US-based company, data may be transferred to and processed in the United States. Cloudflare relies on the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and Standard Contractual Clauses (Art. 46(2)(c) GDPR) as transfer safeguards.
For full details, see Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy policy: https://www.cloudflare.com/turnstile-privacy-policy/
5. Hosting Provider
This website is hosted by Namecheap, Inc. on their UK hosting plan. The servers are physically located in the United Kingdom (Timico data centre, Nottinghamshire). As part of operating this website, Namecheap may automatically process technical data (including server access logs containing IP addresses) as a data processor on our behalf under a Data Processing Agreement in accordance with Art. 28 GDPR.
As data is hosted within the UK, no transfer outside the UK or EEA occurs in relation to hosting.
For more information, see Namecheap’s privacy policy: https://www.namecheap.com/legal/general/privacy-policy/
6. Data Retention
| Data | Retention Period |
|---|---|
| Contact form submissions (name, email, message) | 1 year from receipt, then deleted |
| Server access logs | As determined by Namecheap’s standard retention practices |
You may request early deletion of your contact form data at any time by contacting us (see Section 1). We will respond to all data subject requests within one month as required by Art. 12 GDPR.
7. Your Rights Under GDPR
Under the GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR) — you may request confirmation of whether we process your data and obtain a copy of it
- Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR) — you may request correction of inaccurate data
- Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR) — you may request deletion of your data under certain conditions
- Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR) — you may request that we limit how we use your data
- Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR) — you may request your data in a structured, machine-readable format
- Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR) — you may object to processing based on legitimate interest
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at the address in Section 1. We will respond within one month.
8. Right to Lodge a Complaint
You have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection supervisory authority at any time. The authority responsible for Baden-Württemberg is:
Landesbeauftragter für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit Baden-Württemberg (LfDI)
Lautenschlagerstraße 20
70173 Stuttgart
Germany
Website: https://www.baden-wuerttemberg.datenschutz.de
9. Changes to This Privacy Policy
We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with an updated “Last updated” date at the top. We recommend reviewing this page periodically.