Sprachtandem.ch and its partners use cookies and similar technologies for product development, to store and access information on your device, and for content measurement. For more information read our privacy policy.

Privacy policy

We are pleased that you are interested in the protection of your data. Since we care about your data privacy, we will not present you a complex legal paper below, but communicate openly and transparently.

What data do we collect?

When you visit our platform, our system automatically collects technical information from the accessing computer (information about the browser type and version used, the operating system, the internet provider and the IP address of the user, date and time of access, websites from which the user's system accesses our website, as well as websites that are called up by the user's system via our website) are recorded. There are several reasons for this: On the one hand, the security of your data is very important to us. In order to actively prevent (attempted) abuses, this basic information is crucial. On the other hand, we are trying to optimize the operation and design of the website for your use. Don't worry: We lack both the time and the interest to look at individual details.

In order to optimize the user experience of our website (for example, that you do not have to enter your languages every time), we use - if you give us permission for it - cookies. These are small data sets that your browser remembers for your next visit to our website. We do not use this technical solution to annoy you with advertising or similar - we are only interested in your comfort when using our website.

When you create a profile with us, you will be asked for various personal details (email address, name, gender, year of birth, zip code, hobbies, description). You also have the option to upload a profile picture. All of these details - with the exception of the e-mail address - as well as the date of your last login are publicly visible on your profile. The reason for this is to give everyone the opportunity to find a suitable counterpart for a language tandem. All messages sent through the chat system are stored and would be visible to us (but believe us, we lack the time to browse the messages). However, this possibility is essential for us to be able to trace abuses and harassments and to remove corresponding profiles from circulation.

Based on your activities within the platform, a score for your profile is automatically created. This is not displayed and is only used to give preference to more relevant profiles within the feed.

What do we do to protect your data?

We have taken various measures, both technical and organizational, to provide the best possible protection for your data (against unauthorized or unlawful processing and/or accidental loss, alteration, disclosure or access). For example, we have deliberately kept different parts of the website technically separate from each other and internally give each person only as many rights as are necessary to fulfill the respective function. However, you should be aware that the transmission of information via the Internet and other electronic means involves certain security risks and we cannot guarantee the secure transmission of data.

Do we share your information with third parties?

Our position is clear: we do not sell data and we do not share data with third parties. However, there are a few exceptions, which are essential for the secure operation of our platform. Specifically, these are the following exceptions:

  • We work with an external service provider (PayPal) for payments. We do not actively provide any information to this service provider, but some information may be collected during the payment process. For details, we must refer to the privacy policy of PayPal, as these can change regularly.
  • For security reasons, we also work with an external service provider (sendinblue) to send emails. For sending emails, we send the required data to the service provider's interface provided for this purpose. For the details of their handling of data protection, we must refer to the relevant provisions of sendinblue.
  • Like every website, our platform also needs hosting. Since we don't want to be like everyone else, we even have two hostings (the reason for this is the increased security due to the complex system hierarchy). Here we rely on Metanet and DigitalOcean. Again, we do not actively share any data, but it is stored on their servers. Here, too, we refer to their privacy policy.
  • In order to tailor our website to your needs, anonymized usage analyses are indispensable. We use Google Analytics for this purpose. Here, too, we do not actively provide Google Analytics with data. It is well known that Google collects this data itself. How/where/what you can find in their privacy policy.
  • Nobody likes fake profiles and internet bots that send countless messages. With hCaptcha we try to prevent this. We don't actively send data to the service, but we have it built into the registration process. How hCaptcha handles the data it receives is explained in their privacy policy.
  • Finally, we may share your personal information if we believe it is necessary to comply with applicable laws and regulations, in connection with legal proceedings, at the request of courts and authorities, or pursuant to other legal obligations, in order to protect and defend our rights and property.

What are your rights?

You have the right to request a copy of the information we hold about you. If any information about you is incorrect, you may ask us to correct it. You can request that we delete the data about you. You can trigger this step automatically on your profile page with the function "Delete account".

Responsible for data protection and processing of your data is the collective society Sprachtandem.ch. You can reach us at [email protected].

The legal basis is the Federal Data Protection Act, the Ordinance to the Federal Data Protection Act and the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union.

Data protection for children

Only individuals 18 years of age or older have permission to access our service. Underage users require the consent of the person with parental authority. Our Service is not directed to persons under the age of 14. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 14. If you are a parent or guardian and learn that your children have provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we learn that we have collected personally identifiable information from a child under the age of 14 without verification of parental consent, we will take steps to remove that information from our servers.

Changes

We may change the Privacy Policy at any time without notice to reflect new circumstances. Since hardly anyone reads the policy, we refrain from boring most of our users with an info email about minor changes. However, if there are significant changes, we will inform you in an appropriate manner.

Contact us

If you have any questions about these terms or our services, please contact us by email at [email protected].

This Privacy Policy is effective as of 12/15/2022.