Privacy Policy for Rita's Outback Guide

Thank you for visiting my website and for your interest in my site policies. My name is Rita Amend, I am the owner, creator and sole writer here at ritas-outback-guide.com.

On this page you will find important information about types of personal information I receive and collect when you use ritas-outback-guide.com, as well as some of the steps I take to safeguard your information. This shall help you make an informed decision about sharing personal details on ritas-outback-guide.com.

The European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force on 25. May 2018, so this policy is updated to cover & protect you under the new law.
Since this document was drafted with recommendations from a lawyer, it might sound a bit formal in places, but hopefully easy to understand. If you have any questions about these policies, please don't hesitate to contact me using the email form on the bottom of this page.

Please do not use the website if you disagree with any of the terms outlined here.

An overview of data protection

General

The following gives a simple overview of what happens to your personal information when you visit my website. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. Detailed information on the subject of data protection can be found in the detailed privacy policy following the general introduction.

How do I collect your data?

Some data are collected when you provide it to me. This could, for example, be data you enter on a contact form.

Other data are collected automatically by the IT systems when you visit the website. These data are primarily technical data such as the browser and operating system you are using or when you accessed the page. These data are collected automatically as soon as you enter our website.

What do I use your data for?

Part of the data is collected to ensure the proper functioning of the website. Other data can be used to analyze how visitors use the site.

What rights do you have regarding your data?

You always have the right to request information about your stored data, its origin, its recipients, and the purpose of its collection at no charge. You also have the right to request that it be corrected, blocked, or deleted.

You can contact me at any time using the contact form below if you have further questions about the issue of privacy and data protection.

Right to file a complaint

You may also, of course, file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities. But I'd prefer when you contact me first.

2. General information and mandatory information

2.1 Data protection

The operators of this website take the protection of your personal data very seriously. We treat your personal data as confidential and in accordance with the statutory data protection regulations and this privacy policy.

If you use this website, various pieces of personal data will be collected. Personal information is any data with which you could be personally identified. This privacy policy explains what information we collect and what we use it for. It also explains how and for what purpose this happens.

Please note that data transmitted via the internet (e.g. via email communication) may be subject to security breaches. Complete protection of your data from third-party access is not possible.

2.2 Notice concerning the party responsible for this website

The data collected on this website are processed by the website operator. The operator's contact details can be found in the website's required legal notice.

The responsible party is the natural or legal person who alone or jointly with others decides on the purposes and means of processing personal data (names, email addresses, etc.).

2.3 Revocation of your consent to the processing of your data

Many data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

2.4 Right to file complaints with regulatory authorities

If there has been a breach of data protection legislation, the person affected may file a complaint with the competent regulatory authorities. The competent regulatory authority for matters related to data protection legislation is the data protection officer of the German state in which our company is headquartered. A list of data protection officers and their contact details can be found at the following link: Bundesbeauftragte für den Datenschutz und die Informationsfreiheit.
Or, you can file a complaint with the supervisory authority in your country of residence.

2.5 Information, blocking, deletion

As permitted by law, you have the right to be provided at any time with information free of charge about any of your personal data that is stored as well as its origin, the recipient and the purpose for which it has been processed. You also have the right to have this data corrected, blocked or deleted. You can contact us at any time using the address given in our legal notice if you have further questions on the topic of personal data.

2.6 SSL or TLS encryption

This site uses SSL or TLS encryption for security reasons and for the protection of the transmission of confidential content, such as the inquiries you send to us as the site operator. You can recognize an encrypted connection in your browser's address line when it changes from "http://" to "https://" and the lock icon is displayed in your browser's address bar.

If SSL or TLS encryption is activated, the data you transfer to us cannot be read by third parties.

3. Data collection on our website

Cookies

Some of our web pages use cookies. Cookies do not harm your computer and do not contain any viruses. Cookies help make our website more user-friendly, efficient, and secure. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer and saved by your browser.

Most of the cookies we use are so-called "session cookies." They are automatically deleted after your visit. We use cookies to help us identify and track visitors, their use of our website, and their website access preferences.
Other cookies remain in your device's memory until you delete them. These cookies make it possible to recognize your browser when you next visit the site.

3.1 Refusing Cookies

You can configure your browser to inform you about the use of cookies so that you can decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept or reject a cookie. Alternatively, your browser can be configured to automatically accept cookies under certain conditions or to always reject them, or to automatically delete cookies when closing your browser. If you choose to refuse ritas-outback-guide.com's cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the site.

Cookies which are necessary to allow electronic communications or to provide certain functions you wish to use (such as the shopping cart) are stored pursuant to Art. 6 paragraph 1, letter f of GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in the storage of cookies to ensure an optimized service provided free of technical errors. If other cookies (such as those used to analyze your surfing behavior) are also stored, they will be treated separately in this privacy policy.

3.2 Server log files

The website provider automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us in "server log files". These are:

Browser type and browser version
Operating system used
Referrer URL
Host name of the accessing computer
Time of the server request
IP address

We collect each visitor's IP address, which helps us combat spam and fraud. We do not use IP addresses for any other purpose. These data will not be combined with data from other sources.

The basis for data processing is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, which allows the processing of data to fulfill a contract or for measures preliminary to a contract.

3.3 Personally Identifiable Information

ritas-outback-guide.com may collect personally identifiable information from you in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to, when you visit our site, register on the site, subscribe to our newsletter, or fill out a form, and in connection with other activities, services, features or resources we make available on our site.

You can always refuse to supply personally identifiable information and visit our site anonymously. However, it may prevent you from engaging in certain site-related activities.

If we make material changes in the collection of personally identifiable information, we will inform you by placing a notice on our site. We will use personal information received from you for internal purposes only and will not sell it or provide it to third parties.

3.4 Contact form

Should you send us questions via the contact form, we will collect the data entered on the form, including the contact details you provide, to answer your question and any follow-up questions. We do not share this information without your permission.

We will, therefore, process any data you enter onto the contact form only with your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

We will retain the data you provide on the contact form until you request its deletion, revoke your consent for its storage, or the purpose for its storage no longer pertains (e.g. after fulfilling your request). Any mandatory statutory provisions, especially those regarding mandatory data retention periods, remain unaffected by this provision.

3.5 Registration on this website

You can register on our website in order to access additional functions offered here. The input data will only be used for the purpose of using the respective site or service for which you have registered. The mandatory information requested during registration must be provided in full. Otherwise, we will reject your registration.

To inform you about important changes such as those within the scope of our site or technical changes, we will use the email address specified during registration.

We will process the data provided during registration only based on your consent per Art. 6 (1)(a) GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

We will continue to store the data collected during registration for as long as you remain registered on our website. Statutory retention periods remain unaffected.

3.6 Leaving comments on this website

If you use the comment function on this site, the time at which you created the comment will be stored along with your comment, as well as your username, unless you are posting anonymously.

Storage of the IP address

Our comment function stores the IP addresses of those users who post comments. Since we do not check comments on our site before they go live, we need this information to be able to pursue action for illegal or slanderous content.

Subscribing to the comment feed

As a user of this site, you can sign up to receive the comment feed after registering. Your email address will be checked with a confirmation email. You can unsubscribe from this function at any time by clicking the link in the emails. The data provided when you subscribed to the comments feed will then be deleted, but if you have submitted this data to us for other purposes or elsewhere (such as subscribing to a newsletter), it will be retained.

How long comments are stored

The comments and the associated data (e.g. IP address) are stored and remain on our website until the content commented upon has been completely deleted or the comments are required to be removed for legal reasons (slander, etc.).

Legal basis

The comments are stored based on your consent per Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR. You may revoke your consent at any time with future effect. An informal email making this request is sufficient. The data processed before we receive your request may still be legally processed.

4. Social media

4.1 Facebook plugins (Like & Share buttons)

Our website includes plugins for the social network Facebook, Facebook Inc., 1 Hacker Way, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA. The Facebook plugins can be recognized by the Facebook logo or the Like button on our site.
For an overview of Facebook plugins, see Facebook developers plugins.

When you visit our site, a direct connection between your browser and the Facebook server is established via the plugin. This enables Facebook to receive information that you have visited our site from your IP address. If you click on the Facebook "Like button" while you are logged into your Facebook account, you can link the content of our site to your Facebook profile. This allows Facebook to associate visits to our site with your user account. Please note that, as the operator of this site, we have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted to Facebook or of how Facebook uses these data.
For more information, please see Facebook's privacy policy at Facebook privacy policy.

If you do not want Facebook to associate your visit to our site with your Facebook account, please log out of your Facebook account.

4.2 Twitter plugin

Functions of the Twitter service have been integrated into our website and app. These features are offered by Twitter Inc., 1355 Market Street, Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA. When you use Twitter and the “Retweet” function, the websites you visit are connected to your Twitter account and made known to other users. In doing so, data will also be transferred to Twitter. We would like to point out that, as the provider of these pages, we have no knowledge of the content of the data transmitted or how it will be used by Twitter. For more information on Twitter's privacy policy, please go to Twitter privacy.

Your privacy preferences with Twitter can be modified in your account settings at Twitter account settings.

4.3 Pinterest plugin

Our website contains functions of the Pinterest social network, operated by Pinterest Inc., 635 High Street, Palo Alto, CA, 94301, USA.

When you visit a page containing the Pinterest social plugin, your browser establishes a direct connection to the Pinterest servers. The plugin transmits this log data to Pinterest servers in the United States. This log data may include your IP address, the address of the websites visited, which also includes Pinterest features, browser type and settings, the date and time of the request, how you use Pinterest, and cookies.

More information about the purpose, scope and further processing and use of data by Pinterest, as well as your rights and options to protect your privacy, can be found in the privacy notices of Pinterest: Pinterest privacy policy.

5. Analytics and advertising

5.1 Google Analytics

This website uses Google Analytics, a web analytics service. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google Analytics uses so-called "cookies". These are text files that are stored on your computer and that allow an analysis of the use of the website by you. The information generated by the cookie about your use of this website is usually transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there.

Google Analytics cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

IP anonymization

We have activated the IP anonymization feature on this website. Your IP address will be shortened by Google within the European Union or other parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area prior to transmission to the United States. Only in exceptional cases is the full IP address sent to a Google server in the US and shortened there. Google will use this information on behalf of the operator of this website to evaluate your use of the website, to compile reports on website activity, and to provide other services regarding website activity and Internet usage for the website operator. The IP address transmitted by your browser as part of Google Analytics will not be merged with any other data held by Google.

Browser plugin

You can prevent these cookies being stored by selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. However, we wish to point out that doing so may mean you will not be able to enjoy the full functionality of this website. You can also prevent the data generated by cookies about your use of the website (incl. your IP address) from being passed to Google, and the processing of these data by Google, by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at the following link: GA opt opt out.

Objecting to the collection of data

You can prevent the collection of your data by Google Analytics by clicking on the following link. An opt-out cookie will be set to prevent your data from being collected on future visits to this site: Disable Google Analytics.

For more information about how Google Analytics handles user data, see Google's privacy policy.

Outsourced data processing

We have entered into an agreement with Google for the outsourcing of our data processing and fully implement the strict requirements of the German data protection authorities when using Google Analytics.

5.2 Google AdSense

This website uses Google AdSense, a service for including advertisements from Google Inc. ("Google"). It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

Google AdSense uses so-called "cookies", which are text files stored in your computer that enable an analysis of the way you use the website. Google AdSense also uses so-called web beacons (invisible graphics). Through these web beacons, information such as the visitor traffic on these pages can be evaluated.

The information generated by cookies and web beacons relating to your use of this website (including your IP address), and delivery of advertising formats, is transmitted to a Google server in the US and stored there. This information can be passed on from Google to contracting parties of Google. However, Google will not merge your IP address with other data you have stored.

AdSense cookies are stored based on Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in analyzing user behavior to optimize both its website and its advertising.

You can prevent the installation of cookies by setting your browser software accordingly. Please be aware that in this case, you may not be able to make full use of all the features of this website. By using this website, you agree to the processing of data relating to you and collected by Google as described and for the purposes set out above.
Read more about Google's advertising policies by clicking here

Some third-party advertisements may be provided by Google, which uses cookies to serve ads on the site. Google uses the DoubleClick cookie, which enables it to serve ads to our users based on their visits to this site and other sites on the Web. You may opt out of the use of the DoubleClick cookie by clicking here.

Additionally, third-party vendors and ad networks may serve ads on ritas-outback-guide.com. These vendors might use unidentifiable information about your visit. You may visit those vendors websites to opt out of cookies (if the vendor or ad network offers this capability). Users can opt out of some, but not all of these cookies in one location at the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out website at Networkadvertising.org or at aboutads.info.

Browsers can be set to accept or reject cookies or notify you when a cookie is being sent. Privacy software can be used to override web beacons. Taking either of these actions shouldn't cause a problem with our site, should you so choose.

5.3 Media.net advertising

This website uses also advertising through Media.net Advertizing FZ-LLC, 2701 Aurora Tower, Dubai Media City, Dubai 215028.
The company is fully compliant with GDPR. Their contextual text ad units are primarily driven by context and not audience data. For EEA users and citizens of the EU, Media.net does not collect, store or use any Personal Data for ad targeting and wherever applicable serves only non-personalised ads across all ad formats. They only send the user IP address to upstream providers for the purpose of fraud identification and mitigation. The upstream providers may use IP addresses for geo targeting not more granular than city or DMA level. For more details, you can read their Privacy Policy here.

6. Plugins and tools

YouTube

Our website uses plugins from YouTube, which is operated by Google. The operator of the pages is YouTube LLC, 901 Cherry Ave., San Bruno, CA 94066, USA.

If you visit one of our pages featuring a YouTube plugin, a connection to the YouTube servers is established. Here the YouTube server is informed about which of our pages you have visited.

If you're logged in to your YouTube account, YouTube allows you to associate your browsing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your YouTube account.

YouTube is used to help make our website appealing. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Further information about handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of YouTube under here.

Google Maps

This site uses the Google Maps map service via an API. It is operated by Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.

To use Google Maps, it is necessary to save your IP address. This information is generally transmitted to a Google server in the USA and stored there. The provider of this site has no influence on this data transfer.

The use of Google Maps is in the interest of making our website appealing and to facilitate the location of places specified by us on the website. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant to Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR.

Further information about handling user data, can be found in the data protection declaration of Google.

7. Online marketing and affiliate programs

ritas-outback-guide.com is participating in the following affiliate programs

ShareASale - for tour booking
HotelsCombined - for comparing and booking the best hotel deals
Commission Junction - for TripAdvisor reviews
ClixGalore - for map offers
Discovery Campervans - to hire a campervan

Click on the name (link) to read the companies' privacy policy.

Through these partner programs and advertising we receive a small commission when website visitors book a tour or hotel room, or buy any products offered. These commissions help to maintain the website and keep information free of charge on this site.

Affiliate products and advertising is labelled accordingly. ritas-outback-guide.com disclaims any liability arising directly or indirectly from using any of the products listed. Before you purchase a product through any affiliate link, read the terms & conditions on the provider's website.

All affiliate products offered in this website are selected by us. Affiliate products do not influence the content of this website. Articles are always based on own experience and personal views. Although we won't be able to test all affiliate products personally, we research and check the products for their usefulness and quality. We partner only with serious and reliable companies.

The storage of affiliate cookies is based on Art. 6 (f) GDPR. The website operator has a legitimate interest in this service since it only receives credit for referral fees if these cookies are set.

8. Other Information

Non-personally Identifiable Information

We may collect non-personally identifiable information about you whenever you interact with our site. Non-personally identifiable information may include the browser name, the type of computer and technical information about your method of connecting to our site, such as the operating system and the Internet service provider you used, and other similar information.

Children's Privacy Protection

This website is directed to adults. It is not directed to children under the age of 16. We operate our site in compliance with current regulations. Anyone under the age of 16 must provide parental consent to use this site. We do not knowingly collect or use personally identifiable information from anyone under 16 years of age.

Links to other websites

ritas-outback-guide.com links to other websites that may be of interest to you. However, once you have used them to leave our site, we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information you provide while visiting such sites. These sites are not governed by this privacy statement. Always exercise caution by reviewing the privacy statement of the website in question before continuing to use it.

Release of Information

If we sell ritas-outback-guide.com, the information we have obtained from you through your voluntary participation in our site may transfer to the new owner as a part of the sale so that the service provided to you may continue. In that event, you will receive notice through our website of that change in control and practices, and we will make reasonable efforts to ensure that the purchaser honors any opt-out requests you might make.

Data Storage

Personally identifiable information and non-personally identifiable information collected by this site is stored on our host's servers. That host is SiteSell Inc., located at 1000 Saint-Jean Boulevard, Suite 702, Pointe-Claire, QC H9R 5P1 Canada.

How You Can Correct or Remove Information

We provide this privacy policy as a statement to you of our commitment to protect your personally identifiable information. If you have submitted personally identifiable information through our website and would like to download and review that information, click here to get a message about the info we store about you.

You can also request to edit or delete any of your information from the servers by clicking on this link.

Updates and Effective Date

ritas-outback-guide.com reserves the right to make changes in this policy. If there is a material change in our cookie and privacy practices, we will indicate on our site that those practices have changed and provide a link to the updated privacy policy. We encourage you to periodically review this policy so that you will know what information we collect and how we use it.

Agreeing to Terms

If you do not agree to ritas-outback-guide.com's privacy policy as posted here on this website, please do not consent to the setting of cookies and the collection and storage of your personally identifiable information.

Your explicit consent indicates acceptance of this privacy policy in its entirety.

9. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)

California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) enacted in 2018, creates new consumer rights relating to the access to, deletion of, and sharing of personal information that is collected by businesses.

We have not sold any personal information in the previous 12 months.

Last updated: 01. January 2020