Privacy Policy

The Swarm Development GmbH (“THE SWARM”, “we”, “us”) is committed to respecting and protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains what personal data we collect when you visit theswarm.at, why we collect it, how we use and safeguard it, and the rights you have under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The controller responsible for data processing on this website is:

The Swarm Development GmbH, Biberstraße 10, 1010 Vienna, Austria. Email: office@theswarm.at.

When you visit our website, we may collect the following data:

• Log data: your IP address (anonymised for analytics — see below), browser type and version, device and operating system, the pages you visit, referring URLs, and the date and time of your visit.
• Contact-form data: when you submit an enquiry, the name and email you provide, plus any company name, project type, budget range and message you choose to include.
• Cookies & local storage: we store your cookie-consent choice locally on your device, and — only after you accept — Google Analytics cookies (see section 6).

We use the collected information to:

• Respond to and follow up on enquiries you send through our contact form.
• Analyse website usage, traffic, and trends through Google Analytics (only with your consent).
• Maintain the security and stability of the website.
• Improve our website’s content, functionality, and user experience.

Contact enquiries: we process the data you submit through our contact form to respond to your request and take steps prior to entering a contract (Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR), and on the basis of our legitimate interest in answering business enquiries (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

Analytics: we process Google Analytics data only on the basis of your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), which you may give or decline via our cookie banner and withdraw at any time with effect for the future.

Technical log data required to deliver and secure the website is processed on the basis of our legitimate interest (Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR).

We use Google Analytics 4, a web analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). It helps us understand how visitors interact with the site so we can improve it.

Analytics is off by default. We implement Google Consent Mode v2: until you actively accept analytics cookies in our banner, no Google Analytics cookies are set and no analytics data is collected. If you decline, Google Analytics is never loaded. You can change your choice at any time via the “Cookie settings” link in our footer.

When enabled, Google Analytics sets cookies (e.g. “_ga” and “_ga_<id>”, typically valid up to two years) and processes the data listed above. IP anonymisation is enabled, so your IP address is truncated within the EU/EEA before any transmission. Where data is transferred to Google in the US, Google relies on the EU Standard Contractual Clauses and its certification under the EU-US Data Privacy Framework as safeguards. We do not use Google Analytics data for advertising. You can review Google’s privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy.

You can decline or withdraw consent at any time via our cookie settings. You may also prevent Google Analytics tracking by adjusting your browser settings or by installing Google’s opt-out browser add-on, available at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

You have the right to:

• Access the personal data we hold about you (Art. 15).
• Request rectification of inaccurate data (Art. 16).
• Request erasure of your data (Art. 17).
• Request restriction of processing (Art. 18).
• Data portability (Art. 20).
• Object to processing based on legitimate interest (Art. 21).
• Withdraw consent at any time without affecting prior lawful processing.
• Lodge a complaint with the Austrian Data Protection Authority (Datenschutzbehörde, dsb.gv.at).

Contact enquiries: we keep the data you submit for as long as needed to handle your request and any resulting business relationship, and then delete it. You can ask us to delete it sooner at any time.

Analytics data is retained only as long as necessary for the purposes described above, after which it is deleted or anonymised. Technical log data is kept for a short period for security and then removed.

We do not sell or trade your personal information. Enquiries submitted through our contact form are stored on our own infrastructure hosted in the EU and sent to us by email so we can respond.

We share data only with the service providers that help us operate the website — Google (Analytics, with your consent) and our EU-based hosting and email providers — under appropriate data-processing agreements, or where required by law.

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures — including TLS encryption — to protect your personal information from unauthorised access, alteration, or disclosure.

Our website may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. Please review their privacy policies before providing any personal information.

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The latest version will always be posted on this page.

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or your data, please contact us at office@theswarm.at.