Legal

Privacy Policy

Datenschutzerklärung — how we handle personal data submitted through this site's "Notify me on updates" and "Apply as a design partner" forms, in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

1. Data controller

OpenSource Connections Europe GmbH, Pappelallee 78/79, 10437 Berlin, Germany — email hello@searchnik.com. Full corporate details (register entry, VAT ID, managing directors) are in the Impressum.

2. What we collect

Depending on which form you use:

  • "Notify me on updates" — your email address.
  • "Apply as a design partner" — your name, company name, email address, the search engine you use, and why you want to become a design partner.

In both cases we also record your IP address and the time you submitted the form, together with the version of the consent wording you agreed to. This is stored as proof that the subscription was requested by you, which we are required to be able to demonstrate under Art. 7(1) GDPR.

3. Purpose and legal basis

We use this data to send you the product updates you signed up for, or to evaluate your design-partner application and get in touch with you about it. The legal basis is your consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR), given via the checkbox on the relevant form. You can withdraw consent at any time — see "Your rights" below — without affecting the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Both forms use a double opt-in. After you submit, we send a confirmation email to the address you entered; your address stays inactive and receives nothing else until you click the link in it. If you never confirm, the unconfirmed entry is deleted.

4. Who processes this data

Form submissions are stored and processed using rapidmail, the newsletter service operated by Positive Group Deutschland GmbH (formerly rapidmail GmbH), Ingeborg-Krummer-Schroth-Straße 18a, 79106 Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, which we use to manage our mailing lists and send our emails. They act as our processor under a data processing agreement (Auftragsverarbeitungsvertrag) concluded in accordance with Art. 28 GDPR, and store the data on servers in Germany. Their own privacy information is available at rapidmail.de/datenschutz.

The site itself is hosted by Hetzner Online GmbH in Germany. It sets no cookies, loads nothing from third-party servers, and runs no analytics or tracking.

5. Retention

We keep your data until you unsubscribe or otherwise withdraw your consent, whichever comes first — there is no fixed expiry, because a mailing list only works for as long as you want to be on it. The proof of opt-in described in section 2 is kept for as long as the subscription lasts. If you never confirm the double opt-in, the unconfirmed entry is deleted rather than kept.

Every email we send carries a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing takes effect immediately.

6. International transfers

None. Both our processors — Positive Group Deutschland GmbH (rapidmail) and Hetzner Online GmbH — are German companies hosting the data in Germany, so your data is not transferred outside the EU/EEA and no additional transfer safeguards such as EU Standard Contractual Clauses are relied upon.

7. Your rights

Under the GDPR, you have the right to:

  • access the personal data we hold about you;
  • request correction of inaccurate data;
  • request erasure of your data;
  • restrict or object to processing;
  • receive your data in a portable format;
  • withdraw consent at any time (e.g. via the unsubscribe link in any email, or by contacting us — see below);
  • lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority — for us, the Berlin Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, given our seat in Berlin.

8. Contact

Questions about this policy, or to exercise any of the rights above: hello@searchnik.com.

© 2026 OpenSource Connections · hello@searchnik.com · Impressum (OpenSource Connections Europe GmbH) · Privacy Policy