Privacy policy

Who is responsible

The person who writes and runs Desi auf Deutsch. For anything on this page, write to [email protected] and I will answer. A direct message on Instagram reaches me too.

The short version

This site has no accounts and no login. Nothing is stored in your browser unless you either accept analytics or start a payment. Analytics only run if you agree to them, and you are asked before anything loads. If you never agree, nothing about your visit is measured.

If you book a call or a document review, what you send me is used for that booking and nothing else, and it is deleted on a fixed schedule. The details are below.

Analytics, only with your consent

If you accept analytics, this site loads Google Analytics, which is provided by Google. It sets cookies and records which pages were opened, roughly where in the world the visit came from, and what kind of device and browser was used. It is used to see which parts of the guide people actually read.

Nothing loads until you accept. If you decline, no analytics script is requested at all and no analytics cookie is set. You can change your mind at any time using the cookie settings link in the footer, and declining later deletes the choice and stops any further measurement.

The legal basis is your consent. Google may process this data outside your country, including in the United States.

The email list

If you send your email address to get the document checklist, it is used to send you that checklist and occasional updates about the guide. It is not sold, and it is not shared with anyone except the email provider that sends the mail on my behalf. Every update email has an unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing stops them. If you want your address deleted entirely, write to [email protected] and I will delete it.

The legal basis is your consent, given when you submit the form.

Payments

Payments are handled by Razorpay. When you open the checkout, Razorpay's own script loads and sets a session cookie so it can keep track of that one payment attempt. It is set only from the moment you press a buy button, never on a page you are just reading.

Your card, UPI or netbanking details are entered inside Razorpay's own window and go straight to them. They never reach this site and I never see them. Razorpay tells me only that a payment succeeded, for how much, and a reference number.

Booking a call or a document review

When you book, I keep what you put in the form: your name, your email address, what you wrote, any documents you attach, the time you picked and your time zone, which is only used to show you times in your own. It is stored with Cloudflare, which hosts this site, and I use it only to prepare for and deliver what you booked.

For a call, your name, your email address, the time and what you wrote go to Google, because the call is a Google Meet and Google sends you the calendar invite. They sit in my calendar and in yours, and nobody else is invited.

Documents you upload are deleted automatically 60 days after you upload them. The rest of the booking record is deleted after a year. If you start a booking and never pay, everything you entered, documents included, is deleted after a week.

The legal basis is that it is needed to deliver what you booked. Paying for a booking works exactly as described under Payments above.

Hosting and server logs

The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which keeps short-lived technical logs of requests, including IP addresses, in order to serve the site and protect it from abuse. That is a normal part of running any website and happens whether or not you accept analytics.

Things this site links to

Links to YouTube, Instagram, universities and government pages take you to other companies who have their own privacy policies. Nothing is embedded on this site that would let them track you before you click.

What you can ask for

You can ask me what I hold about you, ask for it to be corrected, ask for it to be deleted, ask for a copy of it, or withdraw your consent. Write to [email protected] and I will answer. Email is the surest route for this, because it leaves you a record of what you asked for and when. If you are in the EU or the EEA you also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority.

Children

This site is written for people applying to university. It is not aimed at children and I do not knowingly collect anything about them.

Changes

If this policy changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change affects how your email address is used, you will be told by email before it takes effect.