Data Privacy Statement

SWI swissinfo.ch – a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC)

1. General

Introduction

Protecting your data is very important to SBC (also known by its French-German acronym SRG SSR).

We want you to feel secure when using our online services. The following information will give you an overview of what happens to your personal data when you visit our websites, use our apps and online services, or contact us. So we are happy to explain to you what personal data we collect and process, for what purpose we use it, who has access to it, how long we store it and what rights you have when we process your personal data.

This privacy policy is aligned with both the Swiss Data Protection Act (DPA) and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, whether the GDPR applies to a specific processing operation depends on the individual case.

Responsible body

The responsible body (responsible party) is SBC (Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft), Giacomettistrasse 1, CH-3000 Bern 16 or the SBC Group company whose website you visit, app or online service you use or with whom you contact.

The SBC Group includes: SRF, RTS, RSI, RTR, SWI and Swiss TXT.

Scope of application

This data protection statement applies to all data processing of personal data within the SBC Group. The individual SBC Group companies may supplement this data protection declaration with specific data protection notices. In certain situations, e.g. job applications, specific data protection notices may also apply. Please also note the other data protection notices when using our websites, apps and social media sites as well as the information on cookies.

SBC reserves the right to adapt the data protection provisions from time to time. You should therefore also read this data protection declaration regularly. You will find the respective update date (status) at the beginning of this data protection declaration.

Which personal data do we process and for what purposes?

Personal data are details and information that relate to an identified or identifiable person and with which you can be personally identified.

We process the following categories of personal data for the purposes described in each case:

Master data

includes, for example, your name, your telephone number, address or e-mail address, copies of official identity documents and other personal details that you share with us. Such information may be needed when registering for the SRG login, to subscribe to an app or newsletter, to use chat functions, when taking part in broadcasts, competitions and surveys, or contacting us.

Contract data

are, for example, data that are processed when initiating and concluding a contract. This includes customer, supplier and application data as well as billing, insurance, financial and tax data, and all data that we are legally obliged to process.

Communication data

When you contact us, depending on the reason and nature of the communication, we process the content of communications received by post, email, chat messages, social media postings, comments on our websites, telephone calls, video conferences and written communications. 

Analysis and usage data

is data that we obtain by means of cookies or when you use online services such as Play Suisse via the SRG login. We record when you visit our service and from where, how long you stay, what content you consume during this time and where you leave us.

For data collection, we carry out anonymised usage measurement. We collect and use this data to ensure error-free provision of our websites and apps. We also use it to analyse the use and optimisation of our offers, including for market research and reach measurement. This data also flows into the storage of your preferences when using our offer. 

Data processing is also carried out to ensure that our offerings meet the various interests of our audience.This usage measurement also helps us to optimise our offerings and fulfil our legal programming mandate.

For more information on the use of cookies, please see our Cookie Information (see below).

When you create a user account with our SRG login, we create an anonymous identifier. We use this identifier for our performance analysis to better understand the behaviour of our users on the SBC websites and mobile apps and to improve our offering and the user experience. For more information on the SRG login, see [below].

Programme notes and marketing

We will inform you from time to time about the variety of services we offer, provided that you have given us your consent to do so. These are exclusively our own programmes, content and offers, as well as those offered on our behalf. This may also include, for example, prize draws, competitions or events. For this purpose, we process personal data and send you written or electronic communications. If we contact you via social media, we transmit your data to these providers pseudonymised and encrypted. The social platforms only use the transmitted data to check whether you have a profile on their platform. They subsequently delete your data and do not use it for purposes other than matching.

Technical data

When you use our websites, apps or other online offers, we collect technical data, such as your IP address, log data or we assign you a user ID or cookie. As a rule, the use of our offer takes place without any inference to your person. We can only link this technical data to your person if you have given us permission to do so or if you are logged in via SRG login.

Image and sound recordings

When you register for or participate or contribute to a programme, we may record images and sound of you either as a participant, guest or contributor. For security reasons, our premises are also under video surveillance and visitors are recorded when they enter. Video and audio recordings are also possible in the context of telephone conversations and video conferences (in which case we will inform you before recording and ask for your consent).

Data security

We also process your personal data for the security of our IT systems and to ensure the data security of our users. This is particularly technical data.

Artificial intelligence

We may also use artificial intelligence to process personal data. The purpose of the processing is to better understand artificial intelligence and to be able to use it appropriately. We have always provided for human control in this process and naturally pay attention to the protection of your data. We are aware that the use of artificial intelligence in data processing can involve certain risks and uncertainties. That is why we have internal guidelines that ensure a legally and ethically responsible approach to AI.

Legal requirements

In order to ensure the legal framework for the use of our services, we collect your IP address, for example, so that geo-blocking of certain content can be ensured. We also process personal data in the course of our own legal enforcement and defence, (including for the issuing, administration and enforcement of house bans).

On what legal basis does SBC process personal data?

If a legal basis is required for data processing, the legal bases listed below come into consideration:

Insofar as we obtain consent from you for the processing of personal data, this serves as the legal basis. This is the case, for example, with newsletters, comments, any contact with or from you, the SRG login or competitions.

We also process your personal data on the basis of our legitimate interest resulting from our public service mandate and in order to fulfil our legal programme mandate. This includes processing for the purpose of providing and optimising the online service and, above all, usage and reach measurement.

We also process your personal data on the basis of a contract or the initiation of a contract, such as when you participate in a tender for services, in the context of a job application, in the processing of the employment contract or in the conclusion of other contracts.

If personal data is processed on the basis of a legal obligation, this serves as the legal basis. This may be the case, for example, when personal data is passed on to third parties or when certain documents are kept.

The processing of image and sound recordings for television and radio also takes place within the framework of our journalistic guidelines. 

Disclosure of personal data to SBC Group companies and third parties

All personal data collected when you contact SBC or one of its companies will be passed on within the SBC Group if this is necessary for the processing purpose in question. You have the option of objecting to this forwarding and processing at any time, provided there are no other legal grounds for doing so (e.g. freedom of the press, journalistic guidelines). 

In addition, data may be transferred to third parties if we are obliged to do so by law or by a corresponding official or court order.

When processing data, we also use service providers who are usually involved as so-called order processors. These service providers are always obliged to process the personal data of the users of our online services only in accordance with our instructions and to take suitable measures to ensure the security of this data. For example, your e-mail address may be passed on to a service provider so that they can send you a newsletter that you have ordered.

We will only pass on your personal data to third parties outside the SBC Group if we have your consent or if we have a legitimate interest in doing so.  We do not sell your personal data to third parties.

Is personal data transferred to recipients in a third country (outside CH/EU/EEA/EFTA)?

We also pass on personal data to third parties or to order processors who are not based in Switzerland or EU/EFTA/EEA countries.

Currently, in addition to possible transfers to EU/EFTA/EEA countries, personal data is transferred to the following countries: Australia, India and the United StatesSSSSS.

In this case, we ensure that an adequate level of data protection exists at the recipient’s site prior to the transfer (for example, using standard contractual clauses of the European Union and taking into account the recommendations of the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner).

How long do we story your personal data?

We store your data for as long as this is necessary for the provision of our offers and the associated services, or we have a legitimate interest in the continued storage. In all other cases, we will delete your personal data unless we need to retain it to fulfil legal obligations (e.g. commercial, tax or social security retention obligations).

What rights do you have with regard to your personal data?

In principle, you have the right to obtain, free of charge, information on the identity and contact details of the data controller, the personal data processed as such, the purpose of the processing, the retention period of the personal data or, if this is not possible, the criteria for determining this period, the information available on the origin of the personal data, insofar as it has not been obtained by us directly from you, where applicable, the existence of an automated individual decision and the logic on which this decision is based, where applicable, the recipients:You have the right to obtain information about the recipients or categories of recipients to whom personal data is disclosed and information about processors who process personal data on our behalf, as well as the right to data disclosure and data portability. In addition, you generally have the right to rectification, deletion, restriction of processing, revocation of your consent or objection to processing. 

You are welcome to send us your request or request for information in writing and enclose a copy of your identity card or passport to our postal address:

SWI swissinfo.ch
Schwarztorstrasse 21
3007 Bern

If you are submitting a request for information on behalf of another person, you must provide a power of attorney or another corresponding declaration that explicitly states that you are asserting the respective data protection right.

You can also contact us by e-mail, but please note that the data will then be transmitted unencrypted and we will also reply by the same means: dataprotection(at)swissinfo.ch

In addition, you have the right to complain to the supervisory authority, which would be the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC) in CH-3003 Bern.

2. Tracking of online usage

Information on cookies

In addition to the data mentioned in our privacy policy, we use technical tools for various functions when you use our websites and apps, in particular cookies, which may be stored on your terminal device.

Cookies are text files or information that are stored on your hard drive and assigned to the browser you are using so that certain information can flow to the body that sets the cookie. Cookies cannot execute programmes or transfer viruses to your computer, but are primarily used to make the Internet offer faster and more user-friendly. We use the following types of cookies:

Transcient cookies

These are automatically deleted when you close the browser. These include, in particular, session cookies. These store a so-called session ID, with which various requests from your browser can be assigned to a common session. This means that your computer can be recognised when you return to our website. The session cookies are deleted when you log out or close the browser. 

Persistent cookies

Such cookies are automatically deleted after a predefined duration, which varies depending on the cookie. You can view the cookies set and the duration at any time in the settings of your browser and delete the cookies manually.

Other technologies

These functions are not based on cookies, but on similar technical mechanisms, such as Flash cookies, HTML5 objects or an analysis of your browser settings. This allows us to use the techniques described below. Here, too, you can of course consent or object.

Mandatory functions that are technically necessary for displaying the website

The technical structure of the website requires us to use techniques, in particular cookies. Without these, our website cannot be displayed (completely correctly) or the support functions cannot be enabled. These are basically transient cookies that are deleted after the end of your visit, at the latest when you close your browser. You cannot deselect these cookies if you wish to use our website. The individual cookies can be seen in the cookie banner. The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest.

Optional cookies when you give your consent

We set various cookies only after your consent, which you can select via our cookie banner on your first visit to our website. The functions are only activated  or deactivated in the event of your consent and may serve in particular to enable us to analyse and improve visits to our website, to make it easier for you to use it via different browsers or end devices, to recognise you when you visit or to serve advertising, possibly also to orientate advertising to your interests or to measure the effectiveness of advertisements.

When you call up our offers and at any time later, you have the choice of whether you generally allow cookies to be set or for which individual additional functions you allow this. You can configure your browser settings to block certain cookies or similar technologies or to delete existing cookies and other data stored in the browser. You can also enhance your browser with software (so-called “plug-ins”) that blocks tracking by certain third parties. You can find out more about this in the help pages of your browser (usually under the keyword “data protection”).

You can also select the functions we use individually via the cookie banner; there you will also find further information on the cookies used in each case. You can revoke your consent at any time without affecting the permissibility of the processing until revocation.

Please note that our websites may no longer function fully if you block cookies and similar technologies or object to their use, and that you may then no longer be able to use all of our services.

Log files

Every time you use the internet, certain data is automatically transmitted by your internet browser and stored by us in so-called log files.

• Information about the browser type and version used
• The operating system of the user
• The internet service provider of the user
• The IP address of the user
• Date and time of access
• Websites from which the user’s system accesses our website
• Websites that are accessed by the user’s system via our website
• Name of the retrieved file
• Transmitted data volume
• Message whether retrieval was successful

The log files are stored by us primarily for the determination of malfunctions and for security reasons. They are kept for up to 10 days and then deleted. Log files whose further storage is necessary for evidentiary purposes are exempt from deletion until the final clarification of the respective incident and may be passed on to investigating authorities in individual cases.

Web analysis tools

We need statistical information about the use of our online offer in order to make it more user-friendly and to conduct market research. We use web analysis tools for this purpose. The usage profiles created by the tools with the help of analysis cookies or by evaluating the log files are not merged with personal data. The tools either do not use IP addresses of users at all or shorten them immediately after collection. The providers of the web analysis tools only process data as commissioned processors in accordance with our instructions and not for their own purposes.

In our Cookie Preference Centre (cookie banner), you will find information on the respective provider for each web analysis tool used and whether or how you can object to the collection and processing of data by the tool. In the case of tools that work with opt-out cookies, please note that the opt-out function is device- or browser-related and generally only applies to the end device or browser currently in use.

Content on third-party platforms

We are also present on third-party platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram. We have no influence on the data protection settings of these third-party platforms.

The operators of the third-party platforms (for example, in the case of Facebook: Meta) process your data for their own purposes. In the process, the third-party platforms also set cookies that enable them to track usage behaviour on other websites and apps of the group. This applies in particular if you are already registered on these third-party platforms. You can find more details on this in the respective data protection information of the operators.

We only receive an anonymised evaluation of the usage data from these platform operators. We do not receive a personal user profile from you. The anonymous usage statistics help us to better tailor our offers to the needs and interests of our audience.

For these purposes, Meta/Facebook, for example, provides us with the following data (anonymised and summarised by group): Age, gender, place of residence (nation and region or city).

The following data, for example, is recorded anonymously over the entire usage period: Time of use, interactions in the context of posts (e.g. reactions, comments, click rate, views, shares), video usage duration, devices used, operating systems, software, location of use, usage history (referring web offers), language, interests/topics.

We do not know what data the respective third-party platform collects in total and for what purposes it processes this data.

For this purpose, please contact the respective platform operator, if necessary.

To evaluate anonymised data and public interactions (comments, likes, etc.), we use services of third-party platforms or service providers for comment management and analysis.

The anonymised statistical data is updated daily by Facebook, for example, and made available for an evaluation period including the previous day. In order to be able to track developments, parts of the data material provided by Facebook are archived. However, this is exclusively anonymised statistical data that does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about you. We archive comments and public interactions such as likes and shares for journalistic purposes.

We would like to point out that the operators of the platforms are mostly American companies and their data can therefore also be processed outside of Switzerland and the European Union. This can result in risks because, for example, the enforcement of data subjects’ rights can be more difficult. For more details, see the data protection statements of the individual providers.

Third-party provider

The data protection declarations of third-party providers and information on the rights of data subjects can be found below on their websites:

• FacebookExternal link
• YoutubeExternal link
• GoogleExternal link
• TwitterExternal link
• InstagraExternal linkm
• PinterestExternal link
• SpotifyExternal link
• SnapchatExternal link
• TikTokExternal link
• LinkedInExternal link

If you register with a third-party platform, you must accept their terms of use and the data processing described therein. We have no influence on this usage agreement. Alternatively, you can access our offers on our own websites.
 

3. Social plugins and embedded functions

We integrate functional and content elements into our online offer that are obtained from the servers of the respective providers (hereinafter referred to as “third-party providers”). These can be, for example, graphics, videos or city maps (hereinafter uniformly referred to as “content”). The integration always requires that the third-party providers of this content process your IP address, as they cannot send the content to your browser without the IP address. The IP address is thus required for the display of these contents or functions. We endeavour to only use content whose respective providers only use your IP address to deliver the content. 

You can recognise such social plugins by the logo of the respective third-party provider of the social network.

If you have prohibited the use of these plugins in the cookie banner, they will only be activated when you click on the provider’s icon.  An information displayed at the respective point points out once again that data can be sent to the external provider when you click on it. The purpose and scope of the data collection and the further processing and use of the data by the third-party provider as well as your rights in this regard and setting options for protecting your privacy can be found in the data protection information of the third-party provider.

If you want to prevent third-party providers from assigning the data collected via our website to your personal profile (if any) in the respective social network, you must log out of the corresponding social network before visiting our website. You can also completely prevent the loading of the plugins with specialised add-ons for your browser.

Third-party providers may also use so-called pixel tags (invisible graphics, also known as “web beacons”) for statistical or marketing purposes. The “pixel tags” can be used to analyse information such as visitor traffic on the pages of this website or app. This pseudonymous information may also be stored as cookies on your terminal device and contain, among other things, technical information about the browser and operating system, referring websites, time of visit and other information about the use of our online offer, as well as being linked to such information from other sources.

4. SRG login

The following data protection information relates to data processing in connection with the SRG login. In all other respects, the provisions of the General Data Protection Statement apply.

The SRG login enables access to SBC offerings and services and those of its enterprise units (SRF, RTS, RSI, RTR, SWI) that require a user account.

As a rule, SBC offers and services can be used without a login.

However, the SBC only uses a login where this is necessary for the provision of the offerings for content-related, technical or legal reasons.

The SRG login is operated by SBC together with its enterprise units (SRF, RTS, RSI, RTR, SWI). However, SRG remains the data protection controller vis-à-vis you.

For the SBC login we need the following data from you for registration:

                -E-mail address

                -Password

To activate your account in the EU, we still need a Swiss mobile phone number from you.

In addition, we collect your language about the respective SBC offer or service. It serves as the display language for registering your user account.

When you register, a unique identifier (UID) is generated. Your above-mentioned login data are linked to this UID.

When using products and services of SBC (e.g. Play Suisse) and its enterprise units (SRF, RTS, RSI, RTR, SWI), your UID is used in each case for identification purposes.

The data collected from you will only be processed for registration and provision of the SRG login.

The social login allows you to use the login data of your social login provider (e.g. Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter).  The SRG login collects the e-mail address from your social login provider.

If your social login provider does not provide us with an email address, we will ask you to do so directly.

Social login works by means of an authorisation protocol, so-called Open Authorisation. With the help of this protocol, logging in via social login is technically possible.

If you use your SRG login to log in to a third-party provider (e.g. Apple, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok or Google), then we also gain access to certain data stored with the respective third-party provider. This can be, for example, your username(s), profile picture, date of birth, gender and other details, depending on how you have determined the scope.

If you no longer wish to use the SRG login, you can delete your user account via the profile settings.

Further information can be found at https://www.srgssr.ch/de/login/faq 

5. additional information on the use of our apps

This section concerns data processing when using our apps. In all other respects, our data protection declaration applies.

When you download one of our apps from an app store, the necessary information is transferred to the app store, in particular your user name, email address and customer number of your account as well as the time of the download. We only process the data to the extent necessary to download the app to your mobile device. If you do not download an app from the app store, but from our website, further user data will be processed, which we inform you about here in the privacy policy.

When you use one of our apps, we process technically necessary data in order to offer you the functions of the app and to ensure the necessary stability and security. The legal basis is our legitimate interest. In detail, these are: IP address, date and time of the request, time zone difference to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), content of the request (visited page), access status/HTTP status code, amount of data transferred in each case, previously visited page, browser, operating system, language and version of the browser software.

Depending on the provider of your device, your device marking, the IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity), the unique number of the network subscriber, the IMSI number (International Mobile Subscriber Identity), the mobile phone number (MSISDN), the MAC address for wifi use, the name of your mobile terminal device and your email address may be collected when providing the services of the app. We do not collect this data, but would like to point it out to you anyway.

In addition to the previously mentioned data, technical aids are used for various functions when you use our mobile app, in particular cookies that can be stored on your end device. You can control these via the cookie banner of the app.  

6. user-generated content

We integrate functionalities in the SRG online offering that enable you as our users to produce and publish your own contributions. This integration is important for SRG in order to actively involve you in shaping the media. The functionalities require that you register for them and consent to their processing.

Your contributions as users (user generated content) are personal data. They are stored in a log file and are used exclusively for their original purpose or as forum, comment, chat or blog posts. As soon as storage is no longer necessary, they are deleted.

This statement has been translated from German into multiple languages, including English. The legally binding version is the German text.