Important legal information

Please read the following conditions carefully before proceeding. Persons accessing the following websites managed by the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS) agree to the conditions listed on this web page:

- www.cscs.ch
- user.cscs.ch
- account.cscs.ch

Responsible body within the meaning of the Federal Data Protection Act (DSG):

ETH Zurich / Swiss National Supercomputing Centre
Email info@cscs.ch

Copyright and Trademark Rights

The entire content of the websites managed by CSCS are protected by copyright. All rights belong to Swiss National Supercomputing Centre or third parties. The elements on the websites are freely accessible only for browsing purposes. Reproduction of the material or parts thereof in any written or electronic form is only permitted with explicit mention of the name of the web site. The reproduction, transmission, modification, linking or use of the websites for public or commercial purposes is prohibited without our prior written consent. Please contact info@cscs.ch. As a rule, the various names, and logos on the websites managed by the CSCS are registered trademarks. No part of the websites is designed to grant a license or right to use an image, a registered trademark, or a logo. By downloading or copying the websites managed by CSCS or parts thereof, no rights are transferred in respect of software or elements on the websites. We reserve all rights with respect to all elements on the websites managed by CSCS, with the exception of third-party rights.

No warranty

Although we have made every effort to ensure the reliability of the information contained on the website www.cscs.ch at the time of publication, neither our contractual partners nor we can make any explicit or implicit assurances or guarantees (also with regard to third parties) with regard to accuracy, reliability, or completeness of the information on www.cscs.ch. Opinions and other information on the website www.cscs.ch are subject to change without notice. We assume no responsibility and give no guarantee that the functions on the website www.cscs.ch will not be interrupted or that the website or the respective server is free from viruses or other harmful components. 

Limitation of liability

If a contractual relationship exists between the user of the website www.cscs.ch or one of our services and us, we are only liable for grossly negligent or intentionally caused damage. We exclude any liability for damage caused by an auxiliary. We are not liable for lost profits, data loss or any other direct, indirect, or consequential damages resulting from access to or use of elements of the website www.cscs.ch or the inability to access or use them or from linking to others Websites or technical malfunctions.

Links to other websites

The website www.cscs.ch contains links to websites of third parties that may be of interest to you. When activating such links, you may leave the website www.cscs.ch, or you may see excerpts from third-party websites within the environment of the website www.cscs.ch. Swiss National Supercomputing Centre has not carried out any reviews of third-party websites linked to the website www.cscs.ch and is in no way responsible or liable for the content or functioning of these third-party websites. This applies regardless of whether you leave the website www.cscs.ch when activating a link or the representation occurs within the environment of the website and even if in the latter case the information provider of a third-party website is not readily apparent. Establishing this connection or consulting third party websites is solely at the risk of the user. 

Privacy statement

Swiss National Supercomputing Centre is the operator of the website www.cscs.ch and thus responsible for the collection, processing, and use of your personal data and the compatibility of data processing with Swiss law. Your trust is important to us, so we take the topic of data protection seriously and pay attention to appropriate security measures. Of course, we observe the statutory provisions of the Federal Data Protection Act (VDSG), the Telecommunications Act (FMG) and, if applicable, other data protection provisions, in particular, the Basic Data Protection Regulation of the European Union (GDPR). In order for you to know what personal information we collect from you and for what purpose we use it, please note the information below.

Scope and purpose of the collection, processing, and use of personal data when visiting www.cscs.ch

When visiting our website, our servers temporarily store every access in a log file. The following data are stored by us (respectively our ISP - Internet Service Provider) without your assistance:

  • the IP address of the requesting computer
  • the date and time of access
  • the name and URL of the retrieved file
  • the website from which the access occurred
  • the operating system of your computer and the browser you use
  • the country from which you accessed and the language settings in your browser

The collection and processing of this data is for the purpose of enabling the use of our website (connection establishment), to ensure the long-term security and stability of the system, to optimize our website, and for internal statistical purposes. This is our legitimate interest in the processing of data within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR. The IP address is used in particular to record the country of residence of the website visitor. Furthermore, the IP address is evaluated for statistical purposes when accessing the network infrastructure of www.cscs.ch. In addition, when visiting our website, we use so-called pixels and cookies to use web analytics services.

when using our contact forms

You have the option to use a contact form to contact us. The entry of the following personal data is required:

  • Title
  • First and last name
  • Address (street address, city, ZIP code)
  • E-mail address

We will mark the required entries. Failure to provide this information may hinder the provision of our services. The provision of other information is optional and has no influence on the use of our website. We only use this data to answer your contact request in the best possible and personalized way. Our legitimate interest within the meaning of Art. 6 para. 1 lit. f GDPR lies in the processing of your contact request. You can object to this data processing at any time. 

Transfer of data to third parties

We will only disclose your personal information if you have expressly consented, if there is a legal obligation to do so, or if it is necessary to enforce our rights, in particular, to enforce claims arising from the relationship between you and Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. In addition, we will share your information with third parties as far as the use of the website requires it to provide the services you request and to analyze your user behavior. If this is necessary for the purposes stated in sentence 1, the disclosure may also be made abroad. If the website contains links to third-party websites, Swiss National Supercomputing Centre no longer has any influence on the collection, processing, storage, or use of personal data by the third party after clicking these links and assumes no responsibility for them.

Transfer of personal data abroad

Swiss National Supercomputing Centre is also entitled to transfer your personal data to third parties (commissioned service providers) abroad if this is necessary for the data processing described in this privacy policy. They are obliged to data protection to the same extent as we are. If the level of data protection in one country does not correspond to Swiss or European standards, we contractually ensure that the protection of your personal data corresponds to that in Switzerland or in the EU at all times. 

Data security

We use appropriate technical and organizational security measures to protect your stored personal data against manipulation, partial or complete loss, and unauthorized access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments. You should always keep your information confidential and close the browser window when you have finished communicating with us, especially if you share your computer with others. We also take internal privacy very seriously.

Cookies

Cookies help in many ways to make your visit to our website easier, enjoyable, and meaningful. Cookies are information files that your web browser automatically saves to your computer's hard drive when you visit our website. Cookies neither damage the hard disk of your computer nor will these cookies transmit personal data of the user to us. The use does not mean that we receive new personal information about you as an online visitor. Most internet browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can configure your browser so that no cookies are stored on your computer, or you are always notified when you receive a new cookie. The deactivation of cookies may mean that you cannot use all functions of our website.

Tracking-Tools

On our website, we use so-called tracking tools. These tracking tools will monitor your browsing behavior on our website. This observation is made for the purpose of the needs-based design and continuous optimization of our website. In this context, pseudonymized usage profiles are created, and small text files stored on your computer ("cookies") are used. The following tracking tools are used:

  • Google Analytics
    Google Analytics is a service of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. We use Google Analytics on our website in order to create anonymous evaluations of website usage. A cookie is set, and the log data of the session sent to Google. For more information, please refer to the Google privacy policy

Plug-Ins & Services

The website uses the plugins & services described below:

  • Google Maps
    On certain pages you will find maps that are integrated from Google Maps. Google Maps is a product of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. The maps are displayed by I-frame. This means that a foreign website is accessed in that area of the website. The data processing in this iframe is beyond our influence. Google will assign the access to your Google Account. Google Maps will write a cookie as soon as the page loads. If you wish to prevent this behavior, you can opt-out of the activation of Google cookies for your browser by using the links provided under "Opt-out / Opt-In". For more information, please refer to the privacy policy of Google.
  • Youtube
    On certain pages, you will find clips that are included from Youtube. Youtube is a product of Google LLC, 1600 Amphitheater Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. The movies are displayed by I-frame. This means that a foreign website is accessed in the area of the website where the movie is displayed. The data processing in this iframe is beyond our influence. Youtube will write a cookie as soon as the page is loaded. If you wish to prevent this behavior, you can opt-out of the activation of Google cookies for your browser by using the links provided under "Opt-out / Opt-In". For further information, please refer to the privacy policy of Google.
  • Vimeo
    On certain pages, you will find clips that are included from Vimeo. Vimeo is a product of Vimeo, Inc., 555 West 18th Street, NY, New York 10011, USA. The movies are displayed by I-frame. This means that a foreign website is accessed in the area of the website where the movie is displayed. The data processing in this iframe is beyond our influence. For more information, please refer to the privacy policy of Vimeo.

Note about data transfers to the USA

For the sake of completeness, we would like to point out to users, resident or domiciled in Switzerland that in the USA, there are surveillance measures taken by US authorities, which generally entail the storage of all personal data of all persons whose data was transferred from Switzerland to the USA. This is done without any differentiation, limitation, or exception on the basis of the objective pursued, and without an objective criterion that would limit the US authorities access to the data and its subsequent use to very specific, strictly limited purposes, which justify access to this data as well as intervention associated with their use. Furthermore, we would like to point out that in the US, there are no legal remedies available for affected Swiss residents that allow them to obtain access to the data concerning them and to demand their rectification or deletion, and that there is no effective legal protection against general legal access rights of US authorities. We explicitly inform the person concerned about this legal and factual situation in order to make a correspondingly informed decision to consent to the use of his data. For users residing in EU Member States, we point out that, from the point of view of the European Union, the US does not have sufficient data protection levels due to, inter alia, the issues mentioned in this section. To the extent that we have explained in this privacy statement that recipients of data (such as Google, Facebook, or Twitter) are based in the US, we will either ensure that your data is protected at a reasonable level by our partners by contractual arrangements with these companies or by securing certification of these companies under the EU-US-Privacy Shield. 

Right to information, correction, deletion, and restriction of processing; Right to data portability

You have the right to receive information about the personal data that we store about you free of charge upon request. In addition, you have the right to correct inaccurate data and the right to delete your personal data, as far as there is no statutory storage obligation or an authorization requirement that allows us to process the data. In addition, according to Articles 18 and 21 GDPR, you have the right to demand a restriction of data processing and to oppose data processing. You also have the right to reclaim from us the data you have given us (right to data portability). On request, we also pass the data on to a third party of your choice. You have the right to receive the data in a common file format. You can reach us for the aforementioned purposes at our e-mail address info@cscs.ch. We may, at our sole discretion, require proof of identity to process your requests. You can also tell us what to do with your information after you die by giving us appropriate instructions.

Storage of data

We store personal information only as long as necessary to use the above tracking, advertising, and analysis services within the scope of our legitimate interests; to perform, to the extent specified above, services that you have requested or to which you have given your consent; to comply with our legal obligations. Contract data is kept longer by us, as this is required by statutory retention requirements. Retention requirements that oblige us to keep data arise from accounting and tax regulations. According to these regulations, business communication, contracts, and accounting documents must be kept for up to 10 years. As far as we no longer need this data to carry out the services for you, the data will be locked. This means that the data may then only be used for accounting and tax purposes. 

Possibility to opt-out / opt-in

If you do not agree that we evaluate your usage data, you can disable it. Switching off the tracking is done by filing a so-called "opt-out cookie" on your system. If you ever delete all your cookies, please note that the opt-out cookie will also be lost and may have to be renewed.

Opt-Out for Google Analytics

Turn off DoubleClick Cookie

Right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority

If you reside in an EU country, you have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority at any time.

General information

This page was last updated on 24.05.2018. If you have any questions or comments about our legal notices or data protection, please contact us at info@cscs.ch