Privacy notice

1. Controller

The controller is Julius Pietsch, Arethra, Wiesenbergstr. 37, 45147 Essen, Germany. Email: kontakt@arethra.de. Phone: +49 178 1042173.

2. Hosting, storage and domain

The website is hosted by Netlify. Access involves processing in particular your IP address, time, requested content and browser information to deliver and secure the website. Netlify Blobs stores review metadata, knowledge suggestions and approved knowledge with the configured region eu-central-1 (Frankfurt). With consent, voice recordings are uploaded directly from the browser to private Cloudflare R2 storage on submission and served through our server for playback. During direct upload, Cloudflare also processes technically necessary connection data. The domain is managed at STRATO; STRATO does not host this website. Technical connection data may be processed for DNS requests. Recipients are the hosting, storage and domain providers used and their necessary subprocessors.

Technical operation is based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR; our legitimate interest is a reliable and secure website. Providers are Netlify, Inc., USA, Cloudflare, Inc., USA, and STRATO GmbH, Germany. Netlify and Cloudflare may process data and provide support outside the EU/EEA. Their published data processing terms provide, among other safeguards, for EU Standard Contractual Clauses for relevant third-country transfers. The selected storage region does not exclude international support access or other technically necessary processing. Logs and backups are subject to the respective providers’ deletion policies. Contact kontakt@arethra.de for information about the specific retention periods and applicable transfer safeguards and, where relevant, copies.

3. Contact

Email and phone links open your corresponding application. If you contact us, we process contact details and message content to respond. Article 6(1)(b) GDPR applies to contract-related enquiries; otherwise Article 6(1)(f) GDPR applies, based on our interest in answering enquiries. Once finally resolved, we delete the data unless required retention or necessary legal claims prevent this; further use is then restricted to that purpose.

4. Astronaut and private memory

The astronaut is an automated website assistant with prepared answers and editorially approved knowledge, with no external AI service connected. Ordinary chat inputs are processed locally. Without memory, history stays in working memory and is discarded on reload. Temporary processing serves the chat function you request (Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG; for personal data, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, based on the interest in responding to your enquiry). Answers are not binding offers or professional advice. The assistant makes no decisions with legal or similarly significant effects.

Only with your active consent does private memory store questions, answers, language, any topic reference and timestamps in local browser storage under arethra_assistant_memory_v1. It retains up to 50 question-and-answer pairs, each for 90 days from storage, to continue your conversation in the same browser. The content is not sent to Arethra or an AI provider and is not shared with other visitors or devices. No model training takes place. The legal bases are Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and Section 25(1) TDDDG.

Use “Delete history” to remove saved conversations. “Turn off and delete” withdraws consent and also deletes memory. You can also uncheck memory in cookie settings and save your choice. “Export” downloads your memories as a file; you must delete this downloaded copy separately if needed. Chat remains available. Expired entries are cleaned up on next storage access and are no longer used; a closed website cannot delete browser data in the background. On shared devices, other people using the same browser profile may see the content. Please do not enter passwords, health data or confidential information about other people.

5. Voluntary suggestions for shared knowledge

You can separately submit a selected question as a knowledge suggestion. Only after your explicit consent do we send that text, its language, consent timestamp and version, and processing status to Netlify Blobs. The rest of your chat and private memory are not transmitted. No name or email is requested. Please do not submit personal or confidential information or data about other people.

Arethra reviews suggestions, removes personal information and creates or edits a generally useful question and answer in German, English and Greek. Only after approval does the cleaned-up version become available to all visitors. It is publicly accessible worldwide and may be copied by third parties. Your voluntary consent covers review, editing, translation and publication for this purpose (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). There is no automatic learning from all conversations or AI model training. The website is usable without a suggestion.

The original question text becomes due for deletion after 90 days and is removed during daily cleanup or an earlier access, including after approval. Cleaned-up knowledge remains stored while needed as website knowledge and until consent is withdrawn. The contribution reference and a hash of your deletion code are retained for the same period to allow later deletion. The code itself is not stored on the server. Unapproved suggestions are visible only in protected administration. Netlify has the technical access required as the storage provider.

After submission you receive a deletion code. Keep it: the deletion function at the end of this privacy notice lets you remove your suggestion and linked published knowledge and withdraw consent for the future. A technical deletion marker without the question or answers is removed by the next daily cleanup. Alternatively, write to kontakt@arethra.de with details identifying the contribution; we request only necessary information to locate it and establish your entitlement. Earlier processing remains lawful. We cannot directly erase copies held by independent third parties.

6. Reviews and voice messages

For a review we store your name, optional company, email address, star rating, text and any audio file, plus consent timestamp, consent version and processing status. Your email is not published. Following review, your name, company and review, including a recording, may be published worldwide based on your separate consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR). Third parties may copy published content. Providing information is voluntary; submission requires the mandatory details. The rest of the website remains available.

The microphone starts only when you request it and grant browser permission. Alternatively, you can select an audio file. Before submission the file stays local and can be played, replaced or removed. Only when you submit the review with your consent to publication does your browser upload the file directly to our private storage at Cloudflare R2. Cloudflare receives the file and technically necessary connection data such as your IP address and browser information. Our server checks the file before attaching it to the review. There is no automatic transcription, voice recognition or sharing with an AI service. Recordings are limited to 60 seconds and files to 8 MB. A cookie choice does not replace consent to publication.

For this upload we temporarily store its review reference, file size and format, consent version, time and a protected upload authorisation. The upload link is valid for ten minutes and the reference for one hour. If submission is not completed, temporary details and any uploaded file not attached to a review become due for deletion after one hour and are removed during daily cleanup or earlier. Deletion is retried if a technical error occurs. A provisionally uploaded file is not publicly accessible.

Unapproved or rejected reviews and their recordings become due for deletion after 90 days and are removed during daily cleanup or an earlier access. Approved reviews remain until consent is withdrawn or they are no longer needed to present customer experiences. You may withdraw consent at any time for the future at kontakt@arethra.de. We then remove the review and recording. Include the name used and, if possible, use the same email address; we request only the information necessary to identify the contribution and establish your entitlement. Earlier processing remains lawful. We cannot directly erase copies held by independent third parties.

7. Abuse prevention and administration

To protect submission functions against abuse, a short-lived hash of the technical IP address and a time window is processed with a counter. This is a pseudonymous safeguard, not guaranteed anonymisation. The entry expires after two hours and is removed in the next cleanup. The IP address is not stored as a field of a review or knowledge suggestion. The legal basis is Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, based on our legitimate interest in preventing abuse and ensuring availability.

Only the protected administration area requires sign-in. The necessary arethra_admin_session cookie confirms an authorised session for up to eight hours and is removed on sign-out. It secures access and does not analyse visitors (Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG; Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, based on the interest in protecting non-public content). Public content, chat, reviews and knowledge suggestions require no account.

8. Cookies and browser storage

No analytics or marketing services are embedded. You can change your storage choice at any time through cookie settings in the footer. Consent to private memory, sharing a knowledge suggestion and publishing a review are separate choices.

arethra_cookie_consent stores your choice, notice version and timestamp locally. The choice applies for up to 180 days. On expiry or a new notice version you are asked again; without renewed consent, private memory is no longer used and is removed on next access. Necessary storage of your decision is based on Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG and, for personal data, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, based on our interest in respecting your choice. No background deletion takes place while the website is closed.

“Necessary only” leaves optional memory off and deletes existing memories. “Select all” marks the optional choice without saving it yet. “Accept selection” applies your current choice. “Accept all” enables the only current optional storage purpose: private astronaut memory. You can withdraw consent at any time through cookie settings in the footer. This choice does not permit publication of reviews or knowledge suggestions.

After you move the astronaut, arethra_assistant_position stores its screen position in the tab's session storage. This requested function falls under Section 25(2)(2) TDDDG. The entry contains no chat content and ends with the session; the browser may restore it when restoring a session. No movement profile is created. Language follows the language version you visit and requires no additional storage entry. An old arethra_intro_seen entry is removed.

9. Arethra Flow

The public Flow demo works with sample data in the browser. Changes to this sample data are not transferred to the Flow database. Please do not use real customer data in the demo.

The access-protected customer area connects to api.arethra.de over an encrypted connection. The database, document storage and automations run on a server operated by Hetzner Online GmbH in Nuremberg, Germany. Session sign-in data are kept in local browser storage. Access to business data requires sign-in and assignment to the respective business.

Before pilot operation, the specific data categories, retention periods, recipients and responsibilities are agreed with the commissioning business. Automatic email sending and public self-registration are currently disabled.

10. Your rights

Subject to the statutory requirements, you have rights of access (Article 15 GDPR), rectification (Article 16), erasure (Article 17), restriction (Article 18) and data portability (Article 20). For processing based on legitimate interests you may object on grounds relating to your particular situation (Article 21). You may withdraw consent at any time for the future without affecting earlier processing. For requests about server-side data, contact kontakt@arethra.de. You can delete exclusively local chat memory in chat or cookie settings; we cannot access it from our server.

You may complain to a data protection supervisory authority, particularly where you habitually live or work or where the alleged infringement occurred. For our location in Essen, you can contact the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information North Rhine-Westphalia: Kavalleriestraße 2–4, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany, poststelle@ldi.nrw.de, www.ldi.nrw.de.

Last updated: 30 September 2026.

Withdraw a submitted question

Your code removes the submitted question and its published answers. Without a code, contact kontakt@arethra.de.