Data protection

We appreciate your interest in learning more about our data protection. Switch does not only stand for innovative, stable and secure services for the education, research and innovation community, the internet community and critical infrastructure organisations, but also for responsible data handling. This Privacy Policy explains how Switch (hereinafter "Switch", "we" or "us") collects or processes personal data when you visit our website or an event, have a contractual relationship with us, communicate or otherwise deal with us. This privacy policy is not an exhaustive description. If necessary, other policies concerning data protection regulate specific facts; this applies in particular to the use of our services. If our services are provided by an organisation that is affiliated with you, the use of those services will be governed primarily by that organisation's policies and further by the respective agreements between Switch and the organisation. You should direct your enquiries about your privacy rights to your organisation's administrator.

1 Controller

Switch is responsible for the data processing described here. If you have any data protection concerns or would like to exercise your data protection rights, you can contact us at the following address:

Switch
P.O.  Box
8021 Zurich

Email: privacy@switch.ch

2 For what purposes do we process your data?

Switch processes different categories of personal data for different purposes, which are explained below.

Switch processes personal data:

  • to communicate with you. In doing so, we use various means of communication such as email, telephone incl. software for video telephony, social media channels and letter. In this context, we process in particular the content of the communication, your contact details and the relevant information about the communication. This also includes possible image and sound recordings of video or telephone calls based on your consent.
  • for the initiation, administration and settlement of our contractual relationships. This also includes the enforcement of contracts. The data processed includes information collected during contract initiation and conclusion, as well as financial and payment information.
  • If, exceptionally, you use one of our services directly from us without it being provided by an organisation associated with you, we will process subsequent data to enable us to provide our service to you, to detect, analyse, eliminate or prevent ICT security incidents and problems and to statistically analyse anonymised data. The processed data are in particular your contact data, data required for authentication and/or authorisation for the use of the service as well as content data which you create, upload, store etc. when using the service. In addition, we process technical data (e.g. IP address, device data, server logs).
  • to maintain and manage our business relationship. In doing so, we process the data necessary for maintaining the relationship, e.g. about contact persons, the relationship history, interests, wishes and other information that you have provided to us.
  • for the organisation and realization of events. For this purpose, we process the data collected during registration for the respective event. Usuaally, this involves first and last names as well as email address and affiliated organisation. In addition, photos and video recordings may be made in which participants are recognisable.
  • for the purpose of collaboration, exchange of information and further development within the framework of working groups on specialist topics and on our offers. In the course of this processing, we may process contact details of the participants as well as information that they provide to us on the occasion of their participation in meetings and events of the working groups.
  • to inform you about current topics and events concerning Switch and our services with our For this purpose, we process, among other things, the data collected during registration. The newsletters contain a so-called web-beacon, which is retrieved from an external server when the newsletter is opened. Within the scope of this retrieval, technical data, such as information on the browser and your operating system, as well as your IP address and the time of the retrieval are initially collected. In addition, based on your email address, we can track whether and when you have opened a newsletter and which links you have clicked on in the newsletter. The evaluation of this information helps us to recognise the reading habits of the recipients and to adapt our content to you. You have the option to revoke your consent at any time and unsubscribe from the respective newsletter by using the unsubscribe link provided for this purpose in a newsletter email.
  • to operate and optimise our websites and to ensure their security. For this purpose, we collect technical data (e.g. IP address, device data, accessed files, date and time of access).
  • Our websites use the open source web analysis tool Matomo. This enables us to track your activities on our websites and to continuously optimise our website. For data collection, data is transmitted to us via javascript and cookies are generated. Cookies are files that are temporarily stored by the browser on your end device when you visit our website. These cookies store further information in addition to the data provided by your browser. Most browsers accept cookies automatically. However, you can configure your browser so that no cookies are stored on your end device or that a message always appears when you receive a new cookie. Details of the settings required for this can be found in the product descriptions or instructions of the provider of the browser you are using.
  • In order to authenticate and authorise access to certain website areas and offers, it may be necessary to create a user account or to register (e.g. login areas of our website, participation in competitions, free WLAN access, etc.). For this purpose, we process in particular the registration or user account data requested in the context of the respective registration or disclosed by you.
  • to check your job application with regard to your suitability for the position in question and to conduct pre-contractual negotiations or conclude an employment contract. For this purpose, we process data provided by you in the application process, user account and usage information of the job portal, correspondence data, reference information and publicly accessible profiles in social media. Depending on the job profile, further data such as external mandates (e.g. board of directors mandates), political offices, criminal record or debt collection register excerpt may be required. If this is the case, you will receive further information during the application process.

By agreeing to the retention of data beyond a specific job application, you are providing us with the data provided in the application process, as well as other data collected during the application process, so that we may refer you to suitable job opportunities from Switch.

  • to ensure the security of our buildings, IT systems and other facilities and to protect employees and other persons. For this purpose, we have taken various protective measures (e.g. access controls, visitor lists, network and mail scanners, video surveillance). We process access data, contact details, communication data and video data for this purpose.

We may process your data for other purposes, e.g. as part of our internal processes and administration.

3 Data transfer and data transmission abroad

We also disclose your personal data to third parties as part of the data processing and business activities described in this privacy policy, as well as in connection with legal obligations or otherwise to protect our legitimate interests. These are in particular the following categories of recipients:

Service providers such as IT providers, event agencies, banks and insurance companies.

  • Dealers, suppliers, customers and other business partners who come into contact with your personal data in the course of our business relationship.
  • the public, including visitors to websites and social media.
  • Domestic and foreign authorities, official agencies and courts.
  • Other persons, insofar as the inclusion results from the purpose pursuant to para. 2

Some of these recipients are in Switzerland, but they can be in any country in the world. Not all of these countries have a level of data protection that is adequate from a Swiss perspective. In such a case, we ensure adequate protection through sufficient contractual guarantees, e.g. through contractual clauses issued or recognised by the competent authorities ("standard contractual clauses"), if the transfer in the individual case is not necessary on the basis of consent, for the performance of the contract, for the establishment, exercise or enforcement of legal claims, for overriding public interests or for your protection. You can obtain a copy of the contractual safeguards at any time (refer to the contact mentioned in para. 1 above).

4 Storage period

We process your data as long as it is necessary for the processing purposes, legal retention periods and our legitimate interests, e.g. for documentation, evidence purposes or IT security.

5 Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational security measures to protect your personal data stored with us against manipulation, partial or complete loss and against unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are continuously improved in line with technological developments.

6 Your rights as a data subject

You have the following rights in relation to your personal data. However, these may be subject to conditions or certain restrictions - we will inform you accordingly if you wish to exercise such a right against us:

  • You have the right to obtain information about personal data concerning you at any time. In addition, you have the right to request the correction or deletion of personal data concerning you, as well as to object to the processing of such data or to request a restriction of the processing. In certain cases, you also have the right to receive certain data in a structured, common and machine-readable format. To do so, please refer to the contact mentioned in para. 1
  • You have the right to lodge a complaint with the competent data protection authority.
  • If the processing of personal data is based on your consent, you can revoke this consent at any time. Such a revocation is only effective for the future.

7 Amendment of the privacy policy

Please note that we may amend this privacy policy at any time without prior notice. You will find the current version published on our website.