Privacy Policy
1. Controller
The ICONIC Circle Carmen Sanne-Salomon Erkrather Str. 30 40233 Düsseldorf Germany Email: info@theiconiccircle.de
2. General information on data processing
This privacy policy explains how personal data is processed when you use this website and contact The ICONIC Circle.
Personal data is processed in particular to provide the website technically and to handle enquiries. Processing depends on the relevant purpose and the applicable legal basis under the GDPR.
3. Hosting and technical provision of the website
The website is provided through ChatGPT Sites and hosted by OpenAI.
For users in the European Economic Area, OpenAI Ireland Ltd. is the contracting party for ChatGPT Sites.
The ICONIC Circle remains the controller within the meaning of the GDPR. OpenAI processes personal data collected through the published website as hosted data in its role as processor under the ChatGPT Sites Data Processing Addendum.
Sub-processors engaged by OpenAI may be involved in hosting, infrastructure, security and support.
Sub-processors in countries outside the European Economic Area may also be engaged. OpenAI provides the safeguards required under applicable data protection laws for this processing.
The technical provision and security of the website are based on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our legitimate interest is the secure and reliable operation of our editorial website.
4. Server and access data
When you access the website, technically necessary connection, operational, security, error and diagnostic data may be processed to the extent required for provision, security, maintenance and troubleshooting.
The specific scope of technical logging and the applicable retention periods depend on the hosting infrastructure and its configuration. Individual data categories or specific retention periods that have not been technically confirmed are not stated here.
5. Contact by email
If you contact us by email, we process the data you provide, particularly your email address, the content of your message and any accompanying information or attachments, to handle your enquiry.
General enquiries are handled on the basis of our legitimate interest in responding to them (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). Where your enquiry concerns a contract or steps prior to entering into a contract, Article 6(1)(b) GDPR applies. The data is stored only for as long as necessary to handle the enquiry and, where applicable, to comply with statutory retention obligations.
Our email mailbox is operated by IONOS. IONOS processes the message, contact and technical connection data required to provide the email service on our behalf.
6. Forms on the website
The “For authors” form includes: name, email address, book title, publisher / self-publishing, link to the book, preferred format and the answer to “Why is your book a good fit for The Iconic Circle?”.
The membership form collects your name and email address and, optionally, profession, interests, personal messages and interest in volunteering. It also records your consent to processing for contact purposes. It is used to handle your expression of interest, not to enrol you automatically as a member.
The reading-place and event suggestion forms collect your name, email address, details of the proposed place or event, website links, descriptions and information about images or press materials. Event suggestions also include a date; reading-place suggestions include the reason for your recommendation. The information is used for editorial review and any follow-up questions.
The email-draft process described below applies to all these forms. After you send the email yourself, the purposes, legal bases and retention criteria described under Contact by email apply. Where you expressly consent to processing, it is based on Article 6(1)(a) GDPR; consent may be withdrawn at any time with future effect. Required fields are necessary for the relevant enquiry; optional information may be omitted.
The information is assembled into an email draft solely in your browser. The form opens your email application using a mailto link. It does not currently transmit the entered data automatically to a server or external form service. Transmission occurs only when you subsequently send the email yourself. The draft is displayed in the page’s working memory during use.
TIC Letter
The website includes a field for subscribing to the TIC Letter. The TIC Letter is not currently connected to an email delivery service. Email addresses entered in this field are currently not stored, transmitted to a newsletter service or used to send newsletters. Clicking the button only displays a notice that subscriptions are not yet active.
Once a newsletter delivery service is set up, this privacy policy will be updated accordingly before subscriptions are activated.
7. Embedded content
The videos featuring Gerd Schäfer and Henning von Amrum load only after you click “Agree and load video” for the relevant video. Before that, this embed makes no connection to YouTube. Consent applies only to that video during the current page visit and is not stored persistently.
The provider is Google Ireland Limited, Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland. After your consent, the player is embedded through youtube-nocookie.com. In particular, your IP address, device and browser information and usage data may be transmitted to Google. Privacy Enhanced Mode does not exclude data processing or the use of cookies or similar technologies. Processing in the USA is possible.
The embed is based on your consent under Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and, where information is stored on or accessed from your device, Section 25(1) TDDDG. “Withdraw consent and unload video” removes the player and ends further connections made by that player. This does not reverse processing that has already taken place. You can continue to use the rest of the website without consenting.
Information about Google's processing, retention periods, international transfers and your settings is available at https://policies.google.com/privacy and https://policies.google.com/privacy/frameworks.
Additional external YouTube links do not load a player here. You visit YouTube only when you click them.
8. External links
The website contains external links, including to Amazon, Thalia, Books on Demand, author websites, event websites, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok. These links are not embedded services. Data processing by the respective linked provider generally starts only when you open its external link.
Clicking a link takes you away from The ICONIC Circle’s website to the relevant provider’s service. Its privacy information applies to processing there. Links alone are distinct from the directly embedded YouTube videos described above.
9. Cookies and similar technologies
The website's own code does not set its own analytics or advertising cookies. YouTube players load only after your express consent; cookies or similar technologies may then be used by them. Technically necessary storage mechanisms may be used to provide and secure the website. Strictly necessary storage or access falls under the exception in Section 25(2) TDDDG; associated personal-data processing is based in particular on Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.
The technical framework uses sessionStorage solely to prevent repeated page reloads when technical errors occur. This storage mechanism is not used for advertising, analytics or profiling.
Forms, search filters, pagination and language selection use temporary browser state; the language is determined by the address visited.
No custom analytics tools, advertising pixels or marketing trackers are built into the website code currently reviewed. This statement concerns the reviewed website code and does not conclusively confirm the functions of the hosting platform or embedded content.
10. Rights of data subjects
Subject to the GDPR, you have rights of access (Article 15), rectification (Article 16), erasure (Article 17), restriction (Article 18) and data portability (Article 20). You may object under Article 21 and withdraw consent prospectively (Article 7(3)).
Contact info@theiconiccircle.de to exercise your rights. You may also complain to a data protection supervisory authority, particularly where you habitually reside, work or where the alleged infringement occurred (Article 77).
11. Updates to this privacy policy
Last updated: 4 October 2026. This privacy policy may be updated when website functions or services change.