Data protection

Please also note the Disclaimer of ETH Zurich

swisscovery

For the use of the external page ETH Library @ swisscovery please refer to external page SLSP Privacy Policy. This Privacy Statement describes what personal data are processed for what purposes and how such data are collected. It also explains which rights you have in connection with the processing of your personal data.

Conditions of Use, Fees

The Conditions of Use regulate the rights and obligations of the library and the users.

Open-access publication costs

By using the protected page application for open-access publication fees, you agree that your data will be stored on the servers of ETH Zurich. We will use your data exclusively for the purpose of processing the application and will not pass them on to third parties, with exception of the publication data of publications paid for by ETH, which will be passed on to external page OpenAPC within the context of the national monitoring.

The ETH Library chat service

The ETH Library uses the software external page Libraryh3lp for the chat service on this website and the Search Portal. The following data are stored temporarily on the service provider’s servers:

• A randomly generated string of characters as an internal ID for each conversation
• The web address from which the chat form was being called
• The IP address of the device from which the chat service was being accessed
• Timestamps regarding the beginning and duration of the conversation as well as the wait time between request and answer
• The chat history

These data are not shared with any third party and will be deleted weekly on the service provider’s servers by the ETH Library.

The ETH Library keeps an anonymized copy of these data without the corresponding IP addresses for quality assurance and for improvement of the service. Communication is encrypted via HTTPS.

Social Media

The ETH Library refers to the netiquette of ETH Zurich.

Furthermore, the Social Media Guidelines of ETH Zurich (RSETHZ 203.24en) of 26 February 2013 are in effect.

Cookies

We use cookies on our website. Cookies are small text files that are stored on your computer for a set period of time when you visit an ETH page. Cookies help us to statistically measure your usage of our website and continuously improve it. For example, we receive information about how many visitors are affiliated with ETH or whether they would prefer not to be tracked by us. You can deactivate some or all cookies at any time by adjusting your browser settings or you can delete them manually. If cookies are deactivated, you may no longer be able to use all the features of our website. Moreover, we only use first-party cookies. We do not use cookies from third-party services, such as advertising networks or social media platforms, or do not do so without your explicit consent.

General cookies

Social networks and other third-party services

ETH does not host any advertising on its web pages. For this reason, we do not store or transfer any personal data to advertising services (such as advertising networks, advertising brokers or exchanges).

When you visit our web pages, we only show content from social media channels with your express consent. You may grant this consent in connection with specific pieces of content or globally via the settings in our cookie preference centre (and, by extension, also revoke it). By doing so, we ensure that no personal data is transferred to the social media platform in question without your explicit consent. If you grant consent, the platform operator may collect personal data via our website depending on the interface provided by the platform. In this case, the terms of service of the platform in question apply. ETH Zurich has no influence over these terms. In the majority of cases, this processing will involve your IP address at a minimum. In the appropriate place, information will be displayed indicating that data may be sent to the external provider when you click on the page. You can find out more about the purpose and scope of data collection and further processing and use of data by the third-party service provider as well as your rights and choice of settings in this regard concerning the protection of your privacy in the privacy policies of the respective third-party providers.

The operator of the respective social media platform is responsible for processing personal data on the social media platforms where we maintain our social media presence. In many cases, the operator will process your personal data when you visit our social media pages regardless of whether you have a user account on the social media platform in question or whether you are logged in, and it does so for its own purposes. Furthermore, the operators usually use cookies and other (cross-device) tracking technologies. In this case, the terms of service of the platform in question apply. ETH Zurich has no influence over these terms.

Logs

We save certain metadata about your user behaviour in log files for troubleshooting purposes and to trace abuse of our web presence. This data includes the IP address, date, time, browser request and information transmitted about the device used, including the operating system and browser. We do not use log files to analyse your user behaviour or associate it with other collected data. We periodically delete this type of data.

Search

For the search function on ethz.ch (including subdomains), we use Google as our search provider. Your search queries are not personalised unlike usual Google searches. We forward the search terms themselves (with ETH Zurich as sender) on to Google. In this case, Google’s terms of service apply. ETH Zurich has no influence over these terms. Moreover, we collect anonymised statistics about common search terms in order to provide auto-complete functionality for user input. Search terms and settings that appear in your personal history or are active when visiting one of our web pages are stored locally in your browser and are not visible to us.

Your rights

You have the right to request information about the processing of your personal data from the responsible departments at no cost and at any time. To do this, get in touch with your direct point of contact or with the contact named in the legal notice. Additional rights such as the right to data erasure, data rectification, restriction of data processing and the right to data portability are in place as prescribed by law.

The collection of certain data for the purpose of making the website available and the storage of data in log files is strictly necessary to operate our website. As such, there is no right to object to this on the part of users of our website. We do not use log files to analyse your user behaviour or associate it with other collected data.

Data security

During website visits, ETH Zurich uses encrypted data communication based on TLS in conjunction with the highest level of encryption supported by your browser. You will recognise whether a particular web page is being transmitted over an encrypted connection by the closed key or lock symbol in your browser’s address bar.

When processing your data, ETH Zurich also takes appropriate technical and organisational security measures in general to protect your data against accidental or intentional tampering, partial or complete loss, destruction and any unauthorised access by third parties. Our security measures are in line with the current state of technology and are improved accordingly on an ongoing basis.

Operation

The web servers for operating the ETH Zurich website are generally managed by the IT Services department of ETH Zurich itself. Certain services may also be operated by external partners. In these cases, it is particularly important to us that data is processed within Switzerland or the EU and that no data is transferred to countries with an inadequate level of data protection (in accordance with Annex 1 of the Data Protection Ordinance⁵ [DPO; SR 235.1]) The same data protection requirements apply to external partners as to internally operated applications.

Contact details of our Data Protection Officer

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or require more information that your direct point of contact at ETH Zurich cannot provide you with, you can get in touch with our Data Protection Officer at . You can also write to the following address by post: ETH Zurich, Legal Office (Data Protection), Rämistrasse 101, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.

The Data Protection Officer at ETH Zurich is currently Tomislav Mitar. The supervisory authority for data protection law is the Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner (FDPIC).