Gregory's Blog.

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy sets out how personal data is processed when you visit this website, on what legal basis, who receives it, how long it is kept, and the rights available to you. It is written to meet the requirements of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG) and the German Telecommunications-Digital-Services Data Protection Act (TDDDG).

1. Controller

The controller responsible for the processing of personal data within the meaning of Article 4(7) GDPR is:

G.B.S. Beteiligungsgesellschaft UG (haftungsbeschränkt)

Bretonischer Ring 4-6a

85630 Grasbrunn, Germany

Managing Director: Gregory Budakow-Shetelya

Email: [email protected]

We are not legally required to appoint a Data Protection Officer. For any question concerning data protection, please use the contact address above.

Depending on the circumstances, we rely on one or more of the following legal bases:

  • Consent — Article 6(1)(a) GDPR (and § 25(1) TDDDG for storage of or access to information on your device): e.g. for analytics cookies. You may withdraw consent at any time with effect for the future.

  • Legitimate interests — Article 6(1)(f) GDPR: e.g. operating the site securely and reliably and preventing abuse.

  • Legal obligation — Article 6(1)(c) GDPR: where we are required to process data to comply with the law.

3. Hosting and content delivery network

This website is hosted on servers operated on our behalf, and is delivered through Cloudflare, Inc. (101 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA) acting as a content-delivery network and reverse proxy for performance and security. When you access the site, connection data (including your IP address) is necessarily processed by this infrastructure to transmit the pages to your browser and to protect the service against attacks.

Legal basis: Article 6(1)(f) GDPR (our legitimate interest in a secure, performant website). We have concluded data-processing agreements (Article 28 GDPR) with our providers. Where data is transferred to the USA, the safeguards described in section 9 apply.

4. Server log files

Each time the site is accessed, the system automatically collects data and information transmitted by your browser and stores it in log files. The following may be recorded:

  • the anonymised or abbreviated IP address of the requesting device;

  • the date and time of the request;

  • the page or file requested and the amount of data transferred;

  • the HTTP status code;

  • the referring URL, where provided;

  • the browser type and version and the operating system used.

This data is processed to deliver the website, to guarantee its stability and security, and for troubleshooting. Legal basis: Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. Log data is stored only for as long as necessary for these purposes and then deleted or anonymised.

We use cookies and comparable technologies. Some are strictly necessary for the site to function and to remember your privacy choice; these are set on the basis of § 25(2) TDDDG and Article 6(1)(f) GDPR. All other cookies — in particular analytics cookies — are set only after you have given consent through our consent banner, on the basis of § 25(1) TDDDG and Article 6(1)(a) GDPR.

We implement Google Consent Mode v2: analytics storage is denied by default, so no analytics cookies are set and no analytics data is collected until you actively accept. Your decision is stored in a first-party cookie (budakow_consent) for up to 180 days and can be changed at any time via the “Cookie preferences” link in the footer. A full list of cookies is available in our Cookie Policy.

6. Google Analytics 4

Subject to your consent, this website uses Google Analytics 4, a web-analytics service provided by Google Ireland Limited (Gordon House, Barrow Street, Dublin 4, Ireland). Google Analytics uses cookies and similar identifiers to help us understand how visitors use the site — for example which pages are viewed, approximate (city-level) location derived from a truncated IP address, and the type of device and browser used.

The information is generally transmitted to and stored by Google. Google Analytics 4 does not log or store full IP addresses. We use the service only to produce pseudonymous, aggregated statistics and not to identify individual visitors.

  • Purpose: reach and usage analysis to improve the site.

  • Legal basis: your consent — Article 6(1)(a) GDPR and § 25(1) TDDDG.

  • Recipient / processor: Google Ireland Limited, with onward processing by Google LLC (USA).

  • Retention: user- and event-level data is retained according to our GA4 configuration (by default up to 14 months).

  • Withdrawal: you can withdraw consent at any time via “Cookie preferences”, which stops further collection.

Further information is available in Google’s privacy policy at https://policies.google.com/privacy and its analytics data-practices notice.

7. Internal reach measurement

Independently of Google Analytics, we keep a simple aggregate counter of how often each article is viewed. This counter stores no personal data, sets no cookies, and does not profile visitors. Legal basis: Article 6(1)(f) GDPR.

8. Contact by email

If you contact us by email, the data you provide (your email address and the content of your message) is processed solely to handle your enquiry. Legal basis: Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, and Article 6(1)(b) GDPR where your request relates to a contract. This data is deleted once your request has been dealt with and no retention obligations remain.

9. Recipients and international transfers

Personal data is disclosed only to the processors that operate this service — our hosting provider, Cloudflare and, subject to consent, Google. Some of these providers are established in, or process data in, the United States. Such transfers are safeguarded by the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (Article 46(2)(c) GDPR) and, where the provider is certified, by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework (Article 45 GDPR). You may request a copy of the relevant safeguards using the contact details above.

10. Storage period

We process personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described here or as required by statutory retention periods. Server logs are kept for a short period; analytics data is kept for the GA4 retention window; your consent record is kept for up to 180 days. When a purpose ceases and no legal obligation requires retention, the data is deleted or anonymised.

11. Your rights

Subject to the conditions of the GDPR, you have the following rights in respect of your personal data:

  • Right of access (Article 15 GDPR) — to obtain confirmation of, and information about, our processing.

  • Right to rectification (Article 16 GDPR) — to have inaccurate data corrected.

  • Right to erasure (Article 17 GDPR) — to have data deleted where the conditions are met.

  • Right to restriction (Article 18 GDPR) — to limit our processing.

  • Right to data portability (Article 20 GDPR) — to receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format.

  • Right to withdraw consent (Article 7(3) GDPR) — at any time, without affecting the lawfulness of prior processing.

Right to object (Article 21 GDPR)

Where we process personal data on the basis of our legitimate interests (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR), you have the right to object at any time, on grounds relating to your particular situation, to that processing. We will then no longer process the data unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights and freedoms, or the processing serves the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.

Right to lodge a complaint (Article 77 GDPR)

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority. The authority competent for us is the Bavarian State Office for Data Protection Supervision (Bayerisches Landesamt für Datenschutzaufsicht, BayLDA), Promenade 18, 91522 Ansbach, Germany. You may also contact the supervisory authority of your habitual residence or place of the alleged infringement.

12. Data security

This website is served exclusively over an encrypted TLS/HTTPS connection to protect the data transmitted between your browser and our servers. We maintain appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against loss, misuse and unauthorised access.

13. No automated decision-making

We do not use automated decision-making or profiling within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR.

14. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy to reflect changes to the service or the law. The current version published on this page applies.

Last updated: 17 August 2026.