Legal notice
Information pursuant to § 5 DDG (German Digital Services Act)
heiForge
Owner: Stephan Heider
Hans-Kalscheuer-Straße 79
51149 Köln (Cologne), Germany
Contact
Email: legal@heiForge.com
VAT
In accordance with § 19 UStG (German small business regulation), no VAT is charged or shown.
Responsible for content pursuant to § 18 (2) MStV
Stephan Heider, address as above
Consumer dispute resolution
We are neither willing nor obliged to take part in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board.
Liability for content
As a service provider, we are responsible for our own content on these pages under general law. We are not obliged to monitor third-party information that is transmitted or stored. If we become aware of any infringement, we will remove the content concerned immediately.
Liability for links
This website currently contains no links to external websites. The operators of external pages are solely responsible for their content.
Privacy policy
1. Controller
The controller responsible for data processing on this website is Stephan Heider, heiForge. The address and contact details are given in the legal notice; you can also reach us via the contact form.
2. Overview
This website is purely informational. We do not use any analytics or tracking services and no advertising. The site is shown in dark mode by default. We only use cookies in three cases: one cookie each for your colour and language choice, if you use the light/dark switch or the language switch, and a technically necessary session cookie on the contact page (see section 4). The fonts used are embedded in the site and are not loaded from third-party servers. We only process personal data in the cases described below.
2a. Cookies for colour and language choice
You can change the display with the “Light/Dark” switch in the header. Only when you use the switch do we store your choice in a cookie called “hf_theme”. It contains only the value “light” or “dark”, is stored for 12 months and is not used for tracking or audience measurement. Its sole purpose is to restore the setting you explicitly chose on your next visit (§ 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG). You can delete the cookie in your browser at any time.
The “DE/EN” language switch lets you change between the German and the English version. Only when you use it do we store your choice in a cookie called “hf_lang”. It contains only the value “de” or “en”, is stored for 12 months and is not used for tracking or audience measurement. Its sole purpose is to show you the pages in your chosen language on your next visit (§ 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG).
3. Hosting and server log files
This website is hosted by STRATO GmbH, Otto-Ostrowski-Straße 7, 10249 Berlin, Germany. When you visit the site, the server processes technically necessary data (server log files): IP address, date and time of access, page requested, amount of data transferred, browser type and operating system, and the previously visited page. This is necessary to deliver the site and operate it securely. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in secure and error-free operation). The data is deleted automatically after the period set by the hosting provider. A data processing agreement pursuant to Art. 28 GDPR is in place with the hosting provider.
4. Contacting us
If you contact us by email, we process your details (for example your name, contact details and the content of your enquiry) in order to answer it. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR where a contract or pre-contractual measures are concerned, otherwise Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in answering enquiries). We delete the data once the enquiry has been dealt with, unless statutory retention obligations apply.
If you use the contact form, we process your name, email address, selected topic and your message in order to answer your enquiry. The details are sent to us by email; the email service is provided by our hosting provider STRATO. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR, otherwise Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. The consent checkbox in the form only confirms that you have read this policy. The data remains exclusively in our email inbox and is deleted there once the enquiry has been dealt with and no retention obligations apply. We do not send you an automatic confirmation email.
To protect against spam and abuse, we use the following measures on the contact page: when the form is opened, your browser solves a small computing task (security check). It runs entirely on your device; no external service is involved and no data is passed on to third parties. In addition, we briefly store a shortened value of your IP address encrypted with a secret key (hash) in order to limit the number of submission attempts. The IP address cannot be derived from this value. It is deleted after 24 hours at the latest. The legal basis is Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR (legitimate interest in security and protection against abuse).
When you open the contact page, a session cookie (“hfs”) is set. It contains only a random identifier, is technically necessary to protect the form (§ 25 (2) no. 2 TDDDG) and is deleted when you close your browser. It is not used for tracking or audience measurement.
5. Encryption
For security reasons, this site uses TLS encryption. You can recognise it by “https://” in your browser’s address bar.
6. Your rights
You have the right of access (Art. 15 GDPR), rectification (Art. 16), erasure (Art. 17), restriction of processing (Art. 18) and data portability (Art. 20). You can object to processing based on legitimate interests (Art. 21) and withdraw any consent given at any time (Art. 7 (3)). To do so, please contact the address given above. You can also lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority, for example the State Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information of North Rhine-Westphalia (LDI NRW), Kavalleriestraße 2–4, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany.
7. Changes
We update this policy when the website or the legal situation changes. Last updated: October 2026.