Data protection information on the online presence of the National Police on social media

1. introduction

The controller within the meaning of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the Office

National Police of the Principality of Liechtenstein
Gewerbeweg 4
P.O. Box 684
9490 Vaduz

Telephone: +423 236 71 11
E-mail: info(at)landespolzei.li

In the following, the operator of the respective online presence is referred to as the "controller".

Below, the controller informs you in accordance with Art. 13 and Art. 14 GDPR about the manner and background of the processing of your personal data in connection with the activities of the controller in the context of its online presence and its presentation in the social media. The terms social networks and social media are synonymous with the term social media.

In principle, social media are Internet platforms that serve the presentation of an individual as well as networking, communication and interaction between members of the online platform and enable the exchange of information with each other.

2 Social media channels used

The controller operates its online presence in the social media listed below and thus its publicly accessible presentation on the Internet:

Social media channels

Facebook: National Police
Instagram: National Police

3 Purpose and legal basis of data processing

The presentation of the controller on this channel is primarily intended to provide information about the current work and events in the controller's area of responsibility, to create transparency about the activities of the State Police, but without seeking a dialog via social media.

This type of communication also complies with the legally prescribed information requirement of the person responsible and informs the public about the activities of the person responsible. The information requirements and thus the legal basis for the processing of personal data in the context of the online presence and the presentation in social media are Art. 3 and 13 of the Information Act and Art. 108 para. 1 of the Ordinance on the Operation and Organization of the National Police in connection with the exercise of official authority pursuant to Art. 6 para. 1 let. e GDPR.

The purpose of the processing, initially in the form of the collection of your data, by the controller is to ensure the error-free provision of the corresponding online presence on one of the above-mentioned platforms. Your data may also be used to analyze your user behavior. Only natural persons, hereinafter referred to as data subjects, are affected by the processing of personal data.

When you use social media, your personal data is processed both by the controller as the owner of the online presence page and by the respective platform service provider. It may also be processed by third parties if data is transmitted by the platform service provider, but also by third parties who have or use access to the online presence and can therefore also view your data, just as you can also view third-party data and process it on this basis alone.

When you access the links (i.e. when you click on them), the IP address and possibly other data are transmitted to the social network and thus possibly communicated which of our channels you have visited. If you are logged in to this network at this time, it may also be informed that you are visiting our website. This information can be assigned to your user account there. Even if you interact with social networks via our website (e.g. using the "Share" functions on Facebook), the content of our pages can be linked to your profile on the respective social network. If you are not a member of the social network or are not logged in there, there is still the possibility that your IP address will be transmitted and stored there.

The National Police is jointly responsible for the data processing of these providers, but has no influence on their data processing. The social networks accessed are subject to their own privacy policies. You should therefore inform yourself about the data processing of the respective social network:

Facebook, operator: Facebook Inc, 1601 S. Californium Ave, Pale Alto, CA 94304, USA, privacy policy
Instagram, operator: Instagram Inc, 1601 Willow Road, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA, privacy policy

4. online editing of the person responsible

The office responsible for the presentations in the social media in the form of the online editorial office is the Media and Public Relations Office of the State Police. It regularly publishes its own contributions on the above-mentioned platforms and thus informs the public about events, appeals for witnesses, preventive campaigns and the work activities of the person responsible. Our presentations are more in the nature of providing information than seeking or conducting an active or detailed dialog with you or the public.

Nevertheless, depending on the service offered by the respective platform service provider, you can voluntarily leave questions, remarks and comments on our online presence page. However, as it is not the intention to conduct a detailed dialog in this way, we ask for your understanding and would like to point out that urgent questions and, above all, questions from your private sphere should not be communicated via this platform and that our online editorial team will therefore only respond with restraint. Our online presence should therefore be regarded as one-sided information on our part and therefore as a monologue conducted by us.

Please also read the sections "Media etiquette", "Recommendations to you as the person concerned" and our published netiquette (see also the following point).

5 Media etiquette

Employees of the National Police who act or react via social media as part of their job-related duties are trained in the publication of posts and also in the appropriate handling of questions, answers, queries and comments.

6 Alternative provision of information and your voluntary use of social media

The presentation of the controller in the context of its online presence in social media is merely to be understood as an additional source of information. In order not to make access to the controller's contributions dependent on prior registration with one or more social media, the information is also published on other communication channels. This applies to most information, but excludes content that can only be placed on social media due to its nature. Other communication channels of the national police include the website www.landespolizei.li and the National Police app.

This means that it is up to you to decide whether you voluntarily use social media, which will have an impact on the processing of your personal data. Simply by accessing the social media, the various platform service providers begin to collect and process your data, whether you are registered there or not.

7 Data processing and source of the data

The controller's own presentation in the social networks and the mere sending of content without personal reference triggers a rather small amount of data processing by the controller itself. When you communicate with other users, only the data that you and those involved in the communication have published and voluntarily provided will be processed

The following personal data is collected, recorded and processed in the course of the controller's activities as soon as you access the social media and interact with it:

User name
Information on the user's account such as posts, comments, likes, etc.
IP address
metadata
locations
Browser used (type, version), server name, provider, operating system used
Visitor statistics, date, time, length of visit, pages accessed, previously visited pages
Amount of data transferred
Interactions such as likes, questions, etc.

Through your use of social media, you are therefore initially the source of the personal data processed by the controller. However, the platform subsequently serves as the source of your personal data, which the social media use and also process your data.

It is now an essential part of the business model of such platforms, which are often based on profile-based technical solutions, to collect, systematically store, profile and further use the personal data of their members and, where applicable, other persons who are not members.

Social networks generally analyze your user behavior comprehensively if you visit their website or a website with specific plug-ins, e.g. like buttons or advertising banners of the respective social network alone, and interact there if necessary. Our website and our online presence on social media are also hosted on the websites of the respective platforms, which means that numerous data protection-relevant processing operations are triggered when you visit these platforms. In other words, various personal data is collected, recorded and processed by the platform service providers.

8 Recommendations to you as the data subject

If you have your own user account in a social network and you are logged into your user account when you visit our online presence in this social network, all of the data collected and recorded in the process will be assigned directly to your existing user account.

We therefore recommend that you regularly log out completely after using a social network.

However, it cannot be ruled out that your personal data may also be collected if you are not logged in or do not have an account with the respective social network or platform service provider. This type of data collection can take place via cookies, which are stored on your end device and also record your IP address.

We recommend that you handle your data with care. Remember that, above all, all your messages, images and comments remain stored on the servers of platform service providers such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Co.

Delete the cookies stored on your computer or the medium you are using or set your browser so that this happens automatically when you close your browser.

Another option is to only access and use the platform service providers via a separate browser.

9. risk minimization through your active actions

As a user of a platform service provider, you yourself can at least take some measures to reduce the processing of your data and thus contribute to minimizing risk. When using social media, there is usually no obligation to register your own and/or full name or to identify yourself in any other way, e.g. via your actual telephone number. As a user, you are also primarily responsible for publishing any questions or comments of your own. You can also protect yourself as a user by making various settings, for example by deleting your browser history, deactivating cookies or not sharing your location when using photos. You can also delete the metadata of your photos before uploading and sharing them on the Internet.

10 Storage and deletion

As far as possible, your data will be deleted when we cease operating our social media channels. If further storage of this data is carried out by the operator of the social media channel, this is based exclusively on the provisions in their data policy and terms of use. If you request the deletion of your data in advance, you will find the relevant information/assistance via the following links:

However, it is important for you to know that the Internet does not forget. This means that it is beyond our control and power and we cannot be held responsible if you interact with our social media, that third parties make these interactions their own, copy them, forward them, store them or process them in any other way.

11. risk awareness

The use of social media through offers such as our public presence and our online presence has an impact on your personal rights, in particular with regard to the evaluation of your data by the respective platform service provider. This is proven to be primarily for advertising purposes, but also to create a general profile of all users, with far-reaching consequences that are not necessarily recognizable to you. Users of social media are monitored from the very first moment, profiles are created, your data is used and attempts are made to manipulate you or you are manipulated, including through the targeted provision of selected information and content.

When using social media, you should therefore be aware of the consequences of disclosing personal information about yourself, your family members, friends and acquaintances or about other people on the Internet. This information can be accessed worldwide and it is almost impossible to completely remove information once it has been posted online, such as opinions, videos, pictures or information about leisure activities, habits or personal preferences. If your entries are linked to your real name, this information can easily be tracked down, spied on and used across platforms via a search engine.

Although you can ensure or improve the protection of your privacy when using social media to a certain extent by making certain settings in your own user account, you are also dependent on the respective platform providing such a setting option, actually implementing it and maintaining it permanently. It is now undisputed and obvious that the currency of the platform services, most of which can be used free of charge, is your own personal data. As a rule, your data is also passed on directly or indirectly to companies that pay for it and are primarily interested in your user behavior. Here too, your data is often used for further profiling. You should also always be aware that your personal data could also be hacked by the platform service provider, i.e. there is a risk of a possible data leak. It remains questionable how transparently the platform service providers deal with data protection breaches and whether you always become aware of them immediately so that you can change your password immediately, for example.

12. data transfer to the USA and other third countries

We also use platform service providers that are based in the USA or belong to a group whose headquarters or parent company is located in the USA. Based on the decision of the EU Commission (2023/4745), which concerns the so-called EU-US Data Privacy Framework, the USA is a third country with an adequate level of protection within the meaning of Art. 45 para. 1 GDPR, provided that the data recipient in the USA has a valid DPF certification. Such certification is held by Meta Platforms Inc, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA, the parent company of the Facebook and Instagram platforms we use.

13. information on data protection and your rights

Further information on data protection in general and your rights as a data subject in particular can be found in the privacy policy at www.landespolizei.li and www.llv.li

14. contact details, online editorial office

National Police of the Principality of Liechtenstein
Media and Public Relations Office
Gewerbeweg 4
FL- 9494 Vaduz
Principality of Liechtenstein

Telephone: +423 236 71 11
E-mail: info(at)landespolizei.li