Privacy policy

Last updated: 22 August 2026

kongre.net is operated by BOTONBOARD LTD, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 14955016), registered office 20 Wenlock Road, London N1 7GU, United Kingdom. We are the data controller for the personal data described on this page. Contact: [email protected].

This page explains what we collect when you use kongre.net, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and the rights you have under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Browsing without an account

When you visit kongre.net we receive your IP address, browser type and the pages you request. Our web server and content delivery provider (Cloudflare) keep standard access logs for security and troubleshooting for up to 30 days.

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand how the site is used, and Google AdSense and our own ad server (Revive Adserver at delivery.kongre.net) to show advertising. These tools set cookies and similar identifiers only if you agree in the consent banner. See section 7.

2. Creating an account

To create an account we ask for a username, email address and password, or you can sign in with Google. With Google sign-in we receive your name, email address and Google account identifier; we do not receive your Google password.

Optionally you can add a display name, title, short biography, LinkedIn URL, ORCID identifier, profile picture and a list of publications. These appear on your public profile page if you choose to make the profile visible.

If you request an organiser or PCO account, we record that request and an administrator reviews it. We send you an email when it is approved.

Legal basis: performance of a contract; legitimate interest for the approval review.

3. Using the platform

What we record when you use kongre.net features:

• Follows: the categories and countries you follow, to build your For You feed.
• Favourites and agenda: events you save and sessions you mark.
• Attendance: events you mark as planning to attend or attended, with the visibility you chose. If you choose "Anyone viewing this event", your name and profile link appear in that event's public attendee list. If you choose "Only me", nobody else sees it.
• Q&A and comments: questions and comments you post on event pages are public and shown with your display name. Organisers can hide comments on their own events.
• Messages: private messages you exchange with organisers or other users through the platform, stored so both parties can read them.
• Event listings: if you are an organiser, the events, programmes, speakers and venues you enter are published content. Where you enter your own details as a contact or speaker, those are personal data shown publicly.

Legal basis: performance of a contract.

4. Email

We send transactional emails: email verification, password reset, role approval, registration confirmation, organiser broadcasts for events you registered for, and account deletion confirmation. We do not send marketing email. If we introduce an optional digest of events in your fields, it will be opt-in.

5. Registering for an event and paying

When you register for an event through kongre.net we collect the details the organiser's registration form asks for: at minimum your name and email, sometimes your institution, dietary or accessibility needs, or other questions the organiser defines. The organiser receives this data to run their event and is a separate controller for what they do with it.

Payments are processed by Stripe. Card details are entered on Stripe's payment page and never reach our servers; we receive a payment reference, the amount, and whether the payment succeeded. Stripe's privacy policy applies to card processing: stripe.com/privacy.

Payments are received by BOTONBOARD LTD and passed on to the event organiser. We keep payment records for accounting and tax purposes for the period required by UK law (section 8).

Legal basis: performance of a contract; legal obligation for accounting records.

6. Who we share data with

• Event organisers: your registration details and, if you chose public attendance, your name on the attendee list.
• Service providers: Stripe (payments), Google (sign-in, Analytics, AdSense, consent management), Cloudflare (content delivery and security), Hetzner Online GmbH (server hosting in Helsinki, Finland).
• Other users: whatever you make public (profile, comments, public attendance).
• Nobody else. We do not sell personal data.

Our servers are in Finland. Google and Stripe process some data in the United States; those transfers rely on the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or the UK extension to the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

• kongre_session: keeps you logged in. Essential, lasts up to 30 days.
• Consent choice: stored in your browser's local storage so we do not ask again. Essential.
• Google Analytics, Google AdSense and Revive Adserver cookies: set only after you accept in the consent banner. You can change your choice at any time from the cookie settings link in the footer.

The full list is on the cookies page.

8. How long we keep data

• Account and profile: until you delete your account.
• Follows, favourites, agenda, attendance marks, messages: deleted when you delete your account.
• Public comments: kept, shown as "Deleted user" after account deletion.
• Registration and payment records: kept for 6 years after the event for accounting and tax purposes, without your profile data once your account is deleted.
• Server logs: up to 30 days.

9. Deleting your account

You can delete your account from your profile page. Your account is blocked immediately and permanently anonymised after 14 days. Within those 14 days you can cancel by emailing [email protected]. After that, your username, email, password, profile fields, picture, follows, favourites, agenda, attendance marks and message records are removed. Registration and payment records are retained as described in section 8.

10. Your rights

You have the right to access the personal data we hold about you, to correct it, to delete it, to restrict or object to its processing, and to receive a copy in a portable format. Most of this you can do yourself from your profile and dashboard; for anything else, email [email protected] and we will respond within one month.

If you are unhappy with how we handle your data, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office: ico.org.uk.

11. Children

kongre.net is intended for professionals and students in higher education. We do not knowingly collect data from anyone under 16.

12. Changes

We will update this page when our processing changes and show the date at the top.

This policy is written in English. If we provide translations, the English version prevails in case of any difference.