Imprint

Information pursuant to § 5 TMG (German Telemedia Act)

Urs Mueller
Gotenstr. 21
10829 Berlin
Germany

Contact

Email: admin(at)inequality-explorer.org

Responsible for content pursuant to § 55 (2) RStÄV

Urs Mueller
Gotenstr. 21
10829 Berlin
Germany

About This Application

Wealth Inequality Explorer is an educational tool for exploring perceptions of wealth distribution. It is designed for use in educational settings (universities, schools, workshops) and is provided free of charge for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Cookie Policy

Wealth Inequality Explorer uses only essential cookies that are strictly necessary for the application to function. We do not use any tracking, analytics, or advertising cookies.

Essential Cookies We Use

• Session Cookie — Maintains your login session while you use the application. Expires when you close your browser or after a period of inactivity.
• Authentication Cookie — Remembers that you are logged in so you do not need to re-enter credentials on every page.
• CSRF Token — Protects against cross-site request forgery attacks by validating that form submissions originate from this application.

What We Do Not Use

• No Google Analytics or similar tracking services
• No advertising or marketing cookies
• No third-party cookies of any kind
• No fingerprinting or cross-site tracking

Because we only use essential cookies, no cookie consent banner is required under EU regulations. These cookies cannot be disabled as they are necessary for the application to function securely.

Privacy Policy

Last updated: March 2026

1. Data Controller

Urs Mueller
Gotenstr. 21, 10829 Berlin, Germany
Email: admin(at)inequality-explorer.org

2. Data We Collect

From Participants (Survey Respondents):

• Name or pseudonym (used to identify your response to the session educator)
• Email address (optional, only if provided)
• Session code (links your response to a specific session)
• Wealth distribution responses (numerical values representing your estimates)
• Demographic information (optional, e.g. age range, field of study)
• Submission timestamp

From Educators (Session Administrators):

• Email address (for account login)
• Password (stored only as a bcrypt hash — we never store plaintext passwords)
• Session data (session names, codes, configuration, and associated response data)

Technical Data:

• IP addresses are held in memory only for rate-limiting purposes and are not written to any persistent storage
• No server-side access logs containing IP addresses are retained

3. How We Use Your Data

• To provide the educational survey functionality
• To allow educators to view aggregated and individual response data for their sessions
• To authenticate educators and maintain session security
• To enforce rate limits and prevent abuse (IP in memory only)

4. Data Visibility & Access Controls

Educators (session administrators) can see who responded (participant names or pseudonyms) but cannot see individual response values linked to specific participants. Response data is presented in aggregate or anonymized form. Educators can delete erroneous entries from their sessions.

Demographic data, where provided, is stored without a link to personal identity after the anonymization process described below.

5. Data Retention & Anonymization

Automatic anonymization: 30 days after the last response is submitted to a session, all personally identifiable information (names, pseudonyms, and email addresses) is automatically removed. The numerical response data and demographic data are preserved in anonymized form for continued educational and analytical use.

Manual anonymization: Educators can manually trigger anonymization or archive their sessions at any time before the automatic 30-day window.

6. Legal Basis (GDPR)

We process personal data on the basis of Article 6(1)(f) GDPR — legitimate interest. Our legitimate interest is providing an educational tool that helps participants and educators explore perceptions of wealth distribution. The processing is necessary for this purpose and is balanced against the minimal data collected and our strong data protection measures.

7. Third-Party Data Sharing

We do not share, sell, or transfer your personal data to any third parties. No external analytics services, advertising networks, or data brokers receive any data from this application.

8. Data Storage & Security

• All data is stored on servers located in Germany
• All connections are encrypted via HTTPS (TLS)
• Passwords are hashed using bcrypt and never stored in plaintext
• The application implements CSRF protection, rate limiting, and secure session management

9. Your Rights Under GDPR

You have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right of access (Art. 15 GDPR) — Request information about what data we store about you
• Right to rectification (Art. 16 GDPR) — Request correction of inaccurate data
• Right to erasure (Art. 17 GDPR) — Request deletion of your personal data
• Right to data portability (Art. 20 GDPR) — Receive your data in a structured, machine-readable format
• Right to object (Art. 21 GDPR) — Object to the processing of your data
• Right to restriction of processing (Art. 18 GDPR) — Request that we limit how we process your data

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at admin(at)inequality-explorer.org.

10. Supervisory Authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority. The competent authority for our location is:

Berliner Beauftragte für Datenschutz und Informationsfreiheit
Alt-Moabit 59–61
10555 Berlin
Germany
www.datenschutz-berlin.de

Terms of Use

1. Purpose

Wealth Inequality Explorer is provided exclusively for educational purposes. It is designed to facilitate classroom discussions and workshops about perceptions of wealth distribution and economic inequality.

2. Acceptable Use

• Use this tool honestly and in good faith when participating in surveys
• Do not deliberately submit false or misleading responses intended to skew results
• Do not attempt to manipulate survey outcomes through automated submissions, repeated entries, or coordinated response campaigns
• Do not attempt to access sessions or data that do not belong to you
• Do not use this tool for any commercial purpose without prior written consent

3. Educator Responsibilities

• Educators are responsible for informing their participants about the purpose of the survey and how data will be used
• Educators should use session data responsibly and in accordance with their institution's policies
• Educators must not share individual participant data outside the educational context

4. Disclaimer

This application is provided “as is” without warranties of any kind, express or implied. We do not guarantee uninterrupted availability or error-free operation. The tool is intended for educational exploration and should not be used as a basis for policy decisions or academic research without appropriate methodological review.

5. Governing Law & Jurisdiction

These terms are governed by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany. The exclusive place of jurisdiction is Berlin, Germany, to the extent permitted by law.