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Nevik Schmidt
Nevik Schmidt

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I built a free DSGVO/GDPR scanner after my client got a €900 Abmahnung

#gdpr #webdev #legal #privacy

Why I built DSGVO Guard

A client of mine got hit with a €900 Abmahnung (formal cease-and-desist letter) because his website was missing a proper Impressum. In Germany, that's not optional — it's legally required under §5 TMG, and lawyers make a business out of scanning websites and sending these letters.

The frustrating part? The fix was literally adding one page. But you don't know what you don't know.

What DSGVO Guard does

I built DSGVO Guard — a free scanner that checks real websites for the most common GDPR/DSGVO compliance issues:

  • Impressum/Imprint — Does it exist? Does it have all required info (company name, address, contact, VAT ID)?
  • Privacy Policy — Present? References DSGVO/GDPR?
  • Cookie Consent — Is there a consent banner? Does it block non-essential cookies before consent?
  • SSL/HTTPS — Is the site served over HTTPS? Is the certificate valid?
  • Server Location — Is the server in the EU or in a country with adequate data protection?

It gives you a compliance score and a detailed breakdown of what's wrong and what to fix.

The embeddable widget

One thing I found useful for my agency work: there's a JavaScript widget you can embed on any site that shows a live DSGVO compliance badge. It's a nice way to demonstrate due diligence to clients.

<script src="https://guard.nevki.de/widget.js" data-domain="yourdomain.com"></script>
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Pricing

The basic scan is free — no signup required. Just enter a URL and get results.

  • Free: Single scan, basic checks, widget
  • Pro (€19/mo): Monitoring, PDF reports, historical tracking
  • Business (€49/mo): Multiple domains, white-label reports, API access

Who this is for

Mainly:

  • German/EU small businesses who aren't sure if they're compliant
  • Web agencies who want to check client sites before/after delivery
  • Freelancers who need a quick compliance check for their portfolio sites
  • Anyone who's received an Abmahnung and wants to understand what they missed

Try it

→ guard.nevki.de

Feedback welcome. I'm especially interested in what checks are missing — there's always another edge case in German law.

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