Privacy Policy
Effective Date: 16/03/2012
The Valued Opinions websites are owned and operated by Research Now Limited, a UK company, (“Research Now”). e-Rewards, Inc. (a US company), e-Rewards Europe Limited (a UK company), Research Now, Inc. (a US company), Research Now Limited (a UK company), The Mobile Panel Ltd., The Mobile Channel Ltd., Research Now Pty Ltd. (an Australian company), Research Now Inc. (a Canadian company), Research Now Consulting Co. Ltd (a Chinese company), Research Now Technology EPE (a Greek company), Research Now GmbH (a German company), Research Now PTE LTD (a Singaporian company), Research Now Pty Limited (a New Zealand company), Research Now Spain S.L. (a Spanish company), Research Now SAS (a French company), Research Now Italy S.r.l. (an Italian company), Research Now India Private Ltd. (an Indian company) and Research Now Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V. (a Mexican company)together form the Research Now group. This Privacy Policy governs the website located at www.valuedopinions.co.uk and the use of the Valued Opinions Mobile application (“Application”).
Research Now Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of e-Rewards, Inc., has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal signifying that this privacy policy and practices have been reviewed by TRUSTe for compliance with TRUSTe's program requirements including transparency, accountability and choice regarding the collection and use of your personal information. The TRUSTe program does not cover information that may be collected through downloadable software. TRUSTe's mission, as an independent third party, is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy trustmark and innovative trust solutions. If you have questions or complaints regarding our privacy policy or practices, please contact us at privacy@valuedopinions.co.uk. If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact TRUSTe here. For a list of sites covered by TRUSTe, please click on the seal located at the top of this policy.
Below we have set out how we use the information that you give us and how our site operates.
This website uses cookies as explained in detail below. Please review the cookies sections of this Privacy Policy carefully. Your use of browser settings to accept and/or disable cookies constitutes acceptance by you of our cookies as delivered through this site.
The Information We collect and How We Use It
Research Now processes your personal data (as defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 (the 1998 Act). Our site’s registration form requires you to give us enrollment information (your full name, post code, e-mail address, date of birth. It is optional for you to provide demographic data (like your income and education levels and other data like occupation and areas of interest), but it is encouraged so we can provide you with a more personalized experience on our site and Application. Specifically, we use this data to customize and tailor your experience with the Valued Opinions Programme, Application and Web site:
- to keep you informed and obtain your views of Research Now’s products, services and activities;
- the creation of a database of individuals willing to take part in research and surveys;
- evaluating which individuals registered with Research Now should be approached in respect of surveys being conducted;
- to provide you with information about benefits given to you by Research Now as a result of your responding to survey requests;
- processing the answers to surveys and summarising the results;
- undertaking research surveys on behalf of third parties;
- transferring to service suppliers who undertake processing on our behalf and at our direction;
- permitting third party research organisations to question individuals registered with Research Now in respect of surveys;
- to provide you with information relating to any benefits provided to you by any third parties, including but not limited to a benefit provided to you by our client in response to your answer to a survey request;
- transferring any personal data to any subsidiary or group company;
- the administration of your membership of the Valued Opinions Panels (if you have registered as a member);
- statutory and regulatory compliance;
- to identify your behaviour in relation to Internet advertising through the use of specialist Cookies as outlined in our Cookie section below;
- to process any enquiries raised by you and other communications initiated by you in relation to your dealings with Research Now and any services provided by Research Now;
- marketing Research Now and its products and services, including those of its group companies and third party suppliers;
- to transfer to third parties who provide services to Research Now or provide benefits to participants in Valued Opinions Panels; and
- contacting you by email to invite you to take part in surveys and when permitted by you, to send you electronic marketing communications keeping you informed about the activities of Research Now; and
- achieving the general objectives of Research Now.
We collect personal information from you when you communicate with us by any media. We may also collect personal data which relate to you from third party affiliates with whom we participate in joint registration programs. The information you are asked to provide us in such a joint registration program is listed above as well as the uses of that information. If you do not wish to provide us your information through these means, please do not participate in the joint registration program which you may find on other third party affiliate Web sites.
If you choose to sign up to become an affiliate on some of our sites you will be directed to our third party service provider in order to complete the affiliate sign up process. The information collected here is governed by the privacy policy of our third party service provider and is shared back with us in order to complete the affiliate account creation process.
Sensitive Personal Information
Certain personal information is categorised by the 1998 Act as “Sensitive Personal Data” as defined by the 1998 Act.
In some circumstances, Research Now provides you with the opportunity to inform us of your sensitive personal data, unless we are permitted to process such sensitive personal data under the provisions of the 1998 Act, we will ask for your consent. In general, the sensitive personal data collected by Research Now is limited to information in connection with:
- your racial or ethnic origin;
- your political opinions,
- your physical or mental health or condition; and
- your sexual life.
In some circumstances we may ask about offences you have committed or are alleged to have committed and any proceedings taken in respect of such an offence.
Surveys
Research Now conducts surveys on a variety of topics. Clients will give Research Now a brief setting out the types of individuals from whom we should seek answers. The brief will include matters such as age, ethnic background, qualifications and occupation. Research Now will review its database and then send out invites to an online survey to people falling within the client brief.
Research Now provides clients with data files containing anonymous answers to survey questions. No personal data in respect of those individuals responding to a survey will be given to clients of Research Now.
Research Now will, from time to time, assist research organisations in other jurisdictions to survey people in the countries in which it operates. In these circumstances it will either send you a survey to complete, the answers of which will be summarised, anonymised and sent to the client or they will prepare questions for you to answer directly. In such circumstances your personal data are not transferred to third parties.
Permitted Processing
Research Now ensures that it is permitted to process your personal data. If no statutory condition applies to the form of processing we undertake, we can only undertake such processing with your consent. You may withdraw your consent to our processing your personal data for some of the above purposes by writing to the address below.
If a statutory condition applies allowing Research Now to process your personal data and you withdraw consent to process your personal data this will not necessarily mean that Research Now ceases to process your personal data as it may, for example, be under a statutory duty to continue to process your personal data for some purposes e.g. to keep copies of commercial transactions for a minimum of seven years.
Any personal information you send to us will be treated in the strictest confidence.
Research Now may continue to process your personal data after you have ceased to be a member of a Research Now or Valued Opinions Panel or we have sent you any information requested by you.
Sharing Your Information
We will not sell, trade, or rent your personal information with third parties other than as disclosed within this privacy policy.
We may provide your personal information to companies that provide services to help us with our business activities such as a shipping company to ship prizes or an email service provider to send out emails on our behalf. These companies are authorized to use your personal information only as necessary to provide these services to us.
We may disclose your personal information as required by law, such as to comply with a subpoena, or similar legal process, when we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, protect your safety or the safety of others, investigate fraud, or respond to a government request.
If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, you will be notified via email and/or prominent notice on our Web site of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your personal information.
In some circumstances Research Now may be required by law to share sensitive or personal data about you to a third party. Otherwise Research Now does not share sensitive personal data outside of the companies forming the Research Now Group without your consent. Your personal data may be shared as set out in the above purposes. If you do not wish us to share your personal data with any third party for marketing purposes, please write to us at the address below.
Refer a Friend/Share with a Friend
If you choose to use our referral services to invite a friend to join the site, we will ask for your friend’s name and e-mail address. We will automatically send your friend a one-off e-mail on your behalf, inviting him or her to join the site. We assume that you have permission from your friend to use their email address for this purpose. You may also request Valued Opinions to re-send the invitation on your behalf after a designated period of time has lapsed. Research Now stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-off e-mail and tracking the success of the referral program.Your friend may contact us at enquires@valuedopinions.co.uk to request that we remove this information from our database.
Prize draws
From time to time, The Valued Opinions program and/or third parties in cooperation with The Valued Opinions program may sponsor sweepstakes and prizedraws on our sites and as a result, may request information from you for participation purposes. Your participation in these contests is completely voluntary and you have the choice of whether to disclose this information. Such information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes.
Facebook Connect
Some of the Valued Opinions Sites allow users to access Facebook Connect to interact with friends and to share on Facebook through Wall and friends' News Feeds. If you are already logged into Valued Opinions and Facebook, when you click on "Connect with Facebook" you will be prompted to merge your profiles. If you are already logged into Valued Opinions but not logged into Facebook, when you click on "Connect with Facebook" you will be prompted to enter your Facebook credentials or to "Sign up for Facebook." By proceeding, you are allowing the Valued Opinions Sites to access your information and you are agreeing to the Facebook Terms of Use in your use of Valued Opinions Sites.
Conversely, if you are not currently registered as a Valued Opinions user and you click on "Sign in Using Facebook," you will first be asked to enter your Facebook credentials and then be given the option to register and join Valued Opinions. Once you register on the Valued Opinions sites and Connect with Facebook, you will be able to automatically post recent activity back to Facebook. You have the option to disable Facebook Connect at any time by logging into "My Profile" and clicking on "My Facebook Profile." Further, you can edit privacy settings for the reviews that appear on Facebook or disconnect this service by visiting the Facebook Application Settings page.
Supplementation Information
In order to provide survey opportunities to you, we may on occasion supplement the personally identifiable information you submitted to us with information from third party sources.
- ID Verification We may use a third party supplier to verify your identity as stipulated in the ISO 26362 standard for access panels.
- Enhancement of Profile Information
We purchase marketing data from third parties and add it to our existing user database to provide enriched analytical data for our clients’ use. While this marketing data will be associated with personally identifiable information within the Research Now system, we will obtain your explicit approval to release personally identifiable information to our clients. Otherwise, all personally identifiable information is removed from the marketing data before the marketing data is provided to any client.
European Economic Area (‘EEA’)
Please note that information displayed on our Website, Application or sent to Research Now over the Internet may be transferred outside of the EEA, where data protection laws are not as strong as within the EEA. If you have any concerns in relation to such transfers, you should not use the Internet as a means of communication with Research Now.
Monitoring of telephone calls and e-mails
Your telephone calls and e-mails to us may be recorded and monitored for quality control purposes. We may also intercept communications made to individual members of staff at Research Now when this is required for business purposes.
Valued Opinions’ Use of Cookies
A cookie is simply a small text file containing information about the user that is placed by a Web site on the user's hard drive. Valued Opinions places persistent cookies on your computer when you complete the registration form or log into the Valued Opinions Web site, and places a session cookie on your computer while you are participating in a survey or viewing the Valued Opinions Web site without logging in. Persistent cookies are used to store your e-mail address and encrypted password. Valued Opinions uses this cookie to recognize you when you visit our Web site so that we may provide you with customized pages based on information in your Member account or profile. This cookie is also required to log in and view Member-specific information on the Web site. Valued Opinions uses session cookies to maintain your session state across user requests. This type of cookie is used to record when you complete a survey, how much of the survey you complete, the country you are viewing and what language you are using to view the Web site. We may also use cookies to track certain information about you based upon your activity on our site or on a third party's site. This information may include the URL that you just came from (whether this URL is on our site or not), which URL you next go to (whether this URL is on our site or not), what browser you are using, and your IP address. We use this information to conduct internal research on our Members' demographics, interests, and behavior to better understand and serve our Members. We do not associate information stored in our cookies to personally identifiable information you submit to us while using the Valued Opinions Web site. Valued Opinions occasionally utilizes e-mail Web beacons to monitor e-mail deliverability. We reserve the right to share this information in an anonymous singular summary and aggregate form with third parties.
From time to time, we may allow a third-party media service to display content on our site. These third-party media services may use cookies within their content, but we have no access to or control over these cookies. The use of cookies by these third parties shall be governed by their respective privacy policies.
You can refuse to accept cookies, free of charge, by adjusting the privacy settings of your Web browser software. However, if you do not allow cookies from Valued Opinions, you may not be able to use all of the features on this Web site.
The table below explains the cookies we use and why:
Cookie Type | Cookie Name | Purpose |
First Party Cookies | ||
Basic Cookies for Website Customization |
| These cookies are necessary to ensure proper rendering of the Valued Opinions website.
Two of these cookies are used to record if a user has accepted the use of cookies on the ICO website.
If you are a Valued Opinions Member, these cookies are used to remember your website preferences. |
Survey Participation |
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These cookies are used when you participate in our surveys. They enable you to quickly load the survey. Some are used to credit your account after participation in a survey.
|
Panel recruitment |
| Used to assess our online marketing campaigns performance and tells us which of our online ads you were exposed to. |
Third Party Cookies | ||
Survey Participation |
| Some of these cookies help us ensure that a survey is not presented more than once to the same user. More info: http://www.confirmit.com/legals/privacy-statement.aspx |
Google Analytics |
| These cookies are used to collect information in an anonymous format about how visitors use our website so we can improve the usability of the website.
More info: http://www.google.com/intl/en_uk/policies/ |
Panel recruitment |
| Used to assess our online marketing campaigns performance and tells us which of our online ads you were exposed to.
More info: |
Quick Poll participation |
| These cookies remember the fact that a person participated in a quick poll so the same question is not presented more than once
More info: |
Sharing content on social Media websites | delicious.com
| Our website allows you to share its content with your friends using different social media services. These services leave on your computer cookies which we do not have control of. |
facebook.com
| ||
stumbleupon.com
| ||
twitter.com
| ||
accounts.google.com
|
| |
Advanced Cookies
The advanced cookie tracks the online patterns of Valued Opinions Members. The advanced cookie, which may be placed by Valued Opinions or in conjunction with a third party, incorporates a key which can identify tags contained in certain online content relating to our clients and their products and services.
If an Valued Opinions Member views a page containing any content that includes the tag, the key will send Valued Opinions an update confirming that the Member has viewed the page containing this content. Certain Web pages or Web-based advertisements that you view may be tracked, and in some cases, this tracking data may be combined with survey answers that you provide. For example, when you visit or click on our third-party marketing and reward partners' Web sites or online advertisements these events are recorded by one of our technology partners, which in turn reports the data to us. We provide that data directly, or combine it with the other information that you provide us with, such as your survey responses and demographic information (but not with your personally identifiable information), to provide market research analysis to our Rewards Partners and Marketing Partners, for example on the effectiveness of their Web sites and advertisements. You can opt out of our technology partners' own data collection and ad targeting here: http://www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp; here: http://aboutads.info/choices or here http://preferences.truste.com/truste. If you delete cookies on your browser after opting out, you will have to opt out again. You can opt out of the provision of such data from our data partners to us and out of receiving such advanced cookies on your computer via Valued Opinions by emailing us using the contact form on: http://www.valuedopinions.co.uk/contact-information/. Of course, if a cookie is one that an Valued Opinions Member may receive from a third party, regardless of the Member's participation in the Valued Opinions, then opting out with Valued Opinions will not prevent the Member from receiving that third party's cookie. We neither have access to, nor control over, third-party cookies or how they may be used. Likewise, if the cookie is placed by a third party, we have no control over the nature of the content with which these tags are included. If you would like more information about third-party use of cookies and about your option not to accept these cookies, please click here. Your access to our Web sites will not be affected if you do not accept cookies placed by third parties.
The table below shows cookies we use:
Advanced Cookies |
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You can opt out of the provision of such data from our data partners to us and out of receiving such advanced cookies on your computer via Valued Opinions by emailing us using the contact form. |
Third Party Use of Links
If another person uses your computer log on you should inform them if you have agreed to accept the Advanced Cookie on the computer as part of your profile and that if they link to certain on-line advertisements then such information may be captured by Research Now.
Other Websites
The Site contains links to other websites. Research Now is not responsible for the privacy policies and practices or the content of any websites which are linked to the Site.
Research Now encourages parents and guardians to use the parental control tools available from online services and software manufacturers to help supervise their childrens’ online activities. Research Now shall only obtain the data of individuals if it is permitted by the laws of the United Kingdom and shall take steps to ensure that children from jurisdictions other than the United Kingdom cannot use the Site.
Please check this page periodically for changes as Research Now reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of the Privacy Policy and the Site at any time. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of any changes to this Policy will mean that you accept such changes.
How to Edit or Correct your Personal Information
By going to a Valued Opinions Web site that you are a member of, and clicking on “about me” on the site, you may change your personal information to better reflect your interests and view or modify personal information you have provided to us. By clicking on “account” you may update your contact information. When you are finished entering your updated information, click the appropriate button on the page to save your changes. Your changes will be recorded immediately but some-in process Member communications may still be based on your old information. If there is incorrect information within your account statement, please contact our Member Services department online or send an e-mail to enquires@valuedopinions.co.uk.
To delete your personally identifiable information from the Research Now, Valued Opinions program database, please contact us online or send us an e-mail at enquires@valuedopinions.co.uk. We will respond to your request within 30 days of its submission.
We will retain your personal information unless your account is deactivated or terminated. If you wish to terminate your account or request that we no longer use your personal information to provide you services, contact us at enquires@valuedopinions.co.uk. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes and enforce our agreements.
We Are Committed to Data Security
This site has security measures (including online and off-line physical, electronic and managerial safeguards) in place to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. As with any transmission over the Internet, however, there is always some element of risk involved in sending personal information online. Your e-mail address, password and cookie will be required to redeem Rewards, update your personal information (name, e-mail address, etc), and update your Member data. Remember to keep your password private and secure- you should not share this information with anyone. If you have any questions about the security at our Web site, you can contact us at enquires@valuedopinions.co.uk.
Our Opt-Out Policy
If you would like to opt out of membership in the Valued Opinions Program, you may request that your membership be cancelled and account closed by cancelling your membership online. The use of any other mechanism to request that your membership be cancelled could result in the delay of your membership cancellation.
Changes in the Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time by posting an amended version of the statement on the Valued Opinions Web sites. Please refer to this privacy policy regularly. If at any time we decide to use personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time it was collected, we will notify you either on the Member home page of our Web site or via e-mail.
Contact us
If you have any queries relating to this Statement, please feel free to contact us by email at enquires@valuedopinions.co.uk or by letter at the following address:
The Panel Manager
Research Now Ltd.
160 Queen Victoria Street
London
EC4V 4BF
DEFINITIONS
Please find below definitions of some of the terms used in the above privacy policy for your information and assistance. Please note that for the purposes of these definitions a reference to a particular gender is a reference to all genders.
Processing
In the Act “processing” means obtaining, recording, or holding the information or data or carrying out any operation or set of operations on the information or data, including:
- organisation, adaptation or alteration of the information or data,
- retrieval, consultation or use of the information or data,
- disclosure of the information or data by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, or
- alignment, combination, blocking, erasure or destruction of the information or data.
Personal Data
Personal data are: - any data from which the identity of a living individual can be determined, either by itself or with other data processed by data controller;
- any information such as name and address, email address, telephone number and general contact details, personal data includes images on film (e.g. CCTV images), photographs and telephone voice recordings.
Sensitive Personal Data
Sensitive Personal Data means personal data consisting of information as to: - the racial or ethnic origin of the data subject;
- his political opinion;
- his religious beliefs or other beliefs of a similar nature;
- whether he is a member of a trade union (within the meaning of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992);
- his physical or mental health or condition;
- his sexual life;
- the commission or alleged commission by him of any offence; or
- any proceedings for any offence committed or alleged to have been committed by him, the disposal of such proceedings or the sentence of any court in such proceedings.
