Privacy Notice
If you joined our panel from 7th November 2023 onwards, please read on for the relevant privacy notice. If you joined on 6th November 2023 or before this date, please click here to be taken to your relevant privacy notice.
Effective Date: November 2023
Thank you for agreeing to participate in the PineCone Research Panel (the “Panel”). For decades, NielsenIQ has set the global standard for market and consumer insight research. Our insights are based on representative samples of the population and help our clients (e.g., manufacturers, retailers, media companies, non-profits, and governments) learn about what consumers watch, listen to, and buy.
Since 2002, ROI Rocket has offered a complete portfolio of qualitative and quantitative research solutions. We own and manage panels of consumers, healthcare providers and business leaders, take care of research logistics and shipment, and providing analytics and insights for our clients.
Your participation in the Panel helps companies understand your behaviors and preferences, which often helps them provide better consumer products and services.
The NielsenIQ Company (US), LLC (“NielsenIQ,”) and ROI Rocket (“ROI Rocket”; together referred to as “we,” or “us”) takes your privacy very seriously and is committed to handling your information in an open and transparent manner. This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect from or about you, how we use and protect that information, and your legal rights in relation to such information.
Please note that this Privacy Notice applies only to your participation in the Panel, use of and interaction with this website (https://www.pineconeresearch.com) and any other website where this Privacy Notice is posted or linked (collectively, our “Website”), and use of the PineCone Research mobile application (our “App”). This Privacy Notice does not apply to your participation in any other NielsenIQ panels, studies, or surveys or your interaction with any other websites, applications, or online services administered or provided by any entity within the NielsenIQ group of companies. Other NielsenIQ panels, studies, surveys, websites, applications, and other online services are governed by their own privacy notices, and we encourage you to review those privacy notices before disclosing any information. To learn more about NielsenIQ’s group of companies, one or more of which may also process your information in connection with your participation in the Panel and use of our Website and our App, please click here.
Participation in the Panel is always voluntary, if you have general panel inquiries or require panel assistance, please review the FAQs or email us using this form. If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or our privacy practices, please refer to the ‘Contact Us’ section below for our contact information.
- Our Privacy Commitment
- Your Agreement With NielsenIQ and ROI Rocket
- The Information We Collect, Use, and Disclose
- Cookies and Similar Technologies
- Children’s Privacy
- Your Choices and Rights
- Information Security
- Information Retention
- Updates to this Privacy Notice
1. OUR PRIVACY COMMITMENT
NielsenIQ and ROI Rocket comply with all applicable privacy laws. Indeed, it is crucial for us to keep our panelists’ information confidential in order to prevent any interference with panelists that could affect their behavior and the accuracy of our information. We will NOT use information that identifies you to advertise, promote, market, or sell third-party goods or services directly to you or members of your household; we do not allow our clients to do so either.
2. YOUR AGREEMENT WITH NIELSENIQ and ROI ROCKET
NielsenIQ and ROI Rocket are owners of the Pinecone panel and process your information and, where applicable, information about other members of or visitors to your household, on the basis of your voluntary participation in the Panel. The express purpose of our agreement with you is to obtain information from and about you and, where applicable, other members of your household, to be used for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice. By participating in the Panel, you are contributing your information to a pool of information from which broad participant statistics are derived. These statistics are relied upon by a wide variety of other companies to set pricing, advertising, merchandising, and other key business decisions.
3. THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT, USE, AND DISCLOSE
As a potential or current participant in the Panel, we collect or otherwise obtain information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you and/or your household (“Personal Information”) in a variety of ways. We may also collect Personal Information when you use and/or interact with our Website and/or our App.
We do not generally collect government-issued identification numbers, or financial or bank account numbers/information. However, after providing you with notice and seeking your permission, we may request and collect banking information from you for the sole purpose of processing a reward payment via ACH transfer. We may also collect and use certain Personal Information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example, We may collect and use your government-issued identification information for tax reporting obligations, for which you will be asked to provide your name, address, and Tax ID number (Social Security number), and to provide an electronic signature. Your Personal Information collected and used in connection with this tax reporting purpose will be deleted as soon the relevant tax document is prepared. Your social security number is considered Sensitive Personal Information under some US state laws (See below “Notice to California Residents”).
The table below summarizes the categories of Personal Information that we may collect or obtain from or about you together with the source(s) of the information, and also how we might use and disclose the information.
Personal Information We Collected. As further set forth in the chart below, in the past 12 months, we have collected, the following categories of Personal Information.
| Category | Examples | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | First and last name, alias, home postal address, online identifiers (such as a cookie ID or mobile device ID), internet protocol (or IP) address, email address, account name to login to our Website. As a quality control measure and to maintain the integrity of our digital research, we use a digital fingerprinting technology, also known as “machine identification” technology, to gather certain information about the device you use to participate in our research. This information is sent to a trusted third-party service provider that converts it into a unique serial number for your computer – the digital fingerprint – through the use of a proprietary algorithm and determines if it matches any previous digital fingerprint. | Directly from you (or another member of your household). Indirectly from you, such as when you use and/or interact with our Website and/or our App Data provider Our clients |
| Demographic Information (including Protected Classification information) | Information about your unique demographic profile, including your age, state of residence, marital status or sex (such as gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions). Please note, these categories of information are dependent on the type of research in which you are invited to participate. | Directly from you Data provider |
| Commercial Information | Records or information about products or services that you have purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. This includes “behavior information,” such as when, why, or how you do things, such as how frequently you shop for groceries or use your computer, TV, or the Internet. It also includes “preference information,” which refers to the choices you make, such as which breakfast cereals you buy, which stations you listen to or watch, or the websites that you visit. | Directly from you Data provider |
| Internet or Other Similar Network Activity Information | When you use and/or interact with our Website and/or our App, we collect certain information, including: (i) standard technical information from and about your device (e.g., your device ID, device manufacturer and model, operating system, and version, IP address); and (ii) log and usage information (e.g., our webpages that you visit, the dates and timestamps associated with your visits and certain transactions. For more information, please see the “Cookies and Similar Technologies” section below. | Indirectly from you (i.e., passively when you visit and/or interact with our Website and/or our App |
| Sensory Information | This refers to audio, electronic, visual, or similar information. This information is dependent on which survey in which you are asked to participate. Not all surveys will require this information. | Directly from you (video and sound recordings) |
| Professional/Employment Information | This refers to information, such as your job title, industry, and income range. | Directly from you Data provider |
| Other Personal Information | This refers to any physical characteristics or descriptions, such as your height and weight. This is dependent on the survey in which you are asked to participate. This also refers to any information that you provide to us, enable us to collect, or voluntarily post or upload to our Website or our App (e.g., comments and requests). | Directly from you (video and sound recordings, photographs) |
| Sensitive Personal Information | racial or ethnic origin, health, sex life or sexual orientation, social security number | Directly from you |
Please note that Personal Information does not include publicly-available information from government records (e.g., census data or United States Postal Service records) or de-identified or aggregated information. We do obtain publicly-available information.
How We Use the Information we Collected.
| Use of Personal Information | Categories of Personal Information |
|---|---|
| We use the Personal Information that we collect for the purpose(s) for which it was collected or provided to us (as stated above in the previous section or at the point of collection). For example, the information that we request during the recruitment process is used to determine your (or your household’s) eligibility to participate in the Panel or a particular survey. | Identifiers Demographic Information Professional/Employment Information Sensitive Personal Information |
| We use the information that we collect to create a variety of market research insights for our clients. We help companies better understand consumer behavior, which in turn helps them make smart decisions about their products and services. We also create reports based upon “modeled information.” Modeled information are projections based on demographic and behavioral characteristics (like gender, age, and purchasing habits) that look at a sample group of people and predict what people with similar characteristics or preferences would want to buy. For instance, this allows advertisers to identify the likely audience for a marketing campaign. This may create Inference Information. We use tools and methods to make sure that there is no reasonable possibility of identifying you from the reports that we create for our clients. For example, we combine the responses we collect from you with the responses of other panelists in order to produce reports with aggregated data from which you cannot be uniquely identified. We may disclose your data, on an individual or aggregated level, in reports for our clients. If the data is not aggregated, we take reasonable steps to provide our clients with deidentified results. | Identifiers Commercial Information Demographic Information Professional/Employment Information Internet or Other Similar Network Activity Sensory Information Derived or Inferred Information Sensitive Personal Information |
| We may use your information to communicate with you via any means depending on the information that we hold about you (including via email, telephone, text message, or postal mail) about the Panel, our Website, and/or our App, respond to your inquiries and requests, or update/validate the information that we hold about you. We may also contact you with information about our business, services, and events as well as other information that may be of interest to you, such as offers to participate in other panels, studies, or surveys administered by us or other NielsenIQ entities or ROI Rocket (subject always to obtaining your prior opt-in consent to the extent required under applicable law). | Identifiers Sensitive Personal Information |
| We may use information about you in order to operate and manage the Panel, our Website, and our App and for our internal business purposes, such as quality assurance and research and development (e.g., data analysis, audits, and product/service improvement and development). | All categories of Personal Information |
| We will use information as necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, safety, property, or operations of one or more NielsenIQ entities, ROI Rocket, you, or others. This includes detecting security incidents and protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity. | All categories of Personal Information |
| We use the information we collect to facilitate the day-to-day operations and financial management of the NielsenIQ group of companies, ROI Rocket and any corporate transactions (e.g., a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, etc.). | All categories of Personal Information |
| We may use Personal Information in order to comply with applicable laws and regulations and establish, exercise, and/or defend the legal rights of one or more NielsenIQ entities or ROI Rocket. We may use your Personal Information for tax reporting purposes. | All categories of Personal Information |
| We may use Personal Information in order to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process/requests and communications from law enforcement authorities or other government officials. | All categories of Personal Information |
We may also use your Personal Information for other purposes disclosed to you at the point of collection, such as in a specific “Notice of Collection” given to you prior to your participation in a specific research survey.
If we intend to make a change to the way we use previously collected Personal Information, we will provide notice of the new use and obtain your permission in accordance with applicable law.
We may deidentify or aggregate information that we hold about you and use it or allow others to use it for historical, academic, or longitudinal research. We ensure in such cases that there is no reasonable possibility of re-identifying you from the information used for these purposes.
Personal Information We Disclosed. In connection with one or more of the purposes outlined above in the “How We Use Information” section, we may disclose Personal Information that we hold about you for a business or commercial purpose to different entities within the NielsenIQ group of companies, or ROI Rocket, as well as the categories of recipients described below.
The following represents the categories of recipients to whom we have disclosed Personal Information for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months.
| Recipients of Personal Information and Business or commercial purpose for disclosing | Categories of Personal Information |
|---|---|
| We use the Personal Information that we collect for the purpose(s) for which it was collected or provided to us (as stated above in the previous section or at the point of collection). For example, the information that we request during the recruitment process is used to determine your (or your household’s) eligibility to participate in the Panel or a particular survey. | Identifiers Demographic Information Professional/Employment Information |
| Service Providers and other market research companies and our clients, in accordance with market research industry ethical guidelines. This may include audits by our clients or other third parties. In addition, this includes disclosures of certain information to our clients where you authorize us to disclose such information about you (e.g., disclosure of video recordings or photographs that you provide to us as part of your participation in our research surveys). | All categories of Personal Information |
| Relevant third parties as part of a corporate transaction, such as a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). This Privacy Policy will apply to your personal information that is shared with (before and after the close of any transaction) or transferred to the new entity. | All categories of Personal Information |
| Competent governmental and public authorities, in each case to comply with legal or regulatory obligations or requests or for the purposes of reporting any actual or suspected breach of applicable law. | All categories of Personal Information |
| Our parent company, affiliates or subsidiaries for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice. | All categories of Personal Information |
| Other third parties as we believe to be necessary or appropriate for legal purposes. | All categories of Personal Information |
Notice to California Residents
This below section contains disclosures required by the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively, “CPRA”), and applies only to “personal information” that is subject to the CPRA.
In this section, “sell” and “sale” means selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a consumer’s personal information by the business to a third party for valuable consideration. This means that We may have received some kind of benefit in return you’re your personal information, but not necessarily a monetary benefit.
In this section “Share,” or “shared,” means sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making available your personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising, but not necessarily a monetary benefit.
Please note that we do not and will not sell or share any Personal Information to third parties for their own commercial use. Likewise, in the preceding twelve (12) months, we have not sold or shared any Personal Information with third parties.
Sensitive Personal Information. Under the CPRA certain personal information is classified as sensitive personal information. We may collect sensitive personal information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, and, depending on the nature of the study, sensitive personal information about your health, sex life, or sexual orientation. We may also collect and use your social security number, which is classified as sensitive personal information under the CPRA, for tax reporting obligations.
4. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES
We may use cookies (small data files placed on your device for recordkeeping and other purposes) and similar technologies (e.g., pixel tags, web beacons, etc.) on our Website, in our App, and in HTML-formatted email messages that we send you in order to, among other things, enable certain features and functionality and collect additional information that helps us improve our Website and our App as well as your experience as a participant in the Panel. Specifically, we may use cookies and similar technologies to identify your browser or device, display information more effectively, provide you with tailored content, and gather statistical information about your use of our Website or our App. We may also use these technologies for security purposes and to detect against fraud and other risks in order to protect users of our Website and our App.
Additionally, we may allow our survey partners to use cookies and similar technologies in connection with certain surveys. We do not control or have access to these cookies and similar technologies. This Privacy Notice covers the use of cookies by us only and not the use of cookies by any of our survey partners.
If you do not wish to have information collected from your browser or device by cookies and/or similar technologies, most browsers and mobile settings allow you to decline the use of cookies. Please note, however, that if you decline the use of cookies or limit the ability to set cookies, some features of our Website and our App may not work properly.
What type of Cookies do we Use?
We may use the following types of cookies on the website. A detailed list of cookies used on the website, including information about the type of cookies.
The website uses both first-party cookies (which are set by the website being visited) and third-party cookies (which are set by a server located outside the domain of our website and apps.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you, such as settings, logging in or filling in forms. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information and are placed by us in connection with our legitimate interests in delivering the essential functionality of our website. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies but some or all parts of the website might not work as intended.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and identify traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors navigate the website. Any information collected by these cookies is usually aggregated and cannot be used to identify you. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our website and will be unable to improve the website and apps performance based upon your participation as a user.
Functional Cookies
Functional cookies are mostly used to enhance the performance of a website as without them certain functions may not be available. Functional cookies are not vital for a website to run, but they allow recording of user preferences and settings. These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. These cookies, which may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our website, collect information about your choices and preferences and your usage of the website.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our website by our advertising partners to build a profile of your interests and to market products and services to you on third-party website or to measure and to track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts so that we can tailor our advertising more effectively.
How do I manage cookies?
You can manage website cookies and other tracking technologies in your website browser and, depending on your device, from your device settings. If you do not wish to have data collected from your device by tracking technologies, web browsers and mobile settings might allow you to decline the use of cookies and/or similar tracking technologies. If you choose to change your settings, you may find that certain functions and features will not work as intended. All browser and device settings are slightly different, so to manage cookies and other tracking technologies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser or device.
If you’d like to remove or disable cookies through your browser or mobile device, you may refer to your browser’s documentation or mobile device settings since the settings and steps for managing cookie preferences are usually browser or device specific.
Cookies used on our website
Strictly Necessary Cookies
| Cookie name | Purpose | First Party/Third Party |
|---|---|---|
| BIGipServer | Load balancing | Third party |
We may update the list of Cookies used on this list from time to time in accordance with our updates to the Privacy Policy.
Because there is no standard interpretation or practice for “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals, we do not monitor or follow such signals at this time. Therefore, we handle all information consistent with this Privacy Notice.
To learn more about the use of cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please visit http://allaboutcookies.org/.
Because there is no standard interpretation or practice for “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals, we do not monitor or follow such signals at this time. Therefore, we handle all information consistent with this Privacy Notice.
5. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy. While we generally seek to collect Personal Information about every member of households participating in the Panel, including children, we will never knowingly collect Personal Information directly from children (under age 18) without first obtaining consent from a parent or guardian. If any of our research requires the participation of children and we have obtained consent from a parent or legal guardian, children may participate in some survey opportunities. We will handle all Personal Information relating to both adults and children of any age up to 18 years (following authorizations from a parent or legal guardian) in accordance with this Privacy Notice.
Please note that our Website and our App are not designed for or intentionally targeted at children under the age of 13, and we do not intend to collect or solicit Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13 via our Website or our App. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 13 via our Website or our App, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
6. YOUR CHOICES AND RIGHTS
You have choices about how your Personal Information is handled.
If at any time you wish to stop all information collection by our App, you can uninstall our App using the standard uninstall process for your mobile device. If you are using an iOS device, details on how to remove an app from your mobile device can be found here. If you are using an Android device, details on how to remove an app from your mobile device can be found here.
We are also committed to providing you with reasonable access to the Personal Information that we hold about you and the ability to review and limit the use of such information in accordance with applicable law. Depending on your U.S. state of residence, under applicable law you may have the right to:
- withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future
- request details about the Personal Information that we hold about you;
- request access to or copies of your Personal Information;
- request that we update or correct your Personal Information; and
- request that we delete your Personal Information.
Please note that we will not discriminate against you if you choose to exercise any of the above-listed rights available to you under applicable law.
California Rights Regarding Personal Information. California residents have certain rights with respect to the personal information collected by businesses. If you are a California resident, you may exercise the following rights regarding your personal information, subject to certain exceptions and limitations:
- The right to know what personal information the business has collected about you, including the categories of personal information, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, the categories of third parties to whom the business discloses personal information, and the specific pieces of personal information the business has collected about you;
- The right to request that we delete the personal information we have collected from you or maintain about you.
- The right to correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
- The right to opt out of our sale(s) or sharing of your personal information. Please note that if you opt out of certain types of sales or sharing, we will be unable to provide you with the services that rely on such sales or sharing.
- The right not to receive discriminatory treatment for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA.
- The right to limit the use of your sensitive personal information to only that which is necessary for providing you products or services.
If you are interested in exercising one or more of the rights described above, please submit a request to us by either:
completing our online request form(fastest response); or calling us at Toll Free Number: +1 (888) 914-9661 and entering the code Please include your Panel ID in your message to help us to facilitate your request.
Because we want to avoid taking action regarding your Personal Information at the direction of someone other than you, only you or a natural person or business entity that you have authorized to act on your behalf by providing your written permission (an “Authorized Agent”) may submit a request. You may also make a request on behalf of your minor child. Please note that we may deny a request from an Authorized Agent if they do not submit proof that they have been authorized by you to act on your behalf.
Your request must:
- provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify that you are the person about whom we have collected or obtained Personal Information or an Authorized Agent; and
- describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.
We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Information relates to you. To verify your identity, we will match Personal Information that you provide when you submit your request to Personal Information we already maintain. If we cannot verify your identity from the information we already hold, we may request additional information that we will only use for the purpose of verifying your identity and for security or fraud-prevention purposes.
7. INFORMATION SECURITY
We have in place reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures that are designed to protect your information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, destruction, and other forms of unlawful processing while it is under our control. However, please be aware that the storage and transfer of information cannot always be one-hundred percent secure.
8. INFORMATION RETENTION
We will retain your information for as long as needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice and in accordance with applicable law. When you are no longer an active panelist, we will continue to use certain information relating to you, such as your demographic information, “behavior information,” or “preference information,” for historical and statistical research purposes. We will, however, keep this information separate from information that could be used to identify you and strictly limit access to your identifying information. All information will be permanently de-identified when we no longer need to identify you for disaster recovery, audit, legal, fraud prevention, or related purposes.
The standards we use to determine the retention period are as follows: the time required to retain personal data to fulfill business purposes, including your membership in a panel; maintaining corresponding transaction and business records; handling possible panelist queries or complaints and locating problems; and whether the laws, contracts, and other sources have special requirements for data retention.
9. UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE
We may update and make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time in light of changing business practices, technology, and/or legal requirements. Please take a look at the “Effective Date” at the beginning of this Privacy Notice to see when this Privacy Notice was last revised. The most current version of this Privacy Notice will always be available here. We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice periodically to remain informed about how we use and protect your information.
If we were to make a material change (i.e., a change to the way we use information that we hold about you that might make you reconsider participating in the Panel), we will notify you at the most recent email address we have on file at least thirty (30) calendar days before implementing the change, thereby giving you time to cease your participation in the Panel if you wish. Your continued participation in the Panel after the effective date of any changes will constitute your acceptance of all effective changes.
This Privacy Notice replaces any other statement, whether written or oral, made to you about our practices with respect to the collection and use of Personal Information.
THANK YOU – WE APPRECIATE AND VALUE YOUR PARTICIPATION!
Privacy Notice
Effective Date: November, 2023
Thank you for agreeing to participate in the PineCone Research Panel (the “Panel”). For decades, NielsenIQ has set the global standard for market and consumer insight research. Our insights are based on representative samples of the population and help our clients (e.g., manufacturers, retailers, media companies, non-profits, and governments) learn about what consumers watch, listen to, and buy. Your participation in the Panel helps companies understand your behaviors and preferences, which often helps them provide better consumer products and services.
The NielsenIQ Company (US), LLC (“NielsenIQ,” “we,” or “us”) takes your privacy very seriously and is committed to handling your information in an open and transparent manner. This Privacy Notice explains what information we collect from or about you, how we use and protect that information, and your legal rights in relation to such information.
Please note that this Privacy Notice applies only to your participation in the Panel, use of and interaction with this website and any other website where this Privacy Notice is posted or linked (collectively, our “Website”), and use of the PineCone Research mobile application (our “App”). This Privacy Notice does not apply to your participation in any other NielsenIQ panels, studies, or surveys or your interaction with any other websites, applications, or online services administered or provided by any entity within the NielsenIQ group of companies. Other NielsenIQ panels, studies, surveys, websites, applications, and other online services are governed by their own privacy notices, and we encourage you to review those privacy notices before disclosing any information. To learn more about NielsenIQ's group of companies, one or more of which may also process your information in connection with your participation in the Panel and use of our Website and our App, please click here.
Participation in the Panel is always voluntary, if you have general panel inquiries or require panel assistance, please review the FAQs or email us using this form. If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or our privacy practices, please refer to the ‘Contact Us’ section below for our contact information.
- Our Privacy Commitment
- Your Agreement With NielsenIQ
- The Information We Collect, Use, and Disclose
- Cookies and Similar Technologies
- Children’s Privacy
- Your Choices and Rights
- Information Security
- Information Retention
- Updates to this Privacy Notice
1. OUR PRIVACY COMMITMENT_
NielsenIQ complies with all applicable privacy laws. Indeed, it is crucial for us to keep our panelists’ information confidential in order to prevent any interference with panelists that could affect their behavior and the accuracy of our information. We will NOT use information that identifies you to advertise, promote, market, or sell third-party goods or services directly to you or members of your household; we do not allow our clients to do so either.
2. YOUR AGREEMENT WITH NIELSENIQ_
NielsenIQ processes your information and, where applicable, information about other members of or visitors to your household, on the basis of your voluntary participation in the Panel. The express purpose of our agreement with you is to obtain information from and about you and, where applicable, other members of your household, to be used for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice. By participating in the Panel, you are contributing your information to a pool of information from which broad participant statistics are derived. These statistics are relied upon by a wide variety of other companies to set pricing, advertising, merchandising, and other key business decisions.
3. THE INFORMATION WE COLLECT, USE AND DISCLOSE_
As a potential or current participant in the Panel, we collect or otherwise obtain information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with you and/or your household (“Personal Information”) in a variety of ways. We may also collect Personal Information when you use and/or interact with our Website and/or our App.
We do not generally collect government-issued identification numbers, or financial or bank account numbers/information. However, after providing you with notice and seeking your permission, we may request and collect banking information from you for the sole purpose of processing a reward payment via ACH transfer. We may also collect and use certain Personal Information to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations. For example, We may collect and use your government-issued identification information for tax reporting obligations, for which you will be asked to provide your name, address, and Tax ID number (Social Security number), and to provide an electronic signature. Your Personal Information collected and used in connection with this tax reporting purpose will be deleted as soon the relevant tax document is prepared. Your social security number is considered Sensitive Personal Information under some US state laws (See below "Notice to California Residents").
The table below summarizes the categories of Personal Information that we may collect or obtain from or about you together with the source(s) of the information, and also how we might use and disclose the information.
Personal Information We Collected. As further set forth in the chart below, in the past 12 months, we have collected, the following categories of Personal Information
| Category | Examples | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Identifiers | First and last name, alias, home postal address, online identifiers (such as a cookie ID or mobile device ID), internet protocol (or IP) address, email address, account name to login to our Website. As a quality control measure and to maintain the integrity of our digital research, we use a digital fingerprinting technology, also known as "machine identification" technology, to gather certain information about the device you use to participate in our research. This information is sent to a trusted third-party service provider that converts it into a unique serial number for your computer – the digital fingerprint – through the use of a proprietary algorithm and determines if it matches any previous digital fingerprint. | Directly from you (or another member of your household) Indirectly from you, such as when you use and/or interact with our Website and/or our App Data provider Our clients |
| Demographic Information (including Protected Classification information) | Information about your unique demographic profile, including your age, state of residence, marital status or sex (such as gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy or childbirth and related medical conditions). Please note, these categories of information are dependent on the type of research in which you are invited to participate. | Directly from you Data provider |
| Commercial Information | Records or information about products or services that you have purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies. This includes “behavior information,” such as when, why, or how you do things, such as how frequently you shop for groceries or use your computer, TV, or the Internet. It also includes “preference information,” which refers to the choices you make, such as which breakfast cereals you buy, which stations you listen to or watch, or the websites that you visit. | Directly from you Data provider |
| Internet or Other Similar Network Activity Information | When you use and/or interact with our Website and/or our App, we collect certain information, including: (i) standard technical information from and about your device (e.g., your device ID, device manufacturer and model, operating system, and version, IP address); and (ii) log and usage information (e.g., our webpages that you visit, the dates and timestamps associated with your visits and certain transactions. For more information, please see the "Cookies and Similar Technologies" section below. | Indirectly from you (i.e., passively when you visit and/or interact with our Website and/or our App |
| Sensory Information | This refers to audio, electronic, visual, or similar information. This information is dependent on which survey in which you are asked to participate. Not all surveys will require this information. | Directly from you (video and sound recordings) |
| Professional/Employment Information | This refers to information, such as your job title, industry, and income range. | Directly from you Data provider |
| Other Personal Information | This refers to any physical characteristics or descriptions, such as your height and weight. This is dependent on the survey in which you are asked to participate. This also refers to any information that you provide to us, enable us to collect, or voluntarily post or upload to our Website or our App (e.g., comments and requests). | Directly from you (video and sound recordings, photographs) |
| Sensitive Personal Information | racial or ethnic origin, health, sex life or sexual orientation, social security number. | Directly from you |
Please note that Personal Information does not include publicly-available information from government records (e.g., census data or United States Postal Service records) or de-identified or aggregated information. We do obtain publicly-available information.
How We Use the Information we Collected
| Use of Personal Information | Categories of Personal Information |
|---|---|
| We use the Personal Information that we collect for the purpose(s) for which it was collected or provided to us (as stated above in the previous section or at the point of collection). For example, the information that we request during the recruitment process is used to determine your (or your household’s) eligibility to participate in the Panel or a particular survey. | Identifiers Demographic Information Professional/Employment Information Sensitive Personal Information |
| We use the information that we collect to create a variety of market research insights for our clients. We help companies better understand consumer behavior, which in turn helps them make smart decisions about their products and services. We also create reports based upon “modeled information.” Modeled information are projections based on demographic and behavioral characteristics (like gender, age, and purchasing habits) that look at a sample group of people and predict what people with similar characteristics or preferences would want to buy. For instance, this allows advertisers to identify the likely audience for a marketing campaign. This may create Inference Information. We use tools and methods to make sure that there is no reasonable possibility of identifying you from the reports that we create for our clients. For example, we combine the responses we collect from you with the responses of other panelists in order to produce reports with aggregated data from which you cannot be uniquely identified. We may disclose your data, on an individual or aggregated level, in reports for our clients. If the data is not aggregated, we take reasonable steps to provide our clients with deidentified results. | Identifiers Commercial Information Demographic Information Professional/Employment Information Internet or Other Similar Network Activity Sensory Information Derived or Inferred Information Sensitive Personal Information |
| We may use your information to communicate with you via any means depending on the information that we hold about you (including via email, telephone, text message, or postal mail) about the Panel, our Website, and/or our App, respond to your inquiries and requests, or update/validate the information that we hold about you. We may also contact you with information about our business, services, and events as well as other information that may be of interest to you, such as offers to participate in other panels, studies, or surveys administered by us or other NielsenIQ entities (subject always to obtaining your prior opt-in consent to the extent required under applicable law. | Identifiers Sensitive Personal Information |
| We may use information about you in order to operate and manage the Panel, our Website, and our App and for our internal business purposes, such as quality assurance and research and development (e.g., data analysis, audits, and product/service improvement and development). | All categories of Personal Information |
| We will use information as necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, safety, property, or operations of one or more NielsenIQ entities, you, or others. This includes detecting security incidents and protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity. | All categories of Personal Information |
| We use the information we collect to facilitate the day-to-day operations and financial management of the NielsenIQ group of companies and any corporate transactions (e.g., a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, etc.). | All categories of Personal Information |
| We may use Personal Information in order to comply with applicable laws and regulations and establish, exercise, and/or defend the legal rights of one or more NielsenIQ entities. | All categories of Personal Information |
| We may use Personal Information in order to respond to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process/requests and communications from law enforcement authorities or other government officials. | All categories of Personal Information |
We may also use your Personal Information for other purposes disclosed to you at the point of collection, such as in a specific “Notice of Collection” given to you prior to your participation in a specific research survey.
If we intend to make a change to the way we use previously collected Personal Information, we will provide notice of the new use and obtain your permission in accordance with applicable law.
We may deidentify or aggregate information that we hold about you and use it or allow others to use it for historical, academic, or longitudinal research. We ensure in such cases that there is no reasonable possibility of re-identifying you from the information used for these purposes.
Personal Information We Disclosed. In connection with one or more of the purposes outlined above in the “How We Use Information” section, we may disclose Personal Information that we hold about you for a business or commercial purpose to different entities within the NielsenIQ group of companies as well as the categories of recipients described below.
The following represents the categories of recipients to whom we have disclosed Personal Information for a business or commercial purpose in the preceding twelve (12) months.
| Recipients of Personal Information and Business or commercial purpose for disclosing | Categories of Personal Information |
|---|---|
| We use the Personal Information that we collect for the purpose(s) for which it was collected or provided to us (as stated above in the previous section or at the point of collection). For example, the information that we request during the recruitment process is used to determine your (or your household’s) eligibility to participate in the Panel or a particular survey. | Identifiers Demographic Information Professional/Employment Information |
| Service Providers and other market research companies and our clients, in accordance with market research industry ethical guidelines. This may include audits by our clients or other third parties. In addition, this includes disclosures of certain information to our clients where you authorize us to disclose such information about you (e.g., disclosure of video recordings or photographs that you provide to us as part of your participation in our research surveys). | All categories of Personal Information |
| Relevant third parties as part of a corporate transaction, such as a reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). This Privacy Policy will apply to your personal information that is shared with (before and after the close of any transaction) or transferred to the new entity. | All categories of Personal Information |
| Competent governmental and public authorities, in each case to comply with legal or regulatory obligations or requests or for the purposes of reporting any actual or suspected breach of applicable law. | All categories of Personal Information |
| Our parent company, affiliates or subsidiaries for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice | All categories of Personal Information |
| Other third parties as we believe to be necessary or appropriate for legal purposes. | All categories of Personal Information |
Notice to California Residents
This below section contains disclosures required by the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (collectively, “CPRA”), and applies only to “personal information” that is subject to the CPRA.
In this section, "sell" and "sale" means selling, renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, transferring, or otherwise communicating orally, in writing, or by electronic or other means, a consumer's personal information by the business to a third party for valuable consideration. This means that We may have received some kind of benefit in return you’re your personal information, but not necessarily a monetary benefit.
In this section “Share,” or “shared,” means sharing, disclosing, or otherwise making available your personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising, but not necessarily a monetary benefit.
Please note that we do not and will not sell or share any Personal Information to third parties for their own commercial use. Likewise, in the preceding twelve (12) months, we have not sold or shared any Personal Information with third parties.
Sensitive Personal Information. Under the CPRA certain personal information is classified as sensitive personal information. We may collect sensitive personal information relating to your racial or ethnic origin, and, depending on the nature of the study, sensitive personal information about your health, sex life, or sexual orientation. We may also collect and use your social security number, which is classified as sensitive personal information under the CPRA, for tax reporting obligations.
4. COOKIES AND SIMILAR TECHNOLOGIES_
We may use cookies (small data files placed on your device for recordkeeping and other purposes) and similar technologies (e.g., pixel tags, web beacons, etc.) on our Website, in our App, and in HTML-formatted email messages that we send you in order to, among other things, enable certain features and functionality and collect additional information that helps us improve our Website and our App as well as your experience as a participant in the Panel. Specifically, we may use cookies and similar technologies to identify your browser or device, display information more effectively, provide you with tailored content, and gather statistical information about your use of our Website or our App. We may also use these technologies for security purposes and to detect against fraud and other risks in order to protect users of our Website and our App.
Additionally, we may allow our survey partners to use cookies and similar technologies in connection with certain surveys. We do not control or have access to these cookies and similar technologies. This Privacy Notice covers the use of cookies by us only and not the use of cookies by any of our survey partners.
If you do not wish to have information collected from your browser or device by cookies and/or similar technologies, most browsers and mobile settings allow you to decline the use of cookies. Please note, however, that if you decline the use of cookies or limit the ability to set cookies, some features of our Website and our App may not work properly.
What type of Cookies do we Use?
We may use the following types of cookies on the website.
The website uses both first-party cookies (which are set by the website being visited) and third-party cookies (which are set by a server located outside the domain of our website and apps.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you, such as settings, logging in or filling in forms. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information and are placed by us in connection with our legitimate interests in delivering the essential functionality of our website. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies but some or all parts of the website might not work as intended.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and identify traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our website. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors navigate the website. Any information collected by these cookies is usually aggregated and cannot be used to identify you. If you do not allow these cookies, we will not know when you have visited our website and will be unable to improve the website and apps performance based upon your participation as a user.
Functional Cookies
Functional cookies are mostly used to enhance the performance of a website as without them certain functions may not be available. Functional cookies are not vital for a website to run, but they allow recording of user preferences and settings. These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. These cookies, which may be set by us or by third-party providers whose services we have added to our website, collect information about your choices and preferences and your usage of the website.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our website by our advertising partners to build a profile of your interests and to market products and services to you on third-party website or to measure and to track the effectiveness of our marketing efforts so that we can tailor our advertising more effectively.
How do I manage cookies?
You can manage website cookies and other tracking technologies in your website browser and, depending on your device, from your device settings. If you do not wish to have data collected from your device by tracking technologies, web browsers and mobile settings might allow you to decline the use of cookies and/or similar tracking technologies. If you choose to change your settings, you may find that certain functions and features will not work as intended. All browser and device settings are slightly different, so to manage cookies and other tracking technologies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser or device.
If you'd like to remove or disable cookies through your browser or mobile device, you may refer to your browser's documentation or mobile device settings since the settings and steps for managing cookie preferences are usually browser or device specific.
Cookies used on our website
Strictly Necessary Cookies
| Cookie Name | Purpose | First Party/Third Party |
|---|---|---|
| BIGipServer | Load balancing | Third Party |
We may update the list of Cookies used on this list from time to time in accordance with our updates to the Privacy Policy.
Because there is no standard interpretation or practice for “Do Not Track” (DNT) signals, we do not monitor or follow such signals at this time. Therefore, we handle all information consistent with this Privacy Notice.
To learn more about the use of cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set and how to manage and delete them, please visit http://allaboutcookies.org/.
5. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY_
We understand the importance of protecting children’s privacy. While we generally seek to collect Personal Information about every member of households participating in the Panel, including children, we will never knowingly collect Personal Information directly from children (under age 18) without first obtaining consent from a parent or guardian. If any of our research requires the participation of children and we have obtained consent from a parent or legal guardian, children may participate in some survey opportunities. We will handle all Personal Information relating to both adults and children of any age up to 18 years (following authorizations from a parent or legal guardian) in accordance with this Privacy Notice.
Please note that our Website and our App are not designed for or intentionally targeted at children under the age of 13, and we do not intend to collect or solicit Personal Information from anyone under the age of 13 via our Website or our App. If we become aware that we have collected Personal Information from a child under the age of 13 via our Website or our App, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
6. YOUR CHOICES AND RIGHTS_
You have choices about how your Personal Information is handled. If at any time you wish to stop all information collection by our App, you can uninstall our App using the standard uninstall process for your mobile device. If you are using an iOS device, details on how to remove an app from your mobile device can be found here. If you are using an Android device, details on how to remove an app from your mobile device can be found here.
We are also committed to providing you with reasonable access to the Personal Information that we hold about you and the ability to review and limit the use of such information in accordance with applicable law. Depending on your U.S. state of residence, under applicable law you may have the right to:
- Withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future;
- request details about the Personal Information that we hold about you;
- request access to or copies of your Personal Information;
- request that we update or correct your Personal Information; and
- request that we delete your Personal Information.
Please note that we will not discriminate against you if you choose to exercise any of the above-listed rights available to you under applicable law.
California Rights Regarding Personal Information. California residents have certain rights with respect to the personal information collected by businesses. If you are a California resident, you may exercise the following rights regarding your personal information, subject to certain exceptions and limitations:
- The right to know what personal information the business has collected about you, including the categories of personal information, the categories of sources from which the personal information is collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting, selling, or sharing personal information, the categories of third parties to whom the business discloses personal information, and the specific pieces of personal information the business has collected about you;
- The right to request that we delete the personal information we have collected from you or maintain about you.
- The right to correct inaccurate personal information that we maintain about you.
- The right to opt out of our sale(s) or sharing of your personal information. Please note that if you opt out of certain types of sales or sharing, we will be unable to provide you with the services that rely on such sales or sharing.
- The right not to receive discriminatory treatment for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA.
- The right to limit the use of your sensitive personal information to only that which is necessary for providing you products or services. If you are interested in exercising one or more of the rights described above, please submit a request to us by either:
(a) completing our online request form (fastest response); or
(b) calling us at Toll Free Number: +1 (888) 914-9661 and entering the code 516499. Please include your Panel ID in your message to help us to facilitate your request.
Because we want to avoid taking action regarding your Personal Information at the direction of someone other than you, only you or a natural person or business entity that you have authorized to act on your behalf by providing your written permission (an “Authorized Agent”) may submit a request. You may also make a request on behalf of your minor child. Please note that we may deny a request from an Authorized Agent if they do not submit proof that they have been authorized by you to act on your behalf.
Your request must:
(a) provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify that you are the person about whom we have collected or obtained Personal Information or an Authorized Agent; and
(b) describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.
We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Information relates to you. To verify your identity, we will match Personal Information that you provide when you submit your request to Personal Information we already maintain. If we cannot verify your identity from the information we already hold, we may request additional information that we will only use for the purpose of verifying your identity and for security or fraud-prevention purposes.
7. INFORMATION SECURITY_
We have in place reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative measures that are designed to protect your information from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, destruction, and other forms of unlawful processing while it is under our control. However, please be aware that the storage and transfer of information cannot always be one-hundred percent secure.
8. INFORMATION RETENTION_
We will retain your information for as long as needed for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice and in accordance with applicable law. When you are no longer an active panelist, we will continue to use certain information relating to you, such as your demographic information, “behavior information,” or “preference information,” for historical and statistical research purposes. We will, however, keep this information separate from information that could be used to identify you and strictly limit access to your identifying information. All information will be permanently de-identified when we no longer need to identify you for disaster recovery, audit, legal, fraud prevention, or related purposes.
The standards we use to determine the retention period are as follows: the time required to retain personal data to fulfill business purposes, including your membership in a panel; maintaining corresponding transaction and business records; handling possible panelist queries or complaints and locating problems; and whether the laws, contracts, and other sources have special requirements for data retention.
9. UPDATES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE_
We may update and make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time in light of changing business practices, technology, and/or legal requirements. Please take a look at the “Effective Date” at the beginning of this Privacy Notice to see when this Privacy Notice was last revised. The most current version of this Privacy Notice will always be available here. We encourage you to review this Privacy Notice periodically to remain informed about how we use and protect your information.
If we were to make a material change (i.e., a change to the way we use information that we hold about you that might make you reconsider participating in the Panel), we will notify you at the most recent email address we have on file at least thirty (30) calendar days before implementing the change, thereby giving you time to cease your participation in the Panel if you wish. Your continued participation in the Panel after the effective date of any changes will constitute your acceptance of all effective changes.
This Privacy Notice replaces any other statement, whether written or oral, made to you about our practices with respect to the collection and use of Personal Information.
THANK YOU – WE APPRECIATE AND VALUE YOUR PARTICIPATION!