Introduction
This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes what personal information Research Online may collect and how we use and disclose it. This Policy applies to any interactions we have with you through our website, email or phone.
This Policy covers Research Online’s treatment of your personally identifiable information that we gather when you use Research Online’s services. By using Research Online, you are consenting to the terms described in this Policy as well as our Terms of Service, located at researchonline.ca/terms-of-service.
At Research Online, we take your privacy seriously. We understand that information provided for account registration can sometimes be sensitive. We want to ensure that you, as a participant of Research Online, are comfortable with the information collected and are knowledgeable of how this information is used.
Contact information
If you have any questions about this Policy, please contact us at [email protected]
Collection of Information
The type of information we collect from you includes information that you voluntarily provide to us, and information that we obtain from you, in order to access our services and to provide us with a means to contact you. Specific personal information we collect may include your full name, sign-in information (i.e., e-mail address and account password), other contact information, and payment information required for purchasing our services. We may also collect additional information to help fix technical problems and improve communications such as the pages you visit, browser information, operating system name, or information supplied to us through user-generated data (or through other means).
Use of Participant Data
We do not share or sell personal or research data with third parties. We collect data from participants during an online testing session. The data we collect originates both from the physiological signals the participant agrees to share through their webcam, and from voluntarily answering questionnaires we provide as part of the testing session. Researchers then have access to questionnaire data and have the option to acquire the raw (i.e., webcam recording) or processed (i.e., signal extraction/analysis from webcam recording) data. As we hope to advance our own artificial intelligence (AI) models, we offer Researchers the option to opt-out of “donating” their de-identified participant data to us for use in our models.
Only Researchers and Research Online have access to the data. Researchers own the participant data, and Research Online owns the participant data that the Researcher agrees to donate to us for use in advancing our own models. Researchers are free to delete their account or entire research project, and we will only keep the data that the Researchers agreed to donate to us.
Storage of Participant Data
All data are backed up on our servers for 3 months, but Research Online will only use the data that the Researchers agreed to donate to us, and these data will only be used for advancing our AI models.
Use of Personal Data
Any Personal Data you provide us to access our Services may be used (e.g., your name and email address is used to identify your account to give you access to our Services, or we may contact you regarding use of our Services). Please refer to the section titled "Choices Regarding Personal Information" below to learn how to opt-out of receiving messages from us related to Services. By using Research Online, you agree to have your Personal Data used to help us improve our Services.
Sharing of Personal Data
Research Online considers your Personal Data an essential part of our relationship with you and a key component in delivering you a great service. We do not sell this information or provide it to third parties except as described in this Policy. There are times though when we need to share this data with certain third parties to operate our business. These circumstances are described below:
Business transactions and related companies
As we operate Research Online we may buy another company or sell Research Online, merge with other companies, reorganize or dissolve. Personal Data may be part of the transferred assets during any of these events.
Anonymized Aggregated Data
As described above, we aggregate and anonymize data and use and disclose such information for a variety of purposes. However, in these situations, we do not disclose any information that could be used to identify you personally.
Law and Harm; Jurisdictions
We may preserve or disclose your information if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation or legal request; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security or technical issues or a breach of our Terms of Service; or to protect our or any other person's rights or property. However, nothing in this Policy is intended to limit any legal defences or objections that you may have to a third party, including a government's request to disclose your information.
We safeguard your personal information using efforts that are consistent with relevant law. However, we cannot completely guarantee the security of the personal information disclosed online. Finally, please note that in some cases, personal information that we collect may be stored or processed outside of Canada. In such cases, we continue to protect the information with appropriate safeguards, but it may be subject to the legal jurisdiction of those countries and governmental authorities in those countries.
Choices Regarding Personal Information
Marketing Communications
If you do not wish to receive promotional emails, you can click the "unsubscribe" button on promotional email communications. Note that you are not permitted to unsubscribe or opt-out of non-promotional messages regarding your account, such as account verification, payment confirmations, change or updates to features of the website, or technical and security notices.
Data Retention
We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. Following termination or deactivation of your account, we may retain information for a commercially reasonable time for backup, archival, and/or audit purposes. We may retain your information in aggregate or anonymized form indefinitely. Please submit a support request if you wish to delete your account.
Application of Privacy Policy
This Policy does not apply to any unsolicited information that you provide. This includes, but is not limited to, information posted to any public areas of the Service and any unsolicited submissions. Research Online assumes that all unsolicited information is non-confidential and that we are free to reproduce, disclose and distribute it without limitation or attribution.
The Research Online website may contain links to third-party sites not controlled or operated by Research Online (the "Third Party Sites"). The policies and procedures described in this Policy do not apply to the Third Party Sites.
Security of Personal Information
We take the security of your Personal Data and other information very seriously. We take reasonable steps to protect this data from loss, unauthorized access or misuse.
Accuracy of Information and Individual Access
We rely on you to ensure that the Personal Information you enter into our system is as accurate, complete and up to date as necessary for the purposes for which it is to be used. You may make changes or corrections to your Personal Information at any time.
When updating your personal information, we may ask you to verify your identity before we can act on your request. Unless required by law, we may reject requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require disproportionate technical effort, risk the privacy of others, or would be extremely impractical. Where we can provide information access and correction, and when required by law, we will do so for free.
We also make every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information in our reports, displays, articles and support queries. However, you must verify all information created from your use of Research Online. We recommend that you consult a professional before completing any government or regulatory filing or otherwise relying upon the information, as the use of this information is at your own risk. You are responsible for ensuring that the information you have entered into our system is accurate, reliable and complete.
Last Updated: January 20, 2021