Terms & Conditions
Privacy and Cookies Policy
Smile Reader (“Smile Reader”) conducts market research to help improve content for its customers. Our proprietary software is used to track facial features of people who choose to participate in our studies and to analyse their emotional response to on-screen media.
While Smile Reader is committed to making the participant experience as natural and as unobtrusive as possible, we also take seriously the privacy of participants in our studies. Smile Reader is established in England (at 16/17 Clarence Parade, Cheltenham contact: info@smilereader.co.uk), and we comply with the United Kingdom and European Union data protection requirements.
Our Privacy Policy tells you how we look after and use the Personal Information (see definition below) that we collect from participants through our services, as well as information that we collect through our website at www.wordpress-121190-2042255.cloudwaysapps.com (“Website”). Smile Reader is the data controller for the data we collect. Please read this Privacy and Cookies Policy (“Policy’) carefully. When you participate in one of our studies and/or use our Website, you are agreeing to this Policy.
Safeguarding your privacy is of the utmost importance.
1. Smile Reader has a strict opt-in research policy. We only collect study data (including facial data) from participants who have given their explicit consent by allowing access to their webcam prior to each media viewing session.
2. Any Personal Information that we collect from you will be treated as confidential through the implementation of security measures.
3. We do not share study data with our customers in a way that allows for the identification of any specific individual who participates in our studies.
What does Personal Information mean?
Personal Information means anything that can be used to identify you, including facial data and IP addresses that we collect as you participate in our study or information that we collect from users of our website or our services.
If you do not agree with our Policy, please do not participate in Smile Reader market research studies at this time or use our website.
Data security is our priority
All Personal Information will be stored in a secure location within the EU. We use industry standard technical and organisational security measures to protect your data against unauthorised disclosure or processing. These measures vary depending on the sensitivity of the information we have collected from you. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or via mobile device, or method of electronic storage, is absolutely secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
What Personal Information do we collect?
When you use our Website, we and third parties may also use automated means to collect information about you, your computer or other device and your use of our Website. For instance, our web servers may collect and log information such as the type of device, operating system and browser you use when accessing our Website, and other system settings, such as language your system uses and the country and time zone where your device is located. Our web server may also record the address of the web page that referred you to our Website and the IP address of the device you use connect to our Website.
We also may collect any other information that you choose to provide when using our Website or our services. For instance, if you choose to create an account on our website, we will collect your name, company name, job title and email address. Creating an account will provide you the possibility to access advanced content (which can include viewing our white papers presentations and to demo the Smile Reader services).
How we will use your Personal Information?
Smile Reader specialises in market research and measures how people feel when they view on-screen media. We analyse these reactions to help our customers improve their content and advertising. Your participation in our studies is voluntary and highly valued. The information that we share with our customers is anonymised and does not individually identify any study participants. Unless you consent, Smile Reader will not share your Personal Information with third parties for marketing purposes.
Smile Reader may use anonymised and de-identified study data to assess quality assurance and to help improve software and reporting capabilities.
Smile Reader may use information collected from users of our Website to analyse the effectiveness of our Website.
If you create an account on our website and if you provide your consent for Smile Reader to contact you, Smile Reader may use your personal information to contact you and to ensure that the Website and services work correctly and to offer you support. The personal information might be needed also in case our registered users have issues with the Smile Reader services or website. Smile Reader will not use users’ personal information for any other purpose without your consent or legal obligation to do so.
Who do we share your Personal Information with?
Smile Reader may share your information in limited ways in order to provide our services:
• We work with trusted partners to perform tasks on our behalf and we may need to disclose Personal Information to them so that they can perform these tasks. However, these companies are bound by confidentiality obligations and do not have any independent right to use Personal Information beyond what is necessary to assist us in order to provide our services.
• We may share your Personal Information, where appropriate, with any member of our group of companies who are involved in delivering our services. Any disclosure will be in accordance with data protection regulations and you consent to share your Personal Information with our group companies on this limited basis.
• We may share your Personal Information when we believe that doing so is necessary to protect, enforce, or defend the legal rights, privacy, safety, or property of Smile Reader, our employees or agents or users, or to comply with applicable law or legal process, including responding to requests from public and government authorities.
• You agree that, if there is a change in the ownership of Smile Reader or any of our assets, such as in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganisation, dissolution or liquidation), or if we take steps in anticipation of such a transaction, we may transfer and disclose Personal Information we have collected to the new or prospective company, subject always to the data protection regulations.
• We may share anonymised, aggregated or de-identified data without restriction.
• In addition to the sharing described in this Privacy Policy, we may share information about you with third parties whenever you consent to or direct such sharing.
How long do you keep this Personal Information for?
We store Personal Information for as long as it is required for our research and business purposes and as required by law. When Personal Information is no longer required, we will delete it from our systems.
Cookies
Cookies are small text files that we place on your computer or device to allow us to track our research and assess participant behaviour information. We use third party service providers to track usage and interaction with the media players that are used to measure responses to advertisements. Our cookies are deleted after 13 months.
We also may use service providers like Google Analytics to help us analyse how users use our Website. The information collected by the technology will be disclosed to or collected directly by these service providers. To prevent Google Analytics from using information for analytics, a user may install the Google Analytics Opt-Out Browser Add-on by clicking here.
To find out more about cookies and how to delete them, please visit http://www.aboutcookies.org.uk/managing-cookies
If you consent to taking part in our study, we will place a cookie on your browser containing a Participant ID which enables us to identify you in case you wish to see the data we hold of you. We require you to provide us the Participant ID in case you wish to access the participant records we hold of you.
If you opt out of participating in our study, we will place a cookie on your computer as it is required to remember your choice (the sole purpose of that cookie). If you delete your cookies from your browser, you will also be deleting your opt out and you may be asked to participate in our study again.
We do not have access to, and this Policy does not govern the use of cookies or other tracking technologies that may be placed on your computer, mobile phone, or other device by non-affiliated, third-party ad technology, ad servers, ad networks or any other non-affiliated third parties. Those parties that use these technologies may offer you a way to opt out of ad targeting as described below.
Do-Not-Track Signals and Similar Mechanisms
We do not recognise or respond to browser-initiated Do Not Track signals, as the Internet industry is currently still working on Do Not Track standards, implementations, and solutions.
Third Party Links and Services
Our website may contain links to third-party websites such as social media sites, and may also contain third-party plug-ins (such as the Facebook “like” button and Twitter “follow” button). If you choose to use these sites or features, you may disclose your information not just to those third-parties, but also to their users and the public more generally depending on how their services function.
As these third-party websites and services are not operated by Smile Reader, we are not responsible for the content or practices of those websites or services. The collection, use, and disclosure of your personal and other information will be subject to the privacy policies of the third party websites or services, and not this Privacy Policy. We urge you to read the privacy and security policies of these third-parties.
Child Protection
Smile Reader does not knowingly obtain information, study data, or survey responses from participants under the age of 18, unless we obtain the required consent. Should we discover that any data has been collected from a participant under the age of 18, without the required consent, we will immediately delete it.
International transfer of Personal Information
We may transfer your Personal Information to countries outside of the European Economic Area EEA (such as the US), but only to companies we trust. This includes carefully selected business partners that are certified as compliant with the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework or equivalent protections. We do this for our data management and business purposes, in particular, for outsourced data processing by organisations on our behalf and in accordance with the stated aim of the data processing. We take appropriate steps to ensure your information is adequately protected. If you do not agree to this, please do not use our services.
Access to changes to your Personal Information
If you want to see, change or delete your Personal Information, contact us at info@smilereader.co.uk under the subject heading “Privacy Policy”. In certain jurisdictions, you may be entitled to request access to Personal Information we hold, by writing to us. A small fee may be charged for this service, to cover administrative costs.
Your rights under the GDPR
Please contact info@smilereader.co.uk for applications regarding your personal data. If you took part in our surveys, we can only identify your personal data using a Participant ID that was shown to you after the survey and which was also stored in a cookie on your device. Please keep record of your participant ID for future reference. If the Participant ID cannot be identified, Smile Reader is not able to identify your data to fulfil your request.
Right of access
The GDPR gives you the right to access information that we held about you. If you want to access that information, please send you request to info@smilereader.co.uk
Any request for access of your information shall be a subject to providing the acceptable proof of identification. In relation to our studies we also require you to provide us the Participant ID shown to you when taking part in the study and which is also stored in a cookie on the device used to participate in our study. If all complies, you will be provided with the copy of your personal data. If a person’s request for information or measures is clearly unjustified or excessive, a reasonable fee may be asked, or the action taken may be refused.
Right of rectification
You can have your personal data rectified at any time, in case it is inaccurate or incomplete. You should notify us to correct or update your personal data. You can notify us at any time at info@smilereader.co.uk
Right of erasure
You can request to delete your personal data at any time by contacting us at info@smilereader.co.uk.
Right to restrict processing
In certain circumstances, you have a right to restrict or block us from processing your personal data.
Right to withdraw your consent
If the processing is done based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent to processing of your personal data at any time by contacting us at info@smilereader.co.uk
Right to data portability
You have a right to request the personal data from us and reuse this data for other services.
Right to object
At any given time, you have a right to object to the processing of your personal data.
Right related to automation
You are protected from automated decision-making processes.
Complaints
The Policy is governed by legislation of the United Kingdom. Any disputes regarding the in connection with this Policy shall be settled through negotiations.
If you have any concerns with the way we process or handle your data, we would encourage you to contact us directly to resolve your concerns. However, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Contacting us
Please contact us if you have any comments or questions about information that we hold or about our Privacy Policy.
• Send an email to info@smilereader.co.uk under the subject heading “Privacy Policy”
• Write to us at 16 / 17 Clarence Parade, Cheltenham, GL50 3PA, UK
Changes to our Privacy Policy
We may update our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of changes by posting an announcement on our service or website. You are bound by any changes to our Privacy Policy when you use our service after you are notified (by an announcement on our service or website) of these changes.
Last updated: 7th of May 2019