Privacy policy

Your privacy is important to us

Ipsos FZ-LLC, commonly known as Ipsos (“Ipsos”, “we”, or “us”), is a company registered in the United Arab Emirates ("UAE") with registration number 18624 and located in Dubai Media City, Dubai, UAE. Ipsos is part of the Ipsos worldwide group of companies. This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information we collect about you (“Panellist”, ”you” or “your”), when you join our Ipsos iSay on-line panel (“Panel”), take part in surveys or use the Panellists website or iSay mobile application.

Topics:

1. Why We Collect Information from You

The primary purpose, why we collect information from you is the conduct of market research by us. When you join our Panel, we enter into a contract with you, which is subject to this Privacy Policy as well as our Terms and Conditions.

In order to fulfil this contract by inviting you to appropriate surveys, we need to collect and process the information requested during the recruitment or which you may subsequently add to your profile on the Membership panel site or that we collect in accordance with this Privacy Policy and process it using automated means. This information will also be required to fulfil rewards and to contact you concerning any surveys. This is also explained in more detail in our Terms and Conditions.

We then also collect information from you based upon your consent, in particular where you either respond to any survey invitations we might be sending you or that you may otherwise voluntarily provide. Your responses to such surveys are at your choice. There might also be situations where we are seeking your further or even explicit consent where this might be appropriate or required.

We also collect personal information from you based upon your Cookie consent (see also below at paragraphs ‎5 and ‎6) about your device you may use whilst taking part in our online research activities for statistical purposes, quality control, validation, fraud prevention and fraud control.

During your Panel membership, we automatically collect information about your device for protecting our legitimate interests or, subsequently, those of a third party (generally, a client or partner of Ipsos or other Panellists) for the purposes of preventing fraud and security checks.

The overall operation and how the Panel works is described in more detail in our Terms and Conditions.

2. What Personal Data Do We Collect About You?

We collect the personal data (“information”) you provide by email and in completing our recruitment questionnaire when joining our Panel.

In case the registration process is not successfully completed, your information will not be retained by us, apart from some limited information to prevent any fraud or misuse.

We also collect the information you voluntarily provide when completing any of the surveys we invite you to participate in, or you provide feedback, comments or other information on our Panellists’ website.

When you participate in an online survey, we also collect some passive data for quality purposes as described below at paragraphs ‎5 and ‎6.

In some instances, concerning our research, we may ask you to provide certain sensitive personal data, for example revealing your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade-union membership or data concerning health or sex life. You do not have to answer these questions and such questions will always include a "prefer not to answer" option. Responses to these questions will remain confidential unless you explicitly and freely consent to your responses to these questions, together with your personal information, being passed to research clients, such transfer bringing added value related to their research analysis.

We collect certain information about your device, and the hardware and software present on your device, by using Cookies (as defined below and as set out below at paragraph ‎5).

We automatically also capture information about your IP address, the country where your device is located, operating system, screen display settings, browser type, use of Flash and Java and whether your device has a webcam.

3. How Will We Use the Information About You?

We will use the information collected about you to:

  • Fulfil our contract with you;
  • Keep a record of all Panellists;
  • Send you invitations to participate in surveys that are relevant to you based on the information you provided in response to our recruitment questionnaire(s) or as may be updated at a later stage;
  • Send you a SMS message to your mobile phone number containing a verification code, to verify your application and activate your Panellist account. For this we will share your phone number with our trusted vendor providing us with such services, to contact you via SMS message on behalf of Ipsos (the list of trusted providers can be found here);
  • implement our quality control, fraud prevention & control programs, security checks, identify if you are an existing member of the Panel or determine if your membership is a result from any paid for advertising. For this we will share certain information about your device with our trusted vendors to carry out the necessary checks (the list of trusted providers can be found here);
  • Append existing personal information about you to any of your survey responses, such as general geographical location, ethnicity, occupation categories etc. for survey analysis of the responses and producing statistical research results;
  • Enter you into any prize draws that you are eligible to take part in or, where invited to do so, have asked to be entered;
  • With your explicit consent, which might be sought in a specific survey and limited thereto, to pass your individual survey responses together with your personal information to the client who commissioned the survey. The client will use this information only for research purposes as explained in the relevant survey.
  • Where you have explicitly consented separately and prior to your information being provided to the client for this, the client may also use this information to contact you to invite your participation in further research they conduct;
  • With your explicit prior consent, we may forward your personal information and individual survey answers to another market research institute which is our business partner, for the following purpose: sending you survey invitation by e-mail or by phone with links leading to surveys or using your personal information for prize/gift delivery or prize draws (if the case) related to participation to these market research institutes’ surveys. Nevertheless, such third party will be required to observe the condition that the data can be used only for statistical, research and/or prize/gift delivery/prize draw organisation purposes and bound not to forward or further disclose data such as name, postal address or other personal information that could serve to identify you.
  • To create anonymous, statistical profiles of the Panel membership based on the information provided by Panellists;
  • With your consent, to pass your information to other Ipsos Group companies so that they may invite you to participate in research studies they are carrying out and that may be relevant to you.
  • Send you by email newsletters, announcements and other communications as set out in the Terms and Conditions. We are using one of our trusted providers for this purpose (the list of trusted providers can be found here).
  • Where you agree to take part in a product test to arrange for such product to be sent to you.
  • In case you have become a member of the Panel through a third-party supplier, this supplier may be informed that you have become a member of the Panel and may have access to the information you provided during the registration process.
  • Based on the information you provided, we might wish to invite other members of your household to participate in a survey. In case such household member is a child, please also see below at paragraph ‎4.

As part of our online advertising research and internet usage research studies, we may also:

  • Send you invitations by text message or other messaging service to take part in research.
  • Detect if your computer or mobile device has a webcam attached so that we may offer to you specific survey sections requiring webcam usage.
  • Send your information to our sub-contractors or affiliated companies who carry out some work on our behalf, control and responsibility, for data hosting or as described at paragraph ‎6. Some of these sub-contractors may be based in other countries; however, we require these sub-contractors to abide by the same data privacy requirements and security arrangements as ourselves and will be subject to appropriate safeguards (including standard contractual clauses), a description of which can be obtained by contacting us as set out at paragraph ‎10.

We will take all reasonable steps to ensure that any personal data we process are accurate, adequate, relevant and not excessive, given the purpose for which they were obtained. We will not process personal data obtained for one purpose for any unconnected purpose unless you have consented to this.

We will NEVER use your information for any purpose other than research or as described in this Privacy Policy and the Terms and Conditions. Other than in relation to this Panel (like participating in further surveys), we will NOT try to sell you anything, nor use your information for marketing purposes. Nor will we ever pass your information to third parties for marketing or advertising purposes.

4. Children

Based on the information you provided, we might wish to invite any children under 15 years of age you indicated are in your household to participate in a survey. In those cases, we will always require prior consent from either a parent or legal guardian, who are legally responsible for the child, before inviting such child to take part in the research.

5. Use of Cookies and Similar Code

By joining our Panel and taking part in our online research, you agree to our use of cookies and similar technologies (“Cookies”) and the collection of information from your PC/Laptop or other computing device you may use whilst taking part in our online research activities as outlined below.

Our Panel website and online surveys collect information using Cookies and functionally similar technologies. Cookies are small files stored on your computer. Specifically, in respect of cookies, further details of what cookies are can be found by visiting www.aboutcookies.org

Check here for the full Cookies Policy (including list of cookies).

6. Use of Digital Fingerprinting, Device Data and Other Information on Your Device

We also gather certain information about your PC/Laptop, mobile device, or other device, and the hardware and software present on your device. For example, this includes the IP address of your internet connection, the display settings of your monitor, the type of browser used, the type of operating system, the country where your device is located, whether your device has a webcam etc. This information is sent to our trusted provider who converts it into a unique serial number (the digital "fingerprint") and determines if it matches previous fingerprints. The data collected in this process and the digital fingerprint created are not tied to any of your personal information, is stored on secured servers, and is only used for quality control and fraud prevention purposes and to help prevent Panellists from completing the same survey more than once, and for no other purpose.

We also use your mobile device ID to identify if you are an existing member of the panel and to determine if your membership is a result from any paid for advertising.

7. How Long Will We Keep the Information You Provide?

We will keep the profile information you provided for as long as you remain a Panellist.

If we terminate your membership, we will delete your personal information within thirty (30) days or as otherwise set out in this paragraph. If you terminate your Panel membership, we will delete your personal information as soon as possible, and no later than seven (7) days following your request.

The only exceptions to these rules are as follows:

  • If you redeemed your points for a reward, then we will retain your information associated specifically to reward fulfilment for a period of up to two (2) years, or as required by applicable information security / legal provisions.
  • If you won a prize from any contests, then we will retain your information associated to your entry in the contest and prize fulfilment for a period of up to three (3) years, or as required by applicable information security / legal provisions.
  • If you have filed a specific “do-not-contact” request, then we will retain only that information required to honour your request.

Apart from your profile information, we also gather the answers you give in any survey. The answers provided by you will be pseudonymised by us for security reasons and will only be shared with our clients in an anonymised form, unless you have given you explicit consent to you being identified. We will also remove the link between your profile information and the answers you provided within twelve (12) months of the end of the research project, to ensure that these answers cannot be traced back to you.

Information shared with our third-party suppliers (such as the digital fingerprint supplier, for example) is pseudonymized to ensure that this information cannot be traced back to your account by them or any other third party. In addition, while the device information itself may be stored on our side for longer periods of time, the recipients of such information are required not to retain the data itself or the link between this information and Ipsos for more than 180 days.

8. How Do We Ensure Your Personal Information Is Secure?

We take our responsibilities to keep your personal information secure very seriously. As such we take every reasonable precaution to ensure your information is protected from loss, theft or misuse. These precautions include appropriate physical security of our offices, controlled access to computer systems, and use of secure, encrypted internet connections when collecting personal information.

9. Automated Individual Decision-Making, Including Profiling

With regard to any decisions based solely on automated processing, including the creation of a profile, you have certain rights. In certain situations, within the purposes mentioned above, we process your personal data including through automatic processing mechanisms (including by creating the profile). If we refuse, suspend or discontinue the provision of a product, reward or service as a result of any automated decision, we will inform you about this, and you will be able to obtain relevant information about the logical mechanism which is the basis for making that decision. You will also have the right to obtain human intervention from us, to express your point of view and to challenge that decision. In order to do so, please contact us as set out in paragraph ‎10.

Specific decisions about your account that are based on automated processes are listed below. In case you disagree with any such decision that may have been made, please contact our Data Protection Department as set out at paragraph ‎10.

  • Panel Registration leading to the final resolution of registering you as a Panel member.
  • Sample selection, to be invited as respondents to the specific research survey as per the survey sampling specifications.
  • Incentives allocation according to the applicable incentives program.
  • Our Panel quality program ensures the Panel and sample quality and accuracy as set out in our Terms and Conditions.

10. How Can You Access Your Information and/or Correct It and/or Request Its Transfer and/or Erasure and/or Complain

You have the right to request a copy of all the information we hold about you. You also have the right to request the correction of any personal data we hold about you. Furthermore, you have the right for all the information you have provided to us to be transferred to another party. In some circumstances, you also have the right to request from us the deletion or erasure of the personal information we hold about you, subject to the limitation set out above under paragraph 7.

If you would like to exercise any of your above rights, have any questions or require further information about our Privacy Policy or our compliance with data protection laws, please contact our Data Protection Department. They can be contacted by email sent to [email protected]

11. Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We keep our Privacy Policy under regular review, and we will place any updates on this webpage. We will also inform you of any changes via email or when you log-on after any change. Our Privacy Policy was last updated on 10 June 2024.

12. Useful Links

Ipsos Global Site: www.ipsos.com

World organisation for market research - ESOMAR: www.esomar.org

13. Languages

These Terms and Conditions have been drafted in the English language. In the event of any conflict between the English version of this document and any subsequent translation into any other language, the English version shall prevail.