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Privacy policy

Valid as of: 20.10.2023

 

Talk Online Panel is firmly committed to protecting the security and integrity of all personal information collected or disclosed by its panel members: Talk users can be assured that their privacy is Talk’s number one priority.

 

This Privacy Policy explains what type of personal data or other personally identifiable information Talk collects about its registered panel members, how it uses, shares or discloses this information as well as the panel member’s choices and rights regarding the processing of the information in connection with the Services offered on the Talk Website and the Talk mobile application (the “Talk app”). Talk values its panel members’ trust, therefore this Privacy Policy is presented in clear, plain language instead of using only legal terminology. The Talk mobile application is subject to additional privacy terms, as set out within this Privacy Policy.

 

Talk’s panel members’ use of the Services is completely voluntary and therefore Talk Online Panel’s collection, processing and sharing of their personal data and personally identifiable information in connection with the Services and this Privacy Policy is carried out with their consent. Such a voluntary consent can be withdrawn as easily as it was given to Talk, e.g. electronically.

 

Talk is committed to full compliance with the requirements for data protection set in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that comes in force as of the 25th of May 2018, as well as the Austrian Data Protection legislation, any relevant local laws to all its countries of operation and any International Treaties. Moreover, Talk and its carefully selected third-party partners always strive to conform their privacy practices and bring their technologies in line with all laws, codes, and standards applicable in the market and opinion survey research associations such as ESOMAR, VMÖ (Association of Market Researchers in Austria) and BVM (Association of German market and social researchers) to which Talk is a member. All references in this Privacy Policy to “Talk Online Panel” or “Talk” include Talk and its parent, subsidiary, affiliated and under the same control companies. For the purposes of this Policy, “online” shall also include mobile web browsing.

 

1. What Information Talk collects and how it collects it
2. How Talk uses the information
3. Sharing and disclosure of any personal information
4. Data Retention
5. Links to other websites
6. Children’s privacy
7. Security measures
8. Panel members’ rights

9. Right to appeal
10. Facebook Connect
11. Social media widgets
12. Talk mobile app
13. Talk on the road
14. Sound Buddy

15. Amendments to the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy
16. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

 

1. What information Talk collects and how it collects it

 

Talk Online Panel offers its registered panel members the opportunity to take part in various social, opinion and market research surveys which help Talk’s clients obtain better consumer marketing insights and eventually make appropriate business decisions. Furthermore, Talk also involves its panel members and gives them the chance to participate in various online measurement activities which include websites usage tracking, online ad effectiveness research projects, audience measurement as well as development of audience insights and look-alike models projects (as described more thoroughly in Talk’s Cookie Policy). If any tracking activity has not been described under the present Privacy Policy or the Cookie Policy or if it requires the installation of a tool or an application, Talk will ask its panel members about their explicit and separate consent.

 

More specifically, Talk collects personal information on a voluntary basis from its panel members (i) whenever they fill out the registration form in order to become members of Talk’s panel or when they respond to available profile questionnaires, (ii) when they participate in a survey (iii) in connection with the receipt and redemption of their points, (iv) as well as when they contact Talk either by e-mail or by using the available contact form. Furthermore, Talk may collect personal information about panel members through the use of cookies or other tracking technology or may receive information about them if they use any of the other websites Talk operates or the other services Talk provides. The completion of profile questionnaires is on voluntary basis but Talk encourages its panel members to complete as many as they can; the more they complete the better their chances are of being selected for future appropriate surveys.

 

When panel members participate in surveys by Talk or Talk’s third-party partners/clients then Talk or the third-party partner or client collects and stores survey response data. Such survey response data is stored separately from any contact and profile data Talk has about its panel members therefore third party partners or clients do not receive any personal information about the panel members but they only receive the survey responses in a way that the panel members cannot be identified. Partners or clients might receive personal information about panel members only if they ask for such information within a survey and only prior to the explicit consent of the panel members, for example if they want to conduct a face2face interview they might ask for a panel member’s contact details in order to contact the member. Moreover, Talk might share with a third-party client some of the profile data about a panel member in anonymous form as statistical information, such as the gender, assignment to an age group (based on the date of birth) and assignment to a state/region (based the postal code). Such data that is being shared with he partner or third-party client cannot lead to the identification of the panel member. In this way, Talk can for example, report to a client which percentage of all male and female participants per age group and region of a country has answered certain questions in the context of an online survey.

 

In some cases, Talk or third-party partners or clients which carry out surveys through the Talk System may ask panel members for information and opinions that pertain to sensitive (or “special category of”) personal data, such as racial or ethnic origin; political opinions, physical or mental health condition and sexual preferences. Unless it is permitted to process such sensitive data by law, the panel members will be asked for their explicit and separate consent in each case. Third-party partners or clients will only receive such sensitive data as survey responses and will not receive from Talk any data about the panel members that might lead in their identification. By way of clarification, by voluntarily consenting in disclosing such sensitive personal data the panel members expressly consent to their storage and processing always as permitted by the applicable data protection legislation.

 

Panel members may submit, upload or transmit content or material, including, without limitation, photos, videos, and/or any other similar or related content or material which may contain their personal information ("User Content"), for example, when completing surveys. Any personal data included in User Content shall be collected, used and disclosed as set forth in this Privacy Policy. User Content must not include audio, video, images, or the likeness of anyone other than the panel members.

 

All personal data collected during the registration process, the participation in profiling questionnaires and the completion of surveys with the exception of specific survey response data carried out by Talk’s partners or clients directly through the Talk System, , any service providers we use and the tracking through the use of cookies or other similar technologies is owned solely by Talk Online Panel and is stored on secure servers and systems located in the EU, which servers are licensed and/or owned, by Talk.

 

Within the scope of your order, we process - depending on the redeemed incentive - at least first name, last name and e-mail address. If a postal communication with the incentive provider is required also street, zip code, city and phone number will be processed. The data transmitted will be displayed in detail before the order can be completed, as well as the exact name and a link to the privacy policy of the incentive partner.

 

2. How Talk uses the information

 

In addition to any other purposes described in this Privacy Policy, Talk might use information collected from the panel members through the website and the Talk app and the services offered herein or may occasionally contact the panel members for the following purposes:

 

(1) to keep a record of all the registered panel members.

(2) to communicate with them regarding their participation in a survey or in order to invite them to one;

 

(3) to send panel members a text message to their mobile phone containing a verification code, in order to validate their registration and activate their Talk Online Panel Member profile. For this purpose, Talk will provide their telephone number to Talk’s approved provider for this service, who will contact the panel members by SMS on Talk’s behalf.

(4) to invite them to a profiling questionnaire in order to gather more information on them as a panel members for purposes of better survey targeting;

(5) to manage Talk’s reward and incentive program and fulfil panel member’s requests for rewards and incentives i.e. bank details for billing purposes;

(6) to respond to user support issues and to deal with any complaints queries or technical problems that panel members might experience;

(7) to update and ensure Talk’s records of the panel members’ information is accurate and correct;

(8) for internal purposes such as quality control, website/application performance and efficiency, system administration;

(9) to ask for panel members’ consent in the event that Talk wants to use personal information for a purpose that was not explained to them when their personal information was first collected (for example when a panel member’s contact details might be shared with a client who has commissioned a survey and wants to contact them for the purpose of a specific project);

(10) in addition to survey responses that are being collected by Talk’s clients Talk may as mentioned above append profiling information about its panel members to completed surveys for analytical and research purposes and data enrichment. This information is shared with the client always in a way that the panel members cannot be identified.

(11) Upon prior explicit consent Talk may use the panel members’ e-mail address in order to send newsletter, promotional actions or general communications about the Talk panel community, new services Talk might be offering in relation to its panel members registration or new tools available to them. If you register for our newsletter and thereby give us your consent (Art 6 para 1 lit a DSGVO), we will process your name and email address for the purpose of sending our newsletter. Your personal data will be stored until you unsubscribe from the newsletter or revoke your consent. The panel members are entitled to opt-out from receiving such communication at any time, by using the op-out option in each such e-mail. This opt-out however will not apply to critical information that panel members need to receive such as updates to Talk’s Terms and Conditions and Policies, as they are not promotional in nature.

(12) for fraud detection, identity or contact details confirmation and verification and/or prevention purposes;

(13) to comply with any and all legal obligations, including, without limitation, tax obligations;

(14) as otherwise consented to by the panel members.

 

Generally, we will collect and use your personal data only when:

 

  • you have given us your consent to the use of your personal data. For example, we may obtain your consent in order to drop and use our cookies or similar technologies and to send you marketing communications.

  • this is necessary in order to provide you with products and services or to answer your questions.

  • we are obliged or authorized by applicable law to use your personal data.

  • we or a third party have a legitimate interest in using your personal data, for example to ensure and improve the security and performance of our products and services and to carry out data analyzes.

 

3. Sharing and disclosure of any personal information

 

As a general principle, Talk Online Panel does not share, sell, rent, trade or transfer any of the personal data collected from the panel members to any third-party partner, client or contractor, other than as described in the Privacy and Cookie Policy or as otherwise consented to by them and with specific exceptions always in a way that is not connected or cannot lead to a panel members’ identification. Even when, as described above panel members’ contact information might be disclosed to a client upon their explicit consent for the execution of a specific research project (for example for purposes of conducting face2face interviews, focus group discussions or participation in in-depth interviews) Talk takes outmost care that the client will never contact the panel members directly for marketing or advertising purposes or through advertising e-mail (SPAM).

 

Talk occasionally invites the panel members to market and opinion research surveys carried out by third-party clients, e.g. by e-mail. In this case the survey will exclusively be carried out by the third party, and the third party alone is responsible for the collection, processing and storage of the survey response data and Talk will receive from the third party only general data about the panel member’s survey behavior (e.g. whether the participant completely participated in the survey, whether it discontinued the survey or whether it was “screened out” from the survey). Talk stores and uses those data for giving the panel members the appropriate number of points, for editing the panel database and for methodically analysing the survey. The aforementioned surveys administered by third parties and the data collected in connection therewith are not subject to this Privacy Policy. The survey results or survey data, are and will be owned by the third party.

 

Furthermore, in order to increase the panel members’ chances in qualifying for survey invitations, Talk might additionally share profile information such as socio-demographic data (including without limitation a unique identification number “UID”, postal code, gender, marital status, education, employment related information, and non-personally identifiable information on household members), with thirty party sample/market research companies (the “Third-Party Market Research Company”), for the purpose of (a) identifying survey opportunities that they may be eligible for, through them and (b) appending such data elements to completed client surveys and delivering the appended survey data to clients of the Third Party Market Research Company only for analytical or research purposes. If a panel member is eligible for a survey opportunity the said Third Party Market Research Company will either invite them directly to participate on a survey or will provide a survey link to Talk and Talk will invite them to participate in the survey through an invitation e-mail. Talk will not share the panel members’ name with the Third Party Market Research Company. If a panel member unsubscribes from the Panel it is Talk’s sole responsibility to inform accordingly the Third-Party Market Research. A panel member’s participation in such survey opportunities does not entitle them to any benefits offered by, or membership with the aforementioned Third Party Market Research Companies.

 

Panel members’ personal data might on occasion be disclosed to a third party during the following instances:

 

  • It may be shared with other companies that belong to the same group as Talk or that are under the same control or ownership for archiving or business continuity purposes;

  • It may be made available to contractors or partners of Talk in connection with services that these individuals or entities perform for, or with Talk in order to help Talk process the data that its panel members provide voluntarily or is collected from them for example when Talk passes on their name and address to the vendor of an incentive so that they may deliver it to them or when Talk systems require technical upgrades or servicing or when Talk passes panel member’s phone number to Talk’s SMS verification service provider, Telesign Corporation. From time to time, Talk may add or remove such service providers in the normal course of business. Service providers are not permitted to retain any personal data for their own or independent use and for any longer than required to perform the agreed services. Further they must process any personal data always in accordance with this Privacy Policy and as permitted by applicable data protection laws;

  • Personal data might be transferred in the context of a corporate reorganisation or in the context of a change of ownership (including without limitation a merger or an acquisition or a sale of any or all of Talk’s business). Talk ensures that its panel members will be notified in case this happens and further that the Party receiving any panel members’ personal data has agreed to comply with all of the material terms in Talk’s Privacy and Cookie Policy and to use, protect and maintain the security, integrity and confidentiality of personal data in accordance with the present Privacy Policy;

  • It may be shared when Talk has a good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with a judicial proceeding or a court order or if it believes it is necessary in order to investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of Talk website and app terms or as otherwise required by law. Disclosure of personal information might also be needed for data privacy or security audits and/or to investigate or respond to a complaint or a security threat.

 

In connection with the aforementioned disclosure of personal data, the members of the panel acknowledge and agree that their data may be transferred and / or processed outside their country of residence in countries that may not offer the same level of protection as countries within the EU, including the United States of America. All such transfers are carried out exclusively in accordance with this data protection notice and the applicable legal provisions, and Talk shall take all necessary measures to maintain a level of protection for personal data that corresponds to the protection required by EU law and, if necessary, will draft and enter any suitable set of contractual clauses.

 

4. Data Retention

 

Talk will retain the personal information collected from its panel members for as long as they remain members of the Panel, and as necessary in connection with Talk’s research and analysis purposes, Talk’s legal obligations (for example, if it is required to retain their information to comply with applicable tax/revenue laws or during a dispute resolution procedure, or its obligations to prove consent given) and its contractual obligations with third-parties.

 

In the event that panel members no longer want Talk to use their information they may terminate their participation in the Panel by deleting their account through the Panel website or within the Talk app. (Talk panel members must note that by simply deleting and uninstalling the Talk app on their device this will not automatically delete their Talk membership account in the Talk Website). In case of termination of a membership account Talk will no longer retain or use any personal information for any purposes other than the ones described in the previous paragraph Talk will continue to employ the security procedures and technologies to keep any Personal Information safe. Talk might also retain log files with anonymized information for internal analysis purposes. These log files are generally retained for a brief period of time, except in cases where they are used for site safety and security, to improve site functionality, or when Talk is legally obligated to retain them for longer time periods.

 

5. Links to other websites

 

This website or the Talk app might contain links to other websites. Talk is not responsible for the Privacy Policies and practices or the content of any linked websites. Panel members must always review the Privacy Notices of the websites they visit by linking from this website or the Talk app.

 

6. Children’s privacy

 

Talk strongly believes that it is important to protect the online privacy of the children and will not knowingly process without parental/guardian’s consent any personal information from any child younger than the legally minimum age. In some cases, a parent/guardian might be sent a questionnaire that is meant to include the child’s opinion, for example a survey on toys. In such cases, the survey is meant to be completed only with parental/guardian’s supervision and/or help, and a parent/guardian opting to participate in the survey with their child is giving implicit permission to include the child’s opinions in the survey.

 

7. Security measures

 

In line with all the above, Talk takes the issue of data security very seriously. Talk maintains appropriate security measures, including on-line and off-line physical, technical, administrative, electronic and procedural safeguards that are designed in order to protect against any unauthorized, accidental or unlawful collection, access, storage, modification or disclosure of all information under its control. Access to all personal information is restricted and limited to few authorized personnel on a need-to-know basis and even then, Talk’s employees are subject to the duty of confidentiality. Whenever Talk collects or transmits to other websites, personal information, it is protected through encryption, such as the such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Talk reviews, monitors and evaluates its privacy practices and protection systems on a regular basis, as unnecessary to meet its business needs, technology changes, and regulatory requirements. Talk has also established a management system to prevent incidents such as unauthorized access to or loss, erasure, alteration or leakage of personal information as well as to ensure the best possible support in the rare case that such an incident occurs. However, no transmission via the Internet is 100% secure, and Talk cannot guarantee or be held responsible regarding the security of it. Talk’s users assume this risk by using Talk’s services.

 

8. Panel members’ rights

 

If Talk panel members would like to exercise their rights to access, correct, modify or request deletion of their personal information associated with their Talk membership account, they can do so at any time by logging into their account profile page or by contacting Talk via e-mail. Talk will make available to its users the personal data about them that have been collected, used or disclosed, upon their written request, to the extent required and/or permitted by law. Furthermore, in certain cases, Talk’s panel members may have the right to restrict the processing of their personal information as well as the rights to object to the processing of their personal data and to obtain a copy of their personal information in an easily accessible format in order to be able to transmit them. Talk will respond to any such request within a reasonable (or the legal when applicable) timeframe and will satisfy the panel members’ rights unless the legislation provides otherwise, when they have an unreasonable impact on the privacy of other individuals or on the execution of Talk’s business. In case of doubt, upon responding to a panel member’s request to exercise his/her rights Talk might ask for additional information in order to confirm his/her identity. This is to protect panel members’ rights and privacy.

 

Furthermore, Talk’s panel members have the right to easily withdraw their consent to Talk processing of their information. They can do this at any time by deactivating their account through their profile page settings. Talk will continue to be authorized to use their already collected personal information, but will remove it at their first request. If a panel member withdraws his/her consent to the use or sharing of his/her personal information for the purpose mentioned in this Privacy Policy, Talk will terminate the processing of his/her personal info and he/she may no longer have access to Talk’s Services and the same effects as in the termination of his/her account will occur. Panel members must note that, in certain cases, Talk might continue to process personal information after a panel member has withdrawn consent and requested that Talk deletes his/her information, if Talk has a legal basis to do so.

 

9. Right to appeal

 

You also have the right to file a complaint at the supervisory authority. In Austria the supervisory authority is the Austrian Data Protection Authority, Barichgasse 40-42, 1030 Vienna, phone: +43 1 52 152-0, e-mail: [email protected], Web: https: //www.dsb.gv. at/.

 

10. Facebook Connect

 

Users can log in to the Talk Website or the Talk app using sign-in services such as Facebook Connect. These services will authenticate the users’ identity and provide them with the option to share certain personally identifiable information with Talk such as their name and e-mail address in order to automatically complete Talk’s registration form or later on when they are registered panel members, Talk might receive certain Facebook data in order to enrich members’ profile information and increase their survey opportunities. Services like Facebook Connect give users the option to post information about their activities on the Talk Website or the Talk app to their profile page to share with others within their network always upon their prior permission.

 

11. Social media widgets

 

Talk website and the Talk app includes social media features, such as the Facebook Like button and widgets such as the Share button. These features may collect the IP address, information about which page has been visited on the Talk website and may set a cookie to enable the feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on the website. Talk users’ interactions with these features are governed by the Privacy Policy of the company providing it.

 

12. Talk mobile app

 

When panel members download and use the Talk mobile application, Talk might automatically collect system and performance information on the type or device they use, operating system version, device identifier, hardware user statistics, storage and app version. Talk will use this information its collects through the Talk app in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy and the clauses set out herein. Talk also collects and stores the AdvertiserID of each user’s device, unless a panel member has made it anonymous on his/her device in order to identify the panel members when they use certain applications to measure app usage or to see if a panel member was exposed to a certain online ad campaign. Talk collects information about the device’s operating system and user identification data for the purpose of sending panel members notifications from time-to-time in order to notify them about surveys and ask them if they would like to participate. If panel members no longer wish to receive such notifications, they can turn them off on their device.

 

Furthermore, Talk uses the mobile analytics software in order better understand the functionality of the Talk mobile application on the panel member’s phone. This software may record information such as how often a panel member uses the application, the events that occur within the application, aggregated usage, performance data and where the application was downloaded from.

 

13. Talk on the road

 

The Talk app will request the panel members’ consent in order to obtain geo-location information from their mobile device, and such geo-location information may be provided by the application at any time, whether the application is open or not. If panel members consent to sharing their geo-location data, in addition to the uses of information set forth within this Privacy Policy, Talk will also use their location information to offer them the chance to participate in location-based market research surveys and/or to share such geo-location data with third-party clients to demonstrate certain location and/or traffic patterns of the Talk app users. Furthermore, Talk might share panel members’ geo-location data with third-party vendors for the purposes of collect location insights, build profile uses and retarget users. If panel members no longer wish to share their geo-location data through their device, they can deactivate the service within the Talk app or they can change the privacy settings in their device.

 

14. Sound Buddy

 

The Talk app will request the panel members’ consent in order to switch on the Sound Buddy feature on their mobile device. Such feature will enable the app, at certain intervals, regardless of whether it is open or not, to recognize and record the audio frequencies of the sounds of radio and television broadcasts to which a panel member might be exposed to. Sound buddy immediately transforms any recorded audio into a fingerprint (a collection of mathematical representations of that audio content that can be matched against equivalent mathematical representations for the audios of radio and television broadcasts that are the object of market research). The generated fingerprint does not allow the recreation of the original audio, hence Sound buddy will not record any voices, ambient sounds, calls or conversations and will not collect any personal data. The generated fingerprint is sent in encrypted non-identifiable form to the servers of Talk’s third party partner FLUZO TECHNOLOGIES, S.L. who operates the Sound Buddy feature for storage and processing in an anonymized form. 

The aforementioned recognition of sounds of radio and television broadcasts enables the Talk app to use the obtained data in combination only with any non-identifiable profile data or any passive metering data Talk app may hold about the panel members in order to evaluate the audience of individual radios and televisions content to which panel member is being exposed to, to collect audio measurement data or to measure the online advertising effectiveness of ad campaigns or to develop audience insights and/or look-alike models in connection with marketing campaign.Talk will share any information related to the above purposes with third-party clients only in an anonymized form. If panel members no longer wish that the Talk app collects their audio data, as described above, through their mobile device, they can deactivate the feature within the Talk app or they can change the privacy settings in their mobile device.

 

15. Amendments to the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy

 

Talk reserves the right, at its discretion, to modify its privacy practices and update and make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. For this reason, Talk encourages its panel members to refer to this Privacy Policy on an ongoing basis. If Talk makes material changes to this Policy, the panel members will be notified here, or by e-mail, or by means of a notice on Talk homepage. This Privacy Policy is current as of the "last revised” date which appears at the top of this page.

 

16. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

 

The above Privacy Policy, as well as any amendment to it and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection to it or their subject matter, is governed and completed by Austrian law, European Union Law and any relevant International treaties. Any provision of the above Policy that does not comply with the above legislation or is found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, ceases to be valid ipso jure and is removed from this document, without in any case infringing the validity of other provisions that remain in full force and effect. The parties irrevocably agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts in Vienna in relation to any claim on matter arising under or in connection with this Privacy Policy and Cookies Usage.

Protecting Talk’s panel members’ privacy is very important to talk, therefore if panel members have any complaints or concerns relating to Talk’s Privacy Policy or if they want to communicate an opt-out request to Talk Online Panel or they want to exercise their legal rights to access, review, correct, delete or object to the processing of personally identifiable information they can contact Talk any time.

 

Data Controller:


Talk Online Panel GmbH, Karlsgasse 7/5, 1040 Vienna Austria, limited liability company, Company Register No.: FN 419178p UID: ATU68904867
E-mail: [email protected]

Website: www.talkonlinepanel.com

 

If you have any questions about the collection, processing or use of your personal data, please contact in writing Talk’s Data Protection Officer:

 

Data Protection Officer:
Bischof, Zorn + Partner Rechtsanwälte GmbH,
Seilerstätte 18-20, 1010 Vienna, Austria

e-mail: [email protected], website: www.talkonlinepanel.com
 

Lead Supervisory Authority: 

Austrian Data Protection Authority (www.data-protection-authority.gv.at)