Last updated: August 4, 2020
This website is operated by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, Inc. (“GSSR”). This Privacy Policy is intended to inform clients, users of our website, research participants, and others of how we collect, use, share, and store personal information.
Our privacy practices are compliant with applicable data protection and privacy laws, including the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). If you are an individual with a disability and having trouble accessing the website or this Privacy Policy, please contact us as provided in the “Contact Us” section below.
Your participation in our market research studies is voluntary. We respect each respondent’s right to withdraw or to refuse to cooperate at any stage of a study and will not use any procedure or technique to coerce or imply that cooperation is obligatory.
PLEASE READ THIS PRIVACY POLICY CLOSELY. BY PARTICIPATING IN OUR RESEARCH, SUPPLYING US WITH PERSONAL INFORMATION, PURCHASING SERVICES FROM US, OR BY USING OUR WEBSITE, YOU CONSENT TO THE TERMS OF THIS PRIVACY POLICY.
COLLECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
As used in this Privacy Policy, “personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked with a particular individual or household. Personal information might include information such as real names, postal addresses, email addresses, and social security numbers.
GSSR never collects Social Security or similar identification numbers, nor do we sell or transfer individual respondent-level information shared with us by respondents.
We may receive your personal information from third parties who have secured your consent to share it with us, or who have collected it from publicly available sources. For example, we may receive personal information contained in voter files, or we may receive a list of phone numbers or mailing addresses from third parties who have collected this information from public sources. We or our third-party vendors may combine such information with other commercially available information about you.
We may also collect personal information directly from you. In such cases, you know what information we collect because you supply it yourself. In cases where we collect any audio or video recording information (in a focus group study, for example), we will first secure your consent to such recording.
SHARING AND USE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
We may use your personal information to conduct public policy research and communicate with you regarding our surveys and other services. These additional services include GSSR’s sharing of individual respondent level responses from its surveys to third parties so that these third parties can create “audiences” or “profiles” of a broader universe of voters that can then be targeted with focused political ads.
We may also use your personal information to comply with our legal obligations, to update our records, to comply with any prior opt out requirements, to validate information you provide to us, and as otherwise permitted by this Privacy Policy or authorized by you.
We may share your personal information with our vendors and service providers as necessary to provide services to our clients, subject to confidentiality agreements and appropriate use restrictions.
Under certain circumstances, GSSR may be required or permitted by law, regulatory agencies, or court orders to disclose personal information. We may also use or disclose personal information where necessary to identify, contact, or bring legal action against someone who may be violating their agreement with us or may be causing injury to or interference with GSSR’s rights or property, other research participants, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. In the event of a sale, merger, liquidation, dissolution, financing, or reorganization of GSSR, either in whole or in part, GSSR may disclose, transfer or assign personal information or other research data to those involved in the negotiation or transfer.
NOTICE TO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS
Under CCPA “personal information” includes, but is not limited to, names, postal and email addresses, IP addresses, and Social Security or other identification numbers. “Sell” is also broadly defined under CCPA. Its meaning includes “…renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, [and] transferring…for monetary or other valuable consideration.”
In connection with research-related services, we might, from time to time, provide to our clients aggregated information that includes your views about issues, demographics, and other topics. Aggregating information means combining your responses with those from other participants in a study.
Categories of information we’ve “sold” in the previous 12 months include: demographic data, such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental status, marital status, ZIP code, income and education levels; political opinions and voting history; research participant photos, video, and audio; and other anonymized or aggregated information from research and survey results.
Note that the CCPA specifically exempts publicly available sources of information, including information drawn from the voter file. In the case of surveys using samples drawn from voter files, the only information we collect that is not exempt from the CCPA are a limited number of phone numbers and email addresses that are matched from commercially available sources.
If you are a California resident, you also have certain special rights under CCPA as follows
Your Right to “Know” and to Request Deletion
You have the right to know the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you. You have the right to know the categories of sources from which the personal information has been collected, the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share personal information. You have the right to request deletion of personal information we’ve collected or maintain.
To exercise these rights contact us at 877-799-8720 or by filling out the form here. We may ask you to provide additional information, such as your full name, birth date, phone number, email address, or other basic personal information about you that we already have on file, in order to verify who is making the request. Please note that any requested disclosures will only apply to the 12-month period preceding the request, and you are entitled to request disclosure regarding your personal information twice in any 12-month period.
Information We’ve “Sold” and Disclosed
You also have the right to know what categories of personal information we’ve “sold” or disclosed for a business purpose, and the third parties to whom that information was sold or disclosed.
We’ve “sold” the following categories of information to our clients: demographic data, such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental status, marital status, ZIP code, income and education levels; political opinions and voting history; and photos, audio and video recordings collected as part of focus group studies.
We’ve otherwise disclosed the following categories of personal information to the following parties for a business purpose: (1) respondent names, phone numbers, street addresses, and email addresses to fielding house and data processing vendors, subject to confidentiality agreements; (2) demographic data, such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental status, marital status, ZIP code, income and education levels to data collection partners (only in the aggregate), subject to confidentiality agreements; and (3) political opinions and voting history to data collection partners (only in the aggregate), subject to confidentiality agreements.
Your Right to Opt Out
You have the right to opt out of the “sale” of your personal information. For more information on how to opt out, please click here.
Your Right to Non-Discrimination
You have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment by GSSR for the exercise of the privacy rights conferred by the CCPA, including but not limited to by denying you services, charging different prices or rates, or providing you with a different level or quality of services. Please understand, however, that we are in the business of providing research and survey results to our clients, and any financial incentives we offer to facilitate that goal may be rewarded only if the applicable survey, research project or study is fully and properly completed by the respondent, in the sole discretion of GSSR.
Your Right to Use an Authorized Agent
You have the right to designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. To designate an authorized agent, please contact us as provided below. In order to verify you have authorized an agent we will require a signed, written authorization from you.
INFORMATION SECURITY
GSSR is committed to keeping personal information secure and will take reasonable precautions to protect personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access, disclosure or alteration, including reasonable encryption, firewalls, company security policies, and other measures. Please note, however, that no method of transmission over the Internet, nor method of electronic storage, is 100% secure.
DATA RETENTION
We will retain your information, including personal information as described above, for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it and as permissible by applicable law. To determine the appropriate retention period for information, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the information, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your information, the purposes for which we process your information and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.
FINANCIAL INCENTIVES
In addition to providing you with the valuable opportunity to share your views and opinions, we may also provide you with financial incentives as consideration for your participation. By being given the opportunity to participate and by receiving the incentive, you agree that this consideration represents fair value for your participation. Such financial incentives may be rewarded only if the applicable survey, research project or study is fully and properly completed by the respondent, in the sole discretion of GSSR.
THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES
Our surveys and website may contain hyperlinks to, or display content from, websites outside of GSSR. Data collection and privacy policies may be different on such sites. We recommend that you read the privacy policies for each site visited.
COOKIES
A cookie is a small amount of data that is sent to your browser from a web server and stored on your computer’s hard drive. GSSR does not use cookies, and does not allow third parties to use cookies, on our website.
“DO NOT TRACK”
Because there is no uniform standard for responding to “do not track” (DNT) signals, GSSR does not currently respond to them. We will, however, treat any “do not sell my information” signals as opt outs under CCPA.
RESEARCH WITH CHILDREN
If we require survey information from a child under 16 years of age, we will secure the “opt-in” consent of the child’s parent or legal guardian, and obtain permission prior to such child’s participation in the survey. If you are a parent or guardian who has discovered that your child has submitted his or her personal information without your permission or consent, please contact us as provided below. GSSR will take reasonable steps to remove that information from its database at your request.
VERIFICATION PROCESS
If you make a request to access or delete your information, or to opt out of the sale of your personal information, we may ask you for additional information to verify your identity. This information may include: your full name, birth date, phone number, email address, or other basic personal information about you that we already have on file.
Please be advised that our ability to answer your request is contingent on our ability to identify what information belongs to you. In any case, we will always use best efforts to identify and delete or disclose all personal information related to you.
TEXT MESSAGES AND PHONE CALLS
We may, from time to time, call or text you. You can opt out of receiving text messages by texting “STOP” in response to any text message you receive from us, and you can opt out of phone calls by requesting an opt-out during any call. You may also opt out of text messages or phone calls by contacting us as described below.
CHANGES IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY
This Privacy Policy may be changed at any time, without prior notice. When we do so, we will post the new Privacy Policy on this page and change the date at the top of the policy. Please view this Privacy Policy on a regular basis for any updates or changes.
CLASS ACTION WAIVER
Any arbitration or court trial, whether before a judge or jury or pursuant to judicial reference, related to any claim under this Privacy Policy will take place on an individual basis, without resort to any form of class or representative action (“Class Action Waiver”). This Class Action Waiver precludes any party from participating in or being represented in any class or representative action regarding a claim under this policy. Regardless of anything else herein, the validity and effect of the Class Action Waiver may be determined only by a court and not by an arbitrator. This Class Action Waiver is void where limited or prohibited by law.
CONTACT US
If you wish to opt out of any specific survey or research project with GSSR, if you wish to access or request changes to any of your personal information, or if have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, you may contact us at the addresses listed below. Please be sure to specify the reason for your communication.
Goodwin Simon Strategic Research
P.O. Box 366
Culver City, CA 90232
877-799-8720
privacy@goodwinsimon.com