If you have questions or concerns regarding this Policy, you should first Contact VRC

Privacy is important to us. This statement explains how Veracity Research Co. (“VRC”) collect, handle, store and protect personal information about you in the context of our services. It also provides information about your rights and about how you can contact us if you have any questions about how we handle your information.

Veracity Research Company (“VRC”) has the following Privacy Policy with respect to information gathered on Web pages hosted by vrcinvestigations.com (“VRC”).

The terms “VRC”,  “we” and “us” refer to Veracity Research Company.

This statement applies to individuals who use any website, application, including mobile applications, product, software or servies of ours that hyperlinks to this Statement (these are our “Services”)

 

The Information We Collect

This notice applies to all information collected on the VRC Web site or submitted to VRC at any time through any Service Pages.

Personally Identifiable Information – When visiting VRC, you may choose to supply VRC with information that identifies you personally. For End-Users, this information may include your name and contact information, gender, birth date, occupation and industry, shipping and billing information, and other information. For Clients, this information may include the Client’s name and contact information, the Client’s Web site information (name, URL, visitors per day, page views per month, description, categorization), subject information (name, address, SSN), and user comments. We also collect prospect information from our End-Users, which may include name and contact information of individual(s) you think would be interested in our services.

Aggregate Information – We collect non-identifying and aggregate information to better design our Web site and services, and share the aggregate data with advertisers and other third parties.

Each VRC Client has access to information specific only to that Client’s data.

 

Collection of Personal Information from Children under Thirteen

VRC does not allow children known to be under the age of thirteen (13) to register for our services. We may momentarily capture personally identifiable information for purposes of determining whether a user is over the age of thirteen (13) and thus qualifies to use our services. Where the user is under the age of thirteen (13), such information is automatically deleted.

The personal information we collect depends on how you are interacting wiht us and which Services you are using. In many cases, you can choose whether or not to provide us with peronal information, but if you choose not to, you may not get full functionality from the Services. The personal information we collect consists of the following:

• Name and contact data, such as, first and last name, email address, postal address, phone number, and other similar contact data
• Account Credentials, such as, passwords and other security information for authentication and access
• User content, such as, communications and files provided by you in relation to your use of the Services
• Device information, such as, information about your device, such as IP address, location or provider
• Usage information and browsing history, such as, information about how you navigate within our Services, your browsing history and which elements of our Services you use the most
• Location data, for Services with location-enhanced features. If we need your consent to collect geo-location data, we will collect this separately
• Demographic information, such as, your country, and preferred language

 

The Way We Use Information

This section includes details of the purposes for which we use personal information and also the different legal grounds upon which we process that personal information. We use personal information to provide and improve Services and for other purposes that are in our legitimate interests, as well as for compliance purposes. Further information is set out below. We use the information you provide about yourself or others to complete the transaction for which the information is intended. Such transactions may include: administering a service, such as email, search, advertising sales, ecommerce; completing an order; shipping a product; replying to support requests; or contacting you if you have granted us permission to do so. Except as provided in this Privacy Policy and the End-User Agreement, we do not share this information with outside parties without your permission except to the extent that is necessary to administer the services we offer our Clients and End-Users or to comply in responding to subpoenas, court orders or other legal proceedings. Some laws require us to explain our lawful reason for processing your personal information. We process personal information about you on the basis that it is:

• necessary for the performance of a contract: where we have a contract with you, we will process your personal information in order to fulfil that contract (i.e., to provide you with Services)
• in our or a third parties’ legitimate interests: details of those legitimate interests are set out in more detail below (e.g., provision of Services that we are contractually obliged by a third party, such as your employer or our subscriber, to deliver to you)
• where you give us your consent: we only ask for your consent in relation to specific uses of personal information where we need to and, if we need it, we will collect it separately and make it clear that we are asking for consent
• for compliance with a legal obligation (e.g., to respond to a court order or a regulator)

You are welcome to contact us for further information on the legal grounds that we rely on in relation to any specific processing of your personal information.

We use the information you provide about yourself or others to complete the transaction for which the information is intended. Such transactions may include: administering a service, such as email, search, advertising sales, ecommerce; completing an order; shipping a product; replying to support requests; or contacting you if you have granted us permission to do so. Except as provided in this Privacy Policy and the End-User Agreement, we do not share this information with outside parties without your permission except to the extent that is necessary to administer the services we offer our Clients and End-Users or to comply in responding to subpoenas, court orders or other legal proceedings.

From time to time, we also use the information you provide about yourself or others to inform you of additions or improvements to the VRC services as well as conduct member surveys in order to improve our services. These communications will only be sent to the administrative account.We may also use personally identifiable End-User information to provide targeted content and commerce opportunities to End-Users based on their demographic and behavioral information.

Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways or for reasons unrelated to the ones described above without also providing an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

 

Legitimate interests for use

We use personal information for a number of legitimate interests, including to provide and improve Services, administer our relationship with you and our business, for marketing and in order to exercise our rights and responsibilities. More detailed information about these legitimate interests is set out below.

to set up and administer your account, provide technical and customer support and training, verify your identity, and send important account, subscription and Service information

to administer our relationship with you, our business and our third-party providers (e.g., to send invoices)

to deliver and suggest tailored content such as news, research, reports and business information. We analyze the way you use our Services to make suggestions to you for features or Services that we believe you will also be interested in, and so that we can make our Services more user-friendly

to personalize your experience with our Services. We may retain your browsing and usage information to make your searches within our Services more relevant and use those insights to target advertising to you online on our websites and apps. Your choices in relation to marketing are explained here.

We may sometimes share your personal information across our Services so that we can make all of the Services we deliver to you more intuitive (e.g., rather than requiring you to enter the same data many times)

• to contact you in relation to, and conduct, surveys or polls you choose to take part in and to analyze the data collected for market research purposes
• to display information you choose to post, share, upload or make available in chat rooms, messaging services, and community and event forums (including in community and event profiles) and for related collaboration, peer connection, games and information exchange
• to provide any third party, who has made our Services available to you (e.g., your employer or our subscriber), insights about use of the Services
• for internal research and development purposes and to improve, test and enhance the features and functions of our Services
• to provide you with marketing as permitted by law
• to meet our internal and external audit requirements, including our information security obligations (and if your employer or our subscriber provides for your access to our Services, to meet their internal and external audit requirements)
• to enforce our terms and conditions
• to protect our rights, privacy, safety, networks, systems and property, or those of other persons for the prevention, detection or investigation of a crime or other breach of law or requirement, loss prevention or fraud
• to comply with requests from courts, law enforcement agencies, regulatory agencies, and other public and government authorities, including where they are outside your country of residence
• in order to exercise our rights, and to defend ourselves from claims and to comply with laws and regulations that apply to us or third parties with whom we work
• in order to participate in, or be the subject of, any sale, merger, acquisition, restructure, joint venture, assignment, transfer or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings)

Where we rely on legitimate interests as a lawful ground for processing your personal information, we balance those interests against your interests, fundamental rights and freedoms. For more information on how this balancing exercise has been carried out, please contact our Privacy Team.

 

Marketing

We deliver marketing and event communications to you across various platforms such as email, telephone, text messaging, direct mail and online. Where required by law, we will ask you to explicitly opt in to receive marketing from us. If we send you a marketing communication it will include instructions on how to opt out of receiving these communications in the future.

Honoring your marketing preferences is important to us. You have the right to opt out of receiving direct marketing and targeted online advertising. How to Opt Out of Email Marketing Where we send marketing emails, we provide unsubscribe options for your use within our emails. To update your email marketing preferences, please visit the applicable email preference center, a link to which will normally be included in emails you receive from us. In addition, you can also use the “Contact Us” feature of a particular Service, discuss with your VRC contact or contact our Privacy Team. Even if you opt out of receiving marketing communications by email, we may still send you service communications or important transactional information related to your accounts and subscriptions (for purposes such as providing customer support). From time to time, we also use the information you provide about yourself or others to inform you of additions or improvements to the VRC services as well as conduct member surveys in order to improve our services. These communications will only be sent to the administrative account. We may also use personally identifiable End-User information to provide targeted content and commerce opportunities to End-Users based on their demographic and behavioral information. Finally, we never use or share the personally identifiable information provided to us online in ways or for reasons unrelated to the ones described above without also providing an opportunity to opt-out or otherwise prohibit such unrelated uses.

 

Our Commitment to Data Security

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the appropriate use of information, we have put in place appropriate physical, electronic, and managerial procedures reasonably designed to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

We have in place a Information Security Team (IST) and Risk Management team, led by our Chief Information Officer, which is responsible for implementing secure data handling practices at VRC.

Our information security policies and procedures are closely aligned with widely accepted security standards and are reviewed regularly and updated as necessary to meet the sensitivity of the personal information we handle, our business needs, changes in technology and regulatory requirements. We have implemented appropriate information security controls.

 

How long we keep personal information

We retain your information in accordance with our enterprise records retention schedule. You can find more information on the criteria used to calculate the retention periods set out below.

VRC has a Records and Information Governance team that works in conjunction with our Privacy Team to implement policies and rules relating to the retention of personal information. We have an enterprise records retention schedule that is based upon a classification scheme consisting of business functions, record classes, and record types. We calculate retention periods for your personal information in accordance with the following criteria:

• the length of time necessary to fulfill the purposes we collected it for
• when you or your employer (or other subscriber providing for your access to our Services) cease to use our Services
• the length of time it is reasonable to keep records to demonstrate that we have fulfilled our duties and obligations
• any limitation periods within which claims might be made
• any retention periods prescribed by law or recommended by regulators, professional bodies or associations
• the existence of any relevant proceedings

 

Your rights

You may have rights under certain laws to have access to your personal information and to ask us to rectify, erase and restrict use of, your personal information. You may also have rights to object to your personal information being used, to ask for the transfer of personal information you have made available to us and to withdraw consent to the use of your personal information. Further information on how to exercise your rights is set out below.

We will honor your rights under applicable data protection laws. You have the following rights under European laws, and may have similar rights under the laws of other countries.

• Right of subject access: The right to make a written request for details of your personal information and a copy of that personal information
• Right to rectification: The right to have inaccurate information about you corrected or removed
• Right to erasure (‘right to be forgotten’): The right to have certain personal information about you erased
• Right to restriction of processing: The right to request that your personal information is only used for restricted purposes
• Right to opt out of marketing: You can manage your marketing preferences by unsubscribe links found in the communications you receive from us or by visiting the applicable preference center
• Right to object: The right to object to processing of your personal information in cases where our processing is based on the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or we have let you know the processing is necessary for our or a third party’s legitimate interests
• Right to data portability: The right to ask for the personal information you have made available to us to be transferred to you or a third party in machine-readable format
• Right to withdraw consent: The right to withdraw any consent you have previously given us to handle your personal information. If you withdraw your consent, this will not affect the lawfulness of our use of your personal information prior to the withdrawal of your consent

These rights are not absolute and they do not always apply in all cases.

In response to a request, we will ask you to verify your identity if we need to, and to provide information that helps us to understand your request better. If we do not comply with your request, whether in whole or in part, we will explain why.

In order to exercise your rights please send an email to privacy@vrcinvestigations.com

 

Cookies and Website Analytics

We may also partner with selected third-party vendors such as Google Analytics, HubSpot and others, to allow tracking technologies and remarketing services on the website through the use of first party cookies and third-party cookies, to, among other things, analyze and track users’ use of the website, determine the popularity of certain content and better understand online activity. By accessing the website, you consent to the collection and use of your information by these third-party vendors. You are encouraged to review their privacy policy and contact them directly for responses to your questions. We do not transfer personal information to these third-party vendors. However, if you do not want any information to be collected and used by tracking technologies, you can visit the third-party vendor or the Network Advertising Initiative Opt-Out Tool or Digital Advertising Alliance Opt-Out Tool.

 

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that is placed on a computer or other device and is used to identify the user or device and to collect information. Cookies are typically assigned to one of four categories, depending on their function and intended purpose: absolutely necessary cookies, performance cookies, functional cookies, and cookies for marketing purposes.

 

Types of cookies and why we use them

Absolutely necessary cookies: These cookies are essential to enable you to move around a website and use its features. Without these cookies, Services you have asked for, like adding services to an online referral, cannot be provided.

Performance cookies: These cookies collect information about how you use our websites. Information collected includes, for example, the Internet browsers and operating systems used, the domain name of the website previously visited, the number of visits, average duration of visit, and pages viewed. These cookies only collect information in an aggregated format. Performance cookies are used to improve the user-friendliness of a website and enhance your experience.

Functionality cookies: These cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your username or ID, language preference, or the area or region you are in) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts, and other customizable parts of web pages. They may also be used to provide Services you have asked for, such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. These cookies cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.

Targeting and advertising cookies: These cookies track browsing habits and are used to deliver targeted (interest-based) advertising. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an ad and to measure the effectiveness of advertising campaigns. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organizations, such as advertisers.

 

Managing cookies

You can manage website cookies in your browser settings, and you always have the choice to change these settings by accepting, rejecting, or deleting cookies. If you choose to change your settings, you may find that certain functions and features will not work as intended on the Services. All browser settings are slightly different, so to manage cookies, you should refer to the relevant settings within your browser.

Web beacons: Our web pages may contain electronic images known as web beacons (also called single-pixel gifs and transparent graphic images) that we use to help deliver cookies on our sites, count users who have visited those sites, deliver Services, and analyze the effectiveness of our promotional campaigns, for example. We may also include web beacons in our marketing email messages or newsletters to determine whether an email is opened or if links are clicked. Web beacons are also used to deliver you interest-based advertising.

Web server & application logs: Our servers automatically collect certain information to help us administer and protect the Services, analyze usage, and improve users’ experience. The information collected includes:

• IP address and browser type
• Device information including Unique Device Identifier (UDID), MAC address, Identifier For Advertisers (IFA), and similar identifiers we or others may assign
• Device operating system and other technical facts
• The city, state, and country from which you access our website
• Pages visited and content viewed, stored, and purchased
• Information or text entered
• Links and buttons clicked
• URLs visited before and after you use our Services

“Do Not Track” Signals

Some browsers transmit Do Not Track (DNT) signals to websites. Due to the lack of a common interpretation of DNT signals throughout the industry, we do not currently alter, change, or respond to DNT requests or signals from these browsers. We continue to monitor industry activity in this area and reassess our DNT practices as necessary.

 

How You Can Access or Update Your Information

Clients can access their personally identifiable information that VRC collects online and maintains by logging in to their password-protected (SSL encrypted) Case Tracking account here and selecting “Edit My Profile.”

Clients can also correct factual errors in their personally identifiable information by sending us a written request that credibly documents and explains the error.

If you have submitted information on our site but do not currently have an account with us, you can access and correct the information that we collect and maintain by contacting us and requesting such information or correction.

To protect your privacy and security, we will take reasonable steps to verify your identity before granting access or making corrections to your information.

 

How to Contact Us

Should you have other questions or concerns about this privacy policy, please contact us

 

Email, and Search Specific Terms and Conditions

VRC considers email transmitted via our service to be private correspondence between the sender and recipient. Therefore, we will not monitor, edit or disclose the contents of your private communications, except for reasons provided for in the Terms Of Use Agreement.

Effective Date of This Policy: January 1st, 2012

Policy updated: May 20th, 2018