Privacy Policy

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

This Privacy Policy explains what type of personal data or other personally identifiable information Apelo 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 Apelo’s Website. Apelo values its panel members’ trust, therefore this Privacy Policy is presented in clear, plain language instead of using only legal terminology.

Apelo’s panel members’ use of the Services is completely voluntary and therefore Apelo 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 Such a voluntary consent can be withdrawn as easily as it was given to Apelo.

Apelo 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 Indian Data Protection legislation, any relevant local laws to all its countries of operation and any International Treaties. Moreover, Apelo 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 ESOMARto which Apelo is a member. All references in this Privacy Policy to “Apelo Online Panel” or “Apelo” include Apelo 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 Apelo collects and how it collects it
2. How Apelo 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. Facebook Connect.
10. Social media widgets
11. Apelo on the road
12. Amendments to the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy
13. Applicable Law and Jurisdiction

1. What information Apelo collects and how it collects it
Apelo Online Panel offers its registered panel members the opportunity to take part in various social, opinion and market research surveys which help Apelo’s clients obtain better consumer marketing insights and eventually make appropriate business decisions. Furthermore, Apelo 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 Apelo’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, Apelo will ask its panel members about their explicit and separate consent.

More specifically, Apelo 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 Apelo’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 Apelo either by e-mail or by using the available contact form. Furthermore, Apelo 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 Apelo operates or the other services Apelo provides. The completion of profile questionnaires is on voluntary basis but Apelo 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 Apelo or Apelo’s third-party partners/clients then Apelo 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 Apelo 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, Apelo might use 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). In this way, Apelo 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, Apelo or third-party partners or clients which carry out surveys through the Apelo 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 Apelo 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 Apelo’s partners or clients directly through the Apelo System, and the tracking through the use of cookies or other similar technologies is owned solely by Apelo Online Panel and is stored on secure servers, which servers are licensed and/or owned, by Apelo.

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 Apelo uses the information

In addition to any other purposes described in this Privacy Policy, Apelo might use information collected from the panel members through the website 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 invite them to a profiling questionnaire in order to gather more information on them as a panel members for purposes of better survey targeting;
(4) to manage Apelo’s reward and incentive program and fulfil panel member’s requests for rewards and incentives i.e. bank details for billing purposes;
(5) to respond to user support issues and to deal with any complaints queries or technical problems that panel members might experience;
(6) to update and ensure Apelo’s records of the panel members’ information is accurate and correct;
(7) for internal purposes such as quality control, website performance and efficiency, system administration;
(8) to ask for panel members’ consent in the event that Apelo 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);
(9) in addition to survey responses that are being collected by Apelo’s clients Apelo 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.
(10) Upon prior explicit consent Apelo may use the panel members’ e-mail address in order to send newsletter, promotional actions or general communications about the Apelo panel community, new services Apelo might be offering in relation to its panel members registration or new tools available to them. 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 Apelo’s Terms and Conditions and Policies, as they are not promotional in nature.
(11) for fraud detection, identity or contact details confirmation and verification and/or prevention purposes;

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

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

3. Sharing and disclosure of any personal information

As a general principle, Apelo 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) Apelo takes outmost care that the client will never contact the panel members directly for marketing or advertising purposes or through advertising e-mail (SPAM).

Apelo 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 Apelo 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). Apelo 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, Apelo 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 Apelo and Apelo will invite them to participate in the survey through an invitation e-mail. Apelo will not share the panel members’ name with the Third Party Market Research Company. If a panel member unsubscribes from the Panel it is Apelo’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 Apelo 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 Apelo in connection with services that these individuals or entities perform for, or with Apelo in order to help Apelo process the data that its panel members provide voluntarily or is collected from them for example when Apelo passes on their name and address to the vendor of an incentive so that they may deliver it to them or when Apelo systems require technical upgrades or servicing. From time to time, Apelo 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 Apelo’s business). Apelo 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 Apelo’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 Apelo 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 Apelo website 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.

4. Data Retention

Apelo 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 Apelo’s research and analysis purposes, Apelo’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 Apelo to use their information they may terminate their participation in the Panel by deleting their account through the Panel website. In case of termination of a membership account Apelo will no longer retain or use any personal information for any purposes other than the ones described in the previous paragraph Apelo will continue to employ the security procedures and technologies to keep any Personal Information safe. Apelo 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 Apelo is legally obligated to retain them for longer time periods.

5. Links to other websites

This website might contain links to other websites. Apelo 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.

6. Children’s privacy

Apelo 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, Apelo takes the issue of data security very seriously. Apelo 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, Apelo’s employees are subject to the duty of confidentiality. Whenever Apelo collects or transmits to other websites, personal information, it is protected through encryption, such as the such as the Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocol. Apelo 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. Apelo 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 Apelo cannot guarantee or be held responsible regarding the security of it. Apelo’s users assume this risk by using Apelo’s services.

8. Panel members’ rights

If Apelo panel members would like to exercise their rights to access, correct, modify or request deletion of their personal information associated with their Apelo membership account, they can do so at any time by logging into their account profile page or by contacting Apelo via e-mail. Apelo 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, Apelo’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. Apelo 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 Apelo’s business. In case of doubt, upon responding to a panel member’s request to exercise his/her rights Apelo might ask for additional information in order to confirm his/her identity. This is to protect panel members’ rights and privacy.

Furthermore, Apelo’s panel members have the right to easily withdraw their consent to Apelo processing of their information. They can do this at any time by deactivating their account through their profile page settings. Apelo 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, Apelo will terminate the processing of his/her personal info and he/she may no longer have access to Apelo’s Services and the same effects as in the termination of his/her account will occur. Panel members must note that, in certain cases, Apelo might continue to process personal information after a panel member has withdrawn consent and requested that Apelo deletes his/her information, if Apelo has a legal basis to do so

9. Facebook Connect

Users can log in to the Apelo Website 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 Apelo such as their name and e-mail address in order to automatically complete Apelo’s registration form or later on when they are registered panel members, Apelo 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 Apelo Website to their profile page to share with others within their network always upon their prior permission.

10. Social media widgets

Apelo website includes social media features, such as the Facebook Like buttonand widgets such as the Share button. These features may collect the IP address, information about which page has been visited on the Apelo 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. Apelo users’ interactions with these features are governed by the Privacy Policy of the company providing it.

11. Amendments to the Privacy Policy and the Cookie Policy

Apelo 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, Apelo encourages its panel members to refer to this Privacy Policy on an ongoing basis. If Apelo makes material changes to this Policy, the panel members will be notified here, or by e-mail, or by means of a notice on Apelo homepage. This Privacy Policy is current as of the "last revised” date which appears at the top of this page.

12. 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 Indian Law. 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 Indiaclaim on matter arising under or in connection with this Privacy Policy and Cookies Usage.

Protecting Apelo’s panel members’ privacy is very important to talk, therefore if panel members have any complaints or concerns relating to Apelo’s Privacy Policy or if they want to communicate an opt-out request to Apelo 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 Apelo any time.