BERA.ai Privacy Policy for Survey Respondents

Last modified:   June 2024

Introduction

BERA.ai LLC (“Company,” “Us,” or “We”) respects your privacy and is committed to protecting it through our compliance with this policy.  In addition to the information about our practices and policies below regarding your Personal Information (as that term is defined in the next paragraph), you may have certain additional or specific rights under certain state laws in effect.  California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado and Utah Residents, click here for more information about your rights under your state’s laws.

This policy describes the types of information we or a party under contract with us, such as a company taking a survey to which you respond, may collect from you in the course of you providing responses to a BERA Syndicated Survey conducted by those survey conductors .located in the United States on our behalf (a “BERA Syndicated Survey” or a “Survey”)

It does not apply to information collected by:

• Us offline or through any other means, including on any other website operated by Company or any third party; or 
• Any other third party, including through any application or third party that may link to or be accessible from or on our Websites.
• Information we collect as a result of an individual or entity visiting our Website.  For our policy regarding collection of information as a result of or during visits to our Website, please see our Privacy Policy for Website Visitors.

Please read this policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, your choice is to decline to participate in a BERA Syndicated Survey. By participating and providing responses to a BERA Syndicated Survey, you agree to this Privacy Policy. This policy may change from time to time (see Changes to Our Privacy Policy). Your continued participation in BERA Syndicated Surveys after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Policy periodically for updates. 

Children Under the Age of 13

Our BERA Syndicated Surveys are not intended for children under 13 years of age, and all survey takers are advised that they must be over the age of 13, or in some cases must be adults, in order to participate in surveys.. No one under age 13 or the age in a survey, as the case may be, may participate in a BERA Syndicated Survey or provide any Personal Information to the survey or the Company. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under 13. If we learn we have received Personal Information from a child under 13 or whatever age is established for a given survey without verification of parental consent or adult status, as the case may be, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13 or from someone who does not meet the minimum age requirements for survey takers of a specific BERA Syndicated Survey, please contact us at privacy@bera.ai.

Information We Receive From Third Parties Who Conduct BERA Syndicated Surveys Of United States Consumers On Our Behalf And How We Collect Receive and Store It

We normally receive survey responses as the result of BERA Syndicated Surveys that have been “de-identified”, meaning any Personal Information collected as a result or or in conjunction with a Survey has been removed from the database the survey taker would provide to BERA.  The Surveys are optional and consumers can choose not to participate in the Surveys. Consumers are compensated for participating in the Surveys, are provided with the Privacy Policy of the business providing the survey and collecting the Personal Information, and informed that the responses that they provide to the Surveys are subject to the terms of the Privacy Policy of those businesses.  BERA, in turn, requires via contractual obligations agreed to by those businesses that those businesses must maintain and enforce their Privacy Policy as required by all applicable laws, and deliver all Survey results to BERA in de-identified form.  These contractual obligations include requiring Survey takers to provide any certification of compliance required by applicable laws from the business, and to allow BERA to audit and monitor the business’s compliance with applicable laws and the contract between BERA and the Survey taker.

The Surveys may ask for different types of Personal Information. Whether you provide that type of Personal Information is entirely optional.  In turn, the information provided by these businesses to BERA may contain certain potential Personal Information such as the following categories of demographic information:  age, gender, income bracket, education level and ethnicity, race, and other consumer information, including self-reported data on products or services purchased or planned to be purchased or opinions about such products and services.  However, to the extent that BERA would receive any Personal Information from these businesses about the consumers taking the survey, BERA requires Survey takes to provide all Surveys in a form such that they “de-identify” this information so that BERA cannot trace any information back to specific individuals.  Personal Information does not include aggregated and/or anonymous or anonymized data or information.  We do not have the ability to pair demographic information with Personal Information such as contact information.  Thus, BERA does not receive Personal Information from the Surveys.

Any individual who wishes to obtain access to his or her Personal Information should contact the consumer panel that directed them to the Surveys.  Since BERA does not have access to Personal Information that has not been de-identified, BERA cannot itself respond to consumer requests for access to their Personal Information obtained via surveys or requests to delete any Personal Information specific to a consumer.  All such requests must be made to the business which actually took the survey with that consumer.  

How We Use Information We Receive From Third Parties as the Result of BERA Syndicated Surveys Conducted in the United States

Information we receive and collect from third parties which  conduct BERA Syndicated Surveys on our behalf for which consumers have been compensated belongs to the Company.   

  The Company will be free to use, sell and disclose these data, and may offer or sell information, analyses, and services that are derived from these data.  We use aggregated data to provide the information, analyses, and services to our clients that do not contain any Personal Information of a Survey participant.  We will not use data and information we receive and collect for any other purposes than those specified in this Privacy Policy.

The Company provides these data to its customers for the express purpose of the following: 

• analyzing and improving a client’s brand equity through the Company’s websites and applications
• providing other marketing and consultation services to Company clients
• preparing reports and analyses for clients based upon the analyses and services provided, as stated above.
• producing look-alike audiences to aid in advertising / marketing using a third party 
• using a third party data provider to augment BERA’s survey information with additional non-survey information in order to build marketing audiences which does not result in any disclosure of PII

Your information provided via a BERA Syndicated Survey, including information that is de-identified, will never be used to market or advertise directly to you.  BERA’s clients are prohibited from using any such information for direct marketing or advertising to you per the terms of the contracts between BERA and its clients.

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

We strive to provide you with choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us. We have created mechanisms to provide you with the following control over your information: 

• You may stop or restrict the placement of session cookies, Google’s cookies and third party cookies on your computer by adjusting your web browser preferences.  If you do so, you may still use our websites, but this may interfere with some of its functionality or your ability to complete a survey.
• You may also clear cookies from your computer via your web browser settings.
• You may also wish to use Google Ads Preferences Manager and a Google Analytics opt-out browser add on: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2700409?hl=en

Opt Out Of Disclosure Of Survey Data For Anonymization And Aggregation Of Survey Responses

As noted above, the Surveys are optional and consumers can choose not to participate in the Surveys.  Consumers are compensated for participating in the Surveys, are provided with this Privacy Policy, and informed that the responses that they provide to the surveys are subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.  In order to opt out of the disclosure of Survey response data provided to unaffiliated third parties conducting Surveys on our behalf or opt out of the anonymization and aggregation, you must decline to provide that information in the first place.  Once that data is provided to the unaffiliated third parties, there is no other way to opt out.  Opting out of any Survey response data provided to unaffiliated third parties conducting Surveys on our behalf will prevent you from receiving any promised compensation for completing the Survey and agreeing to provide the responses to BERA.ai LLC subject to the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Accessing, Correcting, Or Deleting Your Personal Information

You have the right to access your Personal Information. If you would like to access and review Personal Information that you provided to us or to third parties in response to surveys conducted by third parties on our behalf, you can contact the third party that conducted the survey or contact us directly at privacy@bera.ai and we will relay your request to the applicable third party..

We will cooperate with the third party who conducted the surveys and will respond to such requests within 30 days.   You cannot delete Survey response data after a Survey has been completed and you have been promised compensation.  After Survey response data has been received by Company, we can no longer access or delete any Personal Information provided in survey responses. We also may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement.  

NOTE THAT CITIZENS OF CERTAIN STATES HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS AND CHOICES SPECIFIC TO THEIR STATE LAWS.  California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado and Utah Residents, click here for more information about your rights under your state’s laws.

Please see our Additional Privacy Notice for California residents below for more information applicable to California residents.

Notice Concerning Do Not Track

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers.  We are committed to providing you with meaningful choices about the information collected on our Websites for third party purposes, and that is why we provide the opt-out mechanisms described above.  However, we do not currently recognize or respond to browser-initiated DNT signals.

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information and the consumer Survey information we receive from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration, and disclosure.  All information you provide to us is stored on secured servers behind firewalls. 

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Where we have given you (or where you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Websites, you are responsible for keeping this password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we do our best to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to our Websites. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Websites.

GDPR Notice

In compliance with the European Union (“EU”) General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), we may rely upon one or more legal bases defined in the GDPR to collect, use, share and otherwise process the Personal Information of individuals located in the EU, including where:

• Necessary to perform a contract we have with you, such as our terms of engagement, and to provide the services;
• You have consented to the processing (in which case you may revoke your consent at any time);
• Necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims;
• Necessary to protect your vital interests or those of others;
• Necessary in the public interest; and
• Necessary for the purposes of Company’s or a third party’s legitimate interests, provided that those interests are not overridden by your interests or fundamental rights and freedoms.

Where we collect, use, disclose and otherwise process your information based on legitimate interests, we may rely on the following interests:

• Marketing our products: We use your information as necessary to pursue our legitimate interests in marketing our products to you. For example, where permitted by digital marketing law, we may contact you by email to let you know of products you might be interested in.
• Providing, improving and developing our products: We use your information as necessary to pursue our legitimate interests in tailoring and improving our products. For example, we may send you a survey or questionnaire to understand your experience in purchasing from us.

If you are located in the EU, under certain circumstances, you may have certain legal rights under the GDPR, including:

• To access the Personal Information we maintain about you;
• To receive information about how we process your Personal Information;
• To correct your Personal Information;
• To have your Personal Information erased;
• To object to or restrict how we process your Personal Information;
• To request your Personal Information be transferred to a third party; and
• To withdraw any consent you may have given us to process your Personal Information.

If you are an EU resident, you have the right to object to our processing that is based on legitimate interests by contacting us at the address or number below. If you are located in the EU and you believe that we have infringed your rights under the GDPR, please contact us by sending an email to privacy@bera.ai.

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority, in particular in your applicable Member State.

Additional Privacy Notice for California Residents

This Additional Privacy Notice for California Residents applies solely to all clients, visitors, users, and others who reside in the State of California (“consumers” or “you”). We adopt this notice to comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”) and any terms defined in the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this notice. 

The CCPA grants rights to California consumers as follows:

• The right to know what Personal Information is collected, used, shared, or sold, both as to the categories and specific pieces of Personal Information; 
• The right to delete Personal Information held by businesses and by extension, a business’ service provider; 
• The right to opt-out of sale of personal information; and
• The right to non-discrimination in terms of price or service when a consumer exercises a privacy right under CCPA.

The data we collect through Surveys is not subject to CCPA because it is de-identified aggregate data. In other words, we do not hold the requisite information to link this data to a specific person.

Information We Collect

We do not collect Personal Information through our Surveys. 

Personal Information does not include:

• Publicly available information from government records.
• De-identified or aggregated consumer information.
• Information excluded from the CCPA’s scope, like:

• health or medical information covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the California Confidentiality of Medical Information Act (CMIA) or clinical trial data;

• personal information covered by certain sector-specific privacy laws, including the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FRCA), the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) or California Financial Information Privacy Act (FIPA), and the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act of 1994.

Use of Personal Information

We may use or disclose the Personal Information we collect for one or more of the following purposes: 

• To provide our services and our Websites to you if you are a client or fulfill any purpose for which you provide it.
• To carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection.
• To notify you about changes to our Websites or services we offer if you are a client or in response to a request for information on the services we provide.
• In any other way we may describe when you provide the information.
• For any other purpose with your consent.

• To evaluate or conduct a merger, divestiture, restructuring, reorganization, dissolution, or other sale or transfer of some or all of our assets, whether as a going concern or as part of bankruptcy, liquidation, or similar proceeding, in which Personal Information held by us about our Websites’ users is among the assets transferred. 

We will not collect additional categories of Personal Information or use the Personal Information we collect for materially different, unrelated, or incompatible purposes without providing you notice.

We may also use your information to contact you about our own services that may be of interest to you. If you do not want us to use your information in this way, please email us at privacy@bera.ai.

Your Rights and Choices 

The CCPA provides consumers (California residents) with specific rights regarding their Personal Information. This section describes your CCPA rights and explains how to exercise those rights.

Access to Specific Information and Data Portability Rights

You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection and use of your Personal Information over the past 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will disclose to you:

• The categories of Personal Information we collected about you.
• The categories of sources for the Personal Information we collected about you.
• Our business or commercial purpose for collecting that Personal Information.
• The categories of third parties with whom we share that Personal Information.
• The specific pieces of Personal Information we collected about you (also called a data portability request).
• If we sold or disclosed your Personal Information for a business purpose, two separate lists disclosing:

• sales, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and 

• disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient obtained. 

Deletion Request Rights 

You have the right to request that we delete any of your Personal Information that we collected from you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request (see Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights), we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your Personal Information from our records, unless an exception applies. 

We may deny your deletion request if retaining the information is necessary for us or our service provider(s) to: 

• Complete the transaction for which we collected the Personal Information, provide a good or service that you requested, take actions reasonably anticipated within the context of our ongoing business relationship with you, or otherwise perform our contract with you.
• Detect security incidents, protect against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, or prosecute those responsible for such activities.
• Debug products to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality.
• Exercise free speech, ensure the right of another consumer to exercise their free speech rights, or exercise another right provided for by law.
• Comply with the California Electronic Communications Privacy Act (Cal. Penal Code § 1546 et. seq.).
• Engage in public or peer-reviewed scientific, historical, or statistical research in the public interest that adheres to all other applicable ethics and privacy laws, when the information’s deletion may likely render impossible or seriously impair the research’s achievement, if you previously provided informed consent.
• Enable solely internal uses that are reasonably aligned with consumer expectations based on your relationship with us.
• Comply with a legal obligation.
• Make other internal and lawful uses of that information that are compatible with the context in which you provided it.

Exercising Access, Data Portability, and Deletion Rights

To exercise the access, data portability, and deletion rights described above, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us by: 

• Emailing us at privacy@bera.ai; or
• Sending a letter to BERA.ai LLC at 225 W Wacker Dr, Suite 1900, Chicago, IL 60606.

Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a verifiable consumer request related to your Personal Information. You may also make a verifiable consumer request on behalf of your minor child. 

You may only make a verifiable consumer request for access or data portability twice within a 12-month period. The verifiable consumer request must:

• Provide sufficient information that allows us to reasonably verify you are the person about whom we collected Personal Information or an authorized representative.
• Describe your request with sufficient detail that allows us to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to it.

We cannot respond to your request or provide you with Personal Information if we cannot verify your identity or authority to make the request and confirm the Personal Information relates to you. 

Making a verifiable consumer request does not require you to create an account with us. 

We will only use Personal Information provided in a verifiable consumer request to verify the requestor’s identity or authority to make the request.

Response Timing and Format

We endeavor to respond to a verifiable consumer request within thirty (30) days of its receipt. If we require more time (up to 90 days), we will inform you of the reason and extension period in writing.

We will deliver our written response by mail or electronically, at your option. 

Any disclosures we provide will only cover the 12-month period preceding the verifiable consumer request’s receipt. The response we provide will also explain the reasons we cannot comply with a request, if applicable. For data portability requests, we will select a format to provide your Personal Information that is readily useable and should allow you to transmit the information from one entity to another entity without hindrance.

We do not charge a fee to process or respond to your verifiable consumer request unless it is excessive, repetitive, or manifestly unfounded. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request. 

Non-Discrimination

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights. Unless permitted by the CCPA, we will not:

• Deny you goods or services.
• Charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, including through granting discounts or other benefits, or imposing penalties.
• Provide you a different level or quality of goods or services.
• Suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services.

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

It is our policy to accompany any changes we make to our Privacy Policy on this page with a notice that the Privacy Policy has been updated on the home pages of the Websites. If we make material changes to how we treat Personal Information, we will notify you through a notice on the Survey consent  page. The date the Privacy Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. 

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this privacy policy and our privacy practices, contact us at: privacy@bera.ai.

FOR CALIFORNIA, VIRGINIA, CONNECTICUT, COLORADO AND UTAH RESIDENTS:

Your Rights

Residents of certain states, notably California, Virginia, Connecticut, Colorado, and Utah, have certain rights found under those states’ laws.  Many of those rights are parallel to the rights already described above, but BERA wishes to reiterate those laws specifically for these states.  You can contact BERA to exercise the rights described below with respect to certain personal information that BERA might hold. To the extent those rights apply to you, they are described below. BERA also handles certain personal information it might receive from BERA contractors.  For the most part, this information has been “de-identified”, as stated above, but to the extent it remains personal information as defined by applicable laws, the information in this Privacy Policy pertains to that information as well.

Right to Know About Personal Information Collected, Disclosed, or Sold

You have the right to request that we provide you with details about the personal information we collect, use, disclose and sell. You can submit a verifiable consumer request by emailing BERA at privacy@bera.ai., or you can also submit your request via our toll-free number (866) 775-2372.  BERA reserves the right to verify your identity to our satisfaction.

You are entitled to receive the following:

• The categories of your personal information that BERA has collected in the preceding 12 months
• The categories of sources from which that information was collected
• The business/commercial purpose for the collection or selling
• The categories of third parties with whom BERA shares personal information
• The specific pieces of personal information BERA has collected about you (subject to some exceptions)

BERA does not sell or disclose (as those words are defined in the Applicable Law) personal information to third parties.  Any personal information used by BERA in reports to BERA customers is de-identified before those customers receive it.  In fact, those customer reports are an amalgamation of all responses received from individuals to surveys by BERA or its contractors, and thus customers do not receive any information about individuals or their personal information.    

Right to Request Deletion of Personal Information

Because BERA does not retain personal information, BERA is not able to delete personal information, for the simple reason that BERA would have no way of connecting any data in its possession to an individual requesting deletion.  However, if an individual believes that a third party contracted by BERA to undertake surveys has failed to respond adequately to that individual’s request to delete personal information, please submit your request as described above, and we reserve the right to conduct the verification described above.

Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a Consumer’s Privacy Rights

You have the right not to receive unlawful discriminatory treatment by BERA for the exercise of your privacy rights under the Applicable Law.

Right to Opt-Out of Sale of Personal Information or to Limit the Use and Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information

To the extent that BERA might have your personal information either as a result of its activities or those of its contractors, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information or to limit the use and disclosure of sensitive personal information by or to BERA. You can submit a verifiable consumer as described above.  Again, BERA does not retain personal information and in fact de-identifies any personal information it has, so be aware that BERA might respond that it is not selling your personal information or disclosing it.

List of Categories of Personal Information to be Collected and May Have Been Sold or Disclosed

Categories of Personal Information Collected

BERA collects personal information from research participants during and after registration with a panel, including, without limitation, during participation in a survey and in connection with the receipt and redemption of rewards and incentives and/or during the Application/Services registration and download process.

The categories of personal information we may collect include:

• Behavioral information related to brand perceptions and purchasing habits
• Professional or employment-related information, including occupation
• Education information
• Characteristics of potentially protected classifications under California, federal or international law (e.g., health and medical conditions, sexual orientation or sexual life, political opinions/views, race/ethnic origin, gender, religious and philosophical beliefs and trade-union membership)
• Demographic information
• “Sensitive personal information” as defined by Applicable Law

All of the information above was collected for the purposes described here. In Applicable Law terms, these purposes, which are described further in that section of our Privacy Policy, include but are not limited to the following examples:

• Auditing related to a current interaction with you and concurrent transactions, including, but not limited to, counting ad impressions to unique visitors, verifying positioning and quality of ad impressions, and auditing compliance with the Applicable Law and other standards;
• Detecting security incidents, protecting against malicious, deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity, and prosecuting those responsible for that activity;
• Debugging to identify and repair errors that impair existing intended functionality;
• Short-term, transient uses;
• Performing or using services, including maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders and transactions, verifying customer information, processing payments, providing financing, providing or using advertising or marketing services, providing or using analytic services, or providing or using similar services;
• Undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration;
• Undertaking activities to verify or maintain the quality or safety of services and devices, and to improve, upgrade, or enhance services and devices; and
• Facilitating the operational purposes of BERA or our service providers.

Categories of Personal Information that May Have Been Sold

BERA sold all of the above categories of personal information in the last 12 months.

Categories of Personal Information that Were Disclosed

BERA disclosed all of the above categories of personal information in the last 12 months.

Categories of Third Parties with whom Personal Information may have been Shared

BERA shares information, which is deidentified or not considered Personal Information under law, with third party unaffiliated businesses to provide additional functionalities to its customers.  The following categories of third parties are engaged for these services:

Audience Activation Providers

Who can I contact with questions about this Policy?

If you wish to:

– receive a copy of the information we hold about you;

– communicate an opt-out request to BERA;

– request access to, or the correction, blocking or deletion of, your personal data;

– make a complaint about our privacy practice;

– appeal an action we take with regard to a consumer request

– opt out of certain uses of your PII;

or have any questions regarding BERA’s privacy practices and/or this Policy, please contact us via email at privacy@BERA.ai

BERA’s IT Department is responsible for BERA’s compliance with this Policy.

Are there any companies within the BERA Group that may collect, store and process PII?

No.  BERA does not have any affiliates or subsidiaries.