Brainyak, Inc. DBA GutCheck Privacy Policy

Last Updated: July 11, 2022

This Privacy Policy describes the ways in which BRAINYAK, Inc., doing business as GutCheck, (“GutCheck,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) may collect information about you through your use of www.gutcheckit.com or any other website, app or portal that links to this Privacy Policy (collectively the “Site”) and how we may use, disclose and share your personal information, including in connection with your participation as a survey, In-Home-Usage-Test (“IHUT”) or other research respondent for market research hosted and conducted by us (“Respondent”).

The Site and other services provided by GutCheck may be referred to herein collectively as the “Services.”

This Privacy Policy forms a part of and is incorporated into the GutCheck Acceptable Use Policy, available at https://gutcheck.wpengine.com/acceptable-use-policy/.

Please read this Privacy Policy carefully. This Privacy Policy constitutes a binding agreement between you and GutCheck. By using the Site, participating in research, or otherwise using or voluntarily interacting with the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy in its entirety and consent to the collection, use, sharing, storage, and other processing of your personal information as set forth below.

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy in the future and encourage you to visit and review this Privacy Policy frequently. Your use of the Site, participation in research, or other use of the Services after we have posted an updated Privacy Policy constitutes your acceptance of such changes.

This Privacy Policy provides information about the following topics, which can be accessed directly by clicking on one of the links below:

Information Collection

GutCheck values your privacy, and uses its best efforts to conforms its privacy and security practices to applicable laws, codes, and regulations, including, without limitation, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), the UK General Data Protection Regulation (“UK-GDPR”) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”).

As used in this Privacy Policy, “personal data” and “personal information” mean information that identifies, relates to, describes, is capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked with a particular data subject, consumer, or household.

Personal information includes information such as real names, postal addresses, email addresses, and social security numbers. Under CCPA’s broad definition, “personal information” may also include unique identifiers, internet or other network activity (such as browsing history, search history, etc.), geolocation data, and even inferences which may be drawn from any of the above to create a profile about an individual.

Information You Provide

We and our service providers collect certain personal information that you provide when you use our Site, including when you (a) register for an account; (b) participate in polls, surveys, and other research projects (see specific information about this below); (c) request a report; or (d) otherwise contact us with a question, comment, or request. We may also collect information that you have provided to third parties, including without limitation our market research panel providers and our clients, provided you have provided the third party with your consent to such sharing.

Categories of personal information that we may collect and have collected in the past 12 months include:

Names
Usernames and passwords
Email addresses
Physical addresses
Survey responses, which may include legally protected classifications such as gender and marital status as well as other personal information, including videos or photos that you may be requested to upload
Internet or other network or device activity, including browsing activity
IP addresses
Employment-related data (such as the name of your employer)
Social media information (e.g., information about your Tweets), but only where you have consented to such collection

Information Collected Through Survey Participation

In connection with your selection for and/or participation in any survey or other research project, we may collect certain contact information, such as an email address, in order to facilitate your participation (“Respondent Information”). This Respondent Information will be used for market research purposes and to contact you regarding survey participation but not for direct marketing purposes (however, if you have provided your information to us in other ways, such as through our Site, we may use your information to contact you as set forth elsewhere in this Privacy Policy).

You may also provide information in connection with your answers to survey or other research questions. In some circumstances, the information you provide may include more sensitive personal information (ethnicity, income, education, etc.). We collect such information solely for meeting our (and our client’s) market research goals. Collecting this information allows us and our clients to create a balanced audience reflective of a certain consumer population or segments. Such information is not collected for discriminatory purposes.

We may, with your express consent, use your social media handle to collect public-facing information about your social media profile (including the text of your social media posts), which will be matched with other information we have about you, used internally for research and design purposes, and used to communicate insights to our clients. This information will only be shared with our clients in aggregate, anonymized form, and will not be used to target you with advertisements.

Please note that your participation in research is entirely voluntary. You always have the right not to participate in research, and the right not to answer any question with which you do not feel comfortable.

If you are a Respondent, we may share your survey responses with our clients. In such cases, your survey responses are shared with our clients only on an anonymous basis unless:

our client has referred you to us on a non-anonymous basis, in which case your information may be shared, in connection with survey responses, with such client on a non-anonymous basis;
you provide a survey response that includes digital images or videos, in which case our clients may receive any personal information in such images and videos. You agree that if you are a Respondent that is providing images or videos, you will carefully review what is in such images or videos. You consent to us sharing any information in such images or videos with our clients and acknowledge that the client may also be a data controller with respect to any such personal information;
you respond to an open-ended question that does not specifically request personal information with personal information. You agree that you will carefully review your responses and exclude personal information unless such information is specifically requested;
our client needs personal information (for example, a shipping address) to provide you with materials and/or products that are the subject of a survey or to a fulfill a participation incentive; or
you otherwise expressly consent to sharing personal information with our clients.

Information Automatically Collected From You

As is true of most websites, we and our service providers gather certain information automatically from your computer or mobile device over time and across different websites when you use the Site, including through the use of logs. This information may include internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, website navigation and clickstream data.

In order to perform certain types of surveys and track website navigation, we may also insert pixels into the Site. When you access a web page with a pixel (a practically invisible image) the pixel notifies a GutCheck partner of your visit. The partner may then read cookies on your device that enable it to provide GutCheck with additional information.

Cookies

We and our service providers may also collect information using “cookies,” which are small text files a website can use to recognize repeat users, or similar technologies.

We may also partner with third-party tracking services, including Google Analytics and Amplitude, that use cookies to track information about visitors to our Site for aggregate reports to capture usage and volume statistics to help us improve our Site. We do not control these third-party cookies. This Privacy Policy covers use of our cookies and does not cover the use of cookies by any third party. Third parties may track users over time and across different unaffiliated websites following a visit to our Site.

For more information about cookies, our use of cookies and your cookie choices, please visit our Cookies Policy . Please note that the Site may not function properly without cookies. Enabling cookies ensures a smooth, efficient visit to the Site.

Information Collected From Others

We may collect information about you from third party data sources and combine it with the information we collect above. This could include, for example, information we obtain about you from a market research sample provider or a marketing database with whom you have a relationship or you have provided consent to share your information. We may also receive email addresses or other contact information from our clients in order to recruit you to participate in a survey and to fulfill incentives upon successful participation in a survey.

Information Use

We may process the information we collect for a number of purposes. If you are an individual located in the UK or the European Economic Area (“EEA”), we only do so with your consent, in order to fulfill contractual obligations, to comply with our legal obligations, or for our legitimate interests of being able to provide and improve the Site, such as exercising our legal rights or complying with applicable laws.

More specifically, we may use the information we collect to:

Provide you with Services: We use your personal information to provide Services that you or your organization have requested. We do this with your consent or, in the case that such Services are the subject of an agreement between you or your organization and us, to fulfill contractual responsibilities.
Conduct market research: If you are a Respondent, we use your personal information and your response to surveys to conduct market research, both for our own purposes and on behalf of business partners. We do this with your consent where we have obtained such consent and to fulfill contractual responsibilities between you and us.
Communicate with you: We may use your personal information when we communicate with you, including when you contact us with questions or request a demo. We do this with your consent or, in the case that such communications are made in connection with an agreement between you or your organization and us, to fulfill contractual responsibilities.
Advertise and market our Services: As further described in our Cookies Policy, we may use personal information collected via cookies to serve you targeted advertisements. We do this with your consent.
Understand more about your use of our Site and other Services: We may use your information to pursue our interest in understanding how you use our Site and other Services and to enable us to improve our Site and other Services. We do this with your consent or, if we have not obtained your consent, for our legitimate interest of being able to provide and improve the Site.
Exercise our rights: We may use your personal information to exercise our legal rights where it is necessary to do so, for example to detect, prevent, and respond to fraud, intellectual property infringement, violations of our Terms of Use, violations of law, or other misuse of the Site. We do this for our legitimate interest of being able to provide and improve the Site, with your consent where we have obtained such consent, and to comply with our legal obligations.
Comply with our obligations under applicable laws: We may use your personal information to comply with applicable legal requirements, for example by providing certain information to governmental and recognized law enforcement agencies where we are explicitly required by law to do so.

We may also use information on an anonymized basis and/or combine or aggregate any of the information we collect through the Site, offline, or elsewhere for any of these purposes.

Communications From Us

You may opt out of receiving future email marketing communications from us by unsubscribing here [email protected] or by following the unsubscribe directions in the email communication itself. Different types of communications that you may receive from us are described below.

We may send you service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so, for instance, if our Site is temporarily suspended for maintenance.

Customer Service

Based upon the information you provide us, we may send you a welcoming email to verify your username and password. We may also communicate with you in response to your inquiries, to provide the Services you request, and to manage your account.

Newsletters and Marketing

If you wish to subscribe to our newsletter(s) or to receive other materials, we will use your name and email address to send such materials to you. To opt out, you can follow the unsubscribe instructions included in each email sent to you or unsubscribe at the link above.

Survey or Sweepstakes

From time-to-time we may use your email address to reach out to you with the opportunity to participate in surveys or sweepstakes on our Site or in connection with your ongoing participation in a survey. If you participate, we will request certain information from you. Participation in these surveys or sweepstakes is completely voluntary and you therefore have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. The requested information typically includes contact information (such as name and email address), and demographic information (such as age, zip code and shopping preferences).

In addition to the sharing with clients described above in the section titled “Other Information Collected Through Survey Participation,” we may also share your personal information:

with third parties that provide services to us in connection with our business operations, including, but not limited to, third parties that provide marketing services, help us detect and prevent fraud, security or technical issues, or help us conduct surveys, fulfill incentives, and communicate with Respondents;
as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Site;
to take precautions against liability; protect GutCheck from fraudulent, abusive, or unlawful uses; investigate and defend ourselves against any third-party claims or allegations; or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of respondents, GutCheck personnel, or other persons; and
with service providers, advisors, and potential transactional partners or other third parties in connection with the consideration, negotiation, or completion of a corporate transaction in which we are acquired by or merged with another company or we sell, liquidate, or transfer all or a portion of our assets.

Please note that we have shared personal information as set forth above in (i), (ii), and (iii) in the last 12 months. Certain surveys include discussion groups. If you participate in a discussion group, you agree that you will not post personal information to such group. If you do, nonetheless, post personal information in a discussion group, other participants will have access to your personal information. Accordingly, if you post personal information in a discussion group, you expressly give GutCheck permission to share such personal information with other members of the discussion group.

Third Party Websites

This Site contains links to other sites that are not owned or controlled by us. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. You acknowledge and agree that we are not responsible for the collection and use of your information by such third parties that are not under our control. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of each website you visit. This Privacy Policy applies only to information collected by the Site.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as we have an existing or prospective relationship with you or your organization or, in the case of personal information obtained in a survey or other research project, for so long as we have a legitimate interest in keeping such information for future market research. When deciding how long to keep your personal information, we take into account our legal obligations, including requirements of regulators and governmental agencies that have authority over us, as well as our own legitimate business interests. We may also retain records to investigate or defend against potential legal claims.

Information Security

We maintain all necessary physical, electronic and procedural security measures to help safeguard your personal information, including without limitation using appropriate encryption and deidentification procedures and maintaining an ISO 27001 certification. Nevertheless, the Internet cannot be guaranteed to be 100% secure, and we cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you provide to us. If any information under our control is compromised, we will take reasonable steps to investigate the situation and, where appropriate, notify those individuals whose information may have been compromised, and also take other steps as necessary in accordance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Where is this Information Processed

Information collected through the Site will be processed in the United States or other countries that may not be your home country, including those that are not regarded as ensuring an adequate level of protection for personal information under European Union, UK or other national law or by the European Commission. In addition, we may transfer your information outside the United States to our affiliates, business partners, and service providers located in other countries. To the extent your personal information is transferred outside the United States, we put in place appropriate safeguards (such as contractual commitments) in accordance with applicable legal requirements to ensure that your data is adequately protected. For more information on the appropriate safeguards in place, please contact us at the details below.

Your Choices

If you need to correct or update your personal information or delete or deactivate a user account you may do so by contacting us at [email protected]. We will respond to any request within 30 days.

We do not currently respond to web browser “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that provide a method to opt out of the collection of information. If we do so in the future, we will describe how we do so in this Privacy Policy. Visit the following website, www.allaboutdnt.org, for more information on this developing area.

Additional information with respect to the rights and choices of European Union and UK Visitors is set forth below.

Information for European Union Visitors

If you are present in the EEA or the UK you have certain additional rights regarding your personal information under GDPR and the UK-GDPR. These include the right to:

access your personal information
rectify the data we hold about you
erase your personal information
restrict our use of your personal information
object to our use of your personal information
receive your personal information in a usable electronic format and transmit it to a third party (right to data portability)
lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority if you have any complaints about the manner in which your data is being processed
withdraw your consent for us to process your data.

If you would like to discuss or exercise these rights, please contact [email protected].

We encourage you to contact us to update or correct your data if it changes or if the personal information we hold about you is inaccurate. We will contact you if we need additional data from you in order to honor your requests.

Information for California Residents

If you are a California resident, you have certain special rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), in addition to the other rights outlined in this Privacy Policy.

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 also have the right to request deletion of personal information we’ve collected or maintain. Please note, however, that our deletion of your personal information may negatively affect our ability to provide you with Services.

To exercise these rights please contact us as provided in the “Contact Us” section below.

We may ask you to provide additional information, such as your name, 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.

Your Right to Opt out of the “Sale” of Your Information
We will never disclose personal information such as your name or address to third parties in exchange for monetary consideration without your consent.

However, under CCPA’s broad definition, “personal information” may also include, in addition to names, addresses, and the like, unique identifiers, IP addresses, biometric information, internet or other network, geolocation data, audio/visual data, and even inferences which may be drawn from any of the above.

CCPA also defines the term “sell” broadly. Its meaning includes “renting, releasing, disclosing, disseminating, making available, [and] transferring…for monetary or other valuable consideration.”

Under these broad definitions, certain information we provide to our clients as part of survey or other research results may arguably be deemed a “sale” of “personal information” under CCPA. You have the right to opt out of this “sale.”

Personal Information Collected, “Sold” or Disclosed for a Business Purpose

As described further above in the section titled “Information Collection,” in the last 12 months we’ve collected the following categories of information: respondent names, email addresses, usernames and passwords, IP addresses, unique identifiers, street addresses, respondent videos and images, and demographic data, such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental status, marital status, ZIP code, and income and education levels.

Please note that, as further described in the section above titled “Sharing Information,” in the last 12 months we have also disclosed, subject to confidentiality agreements, all of the foregoing categories of personal information with third-party service providers such as our analytics providers, privacy and data security providers, video survey software providers, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers.

Under the CCPA’s broad “sale” definition, we’ve also “sold” the following categories of personal information to our clients: Respondent names, email addresses, and mailing addresses (if already provided by you to the client, or as necessary for IHUT projects), IP address, unique identifiers, respondent video and images provided in connection with a research project, information included in open-ended survey responses, and demographic data, such as age, sex, race/ethnicity, parental status, marital status, ZIP code, income and education levels

Your Right to Non-Discrimination

You have the right not to receive discriminatory treatment 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.

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 in the “Contact Us” section below. In order to verify you have authorized an agent we will require a signed, written authorization from you.

Children’s Information

This Site is not intended for children under the age of 16. We do not collect information directly from children under the age of 16 unless we have obtained consent from a parent or legal guardian to the collection or processing of personal information, or in the case of California residents, affirmative authorization for the “sale” of such personal information. If you are under the age of 16 and your parent or legal guardian has not provided consent for you to participate in a survey, you are not authorized to use the Site. If you become aware that your child or any child under your care that is under the age of 16 has provided us with information without consent from a parent or legal guardian, please contact us at the contact information listed below and we will have such information removed.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our use of your information collected through the Site, please contact us by emailing us at [email protected] or by postal mail or phone at:

Brainyak, Inc. d/b/a GutCheck
3827 Lafayette Street, Ste 123
Denver, CO 80205-5092

Phone: +1 877-990-8111

If you are located in the European Union or UK, you may also contact our EU and UK representative at [email protected].

We are committed to working with you to obtain a fair resolution of any complaint or concern about privacy. If, however, you believe that we have not been able to assist with your complaint or concern, you may have the right to make a complaint to the data protection authority of your country of residence.

Privacy Policy, Cookies, & Acceptable Use, Do Not Sell My Information

Privacy Policy, Cookies, & Acceptable Use