Special Notice for Parents with Children under 13:We recognize the need to provide additional privacy protections for children using the Internet. To read about our privacy policy with respect to children who are 12 and younger, please click here.
Why you can trust Nielsen with your privacy?
For over 50 years, the Nielsen name has been synonymous with high-quality, comprehensive television audience viewing information. The Nielsen TV ratings are vital to program production, distribution and scheduling decision making, and are the currency for transactions between buyers and sellers of television advertising time.
Through Nielsen Digital Voice panel, Nielsen provides a similar market research service for the Internet industry. Our goal is to provide exceptional data and insight into how people are using their computers and the Internet in order to enable our customers to make informed business-critical decisions regarding their Internet strategies.
At Nielsen, we are committed to ensuring that the privacy of our members is maintained. Your personally identifiable information will NEVER be used by Nielsen to advertise, promote or market third party goods or services to you.
Please read the following to learn more about our privacy policy and your membership in Nielsen Digital Voice panel.
Please note that this privacy policy applies only to Nielsen Digital Voice panel available through http://digitalvoice.nielsen.com, and no other panels or online services provided by Nielsen.
What information do we collect?
During Nielsen Digital Voice initial panel registration processor as part of a Nielsen research survey , we request certain information, such as name, mailing address, e-mail address, date of birth, sex, occupation, level of education, and annual income, about you and other members of your household.
Once you have completed your Nielsen Digital Voice registration and our software has been installed on your computer, we will automatically collect a broad range of other information, including personally identifiable information, from you and all others in your household because our software allows us to comprehensively track members' computers and members' activity on their computers, online and on the Internet.
For example, we collect information on:- The type, name and use of some of the applications, files and hardware on your computer (such as Microsoft Word, Gmail, music and video files, and printers and routers)
- The address and content of the web sites you visit
- The date and duration of the web sites you visit
- Details of certain online transactions, such as retail purchases and banking activity, you enter into on the Internet.
We may be able to collect information contained in the title bars at the top of any "window" that is active on your computer, depending on the application. This might include information such as the browser you are using, the name and contents of the web pages you visit, the name of a file open on your computer and, when you have an e-mail open, the subject line of the e-mail.
We do not examine or use the text of any e-mail or instant message, nor can we read any documents open on your computer.
We also administer surveys to some members while they are using the Internet.
These surveys request additional market research information to help us better understand Internet behavior and use. Your participation in a survey is always voluntary, and you therefore have a choice whether to provide the requested survey information.
Our servers log the standard non-personally-identifiable information that accompanies Internet transmissions, like the date and time of your visit, browser type and version, IP address, and operating system. We use this information to administer the website, analyze trends, track users' movements, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. We may associate the personally-identifiable information you give us with this information and may supplement it further with information supplied by our cookies or other sources. This helps us to understand you better and how you interact with the site.
Do we use cookies?
In order to manage Nielsen Digital Voice, and to enhance your experience as a Nielsen Digital Voice member, we place cookies on your computer. A cookie is a small amount of data, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier, sent to your browser from a website's computers and stored on your computer's hard drive.
The cookie that we use to recognize you as a Nielsen Digital Voice member when you return to this site or visit other Nielsen websites employs "Flash" technology. The information gathered via this cookie may be associated with other Nielsen cookies that you have on your computer and used to supplement the information that we have about you. This cookie does not contain any personally-identifiable information.
We may also use "non-Flash" cookies or a small piece of code (sometimes referred to as "1x1 clear pixel," "Web beacon" or "clear GIF") to help us gather additional information about your Internet usage, including other websites that you visit. On occasion, we may also use non-Flash cookies to understand your exposure to certain Internet advertisements as you surf the Web. To opt out of this explicitly, please click here. If you decide that you want your web surfing to be tracked, please click here.
Additionally, we may allow our member recruitment partners to use Web beacons and cookies on our registration pages solely for payment verification purposes. We have no access to or control over these cookies. This privacy statement covers the use of cookies by Nielsen and members of the Nielsen family of companies only and does not cover the use of cookies by any of our partners.
You can set your browser to reject non-Flash cookies, or delete individual or all non-Flash cookies on your computer by following the browser help file directions. For information about how to delete the Flash cookie, please click here. Setting your browser to reject cookies or deleting cookies, however, may interfere with your using some features of other web sites and may impair your ability to participate in activities at this site.
How will the information you and other members provide us be used?
We combine the information that you and other members provide us with data and research tools from other sources including offline sources on demographic, lifestyle, and buying preference data such as auto purchase. We use this information to perform research and to prepare reports and analyses concerning Internet audience demographics, behavior and use and its impact on offline behavior.
We do not provide our clients with any of the personally identifiable information you provide us, nor do we ever use this information for direct marketing purposes.
Occasionally, we employ or contract with other companies and individuals to perform certain functions or services on our behalf, such as list matching or sweepstakes administration. Such companies or individuals may be provided with access to your information needed to perform their functions or services, but are prohibited from using such information for any other purpose.
In addition, we may release personally identifiable information to third parties when disclosure is required by law or when necessary or desirable to exercise or preserve our legal rights, or to take action regarding potentially illegal activities. If all or part of our company is sold, merged or otherwise transferred to an unrelated entity, your information, whether personally identifiable or otherwise, may be transferred as part of that transaction. In this event, we will notify you before your information is transferred and becomes subject to a different privacy policy. For more information, see "How will I be notified of changes to this Privacy Policy" below.
How is the information we hold about you secured?
The security of data and the protection of personal information are essential to our success and credibility. We have in place certain security measures, including encryption methods and access protocols, to help protect the security and confidentiality of personally identifiable information while controlled by us. We store the personally identifiable information we hold about members on our servers, which may be stored indefinitely. This data will be controlled only by select members of the Nielsen staff.
How can you update your profile if the information you provided about yourself and others in your household changes?
If at any time you wish to review or update the profile information in our database, you may do so at any time by logging into the "Members Area" located at http://digitalvoice.nielsen.com/pnl/us/members.sign_in?li=1 and clicking on the "Update Household Profile" link.
How will you be notified of changes to this privacy Notice?
We reserve the right to update and make changes to this privacy policy. If we materially change our practices in handling personally identifiable information, as described in this statement, we will notify you, at a minimum, by posting the changes on our website at http://digitalvoice.nielsen.com at least 30 days prior to their implementation. Your continued membership after the effective date of any changes constitutes your acceptance of all of the changes. We encourage you to review this privacy policy frequently to ensure that you stay apprised of any changes.
How do you discontinue you participation in Nielsen Digital Voice?
We sincerely appreciate your willingness to serve as a member. However, should you ever decide to stop participating in Nielsen Digital Voice, you may do so at any time by utilizing the "Add Remove Programs" feature on your computer.- On your computer, click the "Windows Start" button.
- Choose "Control Panel".
- Double click on "Add/remove Programs".
If you require assistance, please contact us directly at http://digitalvoice.nielsen.com/pnl/us/contact_us and fill out the e-mail form notifying us of your desire to discontinue your participation.
Who can you contact if you have additional privacy questions or concerns?
If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy policy or our privacy practices, please e-mail us at panelprivacy@netratings.com.
****Special Notice for Scarborough Research Participants****
If you were invited by Scarborough Research to join Nielsen Digital Voice, the following terms apply to your membership in addition to the terms set forth above:
In addition to the use and sharing of your data and information as set forth above in this privacy policy, Nielsen will also share the data and information we collect from you with Scarborough Research, our research partner. Nielsen and Scarborough Research are conducting an important joint research study to assess consumer behavior across different media, including online and traditional print outlets. Accordingly, the data and information collected by Nielsen will not be anonymous to Scarborough Research.
In addition, Scarborough will combine the data and information collected by Nielsen with the survey responses and other information that you have previously provided to Scarborough Research. All of your survey answers, Internet activity and any other information you share with us will be held confidential by Scarborough Research. We will not personally identify any survey participants in our reports, and will not use your information for any purpose other than this research study. For more information, about Scarborough's privacy promise, please visit www.scarboroughsurveys.com/privacy.html, or call our toll free respondent line at 800-753-6043.
This Privacy Policy hereby incorporates by reference in its entirety Nielsen Digital Voice Membership Agreement entered into upon joining Nielsen Digital Voice.
Last Updated: July, 2009
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