Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains the practices employed by the Origin Panel in collecting and using your information when you use this website and the ways in which you can influence these.

The Origin Panel will collect various types of information about you through your use of this website to process your requests, to provide a more personalised web-surfing and interactive experience and to help us improve the services we offer. In doing this we may also collect anonymous information about you through the use of cookies. The Origin Panel will be the Data Controller of any personal data we collect about you.

What information do we collect about you?

In order to process your activity on the Origin Panel website, it may be necessary to collect personally identifiable information about you. The type of personally identifiable information that may be collected includes, but is not limited to: your name, address, e-mail address and telephone number. You may also be asked to provide additional (non-mandatory) pieces of information for our research purposes or choose to provide information by making a posting on the forum. This information will be treated in accordance with the Market Research Society Code of Conduct.

In addition, we may collect anonymous information about you and your website usage through the use of cookies. Such information will not be personally identifiable to you. If you choose, you may opt out of allowing our cookies to collect information about you. For further information please go to the section on cookies below.

How will we use the information about you?

We will use the personal information you provide to us for market research purposes and  to provide an engaging forum. We may also use this information to communicate with you directly, for example to notify you in the event you have won a competition or to contact you in relation to an account you hold with us.

We will use the anonymous information we collect about you to analyse web usage and compile aggregate statistics about our users. We will use this non-personally identifiable information, for marketing purposes and to enable us to provide a more personalised internet experience. For further information please go to the section on cookies below.

We undertake only to use the data you supply to us according to the following conditions:

We will not rent or sell any data which may personally identify you to any third party other than our partner, YouGov. 

  1. You will never receive communications from any third party (other than YouGov) as a result of using the Origin Panel site, participating in Origin Panel research activities or becoming an Origin panel member, unless you specifically opt to do so. 
  2. Your data may be disclosed to clients for research purposes. Such data will only be supplied in anonymised, non-attributable form such that no party external to the Origin Panel could use the data to personally identify you, or to contact you by any means. 
  3. Your anonymised data may be disclosed to business associates, marketers or advertisers for the promotion of Origin Panel services. By way of example, we may disclose to an advertiser the percentage age groups of our Members. Such data will be supplied in anonymised, non-attributable form such that no third party could use the data to personally identify you, or to contact you by any means.
  4. Anonimised research results may also be released into the public domain. This is typically in aggregate form (e.g. 20% of respondents said blue was their favourite colour) and will not result in the disclosure of any personal identifying information.
  5. The accessing and processing of personal data by Origin Panel personnel will be restricted to business requirements including, but not necessarily limited to: 
    • Research data analysis
    • Panel communications
    • Fulfilment of prizes and payments
    • Technical processing
    • Addressing of queries, technical problems or complaints
  6. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login information (your username and password). You are fully responsible and agree to indemnify the Origin Panel against all activities (including for the avoidance of doubt, the activities of persons other than yourself) that occur under your login or account. You must ensure the full exit from your Panel-based access at the end of each session (this is particularly important for those using a shared computer).
  7. We cannot ensure that private communication and other identifiable personal data will never be disclosed in ways not described in this section. By way of example (without limiting the foregoing) we may be forced to disclose the data to a government agency lawfully requesting the same or to any court acting in pursuance of its powers. We reserve the right to and you hereby agree to allow us to disclose any information about you to law enforcement, government officials or to any court or court officials as we in our sole discretion believe necessary or appropriate.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy relating to the confidentiality of information shall prevent or hinder the Origin Panel from complying with its legal obligations as to disclosure or otherwise under the Data Protection Act 1998 and any other applicable regulations.

How do we protect your information?

Once we have received your data we will ensure that it is treated with the utmost respect. Your data will be stored on our secure server within the UK. We follow strict security procedures in order that the data we collect is stored and disclosed appropriately and securely.

Unfortunately the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although the Origin Panel will do its best to protect your personal data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to our site; any transmission is at your own risk.

Other Websites

Please note that clicking on links on our website may result in your transferral to another website, where data privacy practices may vary to that of the Origin Panel’s. If transferred to another site you should consult their privacy policy as we are not responsible for and have no control over information that is submitted to or collected by these third parties.

Changes to our privacy policy

The Origin Panel keeps this privacy policy under review and may update it at any time. Any updates will be made on this page so that you can always find out what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we will disclose it.

How to contact us

If you have any queries relating to the Origin Panel Privacy Policy please contact us by writing to The Origin Panel, IPC Media Limited, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU or email support@theoriginpanel.co.uk.

COOKIES

What is a cookie?

A cookie is a small text file that we, and in certain circumstances third parties, place on your browser when you visit our websites or open some of our emails. Cookies, amongst other things, allow the Origin Panel to recognise you each time you re-visit one of our websites and provide you with a more personalised user experience. There are in existence a variety of different cookies which are designed for use in specific sets of circumstances.

How do we and third parties use cookies?

You should be aware that information on you may be collected through the use of cookies when you use this website and/or selected third party sites. It is essential that we use some cookies in order to provide you with an engaging forum. Some cookies, however, whilst useful, are not essential, and when using this website you agree to the use of these non-essential cookies unless you specifically set your browser to reject them. Please see ‘How to manage or refuse cookies’ below for further details.

When you initially enter one of our sites we may place an anonymous cookie on your browser to enable us to recognise you the next time you visit the website. We may also place a further cookie on your browser when you register for one of our services, this will enable us to remember you next time you come to sign in, eliminating the need for you to re-enter your login details and customising your future uses of our sites.

Cookies may also be used to track your use of websites in order to better develop them, for example, determining which parts of the websites are more popular and determining content accordingly.

Small pieces of code called pixel tags, web beacons or GIF files, are used in conjunction with cookies to help us manage and monitor our wider business arrangements with third parties. These files will allow us to aggregate anonymous information relating to website usage. The type of information collected includes, but is not limited to, information relating to page views, promotion views and purchases made. Such pixel tags may be used to recognise third party cookies (cookies generated by third parties) and inform us and/or third parties of which link brought you to our website, allowing us to monitor the efficacy of our business relationships with third parties. Please see the section below entitled ‘Use of different cookies’ for more detail on the various cookies in use by the Origin Panel and how they work.

How to manage or refuse cookies

If you do not want your browser to accept cookies and use them in the ways described above it is possible to change your browser settings. It is also possible to delete existing cookies from your browser. However blocking all cookies will affect your web experience and may result in some parts of this website not functioning properly. Some cookies are designed to help save you time, for example, by remembering your contact details when you are making an order for the second time – this means that you will not have to complete the contact section again unless your details have changed. The procedure for modifying your privacy preferences is different for each internet browser and we recommend you visit the following websites for further information on altering your cookie settings: www.aboutcookies.org www.allaboutcookies.org For more detailed information on how to clear or disable all of your browser cookies, please go to http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=32050&hl=en

Use of different cookies

We will use different cookies at various different stages of your use of our website.

Tracking and Customisation Cookies

These are used to recognise repeat visitors to the Origin Panel website and customise the visitor experience, as described above. They may also be used in conjunction with other information we or our third party partners hold to attempt to record specific browsing information (for example, regarding the way visitors arrive at the Origin Panel website, pages viewed, options selected, information entered and the path taken through the Origin Panel website).

Session Cookie

These are used to maintain your session when you sign in on the website, allowing you to access the online services without the need to sign in on every page you visit.

Research Cookies

Nielsen

Nielsen is a measurement and research company that gathers data across the website through using cookies and pixel tags for the purposes of gathering research data on the traffic and users across the website. To find out how Nielsen use the information collected and how to opt out please visit http://www.nielsen-online.com/privacy.jsp?section=leg_scs The Origin Panel is a trading name of IPC Media Limited.