SoundRocket Privacy & Confidentiality Policy

Updated 06.17.2024


Collaborator and Research Participant Privacy:

Handling sensitive information is central to the conduct of good science.  We uphold the highest standards in protecting the privacy of all information we collect from respondents and research collaborators.  A culture of privacy, confidentiality and ethics permeates our organization.

How SoundRocket Protects Your Privacy

We, at SoundRocket, monitor our own practices as well as industry-standard alerts and trends to ensure that we put privacy, confidentiality, and all ethical aspects involved in research first.  Where appropriate, we ensure compliance with laws and regulations that govern our clients, our study participants, and our industry.  We rigorously uphold—and often surpass—industry standards.  SoundRocket’s values focus on the empowerment of people, a commitment to what we do, and a process of building trust and collaboration with all.  This extends to research participants and clients/collaborators, as well as the confidential data that they entrust us with. 

Our work is custom and changes frequently; thus our commitment to privacy, confidentiality, and ethics must change and adapt. 

Such a commitment requires starting with a cultural foundation that values privacy, confidentiality, and ethics.  We put significant effort into our people, who enjoy applying their knowledge to what they do on a daily basis.  From this angle, our approach is flexible and accepting of change—we learn from past mistakes.  We do not limit our efforts to technology and physical protection.  Employees are continually engaged in training (individual and group; formal and informal) in this area and are asked periodically to sign written agreements to ensure that what is being asked is understood.

With a primary emphasis on the people (i.e. employees, clients, subcontractors, collaborators, respondents, etc.), we then identify areas where our data systems (i.e. network security, logical access controls, monitoring and support, business continuity, etc.); physical spaces (i.e. buildings, office space, data centers, customer and vendor spaces, etc.); and procedures (i.e. standard practices, media handling, survey procedures, data transfers, risk identification, etc.) require attention to ensure we maintain confidentiality, privacy, and ethical direction. 

While the specifics may change from one research study to another and over time, the core of our commitment remains the same: 

  1. We will treat confidential data as if it were our own. 
  2. We will not use data in a manner for which it was not implicitly or explicitly stated.
  3. We will inform participants and collaborators about the risks of disclosure.
  4. We do not over-promise. 
  5. We will not engage in any unethical research practices.  We will take action to defend research participants when we believe unethical research practices may be in play—regardless of whether we are involved. 
  6. We must remain contractually engaged with any collaborator on whose behalf we are maintaining confidential data to ensure that proper protections are maintained. 
  7. We will support the reporting of and learning from mistakes. 
  8. We will continually educate ourselves, our collaborators, our clients, and our vendors about good privacy, confidentiality, and ethical practices. 

 No mobile information will be shared with third parties/affiliates for marketing/promotional purposes. All other categories exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties.

 

 

Research Subjects Privacy Policy

We, at SoundRocket, value the empowerment of people, a commitment to what we do, and a process of building trust and collaboration with all.  This extends to you as a research participant and the data you entrust us with.  While the specifics may change from one research study to another and over time, the core of our commitment remains the same: 

  1. We will treat confidential data as if it were our own. 
  2. We will not use data in a manner in which it was not implicitly or explicitly stated.
  3. We will inform participants and collaborators about the risks of disclosure.
  4. We do not over-promise. 
  5. We will not engage in any unethical research practices.  We will take action to defend research participants when we believe unethical research practices may be in play—regardless of whether we are involved. 
  6. We must remain contractually engaged with any collaborator on whose behalf we are maintaining confidential data to ensure that proper protections are maintained. 
  7. We will support the reporting of and learning from mistakes. 
  8. We will continually educate ourselves, our collaborators, our clients, and our vendors about good privacy, confidentiality, and ethical practices. 

We are available if you have questions about our Privacy Policy, how your data is being used, or anything related.  You may contact us by email at privacy@soundrocket.com or by telephone at 734.213.4600. 

In addition to these eight guiding commitments, we also specifically hold ourselves and our collaborators, clients, and vendors to the following: 

All responses to our research studies are maintained as confidential.

Any information you provide is maintained in confidence and is used strictly for research purposes.  All information provided will be stored securely and accessible only to the appropriate personnel. 

We do not rent, sell, or give your personal information to any party not directly involved in the study.

Our business is research, and with that comes a responsibility to ensure that the research process has integrity today and well into the future.  Sometimes, we may need to share your personal information with those who provide us with additional research services necessary to conduct the study.  Anyone who receives your personal information is obligated to follow this same commitment. 

Research participation is always voluntary.

You may choose to participate or not in any portion or whole part of any study we conduct.  You may withdraw your participation at any point during the study, regardless of what you have already completed.  You may exercise your right to decline or withdraw without any negative consequences. Withdrawing from participation may or may not include the ability to have all data removed—it is a standard practice to anonymize data during the course of the study protocol. This is a practice done to further participant confidentiality, but also results in our inability to extract individuals contribution to the study. 

Informed consent:

By participating in our research studies, you consent to have your data used for research purposes only.  We do not contact children under 16 without informed consent from a parent or guardian. 

We follow all local, regional, and national laws.

Where applicable, we also follow any organizational policies that apply to our activities when we are engaged with a research collaboration that involves another organization (such as client organizations and Institutional Review Boards).  Under certain circumstances, we may be compelled by law to disclose your personal information without notice. Where applicable, we abide by privacy laws and regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).