Privacy Policy

 

I. Information we receive and how it is used

Information we receive about you

We receive a number of different types of information about you, including:

Your information

Your information is the information that's required when you sign up for the site, as well as the information you choose to share.

  • Registration information: When you sign up for OpinionFirst, you are required to provide your name, email address, birthday, and gender.

  • Information you choose to share: Your information also includes the information you choose to share on OpinionFirst, such as when you start a topic, add a proposal or 360°, becoming an opinion leader or ambassador, upload a photo, or comment on proposals and 360°'s.

It also includes the information you choose to share when you take an action, such as when you tell a friend or reference a page or a website.

Your name, profile picture, networks, votername and Voter ID are treated just like information you choose to make public.

Your birthday allows us to do things like show you age-appropriate content and determine vote age.

Information others share about you

We receive information about you from others, such as when they add you to a group. 

Other information we receive about you

We also receive other types of information about you:

  • We receive data about you whenever you interact with OpinionFirst, such as when you look at another person's profile or proposals, vote for proposals, search for topics, read a 360°, join, or donate.

  • When you post things like photos or videos on OpinionFirst, we may receive additional related data (or metadata), such as the time, date, and place you took the photo or video.

  • We receive data from the computer, mobile phone or other device you use to access OpinionFirst. This may include your IP address, place, the type of browser you use, or the pages you visit. 

  • We receive data whenever you visit an application or website that uses OpinionFirst Platform or visit a site with an OpinionFirst feature (such as a social plugin). This may include the date and time you visit the site; the web address, or URL, you're on; technical information about the IP address, browser and the operating system you use; and, if you are logged in to OpinionFirst, your Voter ID.

  • Sometimes we get data from our partners, customers and other third parties that help us (or them) deliver information, understand online activity, and generally make OpinionFirst better. 

  • We also put together data from the information we already have about you. We may put together your current city with GPS and other place information we have about you to, for example, tell you and your friends about people or events nearby, or offer information to you that you might be interested in. We may also put together data about you to serve you information that might be more relevant to you.

  1. When we get your GPS place, we put it together with other place information we have about you (like your current city). 

  2. We only provide data to our partners or customers after we have removed your name or any other personally identifying information from it, or have combined it with other people's data in a way that it is no longer associated with you. Similarly, when we receive data about you from our partners or customers, we keep the data for 180 days. After that, we combine the data with other people's data in a way that it is no longer associated with you.

Public information

When we use the phrase "public information", we mean the information you choose to make public, as well as information that is always publicly available.

Information you choose to make public

Choosing to make your information public is exactly what it sounds like: anyone, including people on OpinionFirst, will be able to see it.

Choosing to make your information public also means that this information:

  • can be associated with you (i.e., your name, profile picture, OpinionFirst profile, Voter ID, etc.) 

  • can show up when someone does a search on OpinionFirst or on a public search engine

  • will be accessible to the applications and websites you and your friends use

  • will be accessible to anyone who uses our APIs.

You will not be able to select an audience when you post something (like when you write or comment on a 360° that uses our comments). This is because these types of posts are always public posts. As a general rule, you should assume that the information will be publicly available.

Information that is always publicly available

The types of information listed below are always publicly available, and are treated just like information you decided to make public.

  • Name: This helps your friends and family find you. If you are uncomfortable sharing your real name, you can always deactivate or delete your account.

  • Profile Pictures: This helps your friends and family recognize you. If you are uncomfortable making your profile picture public, you can always delete it.

  • Voter name and Voter ID: These allow you to give out a custom link to your profile or Page, receive email at your OpinionFirst email address, and help make OpinionFirst Platform possible.

Voter names and Voter IDs

A Voter name (or OpinionFirst URL) is a custom link to your profile that you can give out to people or post on external websites. If you have selected a votername, it will always appear in the URL on your profile page. If you have not selected a voter name, then the URL on your profile page will contain your Voter ID, which is what we use to identify your OpinionFirst account.

If someone has your Voter name or Voter ID, they can use it to access information about you through the OpinionFirst website. For example, if someone has your Voter name, they can type OpinionFirst.com/Voter name into their browser and see your public information as well as anything else you've let them see. Similarly, someone with your Voter name or Voter ID can access information about you through our APIs. Specifically, they can access your public information.

How we use the information we receive

We use the information we receive about you in connection with the services and features we provide to you and other voters and the developers that build applications and websites you use. For example, we may use the information we receive about you:

  • as part of our efforts to keep OpinionFirst safe and secure;

  • to provide you with place features and services, like telling you when something is going on nearby;

  • to measure or understand the effectiveness of our activities;

  • to make suggestions to you and other voters on OpinionFirst.

Granting us this permission not only allows us to provide OpinionFirst as it exists today, but it also allows us to provide you with innovative features and services we develop in the future that use the information we receive about you in new ways.

While you are allowing us to use the information we receive about you, you always own all of your information. Your trust is important to us, which is why we don't share information we receive about you with others unless we have:

  • received your permission;

  • given you notice, such as by telling you about it in this policy; or

  • removed your name or any other personally identifying information from it.

Deleting and deactivating your account

If you want to stop using your account, you can either deactivate or delete it.

Deactivate

Deactivating your account puts your account on hold. Other voters will no longer see your profile, but we do not delete any of your information. Deactivating an account is the same as you telling us not to delete any information because you might want to reactivate your account at some point in the future. You can deactivate your account at: https://www.OpinionFirst.com

Deletion

When you delete an account, it is permanently deleted from OpinionFirst. It typically takes about one month to delete an account, but some information may remain in backup copies and logs for up to 90 days. You should only delete your account if you are sure you never want to reactivate it. You can delete your account at: https://www.OpinionFirst.com

About Pages

OpinionFirst Pages are public pages. Companies use Pages to share information about their products. Politicians or celebrities use Pages to talk about their latest projects. And communities use pages to discuss topics and proposals of interest. 

Because Pages are public, information you share with a Page is public information. This means, for example, that if you post a comment on a Page, that comment can be used by the Page owner of OpinionFirst, and anyone can see it.

When you "are in favor" of a Page for example as Ambassador, you create a connection to that Page. That connection is added to your proposals and everyone may see it. You may also receive updates from any topic or proposal in your messages. You can remove all these from your 'My OpinionFirst'.

Some Pages contain content that comes directly from the Page owner. Page owners can do this through online plugins and it works just like other applications you use through OpinionFirst. Because this content comes directly from the Page owner, that Page may be able to collect information about you, just like any website.

II. Some other things you need to know

OpinionFirst beta and first releases

The website OpinionFirst was born from an ideal to help people help themselves to improve the quality of their own lives. We are a small and inspired team working for the foundation DemocracyFirst. Everyone including the board works pro bono. We personally have invested our savings in this project. The more human and financial resources we have available, the faster and better we can achieve our ideals to help people help themselves. We are not paid and have no intention to make money with OpinionFirst other than with the purpose to further invest in our ideals.

We will continue to develop our ideals, website, policy, .... and hope you will assist us. We can improve with your help to also make better terms, rules, guidelines, principles, privacy policies or anything else. We have the ambition to supply top quality.

Safe harbor

OpinionFirst will investigate to comply with the EU Safe Harbor framework as set forth by the Department of Commerce regarding the collection, use, and retention of data from the European Union. As part of our intention to comply in the Safe Harbor, we agree to resolve all disputes you have with us in connection with our policies and practices. 

Responding to legal requests and preventing harm

We may share your information in response to a legal request (like a search warrant, court order or subpoena) if we have a good faith belief that the law requires us to do so. This may include responding to legal requests from jurisdictions where we have a good faith belief that the response is required by law in that jurisdiction, affects voters in that jurisdiction, and is consistent with internationally recognized standards. We may also share information when we have a good faith belief it is necessary to: detect, prevent and address fraud and other illegal activity; to protect ourselves and you from violations; and to prevent death or imminent bodily harm.

Access requests

We provide initial responses to access requests within a reasonable period of time, typically within thirty days. You can also download a copy of everything you've put into OpinionFirst by visiting your “Personal button” and clicking on “Download a copy of your OpinionFirst data”.

Notifications and Other Messages

We may send you notifications and other messages using the contact information we have for you, like your email address. You can control most of the notifications you receive, including ones from Pages you like and applications you use, using your “Notifications” settings.

Invitations

When you tell a friend to join OpinionFirst, we send a message on your behalf using your name, and up to two reminders. The invitation will also give your friend the opportunity to opt out of receiving from you to join OpinionFirst.

Memorializing accounts

We may memorialize the account of a deceased person. When we memorialize an account we keep the profile on OpinionFirst, but only let friends and family look at pictures or write on the voter's Wall in remembrance. You can report a deceased person's profile by sending an email.

We also may close an account if we receive a formal request from the person's next of kin.

Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of data that we store on your computer, mobile phone or other device to make OpinionFirst easier to use, make our information service better, and to protect you (and OpinionFirst). For example, we may use them to know you are logged in to OpinionFirst, to help you use social plugins and share buttons, or to know when you are interacting with our partners. We may also ask partners to serve information to computers, mobile phones or other devices with a cookie placed by OpinionFirst (although we would not share any other information with that advertiser). Most companies on the web use cookies (or similar technological methods), including our  partners. You can always remove or block cookies (such as by using the settings in your browser), but it may affect your ability to use OpinionFirst.

Service Providers

We give your information to the people and companies that help us provide the services we offer. For example, we may use outside vendors to help host our website, serve photos and videos, process payments, or provide search results. In some cases we provide the service jointly with another company. In all of these cases our partners must agree to only use your information consistent with the agreement we enter into with them, as well as this privacy policy.

Security

We do our best to keep your information secure, but we need your help. Always immediately send your feedback if security is at risk. Respond by sending an email.

Change of Control

If the ownership of our business changes, we may transfer your information to the new owner so they can continue to operate the service. But they will still have to honor the commitments we have made in this privacy policy.

Notice of Changes

If we make changes to this Privacy Policy we will notify you by publication here and on the OpinionFirst Site. If the changes are material, we will provide you additional, prominent notice as appropriate under the circumstances. You can make sure that you receive notice directly by liking the OpinionFirst Site.

OpinionFirst has just been released. We welcome any feedback or improvements that you suggest to us regarding our 'Privacy Policy' and we clearly state that we will accommodate your feedback to the best of our abilities and possibilities. Respond by sending an email.

Opportunity to comment and vote

Unless we make a change for legal or administrative reasons, or to correct an inaccurate statement, we will give you seven (7) days to provide us with comments on the change. If we receive more than 1000 comments concerning a particular change, we will put the change up for a vote. The vote will be binding on us if more than 30% of all active registered voters as of the date of the notice vote.

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