Privacy Policy

Introduction:

This Privacy Policy is intended to provide you with information about what personal data Select Opinion collects about you and how it is used. This Notice is issued by Select Opinion on behalf of itself and its affiliates (together, “Select Opinion”, “we”, “us” and “our”) and is addressed to individuals outside our organization with whom we interact, including but not limited to customers, visitors to our Site, visitors to our offices and other users of our services (together, “you”). Capitalized terms used herein shall have the meanings set out in the Master Use Agreement. This Privacy Policy describes how we may obtain personal data, the types of personal data we may obtain, how we use, share and protect the personal data, the rights of data subjects with respect to their personal data, and how to contact us about our privacy practices.

This Privacy Policy does not apply to personal data other than the personal data relating to our expert network platform. For the Privacy Policy for undertaking market research activities please see our Research Privacy Policy.

About Select Opinion:

Select Opinion is the brand name for expert network activities provided by M3 USA Corporation and its affiliates, including M3 USA Corporation (dba M3 Global Research), M3 USA Corporation (dba All Global), M3 (EU) Ltd. ta M3 Global Research, M3 Medical Holdings Ltd ta All Global, Qualitative and Quantitative Fieldwork Services AB (QQFS), M-Panels Research Services Pvt Ltd (“m360 Research”), Ekas Pty. Limited T/A Ekas Marketing Research Services, pharma-insight GmbH, Med Planet, Michael Allen Company, PERQ/HCI, LLC (“M3 MI”), collectively the “M3 Group”.

Select Opinion operates a panel of healthcare professional experts on our Site. Expert profiles are shared with Select Opinion’s research partner, Maven.co which operates an expert network via a SaaS platform, both for Select Opinion Site and separately for clients of Maven (“Partner Platform”).   Both our Site and the Partner Platform facilitate activities including in-depth interviews, market research, non-interventional studies, observational studies and other surveys (hereinafter, “Activities”) with clients and available experts. Please note that if you choose to engage with clients on the Partner Platform, you will be subject to partner policies and website terms and Select Opinion’s Privacy Policy will not apply.

About the M3 Group:

The M3 Group, named to represent Medicine, Media, and Metamorphosis, was founded with the goal of changing the world of medicine through full use of the power of the Internet. The M3 Group operates in the US, Asia, and Europe with over 2 million physician members globally via its physician websites. M3 Inc. is a publicly traded company on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (jp:2413) with subsidiaries in major markets including USA, UK, Sweden, Japan, S. Korea, India, Australia and China. M3 Group provides services to healthcare and the life science industry. In addition to market research, these services include medical education, ethical drug promotion, clinical development, job recruitment, and clinic appointment services. M3 has offices in Japan (Tokyo), Pennsylvania (Fort Washington), UK (London), Sweden (Gothenburg), Australia (Chatswood), India (Bangalore) and Korea (Seoul).

The Types of Personal Data We May Obtain and Process:

Select Opinion collects personal data about its members and those that participate in our Activities. We use this personal data to provide you with services as described below. We may share your data with Clients who would like to engage with experts in a particular specialty area. For more information, please see the “How We May Share Personal Data” section of this Privacy Policy.

Referrals:

From time to time, you may be asked to recommend someone who you feel may be suitable to join the Select Opinion expert network. We will provide you a link where you will be asked to provide the name and email address of the person you are referring.  You must seek the consent of the individual you are referring to share their personal data with Select Opinion.

Personal data you give us about yourself when you register:

We collect the personal data you provide when you agree to join Select Opinions. This may include your name, address, telephone number, email address, and information about your occupation and professional experience and the types of patients you treat. For Healthcare Professionals who are already a member of an M3 Group market research panel, we may use your registration data to pre-populate your Select Opinion expert profile. See also “Personal data created about you” section of this Privacy Policy.

In order to verify your identity, we use our Partner, Yoti (https://www.yoti.com/) to collect an ID document and biometric selfie which forms part of the registration process. We may also use details you provide on your place of work to contact them as part of the healthcare professional verification process.

Personal data you give us within and immediately before or after online activities:

Online Activities offered to Select Opinion members may be on a website or platform provided by Maven on behalf of Select Opinion, or one provided by a third party. In the latter case, any personal data collected will be subject to the host’s privacy policy.

Personal data related to your previous participation in activities:

We collect and store records of the Activities you have been invited to participate in, whether you responded to them, qualified for them, completed or partially completed them. We keep this data so that we make it available via the Sites and can respond to member enquiries. On occasions we may also send you invitations to new Activities based upon your participation in previous Activities. 

We use this data in aggregate to understand how many individuals of any type may participate in any future Activity and to understand trends in and patterns of participation. 

We also maintain records of any data quality issues that may have been identified in the data you provided within an Activity so we can manage the quality of the data we provide to clients – this may affect your invitation to future Activities.

Personal data created about you:

Select Opinion and Maven may use data collected from public sources to enable the creation of a professional biography (“bio”) on your behalf. This bio is used to match your areas of expertise to applicable consultation opportunities to clients of both M3 and Maven. 

Upon registration, you may create your own bio or request Maven to create on your behalf.  Maven uses open-AI to create this bio. 

We may Process: your personal details (e.g., your name, biographical information); demographic data; your contact details (e.g., your address); records of your consents; payment details; information about our Sites (e.g., the type of device you are using); details of your employer (where relevant); information about your interactions with our content or advertising; and any views or opinions you provide to us.

Payment details you give us for compensation payments:

We collect and use specific personal data so that we can process payment of your Activity compensation. The personal data we need to use varies depending on the form of payment but can include bank account details, name, mailing address and email address. This is used only to process these payments but may be shared with payment processing partners to process the payment. (e.g., we must share bank account details with our bank to process a bank transfer to your account.) This personal data is also retained for financial reporting, audit and tax purposes. Experts are welcome to view our M3 Member Wallet blog here.

Personal data we retain for an extended period:

In order to manage its business, Select Opinion needs to retain limited personal data about previous members for longer periods of time. We have carefully limited the personal data retained and the circumstances in which it is needed to the following:

• Requests by individuals to not email them
• Requests by individuals not to be contacted by Select Opinion
• Individuals who have objected to Select Opinion processing their personal data (where there is not an overwhelming interest in us continuing to do so)
• Individuals who have breached the Master Use Agreement, including those suspected of fraudulent behaviour

This personal data is not shared with anyone and is only used to honour your requests or to prevent subsequent Activity participation.

Personal data we may collate about you:

We use a variety of public sources to collate information about healthcare professionals we believe may be suitable to complete specific Activities or may wish to become members of Select Opinion. The information would include your name, contact information (address, phone number(s) and email address) and your healthcare specialty and experience.

Purpose and legal basis for processing your personal data:

This data is used to manage our contact with you, and to invite you to relevant Activities. The legal bases we rely upon for which we may Process your Personal Data are:

• Where we have a legitimate interest (i.e., we have a valid business reason) and we have carefully balanced your individual rights against this need;
• Processing is required by applicable law;
• Processing is necessary to protect the vital interests of any individual;
• To fulfil a contractual obligation that we have with you; and/or
• Your consent for direct marketing.

We will only process your personal data for the purpose it was first collected. If we process the personal data for a new purpose, we will ensure it is either compatible with your original purpose or gain your consent.

How We Use the Personal Data We Obtain:

We may use the personal data we obtain to:

• Manage our existing and prospective relationships; 
• Provide Services to you;
• Perform Compliance checks;
• Operate our Sites;
• Communicate with members for marketing, newsletters and company updates; 
• Manage our IT systems Manage financial responsibilities (e.g. processing compensation payments); 
• Safeguard and defend Select Opinion interests; and 
• Comply with applicable legal requirements, industry standards and our policies.

How We May Share Personal Data:

Select Opinion will share your personal data and professional experience for the purpose of creating an expert profile and bio for you on our Site and on the Partner Platform. You will be invited to create a log in on the Site and will receive information via email for onboarding purposes and allow you to review the created bio.

Select Opinion allows M3 Clients and direct clients of Maven to search and engage directly with experts. We may share personal data with:

• Affiliates of Select Opinion to whom it is reasonably necessary or desirable for Select Opinion to disclose the personal data for legitimate business purposes Service providers that Select Opinion or Maven has retained to perform services on its behalf, such as, but not limited to, IT service providers, accountants, auditors, lawyers and other outside professional advisors to Select Opinion, subject to binding contractual obligations of confidentiality. 
• Service providers are not permitted to use the personal data for their own purposes and are prohibited from onward transfer of the personal data without our written consent in each instance 
• Legal and regulatory authorities if required by law or reasonably necessary to protect the rights, property, and safety of others or ourselves. This includes lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements or for the purpose of reporting any actual or suspected breach of applicable law or regulation. 
• Our clients or carefully selected partners who wish to engage the services of the Select Opinion members..

Links to other websites:

Our website may contain links to other websites. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide whilst visiting other websites and these other websites are not governed by this privacy policy. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

International Data Transfers:

The Select Opinion platform is hosted by M3 USA Corporation in the USA. Because of the international nature of our business, we may need to transfer your Personal Data within the M3 Group, and to third parties in connection with the purposes set out in this Notice. For this reason, we may transfer your Personal Data to other countries that may have different laws and data protection compliance requirements to those that apply in the country in which you are located. 

Where we transfer your Personal Data from the EEA or UK to recipients located outside the EEA or UK who are not in a jurisdiction that has been formally designated by the European Commission as providing an adequate level of protection for Personal Data, we do so on the basis of Standard Contractual Clauses. You may request a copy of our Standard Contractual Clauses using the contact details provided below. 

If you are located outside of the United States, you should be aware that the Personal Data you provide to us is being transmitted to us and Processed in the United States, and will be protected subject to this privacy policy and United States laws, which may not be as protective as the laws in your country. 

The Partner Platform is certified to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Data Privacy Framework Compliance:

The Partner Platform has certified:

• to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union and the United Kingdom in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF 
• to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. 
• To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) Program, and to view the Partner’s certification, please visit  https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

How We Protect Personal Data:

We maintain appropriate technical and organizational security safeguards designed to protect personal data against accidental, unlawful or unauthorized destruction, loss, alteration, access, disclosure, or use. We update and test our security technology on an ongoing basis. We limit access to your personal data to those employees who need access to provide benefits or services to you. In addition, we train our employees about the importance of confidentiality and maintaining the privacy and security of your personal data. 

Because the internet is an open system, the transmission of information via the internet is not completely secure. Although we will implement all reasonable measures to protect your Personal Data, we cannot guarantee the security of your data transmitted to us using the internet – any such transmission is at your own risk and you are responsible for ensuring that any Personal Data that you send to us are sent securely.

How Long We Retain Personal Data:

We store personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which we collect the data (see “How we use the Personal Data we obtain“), except if required otherwise by law. Your personal data may be kept for 10 years after the working relationship has ceased.

Cookies and other technologies:

We use a variety of technical means to collect and/or store personal data about you. These include cookies, web beacons and device fingerprinting/watermarking. We use Google ReCAPTCHA to collect personal information to determine whether the user is human and not a bot. This involves placing a Google cookie on the computer being used. We use Imperium (https://www.imperium.com/) anti-fraud solution to prevent duplicates and fraudulent Activity responses. For more information on our use of these technologies please refer to our Cookie Notice and Policy. Additionally, we keep records of your use of our systems. These are used to improve the security of our systems and to improve the experience we offer you.

Changes and updates to the Privacy Policy:

As our organization, membership and benefits change from time to time, this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use is expected to change as well. This Privacy Policy may also be amended or updated from time to time to reflect changes in our practices with respect to the Processing of Personal Data, or changes in applicable law. We reserve the right to amend the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use at any time, for any reason, without notice to you, other than the posting of the amended Privacy Policy and Terms of Use at this Site. We may e-mail periodic reminders of our policy and terms and will e-mail members of material changes to it, but you should check our Site frequently to see the current Privacy Policy and Terms of Use that are in effect and any changes that may have been made to them. Your access of the Sites following the posting of changes means you agree to abide by those changes.

Your Rights:

The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the UK Data Protection Act, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as well as other countries and US State privacy laws provide certain rights for EEA, UK, U.S. and Swiss data subjects. Explanations of them (in English) are available at: (i) the EU GDPR, (ii) the website of the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (iii) the website of the State of California Department of Justice, (iv) the website of the Swiss Federal Data Protection and Information Commissioner office and (v) Law Committees for each US State.

Additional information for California residents can be found in our California Privacy Policy

If you wish to confirm that Select Opinion is processing your personal data, or to have access to the personal data Select Opinion may have about you, please contact our Data Protection Officer (privacy@m3globalresearch.com).

You may request information about:

• the purpose of the processing;
• the legal basis for that processing;
• the categories of personal data and the data subject concerned;
• information on the type or identity of third parties to which your data may be disclosed to and the protection provided;
• the source of the personal information (if you didn’t provide it directly to us); and
• how long it will be stored.

You have a right to:

• access your personal data
• have inaccurate personal data rectified
• request erasure of personal data
• restrict the processing of your personal data
• object to the processing your personal data
• data portability
• opt out of data being transferred to a third party, unless there is a legal reason to do so (see “”How we may share Personal Data“”)
• opt out of direct marketing
• opt out of automated decision making
  
  

Opting out: 

You may opt out of receiving invites and communications from Select Opinion by either (a) updating your communication preferences via your expert profile, (b) submitting a support ticket via the Help section within the Site, (c) directly from the app or panel website. To exercise your rights, you can write the Data Protection Officer at  privacy@m3globalresearch.com. Reasonable access to your personal data will be provided at no cost to you upon your request. Select Opinion will provide the information to you within the legal time frame. If for some reason access is denied, Select Opinion will provide an explanation as to why access has been denied..

Contact Information:

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, please email Select Opinion Data Protection Officer at privacy@m3globalresearch.com.

For all other questions regarding your account, preference changes, compensation for surveys or our services, please e-mail support@select-opinion.com.