Privacy Notice for Website

Our Commitment To Privacy

The Website at MediGuard.org (the "Website”) is owned and controlled by iGuard, Inc., a Quintiles company ("Quintiles"). Quintiles is committed to protecting your privacy. You can move around most of our Website without giving us any personal information. We may need to receive, store and use certain personal information from you, including personal health information, in order to provide you with personalized information or services (the "Services"). This Privacy Notice describes how we use, release and protect any personal information we receive from you when you use the Website or Services. As a user of this website, you have the right to know how we protect personal information that we receive from you and what you can expect from us. You also have certain responsibilities which are detailed in the Terms and Conditions of Use.

IMPORTANT NOTICE-PLEASE READ

In order to provide you with any Services that you ask to receive through the Website, we may have to receive, store and use certain personal information from you which is considered "sensitive". Examples of sensitive personal information we may receive - depending on the Services you ask us to provide - may include details about race and ethnicity, medicines or health conditions of interest to you.

If you choose to provide us with such information, then you are consenting to our receipt, storage and use of this information as described by this Privacy Notice. You should not provide us with any personal information that you do not wish us to store or use for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice. If you change your mind after you have provided any personal information, you have the right to remove the information by updating your profile or you may unsubscribe or cancel your registration as described in this Privacy Notice.

The Personal Information We Receive

We receive personal information that you choose to provide to us through the Website or through your use of the Services, including in any of the ways explained below. We also may receive personal information about you when you provide it to other websites that partner with Quintiles to provide the Services (“Data Partners”) or if you participate in patient communities that you access through the Website. We receive personal information about you from our Data Partners only when you specifically permit them to share such information with us.

We receive personal information in several ways, which are described below:

  1. If you choose to register on our Website to receive Services from us, you will provide certain personal information. The personal information you provide to us may include an email address, zip or postal code, demographic information (such as age, race/ethnicity and sex), and medicines or health conditions of interest to you. You can update your information at any time by logging into the Website and updating your profile.

    Each time you receive an automated Service email message, at the bottom of the email you will be given a link to unsubscribe or cancel your MediGuard registration if you wish to do so. Or, you can simply send an email to support@mediguard.org to unsubscribe or cancel your registration.

  2. Visitors who consent through the Website to learn about research opportunities may be invited to take part in voluntary surveys. If you choose to take part in a voluntary survey, the information you provide as part of the survey is grouped together with other volunteers’ answers so that your answers cannot be linked back to you. However, we may receive some identifying information from you only for the purpose of mailing you payment for your time in completing the survey. This information about you is kept only for bookkeeping purposes as required by law.

  3. If you choose to send information about research opportunities to a friend, we will receive their email address and any information you choose to include in the message. When you provide us with a friend’s information through our Website, we expect that you have already obtained their consent to provide this information.

  4. You may choose to contact us through links and email addresses provided through the Website. We will receive your email address and any other information you choose to include in your message.

  5. You may choose to join in on-line group discussions on our Website where visitors may post comments about medicines. You must be a registered user of the Website to take part in on-line group discussions. When you make a comment in an on-line group discussion, we will keep it along with other information you gave us when you registered to use the Website. If your comment is posted on the group discussion board, your age and gender will be shown with your comment.

Cookies and Information We Receive Automatically

We also receive information about our Website’s visitors through cookies. A cookie is a piece of data or a file that a website can send to your Internet browser which may then store it on your computer. Cookies can store information such as the pages you visited, the Website features you used, and the amount of time you visited a page. We use what is called a “session” cookie on our Website: (a) to allow site visitors to personalize their experience based on information, products, and services that they are interested in, (b) to track a “user session” within a product or service you signed up for, and (c) to keep users from taking part in a survey or voting more than once. We also use analytics cookie. These cookies are:

MediGuard session cookie
Google Analytics cookies

Session cookies are automatically deleted when you close your Internet browser. The Analytics cookie is used to collect information about how site visitors use our site in order to help us improve our site and the user experience. These cookies are not linked to any personal information that can identify you. You always have the right to say no to the storage of cookies on your computer, or to disable and/or delete cookies at any time. We suggest that you accept cookies because they allow you to get the most out of your Website experience, including registering or logging into the Services you request. By clicking through the Website and/or registering for Services, that means you have accepted our cookies.

Some cookies are set on our Website by our Data Partners and these cookies are not under our control. These cookies may allow site visitors to share content from this Website, for example through Twitter, Facebook, etc.

We receive IP addresses in the normal course of the operation of our Website. An IP address is a code assigned to the device you use to access the Internet by your Internet service provider. We may use your IP address in order to identify your device so that we can provide a customized service for you.

We also use standard web logs that record basic data about people who visit our Website.

The following information is contained in these logs:

  • The date and time of the visit
  • The pages of our Website viewed during the visit
  • The IP address of the computer used to visit the site (Computers automatically generate an IP address as they surf the Internet. IP addresses are also used to track new versus return visitors to the website and the clinical trial questionnaire)
  • The type of Web browser used to view our website
  • The website visited immediately before coming to Quintiles website

We do not normally seek to identify individuals from Web logs. However, Web logs may be used to identify an individual who we have reason to suspect tried to damage our website or use it in an unauthorized way. If we have reason to believe that there has been a violation of computer security or related laws, we may share our Web logs with law enforcement agencies.

How We Use Information

We may use any personal information that you provide to us in order to maintain your account and to provide you with the information, products and/or Services you request.

We store the personal information you provide through the Website in a secure, encrypted database.

If you contact us to request more information about Services, your request and any details you provide, such as name, telephone, email address or medicines, will be shared with our staff to carry out your request. With your consent, we may share the information you provide with healthcare professionals or researchers to carry out your request, such as the sharing of your contact information if you wish to be contacted for a research study. If you request that we share your contact information with a research study site but have not provided your zip/postal code when you registered on the Website, we may use your IP address to confirm your geographic location in order to identify the closest research study site.

We may use other companies to provide limited services on our behalf, such as Website technical support, sending communications on our behalf, delivery of prizes or rewards, and other services. If we provide personal information to such companies, we only provide the personal information they need to provide us with the service. They are required to keep the information confidential and cannot use that information for any purpose other than to provide services on our behalf and obey the law.

Quintiles combines and uses non-personal information (aggregated data) from our Website to study how our site is being used. We will periodically analyze this aggregated data and use what we learn to make improvements to our Website. In addition, we may share this aggregated data (which does not contain any information which can identify an individual) with our clinical research partners to assist them in better designing their websites or clinical trials.

We may release personal information in other situations, such as: (i) if we are required or permitted to do so by law or legal process, (ii) in response to reasonable requests by law enforcement authorities or other government officials, (iii) when we believe release is necessary or appropriate to prevent physical harm or financial loss or in connection with an investigation of suspected or actual illegal activity, or (iv) if necessary to protect the important interests of another individual (such as to prevent death, bodily harm, or serious damage to property). We hold the right to transfer information about our users if we ever sell or transfer all or nearly all our business or assets.

We will not use or release your personal information in a way that is meaningfully different than described in this notice unless we first get your consent to do so.

International Transfers

Quintiles provides this Website and its Services from the United States of America. This means that any personal information we receive from or about you through the Website or your use of the Services will be stored on our servers located in the U.S. You should be aware that not all countries offer the same standards of data protection as those that may apply where you live. However, your personal information will always be treated and used by Quintiles as described in this Website Privacy Notice and Terms & Conditions of Use. In addition, Quintiles has officially agreed to follow the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Safe Harbor Privacy Principles for all personal information sent to Quintiles in the U.S. from the European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland.

Our Commitment to Data Security

We will protect any personal information you provide to us through the Website at all times in accordance with applicable industry standards and our legal obligations. We will notify you if our information collection and storage practices change. If for some reason your personal information was released or accessed by unauthorized persons, we will notify you by email as necessary to help protect you from harm, embarrassment or distress.

Processing personal information in a secure manner is essential to our business and for your protection as a user. Maintaining a secure network and server system is in the best interests of our users and our research partners. Quintiles processes and stores personally identifiable information using industry standard physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to secure such personal information against foreseeable risks such as unauthorized use, access, disclosure, destruction, and modification. Such security safeguards include use of encryption, password protection and Quintiles user authenticated access rights. While we will use reasonable efforts to create a secure, safe and reliable Website, the confidentiality of any communication or material transmitted to or from the Website over the Internet cannot be guaranteed.

In addition to this Website privacy policy, we also comply with the Quintiles Corporate privacy policy statement available at http://www.quintiles.com/privacy/privacy-policy-statement/.

The security of your personal information is, in part, your responsibility. When you register through the Website, you should select passwords that are hard to guess and you must keep your passwords private. You should not share your password with anyone and should not store it in an unprotected format, such as taped to your computer or saved in your email. Use of the Internet, including the Website, is completely at your own risk and is subject to all laws and regulations that apply as well as this Website’s Terms and Conditions of Use. While we will use reasonable efforts to create a secure, safe and reliable Website, the confidentiality of any communication or data sent to or from the Website over the Internet cannot be guaranteed.

Our Commitment to Children's Privacy

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, we do not receive or keep information on our Website from people we know are under 13 years of age, unless the information is provided by a parent or guardian that creates a registration on behalf of their child. If you are a parent or guardian of a child under 13 years old and believe that we may have mistakenly received information about your child, please contact us using the details provided below.

Access, Correction, Deletion and Removal of Personal Information

Users may access, correct or delete the personal information they provided to Quintiles through the Website which is found to be inaccurate or incomplete or request the removal of their personal information at any time by emailing Quintiles at DigitalPatient@quintiles.com. We will respond to users by email within ten (10) business days.

Non-identifiable information in our aggregate database will not be deleted. Like all responsible websites, Quintiles maintains backup files as a protection against natural disasters, equipment failures, or other disruptions. Backup files protect you and us because they lessen the risk of loss of valuable data. Removing a record from our principal files does not remove that record from any of the backup systems. It may take up to six months before all information in a backup record is completely erased through the normal recycling of backup files. In the meantime, as long as backup records exist, they receive the same privacy and security protections as our other records.

You can print a copy of your information at any time by logging into your profile. Or instead, you can ask us to provide you with information about and copies of your personal information that we keep. Please note that your right to ask for this information is not automatic and may be subject to a fee, to the extent allowed by the law.

You can contact the Quintiles Privacy Office by sending a letter to the mailing address or email address listed below. Please include your contact information, name of the Quintiles Website or service at issue, and a detailed description of your request or privacy concern.

Quintiles
ATTN: Privacy Office
4820 Emperor Blvd
Durham, NC 27703
Data.protection@quintiles.com

Your Choices

  • You can always choose not to provide information, even though it might be needed to register, to create a profile and to receive the Services.
  • If you do not want to receive email or other services from us, you can choose not to register or to unsubscribe.
  • If you receive email and do not want to receive email any longer, you can use the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. When you choose to unsubscribe, your registration will be canceled and you will no longer be able to use your profile to access or receive any information or Services.
  • We suggest that you accept cookies, but if you disagree, please visit the Help feature on your Internet browser which can tell you (1) how to prevent your Internet browser from accepting new cookies, (2) how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or (3) how to disable cookies altogether. It is very important that you understand that if you block or otherwise reject our cookies, you will not be able to use any of the Services that require you to sign in.

Links To Other Web Sites

Our Website may contain links to other websites. You should carefully review the privacy policies and practices of any other website, as we cannot control or be responsible for those websites’ privacy policies or practices. For Quintiles web properties which our Website links to, please review those privacy terms as well, as they may differ from those on this Website.

Notification Of Changes

As we provide more information and services on our Website, change our privacy practices, and as privacy laws and regulations change, we may need to revise or update our Privacy Notice from time to time. We will always change the “last updated” date on the Privacy Notice to reflect when it was last revised. If we make a meaningful change to the Privacy Notice we will inform you here, by email or by means of a notice on our Website home page. However, we will always continue to protect your personal information according to the law and as described by our current Privacy Notice.

This privacy notice was last updated December 2013.


iGuard Inc.
4820 Emperor Blvd.
Durham, NC 27703 USA