Foreword
Due to the use of the android.permission.RECORD_AUDIO app permission, Google requires a privacy policy to be posted pertaining to the app. This is reasonable from their point of view as a simple heuristic to see when people might be taking sensitive data from users with their apps. It is important to note that for the use of the app with this project, the app is not recording audio, but rather this permission is needed to be able to allow audio signals to be captured for measurement. There is no personally identifiable data taken according to GDPR.
Data that is captured
The app creates a CSV file with the listening habits and volume levels of the user and the answers to the initial questionnaire. This is anonymous, and can’t be traced back to any single user. For clarity, the full data that is captured comprises the following:
- User age
- User Gender
- Email address
- User headphone type
- Youth attitude to noise scale results (19 questions, 1-5)
- Time-stamped events (Music start, stop, volume change)
- Time-stamped volume levels
Privacy Policy
PRIVACY NOTICE
Last updated April 08, 2020
Thank you for choosing to be part of my research (Lee Davison) (“Company”, “we”, “us”, or “our”). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about our notice, or our practices with regards to your personal information, please contact us at Lee.davison@solent.ac.uk.
When you visit our mobile application and use our services, you trust us with your personal information. We take your privacy very seriously. In this privacy notice, we seek to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it and what rights you have in relation to it. We hope you take some time to read through it carefully, as it is important. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Apps and our services.
This privacy notice applies to all information collected through our mobile application, (“Apps“), and/or any related services, sales, marketing or events (we refer to them collectively in this privacy notice as the “Services“).
Please read this privacy notice carefully as it will help you make informed decisions about sharing your personal information with us.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
2. WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?
3. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
4. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?
5. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?
6. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES
7. DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?
8. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS POLICY?
9. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS POLICY?
1. WHAT INFORMATION DO WE COLLECT?
Information automatically collected
In Short: Some information — such as IP address and/or browser and device characteristics — is collected automatically when you visit our Apps.
We automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the Apps. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our Apps and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Apps, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.
Information collected through our Apps
In Short: We may collect information regarding your push notifications, when you use our apps.If you use our Apps, we may also collect the following information:
Push Notifications. We may request to send you push notifications regarding your account or the mobile application. If you wish to opt-out from receiving these types of communications, you may turn them off in your device’s settings.
2. WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE?
In Short: We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations.We may process or share data based on the following legal basis:
- Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information in a specific purpose.
- Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.
- Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfil the terms of our contract.
- Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal processes, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).
- Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.
More specifically, we may need to process your data or share your personal information in the following situations:
- Vendors, Consultants and Other Third-Party Service Providers. We may share your data with third-party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform services for us or on our behalf and require access to such information to do that work. Examples include; payment processing, data analysis, email delivery, hosting services, customer service and marketing efforts. We may allow selected third parties to use tracking technology on the Apps, which will enable them to collect data about how you interact with the Apps over time. This information may be used to, among other things, analyze and track data, determine the popularity of certain content and better understand online activity. Unless described in this Policy, we do not share, sell, rent or trade any of your information with third parties for their promotional purposes.
- Business Transfers. We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.
- Third-Party Advertisers. We may use third-party advertising companies to serve ads when you visit the Apps. These companies may use information about your visits to our Website(s) and other websites that are contained in web cookies and other tracking technologies in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you.
3. HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION?
In Short: We keep your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this privacy notice unless otherwise required by law.
We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting or other legal requirements). No purpose in this policy will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 2 years.
When we have no ongoing legitimate business need to process your personal information, we will either delete or anonymize it, or, if this is not possible (for example, because your personal information has been stored in backup archives), then we will securely store your personal information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is possible.
4. HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE?
In Short: We aim to protect your personal information through a system of organizational and technical security measures.
We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, please also remember that we cannot guarantee that the internet itself is 100% secure. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, the transmission of personal information to and from our Apps is at your own risk. You should only access the services within a secure environment.
5. WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?
In Short: In some regions, such as the European Economic Area, you have rights that allow you greater access to and control over your personal information. You may review, change, or terminate your account at any time.
In some regions (like the European Economic Area), you have certain rights under applicable data protection laws. These may include the right (i) to request access and obtain a copy of your personal information, (ii) to request rectification or erasure; (iii) to restrict the processing of your personal information; and (iv) if applicable, to data portability. In certain circumstances, you may also have the right to object to the processing of your personal information. To make such a request, please use the contact details provided below. We will consider and act upon any request in accordance with applicable data protection laws.
If we are relying on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. Please note however that this will not affect the lawfulness of the processing before its withdrawal.
If you are resident in the European Economic Area and you believe we are unlawfully processing your personal information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. You can find their contact details here: http://ec.europa.eu/justice/data-protection/bodies/authorities/index_en.htm.
6. CONTROLS FOR DO-NOT-TRACK FEATURES
Most web browsers and some mobile operating systems and mobile applications include a Do-Not-Track (“DNT”) feature or setting you can activate to signal your privacy preference not to have data about your online browsing activities monitored and collected. No uniform technology standard for recognizing and implementing DNT signals has been finalized. As such, we do not currently respond to DNT browser signals or any other mechanism that automatically communicates your choice not to be tracked online. If a standard for online tracking is adopted that we must follow in the future, we will inform you about that practice in a revised version of this privacy notice.
7. DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?
In Short: Yes, if you are a resident of California, you are granted specific rights regarding access to your personal information.
California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the “Shine The Light” law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please submit your request in writing to us using the contact information provided below.
If you are under 18 years of age, reside in California, and have a registered account with the Apps, you have the right to request removal of unwanted data that you publicly post on the Apps. To request removal of such data, please contact us using the contact information provided below, and include the email address associated with your account and a statement that you reside in California. We will make sure the data is not publicly displayed on the Apps, but please be aware that the data may not be completely or comprehensively removed from our systems.
8. DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS POLICY?
In Short: Yes, we will update this policy as necessary to stay compliant with relevant laws.
We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated “Revised” date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.
9. HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS POLICY?
If you have questions or comments about this policy, you may contact our Data Protection Officer (DPO), Lee Davison, by email at lee.davison@solent.ac.uk, or by post to: Lee Davison, Solent University, East Park Terrace, Southampton, SO14 0YN, United Kingdom.
HOW CAN YOU REVIEW, UPDATE, OR DELETE THE DATA WE COLLECT FROM YOU? Based on the laws of some countries, you may have the right to request access to the personal information we collect from you, change that information, or delete it in some circumstances. To request to review, update, or delete your personal information, please submit an email to Lee.Davison@solent.ac.uk. We will respond to your request within 30 days.