Services Web Sites Covered
This policy describes what information may be collected about you when you use the services made available through ealgorithms.com (as defined below), how this information may be used, how you can control how your information is used and what precautions are taken against unauthorized access or use of your information. The services made available through the ealgorithms.com may be provided in a variety of mediums and devices now known or hereinafter developed including mobile applications, and include without limitation news, reference tools and applications, sponsored programming, personalized content, continuing medical education, communication tools, case consult, live lectures and discussion boards (collectively, the “Services”). We are not responsible for how other websites treat your privacy once you leave one of our websites.
Privacy Policy Changes
As this Privacy Policy changes in significant ways, we will take steps to inform you of the changes. Minor changes to this Privacy Policy may occur that will not significantly affect the ways in which we each use your personally identifiable information. In these instances, we may not inform you of such minor changes. When this Privacy Policy changes in a way that significantly affects the way we handle personal information, we will not apply the new Policy to information we have previously collected from you without giving you a choice as to whether or not we can apply the new Policy to your information going forward.
Information We Collect
In this section of our Privacy Policy, we discuss the different types of information that we may collect about you, and the ways in which such information may be collected.
Information We Collect from Unregistered Visitors
You must register to access all of the Services, however, you may be able to access certain limited areas of the Services without disclosing any personally identifiable information. We collect non-personally identifiable information (i.e., information that is not traced back to any individual and is not used on its own to identify an individual) about your use of the Services through the use of cookies, even if you have not registered, including the referring website, if applicable, the type of browser you use, and the time and date that you accessed the Services. The section of this Privacy Policy entitled “Cookies and Web Beacons,” below, further describes how we use cookies and how you can limit our use of cookies.
Information We Collect When You Register
When you register for the Services, you are asked to provide identifying information such as your name, e-mail address, zip code, and other professional information (e.g., degree). You will also be given a choice about whether or not you want to receive newsletters and other information sent to registered users from time to time. If you are required to provide additional personally identifiable information to access a particular component of the Services, or if we would like to use personally identifiable information that you have previously provided in a manner not otherwise permitted under this Privacy Policy, we will explain how we intend to use such personally identifiable information at the time of collection and will require your consent at that time to any such collection and use.
Continuing Medical Education
When you participate in a Continuing Medical Education (CME) or a Continuing Education (CE) activity through the Services, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information such as your name and mailing address. In addition to personally identifiable information, aggregated non-personally identifiable information about the activities undertaken by CME/CE participants is recorded. Information that you provide in connection with your participation in CME/CE activities, either when registering or requesting credit, may be used to submit to supporters of CME/CE activities. Supporters will receive only aggregated data about CME/CE activities that they support.
The Lecturepad editorial staff has access to files containing personally identifiable information, including evaluation forms and aggregated CME /CE participant information. These files can be accessed in order to respond to your questions or comments. Lecturepad may also use personally identifiable information, including registration information and evaluation data, in assessing educational needs and evaluating its education activities.
Information from Outside Sources
We may collect additional information about registered users from third party sources to assist us in providing the Services. For example, we use such information to verify and update registration information and confirm licensure status.
Other Information
- Discussion Boards: When you post a message to a discussion board, your basic profile will be available for all registered users to see. This basic profile consists of your name, specialty and geographic information. You may, at your option, choose to display additional information in your profile. You should not post any information about you or any other person (including any patient) to a discussion board or other public forum if you want to keep such information private or you are required by law to keep such information private. Information you post to discussion boards is considered public information and may be used by us and third parties.
- Tools: Clinical tools may be available through the Services. These tools may require you to provide information for the tools to operate. These tools may store information that you provide on our servers.
- Additional Forms and Emails: We may also ask you to provide additional information after you register if you want to obtain additional services or information or to resolve complaints or concerns.
- Market Research: From time to time, you may be invited to participate in a sponsored or unsponsored market research survey through an email invitation, on-site pop-up or some other means. The survey may be administered by one of our companies or a third party market research company. When participating in such a survey, in addition to providing your responses to the survey questions you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information that may be combined with information that you have already provided at registration or that we have received from third party sources, as described in this Privacy Policy. The section of this Privacy Policy entitled “Uses and Disclosures We Make of Your Information,” below, describes how we use and disclose information about your participation in market research surveys offered through the Services.
Use of Cookies and Web Beacons
We collect non-personally identifiable information about your use of the Services through the use of cookies. A cookie is a small data file that your browser allows us to place on your hard drive so we can associate you with the device you are using. We may assign cookies to devices that accesses the Services to: (i) track usage across Lecturepad sites; (ii) help us dynamically generate advertising and content to users of the Services; and (iii) assess which Professional Site pages and Services you access. If you are a registered user of Lecturepad, we may elect to associate your registration information with our cookies. Associating a cookie with your registration data allows us to provide more customized content, including advertisements, and enhance personalization and functionality of the Services. As discussed below, when you download and install Lecturepad Mobile onto your mobile device, we assign a random number to your installation, and that random number is used in a manner similar to our use of cookies.
Most browser software can be set to reject all cookies. If your browser is set to reject cookies, websites that are cookie-enabled will not recognize you when you return to the website, and some website functionality may be lost. The Help section of your browser will tell you about your options for managing your cookies.
We may use web beacons and cookies to serve you targeted advertisements when you visit other websites owned and operated by Lecturepad. We may also use web beacons to track who has opened our emails. Web beacons are tiny graphic image files, embedded in a website page that notify the home server (which can belong to the host website, a network advertiser, or some other third party) on a non-personally identifiable basis that some interaction has taken place. This notice may also result in a cookie being set on your device, as described above.
Mobile Device Application
When you download and install Lecturepad Mobile onto your mobile device, we assign a random number to your installation. We cannot use this number to identify you personally, and we cannot identify you personally unless you choose to become a registered user of Lecturepad Mobile. We use this random number in a manner similar to our use of cookies as described in this Privacy Policy. Unlike cookies, the random number is assigned to your installation of Lecturepad Mobile itself and not a browser, because Lecturepad Mobile does not work through your browser. Therefore the random number cannot be removed through your device settings. If you do not want us to use the random number for purposes similar to the purposes for which we use cookies, as described in this Privacy Policy, please do not use Lecturepad Mobile. Also, if you do become a registered user of Lecturepad Mobile, we will use your registration information as described in this Privacy Policy to provide the Services to you through Lecturepad Mobile. We do not obtain any information about your mobile device (through the random number, your registration information or otherwise) other than its brand, make and model and the type of operating software that it uses.
Children’s Privacy
We are committed to protecting the privacy of children. The site is designed and intended for use by adults, and are not intended for, nor designed to be used by children under the age of 18. We do not collect personally identifiable information from any person we know is under the age of 18.
Uses and Disclosures We Make of Information
In this section of our Privacy Policy, we identify the ways we may use information about you that we have collected. In general, the personally identifiable information that you provide in connection with the Services will be used to provide the services you have requested or authorized.
Aggregate Data
We create aggregate data about users of our Services for product development and improvement activities. We also use it for market analysis. We may provide information about users of our Services in aggregate form to third parties. For example, Lecturepad may tell a client what percentage of registered users of the Lecturepad Network reside in a particular geographical area or specialize in a particular clinical area, or what percentage of participants in a market research survey selected a particular response to a survey question. When aggregated information is provided to a third party, it is pooled with many individual records and stripped of any data that could be used to identify an individual. Any third party that receives aggregated information must agree not to attempt to re-identify the people it belongs to. Depending on our agreement with the third party, we may or may not charge for this information.
Marketing and Advertising
Lecturepad may target its advertising and marketing (e.g., through e-mail and on-site communications) based on information that you provide when you register for the Services and information that it receives from third party sources. For example, a user that Lecturepad knows is a cardiologist may be served cardiology-related advertisements on both Lecturepad-owned and third party websites that a neurologist will not see, or a user that Lecturepad knows is a healthcare professional who treats diabetes may be served advertisements for new diabetes therapies that other users would not see (although in neither case will the advertiser have access to any personally identifiable information about you). Lecturepad serves these ads through the use of cookies and web beacons, as described above. Additionally, Lecturepad may geographically target its advertising to registered and unregistered users based on IP address.
Lecturepad may also personalize the Services and the advertising that registered users see on the Lecturepad Sites based on their interests. For example, you may see different articles and advertisements in different places on ealgorithms.com based on information you have shared with Lecturepad such as your specialty, information that Lecturepad has obtained by observing your previous activity within the Lecturepad Network, or information that Lecturepad has received from third party sources, as described in this Privacy Policy.
Third Parties
In addition to aggregate information (discussed previously), we each may each share some kinds of personally identifiable information with third parties as described below.
- Other Companies: We have strategic relationships with other companies who offer products and services through the Services. When you are interacting with one of these companies, a different privacy policy may apply and will be presented to you at such time.
- Companies and People Who Work for Us: We each contract with other companies and individuals to help us provide our respective services. For example, we may host some of our Professional Sites on another company’s computers, hire technical consultants to maintain any Web-based clinical tools, work with companies to remove repetitive information from customer lists, analyze data, provide marketing assistance (including assisting us in targeting our advertisements as described herein), or provide customer service or fulfillment services. In addition, if you are a healthcare professional, we may request that a third party validate your licensure status and other information against available databases of healthcare professionals. In order to provide these services, these other companies may have limited access to some of the personally identifiable information we maintain about users of our Services. We require all such companies to comply with the terms of this Privacy Policy, to limit their access to any personal information to the minimum necessary to perform their obligations, and not to use the information they may access for purposes other than fulfilling their responsibilities to us.
- Market Research: From time to time, we may invite you to participate in sponsored or unsponsored market research surveys as further described above. We may provide aggregate information from the survey results to third parties including the survey sponsor, if applicable. If you receive remuneration for participating in a sponsored survey, we may be required to provide the sponsor with personally identifiable information about you for its recordkeeping and regulatory reporting purposes. We will not provide any sponsor with your survey responses on an identifiable basis unless we obtain your consent prior to your participation in the survey. If you participate in a survey administered by a third party market research company, this company may identify you when you participate in the survey. We require these companies to agree that they will not provide the survey sponsor with personally identifiable information about you based on your participation in the survey, nor will they market to you based on such participation.
- Sponsored Programs: From time to time, we may offer you the opportunity to engage in industry-sponsored informational programs consisting of sponsor-selected materials Examples of Sponsored Programs include custom-developed on-site information resources featuring branded or unbranded commercial content, interactive programs that provide information about medical conditions, treatments and products, multi-media presentations including video featuring a key opinion leader and safety and regulatory information resources. Other types of Sponsored Programs that may be made available to you through the Services are product-related emails and on-site and email newsletter media units and modules, all of which will be identified as described above. When you choose to engage in a Sponsored Program, you may be asked to provide personally identifiable information (e.g., postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.) which may be used to supplement information about you that we have already received during member registration. In addition, we may collect information in connection with a transaction that you have requested (e.g., sample request, sales rep visit, etc.), responses to Sponsored Program questions, and/or gift requests and issuance. Even if you do not provide us with personally identifiable information, we collect non-personally identifiable information about your use of Sponsored Programs through cookies and web beacons, as described above. The personally identifiable information that you provide when you engage in a Sponsored Program will be used to provide the services you have requested or authorized, respond to your questions, provide you the specific services you select and to send you emails about new programs and selected information from our sponsors as it relates to your specialty or area of clinical practice. You may also receive invitations to engage in other Sponsored Programs from the same sponsor. If you engage in a Sponsored Program, e.g., access a sponsored information resource or video presentation, open a Sponsored Program e-mail, or interact with a Sponsored Program advertising module, we may identify you by name to the sponsor of the Sponsored Program and/or its agent(s) on the sponsor’s behalf. We may also provide the sponsor with your specialty and country where you reside, based on your registration profile. You should read the privacy policy of the applicable sponsor and familiarize yourself with how such sponsor will treat your information. We are not responsible for how the sponsor and its agents use your information and manage your privacy. Further, we may use non-personally identifiable information for research purposes, and we may provide this information in the aggregate to third parties. For example, we might inform third parties regarding the number of users of a Sponsored Program and the activities they conduct while engaged in the Program.
- Business Transfers: If one of us transfers a business unit (such as a subsidiary) or an asset (such as a website) to another company, that company will be required to honor the applicable terms of this Privacy Policy.
- Legal Requirements: We may release account and other personally identifiable information when we believe release (1) is required to comply with valid legal requirements such as a law, regulation, search warrant, subpoena or court order; or (2) is reasonable in response to a physical threat to you or others, to protect property or defend or assert legal rights. In the event that we are legally compelled to disclose your personally identifiable information to a third party, we will attempt to notify you unless doing so would violate the law, court order or government instruction.
- Consent: We may release personally identifiable information to a third party in accordance with your consent, subject to the purposes and limits that we disclose when we request your consent. For example, when you choose to participate in a Sponsored Program, we will provide certain personally identifiable information to the sponsor of such program, as further described above.
If we discover that a third party inadvertently disclosed personally identifiable information about any of our users, we will take immediate action to prevent further occurrences.
Security of Information
In this section of our Privacy Policy, we discuss the security measures we take to protect information that we have collected about you.
General Policies
We have implemented technology and security policies, rules and other measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control from unauthorized access, improper use, alteration, unlawful or accidental destruction, and accidental loss. We also protect your information by requiring that all our employees and others who have access to or are associated with the processing of your data respect your confidentiality.
We use security methods to determine the identity of registered users, so that appropriate rights and restrictions can be enforced for that user. Reliable verification of user identity is called authentication. We use both passwords and usernames to authenticate users. Users are responsible for maintaining their own passwords.
Employees
Employees are required to keep your information private, as a condition of their employment with us. Only selected, authorized employees are permitted to access health information.
All employees and contractors must abide by our Privacy Policy, and those who violate that policy are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of their employment and legal action.
Access to Information and Choices
In this section of this Privacy Policy, we tell you how to obtain and correct information we have about you, and how to choose what types of information you may share with us.
Correction of Information We Have About You
If you believe that there are errors in the registration information associated with your account, you may edit your personal profile any time that you like. You can directly edit your user profile on the Professional Site on which you initially registered. Requests for deletion of your record may result in your removal from the registry, but we may keep certain demographic information about you for product improvement purposes. You may contact Customer Support and ask for the changes that you would like to make.
Data Transfer
Lecturepad is based in the United States. We may store, process and/or transfer personal data that we collect in connection with your use of the Services to countries outside of the European Economic Area (EEA). This means that your personally identifiable information may be transferred to, processed and held both inside and outside the EEA. By using the Services, you consent to our transferring your information to countries outside the EEA, if necessary, for our legitimate business purposes. We will take reasonable steps to ensure your information is adequately protected.
Privacy Questions or Concerns
For privacy questions or concerns about one of our Web sites or Services, please contact info@ealgorithms.com
Our terms of use agreements can be found on ealgorithms.com
Effective date: January 2, 2013