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Privacy Policy Notice

Last updated 04/10/2024

PRIVACY NOTICE AND INFORMED CONSENT NOTICE

This Notice explains how we obtain, use, and disclose your personal information in accordance with the applicable laws. We at Cognician respect your privacy and your rights in relation to the protection of the personal data we collect and process.

When we refer to 'Cognician', we mean Cognician Inc. including its associated and subsidiary companies.

If you have any inquiries about this Privacy Policy, please email our Data Protection Officer, also known as Information Officer, at dpo@cognician.com.

The Personal Data We Collect

Looking after your personal data is a huge responsibility for us. We will continue to do our best to protect your personal data as best we can and be transparent about what data we collect and why we collect it. We do not, and never will, engage in practices such as benefiting from selling your personal information to third parties.

A Look at the Use of Your Personal Data

The User

We need to collect your personal data when you interact with certain components of our website and platform. This enables us to deliver certain products to you on the basis of your full consent. The main interface through which this activity takes place is called a 'cog', which is short for 'coaching guide'. Cogs are short, bite-sized digital learning experiences that are designed to coach the user through a single cohesive idea, model, process, activity, or skill.

The Client

As part of any agreed scope of work with our clients, services could include activities such as program reporting (e.g. participation and completion statistics, aggregated results reporting at a group level, and content of specific text responses in an aggregated way).

We Collect Your Personal Data for Specific Purposes

For which purposes and on which legal basis do we use your personal data?

  • During the registration of new users through our website or platform
  • To enable us to provide programs to registered users as part of the product offering
  • Servicing and meeting our obligations in relation to client expectations and agreed services
  • For general statistical purposes and support of operating the underlying platform
  • In support of the overall user experience, including technical and product support
  • For general communications with you as the user

We Collect Both Personal and Non-Personal Data

This includes:

  • Contact information (e.g. name, surname, email address).
  • Unique identifiers (e.g. nickname and password).
  • User data generated by you on the Cognician platform and referred to as engagements, such as user activity, program activity, and cog activity. This data is typically used for program reporting purposes in a non-aggregated and non-anonymized way and could include personal identifiable information (PII) such as your registered email address.
  • Content data – that is, individual expressions that refer to the responses of a participant in a particular program (e.g. a user's responses to prompts in cogs, which can include perspectives, observations,  frames of reference, opinions, and so on). This data will by default always be presented in an aggregated and anonymized manner when shared. Should clients want access to any responses with PII included for a specific program as an exception, then this would be flagged to the user in the cogs themselves at the point where the response is requested.
  • Public data that is designed to be shared within specific program groups but still optional, (e.g. user insights, user awards, and so on). In these cases, it will be made clear that you are sharing something that will be seen by other program participants because sharing insights does include PII such as your name.
  • Diagnostics data related to user-linked system characteristics (e.g. user messages sent or received, point-in-time active user sessions, and so on).
  • Functional data that is necessary for us to ensure that our products function as intended in terms of performance and functionality.
  • Location identifiers such as geolocation data may be collected by our third-party service providers for analysis purposes.

How We Store Your Data

Our Company securely stores your data in AWS data centers located in the EU Ireland Region. 

Retention of Your Personal Data

Cognician will retain Your Personal Data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy. We will retain and use Your Personal Data to the extent necessary to comply with our legal obligations (for example, if we are required to retain your data to comply with applicable laws), resolve disputes, and enforce our legal agreements and policies.

Our Data Protection Officer

We have appointed a Data Protection Officer (DPO) in compliance with the GDPR. The DPO is formally responsible for data protection and ensuring compliance with GDPR requirements. You can reach our company DPO at dpo@cognician.com.

Keeping Your Data Secure

We do our best to secure your personal data and to protect your information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. 

While handling your personal data, we ensure that the appropriate security measures are in place and international standards are followed to protect the security of your personal data when transferred or when stored.

The Right of Individuals to Access Their Personal Data

Your Data Protection Rights

If you are a resident of South Africa, the EEA, or the UK, you have the following data protection rights:

  • You can request access, correction, updates, or deletion of your personal data at any time.
  • You can object to the processing of your personal data, ask us to restrict the processing of your personal data, or request portability of your personal data.
  • If we have collected and processed your personal data with your consent, then you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your personal information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.
  • You can complain to a data protection authority (DPA) about our collection and use of your personal information. Contact details for data protection authorities in the EEA and the UK are available here.

To object to our processing of your personal data or to exercise any of your rights, you can simply submit a request to our Data Protection Officer at dpo@cognician.com.

Unsubscribe From Cognician's Communications 

You may unsubscribe from our marketing communications by clicking the 'unsubscribe' link located at the bottom of our emails and updating your communication preferences. You can also contact our Data Protection Officer at dpo@cognician.com.

Sharing Your Information with Third Parties

The personal data we collect might be disclosed to service providers, subsidiaries, affiliates and/or trusted parties, law enforcement, or at corporate events. Details are provided below.

Service Providers
  • These are suppliers engaged by us that provide services on our behalf in support of providing products or services to you.
  • Information about our sub-processors, including their functions and locations, is available here.
Subsidiaries, Affiliates, and/or Trusted Partners
  • Your personal data may be shared as part of and in support of the operation of our business, such as contacting you based on your request to receive such communications.
Law Enforcement
  • Your personal data may be shared with any competent law enforcement body, regulatory body, government agency, court, or other third party where we believe disclosure is necessary (a) as a matter of applicable law or regulation, (b) to exercise, establish, or defend our legal rights, or (c) to protect your vital interests or those of any other person.
Corporate Events
  • We may share and/or transfer your personal information if we become involved in a merger, acquisition, bankruptcy, or any form of sale of some or all of our assets.

What are your rights regarding marketing communications?

You can exercise your right to prevent marketing communications to you by checking certain boxes on the forms we use to collect your consent and personal data. In such cases, we will retain minimum personal data to note that you opted out in order to avoid contacting you again.

What choices and means do we offer for limiting the use and disclosure of your personal data?

 You can utilize the opt-out mechanisms we provide within our platform and on the forms we use to collect your consent to limit the use and disclosure of your personal data.

International Transfer of Your Personal Data

We will not transfer your personal data to organizations, states, or countries that do not have adequate data protection measures in place. To facilitate our global operations, we transfer information to either Ireland, UK or the United States and allow access to that information from countries in which the Cognician-affiliated entities have operations for the purposes described in this policy. Certain recipients (sub-processors) (i.e. our suppliers who process your personal data on our behalf) may also transfer personal data outside the country in which you are a resident. Where such transfers occur, we will protect your personal data when it is transferred outside of the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland by processing it in a territory which the European Commission has determined provides an adequate level of protection for personal data, or otherwise ensuring appropriate safeguards are in place to protect your personal data.

Legal Mechanism for Transfers

For transfers of your personal data to recipients (sub-processors) who are located outside of the EEA, the UK, or Switzerland, we will rely on:

  • European Commission-approved standard contractual data protection clauses, and/or
  • Binding corporate rules for transfers to data processors,
  • EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles,
  • Other appropriate legal mechanisms to safeguard the transfer.

Requirements for Sub-Processor Engagement

When engaging any sub-processor, we will:

  • Ensure via a written contract that the sub-processor only accesses and uses your personal data to the extent required to perform the obligations subcontracted to it, and does so in accordance with the Agreement and any Model Contract Clauses entered into or Alternative Transfer Solution adopted by us;
  • Ensure that the data protection obligations described in Article 28(3) of the GDPR are imposed on the sub-processor if the GDPR applies to the processing of your personal data; and
  • Remain fully liable for all obligations subcontracted to, and all acts and omissions of, the sub-processor.

EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF 

Cognician Inc. complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Cognician 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 Principles and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles.  If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern.  To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework Principles (DPF Principles) Program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/ 

Regulatory Authority 

The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over Cognician’s compliance with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles. 

Dispute Resolution 

In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles, Cognician commits to:

  • Cooperate and comply respectively with the advice of the panel established by the EU data protection authorities (DPAs) and the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) with regard to unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles. 
  • Resolve DPF Principles-related complaints about our collection and use of your personal information. EU and UK individuals with inquiries or complaints regarding our handling of personal data received in reliance on the (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF Principles should first contact Cognician at: dpo@cognician.com. 
  • In addition, and as described in the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF principles, you also have the option of invoking binding arbitration after other dispute resolution procedures have been exhausted. 

Cookies and Similar Technologies

Cookies

Cookies are small text files that are stored in the web browser on your device by websites you visit. They enable a website to 'remember' information about your activity as a user and also serve a number of purposes, like storing your preferences and simplifying navigation and login functionality.

Cognician and our partners use cookies and similar technologies to:

  • Manage communication and support requests
  • Identify that you have logged in
  • Analyze trends
  • Administer the website
  • Track users' movements on the website
  • Gather demographic information about our user base as a whole
  • Give us a better understanding of how you interact with our products and services

Website Contacts Tracking

In order for us to obtain business-to-business contact information, we subscribe to a service that recognizes companies visiting our website and then matches this information to these companies. Data of individuals are not recognized or matched as part of this service.

Information collected includes:

  • Email address
  • Public social media handles, links, and profile photos
  • Employer
  • Job titles

The use of this service is subject to Leadfeeder's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Click here for more specific information about the website visitor tracker.

A Note on Web Analytics

We implement Google Analytics features that use Display Advertising information for Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. We collect information about how you interact with our platform and services on our website. You can opt out of Google Analytics for Display Advertising to prevent your data from being used by Google Analytics by going to the Google Analytics opt-out page.

Google reCAPTCHA v3

reCAPTCHA v3 is a security service that we have implemented on our website as a way to establish whether the data entered on our website has been entered by a human or by a bot. This helps us to protect our website against spam, fraud, abuse, and automated extraction of data. Your use of reCAPTCHA v3 is subject to Google's Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Click here for more information about Google reCAPTCHA v3.