BigPulse Privacy Policy
Last Updated 26th September 2023
Service Description and Definitions
Ownership of Data Harvested
Server Locations
Personal Data
Access to and Changing your Personal Data
Retention and deleting of your Personal Data
Emails
Vote Secrecy
Security
Data Privacy Framework
Cookies and Tracking Technologies
Client Testimonials
Log Files
Sharing
Links
Unsubscribe
Notification of Changes
Contact Information
Service Description and Definitions
The term “Personal Data” means any information or opinion in any recorded format about an individual whose identity is apparent or is reasonably ascertainable from the information or opinion and who is alive or has not been dead for more than 30 years means any information or opinion in any recorded format about an individual whose identity is apparent or is reasonably ascertainable from the information or opinion and who is alive or has not been dead for more than 30 years. This privacy statement describes how BigPulse Inc., BigPulse Voting Pty Ltd, JustIssues Pty Ltd and BigPulse Europe Ltd, collectively known as “BigPulse”, collects and uses the personally identifiable information (“Personal Data”) you provide on our website: www.bigpulse.com (“Website”) and through any of the services which are part of the BigPulse platform. It also describes the choices available to you regarding our use of your Personal Data and how you can access and update this information.
The BigPulse technology includes a web-based poll and online election administration service accessed through the BigPulse Poll Manager (“BigPulse Poll Manager” or “Poll Manager”) link on the home page of this site as well as related dashboard technologies. Our clients (“Clients” or “Client”) use the BigPulse Poll Manager to create and manage their polls (“Self-Managed Service”) or invite BigPulse to use the Poll Manager to create and manage their polls (“Smart-Managed Service”).
In this document “BigPulse Service” or “Service” can mean the Self-Managed Service or Smart-Managed Service and “Platform” can mean any of the BigPulse technologies includinge the publicly visible webpages. The term “Polls” can mean Client Polls or polls initiated and operated by BigPulse only (“BigPulse Polls”). The term “End Users” means a Client’s end users. The term “Visitor” means anyone who accesses or visits the Website or Platform, not restricted to only Clients and End Users. Typically, Clients appoint Client-side managers to assist in the management of their Polls, referred to as the “Client Support Team”. The use of information collected through our Service or Platform shall be limited to the purpose of providing the service for which the Client has engaged BigPulse.
BigPulse collects information under the direction of its Clients, and has no direct relationship with the individuals whose personal data it processes. The data harvested by a Client Poll from the Client’s End Users is owned by the Client, the organization promoting the Poll. The Client has access to this harvested data. For Polls which are not conducted under the “A0” or “A1” anonymity standard, the Client will be provided the selections made by each participant in a submitted ballot (“voting record”), on an identified basis.
For Polls which are conducted under the “A0” or “A1” anonymity standard, BigPulse will not disclose (and the Client will not receive) voting records of any participant, only the anonymous results, except in the case of anonymous Polls (defined by “A0” or “A1” anonymity standard), BigPulse will not disclose information about the voting record of End Users where “voting record” means the actual selections recorded with the submitted ballot . Sometimes BigPulse promotes its own polls, BigPulse Polls, and in this case BigPulse is the sole owner of the information harvested by the Poll. In both cases, Client Polls and BigPulse Polls, BigPulse will not sell, share, or rent this information to others in ways different from what is disclosed in this privacy statement.
If you are a End User of one of our Clients and would no longer like to be contacted by one of our Clients that use our Service, please contact the Client that you interact with directly. We may transfer personal information to companies that help us provide our service. Transfers to subsequent third parties are covered by the service agreements with our Clients.
The Platform including all Polls are hosted on the BigPulse servers which are located in Canada and the UK.
BigPulse Inc. does not use and disclose personal information for purposes that are materially different from the purposes for which it was collected. We will share your Personal Data with third parties only in the ways that are described in this privacy statement. BigPulse Inc. will provide individuals with reasonable mechanisms to exercise their choices.
In some Polls you are required to enter some Personal Data before you can participate in the Poll. Typical Personal Data includes your name and email address and perhaps some demographic information (such as your postal code, your address or your age and gender). Some Client Polls may request other Personal Data too and this is entirely under the control of our Clients. Before completing a Poll you should consider whether you are willing to provide the requested information. You may also be required to create a sign-in name and password. BigPulse uses this information to assist in the administration of the Service only. Typically our Clients collect Personal Data for the same reason but you should check our Client’s privacy statement to be sure. If you are a candidate in a Poll your name and perhaps your candidate statement and other data including your picture may appear in the poll visible to anyone with access to the online ballot (“Candidate Personal Data”). If you are nominator, seconder, proposer or scrutineer (“Nominator”) for a Candidate in a nomination poll then your name and email address is likely to be recorded by BigPulse as data related to that Poll along with any response and comment you submitted in related to your Nominator status (“Nominator Personal Data”).
BigPulse may send Service related emails to Client Support Teams. These emails contain information relevant to the BigPulse Service and are not sent to our Clients’ End Users unless an End User is also in a Client Support Team. In the course of preparing for a Poll, Clients may upload an End User list (containing Personal Data) to the BigPulse servers, which can facilitate the conduct of that Poll by avoiding the need to request all of that information at the Poll and also assisting in the management of restricted access Polls. BigPulse may send alert emails to Candidates, Nominees and Nominators relevant to the particular Poll.
If you wish to request information, try a test vote, or request partner information we will ask for your name, organization name and email address and location. We use this information to contact you and provide information about the Services in which you have expressed interest.
If you wish to subscribe to the BigPulse Service we request certain Personal Data from you on the subscription (purchase) form. During the subscription process you are required to give contact information (such as name and email address and other details). We use some of this information in the Client Agreement to contact you about the Services on our site in which you have expressed interest or purchased. Your IP address and browser signature may also be recorded with the Agreement in order to confirm acceptance.
We may also collect credit card information from you when you subscribe to the BigPulse Service. This information may include your name, email address, home address and payment information (such as credit card number). However BigPulse does not store any credit card information as all credit card details are immediately passed to the payment gateway processing facility of IP Solutions International which shares the card details only with the banks in order to process the card. The IP Solutions International ecommerce platform processes all transactions via a secure session and has been independently verified as being Level 1 Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) secure. Clients can add members to their Client-side Support Team by entering the member’s email address and name. Client-side Support Team members can be assigned various privileges (access permissions) and these privileges may also determine which email communications they receive from BigPulse.
Personal Data is disclosed on a confidential basis to service providers, such as payment processors or mailing houses used to send paper ballots. These companies are authorized to use your Personal Data only as necessary to provide these services to us.
Otherwise, no Personal Data is shared with third parties, unless this is required by law or where we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Website or Platform. If BigPulse is involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, you will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on our Website of any change in ownership or use of your Personal Data, as well as any choices you may have regarding your Personal Data.
Access to and Changing Personal Data
BigPulse acknowledges that you have the right to access your personal information. BigPulse has no direct relationship with the individuals whose personal data it processes. BigPulse respects the rights of individuals to access data that is held about them, which is protected by law in many countries. However, where you are the End User of a Client, you can access this right by directing a request to the Client. If you wish to know if BigPulse holds any of your Personal Data and you are an End User of a Client then you will need to direct your request to that Client or Clients. Also as an End User, depending on the configuration of the Poll, often you can correct, update, amend or delete part of your Personal Data directly clicking the “My Details” link visible in the Poll. If requested to remove data we will respond within a reasonable timeframe.
Upon request BigPulse will provide you with information about whether we hold any of your personal information. If you provided BigPulse directly with your Personal Data (rather than to a Client) then you can access, correct, or request deletion of your personal information by [logging into your account] or youcontact BigPulse directly. You can contact BigPulse using the contact information listed below. We will respond to any of these requests within 30 days.
Retention and deleting of your Personal Data
We will retain your Personal Data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. We will also retain End Users’ Personal Data that we process on behalf of our Clients for as long as needed to provide services to our Client. BigPulse retains End User Personal Data for as long as the Client requests it. We will retain and use your Personal Data as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. However, in general, unless the Client has instructed otherwise, BigPulse does delete End-User Personal Data some time after 30 days from when all the Client’s Polls become inactive on the Platform. However Candidate Personal Data and Nominator Personal Data is usually not deleted, unless our Client requests that it be deleted, and is retained as part of the Poll history – except that Candidate images are usually deleted at the same time as deleting End-User Personal Data. When Personal Data is deleted, IP address and browser signature information may not be deleted but will be de-linked from any related votes and comments that were submitted. If you submitted any comments through a Poll, any Personal Data that you may have included within these comments will be retained by BigPulse.
EU and UK residents have the right to cancel any consent and ask us to delete Personal Data we hold about them. To make such a request, End Users should contact the relevant Client using contact details provided with information about that Client’s Polls. For Personal Data that you provided direct to BigPulse, please contact us using the contact details provided below. As permitted by EU and UK law we can continue to hold and process that the Personal Information as necessary to complete a purpose which was originally consented to.
We may send Client Support Team people strictly service-related announcements on rare occasions when it is necessary to do so. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance, we might send Clients an email. As an End User, after you vote you might receive a vote receipt by email. Because these service messages relate directly to the service that you use by participating in a Poll and are not promotional in nature, we do not offer any ‘opt out’ from these messages. We send service related emails such as technology upgrades to Clients and people in a Client Support Team.
The BigPulse technology includes a bulk email service and our Clients may use this service, or request BigPulse to send emails to their End Users. Typically these emails relate to vote invitations in relation to Polls however our Clients may use or request that BigPulse user this email service for other purposes connected to the Client’s relationship with End Users and governed by their own privacy statements. BigPulse does not use Client End User email addresses for any other purpose other than to send emails on behalf of Clients and emails related to their Polls. BigPulse provides Clients with an unsubscribe link that can be included in any emails which they send to End Users via the Platform but the Client is able to decide whether an unsubscribe link is included in a message.
In the lower panel of all Polls you will see one of the following messages displayed which defines the vote secrecy or transparency standard of the Poll:
- Voting is anonymous A0
- Voting is anonymous A1
- Voting is not anonymous A2
- Voting is transparent A3
Voting is anonymous A0
“A0” means a secret vote. For A0 anonymous Polls our database records your vote in a manner that is de-linked from your personal data. This means it is de-linked from the voting account you used to submit the vote. Your voting account will retain the time you submitted the vote, your IP address and browser signature. In summary, for A0 polls there is no link in the database, either direct or indirect, between your voting account and the choices you selected when submitting the vote. Your vote is immediately de-linked from your voting account as soon as it is recorded in the database. No copy of the vote receipt sent is retained. We call this absolute anonymous vote storage because no one, not even our engineers, can determine how you voted by viewing the database records. The BigPulse re-vote option cannot be used with A0 type polls.
More on A0 vote secrecy and protecting secrecy
To protect vote secrecy you need to keep your vote receipt a secret – see note 1. Your computer needs to be free of any malware that could compromise vote secrecy. Poll administrators may be able to view either the vote counts or who voted before the poll closes, but not both at the same time – see note 2. At times vote filtering can compromise anonymity protection – see note 3. See note 4 for exceptions. See note 5 for polls where voters are assigned personal vote weights.
Voting is anonymous A1
“A1” means a secret vote. “A1” means a secret vote. In summary, our database retains a record of how you voted, but that information is never made available to the Client. Unlikely A0 type polls, A1 polls retain a link in the database between your voting account and your votes. A common reason for choosing an A1, rather than A0 poll type, is to retain the option of issuing re-vote rights that allow End Users to override any unauthorized or unintended votes. A1 polls also enable unauthorized votes to be suppressed however vote suppression cannot be used without approval from BigPulse. BigPulse may accept vote suppression requests if its designated account managers are satisfied, at their own discretion, that the request is genuine.
More on A1 vote secrecy and protecting secrecy
To protect vote secrecy you need to keep your vote receipt a secret – see note 1. To protect vote secrecy it is also important to keep your sign-in credentials private and secure. Changing your BigPulse password immediately before or after voting will enhance security of vote secrecy and break any email auto sign-in links that may have been sent to you. To change your password click the My Details link in the poll. Your computer needs to be free of any malware that could compromise vote secrecy. Poll administrators may be able to view the vote counts or who voted before the poll closes, but not both at the same time – see note 2. At times vote filtering can compromise secrecy protection – see note 3. See note 4 for exceptions. See note 5 for polls where voters are assigned personal vote weights.
Voting is not anonymous A2
This means the poll administrators (and the Client) can see how you vote.
Voting is transparent A3
This means that anyone with access to the poll on the web can see how you vote, like a show of hands. If you do not want the people who can access a Poll to know how you voted, you should not vote in A3 transparent Polls.
Note 1.
To protect the secrecy of your anonymous votes it is important not to disclose your vote receipt to anyone because sometimes vote receipts codes with attached vote selections are disclosed to poll administrators, auditors or even published as part of the vote verification process.
Note 2.
Note 2. For anonymous polls (type A0 and type A1), prior to vote close and before the data is released for viewing the poll administrator may be able to view the vote counts or who has voted but not both together – depending on how the poll was configured before poll open time. Polls can also be configured to never show who voted. With A1 type polls this setting determines if poll administrators can view time stamps attached to votes. However vote recorded from A0 type polls have no time stamps attached to enhance vote secrecy protection.
Note 3.
If you vote in a poll that places people into known groupings or categories (a “Voter Category Poll”) then the poll administrators can use filtering to view the vote counts from a selected category in all the linked poll. Normally this filtering does not compromise anonymity. However in the case that everyone in your category votes the same way, or it’s known that you are the only person within a particular category, then your voting record in polls, questions or ballots linked to the Voter Category Poll can be determined by the poll administrators. However, in this case the filtered vote counts are suppressed from view if a category has only one voter in it or all voters in the category vote the same way – except this protection by suppression is overridden if you see A0f or A1f in the lower panel in the poll. Also, the vote counts can be filtered by the poll administrators using the categories in any popdown selectors seen in your “My Details” page.
Note 4.
You should never assume your vote is protected by anonymity if you vote using someone else’s voting account, whether authorized by the true account owner or not.
Note 5.
If you vote in a poll where each voter is assigned a personal vote weight and this weight is likely to be unique for some voters then you should assume that the poll administrators have the ability to determine how you voted. This is because the poll administrators will often have access to the raw vote file showing the weight attached to each vote.
The Client has ownership and access to data harvested by their Polls, except in the case of anonymous Polls (defined by “A0” or “A1” anonymity standard), BigPulse will not disclose information about the voting record of End Users where “voting record” means the actual selections recorded with the submitted ballot. However, typically the Client will still be able to determine if you voted or not in a particular Poll. In some cases Polls automatically transmit a vote receipt to the voter via email. Frequently Polls will be configured to allow the voter to control the security level of this transmission and the level of sensitive information contained in the vote receipt. However the Client is responsible for determining the particular Poll configuration used, not BigPulse.
The security of your Personal Data is important to us. BigPulse is meticulous about all aspects of security and protection of Personal Data. When Visitors and End Users submit sensitive information via the Platform it is protected securely both online and offline.
All Visitor and End User Personal Data is stored in high security environments. Only authorized employees who need the information to perform a specific task are granted access to those parts the Platform that may contain Personal Data. All BigPulse employees are kept up-to-date on our security and privacy practices. Any time new policies are added, our employees are notified and/or reminded about the importance of protection and privacy of Personal Data. The servers used to store Personal Data are kept in highly secure restricted access specialized server facilities.
When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number or email address) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information in the transfer process using reasonable security. We follow generally accepted standards to protect the Personal Data submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it.
If you have any questions about the security at our Website or Platform, please contact BigPulse and request a copy of our security document.
EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework with UK Extension
BigPulse complies with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF) and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. BigPulse 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 in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) under the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. 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 (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.
BigPulse is responsible for the processing of personal data it receives, under the DPF, and subsequently transfers to a third party acting as an agent on its behalf. BigPulse complies with the DPF Principles for all onward transfers of personal data from the EU and the UK, including the onward transfer liability provisions.
The Federal Trade Commission has jurisdiction over BigPulse’s compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. In certain situations, BigPulse may be required to disclose personal data in response to lawful requests by public authorities, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements.
In compliance with the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, BigPulse commits to refer unresolved complaints concerning our handling of personal data received in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF to TRUSTe, an alternative dispute resolution provider based in the United States. If you do not receive timely acknowledgment of your DPF Principles-related complaint from us, or if we have not addressed your DPF Principles-related complaint to your satisfaction, please visit https://feedback-form.truste.com/watchdog/request for more information or to file a complaint. These dispute resolution services are provided at no cost to you.
For complaints regarding DPF compliance not resolved by any of the other DPF mechanisms, you have the possibility, under certain conditions, to invoke binding arbitration. Further information can be found on the official DPF website.
Cookies and Tracking Technologies
BigPulse and its partners use cookies or similar technologies to analyze trends, administer the website, track users’ movements around the website, and to gather demographic information about our user base as a whole. You can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level, but if you choose to disable cookies, it may limit your use of certain features or functions on our website or service.
Normally there will not be any third party advertising on our Platform or Client Polls. However in the event that the Client specifies that third party advertising is permitted in particular Polls or anywhere on our Platform the third party partner may use Cookies or similar technologies in order to provide you advertising based upon your browsing activities and interests. If you wish to opt out of interest-based advertising here, or if located in the European Union click here. Please note you will continue to receive generic ads.
Also every time you visit the Platform BigPulse may automatically collect any of the following information: Technical information, including the Internet protocol (IP) address used to connect your computer to the internet, domain name and country which requests information, the files requested, browser type and version, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform; and information about your visit, including the full Uniform Resource Locators (URL) clickstream to, through and from our site (including date and time), length of visits to certain pages, page interaction information (such as scrolling, clicks, and mouse-overs) and methods used to browse away from the page.
We may post Client testimonials on our Website or Platform which may contain a link to the Client’s website. We do obtain the Client’s consent via email prior to posting the testimonial. The only Personal Data included in the testimonials is the Client’s name and organization and country or region. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, please contact us.
BigPulse may use IP addresses, browser type, Internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, and/or clickstream data to analyze trends, administer the Platform and gather broad demographic information, but not to profile individual End Users. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you, to improve analytics, or Platform functionality. IP addresses may be used to help with manual processes to track down people violating or suspected of violating, the Terms and Conditions of this Website. We do link this automatically collected data to other information we collect about you.
BigPulse may share statistical demographic information with partners and advertisers. Statistical information does not identify Visitors. BigPulse does not share, rent, or trade Personal Data with third parties for their promotional purposes.
This Website and Platform contains links to other websites. Please be aware that BigPulse is not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage Visitors to be aware when they leave our Website via a link to another website to read the privacy statements of each and every website that collects Personal Data. This BigPulse privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Website and Platform.
Send additional test vote invitations
If you choose to use the send additional test vote invitations feature, we will ask for your friend’s name, and email address. We use this information to send your friend an email inviting him or her to participate a test vote. These emails may also be used to send occasional follow-up test vote invitations or information relevant to the Service. These emails include an unsubscribe link. Your friend may contact us here to request that we remove this information from our database.
As an End User you can unsubscribe to further emails related to a particular group of Client Polls using the “Unsubscribe” link in the vote invitation email you received.
The date that this policy was last updated is set out at the top of the page. We suggest you check this page from time to time and note any changes. If at any time BigPulse would like to use Personal Data in a manner materially different from that stated at in the Privacy Statement Clients and End Users will be notified by way of email prior to the change becoming effective and asked to consent to the change by way of return email. If consent is not given or the email is ignored the manner in which that Client’s or End Users details are used will not be changed.
If you need any help you may contact the Privacy Officer at PO Box 720308, San Francisco, California, 94172. If necessary, the Privacy Officer will contact another employee to assist in completing your requested task.
If you have any questions or complaints, please contact the Privacy Officer. We endeavor to provide a written response to complaints within 45 days, unless we need additional information to respond to the complaint. If you are not satisfied with our response, you have the right to complain to relevant government agencies including the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.