Updated: June 2023
This Privacy Notice (“Privacy Notice”) sets out how Matthews Media Group Inc (herein referred to as “MMG, “we”, “us” or “our”) processes your personal information in connection with our business, including the provision of our website (“Site”) and the services we offer (“Services”).
Additionally, this Privacy Notice explains our approach to any personal information that we might collect from you (i) when you use our Site or Services (ii) during any other interactions with us, or (iii) which we might otherwise process when providing Services to our clients (including the personal information we collect, why we collected it and your rights in respect of our processing of your personal information).
This Privacy Notice is intended to assist you in making informed decisions when using the Site and our Services. Please take a moment to read and understand this Privacy Notice. It is intended to be read in conjunction with our Cookie Notice.
If you are a California consumer and would like information about our online and offline privacy practices and your privacy rights, please see the section of this Privacy Policy called “California Consumer Privacy Statement” by clicking here.
Please note that a separate notice applies to our processing of personal information in the European Union and the United Kingdom. To view our EU/UK Privacy Notice please click here.
This Privacy Notice only applies to the use of your personal information obtained by us, whether from you directly or from a third party. It does not apply to personal information collected by third parties during your communications with those third parties or your use of their products or services (for example, where you follow links on our Site to third party websites over which we have no control).
Further, this Privacy Notice is not intended to cover the processing of workplace personal information.
We will update this Privacy Notice from time to time to reflect any changes or proposed changes to our use of your personal information, or to comply with changes in applicable law or regulatory requirements. We may notify you by email of any significant changes to this Privacy Notice, but we encourage you to review this Privacy Notice periodically to keep up to date on how we use your personal information. If we update this Privacy Notice, we will update the 'Last Updated' date at the top of the page.
The Site and Services are made available by MMG.
MMG is USA corporation with the registered company name of Matthews Media Group Inc, with its registered office at 7361 Calhoun Place, Suite 140, Rockville, MD 20855.
If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice or want to exercise your rights as a data subject set out in this Privacy Notice, you can contact us using the following methods:
| Send us an email at: privacy@mmgct.com | |
| Post |
Write to us at:
Attn: Catherine Clarke, SVP Finance MMG 7361 Calhoun Place Suite 140 Rockville, MD 20855 USA |
| Telephone | (301) 984-7191 |
When we talk about personal information, we mean any information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual. Individuals might be identified by reference to a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier (such as an IP address) or to other factors that are specific to them, such as their physical appearance. Categories of personal information we may collect and process about you include:
| Identity Data | First name; last name. |
|---|---|
| Contact Data | Delivery address; billing address; email address; telephone number; social media handle. |
| Applicant Data | Date of birth; gender; country; nationality; resumes, work experience; dietary requirements any other personal information that you may provide in advance of/during your supply of services to us. |
| Image Data | Photos; video recordings. |
| Financial Data | Bank account details; partial payment card details. |
| Transaction Data | Details about payments made between you and us; details of services purchased from us. |
| Profile Data | Interests and preferences; contact/marketing preferences; feedback and survey responses. |
| Behavioral Data | Data relating to your browsing activity, obtained through the use of cookies, pixel tags and other similar technologies; information about when your current or previous sessions started; details about any services you viewed or purchased through the Site. |
| Health Data | Data relating to health and health interests; other information pertinent to the needs of the clinical trials conducted on behalf of our clients. |
| Technical Data | IP address; browser type and operating system; geolocation, to ensure we're showing you the correct notices and information; any other unique numbers assigned to a device. |
| Publicly Available Data | Information about articles (or similar) that you may have published; information about your interests or affiliations or publicly stated positions on political matter, corporate matters and similar. |
For more information about the personal information we collect please refer to section ' HOW WE USE PERSONAL INFORMATION' below.
We may collect and receive your personal information using different methods:
| Personal information you provide to us | You may give us your personal information directly, for example, when you participate in our surveys, questionnaires, or screeners, when you obtain services via our Site, contact us with enquiries, complete forms on our Site, subscribe to receive our marketing communications or provide feedback to us. |
|---|---|
| Personal information we collect using cookies and other similar technologies | When you access and use our Site, we may collect certain Behavioral Data and Technical Data. We collect this personal information by using cookies and other similar technologies (see the ' Website insight and analysis' section below). |
| Personal information received from third parties | We may receive personal information about you from third parties. Such third parties may include analytics providers, data brokers, third party directories and third parties that provide technical services to us so that we can provide our Site and our Services. |
| Publicly available personal information | From time to time, we may collect personal information about you (Identity Data, Contact Data, or Publicly Available Data) that is contained in publicly available sources (including open source data sets or media reports) or that you or a third party may otherwise make publicly available. |
We collect and process personal information from the following people:
| Site visitors | We will collect and process your personal information in connection with your interaction with us and our Site. |
|---|---|
| People who contact us with enquiries | If you contact us with an enquiry through our Site, submit a complaint or provide any feedback to us in our surveys and feedback forms, we will collect and process your personal information in connection with your interaction with us and our Site. |
| Client personnel | We may collect and process your personal information in connection with the supply of services to you and/or your organization. |
| Partner/supplier personnel | If you (or your organization) supply products or services to us or otherwise partner with us, we may collect and process your personal information in connection with our receipt of those products and services and/or partnership. This may include personal information included in any email or telephone communications or recorded on any document relating to an order for the products or services, such as your Contact Data. |
| Visitors to our offices or other locations | If you attend one of our physical offices or other locations, we may process personal information that you volunteer in connection with your visit and any enquiries you make. For example, you may volunteer personal information when signing in as a guest, or when you register for and access our guest Wi-Fi network at our premises. CCTV footage may also be collected for security purposes. |
| Questionnaire / Screener participants | If you participate in our questionnaires/surveys, we will process personal information about you in connection with your participation. For example, we may process your contact information in order to you refer you to clinical site conducting a clinical trial for which you have indicated an interest. |
| Job applicants | If you apply for a job with us, whether through the Site or otherwise, we will collect and process your personal information in connection with your application. |
| Members of the public | We may process your personal information in connection with the provision of the Services to our clients. |
A: OPERATION OF SITE, PROVISION OF SERVICES AND MARKETING
I. Operation of the Site
If you browse our Site
When you browse our Site, we may collect and process Behavioral Data and Technical Data to help us understand how you are using and navigating our Site. We do this so that we can better understand which parts of our Site are more or less popular and improve the structure and navigation of our Site.
Website insight and analysis
We and our third-party partners might use cookies, web beacons, pixel tags and other similar technologies (which we generically refer to as “Cookies”) to collect data from the devices that you use to access our Site. The data that is collected could include Behavioral Data and Technical Data, and certain Profile Data. Please see our Cookie Notice for further information, including details of our third-party partners.
We and our third-party partners use this data to analyze how you use our Site and our Services and the effectiveness of our Site and Services, including:
If you use the interactive features on our Site
We will collect and use personal information about you when you use certain features on our Site. For example, depending on the nature of your enquiry, we may process your Identity Data, Contact Data, Registration Data, Profile Data and certain Behavioural Data and Technical Data when you use the Enquiry Form or Chat function to get in touch with us or other account holders, or so that you can be searched for by other account holders.
If you link to social media sites and interact with our social media pages
If you click on one of the social media links on our Site or otherwise interact with our social media pages such as on Facebook or Instagram (including interacting with any ‘like’ or similar embedded features on our Site or social media accounts), we and the relevant social media platform may receive information relating to such interaction and may share your personal information in connection with this purpose, such as certain Behavioural Data and Technical Data. For more information about how we use this personal information, please see the 'Website insight and analysis' section above.
The relevant social media platform may also be a controller in respect of the personal information that is collected via your use of our social media pages and may use that personal information for additional purposes. For details of how the relevant social media platform uses your personal information, please see the privacy notice of the relevant social media platform.
II. Provision of our Services
Clinical Trial Recruitment
Acting on behalf of our clients, we collect personal information (including the types of personal information we set out in Section 6 ' Types of personal information we collect/process about you') to determine if there are clinical studies or health-related news and information that match your areas of medical interest. You provide this information to us when you complete our questionnaires/screeners, and you are asked to give your consent when we collect this information. Where you have been identified as potentially eligible for a clinical trial, your contact information is shared with the clinical site conducting the clinical trial for which you have indicated an interest.
Clinical Trial Management
Acting on behalf of our clients, we collect and store contact information of research center staff and other study personnel so that we may contact them for the purposes of providing recruitment and retention support, and for shipping materials to them.
Social media
We may collect or process individuals' personal information (including Contact Data, Identity Data and some Profile and Publicly Available Data) who engage with us through our social media channels (including by visiting our social media pages or otherwise communicating with us via social media).
III. Marketing and Media Enquiries
Marketing
We may use your Identity Data, Contact Data and Profile Data to send you (or the organization you represent) marketing communications by email or via phone. Our marketing may include press releases and information about us.
B: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION, FINANCIAL AND LEGAL
Receipt of services
If we have engaged an organization to provide us or our client with services (for example, IT support or financial advice), we will collect and process your personal information (including Contact and Identity Data) if you are a contact within the relevant organization in order to manage our relationship or our clients with the organization, to receive services from the organization and, where relevant, to provide our services to others including our clients.
Recruitment
If individuals apply for a job with us or otherwise express an interest in working for us, we will collect contact details and CV or resume information from the individual. We use such personal information for the following purposes: a) to assess the individual's suitability for any position for which they applied (or future positions for which we think the individual may be suitable) including employment or freelancer positions, summer placements or internships and also any business support or services role whether such application has been received by us online, via email or by hard copy or in person application; b) to take any steps necessary to enter into any contract of employment (or otherwise) with the individual; c) to comply with any regulatory or legal obligations in relation to any such application; and d) to review our equal opportunity profile in accordance with applicable legislation. We do not discriminate on the grounds of gender, race, ethnic origin, age, religion, sexual orientation, disability or any other basis covered by local legislation.
Visiting our premises
If an individual visits any of our premises, we may collect personal information including Identity or Contact Data as part of our sign in process. We may also capture their image on our surveillance camera or CCTV.
If an individual registers as a guest user for free Wi-Fi access at any of our premises, we may collect personal information including Identity and Contact Data as part of the registration process. We may also process Behavioral and Technical Data in connection with any use of this free Wi-Fi service for monitoring and record-keeping purposes, including to identify the source of service requests, optimize and maintain performance of the Wi-Fi service, and investigate and prevent system abuse.
Business administration, finance, and legal compliance
We may use an individual's personal information (including Identity Data, Contact Data, Financial Data, Transaction Data, Publicly Available Data) for the following business administration and legal compliance purposes:
Where we are required by law to collect your personal information, or we need to collect your personal information under the terms of a contract we have with you, and you fail to provide that personal information when we request it, we may not be able to perform the contract we have or are trying to enter into with you. This may apply where you do not provide the personal information that we need in order to provide the Services you have requested from us or to process an application for employment with us. In this case, we may have to cancel your application or the provision of the relevant Services to you, in which case we will notify you.
We only share personal information with others when we are legally permitted to do so. When we share personal information with others, we put contractual arrangements and security mechanisms in place to protect the personal information shared and to comply with our data protection, confidentiality and security standards and obligations.
Further (again subject to the above) we may share your personal information with third parties as set out in the table below. This list is non-exhaustive and there may be circumstances where we need to share personal information with other third parties.
| Our Clients | We may share personal information with our clients for the purposes of providing them with Services. |
| Our specialist suppliers/partners | We use various specialist suppliers including external subject matter experts and/or partners in order to provide our services. |
| Research Centers & Clinical Sites | We may share personal information with research centers and clinical sites in connection with the screening services we provide to our clients |
| Third-party IT suppliers | We may share personal information with third parties who support us in providing our Site and help provide, run, and manage our internal IT systems. Such third parties may also include, for example, providers of information technology, cloud-based software-as-a-service providers, identity management, website design, hosting and management, data analysis, data back-up, security, and storage services. The servers powering and facilitating that cloud infrastructure are located in secure data centers around the world, and personal information may be stored in any one of them. We may also share your personal information with third-party service providers to assist us with insight analytics. These providers are described in our Cookie Notice. |
| Payment providers and banks | We may share personal information with third parties who assist us with our invoicing and/or making/receiving payments. |
| Third-party post/email marketing and CRM specialists | We may share personal information with specialist suppliers who assist us in managing our marketing database and sending out email marketing communications. |
| Recruitment agencies and related organizations | We may share personal information with external recruiters, third-party providers that undertake background checks on our behalf and other entities within our group of companies for recruitment purposes |
| Auditors, lawyers, accountants and other professional advisers | We may share personal information with professional services firms who advise and assist us in relation to the lawful and effective management of our organisation and in relation to any disputes we may become involved in. |
| Law enforcement or other government and regulatory agencies and bodies | We may share personal information with law enforcement or other government and regulatory agencies or other third parties as required by, and in accordance with, applicable law or regulation. |
| Other third parties | Occasionally, we may receive requests from third parties with authority to obtain disclosure of personal information , such as to check that we are complying with applicable law and regulation, to investigate an alleged crime, or to establish, exercise or defend legal rights. We will only fulfil requests for personal information where we are permitted to do so in accordance with applicable law or regulation. |
As we are a company located in the United States, you acknowledge and agree that any data that is provided directly to us may be stored in the United States. We may also transmit your personal information to other third parties outside of those countries (as listed above in 'SHARING YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION')
Where our use of your personal information requires your consent, you can provide such consent:
Please note that if you specifically consent to additional uses of your personal information, we may use your personal information in a manner consistent with that consent.
We are committed to keeping the personal information you provide to us secure and we have implemented information security policies, rules and technical measures to protect the personal information under our control from unauthorized access, improper use or disclosure, unauthorized modification and unlawful destruction or accidental loss. In addition, all our employees and data processors (i.e. those who process your personal information on our behalf) are obliged to respect the confidentiality of the personal information of all users of our Site and those who purchase our Services.
To the extent required by applicable law, we will provide you with reasonable access to the personal information maintained about you and a reasonable opportunity to correct, amend or delete the information where it is inaccurate or has been processed erroneously, as appropriate. We may limit or deny access to personal information where permitted by law (such as where the burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate or where the rights of third parties would be violated).
You may exercise these rights verbally or in writing by using our contact information provided in the section entitled ' HOW TO CONTACT US' above. We will endeavour to promptly respond to your requests and will respect time frames set by local legislation where applicable.
Please note that in order for you to assert these rights we may need to verify your identity to confirm your right to access your personal information. This is a security measure to ensure that personal information is not disclosed to any person who has no right to receive it. In order to verify your identity, we may need to gather more personal information from you than we currently have.
To opt-out of any future promotional or marketing communications or any other commercial communications from us, you should send a request to us at the contact information in the section entitled 'HOW TO CONTACT US' above.
We will ensure that this Policy is observed and duly implemented. If at any time you believe that your personal information has been processed in violation of this Policy, or if you have any inquiries or complaints about the use or limitation of use of your personal information, you may send a request to us at the contact information in the section entitled 'HOW TO CONTACT US ' above .
This Site contains links to third party websites and services. Please remember that when you use a link to go from our Site to another website or you request a service from a third party, this Privacy Notice no longer applies to these third-party websites and third-party service providers unless we are acting as joint controllers in respect of your personal information with such third party.
Your browsing and interaction on any other websites, or your dealings with any other third-party service provider, is subject to that website’s or third-party service provider’s own rules and policies. We do not monitor, control, or endorse the privacy practices of any third parties.
This Site may integrate with social networking services. You understand that we do not control such services and are not liable for the manner in which they operate. While we may provide you with the ability to use such services in connection with our Site, we are doing so merely as an accommodation and, like you, are relying upon those third-party services to operate properly and fairly.
We retain personal information only for as long as is necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Notice, after which it is deleted from our systems.
If any personal information is only useful for a short period, we will delete it at the end of that period. Please note that if you are an unsuccessful candidate, we may keep your information for a short period.
If you have opted out of receiving communications from us, we will need to retain certain personal information on a suppression list so that we know not to send you further marketing communications in the future.
Our Site is not intended for use by, or targeted at, minors (individuals under the age of 18) and we do not knowingly collect personal information of minors. However, due to the nature of our organization and the Services we provide, we may from time-to-time collect and process personal information relating to minors. If we do collect personal information of minors, we will comply with all applicable laws and regulations relating to the processing of personal information of minors.
For clinical studies conducted within the United States, we do not allow persons younger than 18 to provide information about themselves. We require a parent or a caregiver to answer screening questions for them and act as the primary contact. We collect parent/caregiver contact information in addition to the name of the person younger than 18. This information is also held in accordance with this privacy policy.
Trials conducted outside of the United States in the field of pediatrics will be managed in accordance with those laws and policies of the specific country involved and with approval from the relevant review board.
This California Consumer Privacy Statement (“Statement”) supplements the MMG General Privacy Notice. It applies solely to California consumers and addresses personal information we collect online and offline. This Statement does not apply to MMG personnel. Sections 2-5 of this Statement do not apply to job applicants.
This Statement uses certain terms that have the meaning given to them in the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 and its implementing regulations (the “CCPA”).
We may collect (and may have collected during the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this Statement) the following categories of personal information about you:
We may use (and may have used during the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this Statement) your personal information for the purposes described in our online Privacy Notice and for the following business purposes specified in the CCPA:
During the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this Statement, we may have obtained personal information about you from the following categories of sources:
We do not and will not sell your personal information.
During the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this Statement, we may have shared your personal information with certain categories of third parties, as described below.
We may have disclosed the following categories of personal information about you for a business purpose to the following categories of third parties:
| Category of Personal Information | Category of Third Party |
| Identifiers | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Additional | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Protected Classifications | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Commercial | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Online Activity | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Employment Information | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Education Information | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
| Inferences | Our affiliates and subsidiaries; Vendors who provide services on our behalf; Professional services organizations, such as auditors and law firms; Our business partners; Advertising networks; Internet service providers; Data analytics providers; Operating systems and platforms; Social networks |
In addition to the categories of third parties identified above, during the 12-month period prior to the effective date of this Statement, we may have shared personal information about you with the following additional categories of third parties: Government entities.
You have certain choices regarding our use and disclosure of your personal information, as described below.
Access: You may have the right to request, twice in a 12-month period, that we disclose to you the personal information we have collected, used, disclosed and sold about you during the past 12 months.
Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete certain personal information we have collected from you.
How to Submit a Request: To submit an access or deletion request (or to submit a request as an authorized agent on behalf of a consumer), email us at the address provided in the section entitled 'HOW TO CONTACT US' above. For questions or concerns about our privacy policies and practices, please contact us as described in the section entitled ' HOW TO CONTACT US' above.
Verifying Requests: To help protect your privacy and maintain security, we will take steps to verify your identity before granting you access to your personal information or complying with your request. If you request access to or deletion of your personal information, we may require you to provide any of the following information: your email address, the name of the MMG representative with whom you typically interact, and the date of your last interaction with a MMG representative. In addition, if you ask us to provide you with specific pieces of personal information, we will require you to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury that you are the consumer whose personal information is the subject of the request.
Additional Information: If you choose to exercise any of your rights under the CCPA, you have the right to not receive discriminatory treatment by us. To the extent permitted by applicable law, we may charge a reasonable fee to comply with your request.