Effective Date: May 31, 2022

Lightster (“Lightster,” “we,” or “us”) respects your privacy. Our platform helps connect organizations and individuals seeking to conduct market research (“Creators”) with people interested in participating in market research (“Users”). This privacy policy (“Policy”) describes how we collect, use, and disclose information about Creators, Users, and other platform visitors in connection with our platform and the online services provided through us (collectively, the “Services”). This policy does not apply to information that you submit directly to third parties, including the organizations and individuals with which you connect on the Services. This Privacy Policy should be read in accordance with the Terms of Use.

Data That We Collect

We collect Personal Information and Other Information about Users and Creators in connection with the Services. For the purposes of this Policy, “Personal Information” is any information provided to us or generated within Lightster that personally identifies or could be used to identify an individual, such as name or email address, gender, identification number or other information which could be reasonably linked to such identifying information.

“Other Information” is any information we collect that is not Personal Information.

We may combine Personal Information with Other Information; in which case we will treat the combined information as Personal Information. We also may combine information that we have about you with additional information that we, Creators, or other third parties collect in other contexts—such as our communications with you via email or phone, your responses to project screening questions, your customer service records, or any feedback provided by a Creator. In those circumstances, we will treat the combined information as Personal Information. 

Information about Users

If you are a User, we may collect the following Personal Information about you:

• Phone number
• Email address
• Password

We may also collect Other Information about you, including but not limited to:

• City, state, and country
• Gender
• Birth month and Year
• Employment stage
• Job title

In addition, Creators may ask you to fill out screening questions to help them select Users. We collect your answers to those screening questions and use that information as described in this Policy. We also collect messages you send to us through our “Contact Us” or other messaging features, as well as the messages that you send to other Users and Creators through our Services. In addition, we may ask you follow-up questions and collect your answers to such questions.  

NOTE:  Please do not submit any Sensitive Information (defined below) to or through the Services in response to any question or request from a Creator.  

Information about Creators

If you are a Creator, we may collect the following Personal Information about you:

• First name
• Last name
• Company name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Password

When required, we will collect your credit card or other payment information. We use third-party payment service providers to process payments on our behalf, and as a result we do not ourselves store your credit card number or other payment information.

In addition, we collect messages you send to us through our “Contact Us” or other messaging features. We also collect messages you send to other Users and Creators through our Services.

Information about All Users and Creators

We collect information about Users and Creators automatically through the Services. This may include information such as your IP address and domain name, your Internet service provider, the date and time of your visit, your use of the Services during your current session and over time (including the pages you view and the files you download), the URLs from the websites you visit before and after navigating to the Services, your computer’s operating system and browser type, your software and hardware attributes (such as device IDs, device OS, and device type), search keyword and search engine, and your general geographic location (e.g., your city, state, province, or metropolitan region). Such information may be considered Personal Information under certain applicable law. We collect such information using the following technologies:

• Server Logs. When you use the Services, we automatically receive and record certain information from your computer (or other device) and your browser. To obtain such information, we may use server logs or     applications that recognize your computer and gather information about its online activity.
• Cookies. We also use cookies. Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer (or other device) by your web browser. A cookie allows the Services to recognize whether you have visited the Website before and may store user preferences and information. If you are concerned about having cookies on your computer, you can set your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being set, allowing you to decide whether to accept it. You can also delete cookies from your computer. 
• Collaboration with Third-Party Data Collectors. We may partner with certain third parties to collect, analyze, and use some of the information described above. For example, we may allow third parties to set cookies or other tracking mechanisms (such as tags or scripts) on the Services or in email communications from us, or we may allow third parties to use an application software development kit (SDK) or a server-to-server connection to collect information, including device identifiers such as IDFA and Advertising ID. The information collected by third parties using these technologies may be used for a variety of purposes, including analytics, as described in the “Third-Party Analytics” section below.

In addition, we may offer you the ability to refer a friend to our Services. If you use this feature, we may ask you for information needed to contact the referral, such as your friend’s name and email address. We will automatically send your friend an email stating that you referred your friend. We may, from time to time, continue to send messages to your friend as a reminder of your invitation.  If your friend wishes to stop receiving these messages, your friend can follow the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any message. By providing your friends’ names and email addresses, you represent that you have the authority to do so and that such individuals have consented to the disclosure of their information for these purposes.  

How We Use Your Information

Information about Users

If you are a User, we use your information to:

• Provide the Services to you, administer your account, fulfill the terms of any agreement you have with us, evaluate you for qualification to be matched with Creators, or respond to your requests. Note that any information you submit may be used by us to evaluate you for qualification to match and to provide the Services.  
• Allow Creators to consider and select Users for their research projects. We may share with any Creator any information that we have about you, including but not limited to your age range; city, state, and country; gender; contact information; disposable income; marital status; level of education; and responses to screening criteria
• Send you administrative communications related to the Services, including communications about projects for which you have been invited to or have been selected.
• Send you marketing communications, in a manner consistent with your marketing preferences and applicable laws. If you wish to opt out of receiving promotional emails at any time, please click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. Please note that if you unsubscribe from promotional emails, you will continue to receive non-promotional administrative emails with information relevant to your account and the operation of the Services.

Information about Creators

If you are a Creator, we use your information to:

• Provide the Services to you, administer your account, fulfill the terms of any agreement you have with us, or respond to your requests.
• Allow Users to view your profile. Depending on your preferences, Lightsters will be able to see such information as your first name and last name, company name, email address, and phone number.
• Send administrative communications related to the Services, including communications about your use of the services.
• Send you marketing communications, in a manner consistent with your marketing preferences and applicable laws. If you wish to opt out of receiving promotional emails at any time, please click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of the email. Please note that if you unsubscribe from promotional emails, you will continue to receive non-promotional administrative emails with information relevant to your account and the operation of the Services.
• Facilitate the processing of payments.

Information about All Users and Creators

For all Users, we use your information to:

• Analyze use of the Services, and analyze our Users’ demographics and other information.
• Improve our existing products and services or create new products and services.
• Personalize your experience on our website.
• Engage in analytics as described in the “Third-Party Analytics” section below.
• Comply with legal and/or regulatory requirements, or protect our rights and interests.
• Facilitate the processing of payments (if applicable).

How We Share Your Information

We may share your information with the following third parties:

• Third-party service providers. We use third-party service providers to help us provide, manage, and improve the Services. These service providers may collect and/or use your information to assist us in achieving the purposes discussed in this Policy.
• Affiliates. We may share information with our corporate affiliates for the purposes described in this Policy.
• Other Users of the Services. We may share your information with other Users of the Services as described above in the section titled “How We Use Your Information.”
• Your direct sharing of information through the Services. The Services may enable you to share information, including Personal Information and Sensitive Information, directly through the Services. For example, the Services may contain messaging features that enable you to interact with or share content with other Users of the Services.
• Analytics. We may share your information with third parties to research and analyze our Users and to seek to broaden our User base.
• Third-party plugins and integrations The Services may integrate certain third-party plugins, widgets, or integrations (such as social media plugins). Even if you do not click on these plugins, widgets, or     integrations, they may collect information about you, such as your IP address and the pages that you view. They also may set and/or access a cookie or other tracking mechanism. Each plugin, widget, and integration is governed by the privacy policy of the company providing it, and not this Policy.
• Legal purposes. We may disclose your information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) comply with a legal obligation such as a judicial or governmental subpoena or     warrant; (ii) protect and defend our rights or property; (iii) act in urgent circumstances to investigate or protect the personal safety of users of the Services or the public; or (iv) protect against legal liability, prevent suspected fraud, or establish, protect, or exercise our legal rights.
• Financing, business transfers, and similar transactions. As we develop our business, we might sell or buy businesses or assets. In the event of a sale, merger, reorganization, dissolution, or similar event relating to all or a portion of our business or assets, your information may be part of the transferred assets. We also may share information to facilitate the potential or actual financing, securitization, insuring, merger, acquisition, sale, assignment, bankruptcy, or other disposal of all or part of our business or assets.
• De-identified or aggregated information. We may also share de-identified and aggregated information about Services Users, such as by publishing a report on trends in the usage of the Services or sharing aggregated information about historical survey matching results.

Sensitive Information

Personal or Other Information related to your racial or ethnic origin, political opinions, religion or other beliefs, health or sex life, criminal background or trade union membership, and other similar information may be considered “Sensitive Information” under certain applicable law. We sometimes collect Sensitive Information when you create an account in the Services. For example, if you are a User, we may request that you provide information about your ethnicity in the case where a Creator’s product involves specific features that would benefit and support specific ethnic groups. By entering such information, you consent and agree that we may use such information in accordance with this Policy.

If you are a User, please do not submit Sensitive Information to or through the Services in response to any question or request from a Creator.  

Third-Party Analytics

We may partner with certain third parties to collect the information discussed above and to engage in analytics, auditing, research, and reporting. These third parties may use web logs, pixel tags, or other technologies, and they may set and access cookies on your computer or other device.

In particular, the Website uses Google Analytics to help collect and analyze certain information for the purposes discussed above. To opt out of Google Analytics, click here: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout

For more information about how these third parties collect and use your information, please see their privacy policies.

Third-Party Links, Websites, Apps, and Communication Technologies

Our website and the Services may contain links to and from websites and apps of other third parties. If you follow a link to any of these websites or apps, please note that these websites and apps, and any services that may be accessible through them, are operated and controlled by third parties and have their own privacy policies. A link to any third-party site does not imply that we endorse or accept any responsibility for the content or use of such site. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave the Services and to read the privacy policies applicable to such third-party websites and apps. Similarly, Creators may survey or otherwise communicate with Users via phone, email, videoconferencing, or other communication methods not provided, facilitated, or endorsed by us. These technologies have their own privacy policies and are not covered by this Policy.

Security

We use commercially reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards to protect your information against loss or unauthorized access, use, modification, or deletion. However, no security program is 100% secure, and thus we cannot guarantee the absolute security of your Personal or Other Information.

Data Retention

We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to deliver our Services to you or to fulfill the purposes described in this Policy or as required by law. For example, we may retain your information for as long as you maintain your User account so that you can participate in interviews overtime. If you are a User and deactivate your account, we will delete your Personal Information after 90 days. If you are a Creator and deactivate your account or end your agreement with us, we will delete your Personal Information after 90 days. However, we reserve the right to retain any information required under applicable law.

Your Choices and Access to Information

You have the right and ability to edit your account information on our Services at anytime by logging into and updating your account. You may access, amend, and/or request deletion of certain information to the extent permitted under applicable law. To make such requests and/or inquire about such rights, please send us an email at info@lightster.co. For your protection, we may only implement requests with respect to the information associated with the particular email address you use to send us your request, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. We will attempt to comply with any reasonable requests for accessing, amending, or deleting your information.  

Children’s Privacy

We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 and do not target our Services to children under 13. If you are under 13, please do not use the Services. We encourage parents and legal guardians to monitor their children’s Internet usage and to help enforce this prohibition. If you have reason to believe that a child under the age of 13 has provided information to us, please contact us, and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.

Information for California Residents

If you are a California resident, you have a right to request certain information with respect to the types of information we have shared with third parties for their direct marketing purposes, and the identities of those third parties, within the immediately preceding calendar year, subject to certain exceptions. All requests for such information must be sent to info@lightster.co. This same California law permits us to provide you, in response to your written request, with a cost-free means to choose not to have your certain information shared rather than providing the above described information. To that end, you may request that we do not disclose certain of your information to unaffiliated third parties for their own direct marketing purposes by contacting us by email at info@lightster.co.

If you are a California resident under 18 years of age and a registered user of our Services, you may request that we remove content and information that you post on our Services. To obtain removal of such content and information, please send us an email at info@lightster.co with a short description of the content or information you would like to have removed. Please be aware that such a request does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information you have posted and that there may be circumstances in which the law does not require or allow removal even if requested.

Information for Users and Creators Outside the United States

We have taken commercially reasonable steps to ensure your data is protected in accordance with the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”), including leveraging the security measures embedded within Amazon Web Services and MongoDB. From time to time, your Personal Information may be accessed by Lightster-authorized services or staff in another country where Lightster or authorized third parties operate. We implement measures to protect your information and to ensure compliance with applicable laws.

To inquire about or exercise your rights in accordance with applicable law, please contact us at info@lightster.co.

Your Acknowledgments

By signing up, you agree to the terms and conditions of this Privacy Policy. You also agree that you assume all risks regarding your use of the Services, transmissions made over the Internet generally, and your sharing of your Personal or Other Information.

By using our Services, you grant us and all other persons or entities involved in the operation of our Services the right to receive, transmit, monitor, retrieve, store and use your Personal or Other Information, including information that may be privileged or confidential under applicable laws, in connection with the operation of our Services and our maintenance of your Personal or Other Information, as described in this Privacy Policy.

Policy Changes

We may make changes to this Policy from time to time. We will post the revised Policy on the website with an “effective date” that indicates when the revised Policy will take effect. We encourage you to review this page periodically to note any changes.

Questions or Comments

If you have any questions or comments regarding our privacy practices or this Privacy Policy, please send us an email at info@lightster.co.