At this site we are firmly committed to protecting your privacy. We understand that medical information is especially sensitive, and that you may have concerns about sharing certain types of personal information with us. We believe that you should control the amount of information we receive about you. So, where possible, we allow you to provide as much or as little personal information as you wish.
In this short statement of our privacy principles, and the more comprehensive privacy policy that follows, we will explain the choices that we have made about the collection and use of data on this site. We hope that by setting out clearly the principles we follow, we will earn your trust:
Privacy Principles:
The elements of the privacy policy provided below reflect the principles that we follow in the collection and use of data:
1. We let you know what information is collected through your use of our service.
2. We give you clear choices about the information you share with us.
3. We will not request more data than is necessary to provide the services that we are offering you, and will avoid the use of personally identifiable data where such a limitation does not interfere with our ability to offer you excellent information and tools to use it.
4. We keep your data in industry-standard secured environments.
5. We keep you up to date with changes to this policy if any are necessary in our rapidly changing technological environment. Please note that this privacy policy only applies to the site, and not to any other website, including any websites to which this site provides links.
Privacy Policy
Data collection
Under the responsibility of N.V. Organon, the data that are derived from the site (e.g. traffic patterns, registered users) are owned by N.V. Organon, and all analysis that is done on this data is conducted by N.V. Organon. For this purpose, the data are stored in a database at N.V. Organon.
How are data collected on the site?
At this site, traffic patterns, site usage information and visitor information are gathered to help developing the design and functionality of the site, and to allow us to personalize your visit. For example, we may wish to develop the site in different languages, and therefore need to know which country you live in.
As a standard practice, we assign a random number to each customer so that we can track content preferences and traffic patterns in general. This random number allows us to collect summary information about how the site is being used by our customers, without specifically knowing who those customers are. This random number is kept as a text file on your hard drive and is called a "cookie." Cookies, by themselves, cannot be used to determine the identity of a customer. Unless you specifically tell us, we will not know who you are.
Cookies and the Organon VIP Pass
Some parts of this site are accessible only after registering. Since the check to confirm if someone is allowed to access content within the site is done by checking the cookie during the visit, it is necessary to accept cookies in order to be allowed to use this part of the site. However, after visiting this site, you are as always free to remove this cookie from your PC.
When registering to a N.V. Organon site, you are subscribed to the Organon VIP Pass. This VIP Pass allows you to use one registration for all N.V. Organon websites. The VIP Pass is used for websites that are either owned or sponsored by N.V. Organon and that require registration.
For the Organon VIP Pass, a separate cookie will be put on your PC. When you visit another site that is either owned or sponsored by N.V. Organon, this cookie is used to determine whether you have already registered for sites affiliated with N.V. Organon before. If you have registered previously, then you will be asked if you would like to use the same account for other N.V. Organon sites that require registration. After confirming this, you are allowed to use the same registration for more than one site.
As with the site cookie, you are also free to remove this Organon VIP Pass cookie afer visiting one of our websites.
Pixel disclosure and email marketing
If you have agreed to receive emails from us, those emails may contain advertising about goods and services that we think might be of interest to you. In order to understand how our readers interact with the emails and the content that we send, we use pixels in the text in order to understand who has opened the emails that they have been sent. In order to provide our content in the most interesting way, we also use pixels to learn whether you can receive emails in text or html form.
What data are collected for analysis?
For analysis purposes, N.V. Organon collects data on this site. The following data are collected for analysis:
1. Website visits:
As part of standard internet operations, we will record the following information from anyone using the site: access date & time, domain name, IP address, action, visited URL, bytes sent and received, time taken on visited URL, cookie information, referring domain and operating system. This information is used to analyse visitor traffic, e.g. which sections of the site are being visited, which operating systems are used, and how frequently visitors come back to the site.
2. Visitor Registration:
Visitors are asked to provide some information when registering, such as: first name, last name, email address, country, profession, username, and password. For each registered visitor, the date of registration is also stored.
Visitors can subscribe to one or more email newsletters. This can only be done when visitors have submitted an email address. For each subscription, the visitor, email name and date of subscription is stored.
3. Newsletter subscription:
For emails we sent, we record information on recipients, message opening, formatting, clickthrough and response. This information is used to analyse visitors interests in specific topics and is also used to protect the data quality of information provided by visitors, such as keeping track of the validity of email addresses.
4. Quick poll entries:
Whenever a registered visitor fills in a quick poll of survey, these results are stored to make sure that every visitor can only vote or fill in once. The following data is stored: quick poll or survey, question, answer and answer date. This data is used for analysis and for tailoring the content.
5. Survey entries:
We do not store the specific visitor with these data in the normal course of operation, and will not do so without explicit permission, so quickpoll and survey data will be completely anonymous unless you are otherwise notified and given a clear choice about changing the anonymity of a survey you complete.
As indicated throughout this section, we believe that the amount of data collected and used should be limited, and narrowly tailored to particular purposes for which it is collected. This is done to protect personal information and reflect our principles about the collection and use of data. As specified above, some information provided will not be used for analysis purposes, such as username, password, first name and last name.
Besides this information, feedback to the editorial board (e.g. through email) will also not be stored in the analytical datawarehouse. Therefore, these data will only be kept in the online database that is used for the website, and will not be stored in another database for other purposes.
How is information used and disclosed?
This site is constantly striving to provide our customers with a compelling reason to return to the site. We monitor customer traffic patterns and analyze our customers' likes and dislikes, so that we can continue to improve our services.
The personal information you provide will enable us to offer you a tailored user experience, including personalized special offers, and information, products, and services that are relevant to your needs and interests. Analysis of data about site operations will be conducted without linkage to personally identifiable data whenever possible.
Examples of what we examine internally are:
- What countries do our registered visitors represent, in order to determine whether we should expand the site with information for a broader public.
- Which search phrases are used most often and how many results do they generate, in order to determine whether we offer visitors the right information.
- What are the professions of our visitors, in order to determine what information is mostly requested.
We may also use this information in combination with generally available databases of population statistics, to form a better understanding of our customers. This will enable us to tailor our products, services, and content to meet our customers' needs and preferences.
Sharing information with third parties
Reporting on this site is mainly for internal use within N.V. Organon. From time to time, N.V. Organon will provide aggregate statistics to partners, such as:
- Organon local affiliates
- content providers such as Excerpta Medica, Current Medicine Group and Global News Media
- Advertisers on this site.
We may share aggregate statistical information regarding our traffic patterns and site usage with our partners. For example, we may develop summary reports. An example of a summary report might be "8,000 people clicked on Advertisement Z today and of those people, 25 percent had previously indicated they had an interest in fertility".
We will not provide our partners with any individually identifiable personal information about customers who have seen or clicked on their advertisements without your express permission.
Occasionally, N.V. Organon arranges for third parties to provide or track the usage of sponsored links that we believe may be of value to our customers. We do not permit these third parties to collect personal information from our customers without their explicit permission.
Data from this site may occasionally be transferred to third parties who act for or on behalf of N.V. Organon, or for further processing in accordance with the purpose for which the data was originally gathered. If such disclosure of data to a third party occurs, we will ensure that the processing is performed according to the purposes and within the limits under which the data was originally gathered.
Security of data
This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of personal data that is controlled by you. Further, we strongly recommend that you do not divulge your username and password to anyone. When using the Organon VIP Pass, we will ask you to reconfirm your password to make sure that your personal data is protected.
The registration data from the site is stored on a secure server that resides behind a firewall after it reaches this site. The firewall is designed to block access to this data from outside the site. This registration data is backed up every day.
Inside N.V. Organon only a few selected employees and contractors have access to the server via their personal user account with password. Both employees and contractors are on a regular basis made aware of the security policy through internal memos and each time when there is a major change in the policy of handling this data.
Please be aware of the fact that the world wide web is a public accessible system. Each time information is made available online by you, this is done at your own risk, since it might be lost under way or may be accessed by unauthorized third persons.
Updating and deleting your profile
This site offers you the possibility to modify your profile on the site. This can be done after logging in as a registered user with username and password. You will have access to your visitor profile at any time, except for normal periods of site maintenance and unforeseen disruption of our servers.
Should you wish to discontinue using this site, you can remove your information by deleting your profile on the site.
Sending emails
By giving us your email address in the registration form, you agree to receive the following emails:
- Confirmation of your registration.
- Password reminders (only when you ask us to send this to you).
- Announcements of new features on this site.
- Invitations to participate in surveys.
This site also offers you several optional emails, such as press releases and newsletters. These emails will be sent more frequently. For these emails, you can subscribe yourself. Each of these email messages includes instructions explaining how to unsubscribe.
The emails may, from time to time, contain information on Organon’s products, promotional banners, polls or links to one of our sponsors or partners (e.g. a medical conference organiser).
For our email services, we use the third party email supplier Epsilon Interactive. The information this supplier processes for this is only used to improve their email delivery services and is not further used by this supplier. This supplier does not own the information collected and will not use it for its own business purposes or in any way not authorized by us.
For more information on the Epsilon Interactive privacy policy, please visit the Epsilon Interactive website: http://www.epsilon.com/epsilonstatic/privacy.html
We do not provide third parties with any personal data for direct marketing purposes unless you have given specific permission to do so.
Your consent
By visiting this site and by using the services provided, you consent to the collection and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy, and to the conditions we state in our internet Disclaimer.
If you have any questions or concerns about privacy on this site, please contact the editor at this site.
If you do not agree to these terms and the conditions stated in our internet Disclaimer, please do not use this site.
Changes to this privacy policy
From time to time it may be necessary for this site to change the privacy policy. We reserve the right to change the terms stated in this privacy policy at any time, but we will not do so without posting the revised policy on this site, including the date when this policy has been changed.
Updated 24 April 2006
