Cookies are small text files placed by web servers on your computer or mobile device when you access websites. "First party" cookies are set by websites that you are visiting at the time. "Third party" cookies are set by domains other than those of the websites that you visit.

On our online surveys we use cookies that are necessary to ensure the quality of our research as well as the availability and functioning of our web survey platform. To the extent such cookies are stored by third parties, GfK has entered into data processing agreements with the providers and complies with European data protection provisions regarding third country transfers of personal data.

These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be disabled in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you such as setting your cookie preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block these cookies, but then some parts of the website will not work.

Yes, you can adjust the privacy settings in your browser to block all cookies; however, this could severely affect your browsing experience as many websites may not function properly. Your browser may allow you to delete all cookies upon closing your browser. This option, though, results in persistent cookies getting deleted that may store your preferences and personalized settings on websites that you visit regularly. It is possible to keep desired cookies, though, as your browser may allow you to specify which websites are always or never allowed to use cookies.

GfK uses the services of Research Defender, Inc., 400 Poydras Ave, Ste 900, New Orleans, LA 70130, to contain risks imposed to data quality and information security by, inter alia, fraudulent actors and bots. The tool uses various techniques, from deterministic tracking of nefarious activities (e.g., TOR usage, location spoofing), to behavioral tracking of professional survey takers and machine learning.

In terms of personal data within the meaning of European data protection law, Research Defender processes IP addresses and geographical location derived from them, as well as device identifiers like the IMEI number and MAC address.

Research Defender stores a cookie according to the above section on cookies.

GfK has entered into a data processing agreement incorporating the EU Standard Contractual Clauses for Controller to Processor Transfers with Research Defender.

GfK uses the services of New Relic, Inc., a Delaware corporation with offices located at 188 Spear Street, Suite 1000, San Francisco, CA 94105 to monitor the availability of our online service and to receive alerts in case of technical issues. It is used by GFK for:

• Key business transaction monitoring
• Availability and error monitoring
• Synthetic monitoring
• Alerts and notifications

In terms of personal data within the meaning of European data protection law, New Relic collects IP addresses to derive high-level geographical data. The IP address is then subsequently discarded. A device ID is generated by New Relic and is used for billing purposes.

GfK has entered into a data processing agreement incorporating the EU Standard Contractual Clauses for Controller to Processor Transfers with New Relic.

GfK uses the services of Imperium, a Dynata Data Quality Solution, with offices located at 4 Research Drive, Suite 600, Shelton, CT 06484 for the purposes of verification and fraud prevention.

The tool collects different data points from respondents' devices, such as browser details and device information in order to create a so called "Respondent ID." It is a technology that prevents a user from getting into an online survey more than once by flagging known bad behavior such as coming from a proxy server. This information is used for de-duplication purposes and to perform respondent quality assessments.

In terms of personal data within the meaning of European data protection law, Imperium collects respondent open end answers to open end questions, data points from the web browser of a respondent's computer and uses machine learning technology to identify patterns of fraud originating from an IP address. These data points include browser details, display settings, country and language information, device information, behavioral attributes (such as high number of dedupes, high number of devices or client systems).

Imperium stores a cookie according to the above section on cookies.