Privacy Policy for Trial By Fire Solutions Websites

Policy Version Date: 31 Dec 2024

Policy Effective Date: 06 Feb 2025

 The prior policy can be viewed here.

This Privacy Notice is provided by Trial By Fire Solutions, LLC (“TBFS”, “we”, “us”, and/or “our”) to visitors of our owned and operated website, www.simpletrials.com, as well as any other website which links to this Privacy Notice (collectively, the “TBFS websites”).  This notice sets out how we collect and process personal information from and about website visitors (“Visitor(s)”) when they visit the TBFS websites. Please note that for the purpose of EU data protection legislation, TBFS is the controller of Visitor’s Personal Information.

This notice does NOT cover Personal Information collected from and about subscribers to SimpleTrials, our software-as-a-service Clinical Trial Management System (CTMS) and Electronic Trial Master File (eTMF), or related content, features, applications, and services (collectively with SimpleTrials and eTMF, the “Services”). Subscribers are covered under a separate Privacy Notice for Subscribers, located at https://www.simpletrials.com/legal.

Privacy Notice

You can navigate the majority of the TBFS websites without giving us any Personal Information about yourself. However, you may opt to provide us with Personal Information in order to request further information about our products, services, industry papers, events or to subscribe for our SimpleTrials product.

For the purposes of this Privacy Notice, “Personal Information” means information that alone or in combination with other information may be used to identify, contact, or locate you, such as your name, email address, phone number, or internet protocol (“IP”) address. Personal information includes “personal data” as defined by the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) or any equivalent term under applicable law.

We provide this notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. This notice is available in the footer of most pages on TBFS websites, including the website home page.

By using any of TBFS’ Services, you confirm that you have read and understood this Privacy Notice.

1. The Information We Collect and How We Collect it

This notice applies to all information collected or submitted on the TBFS websites. We collect information in several ways, which are described below:

A.     Information we collect from you automatically – When you visit the TBFS websites, we gather certain information automatically from your device and store it in log files. This information may include Personal Information such as your IP address and non-personal information such as browser type, referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, clickstream data, landing page, and referring URL. This information is collected as you navigate through the website.  Please also reference the Tracking Technologies section below for additional detail.

B.     Information you provide - On some pages, you may opt to provide us with information about yourself if you are interested in (a) receiving a demo of one of our products; (b) downloading a white paper or other document; (c) viewing our product legal documents; (d) communicating with a TBFS representative; or (e) subscribing to our on-demand CTMS application, SimpleTrials. 

The Personal Information collected when you submit a website request may include your name, title, company, email address and the contents of the message you send us.  We may use this information to send automated reply emails.  Any time you receive an automated email, you have the option of removing your Personal Information from the database by simply clicking on the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of each email message. On some pages, you can request that a TBFS representative contact you in order to answer questions or provide specific information. The Personal Information you provide on these forms may include your name, title, company name, and email address and the contents of the message you send to us. At any time, you have the option of removing your Personal Information from our database by replying to the TBFS representative with your unsubscribe request. TBFS may supplement the information you provide via public sources (e.g., your company website or a web search) or subscription-based data sources (e.g., LinkedIn).

If you wish to subscribe to receive our SimpleTrials on-demand product, you must complete the subscription registration page. This page is accessed through our website and it includes personal and financial data. In order to complete the registration, you must complete the subscription details and agree to the Master Services Agreement. If you do not complete the subscription form, we do not collect and process the Personal Information. If you do submit the subscription information, you become a subscriber in accordance with the Privacy Notice for Subscribers. This Privacy Notice and other legal agreements are accessible in the footer of the website.

2. How We Use the Information We Collect

We store the information you provide about yourself in order to provide you with the information, products, and/or services you request. Some of the ways we use your Personal Information include:

·       To communicate with you in response to your website submission request (e.g., demo participation invitations);

·       To understanding and analyze how you navigate within the TBFS websites to obtain the information you need;

·       To understand how your interactions with the TBFS websites relate to our advertising campaigns; and

·       To send marketing communications (e.g., product feature alerts, attendance at industry event).

We also use non-identifying and aggregate information about use of the TBFS websites to improve the navigation, content, and design of the TBFS websites. This information may include, for example, the most and least requested pages and the number of users from the U.S. and other countries, among other things.

The information you provide us about yourself will be shared with TBFS personnel to the extent necessary to accommodate your request. For example, if you provide your name, mailing address, telephone and email address and request more information about our Services, this information will have limited sharing with the appropriate TBFS personnel to fulfill your request and will be entered into our systems for tracking and communication purposes. Any information shared with an outside third party is done under contract on TBFS behalf, such as services that assist TBFS with promotion of its products and services.

3. Who We May Share Your Data With

We do not sell your Personal Information or allow your Personal Information to be used by third parties for their own business purposes. However, we do need to share your Personal Information with certain third parties in some circumstances, as described below:

A.     Third-Party Service Providers or Consultants

We may share Personal Information collected from you on the websites with third-party providers or consultants who need access to the information to perform their work on TBFS’ behalf, such as a website hosting provider or our third-party marketing agency. These third-party service providers are limited to only accessing or using this information to provide services to us and must provide reasonable assurances that they will appropriately safeguard the data. The following third-party service providers support TBFS:

·       Content management system (CMS) provider – Our websites are built and hosted using a third-party content management service (i.e., website builder). This includes the contact forms that you complete when providing Personal Information to us.

·       Customer relationship management (CRM) provider – We track and maintain our business development activities such as Visitors to the TBFS websites who submit Personal Information to us and Personal Information for individuals we meet at professional industry events and through business networking channels.

·       Website analytics – We utilize website analytics services to improve our website experience for Visitors. They use cookies to collect non-identifying information.

·       Email marketing – We utilize email marketing services for the promotion of products and features, upcoming webinars and events, and related business updates.

·       Document management – We use document management and storage services which may include prospective client documentation such as confidentiality agreements.

B.     Compliance with Laws

We may disclose your Personal Information to a third party if: (i) we believe that disclosure is reasonably necessary to comply with any applicable law, regulation, legal process or government request (including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements); (ii) to enforce our agreements and policies; (iii) to protect the security and integrity of our website; and (iv) to protect ourselves, our other customers, or the public from harm or illegal activities. If TBFS is required by law to disclose any of your Personal Information, then we will use reasonable efforts to provide you with the notice of that disclosure requirement unless we are prohibited from doing so by statute, subpoena or court or administrative order. Further, we object to requests that we do not believe were issued properly.

C.     Business Transfers

Information may be disclosed and otherwise transferred to any potential acquirer, successor, or assignee as part of any proposed merger, acquisition, debt financing, sale of assets, or similar transaction, or in the event of insolvency, bankruptcy, or receivership in which information is transferred to one or more third parties as one of our business assets.

D.     Exceptions

Except as described above, we will not otherwise use or disclose any of your Personal Information, except to the extent reasonably necessary: (i) to correct technical problems and malfunctions and to technically process your information; (ii) to protect the security and integrity of our website; (iii) to protect our rights and property and the rights and property of others; (iv) to take precautions against liability; (v) to the extent required by law or to respond to judicial process; or (vii) to the extent permitted under other provisions of law, to provide information to law enforcement agencies or for an investigation on a matter related to public safety, as applicable.

4. Legal Bases for Processing Personal Information

Our legal bases for collecting and using the Personal Information described will depend on the Personal Information concerned and the specific context in which we collect it. However, we will normally collect Personal Information from you where we have your consent to do so, where we need the Personal Information to fulfill a contractual obligation, where we need the Personal Information to contact you or where processing is in our legitimate interests and is not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect the Personal Information in question. If we ask you to provide Personal Information to comply with a legal requirement, we will make this clear at the relevant time and advise you whether the provision of your Personal Information is mandatory or not (in addition to possible consequences should you decide not to provide your Personal Information). Similarly, if we collect and use your Personal Information in reliance on our or a third-party’s legitimate interests and those interests are not already listed above, we will make clear to you at the relevant time what those legitimate interests are. 

5. Data Security and Data Retention

To prevent unauthorized access, maintain data accuracy, and ensure the correct use of information, we have put in place physical, electronic, and managerial procedures we believe are appropriate to safeguard and secure the Personal Information we collect on the TBFS websites.

The information you provide us may be archived or stored periodically by us according to backup processes conducted in the ordinary course of business. Information stored as part of this backup process will be deleted in due course on a regular schedule.

In general, we retain Personal Information we collect from you where we have an ongoing business need to do so. When we have no ongoing business need to process your Personal Information, we will either delete it, or if this is not possible, then we will securely store your Personal Information and isolate it from any further processing until deletion is complete.

6. Sensitive Data

TBFS does not knowingly solicit or collect, and you should not provide to us, any information regarding an individual’s medical or mental health condition, race or ethnic origin, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs or other sensitive data in website contact forms that you provide to us or otherwise. 

7. Tracking Technologies

A.     Website Navigational and Performance Information

TBFS uses Website Navigational Information to operate and improve the Service. TBFS may use Website Navigational Information to analyze how you navigate within the TBFS websites to obtain the information you need.

B.     Cookies

A cookie is a piece of data stored on the hard drive of your computer. We use cookies on the TBFS websites in order to track user sessions for website analytics. Some information gathered through cookies may be considered Personal Information under applicable laws. For instance, we receive IP addresses from Visitors in the normal course of the operation of our website. An IP address is a number assigned to you by your Internet service provider so you can access the Internet. Although we do receive IP addresses, we make no attempt to link this information with your identity.

C.     Web Beacons

TBFS uses web beacons alone or in conjunction with cookies to track and support Visitors to the TBFS websites and interaction with emails from TBFS. Web beacons are clear electronic images that can track simple user activity, such as viewing of a transactional email sent by the system (e.g., system email alert when a user submits a contact form requesting more details about the products and services we provide).  Web beacons may also track whether a user clicks on a link within an email that directs the user to one of the TBFS websites (e.g., an embedded link within an email with signup details to attend a webinar).   We use this information to track visitor activity and to improve the TBFS websites and email communications.

D.     Do-not-track signals/California Do-Not-Track Disclosure

TBFS does not currently respond to web browser’s Do-Not-Track signals. However, you can configure most browsers to reject cookies or to notify you when you are sent a cookie, giving you a chance to decide whether or not to accept it. You can consult the help section of your browser to find out how to do this. Google provides some additional privacy options regarding its analytics cookies here: http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/. Please be aware that if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect the availability and functionality of our Services.

8. Your Choices and Opt-Outs

TBFS takes reasonable steps to ensure that the data we collect is reliable for its intended use, accurate, complete, and up-to-date.

We respond to all requests we receive from individuals wishing to exercise their data protection rights in accordance with applicable data protection laws (see below also Your Data Protection Rights). You may update or remove the information you provided to us by contacting us on our website. To protect your privacy and security, we will also take reasonable steps to verify your identity before updating or removing your information.  

9. Your Data Protection Rights

Depending on where you reside, you may have certain legal rights with respect to your Personal Information, including the following:

·       If you wish to access, correct, update or request deletion of your Personal Information, you can do so at any time by emailing contact@simpletrials.com

·       In addition, you can object to the processing of your Personal Information, ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Information, or request portability of your Personal Information. You can exercise these rights by emailing contact@simpletrials.com

·       You have the right to opt-out of marketing communications we send you at any time. You can exercise this right by clicking on the “unsubscribe” or “opt-out” link in the marketing emails we send you or by emailing us at contact@simpletrials.com

·       If we have collected and processed your Personal Information with your consent, you can withdraw your consent at any time. Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect the processing of your Personal Information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

·       You have the right to complain to a data protection authority about our collection and use of your Personal Information. For more information, please contact your local data protection authority. A list of the European Data Protection Board Members can be found here: https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en.  

10. Links To Other Websites

The TBFS websites may contain links to other websites. For example, our “News” and “Blogs” sections may redirect you to a press release or the website of the related industry trade show. You should carefully review the privacy notices and practices of linked websites, as we cannot control or be responsible for their privacy practices.

11. Children’s Privacy

TBFS does not knowingly collect information from children under the age of eighteen (18) and children under 18 are prohibited from using our services. If you learn that a child has provided us with Personal Information in violation with this Privacy Notice (e.g., they have completed contact form details and submitted to us), you can alert us at contact@simpletrials.com.

12. Notification Of Changes to this Privacy Notice

As we provide more services on our websites and as privacy laws and regulations evolve, it may be necessary to revise or update our Privacy Notice from time to time.  If we make changes to this Privacy Notice, we will notify you by posting an announcement on the TBFS website. If we materially change the ways in which we use or share Personal Information previously collected from you through the TBFS websites, we will notify you by email or other reasonable means of communication.

13. International Data Transfers

TBFS is a US-based company working as a global business supporting clients in the life sciences industry. We may transfer Personal Information to countries other than the country in which the data was originally collected. For example, we may transfer your Personal Information to the United States for processing by us or one of our third-party service providers described earlier in this Privacy Notice (see also “Who We May Share Your Data With”, above). By reading this notice and using our websites, you acknowledge that your Personal Information may be transferred to countries outside of your country of residence, including the United States, which may have different data protection rules than those of your country. Where we do so, our collection, storage and use of your Personal Information will be in accordance with the purposes set out in this notice.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions or concerns about this Privacy Notice, please feel free to email us at contact@simpletrials.com.