Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how ScioLinks collects, uses, stores, shares, and protects personal data when you use our website, respondent account, survey router, survey services, and payout functions.

ScioLinks is operated by:

In this Privacy Policy, “ScioLinks”, “we”, “us”, or “our” refers to Gilhaus Research.

We process personal data in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the German Federal Data Protection Act (BDSG), and other applicable data protection laws.

1. Controller

The controller responsible for the processing of personal data is:

Email: support@gilhaus-research.com

2. What Personal Data We Collect

Depending on how you use ScioLinks, we may process the following categories of personal data.

Account Data

When you create an account, we may process:

• your PayPal email address,
• your account password in encrypted or hashed form,
• your account creation date,
• your account status,
• your internal user ID.

We do not store your password in plain text.

Demographic Data

To match you with suitable surveys, we may collect demographic information such as:

• age or age range,
• gender,
• country of residence,
• region,
• language,
• employment status,
• education,
• household information,
• other demographic characteristics relevant to survey eligibility.

The specific profile information requested may change over time.

Survey Participation Data

When you use the survey router or participate in surveys, we may process information such as:

• survey entry timestamps,
• survey completion timestamps,
• survey identifiers,
• survey outcomes,
• completion status,
• screenout status,
• survey duration,
• survey revenue,
• respondent compensation,
• reconciliation or rejection status,
• routing history.

We generally do not receive all answers you provide within a third-party survey unless the relevant Survey Provider specifically transmits such information to us.

Quality and Fraud-Prevention Data

To protect the integrity of market research and prevent fraudulent activity, we may process technical and behavioral information including:

• IP address,
• browser type,
• operating system,
• device characteristics,
• approximate location derived from IP address,
• language settings,
• timestamps,
• session information,
• duplicate-account indicators,
• survey completion patterns,
• response timing patterns,
• quality flags,
• reconciliation history,
• suspected proxy, VPN, emulator, or automation indicators,
• other signals used to assess survey quality or account legitimacy.

We may combine these signals to calculate internal quality indicators or risk assessments.

Payment Data

For payouts, we may process:

• your PayPal email address,
• payout amounts,
• payout dates,
• payout status,
• PayPal transaction references,
• failed payout information.

We normally do not receive your PayPal password, bank account password, or full payment-account credentials.

Communication Data

If you contact us, we may process:

• your email address,
• message content,
• support requests,
• correspondence history,
• technical information related to your request.

3. How We Collect Personal Data

We may collect personal data:

• directly from you,
• automatically when you use the Platform,
• from Survey Providers,
• from payment providers such as PayPal,
• from fraud-prevention or technical service providers,
• from cookies and similar technologies where applicable.

4. Purposes and Legal Bases for Processing

We process personal data only where a legal basis exists under applicable data protection law.

We process account data, profile information, survey preferences, and usage data in order to:

• create and manage your account,
• authenticate you,
• provide access to surveys,
• operate the survey router,
• maintain account settings,
• calculate earnings,
• process payouts.

Survey Matching

We process demographic and profile data to identify surveys for which you may be eligible.

Quality Assurance and Fraud Prevention

We process technical, behavioral, account, and survey-performance data to:

• detect duplicate accounts,
• identify suspicious or invalid activity,
• prevent automated survey participation,
• verify survey quality,
• protect ScioLinks and Survey Providers from fraud,
• investigate unusual account behavior,
• enforce our Terms and Conditions.

Earnings and Reconciliation

We process survey outcomes, revenue information, quality results, and reconciliation data to calculate, verify, approve, adjust, or reverse earnings.

PayPal Payouts

We process your PayPal email address and payout information in order to send you earned compensation.

Legal and Tax Obligations

We may process and retain data where required to comply with:

• tax obligations,
• accounting obligations,
• anti-fraud requirements,
• court orders,
• government requests,
• other legal obligations.

Support and Communication

We process communication data in order to respond to support requests, resolve account issues, and communicate with you about the Platform.

Marketing Communications

If we send optional marketing emails or promotional communications, we will do so only where permitted by law.

5. Automated Processing and Quality Scores

ScioLinks may use automated systems to analyze account activity, survey outcomes, technical data, and quality indicators.

These systems may generate internal scores or classifications, for example:

• quality scores,
• fraud-risk indicators,
• account-review flags,
• survey-routing priorities.

Recent survey activity may be weighted more heavily than older activity.

Automated indicators may influence:

• which surveys are made available,
• routing priority,
• temporary account restrictions,
• payout review,
• whether an account is placed under review.

Where an automated process produces legal or similarly significant effects within the meaning of Article 22 GDPR, we will apply the protections required by applicable law.

Where appropriate, you may request human review of a decision affecting your account.

6. Sharing of Personal Data

We do not sell personal data. We may share personal data with the following categories of recipients where necessary.

Survey Providers

We may transmit demographic, technical, and routing-related information to Survey Providers so they can:

• determine survey eligibility,
• prevent duplicate participation,
• prevent fraud,
• operate surveys,
• validate survey results.

Where possible, we use pseudonymous identifiers instead of directly identifying information.

Your PayPal email address is not automatically disclosed to Survey Providers merely because it is used for your ScioLinks account.

PayPal and Payment Providers

We may transmit payment-related information to PayPal or another payment provider for the purpose of processing payouts.

The payment provider processes your data under its own privacy policy.

Hosting and Infrastructure Providers

We may use third-party service providers for:

• web hosting,
• databases,
• content delivery,
• email delivery,
• logging,
• security,
• backups,
• technical infrastructure.

These providers may process personal data on our behalf.

Where required, they are bound by data processing agreements under Article 28 GDPR.

Fraud Prevention and Security Providers

We may use third-party services to identify suspicious activity, bots, invalid traffic, compromised accounts, or other security risks.

Authorities and Legal Recipients

We may disclose personal data if required by law, court order, regulatory authority, law-enforcement request, or other legally binding obligation.

7. International Data Transfers

Some Survey Providers, infrastructure providers, payment providers, or other service providers may be located outside the European Economic Area (EEA).

Where personal data is transferred to a country outside the EEA, we will use an appropriate transfer mechanism where required, such as:

• an adequacy decision by the European Commission,
• Standard Contractual Clauses,
• another legally recognized safeguard.

Where appropriate, additional technical or contractual safeguards may also be used.

8. PayPal

ScioLinks uses PayPal for respondent payouts.

When we initiate a PayPal payout, certain information, such as your PayPal email address, payout amount, and transaction information, may be transmitted to PayPal.

PayPal acts independently with regard to some of its processing activities and may process your personal data in accordance with its own privacy policy and legal obligations.

ScioLinks does not control PayPal’s independent processing of your personal data.

9. Cookies and Similar Technologies

ScioLinks may use cookies, local storage, session storage, or similar technologies where necessary to:

• keep you logged in,
• maintain sessions,
• remember settings,
• protect accounts,
• prevent fraud,
• operate the Platform.

Strictly necessary technologies may be used without consent where permitted by law.

If we use optional analytics, advertising, or tracking technologies that require consent, we will request your consent before activating them.

You may withdraw consent for optional technologies at any time through the available consent settings.

10. Data Retention

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or as required by law.

Retention periods may vary depending on the category of data.

For example:

• account data may be stored for the duration of your account,
• payment and accounting records may be retained for statutory retention periods,
• survey transaction records may be retained for reconciliation, accounting, fraud prevention, and dispute resolution,
• security logs may be retained for a limited period depending on the risk and purpose,
• communication records may be retained until the matter is resolved and for an appropriate follow-up period.

After data is no longer required, it will be deleted, anonymized, or otherwise processed in accordance with applicable law.

11. Account Deletion

You may request deletion of your ScioLinks account.

When an account is deleted, we will delete or anonymize personal data unless continued retention is necessary because of:

• statutory retention requirements,
• pending payouts,
• reconciliation,
• fraud investigations,
• legal claims,
• dispute resolution,
• other legal obligations.

Deletion of your account does not necessarily result in immediate deletion of all transaction or accounting records.

12. Security

We use appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect personal data against:

• unauthorized access,
• loss,
• misuse,
• alteration,
• disclosure,
• destruction.

Measures may include:

• encrypted connections,
• password hashing,
• access controls,
• database security,
• monitoring,
• backups,
• fraud detection,
• restricted administrative access.

No online system can guarantee absolute security.

13. Your Rights

If the GDPR applies to you, you may have the following rights.

Right of Access

You may request information about whether we process your personal data and obtain a copy of that data.

Right to Rectification

You may request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data.

Right to Erasure

You may request deletion of your personal data where the legal requirements are met.

Right to Restriction of Processing

You may request that processing of your personal data be restricted in certain circumstances.

Right to Data Portability

Where processing is based on consent or contract and is carried out by automated means, you may have the right to receive certain personal data in a structured, commonly used, machine-readable format.

Right to Object

Where we process data on the basis of legitimate interests under Article 6(1)(f) GDPR, you may object to the processing based on your particular situation.

We may continue processing if we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds that override your interests, rights, and freedoms, or where processing is required for legal claims.

Right to Withdraw Consent

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.

Withdrawal does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

Right to Complain

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a competent data protection supervisory authority.

For Gilhaus Research, the competent authority will generally be the data protection authority responsible for Bavaria, depending on the exact legal classification of the business.

You may also contact the supervisory authority in your country of residence or workplace.

14. Data Required to Use the Platform

Some personal data is necessary in order to create an account, access surveys, verify survey participation, or process payouts.

If you do not provide required information, we may be unable to provide some or all Platform functions.

Optional demographic fields will be identified as optional where applicable.

15. Children

ScioLinks is not intended for persons under the age of 18.

We do not knowingly allow persons under 18 to create respondent accounts.

If we become aware that an account belongs to a person under 18, we may suspend or delete the account and associated personal data, subject to applicable legal obligations.

16. Links to Third-Party Websites and Surveys

ScioLinks may redirect you to websites or surveys operated by third parties.

Those third parties are responsible for their own data processing activities.

Their privacy policies apply to information they collect directly from you.

We recommend reviewing the privacy information provided by the relevant Survey Provider before submitting personal information within a third-party survey.

17. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time.

Changes may be necessary due to:

• changes to the Platform,
• new service providers,
• changes in Survey Provider relationships,
• technical developments,
• legal or regulatory requirements.

The current version will be made available through ScioLinks.

Where required by law, we will provide additional notice of material changes.

18. Contact

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact:

Email: support@gilhaus-research.com

19. Supervisory Authority

You have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority.

As Gilhaus Research is located in Bavaria, Germany, the competent supervisory authority for private-sector businesses is generally:

You may also contact another competent supervisory authority where permitted by applicable law.