MAPPS App Privacy Policy
Effective Date 10/19/2023
MAPPING@Brown (“App”) was developed by the Center for Mobility Analysis for Pandemic Prevention Strategies (MAPPS) at the Brown University School of Public Health (“Brown,” “us,” or “we”) in coordination with the Center for Computation and Visualization at Brown.
MAPPS values your participation, and takes privacy and personal data protection seriously. This Privacy Policy provides information about how the personal data you provide via the App will be protected and used, and your rights and responsibilities related to your personal data.
You acknowledge that you are using this App as a result of your enrollment in the MAPPING@Brown Phase 1 Brown University research study (“Study”). The purpose of the App is for the Study, which aims to learn if a smartphone application can be used to accurately and securely determine individuals’ locations in public spaces as they move through indoor environments (“Purpose”). The Study has been approved by the Brown University Institutional Review Board under Protocol# STUDY00000094. All requirements, protections, and information related to the Study, including any and all consent forms you signed, apply to use of the App.
By creating an account or accessing or using the App, you agree to this Privacy Policy/Terms of Use. We do not anticipate making changes to this Privacy Policy/Terms of Use during the Study. However, Brown reserves the right to modify this Privacy Policy/Terms of Use at any time. In the event that Brown modifies this Privacy Policy/Terms of Use during the Study, users of the App will be notified (e.g., via the App or via email using the contact information provided at Study enrollment) before the modification(s) go into effect.
IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THE PRIVACY POLICY/TERMS OF USE, DO NOT USE THE APP.
We will not sell any personal data you provide through the App, including your email address, to third parties, and will not provide such personal data to third parties unless required by applicable law. We will use the contact information you provide at enrollment only for the Study.
The App may contain links or redirect users to https://www.mappsproject.com, which provides additional information about the Study. The https://www.mappsproject.com website may contain links to other websites and resources. Other websites accessed via https://www.mappsproject.com may have privacy policies different from this Privacy Policy. Any use of or interaction with these other websites is governed by the terms of use and privacy policy of the particular website.
Research data and all identifiable, sensitive personal data collected about you via the App and for the Study are also covered by a Certificate of Confidentiality issued by the US Department of Health & Human Services. In accordance with the provisions of section 301(d) of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 241(d), this Certificate is issued to Brown University to protect the privacy of subjects in the Study.
Collection, Retention and Use of Personal Data Collected via the App
We will collect, retain, and use personal data you voluntarily provide through your use of the App. The personal data that we may collect and retain through the App includes the following:
The contact information (e.g., Brown e-mail address) you provide at enrollment in the Study;
A unique, coded Study ID affiliated with your smartphone device;
The strength of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signal(s) received through the App and timestamp(s) of your App’s connection to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth; and
Other information related to your use of the App such as crash reports, your smartphone’s mobile operating system type (e.g., iOS or Android), and your smartphone’s mobile operating system version.
The personal data collected through the App will be used to estimate the location of individuals’ smartphones across time throughout the Study. Smartphone locations will serve as proxies for participant locations, which will then be used to 1) evaluate the extent to which statistical network estimation techniques can be used to analyze and/or reproduce the observed spatial social networks, and 2) use both observed and summarized data (e.g., network graphs) in simulation models of infectious disease transmission within a virtual environment.
Brown intends to use the personal data you provide via the App for the Purpose during the Study. Brown may use the personal data you provide to or through the App as described in the Brown Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to conduct the Study; to perform research intended to contribute to overall knowledge in the field of pandemic preparedness; to operate and improve the App; to communicate with you; and to exercise, enforce, and comply with legal rights and obligations. By using the App, you consent to Brown’s use of your personal data in these and related ways.
The personal data you provide via the App will not be identified in any research reports or research-related materials. External researchers and collaborators may request data for use in other research studies. Upon appropriate Institutional Review Board approvals, and in accordance with the Certificate of Confidentiality, Brown may provide deidentified data to external researchers and collaborators. The Study data will not be transferred externally; deidentified Study data will remain stored within a secure computing environment on servers at Brown University.
Requests Regarding Your Personal Data Collected via the App
At any point during the Study’s data collection period, you may contact the MAPPS team to request that Brown:
Provide you with access to your personal data;
Provide you with information about the methods in which your personal data are maintained and processed;
Provide you with information about the organizations with whom your de-identified personal data may be disclosed; and/or
Correct or update your personal data if you believe the data you provide via the App are incorrect, incomplete, or inaccurate.
You may also contact the MAPPS team at any time to raise concerns or complaints related to your use of the App or Brown’s use of your personal data.
You may delete the App from your mobile phone at any time. Unless you notify the Study team, all personal data collected from you via the App up until the point of App deletion can be used by the Study team for the Purpose.
You may request that Brown delete your personal data while data collection is ongoing. To request that Brown delete your personal data, you must email the Study team or select the “Delete My Data” option in the App prior to removing the App from your mobile phone. Once data collection concludes, your personal data will be de-identified and cannot be deleted.
Requests to the MAPPS team may be sent via email to mapps@brown.edu by clicking “Contact” on the App homepage. If you have questions about your personal data, please contact Study staff at mapps@brown.edu or (+1) 401-863-7593.
Please note that Brown may have legal obligations that require it to retain certain personal data for a specific period of time.