CogState ClinicalTrials, CogState Academic, CogState WorkPlace, CogState Sport, CogState Health and DataPoint® are manufactured by CogState Ltd. CogState Ltd. has strict policies and procedures in place to ensure the privacy of our clientele. Your personal information will not be shared with any external organisation without your express informed consent.
We do not need to know information that identifies you personally. This information is not required to receive, analyse, and produce a report of your cognitive performance.
PLEASE HELP US TO PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY: NEVER USE REAL NAMES AS ATHLETE, PATIENT OR SUBJECT IDENTIFIERS, WHEN SUBMITTING TESTS FOR ANALYSIS TO COGSTATE. YOU MAY BE VIOLATING PRIVACY LAWS YOURSELF IF YOU DO, AND COGSTATE DOES NOT ACCEPT ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR BREACHES OF PRIVACY IF YOU HAVE USED REAL NAMES AS IDENTIFIERS.
The email address you provide must be valid, and if you are concerned about confidentiality, there are ways to ensure that this does not identify you. There are times, specifically for a supervised test when we will have to obtain information about your organization in order to provide and maintain account details, yet personal information regarding specific participants is not required. When available, credit card facilities will be provided at a secure location by a third party.
Each account can have an unlimited number of usernames associated with it. The only proviso is that each individual should have a unique username within that account. If two different individuals have the same username (eg unit record number) within an account then their results will not be separable by the CogState automated analysis process.
Collected database information is commonly used to determine trends in CogState and products. Some information is analysed and used as input to improve our test engine, web-site performance or presented to clients as market research; however, no personal information is divulged. In no way can you or other users be identified or linked to a specific cognitive performance test.
In addition, all test data files mailed electronically are encrypted to keep the data secure from third parties. This means that if the email is intercepted, the information is negligible. It will not be possible to decode the information without the decryption technology. Once again, if a third party views the data, the data file cannot be linked to a user and renders the information meaningless.
Once the encrypted data file reaches CogState Ltd's systems, automated analysis begins without human intervention. The results are processed, and emailed to the return email address(es) provided. Additionally, the data file and performance reports are stored for future comparisons. These can be retrieved for comparison (where multiple tests have been submitted) by producing the former username, account number and details of the account owner.
Account ownership can be verified by owner details, account number and the unique account password. An error message will be generated if the account number and password sent in with a file for analysis do not match those registered. Every effort will be made to determine the nature of the error, but sometimes this may not be possible. If you have not received a report within 30 minutes or so of sending it for analysis, then you should consider that you have made an error in your mailing attempt, and retry to email with the correct account number and password information.
If you are concerned about confidentiality below are some tips:
1. Use an alias: CogState users are encouraged to always use non-identifying unit record numbers or aliases rather than their real names. This applies to all tests. CogState and products require some demographic information (year of birth, handedness, gender and educational achievement) but none of this is sufficient to identify a subject.
2. Consider using a non-identifying email address: If you use an email address, consider using one that does not identify you or your patients. Email addresses have a "user name" before the "@" and the domain server name. The user name does not have to be the real name of the user. Numerous companies offer on-line facilities to quickly generate a password protected email address. This is also applicable for supervised versions of CogState products.
3. Avoid passwords that include identifying information
If you have questions about this policy, please contact us.
