StudyBlue.com Privacy Policy.
Last updated March 13, 2012.
STUDYBLUE wants to make sure you understand how we collect and use your personal information. If there’s anything about this Privacy Policy you don’t understand, please contact us: info@studyblue.com
About This Policy
When we refer to the “Site” we’re talking about www.studyblue.com and all of its mobile applications.
This Privacy Policy applies to the information we collect. It describes how we collect and use personal data, including the extent to which we share .
Please note: This Privacy Policy does not supersede or affect the terms of any policy or agreement between you and any School or third party (for example, Facebook®, Twitter®, Evernote® and other parties with whom you share your personal information). Please make sure that you read and understand the terms of any privacy policies that you enter into with parties other than StudyBlue, as those policies – and not this Policy – explain how your personal information is used by such other parties.
This Policy does not apply to information collected directly or indirectly by our third party service providers, such as credit card processors.
Does StudyBlue Ever Make Changes To Its Privacy Policy?
We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting a notice on this page. If the changes are substantial, we will provide a more prominent notice.
What Type of Information Does StudyBlue Collect?
Information You Provide To Us
We collect the personal data that you provide to us. This includes your contact information, such as your name, city and state, and e-mail address as well as demographic information such as your Geo-location, age, gender, interests and school. Billing, credit card and other financial information is only required when you elect to purchase advertising or our premium service, currently known as StudyBlue+. When you supply such information, we collect it. When you use StudyBlue, you may do things like form relationships, send messages, perform searches and queries, form groups, set up events, and transmit information through various channels. When you do so, we collect this information so that we can analyze our performance, provide you with these services and offer personalized features. In most cases, we retain this information so you can have a record of your activity. If you choose to use our invitation service to tell a friend about StudyBlue, we will ask you for information needed to send the invitation, such as your friend’s email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting him or her to visit the Site.
If you communicate with us regarding our services, we will collect the information that you provide to us.
Information From Other Sources
We sometimes supplement the information that we collect with information from other sources. Such outside information includes (but is not limited to) updated delivery and address information from carriers or third parties; page-view information; search term and search result information; Site usage; credit history and like information from credit bureaus. We may also collect personal information you choose to make available through social networking sites such as (but not limited to) facebook® and Twitter® .
Log Information
We also collect information about your system and how you use StudyBlue products and services. We use analytic and reporting technologies to record non-personal information such as Internet domain and host names, , browser software, operating system types, page views, clickstream patterns, and the dates and times you access our services. We may use a variety of methods for automatically collecting such “passive” information. We also contract with third party vendors to help manage, monitor and optimize the Site and to help us measure the effectiveness of our services. To do this, we may use web beacons and cookies.
We are able to determine the Internet protocol (IP) address from which you access the Site. Essentially, your IP address is a numerical address that is used by computers connected to the Internet to identify your computer so that data (such as web pages you want to view) can be transmitted to you. Your IP address does not tell us who you are.
Cookies
If you have the settings on your browser set accordingly, we will use cookies to track some of your information. The use of cookies is a very common practice on the Internet. Cookies are small pieces of information that we will place on the hard drive of your computer in order to store personal data such as (but not limited to) your password, preferences, etc. to create a personalized experience for you. Our advertisers and third party service providers may also assign their own cookies to your hard drive, a process we do not control. You have the option to set your web browser to reject cookies and if you do so some features of the Site will not work. You should check the documentation of your browser to learn how to disable cookies. We use session ID cookies to confirm that users are logged in.
What Does StudyBlue Do With The Information It Collects?
When you register with StudyBlue, you create your profile and choose your privacy settings. Your profile information, as well as your name, email and photo, are displayed to people in the networks specified in your privacy settings. StudyBlue may send you service-related announcements; from time to time we may also use your name and email address to send you notifications regarding new services that we think you may find valuable.
When you use StudyBlue, information you post or share with others, such as personal information, flashcards, comments, messages, photos, videos, or other information, may become available to other users in accordance with the privacy settings you select. Geo-location on our Android/iPhone applications helps us more easily match you with a school in your area. All sharing of information is done at your own risk. Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information in your profile or when posting comments, messages, photos, videos, or other items, this information may become publicly available.
About Your Privacy Settings
The default setting on StudyBlue makes public the material you post. You can change your privacy settings to make your material private and/or password protected. StudyBlue works hard to maintain this functionality and to respect your wishes. No system is perfect, however, and it is possible that material you designate as private may inadvertently become public. It’s also possible that you could make an error. If you need help with privacy settings, email us: info@studyblue.com
Public Searching of Shared Material
When your privacy setting is set to “public” your flashcards and your shared profile information is visible to anyone. StudyBlue contains functionality permitting any user to search for and to use such public content. For example: if your content and profile information is public, any other user can see your flashcards and decks, and can incorporate your flashcards into their own decks. They will also know who you are. If you do not want your content or your profile information to be public, please adjust your privacy settings to make your material private and/or password protected.
About Aggregated Reports
StudyBlue gathers information about its users, such as what areas users visit and what services users access most frequently. StudyBlue automatically logs IP addresses, session sources, and other data that tracks users’ access to our services. We analyze these logs for sales and marketing purposes as well as system performance monitoring. These logs are analyzed for the aggregate trends they reveal about our users and how they use our services.
We may use aggregated personal information to determine the demographic composition of our user base and to distribute statistics and general marketplace information about StudyBlue. We may disclose aggregated user statistics in order to describe our services to prospective advertisers and other third parties, for lawful purposes.
Third Party Advertising
This Privacy Policy does not cover the use of cookies or other tracking technologies by any of our advertisers.
Advertisements that appear on StudyBlue are sometimes delivered (or “served”) directly to users by third party advertisers. They automatically receive your IP address when this happens. These third party advertisers may also upload cookies to your computer, or use other technologies such as JavaScript and web beacons (also known as “1×1 gifs”) to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. Doing this allows the advertising network to recognize your computer each time they send you an advertisement in order to measure the effectiveness of their ads and to personalize advertising content. In this way, they may compile information about where individuals using your computer or browser saw their advertisements and determine which advertisements are clicked. StudyBlue does not have access to or control of the cookies that may be placed by the third party advertisers.
When Will StudyBlue Disclose My Information to Third Parties?
Other than the practices we described in the “About Aggregated Reports” section, above, StudyBlue does not share, rent or trade your personal information with third parties for promotional purposes.
We may sell information we collect on the Site in conjunction with the disposition of StudyBlue’s assets in bankruptcy and/or through merger or acquisition. In the event StudyBlue goes through a business transition, such as a merger or acquisition by or with another company, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your personal information will likely be among the assets transferred.
We may disclose information (including personally identifiable information) about you to our Affiliates. For purposes of this Policy only, “Affiliates” means any person or entity which directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by or is under common control with us, whether by ownership or otherwise.
We reserve the right to disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to: (a) comply with the law or with legal process or government request served on us; (b) protect and defend our rights or property; or (c) act under exigent circumstances to protect the personal safety of a user of the Site, or the public.
As needed we may also disclose information we collect on the Site to third-party service providers we retain to provide goods and services to us, including but not limited to reports, analyses, technical support, hosting and maintenance, credit card processing, fraud screening and developing applications. We will use commercially reasonable efforts to prevent such third parties from disclosing your personal information, except for the purpose of providing the services in question. We cannot guarantee that such third parties will not disclose your personal information.
Security
The security of your personal information is important to us. We follow reasonable industry standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. Your account information is located on a secured server behind a firewall. However, people who try and bypass security systems, or “hackers,” are often very skilled at breaking through security systems, and therefore we can make no guarantee that your information will be 100% safe. For your own information and protection on the Site and on the Internet in general, please keep in mind that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information, that information can be collected and used by others. Similarly, if you post personal information in public places, you may receive unsolicited e-mail messages.
Our credit card processing provider is: authorize.net StudyBlue makes no representations regarding authorize.net’s security policies or procedures. We encourage you to contact authrorize.net directly to obtain such information. Authorize.net’s URL is: http://www.authorize.net/.
How Can I Access My Personal Information?
Access and control over most personal information on StudyBlue is readily available through the profile editing tools.
When you make use of our content features to share information with other users on StudyBlue, (e.g., sending a personal message to another user, uploading files, or creating flashcards) you generally cannot remove such content, so please exercise caution and discretion before sharing such information.
If you wish to access personal information that is not available to you through your account, please contact us at the address listed below. We may require proof of your identity before providing any such information. To the extent the law permits us to do so, we reserve the right to refuse to provide you with copies of your personal data if reasonably necessary due to administrative or technical burden, expense or security concerns.
You should be aware that it is not technologically possible to remove from our system each and every record of the information you have provided to us. The need to back-up our systems to protect information from inadvertent loss means that a copy of your personally identifiable information may exist in a non-erasable form that will be difficult or impossible for us to locate. After receiving your request, however, all personally identifiable information stored in databases we actively use and other readily searchable media we control will be updated, corrected, changed or deleted, as appropriate, as soon as reasonably practicable.
Other Sites
The Site may contain links to other websites not owned or operated by StudyBlue. If you click on such a link, you may be taken away from the Site to an entirely different website. This Policy applies only to the Site and not to any third-party website that may be accessed through links on the Site. We encourage you to be aware when we link to other websites and to read the privacy policies or statements of each and every such website.
Questions?
We welcome feedback regarding this Policy. If at any time you believe that the Site has not adhered to this Policy, please contact us and we will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly investigate and, if necessary, correct the problem.
If you have any questions, please contact us at info@studyblue.com