StudyBlue.com Privacy Policy
Last updated February 21, 2011.
STUDYBLUE is strongly committed to protecting your privacy and making 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
This Privacy Policy applies to personal data collected by StudyBlue at www.studyblue.com and through StudyBlue’s mobile applications, which we will refer to collectively as “the Site.” This Policy informs you about how we collect and use personal data, including the extent to which we share information with certain schools and institutions who may be our customers (“Schools.”)
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® and other parties other than StudyBlue 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. By visiting or using the Site, you consent to the data collection and use practices described in this Policy. This Policy is intended to be read with, and not to limit, other terms of use agreements, policies or procedures that may appear on the Site.
The Site is owned and maintained by STUDYBLUE, INC., a Wisconsin corporation having its office at 602 State Street, Suite 200, Madison, Wisconsin 53703, and its organizational affiliates (referred to collectively herein as “we,” “us,” “Company” or “StudyBlue”).
If you have any questions or comments regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at info@studyblue.com .
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 material changes by posting a notice here (http://www.studyblue.com/about/legal/privacy) or on the Site’s then-current Privacy page. It is your responsibility to review this Policy periodically for all changes and updates. Your continued use of the Site following the posting of changes to this Policy will mean that you accept such changes.
What Type of Information Does StudyBlue Collect?
We collect the personal data that you volunteer while using the Site. This includes but is not limited to contact information, such as your name, city and state, and e-mail address as well as demographic information such as your age, gender and interests. We collect billing, credit card and other financial information. We also collect information about your system and how you use StudyBlue products and services.
When you use StudyBlue, you may set up your personal profile, 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 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 the Site, 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 the Site or our services, we will collect the information that you provide to us.
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® .
We use analytic and reporting technologies to record non-personal information such as Internet domain and host names, Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser software, operating system types, page views, clickstream patterns, and the dates and times that the Site is accessed. 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 advertising, communications and how visitors use the Site. To do this, we may use web beacons and 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.
We are able to determine the 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.
What Does StudyBlue Do With The Information It Collects?
When you register with StudyBlue, you create your own profile and 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 to enable you to connect with other people on StudyBlue. We may occasionally use your name and email address to send you notifications regarding new services that we think you may find valuable.
When you use StudyBlue, certain information you post or share with third parties (e.g., someone in your network), such as personal information, comments, messages, photos, videos, or other information, may be shared with other users in accordance with the privacy settings you select. All such 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.
StudyBlue may send you service-related announcements from time to time through the general operation of the service. For instance, if content is added or events are changed regarding a class for which you are registered, we may notify you of such an event.
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 partners, advertisers, and other third parties, for lawful purposes.
StudyBlue also has contractual relationships with certain Schools. These Schools make our services available to their faculty and students. In return, we deliver aggregated usage reports back to the Schools, so they can identify such things as strengths and weaknesses in their curricula and overall student learning trends. In no case will StudyBlue identify you as an individual in any such report unless you have affirmatively opted in and given us permission to do so.
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 download 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) conform to the edicts of the law or comply 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 the content features of the service 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.
You accept that any dispute you may have with us involving privacy shall be governed by this Policy and any terms of use appearing on the Site, including limitations on damages. The law of the state of Wisconsin, USA shall control. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@studyblue.com