Privacy Policy | Homeroom

Homeroom Privacy Policy

Effective April 15, 2021.

We want you to understand how and why Homeroom collects, uses, and shares information about you when you use our sites, mobile apps, and other online products and services (collectively, the "Services") or when you otherwise interact with us or receive a communication from us.

WHAT WE COLLECT

Information You Provide to Us
We collect information you provide to us directly when you use the Services. This includes:

Account information: If you create a Homeroom account, we may require you to provide a username, a school email address and password. Your username is public, and it doesn’t have to be related to your real name. You may also provide other account information, like a bio, or profile picture. We also store your user account preferences and settings.
Content you submit:We collect the content you submit to the Services. This includes your posts and comments including saved drafts, your messages with other users (e.g., private messages and chats), and your reports and other communications with moderators and with us. Your content may include text, links, images, and gifs.
Actions you take:We collect information about the actions you take when using the Services. This includes your interactions with content, like voting, saving, hiding, and reporting. It also includes your interactions with other users, such as following and friending. We collect your interactions with communities, like your subscriptions or moderator status.
Other information:You may choose to provide other information directly to us. For example, we may collect information when you fill out a form, participate in Homeroom-sponsored activities or promotions, apply for a job, request customer support, or otherwise communicate with us.

Information We Collect Automatically
When you access or use our Services, we may also automatically collect information about you. This includes:

Log and usage data: We may log information when you access and use the Services. This may include your IP address, user-agent string, browser type, operating system, referral URLs, device information (e.g., device IDs), device settings, pages visited, links clicked, the requested URL, and search terms. Except for the IP address used to create your account, Homeroom will delete any IP addresses collected after 360 days.
Location information: We may receive and process information about your location. For example, with your consent, we may collect information about the specific location of your mobile device (for example, by using GPS or Bluetooth). We may also receive location information from you when you choose to share such information on our Services, including by associating your content with a location, or we may derive your approximate location from other information about you, including your IP address.

Information Collected from Other Sources
We may receive information about you from other sources, including from other users and third parties, and combine that information with the other information we have about you. For example, we may receive demographic or interest information about you from third parties, including advertisers (such as the fact that an advertiser is interested in showing you an ad), and combine it with our own data using a common account identifier such as a hash of an email address or a mobile-device ID.

Linked services: If you authorize or link a third-party service (e.g., an unofficial mobile app client) to access your Homeroom account, Homeroom receives information about your use of that service when it uses that authorization. Linking services may also cause the other service to send us information about your account with that service. For example, if you sign in to Homeroom with a third-party identity provider, that provider may share an email address with us. To learn how information is shared with linked services, see “How Information About You Is Shared” below.

Personal Data Collected from Third Parties/Publicly Available Sources

When you create your account, and/or authenticate with a third-party service like Twitter, we may collect, store, and periodically update information associated with that third-party account, such as your lists of friends or followers. We will never publish something through one of your third-party accounts without your express permission.

Derived Data: We may infer your preferences for content and features of the Service, or future products and services, based on the Personal Data we collect about you.

Cookies: We may use cookies to operate and administer our Site, gather usage data on our Site, and improve your experience on it. “Cookies” are small text files containing a string of characters that can be placed on your computer or mobile device that uniquely identifies your browser or device. Cookies can be stored on your computer or mobile device for different periods of time. Some cookies expire after a certain amount of time, or upon logging out (session cookies), others survive after your browser is closed until a defined expiration date set in the cookie (as determined by the third party placing it), and help recognize your computer or mobile device when you open your browser and browse the Internet again (persistent cookies).

Cookies and other technologies allow a site or services to know if your computer or device has visited it before. These technologies can then be used to deliver products, services, and ads, help us understand how the site or service is being used, help you navigate between pages efficiently, help remember your preferences, and generally improve your experience in using our services. If you limit the ability of websites to set cookies, you may be unable to access certain parts of the Site and you may not be able to benefit from the full functionality of the Site.

Advertising networks may use cookies to collect Personal Data. Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of targeted advertising. If you would like to find out more information, please visit the Network Advertising Initiative’s online resources at http://www.networkadvertising.org and follow the opt-out instructions there.
If you access the Site on your mobile device, you may not be able to control tracking technologies through the settings.

Analytics: We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google Analytics uses cookies to help us analyze how users use the Site and enhance your experience when you use the Site. For more information on how Google uses this data, go to www.google.com/policies/privacy/partners/.

Online Tracking and Do Not Track Signals: We and our third party service providers may use cookies, pixels, or other tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing activities over time and across different websites following your use of the Site and use that information to send targeted advertisements. We make reasonable commercial efforts to recognize and support “Do Not Track” signals.

HOW WE USE PERSONAL DATA

We may use Personal Data for the following purposes:

To provide the Service;
To create your account, facilitate network connections, recommend content, and further personalize the Service for you;
To respond to your inquiries, comments, feedback, or questions;
To send administrative information to you, for example, information regarding the Service and changes to our terms, conditions, and policies;
To analyze how you interact with our Service;
To maintain and improve the Service;
To develop new products and services;
To authenticate your account and keep it secure;
To enforce our Terms of Service;
To prevent spam, fraud, abuse, criminal activity, or misuses of our Service, and to ensure the security of our IT systems, architecture, and networks; and
To comply with legal obligations and legal process and to protect our rights, privacy, safety, or property, and/or that of our affiliates, you, or other third parties.

Aggregated Information: We may aggregate Personal Data and use the aggregated information to analyze the effectiveness of our Service, to improve and add features to our Service, and for other similar purposes. In addition, from time to time, we may analyze the general behavior and characteristics of users of our Service and share aggregated information like general user statistics with prospective business partners. We may collect aggregated information through the Service, through cookies, and through other means described in this Privacy Policy.

SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL DATA

Company does not sell your Personal Data. In certain circumstances we may share the categories of Personal Data described above without further notice to you, unless required by the law, with the following categories of third parties:
Vendors and Service Providers: To assist us in meeting business operations needs and to perform certain services and functions, we may share Personal Data with vendors and service providers, including providers of hosting services, audio applications and infrastructure, cloud services, and other information technology services providers, event management services, email communication software and email newsletter services, advertising and marketing services, payment processors, customer relationship management and customer support services, and web analytics services. Pursuant to our instructions, these parties will access, process, or store Personal Data in the course of performing their duties to us. We take commercially reasonable steps to ensure our service providers adhere to the security standards we apply to your Personal Data.

Business Transfers: If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of all or a portion of our assets, or transition of service to another provider (collectively a “Transaction”), your Personal Data and other information may be shared in the diligence process with counterparties and others assisting with the Transaction and transferred to a successor or affiliate as part of that Transaction along with other assets.

Legal Requirements: If required to do so by law or in the good faith belief that such action is necessary to (i) comply with a legal obligation, including to meet national security or law enforcement requirements, (ii) protect and defend our rights or property, (iii) prevent fraud, (iv) act in urgent circumstances to protect the personal safety of users of the Service, or the public, or (v) protect against legal liability.

Other Users: certain actions you take may be visible to other users of the Service. For example, when you upload profile photos or update information in your profile, other users will have access to this content and information.

DATA RETENTION

We keep Personal Data for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy, while we have a business need to do so, or as required by law (e.g. for tax, legal, accounting, or other purposes), whichever is longer.

UPDATE YOUR INFORMATION

Please log in to your account or contact us (at smartforstudents@gmail.com) if you need to change or correct your Personal Data, or if you wish to delete your account.

CALIFORNIA PRIVACY RIGHTS DISCLOSURES

Where provided for by law and subject to any applicable exceptions, California residents may have the right:

To know the categories of Personal Data that Company has collected about you, the business purpose for collecting your Personal Data, and the categories of sources from which the Personal Data was collected;
To access the specific pieces of Personal Data that Company has collected about you;
To know whether Company has disclosed your Personal Data for business purposes, the categories of Personal Data so disclosed, and the categories of third parties to whom we have disclosed your Personal Data;
To have Company, under certain circumstances, delete your Personal Data; and
To be free from discrimination related to the exercise of these rights.
If you would like to exercise any or all of these rights, you may do so by contacting us at smartforstudents@gmail.com Your authorized agent may submit requests in the same manner. Once we receive your request, we will verify your identity by sending an email to the email address you provide to us.

Please contact us if you have questions about your rights or our disclosures under the CCPA, or to request access to an alternative format of this Privacy Policy.

CHILDREN

Our Service is not directed to individuals who are under the age of 18. Company does not knowingly collect Personal Data from individuals under the age of 18. If you have reason to believe that an individual under the age of 18 has provided Personal Data to Company through the Service please contact us and we will endeavor to delete that information from our databases.

LINKS TO OTHER WEBSITES

The Service may contain links to other websites not operated or controlled by Company, including social media services (“Third Party Sites”). The information that you share with Third Party Sites will be governed by the specific privacy policies and terms of service of the Third Party Sites and not by this Privacy Policy. By providing these links we do not imply that we endorse or have reviewed these sites. Please contact the Third Party Sites directly for information on their privacy practices and policies.

SECURITY

You use the Service at your own risk. We implement commercially reasonable technical, administrative, and organizational measures to protect Personal Data both online and offline from loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no Internet or e-mail transmission is ever fully secure or error free. In particular, e-mail sent to or from us may not be secure. Therefore, you should take special care in deciding what information you send to us via the Service or e-mail. Please keep this in mind when disclosing any Personal Data to Company via the Internet. In addition, we are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Service, or third party websites. Finally, we cannot control the actions of users on the platform, who may seek to use third party apps or devices to record, store, or share content or communication without other users' prior consent. Please keep this in mind when using the Service.

INTERNATIONAL USERS

By using our Service, you understand and acknowledge that your Personal Data will be transferred from your location to our facilities and servers in the United States, and where applicable, to the servers of the technology partners we use to provide our Service.

YOUR CHOICES

In certain circumstances providing Personal Data is optional. However, if you choose not to provide Personal Data that is needed to use some features of our Service, you may be unable to use those features. You can also contact us to ask us to update or correct your Personal Data. You may also delete your account. Please note that we will need to verify that you have the authority to delete the account and certain activity generated prior to deletion may remain stored by us and may be shared with third parties as detailed in this Privacy Policy.

CHANGES TO THE PRIVACY POLICY

The Service and our business may change from time to time. As a result we may change this Privacy Policy at any time. When we do we will post an updated version on this page, unless another type of notice is required by the applicable law. By continuing to use our Service or providing us with Personal Data after we have posted an updated Privacy Policy, or notified you by other means if applicable, you consent to the revised Privacy Policy and practices described in it.

If you have any questions about our Privacy Policy or information practices, please feel free to contact us anytime via e-mail at smartforstudents@gmail.com

Thank you!