NOTICE:
On Apr 19, 2022, edX adopted an amended Privacy Policy, providing as follows:
EdX
and each Member that provides courses through the edX
Site care about the confidentiality and security of your
information. This Privacy Policy applies to information that edX collects
through the edX Site when
you interact with edX, with Members, with other users, and generally with the
edX Site.
Your
information is received and controlled by edX according to this Privacy Policy
when you sign up for an edX account or otherwise use the edX Site.
★ EdX is solely and
independently responsible for its own privacy practices. No Member is
responsible for edX’s privacy practices.
If
you enroll in a course offered by a Member through the edX Site, information
about you and your activity in the course is received and controlled also by
that Member as described in this Privacy Policy.
★ Each Member is solely
and independently responsible for its own privacy practices. No Member is
responsible for another Member’s privacy practices. Also, edX is not
responsible for any Member’s privacy practices.
If
you do not accept the terms of this Privacy Policy, then please do not access,
browse, or register for the edX Site or enroll in any courses. If you choose
not to provide certain information required to provide you with various
products and services offered on the edX Site, then you may not be able to
establish a user account or obtain those products or services.
Any version of
this Privacy Policy in a language other than English is provided for
convenience and you understand and agree that the English language version will
control if there is any conflict.
This Privacy Policy is organized as
follows:
· Information that edX collects from you (including
Personal Information)
· Cookies and Tracking Technologies on the edX Site
· How your information is used
· How your information is shared
· How to manage your Personal Information
· Glossary
INFORMATION
THAT EDX COLLECTS FROM YOU (INCLUDING PERSONAL INFORMATION)
EdX
directly collects information when you:
· sign up for an edX user
account and create an edX user profile;
· enroll and participate in
online courses;
· purchase a product or service
(for example, Verified Certificates);
· send email messages to edX
(including messages to learner support);
· participate in user surveys;
and
· participate in public forums,
webinars, and other interactive experiences on the edX Site.
EdX
also indirectly collects usage information about your visit to the edX Site, as
explained in the section below titled Cookies and Tracking Technologies.
EdX
does not itself collect or store financial account numbers or identification
issued by a governmental entity, employer, or other authority. Instead, if you
choose to make a purchase on the edX Site, for example a Verified Certificate,
you will be directed to edX’s third-party payment processor and edX’s
third-party ID verification service provider. If you do not wish to submit the
required authentication or payment information, then you will not be able to
obtain a certificate via the edX Site.
EdX
requires your Personal Information only in
limited circumstances when you:
· sign up for an edX user
account (name, username, email address);
· purchase a Verified
Certificate (so that edX’s third-party vendor can authenticate your identity)
or other product or service (so that edX’s third-party vendor can process
payment);
· participate in remote
proctoring or other course facilitation processes (so that edX’s third-party
vendor can monitor and assess the integrity of your course activity); or
· earn a Verified Certificate
(the certificate will have your name on it).
To the extent that edX associates the information that edX
collects directly or indirectly with an individual (for example, you), the
association is based on Personal Information in your account profile.
You
may voluntarily choose to share additional Personal Information on the edX
Site, for example:
· in your edX account profile
(and you may display a limited or full profile to other edX Site users);
· in applying for financial
assistance; or
· when participating in a
course, forum, webinar, or other interactive experience on the edX Site (noting
that in some cases, this information is shared
with a third party that provides tools or other assistance for the edX Site or
a course).
EdX encourages you to use discretion
before voluntarily sharing additional Personal Information on the edX Site. (If
you later choose to delete your edX account, deletion of your Personal Information will be subject to the process and limits outlined below.)
Members do not receive your Personal
Information unless and until you enroll in a course. If you enroll in a course,
the Member that offers the course will receive Personal Information from your
edX account profile plus the information that edX collects about your activity
and performance in the course in which you enrolled.
COOKIES AND
TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES ON THE EDX SITE
Like
many companies, edX uses Cookies and
other common Tracking Technologies on the edX
Site and in email communications to help edX better understand
your use and needs of the edX Site, current and future edX-related products and
services, and how edX and Members can improve. For example:
· based on your cookie
settings, edX tracks information indicating, among other things, which pages of
the edX Site were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were
visited, and which hyperlinks and other user interface controls were used;
· edX may log the IP address,
operating system, and browser software (including mobile use and device type
when you use edX native mobile apps) you used when accessing the edX Site, and
edX may be able to determine from an IP address your Internet Service Provider
and the geographic location of your point of connectivity; and
· edX may track and collect
information from emails that edX sends to you, for example whether you opened
the email or clicked on any links from the email.
EdX
also partners with third parties to help us track and understand your activity
on the edX Site, how you interact with edX’s social media, and how you find or
may be referred to the edX Site. Individual Members may separately use Tracking
Technologies within their courses and email communications to understand your
activity within a course and how you find or may be referred to a course on the
edX Site.
EdX
and Members use Cookies and other Tracking Technologies for the following
purposes:
· when necessary for system
administration, security, and integrity to ensure the edX Site works properly
for you. Without these technologies, the edX Site may not function correctly;
· to enable analytics,
performance and functionality, to help edX and Members gather information about
how visitors use the edX Site and monitor edX Site performance, and to enhance
your experience by recognizing and remembering whether you have visited the edX
Site before and may have any personal preferences; and
· to support marketing by
enabling edX and Members to deliver content relevant to your interests on the
edX Site and third-party sites based on how you interact with edX or Member
advertisements or content. EdX and Members use “first-party” cookies, which
means cookies served by edX or an individual Member, and also “third-party”
cookies, which means cookies served by third parties that help edX and Members
track this information.
You
have some options for managing Cookies and other Tracking Technologies. These
include:
· Modifying your browser
settings:
You should be able to control how and whether your web browser accepts Cookies
by adjusting its privacy and security settings. The “help” feature of the menu
bar on most browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new Cookies, how to
receive notification of new Cookies, and how to disable existing Cookies. If
you reject edX’s Cookies, many functions and conveniences of the edX Site may
not work properly.
· Opting-out of certain
third-party tracking and advertising: Some of the third parties used by edX or a Member
for Cookies and Tracking Technologies offer the ability to opt-out from their
tracking by following processes described on their websites. A list of some
such third parties is maintained and available at the edX learner Help Center and includes, for some, links to
applicable opt-out processes. Neither edX nor any Member is responsible for the
effectiveness of any third-party opt-out options.
EdX
and Members use information, including Personal Information, to carry out the following
purposes:
· Operate and improve the edX Site – This includes creating and
improving features that support the edX community and enable edX
Site usage at scale. This also includes personalizing the edX
Site, so your learning experience is tailored to your interests and needs.
· Create, administer, provide, and teach courses – This includes creating and
improving the delivery of massive open online courses and programs on edX. This
also includes personalizing courses, so your learning experience is tailored to
your interests and needs, and assessing your performance and awarding
certificates.
· Offer and improve products and services – This includes enabling you
to navigate the edX Site, to enroll and participate in courses and programs on
the edX Site, to learn effectively in such courses and programs, and to
purchase or obtain products and services on the edX Site such as Verified
Certificates.
· Develop and maintain the security and performance of the edX
Site – This
includes tracking edX Site outages and creating software solutions, detecting
violations of the Honor Code and Terms of Service, and monitoring uses,
misuses, and potential misuses of the edX Site.
· Communicate with you – This includes answering your course
and platform questions, notifying you of course and edX Site maintenance and
updates, marketing to you about course offerings, programs, news, and related products
and services of edX or edX affiliates, and as permitted under applicable law,
sending you communications about products or services of selected business
partners that may be of interest to you.
· Support scientific research including, for example, in the
areas of cognitive science and education – This includes collaborating to
enable and conduct research about how learners access and master course
materials online, with the goal of improving course outcomes.
· Track edX Site usage against goals and mission – This includes performing
analytics to evaluate access to and performance in courses and course-related
products and services and to report aggregate usage information (not Personal
Information) to business partners and external audiences.
· Exercise, enforce, and comply with legal rights and
obligations
– This includes responding to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process;
and investigating, preventing, or taking action regarding illegal activities,
suspected fraud, security or technical issues, or to protect the rights,
property, or safety of edX, Members, or others, and as otherwise required by
applicable law.
EdX
or a Member may also seek your consent for additional uses of information,
including Personal Information, and will use it only for the purpose described
to you. All use of Personal Information is subject to applicable law.
HOW YOUR INFORMATION IS
SHARED
EdX
and Members share information, including Personal Information, with third parties for the
following purposes:
· With service providers, contractors,
and other third parties that help carry out the uses described above – EdX requires third parties
to: (1) abide by this Privacy Policy and applicable law; (2) handle Personal
Information in a confidential manner and maintain adequate security; and (3)
use Personal Information only as needed to fulfill the relevant purpose(s). In
some cases, the edX Site and individual courses are integrated with third-party
services or contain links to websites published by third parties, including
other content providers as well as service providers. These third parties are
responsible for their own privacy practices, so you should pay attention
anytime you are redirected to a third-party website and be sure to review its
privacy policy.
· With other learners in courses that you take and with other
visitors to the edX Site, to create an interactive learning environment,
support class participation, and share course information – This includes sharing comments, coursework, or other information
or content that you submit to a portion of the edX Site designed
for viewing by other class members or for public communication. This also
includes providing opportunities for you to communicate with other users who
may have similar interests or educational goals, for instance, recommending
specific study partners or connecting potential student mentees and mentors. In
such cases, edX and each Member that offers a course in which you enrolled may
use all information collected about you to determine who might be interested in
communicating with you, but will only provide others your username (for
clarity, no disclosure of your real name or email address).
· With employers, government programs, institutions, or other
enterprises that sponsor your enrollment in a course for training or other
educational purposes – If an entity pays for or otherwise sponsors your Verified Certificate or course participation, edX
will share information with the entity as needed to confirm your enrollment,
participation, progress, and completion status in that course.
· With affiliates of edX or a Member, or with successors in the
event of a merger, acquisition, or reorganization, for their use consistent
with this Privacy Policy.
EdX
or a Member may also seek your consent for additional disclosures of
information, including Personal Information, and will share it only as
described to you. In addition, edX or a Member may share with the public and
with third parties, including but not limited to researchers and business
partners, information and Personal Information that is de-identified or
aggregated in a manner that does not personally identify you.
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
You
can manage your Personal Information through
learner features on the edX Site and
requests to the edX learner support team. If your request involves information
controlled by a Member, edX learner support will notify and coordinate with the
appropriate Member to address your request. EdX will provide support to the
extent required by applicable law (for example, learners in the European Union)
and more broadly when possible, as a courtesy in our sole discretion. EdX will
notify you in the event that edX is unable to meet a request that is not
legally required. Similarly, Members will only be obligated to comply with
requests to the extent legally required, but may choose to comply with other
requests in their sole discretion.
· Access and correct your Personal Information
Much
of your Personal Information is available in your edX account. Your name, email
address, and other identifiable profile information is editable through the
profile settings in your edX account except as noted below. Your account
dashboard lists all current and archived courses in which you have enrolled and
includes links to any Verified Certificates you may
have earned. The dashboard also contains copies of your answers and other
participation and performance in courses. Please contact edX learner support to
access and update this or other information. If your request involves
information controlled by a Member, edX learner support will notify the
appropriate Member of your request.
Exceptions:
★ Usernames cannot ever
be changed. This is an edX system restriction. Because usernames identify you
in courses and elsewhere on the edX Site, edX encourages you to use discretion
in choosing your username. If you want to protect your identity, do not use
your real name or a name identifiable to you as your username.
★ EdX does not track or
index every time or every place on the edX Site when or where a learner may
volunteer Personal Information, so neither edX nor Members will be able to help
you locate or manage all such instances. EdX encourages you to use discretion
before volunteering Personal Information on the edX Site.
· Restrict or object to the processing of Personal Information
If
you want to manage emails and other communications to you, you may update your preferences
in your edX account dashboard, follow the steps described in links at the
bottom of email messages, or contact edX learner support. You may object to, or
request that edX or a Member stop, its use of your Personal Information for
other purposes by contacting the edX learner support team. If your request
involves information controlled by a Member, edX learner support will notify
the appropriate Member of your request. Please note that if you choose to
restrict edX’s or a Member’s ability to process Personal Information, and the
processing is otherwise required to provide you with various services and
products offered on the edX Site, you may not be able to establish an edX user
account or enroll for a course, and edX or a Member may not be able to provide
you with those services or products.
·
Delete account and Personal
Information
To
request deletion of your edX account and Personal Information, you should click
the button labeled “Delete my account” in your edX account settings. Because
deletion on the edX system is a permanent action and cannot be reversed, edX
may ask you to complete a process that aims to confirm your authority to manage
the edX account affected by your request.
With
respect to your edX account, edX will permanently:
· deactivate your edX account,
· remove the active profile,
· retire your username, and
· remove you from edX email
lists.
With
respect to your Personal Information, edX will permanently delete your edX account profile Personal Information
from the edX Site.
As noted above, to the extent that edX
associates the information that edX collects directly or indirectly with an
individual (for example, you), the association is based on Personal Information
in your edX account profile. By erasing the Personal Information in your edX
account profile, the remaining information about your activity on the edX Site
will no longer be associated with you, except as noted below.
These
changes will be applied to data stores that are used for operation of the edX
Site including course administration by Members. If you enrolled in any courses
on the edX Site, the edX learner support team will share your request with the
Members that offered those courses.
Exceptions:
★ Deletion will not apply
to historical activity logs or archives unless and until these logs and data
naturally “age-off” the edX system.
★ EdX does not track or
index every time or every place on the edX Site when or where a learner may
volunteer Personal Information, so neither edX nor Members will be able to help
you locate or manage all such instances. EdX encourages you to use discretion
before voluntarily sharing your Personal Information on the edX Site.
★ EdX will archive course
data (in a manner and to the extent permitted under applicable law) to serve
its mission to enable scientific research on cognitive science and education.
These archives are used to produce encrypted research data packages for
Members, and Personal Information may not be deleted from research data
packages retained by Members.
★ EdX and each applicable
Member cannot always delete records of past interactions and transactions. For
example, records relating to previous purchases on the edX Site must be
retained for financial reporting, audit, and compliance reasons.
★ EdX and each Member
will retain and use Personal Information as necessary to comply with its legal
obligations, resolve disputes, enforce its agreements, and as otherwise
permitted by applicable law.
· Data retention
EdX
will retain your Personal Information for as long as your account is active or
as needed to provide you with services; to maintain a record of your
transactions for financial reporting, audit, and compliance purposes; and to
comply with edX’s legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce its agreements,
and as otherwise permitted by applicable law. If you enroll in a Member’s
course, such Member will also retain your Personal Information for as long as
needed to provide you with services; to maintain a record of your transactions
for financial reporting, audit, and compliance purposes; and to comply with its
legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce its agreements, and as otherwise
permitted by applicable law. Upon your request that edX deactivate your account
and delete your information, edX will follow the process described above,
including without limitation archiving your course data (in a manner and to the
extent permitted under applicable law) to serve its mission to enable
scientific research on cognitive science and education. These archives will be
used to produce encrypted research data packages for Members, and each such
Member may also keep and use course data for scientific research.
EdX
stores information, including Personal
Information, on its own servers and also on servers of companies that edX hires to
provide services. Each Member also stores information,
including Personal Information, on its own servers and/or on servers of
companies that the Member hires to provide services. In each case, information
may be stored in the United States and in other countries where edX or a Member
operates, and in countries where edX and each Member’s respective service
providers operate. If you are in the European Union, Switzerland, or other
regions with laws governing data collection and use, you acknowledge that edX
and each Member may transfer, process and store your personal information in
the United States and other countries, the privacy laws of which may be
considered less strict than those of your region.
EdX
controls its own copy of information collected through the edX
Site
and has an information security program designed to protect information in its
possession or control. This is done through a variety of privacy and security
policies, processes, and procedures. EdX uses administrative, physical, and
technical safeguards that reasonably and appropriately protect the confidentiality,
integrity, and availability of the information that it collects, receives,
stores, or transmits. Nonetheless, no method of transmission over the Internet,
or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure; and therefore, edX cannot
guarantee its absolute security. While edX works hard to ensure the integrity
and security of its network and systems, edX cannot guarantee that its security
measures will prevent “hackers” or other unauthorized persons from illegally
accessing or obtaining information.
If
edX learns of a security breach involving its copy of your Personal
Information, edX may attempt to notify you electronically so that you may take
appropriate protective steps. By using the edX Site or providing Personal Information to edX, you agree that
edX can communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and
administrative issues relating to your use of the edX Site. If a security
systems breach occurs, edX may post a notice on the edX homepage (www.edx.org)
or elsewhere on the edX Site and may send an email to you at the email address
associated with your edX account. Depending on where you are located, you may
have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach, involving your
Personal Information, in writing.
If a
Member learns of a security breach involving that Member’s copy of your
Personal Information, the Member may attempt to notify you electronically so
that you may take appropriate protective steps. By enrolling in a Member’s
course on the edX Site or
providing Personal Information to the Member, you agree that the Member can
communicate with you electronically regarding security, privacy, and
administrative issues relating to your course enrollment and participation. If
a security systems breach occurs, the affected Member may post a notice on the
edX site and/or send an email to you at the email address associated with your
enrollment in the Member’s course on the edX Site. Depending on where you are
located, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach,
involving your Personal Information, in writing.
This Privacy Policy will be reviewed and updated from
time to time. When changes are made, the Privacy Policy will be labeled as
"Revised (date)," indicating that you should review the new terms,
which will be effective immediately upon posting on this page, with an updated
effective date. By accessing the edX Site after any changes have been
made, you accept the modified Privacy Policy and any changes contained therein.
In case you miss the notification referenced above, be sure to return to this
page periodically to ensure familiarity with the most current version of this
Privacy Policy.
If
you have privacy concerns, have disclosed data you would prefer to keep
private, or would like to access the Personal Information that edX maintains
about you, please contact us at privacy@edx.org. You may also write to us
at: ATTN: PRIVACY, edX Inc., 141 Portland Street, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA. If
your request involves a Member, edX will notify the appropriate Member of your
request.
Cookies are
unique identifiers usually in the form of small data files placed on your
device that send certain information about your activity on the edX Site or in
an email communication back to edX or the authorized third party that served
the cookie. EdX or third parties may also use Flash cookies.
EdX Site consists
of all content and pages located within the edX.org web domain and all edX
mobile applications.
Member is
each educational institution or other leading global institution or entity that
provides courses through the edX Site.
Personal
Information is information that specifically
identifies you or that, when combined with other information, could be used to
identify you.
Tracking Technologies are web beacons, clear gifs, pixels, and similar technologies
that are also unique identifiers used to track your online activity but are not
stored on your device.
Verified
Certificate is a virtual certificate that shows
that you have successfully completed your edX course or program and verified
your identity using your webcam and your acceptable form of photo ID.
Effective Date: Apr 19, 2022