ChatterHigh Privacy Policy

ChatterHigh Communications Inc. and ChatterHigh Communications US Inc. (“ChatterHigh,” “we” or “us”) values all our customers – the students, parents and education professionals who utilize our platform for online learning, blended learning, and other services. Your safety and privacy are important to us, so we have developed and adopted the following policies to cover the use of our products and services. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our policies. The following Privacy Policy applies to the corporate website and any other related public or private website provided by ChatterHigh, including: chatterhigh.com and chatterhigh.io.

ChatterHigh is committed to compliance with all other federal and state/provincial laws and regulations governing student data privacy, including the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), the California Student Online Personal Information Protections Act (“SOPIPA”), the Connecticut Student Data Privacy laws (C.G.S. §§ 10-234aa through 10-234dd), The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA) and other similar laws.

 

ChatterHigh is guided by the Privacy Technical Assistance Center (PTAC) document, Protecting Student Privacy While Using Online Educational Services: Model Terms of Service. The U.S. Department of Education established the PTAC as a “one-stop” resource for education stakeholders to learn about data privacy, confidentiality, and security practices related to student-level longitudinal data systems and other uses of student data. You will find reference to PTAC throughout this document in Italics. If requested, we can include PTAC clauses to contracts with schools and school districts.

 

We strongly suggest you read this Privacy Policy as well as ChatterHigh’s Terms of Use for important information on the use of ChatterHigh’s services, and how ChatterHigh protects customer and student information (see https://chatterhigh.com/en/privacy).

 

Definition of Data

“Data include all Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and other non-public information. Data include, but are not limited to, student data, metadata, and user content.”(PTAC)

 

Personal Identifiable Information (PII): We request certain information when a user registers with ChatterHigh. Information collected may include: 

• Email Address (Reason: Allows user to have unique identifier in the ChatterHigh database)
• First Name and Last Name Initial (Reason: To help the teacher recognize the student in their class report).
• User Type (Reason: Allows user to receive user specific questions and information, for example teacher, student, parent)
• Gender (Reason: Districts assess outcomes by gender to support various initiatives)
• Ethnicity (Reason: Districts assess outcomes by ethnicity to support various initiatives)
• Country, State/Province, School, Grade (Reason: Allows user to receive relevant questions and information)
• Language Preference (Reason: Allows user to receive language specific questions and information)

 

We may also gather information provided by a School if the School sends us a message, posts content to our website or through our Service, or responds to emails or surveys. Once a user has enrolled with ChatterHigh courseware, instructional services, or professional development services, we will keep records of activities related to the Service. This information allows ChatterHigh to provide, operate, maintain, and improve the features and functionality of the Service, to analyze our Service offerings and functionality, and to communicate with our Schools and website visitors.

“[Provider] will only collect Data necessary to fulfill its duties as outlined in this Agreement.” (PTAC)

“[Provider]  will use Data only for the purpose of fulfilling its duties and providing services under this Agreement, and for improving services under this Agreement.” (PTAC)

 

Student Personal Identifiable Information (SPII): Once students are registered in ChatterHigh, we may have access to personally identifiable information about students through the courses used by the Students. We consider SPII data to be confidential and do not use SPII data for any purpose other than to provide the content and other services on the School’s behalf. The Schools may provide information for students to log into the ChatterHigh platform to access the ChatterHigh courses that have been authorized by the School, often at a school facility or from a student’s personal computer. The School is responsible for providing each student with login credentials (email address) and confirming that they have obtained appropriate parental consents, if needed, before the student is permitted to access the ChatterHigh platform. Students (or Parents or legal guardians of the Students) retain ownership and control of all SPII that is provided or accessed through ChatterHigh’s platform, and title to such SPII Data never passes to ChatterHigh. ChatterHigh has access to SPII Data only on a need-to-know basis, as requested by the School and only for the purposes of providing the students with the ability to use the ChatterHigh courseware and related services. ChatterHigh will not use SPII Data for any purposes other than those authorized pursuant to ChatterHigh’s contract with the School.

“[Provider] may use deidentified Data for product development, research, or other purposes. De-identified Data will have all direct and indirect personal identifiers removed. This includes, but is not limited to, name, ID numbers, date of birth, demographic information, location information, and school ID. Furthermore, [Provider] agrees not to attempt to re-identify deidentified Data and not to transfer de-identified Data to any party unless that party agrees not to attempt reidentification.” (PTAC)

 

Students or parents should direct questions about the School’s use of technology service providers like ChatterHigh to their School administrator. If a Student contacts ChatterHigh with a question about our Service, we will collect personal information from that Student only as necessary to respond to the Student’s request and direct the Student to contact the Student’s School. After providing our response, we will then delete or anonymize the personal data of the Student.

Automatically Collected Information: In some instances, ChatterHigh may collect analytics data, or use third-party analytics tools, to help us measure traffic and usage trends for the Service. However, ChatterHigh never sells SPII for any reason, does not allow third party advertisers to collect information about the users of our Site or Service, and never shares SPII with outside third parties unless expressly authorized to do so by the School or the affected student or parent.

We may use automatically-collected information to: (a) remember information so that a user will not have to re-enter it during subsequent visits; (b) provide custom, personalized content and information; (c) provide and monitor the effectiveness of our Service; (d) monitor aggregate metrics such as total number of visitors, traffic, and usage on our website and our Service; (e) diagnose or fix technology problems; and (f) help users efficiently access information after signing in.

ChatterHigh is committed to adhering to the highest standards for protecting SPII Data and privacy. SPII Data is used only for educational purposes at the discretion of the School.

ChatterHigh only shares personal information in a few limited circumstances, described below. We never rent or sell SPII for marketing purposes.

“[Provider]  will not use any Data to advertise or market to students or their parents. Advertising or marketing may be directed to the School/District only if student information is properly de-identified.” (PTAC)

“[Provider]  is prohibited from mining Data for any purposes other than those agreed to by the parties. Data mining or scanning of user content for the purpose of advertising or marketing to students or their parents is prohibited.” (PTAC)

 

In limited circumstances, we may share information with others as follows:

1. We may share information with technology service providers (e.g., web hosting and analytics services), but strictly for performing their work for us.
2. We may share information with law enforcement or other third parties when compelled to do so by court order or other legal processes, to comply with statutes or regulations, to enforce our Terms of Use, or if we believe in good faith that the disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of our users.
3. In the event of a change of control: If we sell, divest or transfer our business, we will not transfer personal information of our customers (including Student Data) unless the new owner intends to maintain and provide the Service as an ongoing concern, and provided that the new owner has agreed to data privacy standards no less stringent than our own.
4. How SPII Data is shared: In addition to the actions described above, ChatterHigh may facilitate the sharing of SPII Data with third parties, though only when instructed and authorized to do so on behalf of the School. Some elements of our Service (e.g. a discussion forum where posts are approved by our team before going live) enable colleges and career organizations to have a moderated interaction with parents, students, teachers, and third-party applications, for the benefit of the student’s education. These colleges and career organizations do not receive student SPII. ChatterHigh does not facilitate the sharing of any SPII Data with third parties on the ChatterHigh platform except on behalf of the School after the School has authorized a third party or application to access Student Data through the Service. Please remember that this Privacy Policy applies to the ChatterHigh Services, and not to other services or third-party applications, which may have their own privacy policies. We believe it is the School’s responsibility to carefully read the privacy practices of each third-party application before agreeing to engage with the application through the Service.

“The School/District understands that [Provider] will rely on one or more subcontractors to perform services under this Agreement. [Provider] agrees to share the names of these subcontractors with User upon request. All subcontractors and successor entities of [Provider] will be subject to the terms of this Agreement.” (PTAC)

 

Storage and processing: Any information collected through the ChatterHigh platform is stored and processed in Canada. If you use our Service outside of Canada, you consent to have your data transferred to Canada.

Comprehensive Information Security Program: ChatterHigh takes actions designed to ensure the security and confidentiality of SPII, and maintains strict administrative, technical, and physical procedures to protect information stored in our servers. Access to information is limited (through user/password credentials) to those employees who require it to perform their job functions. We use industry-standard Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption technology to safeguard the account registration process and sign-up information. Other security safeguards include but are not limited to data encryption, firewalls, and physical access controls to building and files.

In addition, whenever ChatterHigh vendors or consultants may be given access to the ChatterHigh platform, we require such vendors and consultants to adhere to the same standards above and meet all other customer-imposed requirements for the protection of SPII.

In the event of any unauthorized release, disclosure, or acquisition of SPII, ChatterHigh maintains policies and procedures for identifying and mitigating data security breaches. ChatterHigh will conduct an investigation to determine the nature and scope of any unauthorized release, disclosure, or acquisition, and ChatterHigh will promptly notify school officials, affected students, parents and/or legal guardians of unauthorized access to SPII to the fullest extent required by applicable laws.

“[Provider] will store and process Data in accordance with industry best practices. This includes appropriate administrative, physical, and technical safeguards to secure Data from unauthorized access, disclosure, and use. [Provider] will conduct periodic risk assessments and remediate any identified security vulnerabilities in a timely manner. [Provider] will also have a written incident response plan, to include prompt notification of the School/District in the event of a security or privacy incident, as well as best practices for responding to a breach of PII. Provider agrees to share its incident response plan upon request.” (PTAC)

Account information and settings: If you have any questions about reviewing or modifying account information, contact us directly by emailing or calling ChatterHigh’s customer service department at legal@chatterhigh.com.

Access to Student Data: Schools are responsible for providing access to and controlling SPII. Contact your School directly with questions about reviewing, modifying, or deleting the personal information of a student.

“Any Data held by [Provider] will be made available to the School/District upon request by the School/District.” (PTAC)

 

How long we keep User Content: Following the termination or deactivation of a School or Student account, ChatterHigh may retain profile information and content for a commercially reasonable time for backup, archival, or audit purposes, but any and all SPII associated with the School will be deleted promptly. We may maintain anonymized or aggregated data, including usage data, for analytics purposes.

We do not collect any information from students without consent.

“[Provider] will ensure that all Data in its possession and in the possession of any subcontractors, or agents to which the [Provider] may have transferred Data, are destroyed or transferred to the School/District under the direction of the School/District when the Data are no longer needed for their specified purpose, at the request of the School/District.” (PTAC)

ChatterHigh does not knowingly collect any information from children under the age of 13 unless and until the School has obtained appropriate parental consent for the student to use the Service. Because ChatterHigh collects and uses SPII at the direction of and under the control of Schools, ChatterHigh relies on each School to provide appropriate notice to parents of the School’s use of third-party service providers such as ChatterHigh, and for the Schools to provide consent, if necessary, and authorization for ChatterHigh to collect SPII, as permitted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”). Please contact us at legal@chatterhigh.com if you believe we have inadvertently collected personal information of a child under 13 without proper consent so that we may delete such data as soon as possible.

ChatterHigh helps students build knowledge by asking informative questions.  For example, “Did you know you can weld underwater?  How much do they earn?” and then provide a link to a web page where the answer is found, typically on a post-secondary institution, government, industry website or content authority that would be considered appropriate for use in schools. Though we vet all webpages linked to in the ChatterHigh quiz, and manually audit and approve all questions, we are not responsible for the practices employed by websites, applications, or services linked to or from our Service. We recommend that the School review the privacy policies of other applications before authorizing a third party to access data through the Service.

To ensure continued compliance and to respond to particular questions or concerns regarding ChatterHigh’s privacy policy, ChatterHigh has designated the Chief Executive Officer for the company to serve as Chief Privacy Officer. ChatterHigh’s legal department can be reached by email at legal@chatterhigh.com.

ChatterHigh may modify or update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we change the policy in a material manner, we will provide at least 30 days’ notice to the Schools so that you have sufficient time to evaluate the change in practice. You can always opt-out by deleting your account before the changes take effect.

This privacy policy was last modified on May 5, 2020.