AOPS INCORPORATED PRIVACY POLICY - EFFECTIVE August 1, 2024

This Privacy Policy applies to all users. Please click here for our specific information practices with regards to children under 13 (also provided at the end of this policy).

We take the privacy of our participants very seriously; therefore, we only collect the information necessary to provide our services efficiently.

What information does Art of Problem Solving collect and how is that information used?

Users using our online community or other online resources requiring membership

To post information in a forum, to use some of our online educational tools, or to attend online classes, you must become a member of the Art of Problem Solving Community. To become a member, the only personal information we require is your email address and a username that you select. The username that you select is used as an onscreen name to identify you; it is strongly recommended that it not be your real name, but a pseudonym. You will also select a password, which is needed to log on. We do ask about your general geographic location, your occupation, and interests, but none of this information is required for membership in the Community.

Your email address is used by us to send messages to you. We do so to confirm your username and password if you should forget your username or password. We also use your email address to assist in administering our web site and to help enforce our conduct rules (for example, people who post offensive messages in the forum can be banned). Should you enroll in an Art of Problem Solving online class, your email address will be used for communication purposes for that class. We will not send solicitation emails collected as part of the Art of Problem Solving Community unless the user elects to join our mailing lists. If you elect to join our mailing lists, we may share your name and email address with third parties to share updates and information about our services/related services with you. We will not share your email address with any other third parties except when required by law.

Our site has forums (message boards), private messaging, and real-time discussion available to its members. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas is potentially available to other members and in some cases to the general public. You should not disclose any personal information, such as your real name, address, telephone number, email address, etc. Your username is the only identity that you need to have, and that is how people should know you on our site.

We may disclose data we collect from Community members to a third party for educational research, business, and other purposes. Such data will never contain any personally identifiable information, and will not allow a third party to identify any individual user.

Cookies

A "cookie" is a small piece of data placed on your computer by us. Within your web browser, cookies placed by our website can only be accessed by our website. We use cookies to maintain session and preference information to improve the use of the website. You may set your web browser to decline our cookies, however this will render large portions of our website unusable.

We also allow cookies to be placed on your computer by third parties for the purpose of website analytics. This allows the third parties to collect data about your use of our website. The data collected by these cookies may include information such as your IP address or mobile identifier, the type of computer operating system, the web browser, the frequency with which the user visits various parts of our sites or applications, and information regarding the online or mobile service provider. We don't share the data that a third party collects with anyone besides that third party. The third parties are required to not share any personally identifiable information they may collect with anyone other than us (except as may be required by law). We use the data that is collected in the following ways:

• to report, in aggregate, how our visitors find and use our website;
• to understand overall visitor behavior; and
• to inform how we update and improve our website.

Teachers using our Teacher Tools

Teachers using our Teacher Tools on our website must first be members of the Art of Problem Solving community. We collect certain additional information from teachers wishing to use the Teacher Tools. We collect: your name, your school's name and address, a contact phone number and email address, and your school's website URL. We use this information to verify that you are a teacher at a legitimate educational institution or homeschool, to contact you regarding the Teacher Tools, and to share information about our services with you. We may request from you other proof of school affiliation, as necessary, to determine your eligibility to use our Teacher Tools. We will not share this information with any third party (except as may be required by law).

Teachers may enroll students in their classes using the Teacher Tools. In the case that such a student is under the age of 13, teachers agree that they, or their school, are acting as the students' parents' agent in providing consent for the online collection of students' personal information within the school context. (Please see this website from the Federal Trade Commission for more information.) Please note that we will only use children's information we collect with the school's consent for educational purposes.

Students enrolling in a class within their school, established by a registered teacher using our Teacher Tools

Students who enroll in a class set up by a registered teacher using our Teacher Tools do not need to be members of the Art of Problem Solving community. We will collect your name, and you will also have to choose a unique username and password, which are both needed to log on. (If you are already a member of the Art of Problem Solving community, we will use your already-existing username and password, but you may have to additionally provide your real name.) Your real name and username, along with other data that we have collected including (but not necessarily limited to) any data collected during your use of our Alcumus online educational system, will be shared with the teacher in whose class you are enrolling. We will not use this information for any other purpose, and will not share this information with any other third party (except as may be required by law). Please note that we will only use children's information we collect with the school's consent for educational purposes.

Coaches using our Contest Platform

Coaches using our Contest Platform on our website must first be members of the Art of Problem Solving community. Coaches may invite students to participate in contests in the Contest Platform. In the case that such a student is under the age of 13, coaches that are school representatives agree that they, or their school, have authority to act on behalf of the student and are providing consent on behalf of the parent/guardian for the collection of the student’s personal information for a school-authorized educational purpose. (Please see this website from the Federal Trade Commission for more information.)

Students participating in contests on our Contest Platform

Students participating in contests that are invited by a school representative coach to use our Contest Platform do not need to be members of the Art of Problem Solving community. In addition to the other information described herein, we will collect your name and other information required for participating in the contest that may include grade, age, parent contact information, proctor contact information, gender and ethnicity information, address, email, and consent for the contest organization to share your information with other educational institutions & organizations. You will also have to choose a unique username and password, which are both needed to log on. (If you are already a member of the Art of Problem Solving community, we will use your already-existing username and password.)

Your real name and username, along with other data that we have collected including (but not necessarily limited to) any data collected during your use of our Contest Platform, will be shared with your coach and the third-party contest organization who is operating the contest. We will not use this information for any other purpose, and will not share this information with any other third party, except as may be required by law and as outlined herein.

Customers purchasing a product or service

We collect certain information from a customer who is purchasing a product and/or service using our online ordering system. Such information may include: your name, your shipping address, your billing address, your credit card information, other information related to other forms of payment (e.g., Paypal), your email address, and your phone number. This information is used to process your purchase and to contact you if there is an issue with your purchase. We will share this information with our credit card payment processor. Additionally, your name, shipping address, email address, and/or phone number may be shared with the United States Postal Service or other private carrier, for the purpose of delivering any purchased goods to your shipping address. We will store all of this information on our secure server, except for your credit card information, which is only retained until your payment has been processed and is not stored thereafter; however, this information may be retained by our credit card processor for the purpose of processing additional transactions, refunds, and/or chargebacks. We will not use this information for any purpose other than to process your purchase, and will not share this information with any other third party, except as described above or as may be required by law. We may use your name and email address for marketing purposes, but only if you give your permission to do so during the purchasing process, and such permission may be withdrawn at any time by contacting us (via the methods listed under "Contact Information" below). If you give your permission, we may share that information with third parties for the purposes of sending emails and with third party social media platforms you may use to share updates and information about our services/related services with you on those platforms. Even if you opt out of such communication, however, we reserve the right to send you transactional messages, including email and other communications to provide account related information, disclose maintenance, transaction-related matters (e.g., order confirmation, shipping information, account status information, etc.) and other service-related issues. We may use your phone number to send transactional messages or respond to customer support requests, but will not use it for marketing purposes.

Job Applicants

If you apply for a job with Art of Problem Solving via our website or a third party website, we will obtain the information you choose to provide us in your application for that purpose. For example, we collect contact information (e.g. name, email, telephone); professional and employment-related information (e.g. your resume, employment history, experience, qualifications, portfolios, work samples); education information (e.g. degrees obtained, academic records); other employment details (e.g. how you heard about the position, willingness to relocate, and other job preferences); and information provided during the hiring process (e.g. assessments, phone interviews, reference checks). We will use the information we collect to carry out our application and recruitment process; to improve our application and recruitment process, and to comply with applicable laws and regulations and create reports required under local laws or regulations. We may also optionally collect demographic information (e.g. race, ethnicity, gender, disability status) that is collected for the sole purpose of creating reports required under local laws and regulations. By submitting a job application, you agree that we may contact you using any of the contact information provided.

How else may Art of Problem Solving use collected information?

Consistent with the information collection practices outlined above, we share information with service providers if necessary for them to perform a business, professional, or technology support function for us (e.g., billing support, analytics, hosting, marketing, and similar services). All service providers are required to maintain the confidentiality of such information in accordance with applicable law. We may combine the different types of information we collect in order to improve the site, perform analysis, or offer support. Our practices conform with the law and the consent provided on behalf of students and children. We may also disclose a user’s personal information if permitted or required by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena.

In the event Art of Problem Solving is involved in a merger, acquisition, sale of business assets involving customer information, or similar transaction, your information may be transferred or shared as part of the transaction. We will work to require the recipient protect all personal information collected from Art of Problem Solving users in accordance with the terms of this Privacy Policy.

Security

We implement commercially reasonable security methods to protect the information we collect from you. We maintain internal data management policies and procedures, system monitoring, and incident response plans. While the security of your personal information is of the utmost importance to us, we cannot absolutely guarantee the security of any information you choose to disclose.

Data Retention

The following describes Art of Problem Solving’s data retention policies for categories of personal information that are collected:

Category	Purpose	Third Parties Shared	Retention Period
Identifiers	(a) Performance of a contract (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation	(a) Billing, marketing, hosting, analytics and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Personal information categories listed in the California Customer Records statute (Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e))	(a) Performance of a contract (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation	(a) Billing, marketing, hosting, analytics and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Commercial information	(a) Performance of a contract (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation	(a) Billing, marketing, hosting, analytics and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Internet or other similar network activity	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests	(a) Hosting, marketing, analytics, security and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Geolocation data	(a) Performance of a contract (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation	(a) Billing, marketing, shipping, hosting, analytics and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Professional or employment-related information	(a) Necessary for our legitimate interests	(a) Human resources information and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Non-public education information (per the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. Section 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99))	(a) Performance of a contract (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests (c) Necessary to comply with a legal obligation	(a) Hosting, analytics and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.
Sensitive personal information	(a) Performance of a contract (b) Necessary for our legitimate interests	(a) Hosting, analytics and similar service providers (b) Subsidiaries and affiliates	We will retain information about you for so long as we have a legal or business purpose for it or a legal requirement to maintain it. Once we no longer have a legal or business purpose for the information and no legal requirement to maintain the information, we will promptly purge the information.

The criteria used to determine our retention periods include:

• The length of time we have an ongoing relationship with you (for example, for as long as you are a customer or prospective customer) and the length of time thereafter during which we may have a legitimate need to reference your personal information to address issues that may arise;
• Whether there is a legal obligation to which we are subject (for example, certain laws require us to keep records for a certain period of time before we can delete them); or
• Whether retention is advisable in light of our legal position (such as in regard to applicable statutes of limitations, litigation or regulatory investigations).

Notice of Consumer Rights

You may have rights with respect to personal information that has been collected in the last twelve (12) months, including:

• The right to know what personal information a business has about them and what that business does with that information
• The right to know whether their data is sold or disclosed, and to whom
• The right to opt-out (prevent) the sale of their data
• The right to opt-out of sharing personal information for cross-context or targeted behavioral advertising purposes
• The right to correct inaccurate personal information
• The right to restrict the processing of sensitive personal information
• The right to delete their personal information, subject to certain exceptions
• The right to appeal a refusal to take action on a consumer rights request

We will never sell users’ personal information. We do not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising purposes. For information on what personal information we collect and how it is used, please refer to the “What information does Art of Problem Solving collect and how is that information used?” section above.

Only you, or someone legally authorized to act on your behalf, may make a request to know, correct, delete, or appeal related to your personal information. To designate an authorized agent, you must provide a signed, written authorization or a valid power of attorney. You may also make a request on behalf of your child by contacting us through the email associated with the account for that child or through an email authorized to receive parent reports for that child.

To exercise any of these rights, please submit a request by emailing privacy@artofproblemsolving.com with the subject line, "Consumer Rights Request", or mailing your request to the contact address listed in this policy under “Contact Information”. We will need to verify your identity before processing your request, which may require us to request additional personal information from you or require you to log into your account, if you have one. In certain circumstances, we may decline or limit your request, particularly where we are unable to verify your identity or locate your information in our systems, or as permitted by law.

We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of these rights, including denying you goods or services, charging you different prices or rates for goods or services, or providing you a different level or quality of goods or services.

Contact information

If you have any questions about this privacy statement or the practices of this site, you can contact us by email: privacy@artofproblemsolving.com or by mail at:

AoPS Incorporated
15330 Avenue of Science
San Diego, CA 92128

Disclaimer of other sites' practices

Our site contains links to other sites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of other such sites.

Effective date and notice of future changes

This Privacy Policy is effective August 1, 2024. This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time as necessary.

COPPA Policy

The federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) requires that we inform you of our practices with regards to our collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children under the age of 13, and to obtain verifiable parental consent prior to collecting, using, or disclosing any such information. If we discover we have collected information from a child in a manner inconsistent with COPPA's requirements, we will either seek the parent's consent for that collection or delete the information. We won't require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in an activity.

1. Information we collect and share

When we use the term "children" or "child", it refers to individuals under the age of 13. We may collect and share the following personal information with verifiable parental consent (where necessary under COPPA) from children:

(a) Children may provide us their email address during registration or as part of receiving our services. We may use this email address to communicate directly with the child. If the child joins one of our email lists, their email address will be shared with the third party we use to manage our email lists. We will not otherwise share an email address with a third party except when required by law.

(b) A username used to uniquely identify each child is created during registration. This username may be disclosed on our website, for example in our message boards, online classroom, or any other part of the site on which the child may participate. Other members of the website may use the child's username to directly contact the child (for example, by private message or in online classroom discussions).

(c) We may ask the child to provide his or her real name. The child's name will only be used for internal purposes, or will be disclosed only to third parties to whom the child has given specific authorization, for example a teacher at the child's school who has requested access from the child to view the child's online school reports or a coach overseeing the child’s participation in a contest you have authorized to access your contest results. Such third parties must request permission from us before they request this information from the child, and we make a reasonable effort to determine if the third party has your consent and their request is legitimate before granting such permission. The child's real name will never be made publicly available on our website by us.

(d) Other non-identifying data may be collected in the course of a child's participation on the website; for example, online homework submissions, live classroom discussions, etc. These data may be combined or associated with the child's username, and may be publicly available on the site, at the child's or parent's discretion.

(e) Children using our site may have the opportunity to post personal information about themselves (for example, in a message board post or on a blog or in our online classroom). Such information may be publicly displayed on the website alongside the child's username. We strongly discourage users from sharing personal information, but we cannot prevent it in every instance. This policy addresses how parents can delete information posted by their children in item #2 below.

(f) When children use our websites, certain information may automatically be collected by third parties: IP address or mobile identifier, the type of computer operating system, the web browser, the frequency with which the user visits various parts of our sites or applications, and information regarding the online or mobile service provider. This information is collected using technologies such as cookies, which are described above.

This data is primarily collected and shared with third parties for internal purposes, in order to:

• report, in aggregate, how our visitors find and use our website;
• understand overall visitor behavior; and
• inform how we update and improve our website.

This information is not used to target advertising to specific users. For any questions about how we or any third-party uses your data, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our contact information is provided below in item #3.

(g) Children using our site may participate in contests hosted on the AoPS Contest Platform for a third-party organization responsible for operating the contest (“Contest Organization”). These users are directed to AoPS by the Contest Organization. Information collected for registration in the contest may include your child’s real name, grade, age, parent contact information (e.g., email and address), proctor contact information, and optional gender and ethnicity information. This information will be shared with your child’s contest coach and the Contest Organization.

(h) We may disclose a child’s personal information if permitted or required by law, for example, in response to a court order or a subpoena.

(i) We generally do not collect personal information from a child until we have received verifiable parental consent in accordance with COPPA. There are limited instances where we may collect information without parental consent in compliance with COPPA, including:

• An email address is collected from a child at the time of registration, solely to contact the child's parent in order to obtain the necessary parental consent;
• To protect the security or integrity of our sites, applications, and other technology; and
• A username is selected by the child; however, this username cannot be used to contact the child, nor be used for the purposes listed in sections (c) and (d) of above, unless and until we receive verifiable parental consent.

2. Parental rights and responsibilities

1. At any time, a parent can review or ask us to delete a child's personal information, or can refuse to permit its further collection or use, by contacting us by any of the means listed in item #3 below.
2. Parents may also access their child’s personal information by logging onto their child's account and can delete their child’s personal information. Parents will need their child’s username and password, and our login page explains how parents can recover a username or password if they cannot recall this information.

3. Contact information

Questions or comments about this policy, or requests pursuant to item #2 above, may be sent to:

AoPS Incorporated
15330 Avenue of Science
San Diego, CA 92128
(858) 675-4555
coppa@aops.com

This COPPA Policy is current as of August 1, 2024. We may change this COPPA Policy from time to time, so please be sure to review periodically. This policy will be available at our website at https://artofproblemsolving.com/company/privacy.