Showbie values the privacy of children and of all of its users and is designed to comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).
To use Showbie, teachers may collect personal information from their students, including children who are under 13 years old.
When a teacher uses Showbie, he or she is required to provide consent to the collection and use of personal information from and about students. Teachers and the schools or other academic institutions are also responsible for providing parents with notice about how personal information from their Child(ren) is collected and used by Showbie.
What Information Do We Collect About Children?
How Information is Collected. We may collect information about children directly from children and/or their teachers, as well as automatically through a child’s use of Showbie. We will not require a child to disclose more information than is reasonably necessary to use our Services.
Information We Collect Directly. To create a Showbie account, children are required to provide their first name, last name, and username. We also collect non-personally identifiable information, such as assignments.
Teachers are responsible for ensuring that their collection and use of personal information from children complies with applicable laws, including COPPA and FERPA. If you are a parent and you have questions about your child’s teacher’s use of our Services and any information collected, you should discuss your questions with your child’s teacher or school.
Information We Collect Automatically. We may automatically collect the following information about a child’s use of Showbie through our servers and in log files: domain name; browser type and operating system; web pages viewed; links clicked; the length of time spent on Showbie; the length of time Showbie is used; the referring URL, or the webpage that led a user to our site; language information; device name and model; operating system type, name, and version; and activities within Showbie. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the site, track users’ movements around the site, gather demographic information about our user base as a whole, and better tailor Showbie to our users’ needs. We do not link this automatically-collected data to a child’s personal information.
We may also collect IP address, device identifier or a similar unique identifier from users of Showbie; we only use such identifiers to support the internal operations of Showbie in the same manner as described above.
We may also collect information from any mobile devices that a child uses if the child has downloaded Showbie to the device. This information is generally used to help us deliver the most relevant information to the child. Examples of information that may be collected and used include how the child uses the App(s) and information about the type of device the child is using. In addition, in the event Showbie crashes on a mobile device, we will receive information about the mobile device model software version and device carrier, which allows us to identify and fix bugs and otherwise improve the performance. This information is sent to us as aggregated information and is not traceable to any individual and cannot be used to identify an individual.
How We Use Children’s Information
We use the personal information that we collect from children for the following general purposes:
To provide the Showbie service;
To respond to customer service and technical support issues and requests;
To identify the child as a user in our system;
To provide improved administration of Showbie; and
To tailor the content and information that we may display to children, to offer personalized help and instructions, and to otherwise personalize a child’s experiences while using Showbie.
When a teacher or school provides a child’s name and other personal information, we use that personal information for the following additional purposes:
To provide children and teachers with information and reports about a child’s performance and use of Showbie;
If requested, to facilitate creation of a child’s account;
We do not use or disclose this personal information for our own commercial purposes.
As noted, with the exception of unique identifiers (e.g., IP address and device identifiers), our Site, Apps, and Services will not collect personal information from children. We only collect and use unique identifiers as necessary to operate our Site, Apps, and Services, including to maintain or analyze their functioning; perform network communications; authenticate users or personalize content; and protect the security or integrity of users and our Site, App, and Services. We never use unique identifiers to track users across third party apps or websites.
How We Share Children’s Information
We do not sell children’s personal information, and a child may not make his or her personal information public through our services (though teachers may choose to share a child’s information and responses with the child’s classmates or with other teachers).
We may disclose Children’s personal information as follows:
Parents, Teachers and Classmates. We will disclose children’s personal information: (1) to each child’s individual teacher(s) and parent(s); and (2) as directed by the child’s teacher(s) or school. The child’s teacher(s) may share the child’s scores, academic progress data or other academic information with other children in the child’s class or school and with other teachers. Parents may request information about the information we have collected from their child(ren) by contacting us at privacy@showbie.com.
Third Party Service Providers. We may disclose a child’s personal information to third-party vendors, service providers, contractors or agents who perform functions on our behalf and/or at the request of a school or district customer in order to: provide the child and the child’s teacher with the services that we offer through our Site and Apps; conduct quality assurance testing; facilitate creation of accounts; provide technical support; and/or provide other services to us. These third party service providers are required not to use personal information other than to provide the services requested by company. We will not disclose Personal Data to third parties for any purposes not described here.
Business Transfers. If we are acquired by or merged with another company, if substantially all of our assets are transferred to another company, or as part of a bankruptcy proceeding, we may transfer the personal information we have collected from children to the other company. We will notify all users via email and/or a prominent notice on our site of any change in ownership or uses of the personal information we have collected, as well as any choices users may have regarding their personal information.
In Response to Legal Process. We may disclose personal information that we have collected from children in order to comply with applicable law, a judicial proceeding, court order, or other legal process.
To Protect Us and Others. We may disclose personal information that we have collected from children where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person, violations of our Terms of Service, our Showbie Privacy Policy, or as evidence in litigation in which Showbie is involved.
No Disclosure to Third Party Companies for Marketing. As stated above, we will not disclose personal information that we have collected from children to any third party company for the third party company’s own direct marketing purposes.
Disclosure to Other Third Parties Only With Consent. Beyond the disclosures described in this Privacy Policy, Showbie will not disclose your personal data to any other third party without a teacher or school’s consent to do so.
Teachers and schools have a right to review and correct the information we have collected about their students, respectively, and to delete it, and to tell us to update it or stop using it. To exercise these rights, you may contact us at privacy@showbie.com. You will be required to authenticate yourself as the child’s teacher to receive information about that child.