This Student Data Privacy Statement explains how Desmos Studio PBC (“Desmos”, “we”, “us”, and “our”) collects, protects and processes Student Data (defined below).
This Student Data Privacy Statement also details our compliance with respect to the applicable requirements of the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”), the California Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (“SOPIPA”), the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), and other applicable laws.
The Desmos Services may be used by third party providers of educational services, such as schools, school districts, school systems, teachers or other instructors (collectively referred to as “Schools”). There may be different contractual terms or privacy policies in place with some of our School customers. Such other terms or policies may supersede this Student Data Privacy Statement for information collected or processed under those terms. If you have any questions as to which legal agreement or privacy policy controls the collection and use of your information, please contact your School or us.
When a School uses the Desmos Graphing Calculator, Desmos Geometry Tool, future standalone tools to come, and any apps associated with the Desmos Services (together, the “Advanced Desmos Tools”) with students in the classroom (“Students”), we may have access to Student Data. “Student Data” is any information that is directly related to an identifiable current or former student that is maintained by a school, school district, or related entity or organization, or by us.
Student Data may include “educational records” as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”). We consider Student Data to be highly confidential.
Our collection and use of Student Data through Desmos Services are governed by federal and state law and by our contract with Schools, if one exists. This Desmos Student Data Privacy Statement explains how we use and share Student Data we may collect through Desmos Services. If you have questions about specific practices relating to Student Data provided to Desmos by a School, please direct your questions to your School.
The privacy of personally identifiable student information is very important to us. We are honored that our School customers choose Desmos as a trusted educational service provider and we strive to live by high data privacy and security standards. When we have access to the personal information of students, we commit to the following data privacy principles:
- Desmos collects, stores, processes, and shares Student Data only for the purposes of providing our Services, or as authorized by a School or a parent / guardian.
- Desmos does not use or share Student Data or content for marketing or advertising purposes, except with explicit school or parental / guardian consent.
- Desmos does not sell Student Data.
- Desmos does not use or disclose Student Data for targeted advertising purposes.
- Desmos will maintain a comprehensive data security program designed to protect the types of Student Data maintained by Desmos.
- Desmos will not knowingly retain Student Data beyond the time period required to support the school’s purpose, unless authorized by the parent/student.
- Desmos will delete or de-identify Student Data at the direction or request of the school.
- Desmos will clearly and transparently disclose our data policies and practices.
- Desmos will not make any material changes to our Privacy Policy or Terms of Service that relate to the collection or use of Student Data without first giving notice to the school or parent and providing a choice before the Student Data is used in a materially different manner than was disclosed when the information was collected.
If you have any questions, please contact us at [email protected].
Desmos provides the Services to Schools to improve classroom instruction and student learning outcomes. Through the provision of this Service to a School, we may collect or have access to Student Data that is provided by the School or by the student. The type of information we collect will depend on how the School uses the Service, but could include the student’s first and last name, email address, and user generated content (such as graphs). Only Students who have logged into a Desmos account using an email address with the domain name of a School that has a DPA with Desmos can be associated with a School. To save content on the Services, the Student will need to register for a Desmos account by providing some personal information or by logging in through a Google or Apple account.
Please note that only accounts using an email address with the domain name of a School that has a DPA with Demsmos can be associated with a School are considered to be Student accounts. If you are a teacher, administrator, or other individual using the Service on behalf of a School, please do not instruct students to sign up for Desmos without instructing students to sign up using an email address with the domain name of the School. Schools sign a DPA with Desmos to use the Advanced Desmos Tools in the classroom setting so that a student’s information is identifiable as Student Data.
We consider Student Data to be highly confidential and use this data solely to provide our Services to the School, and in limited ways, for our internal purposes in accordance with our Terms of Service or specific agreements with Schools. Our collection, use, and disclosure of Student Data is governed by our Terms of Service and/or any other agreement with the School, in the U.S. by the provisions of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and applicable privacy laws relating to the collection and use of personal information of students. If you have any questions about our collection and use of Student Data, please contact us at [email protected]. If you have any questions about reviewing, modifying, or deleting the personal information of a student, please contact your School directly.
We use Student Data to provide the Desmos Services to the School and for other limited purposes permitted by our agreements with the Schools, such as to evaluate, improve, and develop our products, applications, and services. All Student Data that we collect or have access to is owned and controlled by the Schools. We do not use Student Data for marketing purposes or to engage in targeted advertising.
Desmos only shares Student Data in a few limited circumstances, as described below.
We may share Student Data in the following ways:
- As needed to perform the Desmos Services and/or at the direction of a School and as authorized by our contract with the School. For example, information including Student Data, may be shared between and among authorized School users, such as teachers and administrators. Schools may also be able to facilitate data sharing with other authorized third parties. This sharing will depend on the settings and functionality selected by the School.
- With our trusted vendors, third party service providers and other individuals who perform services on our behalf, but only if such providers have a need to access such information for the purpose of carrying out their work for us and do so under strict confidentiality and data security terms.
- We may share aggregate or anonymized data (including personal data that has been stripped of personally identifying characteristics) with third parties, but will do so only in such a way that no individual may reasonably be identified.
- We may be required to share information with law enforcement or other third parties when compelled to do so by court order or other legal process, to comply with statutes or regulations, to enforce our Terms of Service, or if we believe in good faith that the disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or personal safety of our visitors.
- In the event of a change of control: If we sell, divest or transfer the business or a portion of our business, we will not transfer Student personal information without first giving you the ability to opt-out of the transfer by deleting your account, unless the new owner intends to maintain and provide the Service as a going concern, and provided that the new owner has agreed to data privacy standards no less stringent than our own. We may also transfer personal information – under the same conditions – in the course of mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, dissolutions, reorganizations, liquidations, similar transactions or proceedings involving all or a portion of our business.
We may use data which has been de-identified and/or aggregated for product development, research analytics, and other purposes, including for the purpose of analyzing, improving, or marketing the Desmos Services. If Desmos publicly discloses or shares with third parties (e.g., in marketing materials, published research, analytics, or in application development) information that is derived from Student Data, then (i) such data will be aggregated and/or anonymized to reasonably avoid identification of a specific School or individual and (ii) Desmos will seek contractual limits on such third parties preventing reidentification of de-identified data.
Students may access, update, or correct Student Data by logging into the student’s account. Parents / guardians may request to access, correct, and update a student’s personal information, but these requests may require the School’s authorization to update or delete information in active School accounts. If you have any questions about reviewing, modifying, or deleting personal information of a Student, please contact your School or [email protected].
Our Advanced Desmos Tools are not directed to children under 13 unless and until a School or parent has provided appropriate consent and authorization for a student under 13 to use the Services and for Desmos to collect information from such students. Desmos relies on each School to obtain and provide appropriate consent and disclosures, if necessary, to collect any student information directly from students, as permitted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Because we continue to develop the Desmos Services and take advantage of technologies to improve the Services we provide, our policies will change over time. We will note the effective date of the policy at the bottom of this page, and you should review this page periodically for any changes. If you do not choose to accept the changes, you may opt-out by deleting your account before the changes take effect.
This document was last modified on August 22, 2023.