App Academy 

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: September 1, 2022

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Please read this Privacy Policy carefully.  It provides important information about your personal information and informs you of your rights under applicable privacy laws. Please contact us if you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding this Privacy Policy.  

If you are a California resident and would like to exercise your California privacy rights, please see our California Privacy Notice below.

By accessing or using the App Academy Site or Services, as defined below, you acknowledge and agree that you have received and read this Privacy Policy. 

Table Of Contents

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1. Introduction

2. What Personal Information Do We Collect from You and How Is it Collected? 

3. Children’s Privacy

4. Why We Collect Your Personal Information and How We Use It

5. Disclosure of Your Personal Information

6. Marketing Preferences

7. Payment Processing

8. Third Party Links

9. Third Party Social Plug-Ins

10. How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information?

11. Protecting Your Personal Information

12. California Privacy Notice

13. International Transfers

14. Additional European and International Data Rights

15. Contact Us

16. Changes to this Privacy Policy

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1. Introduction

Hash Map Labs Inc. and its subsidiaries, including App Academy, LLC, (collectively, “App Academy,” “we” or “us”) provides a coding school with online and live post-secondary educational courses and programs.  The services App Academy offers include, without limitation, live and online, free and tuition-based educational courses and content, such as our Bootcamp Prep, Software Engineering, and App Academy Open courses, services made available through or related to our courses, such as mentorship, recruiting or job placement services, online public and private blogs or forums, and online or live events or programs that App Academy offers or sponsors (collectively, the “Services.”)

This Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) is intended to tell you about how App Academy collects, uses, and shares your personal information when: 

• you visit and/or use our website with the domain, https://www.appacademy.io/ (“Site”); 
• you apply for, enroll in, participate in, access, use, or engage with any App Academy Service; 
• you download or use any App Academy software application (“App”);
• you communicate with us;
• you work with our partnership team to recruit candidates from App Academy programs; and
• we work with our partners to offer or enhance our Services.

2. What Personal Information Do We Collect From You and How is It Collected?  

Personal information, or personal data, means any information about an individual from which that person may be identified. For example, it may include your name, telephone number, email address, or payment information, and in some jurisdictions your IP address. Personal information does not include anonymous or aggregate data where the identifiers have been removed. We collect personal information directly from you and indirectly, as described below: 

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1. Information Collected Directly

How we collect personal information directly from you depends on how and why you use our Site and/or programs or courses. For example, the information you provide when visiting our Site will be more limited than information provided during the application or enrollment process.  We may ask you to update your information from time to time in order to keep it accurate.

For data that App Academy collects directly from you, the following better explains the circumstances in which personal information may be collected and the types of information collected: 

1. Information from Site Visitors

When you visit the Site, and depending on the purpose of your visit, we collect personal information from you when you:

• Submit a request or inquiry on the Site;
• Communicate with us directly;
• Subscribe to App Academy communications; and
• Request informational or marketing materials.

In connection with the above-mentioned activities, App Academy may collect the following information: 

• Your identity, including your first name, last name, and the company you work for; 
• Your contact information such as your email address and telephone number; and
• The content of your inquiry, feedback, or other communication.

In most cases when you visit the Site, you will not provide any information to us directly, in which case the only data that we collect is indirect information, as explained below.

2. Information from Applicants, Partners, and Participants in App Academy Services

We collect information from you when you interact with App Academy through any of our Services.  The personal information we collect may differ depending on the App Academy Service.  We collect personal information from you when you: 

• Apply for, register for, or enroll in, an App Academy Service; 
• Access or use any App Academy Service;
• Update or change your information with App Academy;
• Communicate with App Academy; and
• Respond to or participate in any App Academy surveys.   

In connection with these activities, and depending on the Service, App Academy may collect some or all of the following information: 

• First and last name;
• Contact information such as email address and phone number;
• Company and job title; 
• Hiring needs or employment goals;
• Comments, responses to, or thoughts on blog or forum postings;
• Content of any communications you have with App Academy;
• Headshot or profile photo;
• Educational background and work experience; 
• Certain sensitive information such as social security number and date of birth; 
• Certain demographic information such as gender, race/ethnicity, work authorization status, veteran status, and sexual orientation; and
• Survey content and responses.

3. Information from Registered Students

If you are a registered student in an App Academy course offering, we may collect additional information from you to administer and provide you with the course offering and related Services.  

App Academy may collect the following information from registered students:

• Academic performance, participation, and progress-tracking information;
• Student-generated content, such as assignments submitted to instructors, peer-graded assignments, and student feedback; and
• Course data, such as student responses to quizzes, exams, and course surveys.

2. Information Collected Indirectly

Technical Usage Data

We automatically collect information about your interactions with the Site and, as applicable, App Academy’s online Services, including information about the device you use to interact with and/or access the Site and/or Services: IP address, access dates and times, information about your approximate location (as determined through your IP address), mobile, computer or device hardware information (e.g., operating system version, Hardware model, IMEI number and other unique device identifiers, MAC address, and device settings), device event information, and crash data. This information allows App Academy to understand how you’ve used the Site and/or online Service and other actions you’ve taken in connection with your use of the Site and/or Services.  We automatically collect log data when you access and use the Site and/or the Services, even if you have not created an account or logged in. We use this information for our internal purposes only and to provide, improve, and enhance the Site and/or online components of our Services.

Aggregated Data

We may process aggregate data to analyze and improve the content and functionality of our Site and/or our Services, to analyze market trends, and to effectively target our marketing efforts including gathering demographic information about our users. Aggregate data is data that is unable to be linked to or identify an individual person, such as statistical or demographic data.  App Academy may disclose aggregate data to partners or service providers as described in this Privacy Policy. When you interact with our Site or online Services, we automatically collect aggregate user data, which may include which pages of our Site were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were visited, and which hyperlinks were clicked.

Cookies and Similar Technologies

We or authorized third parties collect certain information by automated means using cookies, web beacons, and server logs for analytic purposes. The information we collect in this manner enables us to better understand the pages or content you view, your searches, Site traffic patterns, and to optimize user experience. For more information on our use of these technologies, please visit our Cookie Policy. 

3. Information Collected from Third Parties

In some instances, we process personal information we receive from third parties, which consists of:

• Information from employers for enterprise training solutions; 
• Information from third parties who partner with App Academy to recruit current and former App Academy students; 
• Data from third parties if you choose to interact with them through our Site, such as if you access or log-in to a third party site like Facebook, from our Site;
• In some cases, information collected from other students; 
• Information from third parties who perform business functions for App Academy, such as testing providers and transactional data from our third-party payment service providers;
• Data from third-party software applications, communication tools, or other third-party software used for purposes of administering the App Academy Services, such as third-party communications tools used to facilitate online course offerings; and
• Usage data from third-party partner websites that may provide information about App Academy Services or may provide services to App Academy users.  The partner sites may share that data with App Academy for the purpose of improving App Academy’s Services, the partner site’s services, and the individual’s experience. 

4. What if You Do Not Provide Information? 

Some personal information is necessary so that we can provide you with the Services you have requested and to authenticate you when you access the Services. In many circumstances, our legal and regulatory commitments require us to collect certain personal information from you. Failure or refusal to provide this information may prevent us from providing you with access to our Services and/or from entering contractual agreements with you. 

3. Children’s Privacy

Our Services are not intended for children under 16 years of age, and App Academy does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under the age of 16. If you are under the age of 16, please do not use the Services or provide any personal information.  If you are a parent or guardian and you learn your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us. If we learn we have collected or received personal information about a child under the age of 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. 

4. Why We Collect Your Personal Information and How We Use It

Our goal is to perform our Services with high quality and to provide you with a great experience. We, or our authorized third-party service providers and/or partners who assist us in providing the Site and/or Services, process your personal information for the following reasons:   

• To provide and operate the App Academy Site and Services; 
• To evaluate and process your application for Services, such as our course offerings;
• To authenticate you when you access or use the Services or to verify your identity for enrollment purposes;
• To administer online or live course offerings, for purposes including but not limited to tracking attendance, progress, and completion of a course or similar offering;
• To update, improve, and/or enhance our Site and Services;
• To provide technical support for and protect our Site and Services; 
• To conduct analytics related to our Site and Services;
• To facilitate your payments and fees relating to our Services; 
• To respond to your inquiries and requests, or otherwise communicate with you or provide you with assistance; 
• To enable our corporate partners to communicate with you about potential employment or training opportunities;
• To provide updates about our Services and recommend additional App Academy Services; 
• To provide information to regulatory bodies when legally required (See “Disclosure of Personal Information” below); and
• To keep you updated about changes to policies relating to our Services (including this Privacy Policy).

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If you have further questions or concerns, please contact us. ‍

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5. Disclosure of Your Personal Information

Aside from disclosing your information to those of our personnel who are authorized to process the information in order to provide App Academy Services, we disclose your personal information only to the third parties and for the reasons indicated below:

• Course instructors, assistants, and related providers;
• Third-party companies that provide services to us, for us, or on our behalf;
• Government, regulatory and law enforcement to comply with any court order, law or legal process;
• Public postings on the blog or forums;
• Educational and social platforms you choose to share your personal information with; 
• Employers and third-party recruiting partners;
• In the event of a business transfer; 
• Researchers; and
• Additional third parties you choose to share your personal information with. 

1. Instructors and Course Providers

If you participate in an App Academy course or related offering that is taught or led by someone external to App Academy, we share personal information with the third-party instructor or instructors who teach it, teaching assistants, or other individuals designated by the instructor or instructors to assist with the creation, modification, or operation of the course offering.

2. Third-Party Service Providers

We share personal information with third parties that provide services to help us provide the Site and the App Academy Services and operate our business.  These third parties may provide services to us, for us, and/or on our behalf.  

Depending on how you use the Site and/or Services, the following categories of third parties collect or receive personal information from us or on our behalf:  

• Hosting services providers;
• Analytics providers;
• Advertising and marketing partners;
• Payment service providers;
• Testing services providers; 
• Customer support providers;
• Content providers;
• Information technology, software application, and related infrastructure providers;
• Event coordination providers;
• Providers of business operations and communication tools; and
• Other third-party service providers that help us provide the Services.

For a list of third-party service providers we use, please contact us.   

App Academy does not sell or share personal information with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

3. Legal Obligations and Security

Subject to the limitations in this Section, we will  disclose your personal information if we believe that it is necessary to comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or legitimate governmental request; to protect the safety of any person; to protect the safety or security of the Site, Services, and App Academy students or campuses; to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to prevent spam, abuse, fraud, or other malicious activity of actors using or accessing the Site or App Academy campuses; or to protect our rights or property or the rights or property of those who use the Site and/or App Academy Services and campuses. Non-public information about our users will not be released to law enforcement except in response to an appropriate legal process such as a subpoena, court order, or other valid legal process that has been reviewed by App Academy. However, if we receive information that provides us with a good faith belief that there is an exigent emergency involving the danger of death or serious physical injury to a person, we may provide information to law enforcement trying to prevent or mitigate the danger (if we have it), to be determined on a case-by-case basis. 

4. Public Blogs or Forums

App Academy may offer public blogs or forums from time to time (the "Forums") where you can share comments and thoughts. In order to participate in the Forums, you may be required to register with us and/or provide us with personal information such as your name and email address. Please keep in mind that information you post or make available in Forums will be publicly available. You should not include any information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, in a Forum post. [Please also reference our Terms of Service, our Community Standards, Honor Code and Code of Conduct and additional information about proper use of our Forums.]

5. Educational and Social Platforms  

You may choose to share your personal information on third-party social media sites or apps, review and match-up websites, message boards, chat applications, blogs, or other social, reviewer, rating, or networking websites or platforms. Information that you share through these services may be available to other users and may become public. The personal information shared through these sites and services is subject to their own privacy policies and terms. 

6. Employers and Third-Party Recruiting Partners 

We may share personal information with our third-party business partners to provide them with recruiting Services that enable them to recruit App Academy current or former students for potential employment opportunities. 

If you participate in App Academy Services as part of an enterprise training program made available by your employer or the company you work for, we may share personal information, including performance information, with the company that is sponsoring the enterprise training. 

7. Business Transfers

We may also share data with third parties whom we choose to acquire, or to whom we choose to sell, transfer, or merge parts of our business or our assets. If we are involved in a merger or acquisition, financing due diligence, reorganization, bankruptcy, receivership, sale of company assets, or transition of service to another provider your personal information may transfer as permitted by law and/or contract.

8. Research

We may share general course data (including quiz or assignment submissions, grades, and forum discussions), information about your activity on our Site or with our Services, and demographic data from surveys operated by us with third-party research institutions, such as universities, and other business partners that conduct research around subjects related to education so that they may use the data for research related to education, such as online education and continuing education.

9. With Your Consent

There may be situations where you are asked to consent to share personal information with third parties for additional reasons not included in this Privacy Policy. 

6. Marketing Preferences

We may use your personal information to send you relevant marketing information if you have opted-in to receive them or have not otherwise opted-out.  This is what we call direct marketing. We carry out direct marketing by email.  If you no longer want to receive marketing communications from us in the future, you may opt-out using the unsubscribe link at the bottom of each communication.  You can also manage your marketing preferences by contacting us.  

7. Payment Processing

App Academy does not directly collect your payment information and does not store your payment information. We use third party, PCI-compliant payment processors, which collect the payment information on our behalf to complete the transactions. 

8. Third Party Links

On the Site, we may provide, for informational purposes only, links to other websites or resources with which we do not have a contractual relationship and over which we do not have control (“External Websites”). Such links are not paid advertisements, nor do they constitute an endorsement by App Academy of those External Websites, and are provided to you only as a convenience. By clicking on links to External Websites, the operators of the External Websites may collect your personal information. We are not responsible for the content or data collection practices of those External Websites, and your use of External Websites is subject to their respective terms of use and privacy policies.

9. Third Party Social Plugins

On the Site, we provide third-party “share” buttons for Quora, Facebook or other social media sites, which may function as web beacons when you interact with the button. Please note that you may send to the third party the information that you are viewing with App Academy when you “share”. If you are not logged into your account with the third party, then the third party may not know your identity. If you are logged in to your account with the third party, then the third party may be able to link information or actions about your interactions with App Academy to your account with them. Please refer to each third party’s privacy policies to learn more about its data practices.

10. How Long Do We Keep Your Personal Information? 

We retain personal information for the purposes stated in this Privacy Policy. To determine how long we keep personal information we consider the amount, nature and sensitivity of your information, the reasons for which we collect and process your personal data, and applicable legal requirements. 

In some instances, we may choose to anonymize personal information instead of deleting it.  We may do this for statistical use, for instance. When we choose to anonymize, we make sure that there is no way that the personal information can be linked back to you or any specific user.

11. Protecting Your Personal Information

We have put in place reasonable and appropriate security measures designed to prevent personal information from being lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed.  For example, we use encryption, secure socket layer, firewalls, and password protection.

However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, and we cannot and do not guarantee that personal information is completely secure and safe from such risks.  By using the Site, App, and/or Services, you understand and assume the risks associated with your activities on the internet.

If you have reason to believe that your information is no longer secure, please let us know by contacting us.

12. California Privacy Notice

This California Privacy Notice section supplements the information provided in the Privacy Policy above and applies only to individuals who are residents of the state of California.

If you have questions or concerns about any of the information provided in this California Privacy Notice, please contact us using the information provided in the “Contact Us” section of the Privacy Policy below. 

Personal Information We Collect

For purposes of this California Privacy Notice, “personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household.  Personal information does not include: 

• information that is lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records;
• de-identified or aggregated information; and
• information excluded from the scope of the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), such as health or medical information covered under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) and financial information covered under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) or Gramm-Leach Bliley Act (“GLBA”).

Sources, Purposes, and Disclosures of Personal Information 

The table below identifies the categories of personal information we have collected in the last twelve (12) months and describes the sources for each category of personal information, the business and/or commercial purposes for which we use each category of personal information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share each category of personal information we collect.