Privacy Policy

Effective as of September 20, 2019
 
Cognitive ToyBox, Inc. ("Cognitive ToyBox", “we”, “us”, or “our”) develops research-backed early childhood tools designed to support early childhood educators and families to ensure that every child starts school prepared to learn.
 
This Privacy Policy describes our practices regarding information we collect through our websites, including www.cognitivetoybox.com, mobile applications and any other interactive features or services owned or controlled by Cognitive ToyBox that post a link to this Privacy Policy (each, a "Service" and collectively, the "Services"), as well as any information we collect offline and combine in our databases. Certain features discussed in this Privacy Policy may not be offered on each Service at any particular time. Note that we may combine the information we collect from you through all of our Services to better inform educators and families about student and child development.
 
Note about Children: As required by applicable law and our Terms of Service,  children under the age of 13 in the U.S. (and a higher age if required by the applicable law in another country) may only use our Services with the express prior consent of a parent or legal guardian. If you are a Teacher or Administrator, you must obtain all necessary parental consents before allowing students to use the Services.

1. What is this policy?

WE FULLY DESCRIBE OUR PRIVACY PRACTICES BELOW IN THIS PRIVACY POLICY. THIS SUMMARY PROVIDES AN OVERVIEW OF SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING OUR USE AND SHARING OF YOUR INFORMATION. PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE PRIVACY POLICY VERY CAREFULLY. BY USING ANY SERVICE, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THIS PRIVACY POLICY IN ITS ENTIRETY.

Information collection/How we use your information: Information that we collect is primarily used to communicate with you and to provide and maintain access to the Cognitive ToyBox Services. Information from teacher accounts is shared with school or district administrators (and school administrator account information may be shared with district administrators). Please review the "What information does Cognitive ToyBox Collect?” and "How does Cognitive ToyBox use the information it collects?" sections of this Privacy Policy for a full description of the information we collect, including Personal Information (as defined below), and how we use that information.

Information Sharing: Remember that if you create a Profile (as defined below) or share Personal Information with other users on the Services, your information may be visible to others. However, student data will only be visible to their teachers and appropriate school and district administrators. Note that we do not share your Personal Information with third parties for their marketing purposes; however, we may share your Personal Information under certain limited circumstances. For more details, please review the section below entitled "Will Cognitive ToyBox share any of the information it collects?".

Third parties: We work with Amazon Web Services and similar providers to provide us with information regarding traffic on the Services, including the frequency of use and the actions users take when visiting the Services and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Services.

2. What information does Cognitive ToyBox Collect?

Information Shared With Us

1. Registration and Other Information You Provide

The Services may collect "Personal Information" (which is information that can reasonably be used alone or in combination with other reasonably available information, to identify or contact a specific individual). Personal Information includes, but is not limited to, student data, metadata, and user content. This may include a name, month and year of birth, email address, student ID, password, assessment data or usage information. Any information combined with Personal Information will be treated as Personal Information.

2. Your Account

Note that students do not create accounts; however, certain student information is collected through the Teacher Account as described below.

Student Information Collected:

  • First name

  • Last name (optional)

  • Month and year of birth

  • School and Classroom enrollment

  • Language and performance information

  • Photos, videos and observational/anecdotal notes (limited to use as necessary as evidence of student development, these photos, videos and observational notes are also accessible by appropriate school administrators and district administrators).

Teacher Information Collected:

  • First name

  • Last name

  • Email Address

  • School and District

School Administrators:

  • First name

  • Last name

  • Email address

  • School and District

District Administrators:

  • First name

  • Last name

  • Email address

  • District

Consumers:

  • Email Address

3. Third Party Services and Information Third Parties Provide About You
 
The Services may permit interactions between the Services and a third-party feature or service.  These third parties may provide us with information about you. [For example, if you sign-in through Google, you authorize Cognitive ToyBox to collect, store, and use any information that you agreed Google would provide to Cognitive ToyBox, such as your name, Google profile picture, unique identifier, and email address.] Similarly, if you publicly post information on a third-party platform, such as a social media site, that references Cognitive ToyBox or one of the Services, your post may be published on our Services in accordance with that third party’s terms. These features may collect your IP address or other unique identifier, which page you are visiting on our website, and may set a cookie to enable the third-party feature to function properly. When you use a third-party feature through the Services, the third party may also have access to information about you and your use of our Services. Your interactions with third-party links and features are governed by the privacy policies of the third parties. 
 
The information we collect is subject to this Privacy Policy. The information collected and stored by the third party remains subject to the third party's privacy practices, including whether the third party continues to share information with us, the types of information shared, and your choices with regard to what is visible to others on that third party website and service. The third party may allow you to remove the application or feature, in which case we will no longer collect information about you through the application or feature, but we may retain the information previously collected in compliance with all applicable laws.
 
Information We Collect Automatically
 
Like other websites and online services, we and our analytics providers, vendors and other third-party service providers may automatically collect certain "Usage Information" whenever you access and use the Services.  For example, we may collect information regarding how often a user accesses certain features. 
 
Usage Information may include the browser and operating system you are using, the URL that referred you to our Services (if applicable), the search terms you entered into a search engine that lead you to our Services (if applicable), all of the areas within our Services that you visit, and the time of day you used the Services, among other information. We may use Usage Information for a variety of purposes, including to select appropriate content to display to you and to enhance or otherwise improve the Services and our products.
 
In addition, we automatically collect your IP address or other unique identifier ("Device Identifier") for any computer, mobile phone or other device (any, a "Device") you may use to access the Services. A Device Identifier is a number that is automatically assigned to your Device used to access a Service, and our servers identify your Device by its Device Identifier. Some mobile service providers may also provide us or our third-party service providers with information regarding the physical location of the Device used to access a Service, internet service provider (ISP), date and time of your visit, browser language, browser type, referring and exit pages and URLs, amount of time spent on particular pages, which parts of our Services you use, which links you click, search terms, operating system, traffic and related statistics, keywords, and/or other general browsing or usage data. Usage Information is generally non-identifying, but if we associate it with you as a specific and identifiable person, we treat it as Personal Information.
 
Usage Information is collected via tracking technologies. 
 
How We Respond To Do Not Track Signals:
Please note that your browser setting may allow you to automatically transmit a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal to websites and online service you visit. DNT is a privacy preference that users can set in certain web browsers to inform websites and services that they do not want certain information about their webpage visits collected over time and across websites or online services. However, we do not recognize or respond to browser-initiated DNT signals, as the internet industry is still working to determine what DNT means, how to comply with DNT, and how to create a common approach to responding to DNT. To find out more about "Do Not Track", please visit http://www.allaboutdnt.com.

3. How does Cognitive ToyBox use the information it collects?

We may use information about you, including Personal Information, the information you provide in your Profile, User Content, and Usage Information for the following purposes:
 
1.  To provide the Services. We use your personal information to verify your registration, allow you to participate in features we offer, contact you regarding the Services, and to allow other users to contact you.
2. To operate the websites. Your personal information may be used to tailor content, recommendations and offers we display to you, both on the Services and elsewhere online, as well as to maintain or improve our Services.
3.  To send marketing communications.  Anyone may sign up to receive communications from us regarding new or existing offerings or other materials that may be of interest.  Recipients who have opted-in to such communications may unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in any email.  Children under the age of 18 a prohibited from signing up for these communications and we will unsubscribe any person under the age of 18 that we become aware of signing up to receive these communications
4.  To create anonymous data for analytics.  We may make information anonymous by excluding information that makes it personally identifiable to you, and use that anonymous data for our lawful business purposes.
5.  For compliance, fraud prevention, and safety.  We use your personal information as we believe is necessary or appropriate to (a) enforce our terms and conditions; (b) protect our rights, privacy, safety or property, and that of you or others; and (c) protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, harmful, unauthorized, unethical, or illegal activity.
6. To comply with law.  We use your personal information as we believe necessary or appropriate to comply with applicable laws, lawful requests, and legal process, such as to respond to subpoenas or requests from government authorities.
7.  With your consent.  In some cases, we may ask for your consent to collect, use, or share your personal information, such as when required by law or agreements with third parties.
 
Please note that information submitted on the Services via a "Contact Us" or other similar function may not receive a response. We will not use the information provided via these functions to contact you for marketing purposes unrelated to your request unless you agree otherwise.

4. Will Cognitive ToyBox share any of the information it collects?

Cognitive ToyBox does not share your Personal Information with third parties for their marketing purposes in compliance with all applicable laws (including California Business & Professions Code section 22584 ("SOPIPA"), and California Education Code section 49073.1). Cognitive ToyBox may share non-Personal Information, such as aggregate or de-identified user statistics, demographic information and Usage Information with third parties.
 
We also may share your Personal Information with third parties with your consent (if permissible under applicable law), as disclosed at the time you provide us with information, and as described below or otherwise in this Privacy Policy:
 
1. Service Providers 

We will share your Personal Information with third parties to provide services to us or you in connection with the Services, but subject to confidentiality obligations which limit their use and disclosure of such information. For example, we may provide your Personal Information to companies that provide services to help us with our business activities, sending our emails, or offering customer service. Consumer payments are processed via the Apple App Store or Google Play and we do not receive such users credit card information.  We do receive credit card information (full numbers or last four digits) for payments made on school accounts.

2. Administrative, Legal Reasons & Academic Integrity Investigations 

We may also disclose your information, including Personal Information, in response to a subpoena, court order, or when otherwise required by law; in response to bankruptcy proceedings; to defend our rights; in response to a request from law enforcement; to provide information to a claimed owner of intellectual property who claims that content you have provided to us infringes on their rights; upon request of or as otherwise authorized by an academic institution connected to an investigation into academic integrity; to protect and/or defend any applicable Terms of Service or other policies applicable to the Services; or to protect the personal safety, rights, property or security of any organization or individual.
 
We may also use Device Identifiers, including IP addresses, to identify users, and may do so in cooperation with copyright owners, Internet service providers, wireless service providers or law enforcement agencies in our discretion. These disclosures may be carried out without your consent or without notice to you.
 
3. Business Transitions 

Cognitive ToyBox may share Personal Information with its parent, subsidiaries and affiliates, and investors primarily for business and operational purposes so long as any recipient agrees to comply with this Privacy Policy and applicable law with regard to such Personal Information. In the event that Cognitive ToyBox goes through a business transition, such as a merger, acquisition by another company, or sale of all or a portion of its assets, bankruptcy, or other corporate change, including, without limitation, during the course of any due diligence process, your information, including Personal Information, will likely be among the assets transferred.
                                  
You will be notified via email and/or a prominent notice on Services of any completed change in ownership or uses of your Personal Information, as well as any choices you may have regarding your Personal Information. This Privacy Policy will become binding upon the new owner of the information until amended. 
 
4. Testimonials 

We may display personal testimonials of satisfied adult users on our Services in addition to other endorsements. With your consent we may post your testimonial along with your name. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us.

5. How does Cognitive ToyBox work with third parties?

No Third-Party Advertising
Cognitive ToyBox will never use any student data to advertise or market to students or their parents. We will not mine student 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.
 
Google Sign-In
If you choose to connect to the Services via Google, you may have the ability to limit the information that we may obtain from Google at the time you login to the Service. Subsequently, you may be able to control your settings through your Google settings page. If you withdraw our ability to access certain information from Google, that choice will not apply to information that we have already received from Google. When you sign-in through Google, you allow Cognitive ToyBox to disclose information to Google that you’ve allowed us to share with Google.  We do not control Google’s use of your personal information.  Learn more about how Google uses your information here.
 
Third-Party Providers
We work with service providers like Amazon Web Services similar organizations to provide us with information regarding traffic on the Services, including the features used when visiting the Services and to provide us with information regarding the use of the Services.
 
Third-Party Content, Links to Other Sites, and Cognitive ToyBox Content Found Outside of the Services
Certain content provided through the Services may be hosted and served by third parties. In addition, the Services may link to third party websites or content over which Cognitive ToyBox has no control and which are governed by the privacy policies and business practices of those third parties.
 
Please also note that Cognitive ToyBox content may be included on web pages and websites that are not associated with us and over which we have no control. These third parties may independently collect data. Cognitive ToyBox is not responsible or liable for the privacy practices or business practices of any third party.
 
For more information about data we receive from third parties, please refer to “Third Party Services, Social Media Platforms, and Information Third Parties Provide About You”  above.

6. What happens if I access Cognitive ToyBox’s services through a mobile device?

If you use the Services through a mobile device or one of our mobile applications, you agree that Cognitive ToyBox may store and use that information for security purposes (for example, for user verification or authentication and to ensure that our APIs are being used appropriately).

7. How does Cognitive ToyBox protect children’s information?

Protecting the privacy of young children is especially important to Cognitive ToyBox. For that reason, we created certain features designed to help protect Personal Information relating to children who are less than 13 years of age or older if required by applicable law (“Child Users”).
 
Cognitive ToyBox does not knowingly permit Child Users to use our Services without prior, express consent from a parent or legal guardian, except through agreements with schools or districts or as otherwise permitted under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). If we learn that Personal Information of a Child User has been collected on our Services without prior parental consent, then we will take appropriate steps to delete this information. If you are a parent or guardian (“Parent”) and discover that your child under the age of 13 (or a higher age if required by applicable law) has a registered account with our Services without your consent, please contact your child’s school and contact Cognitive ToyBox to request that we delete that child’s personal information from our systems.
 
How does a child use the services?
Child Users cannot access or use the services without first receiving a prompt from their school. Cognitive ToyBox obligates schools and teachers (or other authorized individuals) to first obtain any necessary parental consents before permitting children access or use the Services. Parents or guardians must sign up for personal accounts and pay applicable fees before their children may access or use the services.
 
What children’s information is visible to others?
No student’s profile is made available or visible to the public through Cognitive ToyBox. If a teacher utilizes certain features on a device in the classroom, other students may be able to view information that is displayed by the teacher in the classroom, but students can’t view each other’s individual student profiles.
 
Parents:  To review your child’s User data you must request the information from your child’s teacher. 
 
A Note about FERPA:
Certain records collected or maintained by Cognitive ToyBox are subject to FERPA.  FERPA provides parents (or students if over the age of 18) with certain rights with regard to those records.  For more information on those rights and other important information about FERPA, please see Cognitive ToyBox’s FERPA Policy.

8. How does Cognitive ToyBox protect and store my information?

Cognitive ToyBox takes data security very seriously.  Cognitive ToyBox takes commercially reasonable technical, physical, and administrative security measures designed to protect the Personal Information submitted to us, both during transmission and upon receipt, and at rest.  Such measures vary depending on the sensitivity of the information at issue.  Measures taken to protect your data include the following:

  • We periodically review our information collection, storage and processing practices, including physical security measures, to guard against unauthorized access to systems.

  • We continually develop and implement features to keep your personal information safe - for example, all traffic to and from our application is over secure, encrypted protocols (SSL/TLS).

  • We ensure passwords are stored securely using encryption and salted one-way hashing.

  • Administrators are knowledgeable of security practices and harden the infrastructure with necessary patches.

  • Our technical infrastructure is designed to prevent unauthorized access to protected information at multiple points in every transaction.

 
Please note that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is completely secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially reasonable means to protect your Personal Information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
 
How will Cognitive ToyBox handle a data breach or security incident?
In the event that Cognitive ToyBox becomes aware of a data breach impacting your Personal Information, we will provide notification in compliance with all applicable laws. For example, we may post a notice on our homepage or elsewhere on the Service, and may email you at the email address you have provided to us. Depending on where you live, you may have a legal right to receive notice of a security breach in writing.
 
Cognitive ToyBox has procedures in place that are designed to stop threats that may expose personally identifiable information, restore Services to full functionality, and document and take proactive steps to ensure the incident cannot be repeated. Cognitive ToyBox will also preserve necessary evidence for investigation by security professionals and law enforcement as appropriate. In the unlikely event of an unauthorized disclosure of records, Cognitive ToyBox will follow its internal procedures, which articulates how to report the problem to internal and external stakeholders. The notification process includes any information that can identify which customers and students may have been impacted, the data that may have been accessed, Cognitive ToyBox’s process to inform affected customers, and steps to prevent the incident from happening again as appropriate.
 
In the unlikely event of an unauthorized disclosure of Data, Cognitive ToyBox has implemented a process for responding to incidents and notifying affected individuals and, if applicable, law enforcement personnel.
 
If you have any questions about security on our Services, you can contact us at support@cognitivetoybox.com.

10. How can I access and manage my personal information?

You may be able to review the information you provided to us on a Service and make any desired changes to the information, or to the settings for your account on that Service, by logging in to your account for that Service and editing or deleting the information. Note that certain accounts may have limitations regarding the ability to delete information. Even after information is deleted, we may maintain it in backup or archive form unless you request permanent deletion or the account is terminated.

11. What communications will I receive from Cognitive ToyBox and how do I limit them?

Cognitive ToyBox may post notices on the homepage.
 
Cognitive ToyBox may send adult users information by email. You may choose to stop receiving certain emails from Cognitive ToyBox your by using the unsubscribe button at the bottom of the Cognitive ToyBox email. However, we reserve the right to send you information on our behalf and on behalf of third parties in connection with providing the Services. If you no longer want to receive information from us, you will need to close your account for that Service.

12. How do I close my account?

If you have a consumer account and you wish to close your account with one of our Services, please contact us, and we will remove your Personal Information and Profile, if applicable, from the active databases for the Service(s) you request. Please let us know which Service(s) you wish to close and, if applicable, send your request using an email account that you have registered with Cognitive ToyBox under your name. You typically will receive a response to a request sent to this account within five business days of our receiving it.

13. How long does Cognitive ToyBox keep my information?

Upon termination of your Account, Cognitive ToyBox will take commercially reasonable steps to delete any Personal Information, excluding information relating to messages you sent to active users, from our live databases in a reasonable amount of time not to exceed ninety (90) days.  You understand and agree that Cognitive ToyBox may continue to have Personal Information in archive files or similar databases.  You further agree that Cognitive ToyBox has no obligation to delete aggregated or de-identified information.  Cognitive ToyBox may retain and use aggregated and de-identified information for any purpose consistent with laws and regulations.
 
Even if your account is closed, information may remain in backup or archive records and we may retain certain data relevant to preventing fraud or future abuse or for legitimate business purposes, such as analysis of aggregated, non-personally-identifiable or de-identified data, account recovery or if required by law.  All retained data will continue to be subject to the applicable privacy policy for the Service.  

14. How will Cognitive ToyBox notify me of changes to this policy?

We will notify you of material changes to the Privacy Policy on our Website and/or by email, and make additional efforts to notify customers of material changes that impact the treatment of data collected through our Services.

Cognitive ToyBox may update this Privacy Policy at any time and any changes will be effective upon posting. Upon any update the date at the top of this policy will be updated. In the event that there are material changes to the way we treat your Personal Information, you are responsible for regularly reviewing this Privacy Policy and your Cognitive ToyBox account for notice of such modifications. Your continued use of the Services following an update to this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of the updated Privacy Policy.

15. What if I don’t live in the U.S.?

Consent to Transfer

The Services are operated in the United States. If you are located outside of the United States, please be aware that information we collect will be transferred to and processed in the United States. By using the Services, or providing us with any information, you fully understand and unambiguously consent to this transfer, processing and storage of your information in the United States, a jurisdiction in which the privacy laws may not be as comprehensive as those in the country where you reside and/or are a citizen.

Important Information for Users in the European Economic Area

The following information only applies to users in the European Economic Area (EEA), provided that we are the controller of your personal information as described below.

Controller

If you use the Services through your employer, school or another organization, that organization is the controller of your personal information and all questions or requests regarding your rights under European data protection legislation (including the rights described under Your rights below) or the processing of your personal information, should be directed to the organization. Cognitive ToyBox is the organization’s processor and uses your personal information only as instructed by the organization and to the extent necessary to comply with applicable law.

If you do not use the Services through an organization, Cognitive ToyBox is the controller of your personal information and can be reached using the contact details in “How can I contact Cognitive ToyBox with questions” section.

Legal bases for processing

We process your personal information on the following legal bases:

Cross-border data transfer
 
Whenever we transfer your personal information out of the European Economic Area (“EEA”) to countries not deemed by the European Commission to provide an adequate level of personal information protection, the transfer will be based on safeguards that allow us to conduct the transfer in accordance with the EEA’s data protection laws. Such safeguards may include applying the European Commission model contracts for the transfer of personal data to third countries described here. Please contact us for further information about any such transfers or the specific safeguards applied.
 
Your rights
 
You may ask us to take the following actions in relation to your personal information that we hold:
 
Access.  Provide you with information about our processing of your personal information and give you access to your personal information.
 
Correct.  Update or correct inaccuracies in your personal information.
 
Delete.  Delete your personal information.
 
Transfer.  Transfer a machine-readable copy of your personal information to you or a third party of your choice.
 
Restrict.  Restrict the processing of your personal information.
 
Object.  Object to our reliance on our legitimate interests as the legal basis of our processing your personal information, where that processing adversely impacts your legal rights. 
 
You may send us these requests by contacting us. We may request information from you to help us confirm your identity and process your request. Applicable law may require or permit us to reject part or all of your request.  If we reject your request, we will tell you why, subject to legal restrictions. If you would like to submit a complaint about our use of your personal information or response to your requests regarding your personal information, you may contact us or submit a complaint to the data protection regulator in your jurisdiction.  You can find your data protection regulator here. 

16. How can I contact Cognitive ToyBox?

If you have questions or comments about this Privacy Policy, please contact us via email at support@cognitivetoybox.com or by mail at:

150 Court St Floor 2
Brooklyn, NY 11201