We are committed to protecting the privacy of student records and other personal information provided in connection with our homework, assessment, and content delivery service (the “Service”) made available at WebAssign.com and WebAssign.net (the “Site”). In order to provide secure, accurate, and efficient service, Advanced Instructional Systems, Inc. dba WebAssign (“WebAssign”) must gather certain types of information about its users. This Privacy Policy provides an overview of the terms and conditions surrounding the use of this information and discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices. Please review the Policy in full to better understand how the information you provide to WebAssign in connection with the Service or Site will be employed.

Brief Summary

• WebAssign is committed to protecting the privacy of its users.
• WebAssign will not violate the privacy rights of students as established by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
• All student personal information is stored using industry-standard security techniques to minimize the chance that unauthorized individuals would have access to the data.
• Login information (username, institution name, and password) is encrypted before being sent over the Internet.
• WebAssign uses Internet "cookies" to identify users while they are logged into the Service. Once a user logs out of the Service, the cookie is deleted. The Service will not be functional unless you accept use of Internet cookies.
• WebAssign gathers and analyzes information about our users as a group in order to continue to improve the Service. This information never identifies a specific user.
• WebAssign will not give, sell, rent, loan, or otherwise disclose your personal information, except when we have your permission, are required to by law, or have a reasonable need to protect the rights, property, or personal safety of WebAssign, its users, or the public, as further explained below.

Full-text Version

WebAssign makes the Service available to instructors for homework, quizzes, and tests through paid subscription for specified classes and time durations. The purpose of the Service is to provide instructors with a secure, accessible platform to assess student performance and comprehension and assign grades.

Information Collected

Students provide their username, institution name, and password when logging on to the Service to complete assignments. The login information is required to determine which assignment should be delivered and who should receive credit for the submission. All login information is sent from your computer to WebAssign’s server as encrypted data.

Student usernames are typically provided to WebAssign by an instructor, the institution name is determined by WebAssign, and the password is usually initially provided by the instructor. You should change your password before starting to use the Service to prevent unauthorized access to your assignments. In some cases, students may create their own username and password.

An instructor using the Service uploads a class roster that includes the student's full name, username, initial password, student number (optional), and e-mail address (optional). Your instructor uses this information to identify and communicate with you about your assignments. Students may also add their e-mail address to their account through the Service.

Student records in the Service are intended for use by the student and the student's course instructor in compliance with existing laws regarding privacy of grades. Your instructors have access to your submissions and the associated time and IP address. All student personal information is stored on servers at a location designed specifically prevent unauthorized individuals from accessing the server or its data. Instructors who wish to use the Service provide WebAssign with their full name, email address, institution address, and other information regarding their institution and the courses they teach.

WebAssign uses "cookies" to identify users when they are logged into the Service. A cookie is a data file that a web site writes and sends to your computer when you visit the site. The Service will not be functional unless you accept use of Internet cookies. Our cookie file contains an encrypted version of your username and school. This information is used to identify who you are when you make a request to the Service. If you allow your browser to accept WebAssign cookies, a cookie is set and trusted when you return to the Service after visiting an external site. After you log out of the Service, the cookie is deleted. We are not responsible for the use of cookies by other Web sites that may be accessed through us.

WebAssign gathers information about its users collectively and automatically logs IP addresses, session sources, and other data that track access to the Site. We analyze these logs to better understand aggregate behavior and to monitor Service performance. The logs are analyzed to ascertain the overall aggregate trends they reveal about our users, but not as a means of tracking the behavior of individual users outside our site. This information is used for the purposes of maintaining and improving the Service, and expanding its capabilities.

Use and Disclosure of Collected Information

We do not use or share your personal information with others except as indicated in this Privacy Policy.

WebAssign will use your personal information to provide the Service to you, alert you of new Service features and enhancements, respond to your support issues, and/or notify you of upgrade opportunities, promotions, and special offers. You agree that we may communicate with you via email and similar technologies for any purpose relating to the Site or the Service.

The use of student information in the Service beyond the purposes of providing assessment falls under the discretion of the instructor. WebAssign recommends prior disclosure by the instructor to their students of any other intended uses, such as research.

WebAssign administrative responsibilities include "access to" but not "publication of" student records in individually identifiable ways. WebAssign accesses student information for backup, internal maintenance, improvement of the Service, and technical support for instructors. If WebAssign accesses student information, it is to troubleshoot the Service or to respond to an instructor's question. We take the utmost efforts to not divulge student information to unauthorized individuals. We strive to ascertain whether authorized persons are able to access the information correctly and to inform instructors how to access it.

WebAssign may use aggregate information to determine the demographics of our users and to distribute statistics and general marketplace information about WebAssign. These demographics will always represent aggregate information and will not identify a specific user.

WebAssign may also disclose personal information:

• when we have your permission to do so; or
• to companies who work for WebAssign to provide one or more parts of the Service or that provide related administrative functions (such as support services, web analytics, and fraud detection). These third parties may have access to your personal information; if they do, this access is only so that they may perform these tasks on our behalf and they are obligated not to disclose or use it for any other purpose; or
• when we believe in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to (1) comply with a legal process or law, or to respond to a government request for information, (2) enforce the terms of use or other agreements, (3) respond to claims that any content on the Site or Service violates the rights of third parties, or that otherwise arise from your use of the Service, or (4) protect the rights, property, or personal safety of WebAssign, its users, or the public.

Children

WebAssign does not knowingly allow children under the age of thirteen (13) to sign up for an account on the Service or to otherwise disclose any of their personal information to us. If you are under 13 years old, please do not use or access our Service. We do not intend to collect information about children under the age of 13. If we later obtain actual knowledge that a user is under 13 years of age, we will take steps to remove that user’s information from our systems. If you are the parent or guardian of a child under 13 whom you believe has disclosed personal information to us, please contact us at support@webassign.net so that we may delete and remove the child’s information from our systems.

Opt-Out

We provide you the opportunity to opt-out of receiving certain communications from us, by emailing us at support@webassign.net. In addition, all marketing e-mails from WebAssign will provide you with the opportunity to unsubscribe from future marketing mailings. Even if you opt out of such mailings, however, we reserve the right to send you e-mail and other communications to disclose maintenance and other service-related issues.

Access to Account

If you are a registered user of the Service, you can change your account information through the account profile component of the service. You may need to supply certain information so that we can try to verify that you have authority to modify this information.

Third-Party Sites

The Site may contain links to other Internet sites. We have no responsibility for the privacy practices of other web sites, including the web sites of our advertisers or business partners.

The fact that we may link to a website or present an advertisement is not an endorsement, authorization or representation of our affiliation with that third party, nor is it an endorsement of their privacy or information security policies or practices. We do not exercise control over third party websites. These other websites may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data, or solicit personal information from you. Other websites follow different rules regarding the use or disclosure of the personal information you submit to them. We encourage you to read the privacy policies or statements of the other websites you visit.

Legal Requirements

We intend to protect your privacy to the fullest extent possible as described in this policy while also fulfilling our responsibility to uphold all applicable laws and regulations. Due to potential legal requirements and other possible circumstances, we cannot ensure that all of your private communications and other personally identifiable information will never be disclosed or accessed in ways not otherwise described in this policy. We may be compelled under law to disclose information to government or third parties under certain circumstances or third parties may unlawfully intercept or access transmissions or private communications. Further, we can, and you hereby authorize us to, disclose any information to law enforcement or other government officials that we, in our sole discretion, believe necessary or appropriate in compliance with the law and/or government requests.

United States

The Service is hosted in the United States. If you are accessing the Site or Service from outside the United States, please be advised that through your continued use of the Site or Service, which is governed by U.S. law and this Privacy Policy, you are transferring your personal information to the United States and you consent to that transfer.

Security Measures

We have implemented reasonable and industry standard security measures on the Site to help protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the personal information under our control. Additionally, WebAssign takes reasonable steps to ensure that our third party business partners, including our hosting partners, provide sufficient protection for personal information.

You acknowledge that no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, and that we cannot guarantee absolute security. If you have any questions about security on our Site and Service, you may contact us. We will promptly make any legally required disclosures of any breach of the security, confidentiality, or integrity of your unencrypted electronically stored "personal data" (as defined in applicable state laws on security breach notification) to you via email or conspicuous posting on the Site.

FERPA

In no event will WebAssign violate the federal privacy rights of students as established by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) at 20 U.S.C. 1232g and 34 C.F.R. part 99.

Changes

WebAssign posts any changes to this privacy statement on the Site. Your continued use of the Site and Service constitutes your agreement to this Privacy Policy and any future revisions.

If you have any questions regarding this privacy statement, please email or write to:

WebAssign
1791 Varsity Drive, Suite 200
Raleigh, NC 27606