Peer Programming

Peer Programming ("we," "our," or "us") is deeply committed to protecting the privacy of children who use our websites, peerprogramming.org and app.peerprogramming.org (together, the "Site"). This privacy policy explains our practices concerning the collection, use, and disclosure of children's personal information.

With parental consent, we process certain information from children under the age of 13. This information includes their email address, first and last name, and timezone. Additionally, we gather student class preferences, their availability days, and other inputs they provide. Though some of this information might not be categorized as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) under COPPA, we believe in full transparency regarding data collection.

The collected information is used to facilitate student participation in classes and activities and to communicate important updates and schedules to both students and parents. Moreover, we utilize this data to continually improve our services, tailoring them to better meet our students' preferences and needs.

Parental consent is a critical part of our process. We ensure parental consent is obtained prior to the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information from children. This consent is acquired through our registration process, where parents confirm their agreement.

To keep our classes safe, sessions between instructors and students are moderated. Every session takes place on Google Meet, and for each one a trusted Peer Programming moderator is sent the meeting link so they can join and check that the session meets our standards of safety. We do not currently record sessions, and we store no audio or video from them. Messages on the Site can also be reported, and reported messages are reviewed by our moderators. Instructors' volunteer hours are tracked from our own records of the sessions they have taught.

We do not share, sell, or rent any personal information collected from children to third parties, except under specific circumstances: to comply with legal processes, protect the safety of our users and the Site, or engage trusted third-party service providers who perform services on our behalf. These third parties are bound by confidentiality agreements preventing further use of the information. Parents have robust rights under COPPA to review their child's personal information collected by us, request its deletion, and refuse further collection or use. Parents wishing to exercise these rights can reach out to us at [email protected] with their requests.

Parents and guardians can be invited to the Site by a student or an instructor, who gives us an email address so we can send an invitation to it. We do not create an account for that address unless the parent or guardian follows the link in the invitation and confirms it themselves. The link in an invitation works for seven days. If it is not accepted in that time, we delete the address, and we delete it sooner if the student or instructor cancels the invitation. If the invitation is accepted, we keep a record of who sent it and when. A parent or guardian can ask us to delete their account, their link to a student, or an invitation sent to their address at any time by writing to us at the address below.

We may share the email addresses of adult account holders, meaning parents and guardians, with third party advertising and analytics providers in an irreversibly hashed form, so that we can measure and improve how people find our free programs. We never share personal information collected from children in this way, and we never share the name, messages, session history, or class preferences of any user for advertising. Any parent or guardian can ask us to stop this for their address by writing to us at the address below.

Peer Programming takes significant measures to safeguard the security and confidentiality of personal information collected from children. We have implemented security protocols to protect our systems and processes from unauthorized access and potential data breaches. This privacy policy may be updated to reflect changes in our practices, legal requirements, or operational needs. In case of material changes, we will revise the effective date and provide notice of such changes on our Site.

For any questions or concerns regarding this privacy policy or our practices concerning children's personal information, please contact us at our email address below:[email protected]

We are dedicated to ensuring that children's interactions with Peer Programming are safe, educational, and enjoyable, and we are steadfast in our commitment to protecting their privacy.