Inkwell Privacy Policy

Introduction

Welcome to Inkwell ("we," "our," or "us"). We are committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring you have a positive experience using our services. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, store, and protect your information when you use Inkwell, our AI-powered tutoring service.

By accessing or using Inkwell, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. This policy applies to all users of the Inkwell service, including students, teachers, and administrators.

This Privacy Policy will help you understand your privacy rights and choices. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, please do not use our Services. If you still have any questions or concerns, please contact us using the information provided in the "Contact Us" section below.

Legal Basis for Processing

We process your personal information on the following legal bases:

  • Contractual Necessity: Processing is necessary for the performance of our contract with you to provide the Inkwell service.
  • Legitimate Interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate interests in improving and maintaining our service, ensuring security, and preventing fraud, provided these interests are not overridden by your rights and freedoms.
  • Legal Compliance: Processing is necessary for compliance with legal obligations to which we are subject.
  • Consent: Where required by law, we process your personal information based on your consent, which you may withdraw at any time.
  • Educational Purpose: For students in educational settings, processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out in the public interest or in the exercise of official authority vested in the educational institution.

Our Use of AI Technology

Inkwell utilizes open source AI models to power our tutoring services. This is important for your privacy because:

  • No Third-Party AI Data Retention: Unlike services that use proprietary commercial AI systems, your conversations and data are not retained by third-party AI providers for their training or other purposes.
  • Data Ownership: We maintain control over all data processing, meaning your information does not become part of external AI training datasets.
  • Privacy-Focused Architecture: Our system is designed to prioritize your privacy while still providing high-quality AI tutoring services.

We continually evaluate and select AI technologies that provide the best educational experience while maintaining the highest standards of privacy and data protection.

Information We Collect

Account Information

When you sign up for Inkwell using Google OAuth, we collect:

  • Your email address
  • Your Google account name
  • Your profile picture (if available)
  • User ID provided by Google

Google Classroom Data

With your permission, Inkwell accesses certain Google Classroom data through Google's OAuth protocol, including:

  • Course information (class names, subjects, etc.)
  • Assignment details
  • Course materials
  • Student roster information (for teachers and administrators)
  • Course membership information

Usage Data

We collect information about how you use Inkwell, including:

  • Questions asked to the AI tutor
  • Conversations with the AI tutor
  • Learning materials you interact with
  • Performance metrics and feedback
  • Time spent using the service
  • Features accessed and used
  • Patterns of usage to improve our service
  • Interactions with specific educational content

Technical Information

We automatically collect certain technical information when you use Inkwell, including:

  • IP address
  • Browser type and version
  • Device information
  • Operating system
  • Time zone and location information
  • Cookies and similar tracking technologies
  • Session duration and activity timestamps
  • Log information

Information We Do Not Collect

We do not collect:

  • Financial information such as credit card numbers
  • Social security numbers or government ID numbers
  • Health or medical information
  • Information not necessary for providing our educational services

How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect for the following purposes:

  • To provide, maintain, and improve Inkwell
  • To personalize your learning experience
  • To analyze and improve the effectiveness of our tutoring service
  • To respond to your requests, comments, or questions
  • To communicate with you about updates or changes to Inkwell
  • To detect, prevent, and address technical issues or abuse
  • To comply with legal obligations
  • To protect the rights, property, or safety of Inkwell, our users, or the public
  • To develop new features and services
  • To generate anonymized, aggregated data for educational research and service improvements
  • To authenticate your identity and prevent unauthorized access
  • To process and respond to your requests to exercise your data protection rights

We process your information when we have a valid legal reason to do so, such as your consent, fulfillment of our contractual obligations to you, compliance with legal obligations, or our legitimate interests that are not overridden by your rights.

Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal information. We may share your information in the following circumstances:

  • Service Providers: We may share information with third-party vendors, consultants, and other service providers who need access to such information to perform work on our behalf. These providers are bound by contractual obligations to keep personal information confidential and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
  • Educational Institutions: We may share information with schools and educators as necessary to provide and improve the Inkwell service. This sharing is subject to applicable education privacy laws such as FERPA.
  • Legal Requirements: We may disclose information if required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court or government agency).
  • Business Transfers: If we are involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or a portion of our assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you via email and/or a prominent notice on our website of any change in ownership or uses of your personal information.
  • Consent: We may share information with third parties when you have given us explicit consent to do so.
  • Protection: We may share information to protect against harm to the rights, property, or safety of Inkwell, our users, or the public as required or permitted by law.
  • Affiliated Entities: We may share information with our affiliated entities for purposes consistent with this Privacy Policy.

We require all third parties that have access to your personal information to respect the security of your data and to treat it in accordance with applicable laws. We do not allow third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes, and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized or unlawful processing, accidental loss, destruction, or damage. Our security measures include:

  • Encryption of data in transit and at rest
  • Regular security assessments and testing
  • Access controls to limit who can access personal information
  • Employee training on data protection and security
  • Secure data storage facilities
  • Regular backups to prevent data loss
  • Incident response procedures
  • Penetration testing and vulnerability assessments
  • Monitoring systems for unauthorized access attempts
  • Data minimization practices
  • Vendor security assessments

However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. In the event of a security breach that affects your personal information, we will notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by applicable law.

Children's Privacy

Inkwell is designed for use by students, including those under 18 years of age. We comply with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and similar regulations. We only collect personal information from children under 13 with verifiable parental consent or through educational institutions as permitted by COPPA.

Educational institutions and teachers are responsible for obtaining appropriate parental consents for students to use Inkwell in educational contexts, consistent with school policies and applicable law.

We do not use student personal information for targeted advertising purposes. We do not create student personal information profiles except for supporting authorized educational purposes. We do not sell student personal information.

If you are a parent or guardian and you believe your child has provided us with personal information without your consent, please contact us so that we can take steps to remove such information and terminate the child's account.

Student Data

For users in educational institutions, we classify certain data as "Student Data," which includes any information that is directly related to an identifiable student and is provided by the student, school, or educational institution, or collected by us in connection with educational services.

Student Data is owned and controlled by the educational institution. We collect, maintain, use, and share Student Data only for authorized educational purposes and to provide requested services to the educational institution. We maintain Student Data on behalf of the educational institution and do not use it for other commercial purposes.

We employ additional protection measures for Student Data, including:

  • Limiting collection to information necessary to provide educational services
  • Not using Student Data for targeted advertising
  • Not building personal profiles of students except for educational purposes
  • Providing educational institutions control over student accounts and access
  • Facilitating educational institution compliance with FERPA and similar laws
  • Implementing additional access controls specific to Student Data
  • Providing educational institutions with data deletion options

We comply with all applicable laws regarding Student Data, including the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA), and similar state laws where applicable.

Your Rights and Choices

Depending on your location, you may have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:

  • Right to Access: You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we have about you.
  • Right to Rectification: You have the right to request that we correct inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
  • Right to Erasure (Deletion): You have the right to request that we delete your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Right to Data Portability: You have the right to receive a copy of your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format.
  • Right to Object: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
  • Right to Withdraw Consent: If we rely on your consent to process your personal information, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.
  • Right to Non-Discrimination: You have the right not to be discriminated against for exercising any of your privacy rights.
  • Right to Lodge a Complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority if you believe our processing of your personal information violates applicable law.

For students in educational institutions, these rights may be exercised by the educational institution on your behalf in accordance with applicable laws such as FERPA. For children under 13, parents or guardians may exercise these rights on behalf of the child.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information provided in the "Contact Us" section below. We will respond to your request within the timeframe required by applicable law.

Please note that in some cases, we may not be able to fully comply with your request, such as if it is frivolous or extremely impractical, if it jeopardizes the rights of others, or if it is not required by law, but in those circumstances, we will still respond to notify you of such a decision.

Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide you with the Inkwell service and as needed to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. The specific retention periods depend on the nature of the information and the purposes for which it is used.

For student users, we generally retain personal information only for as long as the student has an active account with us. Upon request from an educational institution or after a defined period of account inactivity, we will delete or de-identify student personal information in accordance with our data retention policy and applicable laws.

When we no longer need to use your personal information, we will remove it from our systems or anonymize it so that it can no longer be associated with you. We implement appropriate disposal methods to ensure that personal information cannot be recovered or reconstructed.

International Data Transfers

Inkwell primarily stores and processes data in the United States. If you are accessing our service from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States or other countries where our servers are located.

By using Inkwell, you consent to the transfer of your information to countries outside your country of residence, including the United States, which may have data protection rules that are different from those of your country. We implement appropriate safeguards to protect your information when it is transferred internationally, such as using standard contractual clauses or ensuring that our third-party service providers adhere to similar data protection standards.

For users in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we comply with applicable laws regarding cross-border data transfers and implement appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses approved by the European Commission.

Do Not Track

Some browsers have a "Do Not Track" feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. At this time, we do not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals, but we do provide you the option to opt out of certain types of data collection through your account settings.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar tracking technologies to track activity on our service and hold certain information. Cookies are files with a small amount of data that may include an anonymous unique identifier. You can instruct your browser to refuse all cookies or to indicate when a cookie is being sent.

We use both session cookies (which expire once you close your web browser) and persistent cookies (which stay on your device until you delete them) to provide you with a more personal and interactive experience on our service.

The types of cookies we use include:

  • Essential Cookies: Necessary for the operation of our service.
  • Analytical/Performance Cookies: Allow us to recognize and count visitors and see how they move around our service.
  • Functionality Cookies: Enable us to personalize content and remember your preferences.

You can control cookies through your browser settings and other tools. However, if you block certain cookies, you may not be able to use all the features of our service.

Specific Privacy Rights by Region

California Residents

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) provide you with specific rights regarding your personal information, including the right to know what personal information we collect, the right to request deletion of your personal information, the right to correct inaccurate personal information, and the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of personal information.

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information in the "Contact Us" section. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA/CPRA rights.

European Economic Area, United Kingdom, and Switzerland Residents

If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have certain rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or applicable local laws. In addition to the rights listed in the "Your Rights and Choices" section, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, technologies, legal requirements, or other factors. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated Privacy Policy on our website and updating the "Last Updated" date.

For significant changes that materially affect your rights or how we use your personal information, we will provide more prominent notice, such as sending you an email notification. Your continued use of Inkwell after any changes to this Privacy Policy will constitute your acceptance of such changes.

We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically to stay informed about our information practices and your privacy rights.

Contact Us

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

Email: privacy@chat-tutor.com

We will respond to your inquiry as soon as possible and within the timeframe required by applicable law.

Last Updated: March 16th, 2025

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