This Privacy Policy describes how HouseLearning ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and discloses information when you use our website, services, and products (the "Service"). By using the Service, you agree to the collection and use of information in accordance with this policy.
1. Interpretation and Definitions
For the purposes of this Policy:
**Service** refers to the HouseLearning website, including all educational lessons, practice problems, projects, personalized account features (like the **Student/Teacher Dashboard**), and the **HouseLearning Community Forum**.
**Personal Data** is any information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual.
**Usage Data** refers to data collected automatically, either generated by the use of the Service or from the Service infrastructure itself (e.g., the duration of a page visit).
**Cookies** are small files placed on your computer, mobile device, or any other device by a website, containing details of your browsing history on that website.
**Data Controller** is the legal entity that determines the purposes and means of the processing of Personal Data (in this case, HouseLearning).
2. Information We Collect and How We Use It
Account and Educational Data (Student/Teacher Dashboard)
When you create an account, log in (using **Firebase Authentication**), or use the features of the Service that require identification, we collect the following types of Personal Data:
**Account Registration Information:** Your name, email address, and a securely hashed version of your password. We use **Google Firebase Authentication** to manage your account, provide secure login, and communicate with you about the Service. **Legal Basis: Contractual Necessity.**
**Educational/Progress Data:** Information viewed on the **Dashboard**, including lesson completion status, practice problem scores, project submissions, assignments, and any feedback received. This data is stored using **Firebase Realtime Database (RTDB)** and is essential to provide personalized features like adaptive practice and allow teachers (if applicable) to monitor and support your learning. **Legal Basis: Contractual Necessity.**
Forum Content and Activity Data
When you use the **HouseLearning Community Forum** to post, comment, or start a discussion, we collect and process the following:
**User-Generated Content:** The text, images, or other materials you intentionally submit, including posts, comments, and private messages. This content is generally **publicly viewable** on the forum.
**Activity Data:** Your display name/username, the time and date of your activity, and any metadata associated with your contributions (e.g., the post tag you select).
We use this data to operate the forum, facilitate community interaction, and enforce our usage policies. **Legal Basis: Contractual Necessity and Legitimate Interest.**
Feedback Tool Data (Voluntary Submission)
We collect data when you voluntarily use the built-in Feedback Sidebar, accessible via the **Alt+S shortcut**, to provide suggestions or report issues:
**Submission Content:** Text comments, the selected 5-point rating (smiley), and optional screenshots you choose to upload.
**Technical Metadata:** The time of submission, the URL/page path you were viewing, your browser/device type, and your Anonymous ID (or User ID if logged in) for context.
**Purpose:** This data is used strictly for improving our Service, fixing bugs, and enhancing the user experience. This data is stored in **Google Cloud Firestore**.
Crucial Warning: While we aim to protect all submitted data, please ensure that you redact or avoid including any Personal Data (such as real names, private student records, or passwords) within the text or images of any voluntary screenshot submissions. **Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest.**
Usage Data and Tracking Technologies (Cookies)
We primarily collect data through **Cookies** and similar tracking technologies to track the activity on our Service and store certain information. This Usage Data may include information such as your device's Internet Protocol address (IP address), browser type, browser version, the pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, and other diagnostic data.
We use the following types of Cookies:
**A. Essential (or Necessary) Cookies:** These Cookies are fundamental to provide you with services available through the website and enable you to use some of its features, such as **login session management** (powered by **Firebase Authentication**). **Legal Basis: Legitimate Interest.**
**B. Analytics (or Performance) Cookies:** These Cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. The information is **aggregated and anonymized**. We use **Google Analytics** for this purpose, which collects data such as session duration, bounce rate, and source of visit. **Legal Basis: Consent.** (GA only runs after you consent.)
**C. Marketing Cookies:** We currently **DO NOT** use Marketing or Targeting cookies. Should this change, we will update this policy and seek your explicit consent before deployment.
3. Third-Party Services (Google Firebase, Google Analytics & GitHub)
Google Firebase Services
We utilize several services provided by **Google Firebase**, a platform developed by Google for creating mobile and web applications. This includes:
**Firebase Authentication:** Used for user login and secure account management (Section 2).
**Firebase Realtime Database (RTDB):** Used for storing Educational/Progress Data (Section 2).
**Google Cloud Firestore:** Used for storing voluntary Feedback Tool submissions (ratings, comments, and screenshots) and managing user rate limits for this feature (Section 2).
The data stored in Firebase services is handled according to Google's security standards and the **Google Cloud Privacy Policy**. We use Firebase services to securely manage user accounts and provide core personalized features.
Google Analytics
We use **Google Analytics** (as detailed in Section 2) to help us understand how the Service is used. This service uses cookies to collect anonymized Usage Data. Google's ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics is restricted by the Google Analytics Terms of Use and the **Google Privacy Policy**. You can opt-out of having your activity on the Service available to Google Analytics by installing the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
GitHub and GitHub API
Our entire website, including the Forum and Dashboard, is hosted on **GitHub Pages**. As a result, certain data, files, and content are stored on GitHub's servers.
We also utilize the **GitHub API** to facilitate content management, enable login/authentication for the Forum, and store certain non-database data related to site functionality (e.g., forum posts) in a low-cost manner. Your data stored in connection with this service is subject to the GitHub Privacy Statement. We strive to only use the GitHub API for necessary operational functions that do not require complex, persistent database storage.
We **do not share** Personal Data with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
4. Data Retention
We retain data collected via cookies for a maximum of **365 days** or until you withdraw your consent, whichever occurs first. **Account and Educational Data (in RTDB)** are retained for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with the Service. **Forum Content** (posts and comments) is retained indefinitely or until you request its specific deletion. **Feedback Tool Data (in Firestore)** is retained until no longer necessary for product improvement. We will delete or anonymize your Personal Data within 90 days after you request account deletion or if your account has been inactive for 3 years.
5. Your Data Protection Rights (GDPR / CCPA)
Depending on your location, you have certain rights regarding your Personal Data. You may exercise these rights by contacting us using the details in the Contact section.
**Right to Withdraw Consent:** You can withdraw your consent to the use of optional cookies (Analytics) at any time. You can do this by clicking the "Manage Cookies" button below.
**Right of Access:** You have the right to request copies of your Personal Data.
**Right to Rectification:** You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate or complete information you believe is incomplete.
**Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten):** You have the right to request that we erase your Personal Data, under certain conditions.
**Right to Restrict Processing:** You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your Personal Data, under certain conditions.
**Right to Object to Processing:** You have the right to object to our processing of your Personal Data, under certain conditions.
6. Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update Our Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date at the top of this Policy. You are advised to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.
7. Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, or wish to exercise any of your data protection rights, please contact us: