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This Privacy Policy was last updated on April 5, 2024.
While we have not made any material changes to the way we process data about our users, we have updated this policy to make it shorter and easier to read, and to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation coming into force on May 25, 2018.
Thank you for joining HeatSpring, we at HeatSpring, LLC (HeatSpring, "we", "us") respect your privacy and want you to understand how we collect, use, and share data about you. This Privacy Policy covers our data collection practices and describes your rights to access, correct, or restrict our use of your personal data.
Unless we link to a different policy or state otherwise, this Privacy Policy applies when you visit or use the HeatSpring website, APIs or related services (the "Services").
By using the Services, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy. You shouldn't use the Services if you don't agree with this Privacy Policy or any other agreement that governs your use of the Services.
We collect certain data from you directly, like information you enter yourself, data about your participation in courses, and data from third-party platforms you connect with HeatSpring. We also collect some data automatically, like information about your device and what parts of our Services you interact with or spend time using.
We may collect different data from or about you depending on how you use the Services. Below are some examples to help you better understand the data we collect.
When you create an account and use the Services, including through a third-party platform, we collect any data you provide directly, including:
Account Data: In order to use certain features (like enrolling in a course), you need to create a user account. When you create or update your account, we collect and store the data you provide, like your email address, password, gender, and date of birth, and assign you a unique identifying number ("Account Data").
Profile Data: You can also choose to provide profile information like a photo, headline, website link, social media profiles, or other data. Your Profile Data will be publicly viewable by others.
Shared Content: Parts of the Services let you interact with other users or share content publicly, including by posting reviews on a course page, asking or answering questions, sending messages to students or instructors, or posting photos or other work you upload. Such shared content may be publicly viewable by others depending on where it is posted.
Course Data: When you enroll in and take courses, we collect certain data including which courses, assignments and quizzes you've started and completed; your exchanges with instructors, teaching assistants, and other students; and essays, answers to questions, and other items submitted to satisfy course requirements.
Student Payment Data: If you make purchases, we collect certain data about your purchase (such as your name and zip code) as necessary to process your order. You must provide certain payment and billing data directly to our payment processing partners, including your name, credit card information, billing address, and zip code. For security, HeatSpring does not collect or store sensitive cardholder data, such as full credit card numbers or card authentication data.
Instructor Payment Data: If you are an instructor, you can link your Bill.com, or other payment account to the Services to receive payments. When you link a payment account, we collect and use certain information, including your payment account email address, account ID, physical address, or other data necessary for us to send payments to your account. For security, HeatSpring does not collect or store sensitive bank account information. The collection, use, and disclosure of your payment and billing data is subject to the privacy policy and other terms of your payment account provider.
Surveys: We may invite you to complete a survey, either through the Services or a third-party platform. If you participate, we will collect and store the data you provide as part of participating, such as your name, email address, or phone number. That data is subject to this Privacy Policy unless otherwise stated or in another privacy policy. The data collected will be used to administer the survey. Where we use a third-party platform to administer a survey, the third party's privacy policy will apply.
Communications and Support: If you contact us for support or to report a problem or concern (regardless of whether you have created an account), we collect and store your contact information, messages, and other data about you like your name, email address, location, operating system, IP address, and any other data you provide or that we collect through automated means (which we cover below). We use this data to respond to you and research your question or concern, in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
The data listed above is stored by us and associated with your account.
When you access the Services (including browsing courses), we collect certain data by automated means, including:
System Data: Technical data about your computer or device, like your IP address, device type, operating system type and version, unique device identifiers, browser, browser language, domain and other systems data, and platform types ("System Data"). Usage Data Usage statistics about your interactions with the Services, including courses accessed, time spent on pages or the Service, pages visited, features used, your search queries, click data, date and time, and other data regarding your use of the Services ("Usage Data").
Approximate Geographic Data: An approximate geographic location, including information like country, city, and geographic coordinates, calculated based on your IP address.
The data listed above is collected through the use of server log files and tracking technologies, as detailed in the "Cookies and Data Collection Tools" section below. It is stored by us and associated with your account.
We use tools like cookies, web beacons, analytics services, and advertising providers to gather the data listed above. Some of these tools offer you the ability to opt out of data collection.
As detailed in our Cookie Policy, HeatSpring and service providers acting on our behalf (like Google Analytics and third party advertisers) use server log files and automated data collection tools like cookies, tags, scripts, customized links, device or browser fingerprints, and web beacons (together, "Data Collection Tools") when you access and use the Services. These Data Collection Tools automatically track and collect certain System Data and Usage Data (as detailed in Section 1) when you use the Services. In some cases, we tie data gathered through those Data Collection Tools to other data that we collect as described in this Privacy Policy.
We use cookies (small files that websites send to your device to uniquely identify your browser or device or to store data in your browser) for things like analyzing your use of the Services, personalizing your experience, making it easier to log into the Services, and recognizing you when you return. We use web beacons (small objects that allow us to measure the actions of visitors and users using the Services) for things like identifying whether a page was visited, identifying whether an email was opened, and advertising more efficiently by excluding current users from certain promotional messages.
HeatSpring uses the following types of cookies:
Preferences: cookies that remember data about your browser and preferred settings that affect the appearance and behavior of the Services (like your preferred language).
Security: cookies used to enable you to log in and access the Services; protect against fraudulent logins; and help detect and prevent abuse or unauthorized use of your account.
Functional: cookies that store functional settings (like the volume level you set for video playback).
Session State: cookies that track your interactions with the Services to help us improve the Services and your browsing experience, remember your login details, and enable processing of your course purchases. These are strictly necessary for the Services to work properly, so if you disable them then certain functionalities will break or be unavailable.
You can set your web browser to alert you about attempts to place cookies on your computer, limit the types of cookies you allow, or refuse cookies altogether. If you do, you may not be able to use some or all features of the Services, and your experience may be different or less functional.
Some of the third-party partners who provide certain features on our site may also use Local Storage Objects (also known as flash cookies or LSOs) to collect and store data.
We use third-party browser analytics services like Google Analytics, and Hotjar on the Services. These services use Data Collection Tools to help us analyze your use of the Services, including information like the third-party website you arrive from, how often you visit, events within the Services, usage and performance data, and where the application was downloaded from. We use this data to improve the Services, better understand how the Services perform on different devices, and provide information that may be of interest to you.
We use third-party advertising services like LinkedIn, Google's ad services, and other ad networks and ad servers to deliver advertising about our Services on other websites and applications you use. The ads may be based on things we know about you, like your Usage Data and System Data (as detailed in Section 1), and things that these ad service providers know about you based on their tracking data. The ads can be based on your recent activity or activity over time and across other sites and services, and may be tailored to your interests.
Depending on the types of advertising services we use, they may place cookies or other tracking technologies on your computer, phone, or other device to collect data about your use of our Services, and may access those tracking technologies in order to serve these tailored advertisements to you. To help deliver tailored advertising, we may provide these service providers with a hashed, anonymized version of your email address (in a non-human-readable form) and content that you share publicly on the Services.
We use your data to do things like provide our Services, communicate with you, troubleshoot issues, secure against fraud and abuse, improve and update our Services, analyze how people use our Services, serve personalized advertising, and as required by law or necessary for safety and integrity.
We use the data we collect through your use of the Services to:
We share certain data about you with instructors, other students, companies performing services for us, our business partners, analytics and data enrichment providers, your social media providers, companies helping us run promotions and surveys, and advertising companies who help us promote our Services. We may also share your data as needed for security, legal compliance, or as part of a corporate restructuring. Lastly, we can share data in other ways if it is aggregated or de-identified or if we get your consent.
As of the September 13th, 2021, the following partners provide services allowing HeatSpring to provide its services to you: Google (analytics), LinkedIn (advertising), Amazon Web Services (file storage), Heroku (hosting), AppSignal (application performance monitoring), Scout (application performance monitoring), Papertrail (error reporting), Honeybadger (error reporting), Mailgun (email notices), MailChimp (email notices), Stripe (payment processing), Synder (accounting), QuickBooks (accounting), SurveyMonkey (surveys) and Wistia (course and promotional videos).
We may share your data with third parties under the following circumstances or as otherwise described in this Privacy Policy:
With Your Instructors: We share data that we have about you with instructors or teaching assistants for courses you enroll in, so they can improve their courses for you and other students. This data may include things like your email address, phone number, city, country.
With Other Students and Instructors: Depending on your settings, your shared content and profile data may be publicly viewable, including to other students and instructors. If you ask a question to an instructor or teaching assistant, your information (including your name) may also be publicly viewable by other users depending on your settings.
With Service Providers, Contractors, and Agents: We share your data with third-party companies who perform services on our behalf, like payment processing, data analysis, marketing and advertising services (including retargeted advertising), email and hosting services, and customer services and support. These service providers may access your personal data and are required to use it solely as we direct, to provide our requested service.
To Power Social Media Features: The social media features in the Services (like the LinkedIn share button) may allow the third-party social media provider to collect things like your IP address and which page of the Services you're visiting, and to set a cookie to enable the feature. Your interactions with these features are governed by the third-party company's privacy policy.
To Administer Surveys: we may share your data as necessary to administer, market, or sponsor surveys you choose to participate in in accordance with the rules of the survey.
For Security and Legal Compliance: We may disclose your data to third parties if we (in our sole discretion) have a good faith belief that the disclosure is:
We may also disclose data about you to our auditors and legal advisors in order to assess our disclosure obligations and rights under this Privacy Policy.
During a Change in Control: If HeatSpring undergoes a business transaction like a merger, acquisition, corporate divestiture, or dissolution (including bankruptcy), or a sale of all or some of its assets, we may share, disclose, or transfer all of your data to the successor organization during such transition or in contemplation of a transition (including during due diligence).
After Aggregation/De-identification: we can disclose or use aggregate or de-identified data for any purpose.
With Your Permission: with your consent, we may share data to third parties outside the scope of this Privacy Policy.
HeatSpring works with companies and instructors who may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools, such as Descript, 11labs, and Anthropic's Claude, to narrate videos, analyze course content, and assist in course planning. These AI tools process course materials, including video, audio, and text content, provided directly by the instructors or companies, to generate narration and insights that improve the learning experience for students. No customer data from HeatSpring's platform, such as personal information or course progress, is shared with these AI tools.
Additionally, the AI tools we use, including Claude, do not store any of the processed data or use it to train their underlying models. All data is securely deleted after processing and is not retained by the AI tool providers. Anthropic has confirmed that Claude does not use any of the data it processes for model training or updating its knowledge base. The use of these AI tools aligns with our commitment to protecting the privacy and security of all course materials and personal information, as outlined in this privacy policy. If you have any questions or concerns about our use of AI tools, please contact us at privacy@heatspring.com.
We use appropriate security based on the type and sensitivity of data being stored. As with any internet-enabled system, there is always a risk of unauthorized access, so it's important to protect your password and to contact us if you suspect any unauthorized access to your account.
HeatSpring takes appropriate security measures to protect against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction of your personal data that we collect and store. These measures vary based on the type and sensitivity of the data. Unfortunately, however, no system can be 100% secured, so we cannot guarantee that communications between you and HeatSpring, the Services, or any information provided to us in connection with the data we collect through the Services will be free from unauthorized access by third parties. Your password is an important part of our security system, and it is your responsibility to protect it. You should not share your password with any third party, and if you believe your password or account has been compromised, you should change it immediately and contact support@HeatSpring.com with any concerns.
Right of access
You have the right to obtain free information about your personal data and a copy of this information. Furthermore, you have the right to know:
Right to rectification
You have the right to the correction of inaccurate personal data. You have the right to have incomplete personal data completed.
Right to erasure (Right to be forgotten)
You have the right to obtain the erasure of personal data without undue delay, and we shall have the obligation to erase personal data without undue delay, if:
Where we have made personal data public, we, taking account of available technology and the cost of implementation, shall take reasonable steps, including technical measures, to inform other controllers processing the personal data that you have requested erasure
Right of restriction of processing
You have the right to ask us to restrict processing where one of the following applies:
Right to data portability
You have the right to receive your personal data, in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format. You have the right to have personal data transmitted directly from one controller to another, where technically feasible and when doing so does not adversely affect the rights and freedoms of others.
Right to object
You have the limited right to object to the processing of your personal data.
We may not honor this objection if we have compelling legitimate grounds for the processing which overrides your interests, rights and freedoms, or for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims.
If we process your personal data for direct marketing purposes, you shall have the right to object at any time. This applies to profiling to the extent that such processing is related to such direct marketing. If you object to the processing for direct marketing purposes, we will no longer process your personal data for these purposes.
Automated individual decision-making, including profiling
You have the right not to be subject to a decision based solely on automated processing, including profiling, as long as the decision (1) is not is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between you and HeatSpring, or (2) is not based on your explicit consent.
If the decision (1) is necessary for entering into, or the performance of, a contract between you and HeatSpring, or (2) it is based on your explicit consent, we shall implement suitable measures (including limited human intervention) to safeguard your rights and freedoms and legitimate interests
Right to withdraw data processing consent
You have the right to withdraw you consent to processing of you personal data at any time.
You may exercise any of the above rights by contacting privacy@heatspring.com.
You can choose not to provide certain data to us, but you may not be able to use certain features of the Services.
To stop receiving promotional communications from us, you can opt out by using the unsubscribe mechanism in the promotional communication you receive or by changing the email preferences in your account. Note that regardless of your email preference settings, we will send you transactional and relationship messages regarding the Services, including administrative confirmations, order confirmations, important updates about the Services, and notices about our policies.
The browser or device you use may allow you to control cookies and other types of local data storage. Your wireless device may also allow you to control whether location or other data is collected and shared. You can manage Adobe's LSOs through their Website Storage Settings panel.
To get information and control cookies used for tailored advertising from participating companies, see the consumer opt-out pages for the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance, or if you're located in the European Union, visit the Your Online Choices site. To opt out of Google's display advertising or customize Google Display Network ads, visit the Google Ads Settings page.
To opt out of allowing Google Analytics or Hotjar to use your data for analytics or enrichment, see the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, and Hotjar Opt-Out Cookie.
If you have any questions about your data, our use of it, or your rights, contact us at privacy@heatspring.com.
You can access and update your personal data that HeatSpring collects and maintains as follows:
To update data you provide directly, log into your account and update your account at any time.
To terminate your account: email us at privacy@heatspring.com or via our Support Center.
Please note: even after your account is terminated, some or all of your data may still be visible to others, including without limitation any data that has been (a) copied, stored, or disseminated by other users (including in course comment); (b) shared or disseminated by you or others (including in your shared content); or (c) posted to a third-party platform. Even after your account is terminated, we retain your data for as long as we have a legitimate purpose to do so (and in accordance with applicable law), including to assist with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We may retain and disclose such data pursuant to this Privacy Policy after your account has been terminated.
To request to access, correct, or delete your personal data, email privacy@heatspring.com or write to us at HeatSpring, LLC 401 E. Stadium Blvd Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Please allow up to 30 days for a response. For your protection, we may require that the request be sent through the email address associated with your account, and we may need to verify your identity before implementing your request. Please note that we retain certain data where we have a lawful basis to do so, including for mandatory record-keeping and to complete transactions.
We recognize the privacy interests of children and encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children's online activities and interests. Children under 13 (or under 16 in the European Economic Area) should not use the Services. If we learn that we've collected personal data from a child under those ages, we will take reasonable steps to delete it.
Parents who believe that HeatSpring may have collected personal data from a child under those ages can submit a request that it be removed to privacy@heatspring.com.
If you live in California, you have certain rights to request information. Users outside of the United States should note that we transfer data to the US and other areas outside of the European Economic Area.
If you are a California resident, you have the right to request certain details about what personal information we share with third parties for those third parties' direct marketing purposes. To submit your request, send an email to privacy@heatspring.com with the phrase "California Shine the Light" and include your mailing address, state of residence, and email address.
Since the internet industry is still working on Do Not Track standards, solutions, and implementations, we do not currently recognize or respond to browser-initiated Do Not Track signals.
HeatSpring, LLC is headquartered in Michigan, and in order to provide the Services to you we must transfer your data to the United States and process it there. By visiting or using our Services, you consent to storage of your data on servers located in the United States. If you are using the Services from outside the United States, you consent to the transfer, storage, and processing of your data in and to the United States or other countries. Specifically, personal data collected in Switzerland and the European Economic Area ("EEA") is transferred and stored outside those areas.
That data is also processed outside of Switzerland and the EEA by our HeatSpring group companies, or our service providers, including to process transactions, facilitate payments, and provide support services as described in Section 4. We have entered into data processing agreements with our service providers that restrict and regulate their processing of your data on our behalf. By submitting your data or using our Services, you consent to this transfer, storage, and processing by HeatSpring and its processors.
When we make a material change to this policy, we'll notify users via email, in-product notice, or another mechanism required by law. Changes become effective the day they're posted. Please contact us via email or postal mail with any questions, concerns, or disputes.
From time to time, we may update this Privacy Policy. If we make any material change to it, we will notify you via email, through a notification posted on the Services, or as required by applicable law. We will also include a summary of the key changes. Unless stated otherwise, modifications will become effective on the day they are posted.
As permitted by applicable law, if you continue to use the Services after the effective date of any change, then your access and/or use will be deemed an acceptance of (and agreement to follow and be bound by) the revised Privacy Policy. The revised Privacy Policy supersedes all previous Privacy Policies.
Any capitalized terms not defined in this policy are defined as specified in HeatSpring's Terms of Use. Any version of this Privacy Policy in a language other than English is provided for convenience. If there is any conflict with a non-English version, you agree that the English language version will control.
If you have any questions, concerns, or disputes regarding our Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact our privacy team (including our designated personal information protection manager) at privacy@heatspring.com. You can also send postal mail to us at HeatSpring LLC 401 E. Stadium Blvd Ann Arbor, MI 48104.
This Cookie Policy was last updated on August 16, 2018
Cookies are small text files stored by your browser as you browse the internet. They can be used to collect, store, and share data about your activities across websites, including on HeatSpring. Cookies also allow us to remember things about your visits to HeatSpring, like your preferred language, and to make the site easier to use.
We use both session cookies, which expire after a short time or when you close your browser, and persistent cookies, which remain stored in your browser for a set period of time. We use session cookies to identify you during a single browsing session, like when you log into HeatSpring. We use persistent cookies where we need to identify you over a longer period, like when you request that we keep you signed in.
We use cookies and similar technologies like web beacons, pixel tags, or local shared objects ("flash cookies"), to deliver, measure, and improve our services in various ways. We use these cookies both when you visit our site and services through a browser. As we adopt additional technologies, we may also gather additional data through other methods.
We use cookies for the following purposes:
Authentication and security
For example, cookies help authenticate your access to HeatSpring and prevent unauthorized parties from accessing your accounts.
Preferences
For example, cookies help us remember your preferred language or the country you're in, so we can provide content in your preferred language without asking each time you visit.
Analytics and research
For example, cookies help us test different versions of HeatSpring to see which features or content users prefer, web beacons help us determine which email messages are opened, and cookies help us see how you interact with HeatSpring, like the links you click on.
We also work with a number of analytics partners, including Google Analytics and Hotjar, who use cookies and similar technologies to help us analyze how users use the Services, including by noting the sites from which you arrive. Those service providers may either collect that data themselves or we may disclose it to them.
You can opt out of some of these services through tools like the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, and Hotjar Opt-Out Cookie.
Personalized content
For example, cookies help us show a personalized list of recommended courses on the homepage.
Advertising
To learn more about targeting and advertising cookies and how you can opt out, visit www.allaboutcookies.org/manage-cookies/index.html, or if you're located in the European Union, visit the Your Online Choices site.
Please note that where advertising technology is integrated into the Services, you may still receive advertising on other websites and applications, but it will not be tailored to your interests.
You have a number of options to control or limit how we and our partners use cookies:
Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can change your browser settings to decline cookies by consulting your browser's support articles. If you decide to decline cookies, please note that you may not be able to sign in, customize, or use some interactive features in the Services.
Flash cookies operate differently than browser cookies, so your browser's cookie-management tools may not remove them. To learn more about how to manage Flash cookies, see Adobe's article on managing flash cookies and Website Storage Settings panel.
To get information and control cookies used for tailored advertising from participating companies, see the consumer opt-out pages for the Network Advertising Initiative and Digital Advertising Alliance, or if you're located in the European Union, visit the Your Online Choices site. To opt out of Google Analytics' display advertising or customize Google Display Network ads, visit the Google Ads Settings page.
For general information about targeting cookies and how to disable them, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.
From time to time, we may update this Cookie Policy. If we do, we'll notify you by posting the policy on our site with a new effective date. If we make any material changes, we'll take reasonable steps to notify you in advance of the planned change.
If you have any questions about our use of cookies, please email us at privacy@heatspring.com.
The use of technology such as cookies allows HeatSpring to operate and improve the functionality of our website and derive insights about our audience.
You can read more about our privacy policy here.