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Privacy Evaluation for ABCmouse.com

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Overview

ABCmouse.com helps kids learn to read through phonics, and offers lessons in math, social studies, art, and music. The terms say that ABCmouse may occasionally hold contests or similar activities where a child may create and submit free-form artwork or other content. The terms describe that account registration and login pages use encryption and they employ physical, technical, and administrative security measures to safeguard all information collected by their services. In addition, the terms describe how ABCmouse requires adults to register for its service through various family, teacher, librarian, and community center accounts to provide verifiable parental consent and ensure that any child or student authorized by them to use and access the services does so in accordance with their terms.

The terms say that accounts for children under 13 will never include any pop-up ads or other advertisements and information collected from children is never used for marketing or for targeted advertising purposes. However, parents and teachers should be aware that the terms of ABCmouse say they sell data about adult users to advertising partners who may target ABCmouse ads to those adult users. Also the services may use third-party advertising networks to collect information about adult users' visits to the non-child-directed portions of the services and to deliver interest-based advertising to those adult users. Interest-based ads may include ABCmouse-branded advertising when those adult users visit other third-party applications and websites across the internet.

ABCmouse can be accessed through its website, and is available for download at the iOS App Store, the Google Play Store, and Amazon Appstore. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use accessed for this evaluation can be found on ABCmouse’s website, iOS App Store, the Google Play Store, and Amazon Appstore. This evaluation only considers policies that have been made publicly available prior to an individual using the application or service.

Safety

The terms of ABCmouse say they may occasionally hold contests or similar activities where a child may create and submit free-form artwork or other content. Upon submission, ABCmouse may review this content and may publish it along with the child's first name on a page that may be viewed by other ABCmouse users with parental consent. The terms also say that if a parent would like to review all of a child's content, they can access their content by clicking on the "My Files" menu item in their child's "About Me" section of the services. Additionally, with parental consent, Teacher Accounts can be linked to a student’s Family Account, or parents with no Family Account can be given access through a separate limited access account (a Classroom-Linked Account) to a student’s lessons that have been assigned by a Teacher.

Privacy

The terms of ABCmouse clearly describe the personally identifiable information and non-personal information automatically collected, as well as behavioral and analytical information collected from users who use the site. The terms say that during registration, the only information ABCmouse may ask a child who will be using the services to provide is the child’s first name, birth date, and gender.

The terms of ABCmouse say that it is "Child Safe" because it is committed to providing children with a learning environment where every activity is just as fun as it is educational, and where parents can feel confident that their children’s privacy is protected. The terms say that accounts for children under 13 will never include any pop-up ads or other advertisements and information collected from children is never used for marketing or for targeted advertising purposes. However, parents and teachers should be aware that the terms of ABCmouse say they sell data about adult users to advertising partners who may target ABCmouse ads to those adult users. Also the services may use third-party advertising networks to collect information about adult users' visits to the non-child-directed portions of the services and to deliver interest-based advertising to those adult users. Interest-based ads may include ABCmouse-branded advertising when those adult users visit other third-party applications and websites across the internet.

Lastly, ABCmouse says in their terms that they may disclose de-identified or aggregated information to third parties for any purpose, for example, the distribution of de-identified user records to outside researchers or the distribution of reports containing aggregate user demographic and traffic patterns.

Security

The terms of ABCmouse say that account registration and login pages use encryption and ABCmouse uses physical, technical, and administrative security measures to safeguard all information collected by their services. In addition, the terms state ABCmouse limits employee access to children’s personal information to only those employees with a need to access the information to fulfill their job. Lastly, the terms say that in the event of a data breach ABCmouse will provide notice to users.

Compliance

The terms of ABCmouse say it requires Adults to register for its service through various family, teacher, and community center accounts to provide verifiable parental consent and ensure that any child or student authorized by them to use and access the services does so in accordance with their terms.

The terms say an adult user can review or change the information they provided when registering for the services, including by adding or removing child users to the account, by updating information through the parent section of the services or, for teacher accounts or community center accounts, by using the class builder or settings feature in the teacher dashboard. In addition, at any time, adult users may contact ABCmouse to request that they provide for their review, or delete from their records, any personally identifiable information that has been provided about child users associated with their account, or to cease collecting personally identifiable information from those child users.

Where parents or legal guardians have linked a family account to a teacher account, the adult users of both accounts will be able to review the progress and details of their child users within both accounts. Additionally, with parental consent, teacher or community center accounts can be linked to a child or student’s family account. The terms describe that linking accounts allows a child user or student to complete their teacher’s assignments outside the classroom or community center, and linking a family account to a teacher account gives parents the opportunity to view their own child’s overall progress in the community center account or teacher account (but not the progress of other children).

Rating

This product received a Warning rating based on the following details:
  • Personal information is sold or rented to third parties.
  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • User's information is used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Data profiles are created and used for personalised advertisements.
Data Collection
SCORE: 65%

What data does it collect?

  • Personally identifiable information (PII) is collected.
  • The categories of collected personally identifiable information are indicated.
  • Collection or use of data is limited to product requirements.
  • Geolocation data are collected.
  • Biometric or health data are not collected.
  • Interactions, behaviors, or usage analytics data are collected.
  • Sensitive data are collected.
  • Data is automatically collected.
  • Opt-in consent is requested from users at the time personal information is collected.
  • Unclear whether personal information of users is collected by a third party.
Data Sharing
SCORE: 90%

What data does it share?

  • Collected information is shared with third parties.
  • The categories of information shared with third parties are indicated.
  • The purpose for sharing a user's personal information with third parties is indicated.
  • The categories of third parties that receive data are indicated.
  • Data are shared for analytics.
  • Data are shared for research and/or product improvement.
  • Third-party services are used to support the product.
  • The roles of third-party service providers are indicated.
  • Third-party login is not supported.
  • Contractual limits are placed on third-party data use.
Data Security
SCORE: 85%

How does it secure data?

  • A user's identity is verified with additional personal information.
  • Account creation is required.
  • Managed accounts are available.
  • Multi-factor account protection is available.
  • Unclear whether third-parties with access to information are required to provide the same security protections as the company.
  • Reasonable security practices are used to protect data.
  • Employee or physical access to user information is limited.
  • All data in transit are encrypted.
  • All data are stored in an encrypted format.
  • Notice is provided in the event of a data breach.
Data Rights
SCORE: 80%

What rights do I have to the data?

  • Users cannot create or upload content.
  • Unclear whether users retain ownership of their data.
  • Processes to access or review user data are available.
  • Processes to modify data are available for authorized users.
  • A data-retention policy is available.
  • Processes for authorized users to delete data are available.
  • A user's data are deleted upon account cancellation or termination.
  • Data are deleted when no longer necessary.
  • Unclear whether methods are available to restrict who has access to data.
  • Processes to download user data are available.
Data Sold
SCORE: 45%

Is the data sold?

  • Personal information is sold or rented to third parties.
  • Users can opt out from the disclosure or sale of their data to a third party.
  • User information can be transferred to a third party in the event of a merge, acquisition, or bankruptcy.
  • Unclear whether users are notified if their information is transferred to a third party.
  • Unclear whether user information can be deleted prior to its transfer to a third party.
  • Third-party transfer is contractually required to use the same privacy practices.
  • User information that is shared is shared in an anonymous or de-identified format.
  • Unclear whether the company describes their de-identification process of user information.
  • Data are shared for research and/or product improvement.
  • Unclear whether contractual limits prohibit third parties from reidentifying or de-identified information.
Data Safety
SCORE: 45%

How safe is this product?

  • Users can interact with trusted users.
  • Users cannot interact with untrusted users, including strangers and/or adults.
  • Profile information must be shared for social interactions.
  • Unclear whether personal information can be displayed publicly.
  • Unclear whether this product allows users to control how their data are displayed to others.
  • User-created content is reviewed, screened, or monitored by the company.
  • User-created content is filtered for personal information before being made publicly visible.
  • Unclear whether social interactions between users are moderated.
  • Unclear whether social interactions of users are logged.
  • Unclear whether users can report abuse or cyberbullying.
Ads & Tracking
SCORE: 60%

Are there advertisements or tracking?

  • Personal information is shared for third-party marketing.
  • Traditional or contextual advertisements are displayed.
  • Personalised advertising is displayed.
  • Data are collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
  • User's information is used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Data profiles are created and used for personalised advertisements.
  • The company can send marketing messages.
  • The company does provide promotional sweepstakes, contests, or surveys.
  • Users can opt out of contextual, or personalised advertising.
  • Users can opt out or unsubscribe from marketing communications.
Parental Consent
SCORE: 85%

Can I provide parental consent?

  • Intended for children under 13.
  • Personal information from children under 13 years of age is collected.
  • Intended for parents or guardians.
  • Company does have actual knowledge that personal information from users under 13 years of age is collected.
  • The company does provide a section, heading, or separate policy for children in their policies.
  • Parental consent is required before personal information is collected or disclosed.
  • Unclear whether this product limits parental consent with respect to third parties.
  • Parents can withdraw consent for the further collection of their child's information.
  • Children's personal information is deleted if collected without parental consent.
  • Parental consent notice and method for submission are provided.
School Purpose
SCORE: 88%

Is the product intended for school?

  • Intended for students.
  • Personal information or education records are collected from preK-12 students.
  • Intended for teachers.
  • Product is primarily used by, designed for, and marketed toward students in grades preK–12.
  • Processes to enter education records into the product are described.
  • Additional rights or protections may be provided with an additional school contract.
  • Company is designated as a school official.
  • Parental consent obligations are transferred to the school or district.
Individual Control
SCORE: 30%

Can I control the use of my data?

  • Users can control the use of their information through privacy settings.
  • Use of information is limited to the purpose for which it was collected.
  • The context or purpose for which data are collected is indicated.
  • Unclear whether company may combine data with additional data from third-party sources.
  • Unclear whether this product treats combined information as personally identifiable information (PII).
  • Unclear whether notice is provided if the context in which data are collected changes.
  • Unclear whether consent is obtained if the practices in which data are collected change.
  • Unclear whether a grievance or remedy mechanism is available for users to file a complaint.
  • Unclear whether users can request to know what personal information has been shared with third parties.
  • Unclear whether notice is provided in the event the company receives a government or legal request for a user's information.

Common Sense Standard Privacy Report (SPR)

The standard privacy report (SPR) displays all the privacy practices from a product's policies in a single, easy-to-read outline. The report shows a green check mark for better privacy practices and an orange alert for risky or unclear practices. This alert indicates that more time should be focused on these particular details prior to use.

About Privacy Evaluations

The privacy evaluations have been designed with the help and support of a consortium of schools and districts across the United States. These evaluations are designed to help educators make informed decisions about the potential privacy implications of educational technology used to support teaching and learning.

Our core evaluation criteria will always be freely available. People are encouraged to read the questions we use and our information security primer. Vendors are encouraged to use our questions and the information security primer to self-evaluate. You can also learn more about our evaluation process. Please be in touch with any questions or feedback.