Privacy Evaluation: Abby Phonics- Kindergarten Reading Adventure for Toddler Loves Train

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As part of the Common Sense Privacy Evaluation Initiative, privacy evaluations break down complex privacy policies and help you make informed choices to protect student information online. Our privacy team goes beyond the requirements of COPPA, FERPA, PPRA, and other federal and state privacy regulations. We consider a broad range of legal requirements and industry best practices to pinpoint what you need to know about company policies on safety, privacy, security, and compliance.
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Updated January 23, 2019

Abby Phonics- Kindergarten Reading Adventure for Toddler Loves Train

  • Privacy polices do indicate a version or effective date.
  • Unclear whether data are sold or rented to third parties.
  • Unclear whether data are shared for advertising and/or marketing.
  • Unclear whether this product displays behavioral or contextual advertising.
  • Unclear whether this product allows data collection by third-party advertising or tracking services.
  • Unclear whether this product uses data to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
  • Unclear whether this product allows third parties to use data to create ad profiles, data enhancement, and/or targeted advertisements.
The criteria for "Use with Caution" are narrowly focused around data uses related to creating profiles that aren't related to any educational purpose, and using data to target ads. We include both first party (ie, the vendor that builds the service) and third party (any company given access by the vendor) data use. It's worth highlighting that using data to profile students violates multiple state laws, and in some cases also violates federal law. A service can be designated "Use with Caution" for either a lack of transparency around data use -- which creates the potential for profiling and behavioral targeting -- or for clearly stating that they use data to target advertisements and/or create profiles. As with any application being considered for use within schools, school and/or district staff should review the privacy policies and terms of service to ensure that they meet the legal and practical requirements of their state laws and school policies. As with the "Not Recommended" criteria, a "Use with Caution" designation is NOT a sign that a vendor is necessarily doing anything unethical or illegal. It is a sign that, based on publicly available policies, we do not have adequate guarantees that data will not be used by first or third parties to create non-educational profiles or to target behavioral ads.
Use with Caution
Basic evaluation
A basic privacy evaluation answers key questions about a product's policies covering issues of safety, privacy, security, and compliance.
Overview

Abby Phonics- Kindergarten Reading Adventure helps children master phonetic letter sounds through a simple, modifiable, and child-friendly interface. The terms do not disclose whether any social interactions between users are available or whether a user can make personal information publicly visible to others. The terms also do not disclose whether the service sells a user's data to third parties, or whether it allows third-party advertising companies to collect a user's data through the service for ad targeting, tracking, or creating a profile for marketing purposes. In addition, the terms do not disclose sufficient details about data security standards that should be used to protect the confidentiality of a user's information. Lastly, the terms state the service does not knowingly contact or collect personal information from children under 13. However, teachers and parents should be aware that by providing permission for their child to use this app, they are potentially giving the service permission to collect and use data that would be considered personal information under COPPA.

Abby Phonics is available for download at the iOS App Store. The Privacy Policy used for this evaluation can be found on Abby Phonic’s website, and the iOS App Store. This evaluation only considers policies that have been made publicly available prior to an individual using the application or service.

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The standard privacy report (SPR) displays the most important privacy practices from a product’s polices in a single easy-to-read outline. The report displays an alert when a particular privacy practice is risky, unclear, or not evaluated. This alert indicates more time should be focused on these particular details prior to use.
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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 streamline making an informed decision about the potential privacy implications of educational technology used to support teaching and learning.

Our core evaluation criteria are freely available and will remain freely available. People are encouraged to read the questions we use and the information security primer we released. Vendors are encouraged to use our questions and the information security primer to self-evaluate. You can also learn more about our evaluation process.

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About Common Sense Privacy Evaluation