Privacy Evaluation for Arthur's Big App
80%
Overview
Arthur's Big App allows users to join Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Muffy in a series of mini-games set all around Elwood City. The terms state the service provides safe social interactions between users and allows for the collection of comments and other information that children post through interactive online features. The terms also specify they do not rent or sell information to third parties and will not use children's collected personal information for any marketing, online advertising, or third-party tracking that would directly identify a child. In addition, the terms state the service is committed to protecting parents and their children's information. The terms disclose they do not have actual knowledge that personal information from children under 13 years of age or education records from students in K-12 settings are collected by the service.
Arthur's Big App is available for download at the iOS App Store, the Google Play Store, and Amazon Appstore. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use used for this evaluation can be found on Arthur's Big App’s 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 state the service provides safe social interactions between users and allows for the collection of comments and other information that children post through interactive online features. If a child user chooses to create an account, they will be required to create a custom username. The terms state child usernames are moderated with the aim of preventing children from using any personal information to create an account. In addition, the terms state social interactions and user generated content is either canned or moderated to avoid collecting personal information. Lastly, the terms specify the service avoids making any personal information publicly visible to others in order to help maintain a safe environment for users.
Privacy
The terms state the service does not collect information that directly identifies a child. However, the terms also describe that the service may collect information about a user's device, including hardware model, operating system version, IP address, and unique identifiers. The terms also specify they do not rent or sell information to third parties and will not use children's collected personal information for any marketing, online advertising, or third-party tracking that would directly identify a child. Lastly, the terms state the service may share a user's aggregated or de-identified information with third parties for their own product development or research purposes.
Security
The terms state the service is committed to protecting parents and their children's information. The terms specify they have adopted reasonable technical, administrative, and physical procedures to help protect users' information from loss, misuse, and alteration, including encryption of passwords and information in transit. Additionally, the terms state a child is not required to create an account in order to use the services. However, users may want to do so in order to save their progress, settings, or content created while using the services. Lastly, the terms state the service will provide users notification in the case of a data breach.
Compliance
The terms disclose they do not have actual knowledge that personal information from children under 13 years of age or education records from students in K-12 settings are collected by the service. However, parents and educators should be aware that the service would likely appeal to students and children under 13 years of age and therefore would be subject to COPPA and FERPA regulations. This determination takes several factors into account, including subject matter, visual content, age of models, and the activities provided.
The terms also state that the service will obtain a parent or legal guardian's consent before collecting, using, or disclosing personal information from children. However, the terms are unclear how verified parental consent is actually requested or obtained. The terms specify that parents or legal guardians may contact the company to ask if the service has collected their child's personal information, to review that information, and request that the company stop collecting any information, or have it deleted. Additionally, the terms disclose the service is not required to provide any modification, access, correction, deletion, or portability requests to users because the service claims they have no actual knowledge children under 13 years of age or students in K-12 are using the service. If this service is used within a school context, teachers and school staff are strongly encouraged to review how their school or district defines education records, and whether the activities within the service would create educational records.
Rating
- Personal information is not sold or rented to third parties.
- Personal information is not shared for third-party marketing.
- Personalised advertising is not displayed.
- Data are not collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
- User's information is not used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
- Data profiles are not created and used for personalised advertisements.
Data Collection
SCORE: 70%
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.
- Unclear whether this product collects sensitive data.
- Data is automatically collected.
- Opt-in consent is requested from users at the time personal information is collected.
- Personal information of users is not collected by a third party.
Data Sharing
SCORE: 60%
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.
- Unclear what the roles of third-party service providers are.
- Unclear whether this product supports third-party login.
- Unclear whether contractual limits are placed on third-party data use.
Data Security
SCORE: 70%
How does it secure data?
- Unclear whether a user's identity is verified with additional personal information.
- Account creation is not required.
- Managed accounts are available.
- Unclear whether 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: 50%
What rights do I have to the data?
- Users can create or upload content.
- Unclear whether users retain ownership of their data.
- Processes to access or review user data are not available.
- Processes to modify data are not available for authorized users.
- A data-retention policy is available.
- Processes for authorized users to delete data are available.
- Unclear whether 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 not available.
Data Sold
SCORE: 40%
Is the data sold?
- Personal information is not 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.
- Unclear whether third-party transfers are 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: 60%
How safe is this product?
- Users can interact with trusted users.
- Unclear whether users can interact with untrusted users, including strangers and/or adults.
- Profile information must be not shared for social interactions.
- Personal information can be not 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.
- 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: 65%
Are there advertisements or tracking?
- Personal information is not shared for third-party marketing.
- Traditional or contextual advertisements are not displayed.
- Personalised advertising is not displayed.
- Data are not collected by third-parties for their own purposes.
- User's information is not used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
- Data profiles are not created and used for personalised advertisements.
- The company can send marketing messages.
- Unclear whether this company provides promotional sweepstakes, contests, or surveys.
- Unclear whether this product provides users the ability to opt-out of contextual, or personalised advertising.
- Unclear whether users can opt out or unsubscribe from marketing communications.
Parental Consent
SCORE: 55%
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 not have actual knowledge that personal information from users under 13 years of age is collected.
- The company does not 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.
- Unclear whether this product deletes children's personal information if collected without parental consent.
- Unclear whether this product provides parental consent notice and method for submission.
School Purpose
SCORE: 38%
Is the product intended for school?
- Intended for students.
- Personal information or education records are not collected from preK-12 students.
- Unclear whether intended for teachers.
- Product is not primarily used by, designed for, and marketed toward students in grades preK–12.
- Processes to enter education records into the product are not described.
- Unclear whether additional rights or protections may be provided with an additional school contract.
- Unclear whether the company is designated as a school official.
- Unclear whether this product transfers parental consent obligations to the school or district.
Individual Control
SCORE: 20%
Can I control the use of my data?
- Users can control the use of their information through privacy settings.
- Unclear whether 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.