Privacy Evaluation for Scholastic Shadow House
82%
Overview
Shadow House by Scholastic is a companion to the Shadow House series by spooky story master Dan Poblocki. The app allows kids to step into ghost stories where the choices they make determine their fate. Scholastic's terms say the Kids Site is kids.scholastic.com and mobile applications (“apps”) for kids are also Kids Sites, and covered by this policy. The terms say that activities on Kids Sites include virtual worlds, games, polls/multiple choice quizzes, filtered chat, filtered story-telling, tracking reading minutes, Kids accounts and friending. Scholastic's terms also say that they do not collect more information than is necessary from kids to deliver the service.
Additionally, the terms say Scholastic does not sell kids’ personal information to third parties. Scholastic also says they do not track kids to serve them behaviorally targeted advertisements (also known as retargeting or online behavioral advertising), or to allow others to do so. The terms say Scholastic uses reasonable organizational, technical, and administrative security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, loss, or modification. Lastly, Scholastic allows users to access, modify, delete, and export their personal information. However, teachers using this application in a classroom setting are encouraged to review their school policies for providing consent under COPPA.
Shadow House by Scholastic is available for download at the iOS App Store, and Google Play Store. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use used for this evaluation can be found on the iOS App Store, and Google Play Store. Additionally, other policies used for this evaluation include: Security and Data Retention Policy. This evaluation only considers policies that have been made publicly available prior to an individual using the application or service.
Rating
- Intended for children under 13.
- Collection or use of data is limited to product requirements.
- Personal information is displayed publicly.
- Users can interact with trusted users and/or students.
- Unclear whether this product provides notice in the event of a data breach.
- Parental consent is required.
Data Collection
SCORE: 55%
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 not collected.
- Unclear whether this product collects biometric or health data.
- Behavioral data are collected.
- Unclear whether this product collects sensitive data.
- Non-personally identifiable information is 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: 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.
- Unclear whether the categories of third parties that receive personal information are indicated.
- Unclear whether data are shared for analytics.
- Unclear whether data are shared for research and/or product improvement.
- Data are shared with third-party service providers.
- The roles of third-party service providers are indicated.
- Unclear whether this product supports social or federated login.
- Contractual limits are placed on third-party data use.
Data Security
SCORE: 45%
How does it secure data?
- A user's identity is verified with additional personal information.
- Account creation is required.
- Parental controls or managed accounts are available.
- Unclear whether two-factor account protection is available.
- Unclear whether third-party contractual security protections are required.
- Industry best practices are used to protect data.
- Unclear whether this product limits employee or physical access to user information.
- All data in transit are encrypted.
- Unclear whether this product encrypts all data at rest.
- Unclear whether this product provides notice in the event of a data breach.
Data Rights
SCORE: 55%
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 and review user data are available.
- Processes to modify inaccurate data are available.
- A data-retention policy is available.
- Processes for the school, parents, or students to delete data are available.
- A user's data are deleted upon account cancellation or termination.
- Unclear whether this product deletes data when no longer necessary.
- Unclear whether permissions, roles, or access controls are available to restrict who has access to data.
- Unclear whether this product provides users the ability to download their data.
Data Sold
SCORE: 55%
Is the data sold?
- Data are 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.
- Unclear whether users are notified if their information is transferred to a third party.
- 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 is shared in an anonymous or deidentified format.
- Unclear whether the vendor describes their deidentification process of user information.
- Unclear whether data are shared for research and/or product improvement.
- Unclear whether contractual limits prohibit third parties from reidentifying deidentified information.
Data Safety
SCORE: 70%
How safe is this product?
- Users can interact with trusted users and/or students.
- Users cannot interact with untrusted users, including strangers and/or adults.
- Profile information is shared for social interactions.
- Personal information is displayed publicly.
- Users can control how their data are displayed.
- User-created content is reviewed, screened, or monitored by the vendor.
- 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: 60%
Are there advertisements or tracking?
- Data are not shared for third-party advertising and/or marketing.
- Traditional or contextual advertisements are not displayed.
- Behavioral or targeted advertising is not displayed.
- Data are not collected by third-party advertising or tracking services.
- Data are not used to track and target advertisements on other third-party websites or services.
- Data profiles are not created and used for data enhancement, and/or targeted advertisements.
- Unclear whether this vendor can send marketing messages.
- Unclear whether this vendor provides promotional sweepstakes, contests, or surveys.
- Unclear whether this product provides users the ability to opt-out of traditional, contextual, or behavioral advertising.
- Unclear whether this product provides users the ability to 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 online.
- Intended for parents or guardians.
- Vendor does have actual knowledge that personal information from users under 13 years of age is collected.
- Children's privacy is applicable.
- Parental consent is required.
- Parental consent is limited 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.
- Parental consent notice and method for submission are provided.
School Purpose
SCORE: 30%
Is the product intended for school?
- Not intended for students.
- Personal information or education records are not collected from preK-12 students.
- Not intended for teachers.
- Unclear whether this product is primarily used by, designed for, and marketed toward students in grades preK–12.
- Unclear whether the product creates education records.
- Unclear whether this product provides notification of a contract or additional rights.
- Unclear whether this product designates the vendor as a school official.
- Unclear whether this product transfers parental consent obligations to the school or district.
- Unclear whether the vendor indicates FERPA parental consent exceptions.
- Unclear whether this product discloses directory 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.