Blackboard provides instructors with the ability to provide students with course documents, online assignments and assessments, individual grades, and other learning materials in a single environment. Blackboard term's state users can provide comments in discussion forums and chats and can send messages to trusted peers and instructors. The terms state Blackboard will not sell or rent users' data, but the terms also say Blackboard does sell data to third parties under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The terms say Blackboard does not use or disclose information about students for behavioral targeting of advertisements. However, Blackboard may place contextual advertising where permitted by their agreement with the educational institution. In addition, the terms say Blackboard may share users' personal information with re-sellers and other partners, who may use users' personal information for third-party marketing and targeted ads.

Blackboard’s terms state they employ a variety of physical, administrative, and technological safeguards designed to protect users' personal information against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access or disclosure. Lastly, Blackboard's terms state their collection, use, and sharing of student data is governed by their contracts with the educational institutions, the provisions of FERPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and other applicable laws that relate to the collection and use of personal information of students.

Blackboard can be accessed through its website, and is available for download at the iOS App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Microsoft Store. The Privacy Policy and Terms of Use used for this evaluation can be found on Blackboard’s website, iOS App Store, the Google Play Store, and the Microsoft Store. Additionally, other policies used for this evaluation include: Cookie Statement, Privacy Center, Privacy Shield, Security Policy, and California Privacy Notice. This evaluation only considers policies that have been made publicly available prior to an individual using the application or service.

Safety

Blackboard term's state users can provide comments in discussion forums and chats and can send messages to trusted peers and instructors. However, if users use Behind the Blackboard, Blackboard Community, or other websites with logins, the terms state Blackboard may use the contact details they provide to communicate with those users and to let users communicate with other Blackboard untrusted users. In addition, any content that users submit, post, or display may be viewed by other users, and the terms state Blackboard may monitor or control user content, but does not take any responsibility for posting of user content.

Privacy

Blackboard’s terms state they care about privacy and believe that privacy is a fundamental right for all individuals. The terms state Blackboard collects device, usage, and personal information from users that depends on the type of service used which can include: first name, last name, email address, student ID, account credentials, courses a student is enrolled in, credentials, audio and video recordings, and any other information including personal information users provide. In addition, Blackboard’s terms state they may collect data about student’s responses to quizzes, assignments and other course work, and files they submit or upload as well as their activity and actions within Blackboard.

The terms state Blackboard will not sell or rent users' data, but the terms also say Blackboard does sell data to third parties under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). The terms say Blackboard does not use or disclose information about students for behavioral targeting of advertisements. However, Blackboard may place contextual advertising where permitted by their agreement with the educational institution. In addition, the terms say Blackboard may share users' personal information with re-sellers and other partners, who may use users' personal information for third-party marketing and targeted ads. The terms also indicate educational institutions may enable cloud profiles or social profiles, which allow students to connect their Blackboard profile with their Facebook and Twitter account and use information from those accounts for their Blackboard profile. Educators should be aware these social media companies may recognize users and collect information about their visit to Blackboard, and they may use cookies or other tracking technologies.

Blackboard’s terms specify they may use third-party cookies from services such as Google AdWords, Facebook Business, LinkedIn Campaign Manager, and Twitter Ads to show users relevant ads. Blackboard also allows third-parties to access users’ personal information to make sure they see relevant ads and campaigns on other websites. Blackboard receives information from third-party services about which of their ads or campaigns users have interacted with. In addition, Blackboard's terms state they may display advertising and other advanced features through Google Analytics, such as Remarking with Google Analytics, Google Display Network Impression Reporting, the DoubleClick Campaign Manager Integration, and Google Analytics Demographics and Interest Reporting. The terms state these third party advertising tools allow Blackboard to collect information about users’ visits in order to serve them targeted advertisements based on their browsing history and interests on other websites across the Internet, and on other devices they may use. However, the terms clearly state Blackboard does not use or disclose personal or usage information about students that they collect for behavioral targeting of advertisements to students.

Security

Blackboard’s terms state they employ a variety of physical, administrative, and technological safeguards designed to protect users' personal information against loss, misuse, and unauthorized access or disclosure. The terms also state Blackboard has dedicated information security programs and works hard to continuously enhance their technical and operational security measures. In addition, Blackboard’s terms specify they have implemented appropriate physical, electronic and managerial procedures to help safeguard and secure personal information from loss, misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, alteration or destruction. Blackboard's terms further state they use firewalls, data use, and access limitations for their personnel and vendors and physical access controls to their facilities.

Lastly, Blackboard’s terms state personal information will be accessed only by those who have a need to know to provide the products and services to educational institutions and improve them. For instance, the terms state Blackboard's technical teams and client support teams may have access to user's information when they set up the product for a educational institution or when software or database changes are required for support and maintenance purposes.

Compliance

The terms state Blackboard provides educational products and services to schools and other educational institutions. Through the provision of these products and services, Blackboard's terms state they collect personally identifiable information from or about students. Blackboard's terms specify that they consider student data to be strictly confidential and in general do not use student data for any purpose other than improving and providing our products and services to the educational institution or on the educational institution’s behalf. In addition, Blackboard's terms state their collection, use, and sharing of student data is governed by their contracts with the educational institutions, the provisions of FERPA, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), and other applicable laws that relate to the collection and use of personal information of students. Lastly, because contracts may exist between Blackboard and educational institutions, if users have any questions about reviewing, modifying, or deleting personal information of a student, they should contact their educational institution directly.