About the Site

Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices of CourseSmart LLC, and its agents (sometimes referred to here as "CourseSmart" or "we") with respect to the CourseSmart™ eTextbook Online Web site www.coursesmart.com (the "Site") and the CourseSmart Mobile Application. It explains the information we collect from you when you sign up and use, or purchase any of the products offered on or through the Site and Mobile Application (collectively, the "CourseSmart Service"), and how we use that information.

If you feel that CourseSmart is not abiding by our posted privacy policy, you should contact our customer service department by calling 1-866-588-3197. CourseSmart LLC is located at 1800 Gateway Dr., Suite 120, San Mateo, CA 94404.

CourseSmart LLC has been awarded TRUSTe's Privacy Seal signifying that this privacy policy and practices have been reviewed by TRUSTe for compliance with TRUSTe's program requirements including transparency, accountability and choice regarding the collection and use of your personal information. The TRUSTe program does not cover information that may be collected through downloadable software. TRUSTe's mission, as an independent third party, is to accelerate online trust among consumers and organizations globally through its leading privacy trustmark and innovative trust solutions. If you have questions or complaints regarding CourseSmart's privacy policy or practices, please contact us at 1-866-588-3197. If you are not satisfied with our response you can contact TRUSTe here.

Information Collection and Use

CourseSmart is the sole owner of the information collected on the Site and within our Mobile Application. We will not sell, share, or rent this information to others, except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy.

CourseSmart collects information from our users at several different points on the Site and within the Mobile Application. We consider certain information we collect from you to be Personally Identifying Information, including, for example, your email address, name, mailing address, phone number, academic institution information, course information, and credit card billing information, and other contact information that you voluntarily transmit with your communication to us. We also collect demographic information and tie it to your personal information, such as age or date of birth, gender, and password. We collect a user’s device type, so that the API can return the right items per device. We do not ask you for, access or track any location based information from your mobile device at any time while downloading or using our Mobile Application or services.

Additionally, we may collect Personally Identifying Information about you that you provide to us when you contact us or that you voluntarily post in blogs available through the Site. You should be aware that other users will be able to see any information that you post to such blogs and may use the information to send you unsolicited messages. We are not responsible for the personally identifiable information you choose to submit in these blogs. To request removal of your personal information from our blog, contact us support@coursesmart.com. In some cases, we may not be able to remove your personal information, in which case we will let you know if we are unable to do so and why.

We also may collect the foregoing Personally Identifying Information about you from our third party affiliate or partner companies and from marketing or advertising companies that provide us with such information as a part of their relationship with us.

We will not send you marketing communications unless you have opted-in to receiving them. We may also collect information about you and your use of our Site and the CourseSmart Service through your use of our Site and the CourseSmart Service. You are able to opt-in to receiving marketing communications from CourseSmart by signing in to the account you created, or in the instance of faculty, the account that was created for you by one of our publisher affiliates, and checking the box found in the Account Preferences section.

CourseSmart uses this Personally Identifying Information to serve your needs as well as our own legitimate business purposes. We may use your Personally Identifying Information to help us improve our Site, to allow users to read their notes and make new notes within the mobile application, or for CourseSmart's marketing and promotional purposes (for example, to send email announcements of new products in the CourseSmart Service) or to track user movement and activity with regard to use of the CourseSmart Service. We may also use Personally Identifying Information to verify your authority to enter our Site, improve the content and general administration of the Site and the CourseSmart Service, provide you with notice regarding goods and services that you have purchased or may wish to purchase in the future, provide you with notices about other users of our Site and for targeted advertising.

For student and faculty accounts that originate through a CourseSmart integration, your Personally Identifiable Information and account activity may be shared back to the institution to support service improvements.

If you do not want your Personally Identifiable Information shared, please opt–out by emailing opt-out@coursesmart.com with the subject line "Unsubscribe." In the body of the email, please include your first and last name, the college or university you attend and your college email address.

Targeted Advertising

Targeted advertising (also known as Behavioral Advertising) uses information collected on an individual's browsing behavior within our desktop website, mobile application and mobile website such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made. This information is then used to select which CourseSmart advertisement should be displayed to a particular individual on websites or mobile apps other than CourseSmart. For example, if you have shown a preference for nursing while visiting Coursesmart.com or the CourseSmart app, you may be served an advertisement from CourseSmart.com or the CourseSmart app for nursing related programs when you visit a site or mobile app other than CourseSmart.com. The information collected is only linked to an anonymous cookie ID (alphanumeric number); it does not include any information that could be linked back to a particular person, such as their name, address or credit card number. The information used for targeted advertising either comes from CourseSmart.com, CourseSmart emails, our mobile app, or through third party website or mobile app publishers. If you would like to opt out of targeted advertising from CourseSmart.com that occurs when visiting our third party advertising publishers, please click here. Please note that this will opt you out of targeted ads from CourseSmart.com and any other participating advertisers. If you opt out, you will continue to receive online advertising from CourseSmart.com; however, these ads may not be as relevant to you.

Children's Privacy

CourseSmart recognizes the privacy interests of children and we encourage parents and guardians to take an active role in their children's online activities and interests. The Site is not intended for children under the age of 13. CourseSmart does not target its services or the Site to children under 13. CourseSmart does not knowingly collect Personally Identifying Information from children under the age of 13.

Registration

To use the Site, either as a trial user or a digital renter, you must first complete the registration form. During registration, you will be required to give your name and email address. The email address is used to contact you about any services on our Site in which you have expressed an interest and as otherwise described in this privacy policy.

Ordering

When you place an order for access to a CourseSmart eTextbook or eResource, we may request information from you on our order form. You must provide contact information (such as name and billing address) and financial information (such as credit card number and expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders and as otherwise described in this privacy policy. If we have trouble processing an order, this contact information is used to get in touch with you.

Cookies

CourseSmart uses "cookies" to improve the quality of your visit to the Site by providing you with personalized information and features. Cookies are a software technology that enables our systems to recognize your computer and collect non-personal information about you. This type of information includes: type of browser used to access the Internet (i.e. Netscape 6.2, Internet Explorer 4.0), type of operating system (i.e. Windows 95, Macintosh), and the domain of your Internet service provider. CourseSmart generally does not know the name, email address, phone number, or home address of anyone who visits the Site, unless that person is accessing his or her digital rental.

You can set your browser to warn you before accepting cookies or to block cookies. If you block cookies, however, you will not be able to access CourseSmart eTextbooks or eResources or use certain other Site features or functions.

We use analytics within our mobile application for click through tracking and to monitor crashes so that CourseSmart knows at what point in the application it crashed. We do use this information to personally identify you.

Third Party Cookies

The use of cookies by third parties is not covered by our Privacy Policy. We do not have access or control over these cookies. These third parties use session ID cookies to make it easier for you to navigate our Site and in order for you to use the shopping cart.

Clear Gifs (Web Beacons/Web Bugs)

Our third party advertising partner employs a software technology called clear gifs (a.k.a. Web Beacons/Web Bugs), that helps us better manage content on our Site by informing us what content is effective. Clear gifs are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, similar in function to cookies, and are used to track the online movements of Web users. In contrast to cookies, which are stored on a user's computer hard drive, clear gifs are embedded invisibly on Web pages and are about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. We do not tie the information gathered by clear gifs to our customers' personally identifiable information.

Aggregate Information

We use IP addresses from our log files to analyze trends, administer the Site, track users' movement, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use. IP addresses are not linked to Personally Identifiable Information.

Sharing Information

We may share Personally Identifying Information and the data generated by cookies and the aggregate information with the participating publishers and their affiliates with respect to their products that are part of the CourseSmart Service for their own use. In addition, we may share some Personally Identifying Information with affiliates of CourseSmart as well as with our business partners.

Personally Identifying Information is shared with publishers to notify a customer that a book he or she purchased has been discontinued. Information is also shared with our third party customer service support company who uses the information only for resolving customer service issues and a credit card processing company to process your payments. Only for those customers who have opted in, we share information with our third party email management company who sends CourseSmart approved marketing emails on our behalf.

When we partner with another party to provide specific services, we will share names or other contact information that is necessary for the third party to provide these services. These parties are not allowed to use Personally Identifying Information except for the purpose of providing these services. We use an outside credit card processing company to bill users for goods and services and an email service provider to send emails to you on our behalf. These companies are not allowed to retain, share, store or use Personally Identifying Information for any secondary purposes.

We will not share, sell, rent or trade your Personally Identifying Information to any third party except as disclosed within this Privacy Policy.

We may transfer your Personally Identifying Information to a successor entity upon a merger, consolidation or other corporate reorganization in which CourseSmart participates or to a purchaser of all or substantially all of CourseSmart's assets to which the Site relates.

We may also release Personal Identifying Information when we believe that disclosure is appropriate to comply with the law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or to comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on our Site or the Service, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of CourseSmart, participating publishers, users, or others. This may include exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purpose of preventing fraud, protecting intellectual property, and reducing credit risk.

Links to Third Party Sites

The Site may contain links to other sites or resources over which CourseSmart does not have control ("External Web Sites"). In addition, while you are on our Site, you may be re-directed to an External Web Site to complete a transaction. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these External Web Sites. We encourage you to be aware when you leave our Site, and to read the privacy statements of each and every External Web Site that collects your Personally Identifying Information. This Privacy Policy applies solely to information collected by CourseSmart with respect to your use of the CourseSmart Service. You acknowledge that CourseSmart is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and further agree that CourseSmart is not responsible for the content of such External Web Sites.

Surveys & Contests

We may, from time to time, request information from users via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is voluntary and therefore, you have a choice whether or not to disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address) and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes and as otherwise described in this privacy policy.

Special Offers

Occasionally, CourseSmart may send registered users information on products, services, and special deals as well as newsletters via email. As a registered user, you will be given the opportunity to elect not to receive such emails from CourseSmart. You may opt-out from receiving these emails from us by following the instructions included in each newsletter or communication or by emailing us at support@coursesmart.com.

Security

We employ technological and administrative measures to protect your Personally Identifying Information from loss, unauthorized access or disclosure. For example, CourseSmart may use firewalls, password protection, secure socket layer and other security measures to help prevent unauthorized access to your Personally Identifying Information.

The security of your personal information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as credit card number) on our registration or order forms, we encrypt that information using secure socket layer technology (SSL).

Correction/Updating Personal Information

To change your CourseSmart account information (address, credit card, etc.), log on to your CourseSmart account. Click the "My Account" tab on the top tool bar. Edit your account information as needed. If you have questions or need help with making changes, please call customer service at 1-866-588-3197.

We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services contact us at support@coursesmart.com. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Choice/Opt-Out

You have the choice of whether or not you would like us to provide your Personally Identifiable Information to certain of our participating publishers and third party partners. If you do not want your information shared, during registration and certain purchases you may opt out of receiving certain information from our participating publishers and third party partners. Also, you will be able to opt out by visiting our website http://www.coursesmart.com. If you do not opt out, your Personally Identifiable Information will be subject to their privacy policies and terms of use and they may contact you with marketing messages. Please be aware that we cannot control the activities of the participating publishers and third party partners to whom we provide your Personally Identifiable Information and as such, we cannot guarantee that they adhere to the same privacy and security procedures as CourseSmart.

Facebook Connect

CourseSmart provides its users with the ability to create a new account, or sign-in to an existing account using their Facebook credentials -- rather than having to establish a separate, CourseSmart username and password. If you choose to use Facebook Connect to sign in to CourseSmart, the first time you select this option you will be prompted by Facebook to allow CourseSmart the privilege of being able to post content to your Facebook Wall and to your friends' News Feeds. Facebook will also ask if you want to allow CourseSmart access to your email address. Accepting both of these requests allows you to use your Facebook credentials to access CourseSmart, and also signals your acceptance of CourseSmart's Terms of Service. If you choose to revoke these privileges from CourseSmart, you can do so at any time by accessing the Applications Settings under the Account menu in Facebook.

Notification of Changes

Due to the Internet's rapidly evolving nature, CourseSmart may need to update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we decide to change our privacy policy, we will post those changes to this Privacy Policy, the home page, and other places we deem appropriate so that you are aware of what information we collect, how we use it, and under what circumstances, if any, we disclose it.

We reserve the right to modify this Privacy Policy at any time, so please review it frequently. If we make material changes to this policy, we will notify you here, by email, or by means of a notice on our home page.

This Privacy Policy was last updated: December 13, 2012