Privacy Policy

Welcome to Etudey (“Etudey,” “we,” “our,” or “us”). We are committed to safeguarding the privacy and personal data of our student users, educators, and visitors. This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, process, store, and protect your information when you access or use our academic platform, services, and associated websites (collectively, the “Platform”).

By accessing or using Etudey, you consent to the data collection and usage practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this policy, please discontinue use of the Platform.

1. Information We Collect

We only collect information that is strictly necessary to provide an organized, collaborative, and seamless study experience.

A. Information You Provide Directly

• Account and Profile Credentials: When you register or sign in using Google Authentication or verified mobile verification, we receive your account identifier, email address, and display name. During onboarding, you may provide your college name, academic department, and current semester to personalize your study feed.
• User-Generated Study Content: Notes, documents, summaries, comments, questions posted to the college forum, and study requests submitted to the community board.
• Communications: Information provided when contacting customer support, submitting academic inquiries, or requesting content removal.

B. Information Collected Automatically

• Device and Technical Information: Browser type, operating system version, device category, screen resolution, preferred language, and time zone.
• Usage Metrics: Features accessed, pages visited, search queries, download interactions, study streak activity, and timestamps.
• Log Information: Standard server logs recording IP addresses, access times, referring website addresses, and connection status for security and fraud prevention.

2. Third-Party Advertising and Cookie Disclosures

In compliance with standard advertising industry regulations and Google AdSense publisher policies, please review the following disclosures regarding cookies and automated data collection:

• Third-Party Vendors: Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on a user's prior visits to our website or other websites across the Internet.
• Advertising Cookies: Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve targeted, relevant advertisements to users based on their visits to Etudey and/or other sites on the Internet.
• Opting Out of Personalized Advertising: Users may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings. Alternatively, you can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalized advertising by visiting www.aboutads.info or the Network Advertising Initiative Consumer Opt-Out page.
• Essential Cookies: We also use strictly necessary first-party cookies and session storage to maintain your active login session, remember your UI preferences, and preserve security tokens.

3. How We Use Your Information

We process personal and academic information for legitimate educational and operational purposes, including:

• Personalizing your home feed with peer-reviewed notes from your university and semester.
• Operating the search and discovery engine for academic materials.
• Facilitating the Optical Document Recognition studio to digitize lecture notes.
• Preventing academic dishonesty, copyright infringement, spam, and malicious activity.
• Analyzing aggregated platform performance to improve document formatting and response speed.
• Processing optional premium upgrades and verifying student membership status.

4. Data Sharing and Third-Party Disclosures

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information to data brokers or unrelated third parties. Data is shared only under strict conditions:

• Service Providers: Trusted infrastructure and communication partners who assist in hosting the platform, authenticating credentials, and securing database records under strict confidentiality agreements.
• Peer Community: Notes and forum questions you choose to mark as public will be visible to other students in your college community. Your profile display name and college affiliation are displayed alongside public contributions.
• Legal Compliance: When required by lawful court order, regulatory mandate, or applicable laws, or to defend the safety, property, and rights of our users and the public.

5. Data Security & Storage Architecture

We implement multi-layered administrative, technical, and physical security measures to safeguard user data against unauthorized access, destruction, loss, or alteration:

• All communications between your device and our servers are encrypted using modern Transport Layer Security (HTTPS / TLS 1.3).
• Databases are hosted in enterprise-grade cloud facilities with encrypted storage at rest and access restricted to authorized personnel.
• Authentication is verified via cryptographic token verification with automatic expiration.

6. Student Privacy & Data Rights

Under India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act 2023, the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), you retain full rights over your data:

• Right to Access: You may request a complete summary of the personal data held about you.
• Right to Rectification: You may correct or update your profile information directly within the application settings.
• Right to Erasure (Right to be Forgotten): You may request the permanent deletion of your account and all associated personal records at any time.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: You may revoke consent for optional data processing activities at any time without penalty.

To exercise any of these rights, please email us directly at privacy@etudey.app or support@etudey.app. Requests are fulfilled within 48 to 72 business hours.

7. Children's and Minors' Privacy

Etudey is tailored exclusively for higher education, college, and university students. We do not knowingly solicit or collect personal information from children under the age of 16. If we become aware that an account was created by a minor under 16 without parental consent, we will promptly delete all associated data.

8. Policy Updates

We may periodically update this Privacy Policy to reflect platform enhancements or regulatory changes. Significant changes will be announced through an in-app notice or by updating the revision date at the top of this document. We encourage users to review this page periodically.

9. Contact Information

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data management practices, please contact our Data Governance Team:

• Email: privacy@etudey.app
• Support Desk: support@etudey.app
• Contact Page: etudey.app/contact
• Correspondence: Etudey Academic Platforms, India