Effective as of June 1st, 2018.

Key Information

  • Cerezos is the data controller of your personal information.
  • We collect the personal information set out in the “What Information We Collect” section of this Privacy Policy below, including account registration details, details of online courses you undertake, survey information (where you provide it), identity verification data and information about your use of our site and services.
  • We use your personal information for the purposes set out in the “How We Use the Information” section of this Privacy Policy below, including providing our site and services to you, ensuring the security and performance of our site, research relating to academic courses, sharing information with our partners (such as academic institutions) and our suppliers, direct marketing and performing statistical analysis of the use of our site and services.
  • We process your personal data as set out in this Privacy Policy on the basis of your consent. In situations where we obtain your personal data from a source other than you, we process your data on the basis of legitimate interests, until the earlier of (a) the point at which you provide your consent; or (b) the point at which you ask us to stop processing your data on the basis of our legitimate interests. We also rely on legitimate interest for very limited additional purposes as set out in the “What You Agree to by Using Our Site” section.
  • You have a number of rights that you can exercise in relation to our use of your personal information, as set out in the “Updating or Deleting Your Personally Identifiable Information” section of this Privacy Policy below.

You can find information about us and how we collect, use and store your personal data in each section of this privacy policy:

Purpose and who we are

The purpose of this Privacy Policy is to describe how Cerezos (“Cerezos,” “us,” “we,” or “our”) collects, uses and shares information about you through our online interfaces (e.g., websites and mobile applications) owned and controlled by us, including www.Cerezos.org (collectively referred to herein as the “Site”). Please read this notice carefully to understand what we do. If you do not understand any aspects of our Privacy Policy, please feel free to contact us at cerezos.org@gmail.com. Your use of our Site is also governed by our Terms of Use.

If you reside or are located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”) Cerezos is the data controller of all Personally Identifiable Information (as defined below) collected via the Site and of certain Personally Identifiable Information collected from third parties, as set out in this Privacy Policy.

What Information this Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy covers information we collect from you through our Site. Some of our Site’s functionality can be used without revealing any Personally Identifiable Information, though for features or services related to the Online Courses, Personally Identifiable Information is required. In order to access certain features and benefits on our Site, you may need to submit, or we may collect,

“Personally Identifiable Information” (i.e., information that can be used to identify you). Personally Identifiable Information can include information such as your name and email address, among other things. If you reside or are located in the EEA, it can also include your IP address or device identifier. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Personally Identifiable Information you submit to Cerezos. Inaccurate information may affect your ability to use the Site, the information you receive when using the Site, and our ability to contact you. For example, your email address should be kept current because that is one of the primary manners in which we communicate with you.

What You Agree to by Using Our Site

Please understand that by submitting any Personally Identifiable Information to us, you consent and agree that we may collect, use and disclose such Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use, and as permitted or required by law. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not provide any Personally Identifiable Information to us. If you refuse or withdraw your consent, or if you choose not to provide us with any required Personally Identifiable Information, we may not be able to provide you with the services that can be offered on our Site. Consent can be withdrawn at any time by navigating to your profile page and clicking the box to remove consent or deleting your account.

Please note that we rely on legitimate interests as the basis for processing your data in the limited circumstances set out below:

  • In situations where we obtain your personal data from a source other than you, we process your data on the basis of legitimate interests, until the earlier of (a) the point at which you provide your consent; or (b) the point at which you ask us to stop processing your data on the basis of our legitimate interests;
  • We will retain your student records relating to degrees or credit-bearing courses for our own compliance and verification purposes (including where we are required to do so by our academic institution partners), even after you withdraw your consent to our processing of your data;
  • We will archive information about your use of our services, even after you withdraw your consent to our processing of your data. This information will only be used in very limited circumstances, such as for defending legal claims relating to contracts we have with you or a third party and retention for audit purposes relating to commercial contracts; and
  • We will use information relating to your use of our services for statistical analysis and research purposes, however we delete your name and email address from such information before we do so.

What Information We Collect

We gather two types of information about users through the Site:

  1. Information relating to your use of our Site. When users come to our Site, we may track, collect and aggregate information indicating, among other things, which pages of our Site were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were visited, and which hyperlinks were “clicked.” We also collect information from the URLs from which you linked to our Site. Collecting such information may involve logging the IP address, operating system and browser software used by each user of the Site. We may be able to determine from an IP address a user’s Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of his or her point of connectivity.

We also use (or may use) cookies and web beacons when you visit our Site. For more information on our use of cookies and web beacons, please refer to our Cookie Policy.

  1. Personally Identifiable Information provided directly by you or via third parties. We collect Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to us when you register for an account, update or change information for your account, purchase products or services, complete a survey, sign-up for email updates or Online Courses, participate in our public forums, send us email messages, and/or participate in Online Courses or other services on our Site. We may use the Personally Identifiable Information that you provide to respond to your questions, provide you the specific course and/or services you select, send you updates about Online Courses offered by Cerezos or other Cerezos events, and send you email messages about Site maintenance or updates.
  • Account Registration. If you register for an account on our Site, you may be required to provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name and email address.
  • Updates. Cerezos may offer you the ability to receive updates either via email or by posting on portions of the Site only accessible to registered users. In order to subscribe to these services, you may be required to provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name and email address.
  • Forums. Cerezos may offer public forums from time to time (the “Forums”) where you can share comments and thoughts. In order to participate in the Forums, you may be required to register with us and/or provide us with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name and email address. Please keep in mind that information you post or make available in Forums will be publicly available. You should not post any Personally Identifiable Information or other information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, on a Forum. Please also reference our Terms of Use for our Rules for Online Conduct and additional information about proper use of our Forums.
  • Participation in Online Courses. Cerezos offers users the opportunity to participate in an Online Course on or through the Site. If you desire to participate in a course, you will be asked to provide us with certain information necessary to conduct such a course. This information may include, among other things, your name and email address.

If you participate in an online course, we may collect from you certain student-generated content, such as assignments you submit to instructors, peer-graded assignments, and peer grading student feedback. We also collect course data, such as student responses to in-video quizzes, standalone quizzes, exams, and surveys. You should not include any Personally Identifiable Information or other information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, on assignments, exams, or surveys, except for information required to participate or submit such assignments, exams, or surveys.

  • Identity Verification. Cerezos may offer you the ability to verify your identity for selected classes. In order to enroll for these services, you may be required to provide us or our third-party identity verification vendor with Personally Identifiable Information such as your name, address, date of birth, a headshot taken using a webcam, and a photo identification document. Additionally, if you apply for financial aid in connection with these services, you may be required to provide information regarding your income.
  • Communications with Cerezos. We may receive Personally Identifiable Information when you send us an email message or otherwise contact us.
  • Third Party Sites. We may receive Personally Identifiable Information when you access or log-in to a third party site, e.g., Facebook, from our Sites. This may include the text and/or images of your Personally Identifiable Information available from the third party site.
  • Surveys. We may receive Personally Identifiable Information when you provide information in response to a survey operated by us. This may include details about your race, your education history, and your employment.
  • Partner sites. Partner sites providing Online Course related tools and services to Cerezos users may collect nonfinancial individual level user data regarding the individual’s use of that partner site while engaged with such Online Course related activities, and the partner sites may share that data with Cerezos for the purpose of improving Cerezos’s services, the partner site’s services, and the individual’s education experience. This data includes information such as the amount of time spent on the partner site and pages viewed.
  • Third Party Credit Card Processing. Cerezos provides you with the ability to pay for Online Courses and other services using a credit card through a third party payment processing service provider. Please note that our service provider – not Cerezos – collects and processes your credit card information.

How We Use the Information

  1. Information relating to your use of our Site. We use information relating to your use of the Site to build higher quality, more useful services by performing statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our users, and by measuring demographics and interests regarding specific areas of our Site. We may also use this information to ensure the security of our services and the Site.
  2. Personally Identifiable Information provided directly by you or via third parties. Except as set forth in this Privacy Policy or as specifically agreed to by you, Cerezos will not disclose any of your Personally Identifiable Information. In addition to the other uses set forth in this Privacy Policy, we may disclose and otherwise use Personally Identifiable Information as described below.
  • Providing the Site and our services. We use Personally Identifiable Information which you provide to us in order to allow you to access and use the Site and in order to provide any information, products or services that you request from us.
  • Technical support and security. We may use Personally Identifiable Information to provide technical support to you, where required, and to ensure the security of our services and the Site.
  • Updates. We use Personally Identifiable Information collected when you sign-up for our various email or update services to send you the messages in connection with the Site or an Online Course. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you, where we are legally entitled to do so.
  • Forums. You should not post any Personally Identifiable Information or other information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, within a Forum post. If you choose to post Personally Identifiable Information, such Personally Identifiable Information may be collected during your use of the Forums. We may publish this information via extensions of our Platform that use third-party services, like mobile applications. We reserve the right to reuse Forum posts that contain Personally Identifiable Information in future versions of the courses we offer, and to enhance future course offerings. We may archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you and/or your designee(s), and/or provide it to the University partner, business partner, or the instructor(s) associated with the courses you have taken. We may also use or publish posts submitted on the Forums without using Personally Identification Information.
  • Participation in Online Courses. We use the Personally Identifiable Information that we collect from you when you participate in an Online Course through the Site for processing purposes, including but not limited to tracking attendance, progress, and completion of an Online Course. We may also share your Personally Identifiable Information and your performance in a given Online Course with the instructor or instructors who taught the course, with teaching assistants or other individuals designated by the instructor or instructors to assist with the creation, modification or operation of the course, and with the institution or institutions with which they are affiliated. Also, we may archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you, where we are legally entitled to do so.
  • Identity Verification. For services that require identity verification, we use the Personally Identifiable Information that we collect for verifying your identity, and for authenticating that submissions made on the Site were made by you. This service may be provided through a third-party identity verification vendor. Your photo identification document will be deleted after successful verification of your profile information.
  • Communications with or from Cerezos. When you send us an email message or otherwise contact us, we may use the information provided by you to respond to your communication and/or as described in this Privacy Policy. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you where we are legally entitled to do so. Where we send you emails, we may track the way that you interact with these emails (such as when you open an email or click on a link inside an email). We use this information for the purposes of optimizing and better tailoring our communications to you.
  • Communications with Cerezos Business Partners. We may share your Personally Identifiable Information with University partners and other business partners of Cerezos so that Cerezos University partners and other business partners may share information about their products and services that may be of interest to you where they are legally entitled to do so.
  • Research. We may share general course data (including quiz or assignment submissions, grades, and forum discussions), information about your activity on our Site, and demographic data from surveys operated by us with our University partners and other business partners so that our University partners and other business partners may use the data for research related to online education.
  • Disclosure to Cerezos Operations and Maintenance Contractors. We use various service providers, vendors and contractors (collectively, “Contractors”) to assist us in providing our products and services to you. Our Contractors may have limited access to your Personally Identifiable Information in the course of providing their products or services to us, so that we in turn can provide our products and services to you. These Contractors may include vendors and suppliers that provide us with technology, services, and/or content related to the operation and maintenance of the Site or the Online Course. Access to your Personally Identifiable Information by these contractors is limited to the information reasonably necessary for the contractor to perform its limited function for us.
  • Government Authorities, Legal Rights and Actions. Cerezos may share your Personally Identifiable Information with various government authorities in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process; to establish or exercise our legal rights or to protect our property; to defend against legal claims; or as otherwise required by law. In such cases we reserve the right to raise or waive any legal objection or right available to us. We also may share your Personally Identifiable Information when we believe it is appropriate to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal or suspected illegal activities; to protect and defend the rights, property, or safety of Cerezos, the Site, our users, customers, or others; and in connection with our Terms of Use and other agreements.
  • Disclosure to Acquirers. Cerezos may disclose and/or transfer your Personally Identifiable Information to an acquirer, assignee or other successor entity in connection with a sale, merger, or reorganization of all or substantially all of the equity, business or assets of Cerezos to which your Personally Identifiable Information relates.
  • e-Readers. If we receive any Personally Identifiable Information related to the extent to which you use designated e-Readers to access Cerezos materials, we may archive it, and use it for research, business, or other purposes.

External Links

For your convenience we may provide links to sites operated by organizations other than Cerezos (“Third Party Sites”) that we believe may be of interest to you. We do not disclose your Personally Identifiable Information to these Third Party Sites without obtaining your consent. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the privacy practices of these Third Party Sites. If you choose to click on a link to one of these Third Party Sites, you should review the privacy policy posted on the other site to understand how that Third Party Site collects and uses your Personally Identifiable Information.

Retention of Personally Identifiable Information

If you reside or are located in the EEA, we keep your Personally Identifiable Information for no longer than necessary for the purposes for which the Personally Identifiable Information is processed. The length of time we retain Personally Identifiable Information for depends on the purposes for which we collect and use it and/or as required to comply with applicable laws and to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights.

Confidentiality & Security of Personally Identifiable Information

We consider the confidentiality and security of your information to be of the utmost importance. We will use industry standard physical, technical and administrative security measures to keep your Personally Identifiable Information confidential and secure and will not share it with third parties, except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Policy, or unless such disclosure is necessary in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others, as permitted by applicable law. Because the Internet is not a 100% secure environment we cannot guarantee the security of Personally Identifiable Information, and there is some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way to circumvent our security systems or that transmission of your information over the Internet will be intercepted. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your login information. Please note that e-mails communications are typically not encrypted and should not be considered secure.

Updating or Deleting Your Personally Identifiable Information

You have certain rights in relation to your Personally Identifiable Information. You can access your Personally Identifiable Information and confirm that it remains correct and up-to-date or choose whether or not you wish to receive material from us or some of our partners by logging into the Site and visiting your user account page.

If you would like further information in relation to your rights or would like to exercise any of them, you may also contact us via cherezos.org@gmail.com. If you reside or are located in the EEA, you have the right to request that we:

  • provide access to any Personally Identifiable Information we hold about you;
  • prevent the processing of your Personally Identifiable Information for direct-marketing purposes;
  • update any Personally Identifiable Information which is out of date or incorrect;
  • delete any Personally Identifiable Information which we are holding about you;
  • restrict the way that we process your Personally Identifiable Information;
  • provide your Personally Identifiable Information to a third party provider of services; or
  • provide you with a copy of any Personally Identifiable Information which we hold about you.

We try to answer every email promptly where possible, and provide our response within the time period stated by applicable law. Keep in mind, however, that there will be residual information that will remain within our databases, access logs and other records, which may or may not contain your Personally Identifiable Information. Please also note that certain Personally Identifiable Information may be exempt from such requests in certain circumstances, which may include if we need to keep processing your Personally Identifiable Information to comply with a legal obligation.

When you email us with a request, we may ask that you provide us with information necessary to confirm your identity.

Questions, Suggestions and Complaints

If you have any privacy-related questions, suggestions, unresolved problems, or complaints you may contact us via cerezos.org@gmail.com.