This Open Lectures Privacy Policy explains which information is collected by Open Lectures LLC (“Open Lectures”), how it is collected, for what purposes it is used, and what options the user has.
The following information may be used to provide a better user experience, improve platform features, support personalized advertising, and enable advertising through social media.
This information may be shared with service providers, Open Lectures partners, analytics teams, data development groups, and companies supporting social media platforms and surveys.
At Open Lectures, we collect the following information from the openlectures.com website, Open Lectures mobile application, and other online platforms where Open Lectures provides content (“Platform”):
Personal Data
Definition
Account Data
To use certain features, you need to create a user account, which requires us to collect and store your email address, password, and account settings. To create an instructor account, we collect and store your name, surname, email address, password, institution*, department*, country/city/state, website*, photo, resume, and your target audience. To create a participant account, we collect and store your email address and password.
(*Optional information.)
Profile Data
You may also choose to provide profile information such as a photo, title, biography, language, website link, social media profiles, country, or other data. Your profile data will be generally visible to other users.
Shared Content
The platform allows you to interact with other users or make your content public. This includes activities such as uploading educational courses, providing content reviews, asking or answering questions, communicating with participants and instructors, and sharing images or other works. The visibility of such content depends on where it is placed.
Learning Data
When you access content, we collect specific data, including which courses, live and recorded videos, assignments, labs, workspaces, and exams you start and complete, your content and course purchases, subscriptions, completion certificates, communications with instructors and other students, your responses to questions, the time spent on the platform, and other items provided to meet course and content requirements.
Student Payment Data
If you make a purchase, we collect certain purchase data necessary to process your order, such as your name, billing address, and postal code, and we may store this information for future orders. Some payment and billing data, such as your name, credit card information, billing address, and postal code, must be provided directly to our payment service providers. We may also receive limited information from payment service providers, such as a new card's last four digits to facilitate payments. For security reasons, Open Lectures does not collect or store sensitive cardholder data, full credit card numbers, or card verification data.
Instructor Payment Data
If you are an instructor, you have the option to link a payment service provider of your choice to the Platform to receive payments. To facilitate this, we collect and use certain data, such as your payment account's email address, account ID, physical address, and other key details, to direct payments to you. To comply with legal regulations, we work with reputable third parties to collect tax-related data as required by law. This may include details about your residency, tax identification numbers, and other tax-related information. For security purposes, Open Lectures avoids collecting or storing confidential bank details. The processing and sharing of your payment, billing, and tax data is governed by your payment service provider's privacy policies and terms.
Sweepstakes, Promotions, and Surveys
We may ask you to participate in a survey or promotion, either through the Platform or another platform. If you choose to participate, we will collect and store the information you share, such as your name, email address, address, date of birth, or phone number. Unless otherwise specified in the official rules or a different privacy statement, this information is processed according to our Privacy Policy. The data collected helps us manage the survey or promotion, including notifying winners and distributing prizes. To claim a prize, we may need to publicly disclose some of your details (e.g., on a winner's list).
Communication and Support
When you contact us for assistance or to report an issue (even if you have not created an account), we collect and store your contact details, communication, and relevant information such as your name, email address, messages, location, Open Lectures user ID, return transaction details, and other relevant data. We use this information to respond to your inquiries and address your concerns in accordance with this Privacy Policy.
Personal information such as your name, date of birth, gender, and relationship status, as well as your actions within the application, are also recorded when using the Platform.
How do we use the collected information?
We use the aggregated anonymous information collected to understand internet connection experiences and network quality, based on specific times, locations, and data usage, in order to improve mobile operators' data services and market application services as described in the usage terms.
We also use the personal information and actions you input while using the Platform to prepare and improve the services offered by the Platform. Open Lectures may use the recorded data for advertising, promotion, notices, and announcements, either for itself or others. The recorded data may also be used by us or shared with third parties, provided it is anonymized.
How do we use aggregated information?
We may use anonymous, statistical, or aggregated information for commercial and statistical purposes, to create new services and features, and to improve service quality in order to enhance your internet connection experience. This information may be used with partners or third parties but does not include your personal data.
Personal data belonging to the user may be processed and stored within the scope and duration required for the purposes outlined in the Open Lectures Privacy Policy, provided the user gives consent for the use of their personal information, in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Protection of Personal Data No. 6698.
Your IP address is used to ensure the continuous operation, management, and troubleshooting of the Platform and our servers. Your IP address is also used to identify you.
Information collected by Open Lectures is stored in a secure environment that is not publicly accessible. Open Lectures uses all industry-standard precautions and practices to protect this data, though no guarantees are provided regarding security.
Due to the nature of the internet, certain information may circulate online without sufficient security measures and may be intercepted and used by unauthorized persons. Open Lectures is not responsible for such use or any resulting damages.
The Platform declares that member information will be kept confidential, except in cases of official requests from legal authorities, to protect Open Lectures' rights, or in situations accepted in the membership agreement. The Platform may analyze users' information and transactions to improve services and manage communications.
The Open Lectures membership agreement is in effect from the moment of its approval by the member. Open Lectures may unilaterally change or cancel this agreement at any time. If the membership agreement is amended or canceled, it will be made publicly available on the Platform.
Withdrawal/Cancellation
You can stop sharing your personal data whenever you want. If you choose to do so, you can turn off data sharing from the Platform's Settings page. When you turn off data sharing, you can continue using the Platform as usual. In this case, no personal information other than what is necessary for the services provided by the Platform will be collected from you.
Individuals Who Can Access Personal Information
Any personally identifiable information will not be sold, rented, or shared with any company, organization, or individuals outside the company, except for the purpose of fulfilling the contractual relationship between the parties. Only Open Lectures and its partners, who provide services to you as mentioned above, will have access to this information.
Data Retention
Information collected from your device is stored anonymously on secure cloud servers. This information may be reviewed, retained, and disclosed to authorities in compliance with the law, based on requests from legislative and executive bodies, or court/prosecutor's office orders.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
The privacy policy may change. All changes will be updated on this privacy policy page, and the date of the last change will be noted at the top of the page. Therefore, you can ensure that this page is up to date.
Contact
For comments and questions regarding the Privacy Policy, you can reach out at: mail@openlectures.com
