Privacy Policy of the International Institute of Online Education Platform

Introduction

Welcome to the International Institute of Online Education (hereinafter referred to as “IIOE”) platform!

The International Institute of Online Education platform refers to the website and related client applications under the name “IIOE” or “ICHEI”, which are affiliated with the International Centre for Higher Education Innovation under the auspices of UNESCO (Shenzhen, China) (hereinafter referred to as “UNESCO-ICHEI” or “we”). 

UNESCO-ICHEI makes it a fundamental policy to protect user privacy. When you use the functions of the IIOE platform, we may collect and use your relevant information. This Privacy Policy will explain to you how we collect, use, store, share and process this information.

This Privacy Policy is closely related to your use of the functions of the IIOE platform. Please read and fully understand the entire contents of this Privacy Policy before using these functions. Highlights have been marked in bold for your special attention, so that you can make the choices you deem appropriate. By using or continuing to use the functions of the IIOE platform, you have agreed to our use and processing of your relevant information in accordance with this policy. 

UNESCO-ICHEI will try to use easy-to-understand expressions of relevant terms that may be involved in this Privacy Policy so that you can better understand them. In particular, please note the contents in bold or underlined, which are significantly related to your rights and interests. By using or continuing to use the IIOE platform after this Privacy Policy has been updated, you have agreed to the contents of this Privacy Policy and our collection, use, storage, sharing and processing of your relevant information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. 

You should understand that we will collect, use, store, share and process your personal information according to the updated policy only if you confirm and agree to the updated Privacy Policy of the International Institute of Online Education Platform. You have the right to disagree with the updated policy, but please be aware that if you refuse to agree to the updated policy, you may not be able to fully use or continue to fully use the relevant functions of the IIOE platform or achieve the intended effect. 

UNESCO-ICHEI attaches great importance to the protection of personal information and will do our utmost to protect your personal information. 

We suggest that you read this Privacy Policy carefully to help you better protect your rights. If you have any questions or suggestions about this Privacy Policy, you may contact us through the contact information provided in the “Contact us” section of this Privacy Policy.

Contents

1. How we collect and use your personal information

2. How we use cookies and similar technologies

3. How we share and publicly disclose your personal information

4. How we store and protect personal information

5. How you can manage your personal information

6. Application, revision and notification of this policy

7. Information protection for minors

8. List of third-party information sharing

9. Definition of terms

10. Contact us

To ensure the normal operation of various functions of the IIOE platform, and to continuously improve and optimize them, UNESCO-ICHEI will collect and use the personal information that you voluntarily provide when using the IIOE platform or that is generated by the use of relevant functions according to the principles of legality, legitimacy and necessity. Your personal information we need to or may collect and use includes the following two types: 

(1) Necessary information you must authorize us to collect and use to help you use the functions of the IIOE platform normally. If you refuse to provide the corresponding information, you will not be able to use the relevant functions normally; 

(2) The information that you can optionally authorize us to collect and use to provide you with the non-core functions of IIOE platform. If you refuse to provide it, you will not be able to use the relevant non-core functions normally or achieve the functional effect we intend to achieve, but you can still use the basic functions of the IIOE platform normally. 

You understand and agree that: 

(1) We are committed to creating diverse functions. Therefore, the type and scope of personal information collected and used may vary in different scenarios. Please refer to the specific function;

(2) We are constantly striving to improve our technology. As a result, we may introduce new or optimized functions from time to time, for which we may need to collect and use new personal information or change the purpose or method of using personal information. Accordingly, we will separately explain to you the collection purpose, scope and usage of the corresponding information by updating this Privacy Policy and by means of announcements, private messages, emails, pop-up windows, page prompts, etc. Meanwhile, we will provide you with the option to choose whether to agree or not and collect and use your personal information after obtaining your express consent. During this process, you have the right to disagree with the updates to this policy. However, you should know and understand that once you refuse our collection and processing of your personal information, which is necessary to implement the updated functions, we may fail to provide you with the updated functions or achieve the intended effect of functional updates, but you can still use the original basic functions normally. 

The following will inform you of the types of personal information necessary for each function, and you will be prompted with the permissions to be authorized when you use specific functions: 

List of personal information collected:

(1) User registration: Email address, name, platform password, organization, primary language, organization invitation code. Purpose: Management and maintenance of user’s basic information. 

(2) Basic information modification: Country. Purpose: Count the number of users of the platform by country

(3) First login: User gender, tag. Purpose: Identify user gender and classify user preferences

1.1 Registration, login and authentication

You should register as a user of the IIOE platform before using the functions of the platform. When you register, you need to provide your email address to UNESCO-ICHEI at least, and it’s optional for you to provide your name, organization, common language, organization invitation code and platform password to UNESCO-ICHEI;

The email address you provide is used for your registration, login, account binding and receiving verification code, and as your designated contact information with UNESCO-ICHEI for receiving relevant notifications.

The email address and name you provide will be used as your user account for subsequent use of the IIOE platform and as user identification credentials for logging in to the IIOE platform. 

You can also set a login password for your account, which is not required necessarily. You have the option to use email authentication to log in. 

When you complete the registration and obtain an IIOE platform account by providing the above information, you need to provide at least your gender and tag to UNESCO-ICHEI during your first login. The gender and tag information you provide will be used by UNESCO-ICHEI to identify the user’s gender and classify user preferences respectively.

The email address, name, platform password, organization, common language and organization invitation code you provide will be used by UNESCO-ICHEI to manage and maintain the user’s basic information; 

If you need to log out and log in again, please enter your name or email address first, and then enter the login password you set at the time of registration or choose to receive email verification code to log in. 

When you need to retrieve your password, please provide the email address you registered with and the verification code received by this email address to verify your identity. After passing the verification, you need to set a new password to replace the old one so that you can use the username and password to log in next time. 

1.2 Active authorization

In some scenarios, users may actively provide personal information to the IIOE platform to access more complete functionality, and the platform will set information submission portal in corresponding functions. If you do not provide the required information, you can still use other related functions normally, and only the corresponding functions may not be available or may not achieve the intended effect. For example: 

(1) Personalization based on location. IIOE platform will collect your precise geographical location information to determine your location and notify you of events in the corresponding region. 

(2) Personalization based on writing and reading external memory. IIOE platform will read photos, media content and files on the your device, or write photos, media content and files to your device to meet the your needs for publishing and accessing photos, media content and files. 

(3) Personalization based on recording and shooting. IIOE platform will use microphone to record audio and camera to take photos and videos to meet your needs to publish pictures and videos. 

(4) Other individual functions that ask for your permission to collect and use personal information displayed on the IIOE platform applications or web pages. 

(5) To identify your device ID, prevent malicious programs and cheating, improve functional security, and ensure operational quality and efficiency, we will collect your device information (including IMEI, Android ID and MAC address).

The above functions may require you to enable the appropriate access rights for the IIOE platform on your device. You can decide whether to enable or disable these permissions at any time if your device/operating system supports it. Once you have enabled relevant permissions or submitted relevant information, you are deemed to have voluntarily authorized the IIOE platform to collect and use the above information. If you have disabled relevant permissions, it means that you have canceled the authorization, and the IIOE platform will no longer collect and use such personal information. Your decision to disable permissions does not affect previous processing of personal information based on your authorization. In particular, even if we have obtained these sensitive permissions with your authorization, we will not collect your information when it is not needed by relevant functions.

1.3 Exceptions to prior authorization or consent

(1) The information is related to national security and national defense security;

(2) The information is related to public security, public health, and major public interests;

(3) The information is directly related to criminal investigation, prosecution, trial and execution of judgments;

(4) The information is necessary for protecting your or other people’s life, property and other important legitimate rights and interests, but it is difficult to obtain your consent;

(5) The information collected is disclosed to the public by yourself;

(6) The information collected from lawfully disclosed information, such as lawful news reports, government information disclosure, and other sources;

(7) The information is necessary for maintaining the safe and stable operation of the functions of the IIOE platform, such as the detection and handling of functional failures;

(9) The information is related to our obligation to fulfill the provisions of applicable laws and regulations or respond to effective legal procedures;

(10) Other circumstances stipulated by laws and regulations.

1.4 Information release and interactive communication

When you register as an IIOE platform user and log in, you can enjoy the basic functions, including reading and browsing posts, courses, live broadcasts, albums, etc. published by other users or the platform, and publishing posts, comments, albums, etc. 

a. When you publish content, comment or register for interactive events, we will collect the information that you publish and display your nickname, avatar and published content.

b. When you use the functions of uploading pictures or publishing audio and video, you are requested to authorize the camera, photo and microphone permissions. If you refuse to enable these permissions, you will not be able to use such functions, but it will not affect your normal use of other functions. 

c. Users’ personal information may be collected by us as a result of their using the IIOE platform, for example, information published by other users may contain some of your information (such as information related to you in comments, messages, published pictures and text, audio and video) 

d. Interacting with other users include answering questions from other users, inviting other users to answer questions, sending private messages to other users, evaluating content published by other users (including likes, favorites and comments), and following other users. To ensure the security, stability and sustainability of the functions of the IIOE platform, we will collect your follow records information generated in this process and keep the content you publish. At the same time, to facilitate your viewing of the users and content you have followed, we will aggregate your follow records and show them to you in the “My” homepage. 

Please understand that according to the requirements of applicable laws and regulations, we will review the legality and compliance of your published text, uploaded pictures, audio and video, and will use these contents as evidence retained in the event of a user complaint. If you refuse to provide the above information, you will not be able to use corresponding functions. 

Special note: If the content you upload contains other people’s personal information, please ensure that you have obtained the authorization and consent of the subject of personal information.

1.5 Personalized push

In order to provide you with more appropriate activity information, we will collect your IP address after your authorization and consent as permitted by laws and regulations. 

If you do not want to receive message notifications, you can turn off the platform notifications in “Personal Center-Settings-Message Notifications”. 

1.6 Learning information

When you use the IIOE platform for course learning, we will record your learning information, including learning behavior data, scoring, learning time, voice and graphic communication information, favorites, sharing and discussion, etc. We collect this data to analyze the quality of courses and your learning performance. UNESCO-ICHEI will use this information for analysis and statistics to provide reference for functional optimization. 

1.7 Anonymized use of personal information

After collecting your personal information, UNESCO-ICHEI will anonymize the data through technical measures, and the anonymized information will not be able to identify the subject. Please understand and agree that in this case, we have the right to use the anonymized information, as well as to analyze the user database and use it for non-commercial purposes without disclosing your personal information.

1.8 Infringement complaint

When you submit an infringement complaint to us, we may require you to provide your necessary personal information to verify your identity.

To help you solve the problem as soon as possible or record the solutions and results of related problems, we may keep the communication records and related contents between you and us.

1.9 SDK or other similar applications involving the use of user information on the IIOE platform

Details are as follows:

2. How we use cookies and similar technologies

You understand and know that some functions of the IIOE platform are only available by using cookies or similar technologies. When you use the relevant functions, we may use cookies and similar technologies to collect some of your personal information, including your login information, so as to simplify the steps of your repeated operations (such as registration and login) and protect your information and account security. We will store small data files named cookies on your computer or mobile device. Cookies usually contain identifiers, site names, and some numbers and characters, which we use to determine whether a registered user has logged in. If you don’t want your personal information to be kept in cookies or refuse us to use cookies and similar technologies to collect and use your related information, you can, through the settings of your browser, manage, partially or completely disable cookies and/or similar technologies or clear all cookies and/or similar technologies saved on your computer, mobile device, or other devices, provided that your browser has that capability, so that we can’t track all or part of your personal information. If you disable or clear the cookies, in some cases, you may be repeatedly required to verify your identity or need to change the user settings yourself each time you visit our website. At the same time, you may not be able to use the related functions of the IIOE platform normally, or it may affect your information protection and account security to some extent.

3. How we share and publicly disclose your personal information

We promise to keep your personal information confidential. We will not share or publicly disclose your personal information to third parties except for the scenarios agreed in this policy, unless you have authorized and agreed in advance, or the shared personal information is the information that has been de-identified, and the shared third party cannot re-identify the natural person subject of such information. 

3.1 You understand and agree that we may need to share some of your information with some partners to make the necessary/reasonable functions available, exercise our rights or abide by laws and regulations. We promise to share only your necessary personal information. If your sensitive personal information is involved or the purpose of using and processing personal information is changed, we will seek your authorization and consent again. For the third party with which UNESCO-ICHEI shares your personal information, it will sign a confidentiality agreement with UNESCO-ICHEI. At the same time, UNESCO-ICHEI will evaluate its data security capabilities and environment, and require the third party to handle this information with strict confidentiality and security measures. Our partners include:

(1) Third-party SDK service providers or other similar applications described in Article 1.9 of this policy. Their collection and processing of information are subject to their own privacy policies and are not subject to this policy. To protect your information security to the greatest extent, we recommend that you read the privacy policy of any third-party SDK service provider or other similar application service before using it; 

(2) Software service providers, smart device providers or system service providers that jointly implement functions of the IIOE platform with UNESCO-ICHEI. 

3.2 UNESCO-ICHEI may share your personal information in the following circumstances: