Privacy Policy

In this Policy, references to “we,” “us,” or “World Classrooms” are references to American Connections, Inc.
World Classrooms will have access to information on individuals covered by this Policy.

 

PURPOSE

At World Classrooms, we are committed to maintaining strong and meaningful privacy protections for our customers. This privacy policy describes World Classrooms practices regarding personally identifiable information (“Personal Information”) that we:

  1. collect from you, or that you provide or make available to us, when you make a booking with us, use our websites, or use our social media pages (our “Platforms”);
  2. collect from third parties including, advertising and business partners, data providers etc;
  3. collect automatically from your computer or mobile device, including IP address, browser type etc or through use of cookies or similar tracking technologies on the Platforms or third party platforms.

We will only collect and use your Personal Information where we have lawful grounds and legitimate business reasons to do so.

 

Collection and Usage of Personal Information

In General. We receive and store information about you when you:

  1. visit our Platforms;
  2. visit third party platforms;
  3. open or respond to our emails;
  4. contact customer service or use support tools;
  5. visit any page that displays our ads or content;
  6. purchase programs or services on our Platforms;
  7. connect or link to any Platform via social networking sites;
  8. post comments to online communities; and/or
  9. provide information to our suppliers, advertising and business partners.

Personal Information collected may include:

  1. first and last name;
  2. telephone number;
  3. postal address;
  4. email addresses;
  5. gender;
  6. data of birth;
  7. passport number;
  8. government identification number; and
  9. billing information (such as credit card number, cardholder name, and expiration date).

We may also request information regarding your insurance and medical coverage options, hotel room preferences, etc. You can choose not to provide Personal Information to us, but, in general some Personal Information about you is required in order for you to:  register for our programs; book travel; complete a program profile; ask us a question; or initiate other transactions on the Platforms.

You may also provide us with special categories of Personal Information, including information about any relevant medical conditions, diseases or disabilities you may have and which we need to enable us to meet your particular needs in relation to the booking. We will only collect and use these special categories of Personal Information with your explicit consent and for limited purposes which will be explained to you.

We may also use your personal data to help us personalize our offerings to you.

Automatic Information

We automatically collect some information about your computer when you visit our, or other, Platforms. For example, we may collect information about your IP address, web browser, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), referring and exit pages, operating systems, date/time stamps, number of clicks to analyze trends, etc.  This information is used to administer the Platforms, track user movements and gather information about referring websites. We also may collect information about your online activity, such as programs viewed and registrations completed.  This automatic information is used only on an aggregated, anonymous basis and is not used with, or linked to, any personally identifiable information.

 

How We Share Your Information

We share your information with or for:

Suppliers

We share your Personal Information, only when necessary, with hotel, airline, coach & bus, car rental, medical and activity providers, to fulfill your program requirements and reservations.  By enrolling in our programs, through any Platform, you are authorizing us to disclose to our suppliers the information required to complete the program requested and fulfill related requirements.  We do not control the privacy practices of suppliers.

Third Party Vendors

We share your information with third party vendors who provide services or functions on our behalf.  These third party vendors include credit card processing companies, business analytics platforms, and fraud prevention firms. We may also authorize third party vendors to collect information on our behalf as necessary to operate features of our Platforms. We have appropriate privacy safeguards in place with third party vendors who are providing services or functions on our behalf.

Please note that third party vendors, such as hotels, airlines, and other travel partners, may have access to and collect your personal information to perform their own functions and deliver their own services. We do not control these additional practices of third party vendors – please refer to the third parties own privacy notices for information about how they treat your Personal Information.

Sale of Personal Information

We do not sell, rent, or share Personal Information we collect directly from you or about you with third party Advertisers for their own marketing purposes.

Future Business Transactions

In the event our ownership would change, we may transfer your Personal Information as part of a merger, sale of assets, acquisition, etc.

Surveys and Promotions

World Classrooms may conduct surveys and promotions on our Platforms that collect your Personal Information.  Our surveys and promotions are voluntary and any information you provide may be collected, used, shared, disclosed, stored, transferred and processed in accordance with this policy.

Legal Requirements

World Classrooms may be required to disclose personal data to the authorities, law enforcement agencies, government agencies, or legal entities. We may disclose information by law, litigation, or as a matter of national security to: a) comply with valid legal process including subpoenas, court orders or search warrants, and as otherwise authorized by law b) in the event of an emergency that threatens an individual’s life, health, or security; or c) to the extent permitted by applicable law in special cases in which we believe it is reasonably necessary to investigate, identify, or take preventive measures or bring legal action against someone who may commit or cause harm, fraud, abuse, or illegal conduct, such as a threat of harm to you or anyone else, interference with our rights or property, or interference with U.S. homeland or national security or public safety anywhere in the world.

 

Protecting Your Information

We want you to feel confident about using our Platforms to register in our programs and make travel arrangements.  We are committed to protecting the Personal Information we collect. While no Platform can guarantee security, we use commercially reasonable physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to assist us in preventing unauthorized access, use and disclosure of your Personal Information.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

World Classrooms may use cookies and tracking technologies for the following purposes when you visit our Platforms:

  1. To track new visitors to our Platforms;
  2. To operate, maintain and improve our Platforms;
  3. To facilitate and fulfill travel program requirements and services requests;
  4. To help us recognize your browser as a previous visitor. This includes saving and remembering any preferences that may have been set while your browser was visiting the our Platforms, such as language preferences;
  5. To store your username and password if you are registered with us;

In addition, we and third parties may also collect and store your Personal Information via web beacons, remarketing pixel tags, and Flash cookies which are placed in the code of a web page or email or which access your browsing activity. Where cookie technologies may not be available (for example in mobile applications), World Classrooms may use technologies that perform functions similar to cookies that link identifiers used for advertising on mobile applications to an advertising cookie to coordinate ads across your mobile apps and mobile browser.

Opting Out of Cookies

We provide you with choices regarding cookies and tracking technologies.  The Help portion of the toolbar on most browsers will tell you how to prevent your browser from accepting new cookies, how to have the browser notify you when you receive a new cookie, or how to disable cookies altogether.

Please keep in mind that, without cookies, you may not have access to certain features on our Platforms, including access to your profile or account and certain personalized content. Removing all cookies from your computer could also affect your subsequent visits to certain Platforms by requiring that, for example, you enter your login name when you return.

If you would like to opt-out cookies, here are some options:

If you would like to opt-out of ad targeting cookies set by Google, Doubleclick and similar Platforms, please click here: Google opt-out: https://support.google.com/ads/answer/2662922?hl=en

In order to control the collection of data for analytical purposes by Google Analytics, you may want to visit the following link: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Managing “Do Not Track” Signals

Some browsers have a Do Not Track (“DNT”) feature that lets you tell websites that you do not want to have your online activities tracked. When you choose to turn on the DNT setting in your browser, your browser sends a special signal to websites, analytics companies, ad networks, plug in providers, and other web services you encounter while browsing to stop tracking your activity via cookies or other tracking technologies.  For information regarding DNT and how to enable this setting, if available, on your devices please see https://allaboutdnt.com.  Our Platforms do not respond to DNT signals at this time.

Email Notifications

To respect the privacy of our users, we will only contact you with marketing information and offers relating to our products or services where you have told us that you are happy to receive such information. You will be given the opportunity to opt in to receiving certain types of communication when you register with us, book a trip with us or otherwise provide us with your Personal Information. If you have opted-in, you can still choose not to receive commercial emails from us by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in the commercial emails we send you. You may also email us directly at info@worldclassrooms.com at any time if you would like to unsubscribe from our email service. Please note that even if you do not opt in to receiving commercial email messages, or you opt in but subsequently choose to opt out, we may still email you regarding your account and your transactions.

Using Mobile and Other Devices

World Classrooms may collect your Personal Information, e.g., your email address, or data passively collected from you such as your device identifier or IP address.

You can manage how your mobile device and mobile browser share information with the Platforms, as well as how your mobile browser handles cookies, by adjusting the privacy and security settings on your device. Please refer to instructions provided by your mobile service provider or the manufacturer of your device to learn how to adjust your settings.

Text Messaging and Alerts – Opting In and Out

Our mobile Platforms may give you the choice to opt-in to receiving text messages and alerts on the mobile phone number(s) you have shared with us. Once you have opted-in, we may send you text messages (i) regarding your account; (ii) to investigate or prevent fraud; and (iii) to alert you in the event of an emergency.  We may send you text messages and alerts using autodialed technology.  We will not contact you via text messages or alerts for marketing purposes without your prior express written consent.  You do not have to opt-in to text messages and alerts to use and enjoy our Platforms and services.  If you opt-in, standard text messaging charges may apply.  For more information regarding our text messaging and alerts, please contact us at info@worldclassrooms.com

You may choose to opt-out from our text messages and alerts at any time.  Please follow the steps set out in the text message to opt-out and we will unsubscribe you from text communications.  You may also email us directly at info@worldclassrooms.com at any time if you would like to unsubscribe.  Once you opt-out, you will not receive any additional text messages via your mobile phone.  Please keep in mind that if you opt-out of receiving text messages and alerts we may not be able to contact you with important messages regarding your account.  However, if there is an emergency or account question, we will make every attempt to contact you in other ways such as by email or on a secondary phone number.

Storing Your Information and Security

We will use and store your Personal Information only for as long as necessary, bearing in mind the uses of your Personal Information as described in this privacy policy and otherwise communicated to you, and any mandatory legal requirements governing storage and reporting of information which we are subject to.

We review the Personal Information we hold at regular intervals and delete permanently or anonymize any Personal Information which is no longer necessary.

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure that your Personal Information is kept in a secure environment and access to it is restricted to a ‘need to know’ basis.

 

Your Access To and Control Over Your Information

You can inquire as to your Personal Information, ask the following questions, or take the following actions by contacting us via email at info@worldclassrooms.com or via the address or phone number given on our Platforms to:

  1. See what Personal Information we have about you (if any), including why we are holding it and who it could be disclosed to;
  2. Ask us to change/correct any Personal Information we have about you;
  3. Ask us to delete any Personal Information we have about you;
  4. Ask us to restrict the processing of your Personal Information;
  5. Express any concerns you have about our use of your Personal Information.

If you choose not to provide certain information, or ask us to delete or restrict the use of your Personal Information, some of the services we provide to you may be affected, and in some cases, we may be unable to deliver the services you have requested.

Information Submitted by Children

We only collect Personal Information from children under 13 after verifiable parental consent has been obtained in accordance with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).

Your California Privacy Rights

As provided by California Civil Code Section 1798.83, a California resident who has provided Personal Information to a business with whom they have established a business relationship for personal, family, or household purposes (“California customer”) is entitled to request information about whether the business has disclosed Personal Information to any third parties for the third parties’ direct marketing purposes. In general, if the business has made such a disclosure of Information, upon receipt of a request by a California customer, the business is required to provide a list of all third parties to whom Information was disclosed in the preceding calendar year, as well as a list of the categories of Information that were collected and/or disclosed. To request such information, please submit your request by email to info@worldclassrooms.com, or in writing to World Classrooms, Attn: California Shine the Light Inquiry, 14 S Main St Ste 200, Aberdeen, South Dakota 57401.  Please allow 30 days for a response. Please note that we are only required to respond to one request per customer each year and you will not be charged for this request.

If you are a California resident, who is a registered user of the Platforms and is a minor, you may remove, or request removal of, content or information that you posted on the Platforms, unless: (i) the content or information was posted by a 3rd party, (ii) any other provision of state or federal law requires World Classrooms or a 3rd party to maintain the content or information, (iii) World Classrooms anonymizes the content or information, or (iv) you received compensation from World Classrooms for providing the content or information.  To request removal of information or content that you posted, please e-mail info@worldclassrooms.com.  Please note that the removal described does not ensure complete or comprehensive removal of the content or information that you post, as content or information may be cached in backup files or other storage. World Classrooms will make all reasonable efforts to honor any removal request made as described in this paragraph.

If you would like to review and/or change your Personal Information retained by World Classrooms please see the section above “Your Access to and Control over Information.” If you have questions regarding the process to review and/or change your Personal Information please email us at info@worldclassrooms.com.

California and other customers may request further information about our compliance with this law by emailing World Classrooms at info@worldclassrooms.com.

Changes to Privacy Policy

Any material changes to this policy will be posted on our webpage to keep you aware of what Personal Information is collected, how it is used, and under what circumstances it will be shared.  It is your responsibility to review World Classroom’s Privacy Policy each time you provide Personal Information to us as the policy may have changed since the last time you used our Platforms.

How You Can Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy (or your program registrations or travel planning) please email us at info@worldclassrooms.com or contact us at our toll-free customer service line at 1-800-275-3980.