FlashCarding Privacy Policy

FlashCarding is a project developed and maintained by Isaac Berger. You can contact me regarding data privacy matters at support@flashcarding.io. I am committed to protecting your personal data and complying with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Topics:

1. What data do we collect?
2. How do we collect your data?
3. How will we use your data?
4. How do we store your data?
5. Data Retention
6. Marketing
7. What are your data protection rights?
8. What are cookies?
9. How do we use cookies?
10. What types of cookies do we use?
11. How to manage cookies
12. Privacy policies of other websites
13. Children’s privacy
14. Changes to our privacy policy
15. How to contact us
16. How to contact the appropriate authority

1. What data do we collect?

We collect the following categories of personal data:

• Personal Identification Information: When you register, we collect your name and email address.
• Learning Data: This includes the language learning materials you create or import into the app, such as any decks you create, any texts you import, or the words you are learning. It also includes your learning history, which encompasses your interactions with the app’s features and your progress in learning activities like completing flashcards or reading texts.
• Technical Data: When you use our app, our servers automatically collect certain information, including your IP address, browser type and version, operating system, referring website, pages you viewed, and the dates/times of your visits.
• Authentication Data: If you choose to create an account directly with FlashCarding, we store your password in a securely encrypted format. If you use Google Sign-In, we receive your name and email address from Google, as provided in your Google account settings.

2. How do we collect your data?

We collect data through the following means:

• Direct Interactions: You directly provide us with most of the data we collect. This happens when you:
  • Register online.
  • Voluntarily contact us via the contact form available on our website at https://flashcarding.io/contact or by sending us an email.
  • Voluntarily report an issue or provide feedback as a logged-in user from the Feedback tab in the Account page.
  • Import texts into the app from a file, a link, or from plain text input. (files are never retained)
• Automated Technologies or Interactions: As you use our website and app, we may automatically collect Technical Data through the use of cookies and similar technologies.
• Third Parties: We receive data indirectly from the following source:
  • Google Sign-In: If you choose to sign in with your Google account, Google provides us with your name and email address.

3. How will we use your data?

We collect and process your data for the following purposes:

• Providing the Language Learning Service: This is the primary purpose for which we collect your data. We use your data to:
  • Create and manage your user account.
  • Store and display your learning materials (decks, texts).
  • Provide vocabulary and grammar annotations on the texts you import.
  • Track the vocabulary you encounter across your learning activities.
  • Track your learning progress and provide usage statistics.
• Communication and Support: To respond to your inquiries, provide customer support, and communicate important updates about the app.
• Improving and Developing the App: We may use anonymized and aggregated data to understand how users interact with the app, identify areas for improvement, and develop new features.

4. How do we store your data?

Your personal data is securely stored on Google Cloud Platform servers located in Belgium. Essentially, all personal data is stored in European data centers and never leaves them.

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal data from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. These measures include:

• Encryption of data at rest and in transit.
• Restricted access to personal data to authorized personnel only.
• Regular security assessments and updates to our systems.
• Secure environment for our database with no external IP directly exposed to the internet.

5. Data Retention

We will retain your personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements.

To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Specifically, we retain your data as follows:

• Account Information (name, email): We will keep this data for as long as your account is active. After you delete your account, we will retain this information for a period of one (1) year to allow for account reactivation or to address any potential issues.
• Learning Data (decks, vocabulary, imported texts, learning history): We will keep this data for as long as your account is active. After you delete your account, we will retain this information for a period of six (6) months. [Anonymized data or data you have interacted with may still be kept‘
• Technical Data (server logs): We typically retain server logs for a period of 90 days for security and debugging purposes.

Once the applicable retention period expires, we will securely delete your personal data from our active systems. Data in backups will be deleted according to our backup retention schedule. We may retain anonymized or aggregated data indefinitely for statistical and research purposes.

6. Marketing

We may send you information about our own products and services that we think you might find interesting and beneficial for your language learning journey.

If you have agreed to receive marketing communications, you may always opt out at a later date.

You have the right at any time to stop us from contacting you for marketing purposes. If you no longer wish to be contacted for marketing purposes, please contact us at support@flashcarding.io

7. What are your data protection rights?

We want to ensure you are fully aware of all of your data protection rights. Every user is entitled to the following:

• The right to access: You have the right to request copies of your personal data from us. You can request such copies by contacting us at support@flashcarding.io.
• The right to rectification: You have the right to request that we correct any information you believe is inaccurate. You also have the right to request that we complete the information you believe is incomplete.
• The right to erasure: You have the right to request that we erase your personal data, under certain conditions, such as when the data is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected, or if you withdraw your consent.
• The right to restrict processing: You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal data, under certain conditions, such as while we are verifying the accuracy of your data or if the processing is unlawful.
• The right to object to processing: You have the right to object to our processing of your personal data, under certain conditions, such as processing based on our legitimate interests or for direct marketing purposes.
• The right to data portability: You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions. This right applies to personal data you have provided to us which we process based on your consent or for the performance of a contract, and the processing is carried out by automated means.

If you make a request, we will respond to you within one (1) month. If you would like to exercise any of these rights, please contact us at our email: support@flashcarding.io

8. Cookies

Cookies are text files placed on your computer to collect standard Internet log information and visitor behavior information. When you visit our website, we may collect information from you automatically through cookies or similar technology.

For further information, visit https://allaboutcookies.org

9. How do we use cookies?

We use cookies in a range of ways to improve your experience on our website, including:

• Keeping you signed in.
• Understanding how you use our website.

10. What types of cookies do we use?

Our website uses only functionality cookies:

• Functionality: We use these cookies so that we recognize you on our website and remember your previously selected preferences. These could include what language you prefer and your location. A mix of first-party and third-party cookies may be used for this purpose.

11. How to manage cookies

You can configure your browser not to accept cookies, and the website https://allaboutcookies.org tells you how to remove cookies from your browser. However, some of our website features may not function as expected as a result.

12. Privacy policies of other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites. Our privacy policy applies only to our website, so if you click on a link to another website, you should read their privacy policy.

13. Children’s privacy

We do not address anyone under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from anyone under the age of 13.

14. Changes to our privacy policy

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and will place any updates on this web page. This privacy policy was last updated on 20 January 2025.

15. How to contact us

If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the data we hold on you, or you would like to exercise one of your data protection rights, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Email us at: support@flashcarding.io

16. How to contact the appropriate authority

Should you wish to report a complaint or if you feel that we have not addressed your concern in a satisfactory manner, you may contact the Spanish Data Protection Agency (Agencia Española de Protección de Datos - AEPD).

Email: dpd@agpd.es
Address: C/ Jorge Juan, 6, 28001 Madrid, Spain
Phone: +34 900 293 183
Website: https://www.aepd.es

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority in your country of residence.