TECHCONNECT PRIVACY POLICY
Effective July 2020
​
Welcome to the TechConnect website.
TechConnect is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization committed to providing free computer science education to today's youth to help them become more successful in a digital world. In addition, by providing these students with the tools they need to learn effectively, TechConnect ensures they continue to develop their potential and are not left behind as the world continues to innovate.
​
This Privacy Policy outlines the information we collect from you, how we store it and how it is used by TechConnect and its partners. Our overall objective is to use the information we collect to make our website a better place for everyone to advance their technology skills.
​
Information Collection and Use
You are able to browse and view much of the content on our website without providing any personally identifiable information unless you choose to provide such information to us. A user account is necessary to view the educational content contained on the website. The only information collected in order to establish a user account is an e-mail address and a username. Users will also be prompted to set their own password.
​
TechConnect does utilize various third parties to operate its website and those partners may collect and utilize information about your browsing activities as described herein.
Information we collect from you may be used by us to reach out to you and let you know about new developments on our website or to correspond with you regarding an inquiry you may have submitted to us directly or through one of our forms on the website.
​
TechConnect will not sell, share, or exchange information collected about you on our website with third parties.
Wix.com Platform
​
Our website is hosted on the Wix.com platform. Wix.com provides us with the servers that store our website content and act as our communication interface with you when you submit forms to us through the website. Information that you provide to us will be stored on servers operated by Wix.com. Wix.com stores data on secure servers behind a firewall. The handling of data by Wix.com is governed by the Wix.com privacy policy which can be viewed on their website at https://www.wix.com/about/privacy.
​
Donations
​
If you choose to make a donation to TechConnect, we will collect and store information about you and your donation in a secure environment. The information will not be released to third parties except where required by applicable law (for example required disclosures to the IRS or to the NJ Department of Charities).
​
TechConnect does not have access to your credit card information.
​
Donation payments are processed through gateways operated by our website partners Donorbox.org and stripe.com. Donorbox.org streamlines and facilitates our donation collection process and your donation information is stored on their servers for our records. The handling of your donation record is governed by the Donorbox.org privacy policy which can be viewed on their website at https://donorbox.org/privacy. Stripe.com processes your credit card payment and collects personal information including your credit card number to make that process possible. Stripe.com is one of the largest global e-payment processing companies and adheres to high security standards. The handling of payment data by stripe.com is governed by the stripe.com privacy policy which can be viewed on their website at https://stripe.com/privacy.
​
Grants
​
If you apply for a grant from TechConnect, we will collect and store the information you provide us in a secure environment. Your information will not be released to third parties except where required by applicable law (for example required disclosures to the IRS or to the NJ Department of Charities).
​
Forum
​
The forum is an online discussion area where registered members of the website are able to ask questions and share information and ideas. Your user profile and any posts made by you to the forum will be made visible to other users of our website. Tech Connect will periodically monitor the forum for inappropriate content and take action to remove such content and remove the user account responsible for any such content.
Cookies
​
Your use of our website may result in cookies being placed on your computer so you are identifiable for purposes of the Forums, Google Analytics, or simply to direct you to where you left off during your last visit. You may decline or delete these cookies by adjusting the settings in your own web browser.
Children
​
Children are free to use our website and post to the forum. TechConnect does not collect any information about the age of individuals browsing our website. Due to internet privacy restrictions, the establishment of a user account requires a certification that the user is at least 13 years of age. If we otherwise learn that we have inadvertently collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will delete the information as quickly as possible.
Google Analytics
TechConnect uses Google Analytics to collect information about your use of our website. Google Analytics collects certain information, such as how often you use our website, which pages you view and how long you view them for. TechConnect uses the information received from Google Analytics to improve our website. Google Analytics collects only the IP address assigned to you on the date you use our websites, rather than your name or other identifying information. TechConnect does not combine the information collected through Google Analytics with other sources of personal information. Google’s ability to use and share information collected by Google Analytics about your visits to our website is restricted by Google Analytics Terms of Use and the Google Privacy Policy which can be viewed here https://policies.google.com/privacy?hl=en-US.
Advertising
TechConnect may display advertising on the website in order to raise additional revenue to fund the operation of our educational programs and grants. The advertisements displayed to you will be determined by our third party advertising partners and will likely be based on your personal browsing habits as collected by those third parties. TechConnect does not have access to any data about your personal browsing habits and does not have information about which advertisements are displayed to you while you browse our website.
External Links
The TechConnect website includes links to external websites. These links do not fall under our control and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content accessed through such external websites.
Updates to Privacy Policy
We reserve the right to modify this privacy policy at any time, so please review it frequently. We will designate clearly at the top of the Privacy Policy the date it was most recently changed.
Legal Disclaimer
All content including the educational information provided on the TechConnect website is provided without charge and purely on an “as-is” basis. No representation or warranty is made to the accuracy of the educational content provided herein. TechConnect also does not represent that the educational material provided herein delivers a full and complete overview of any programming language or provides a required level of training to gain access to any type of employment or admission to any educational institution.
TechConnect makes every effort to ensure that content provided is free of errors and “bugs”, however any operation, compiling or execution of code provided by TechConnect is purely at your own risk.
Contact Us
Questions or comments regarding this Privacy Policy should be submitted to TechConnect at info@tc-online.org. If you would like to opt out of any e-mail correspondence we may send to you or if you would like to inquire about what personal information we have collected about you, if any, please indicate any such request in your e-mail.