At Vernier, we value your privacy, and we understand the need to protect and safeguard your information. This Privacy Notice explains how we collect and treat information through Vernier’s suite of applications, which includes Vernier Video Analysis^®, Logger Pro™, LabQuest Viewer^®, Vernier Thermal Analysis^®, and the Go Direct^® Sensor Companion Apps including Vernier Graphical Analysis^®, Vernier Graphical Analysis^® Pro, Vernier Spectral Analysis^®, and Vernier Instrumental Analysis^® (collectively, the “Applications”). This Privacy Notice is governed by and part of the Vernier Applications Terms of Use. 

Please note that Vernier’s Website and Platform are governed by their own privacy notices, not this one.

You consent to our privacy practices as described in this Privacy Notice by downloading, installing, or using an Application in any manner. If you do not agree with this Privacy Notice, do not access or use our Applications. 

Summary of Privacy Practices

Our goal is always to support educators and help students, including offering the Applications to schools, school districts, and other organizations (collectively, “Schools”) with privacy in mind. We want you to have a very clear understanding of how our Applications collect, protect, and use data. Here is a summary of our privacy practices, as detailed in this Privacy Notice:

• The Applications are designed to not collect or transmit any student information to Vernier.
• Vernier does not receive any student information from the app stores where our Applications are available for download.
• Your School determines student and educator access to the Applications, including collecting parent or guardian consent.
• The Applications never contain advertising content.
• Vernier will never sell or share your Personal Information (defined below) for a commercial purpose.
• Any third-party software distributed or promoted by Vernier must be designed to protect your privacy, such as only collecting the minimal Personal Information necessary to perform its functions.
• Vernier’s contractual relationship with your School does not change our privacy promises to you.

If you have questions about this Privacy Notice or any of our Applications, please contact us at info@vernier.com or toll free at 1-888-837-6437.

Personal Information

As used in this Privacy Notice, “Personal Information,” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household. Personal Information falls within certain categories, for example:

• Identifiers (e.g., name, email, telephone number, address, username);
• Sensitive Personal Information (e.g., government identification number; precise geolocation; racial or ethnic origin; religious beliefs; health information; contents of messages when we are not the recipient; in some cases, information about a known child);
• Legally protected information (e.g., race, citizenship, marital status, sex);
• Employment-related information (e.g., current or past employment);
• Non-public educational information, including information protected under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. § 1232g, 34 C.F.R. Part 99);
• Biometrics (e.g., DNA, face/voice prints, health data) and audio, electronic, visual, thermal, or olfactory information;
• Commercial information (e.g., products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies);
• Internet or other similar activity (e.g., browsing history; content interactions); and
• Inferences drawn from Personal Information to create a profile about preferences, characteristics, trends, predispositions, behavior, attitudes, intelligence, and aptitudes.

Not all information about you is legally protected as Personal Information. Depending on where you live, publicly available information, aggregated information (meaning data summaries or reports with Personal Information removed), employment-related information, or anonymized information (that cannot be linked back to you as an individual) may not qualify as “Personal Information.”

Consent and Responsibility for Students

Each School that uses our Applications initiates student access to the Application and agrees to be fully responsible for all student, instructor, and other end user use of the Application. Each School that provides our Applications to students provides consent for its students to use the Application, including consent to the privacy practices described in this Privacy Notice. The School is responsible for determining and obtaining any necessary consent for students, including parental consent, that may be required under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or other applicable laws. The School, not Vernier, is responsible for obtaining any legally required end user or parent or guardian consent to use the Applications.

Applications and Personal Information

The Applications are designed to not collect any student Personal Information. In instances where Vernier might collect or receive Personal Information, it is our policy to only do so with consent, with a legitimate interest, or as authorized or required by law. We only collect, use, retain, and disclose Personal Information as adequate and relevant to provide our products and services and for the operation of our websites.

In some cases, Vernier might collect identifiers, internet activity and related data, or other Personal Information Personal Information when end users of the Applications submit it to Vernier, for example when contacting customer support.

Vernier’s privacy practices related to the Applications are described in more detail below:

• The Applications are designed to not collect any Personal Information and never contain advertising.
• Vernier does not collect, process, or retain student data. The Applications do not collect, process, retain, or transmit student Personal Information to Vernier.
• Some of our Applications allow instructors to share experiment results or other data with their students or offer a peer-to-peer data sharing feature. Vernier does not collect any data from these features.
• Graphical Analysis Pro and Vernier Video Analysis do not track individual users or collect any personally identifiable info. Vernier only knows that which School license associated with a given device using these Applications. No information is captured that can track or identify the device or user.
• End Users of Vernier Video Analysis® can insert a video into that Application for analysis. All videos are stored locally on the end user’s. Vernier will never collect the video or any Personal Information that might be included as video content. Vernier is not responsible for the collection, processing, storage, or use of any Personal Information that may be included in video content.
• If an Application end user calls Vernier for support, we may collect their name, School name, email address, and phone number. Vernier makes every effort to minimize the scope of Personal Information we collect from end users, and we only use this Personal Information as permitted by our agreement with the School or for other purposes as permitted by law.

In addition to the specific uses described above, Vernier might also use your Personal Information to (i) monitor your compliance with any of your agreements with us; (ii) protect your privacy and enforce this Privacy Notice; (iii) if we believe it is necessary, to identify, contact, or bring legal action against persons or entities who may be causing injury to you, to us, or to others; (iv) comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or court order; or (v) fulfill any other purpose to which you consent.

Data Collection by Vernier Instrument Analysis

In addition to the data collection and privacy practices described under Applications and Personal Information, the Vernier Instrument Analysis Application also collects certain technical data in an anonymized format to help us understand how the Application is used and identify options to improve our Services.

• Basic data like device information like device and platform type, browser type and version, and operating system (e.g., Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, Chromebook, or browser).
• Generalized geolocation at the city level.
• Hardware information like connected Vernier hardware, connection type (USB or Bluetooth), and which sensor channels are enabled.
• Session data like the time and duration of Application access, domain access, referring domain, and session type (e.g., time based, manual entry, etc.) as well as whether the session was opened from a file.

Vernier collects and processes this information with consent as given by the School and in support of our legitimate interest in providing and improving the Application. We collect only the minimum data necessary for these purposes and we process it to maintain user anonymity. The data is collected using a cookieless approach with an assigned anonymous user ID that is reset for each session to avoid user identification and tracking across multiple sessions.

Retention of Personal Information

It is Vernier’s policy to collect the minimum Personal Information necessary and retain that information for the minimum period necessary to achieve our business purposes. Vernier intends to collect no Personal Information through the Applications, and at most may collect very little Personal Information that Application end users choose to provide to us. Any Personal Information that may be collected related to the Applications will be retained for one year or less, after which we securely delete that data unless otherwise instructed by the applicable School. We reserve the right to retain data for longer periods as necessary to comply with our legal obligations.

Disclosing Personal Information

Vernier will only disclose Personal Information to trusted third parties as described in this paragraph, with your permission, or as required by law. Vernier collects little to no Personal Information through the Applications. Any Personal Information that may be collected related to the Applications may be disclosed to the following recipients:

• Our Service Providers. Vernier’s third-party service providers may have access to Personal Information as needed to perform their contractual obligations to us. We use a variety of service providers to support our Applications, such as third-party analytics services and data hosting companies. Most of the data processed by these service providers is not Personal Information, and the specific data types disclosed to a service provider will depend on the service that they provide to us. In any case, Vernier prohibits our service providers from selling or disclosing Personal Information, and we require all service providers to maintain confidentiality standards and appropriate technical and organizational measures to ensure the security of your Personal Information
• Other Third Parties, as permitted by applicable law, for example: if we go through a business transition (e.g., merger, acquisition, or sale of a portion of believe it is appropriate in order to take action regarding illegal activities or prevent fraud or harm to any person; to exercise or defend our legal claims; or for any other reason with your consent.
• Law enforcement, and other governmental agencies, at our sole discretion in connection with an investigation of any matter that is illegal or that could expose Vernier or our affiliates or subsidiaries to liability.

Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live or are located, you may have certain rights over your Personal Information that we collect and retain. This section provides notices of privacy rights under predominant privacy laws applicable in the United States, EEA, UK, and Canada. Additionally, Australia, as well as many countries within the continents of Africa, South America, and Asia, have enacted comprehensive consumer privacy laws offering a broad spectrum of consumer rights over their Personal Information. To exercise your rights or ask questions about this Privacy Policy, you can submit a verifiable privacy request by email to privacy@vernier.com or by phone at 888.837.6437.

U.S. Privacy Rights

In the United States, consumer privacy is governed by federal privacy laws covering specific industries or data uses and state privacy laws providing with general consumer privacy rights. This section provides informational notices for the more than a dozen U.S. state privacy laws that provide consumer privacy rights and require companies to inform consumers about those rights. Residents of states offering privacy protections (each a “Consumer”) may have some or all of the following rights:

• Right to Correct. You have the right to correct inaccurate Personal Information about you that is on our systems. To do so, login to your account to update your Personal Information and save your changes or send us a privacy request at privacy@vernier.com or by phone at 888.837.6437.
• Right to Delete. You have the right to request that we delete any of your Personal Information that we collected and retained, with certain exceptions. You can request that we delete your Personal Information by submitting a privacy request. In response, we may permanently delete, deidentify, or aggregate your Personal Information.
• Right to Access. You have the right to request that we provide you with access to specific pieces of Personal Information we have collected about you. In some cases, the data available in response to this request may be limited to the preceding 12 months. To access your data, login to your account where you can view or download it. If you need support, email privacy@vernier.com or call 888.837.6437. Please note that we may be prohibited by law from disclosing certain pieces of Personal Information that would create a substantial, articulable, and unreasonable risk to the security of the information, our business systems, or your account.
• No selling or sharing Personal Information. Some jurisdictions entitle consumers to opt out of the sale or sharing of their Personal Information or share your Personal Information with third parties for cross-contextual behavioral advertising purposes. If this changes in the future, we will update this Privacy Notice and provide you with a method to opt out.
• Limited use and disclosure of sensitive Personal Information. Vernier does not seek to collect sensitive Personal Information about anyone, and in no case will we use or disclose sensitive Personal Information for the purpose of inferring characteristics about a consumer. If this ever changes in the future, we will update this Privacy Notice and provide you with methods to limit use and disclosure of sensitive Personal Information.
• No profiling. Vernier does not use any form of automated processing of Personal Information to evaluate, analyze, or predict your performance, preferences, choices, or behavior. If this changes in the future, we will update this Privacy Notice and provide you with an option to opt-out or prevent profiling.
• Right to Disclosure. You may have the right to request that we disclose information to you about our collection and use of your Personal Information, such as: (a) the categories of Personal Information we have collected about you; (b) the categories of sources for the Personal Information we have collected about you; (c) our business purpose for collecting or selling that Personal Information; (d) the categories of third parties with whom we disclose that Personal Information; and (e) if we sold or shared your Personal Information under the CCPA, two separate lists stating: (i) sales or sharing, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and (ii) disclosures for a business purpose, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient obtained. Note that under California and certain other states’ privacy laws, Vernier is only required to respond to two disclosure requests within a 12-month period.
• Right to non-discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your privacy rights. If you are a resident of the State of California, we will not (a) deny you goods or services, (b) charge you different prices or rates for goods or services, (c) provide you a different level or quality of goods or services, (d) retaliate against you as an employee, applicant for employment, or independent contractor; or (e) suggest that you may receive a different price or rate for goods or services or a different level or quality of goods or services, because you exercised your statutory right unless permitted by law.
• California’s Shine the Light Act. If you are a resident of the State of California, note that California’s Shine the Light Act (Civil Code sections 1798.83-1798.84) entitles California consumers to request certain disclosures regarding Personal Information sharing with affiliates and/or third parties for marketing purposes.
• Health Data Rights. Vernier does not collect any health data through the Applications. Some laws entitle consumers to certain details about health data collected about them, including (a) confirmation of whether the entity collects, shares, or sells the consumer’s health data and access that data, including a list of all third parties and affiliates with whom the entity has shared or sold the withdraw consent related to use of health data, and (c) the right to have their health data be deleted.

Canadian Privacy Rights

This section provides supplemental information in compliance with Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA“). This section applies solely to residents of Canada where PIPEDA applies (“Canadian Consumers“). PIPEDA gives Canadian Consumers specific rights regarding Personal Information offering details on an identifiable person without the inclusion of name, title, telephone number, and business address of an employee of a business or organization. The following paragraphs describe PIPEDA rights and explain how to exercise those rights.

• Right to know why we collect, use, and distribute the Personal Information we process. We have set the required notices in this Privacy Notice. We may provide you with additional notices about other ways we process your Personal Information, such as by sending you a notice via email or by other means of communication.
• Right to expect us to collect, use, or disclose Personal Information responsibly and not for any other purpose other than which you consented. We set your expectations in this Privacy Notice and collect express or implied consent at various stages of collection or processing. If we collect or use your Personal Information based on your consent, we will also notify you of any changes and will request your further consent as needed. You may withdraw your consent at any time with reasonable notice via email.
• Right to accuracy of your Personal Information. We take steps to reasonably ensure that your Personal Information we are using is accurate. In most cases, we rely on you to ensure that your information is current, complete, and accurate. We provide methods for you to correct, update, and delete inaccurate Personal Information in your account, and we will provide you with reasonable assistance to ensure that your Personal Information is accurate in our systems and with our service providers.
• Right to access your Personal Information. Upon written request and identity authentication, we will provide you with your Personal Information under our control, information about the ways in which that information is being used and a description of the individuals and organizations to whom that information has been disclosed. We will make the information available within 30 days or provide written notice where additional time is required to fulfil the request. If limited by law or potential infringement on another’s privacy rights, we may not be able to provide access to some or all of the Personal Information you request. We will notify you in writing if we must refuse an access request and we will document the reasons for refusal and outline further steps that are available to you.

EEA and UK Privacy Rights

This section is provided to comply with the General Data Protection Regulations and its counterpart regulation applicable to residents of the United Kingdom (“GDPR“). This section applies solely to residents of the EEA and the United Kingdom (“Data Subjects“). Vernier collects and processes Personal Information of Data Subjects via the Applications as processor to the School. If you are a Data Subject, you have the following rights in relation to the Personal Information we hold about you:

• Right to know how we process your Personal Information. We have set the required notices in this Privacy Notice. We may provide you with additional notices about other ways we process your Personal Information, such as by sending you a notice via email or by other means of communication.
• Right to access your Personal Information. Upon request, we will provide you with a copy of your Personal Information, along with details about the types of Personal Information we process, why we process it, and any third parties we work with to collect Personal Information on our behalf. We may have one or more legally valid reasons to refuse your request in whole or in part, for example, to protect the rights of other individuals.
• Right to restrict processing of your Personal Information. You can request that we restrict the processing of your Personal Information if: (a) the data is inaccurate; (b) the processing is unlawful; (c) we no longer need the Personal Information; or (d) you exercise your right to object.
• Right to rectify your Personal Information. If you become aware that the Personal Information that we hold about you is incorrect, or if your information changes, please inform us and we will update our records.
• Right to data portability. In some circumstances, we are required to provide your Personal Information to another organization at your request and in a structured, commonly used machine-readable format, so that the other organization can read and use it.
• Right to erasure or the “right to be forgotten”. Upon your request, and in certain circumstances and where we are required to do so by law, we are required to delete or anonymize your Personal Information. This right is not absolute, and we may be entitled to retain and process your Personal Information despite your request. If you make this request, we balance certain legal, contractual, and business interests against your right to request the deletion of your Personal Information.
• Right to object to certain processing of your Personal Information. Upon your request, and in certain circumstances and where we are required to do so by law, we will limit our processing of your Personal Information as you request.
• Right to not be subject to Automated Decision-Making. Vernier does not use automated decision-making (“ADM”) to provide our Services. If this changes in the future, we will update this posting to describe our use of ADM and your options to exercise your right to not be subject to ADM.
• Right to Complain. If you are a resident of the EEA and you believe we are unlawfully processing your Personal Information, you also have the right to complain to your local data protection supervisory authority. If you are a resident in Switzerland, you have the right to complain to the Swiss data protection authorities.

• Supplemental Notice for France. If you are a Data Subject residing in France, you have the right to provide Vernier with general or specific instructions for the retention, deletion, and communication of your Personal Information after your death. The specific instructions are only valid for the processing activities mentioned therein and the processing of these instructions is subject to your specific consent. You may amend or revoke your instructions at any time. You may designate a person responsible for the implementation of your instructions. This person will be informed of your instructions in the event of your death and be entitled to request their implementation from us. In the absence of designation or, unless otherwise provided for, in the event of the death of the designated person, their heirs will have the right to be informed of your instructions and to request their implementation from us. To issue instructions, contact privacy@vernier.com.

Notice for Mexico

This Privacy Notice is available in Spanish upon request. In case of dispute, the Spanish version of this Privacy Notice shall prevail. The type of Personal Information we use, purpose of processing, and cookie information is listed above in this Privacy Notice. In general, we do not require your consent to transfer your Personal Information. By using the Services and providing us with your Personal Information, you agree to the data transfers detailed in this Privacy Notice that require your consent. The above descriptions of privacy rights to access, rectification, erasure, and object apply to residents of Mexico, as does the right to restrict processing to storage only (which includes the limitation to the use and disclosure of your Personal Information), and advertising. You also have the right to revoke the consent that you have provided us to process your Personal Information. To exercise any of your rights, contact privacy@vernier.com.

Consumer Privacy Requests

Students, educators, and other Application end users should contact their School with any questions or privacy requests.

Questions to Vernier can be sent to privacy@vernier.com. To respond to an inquiry, Vernier must have sufficient information to verify that the requester is the person or an authorized representative of the person about whom we have collected Personal Information, and to properly understand, evaluate, and respond to the inquiry. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to a verifiable inquiry unless we have legal grounds to do so. If we determine that a fee is warranted, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate. We endeavor to respond to inquiries in accordance with applicable law.

Data Security

Vernier employs reasonable and appropriate security procedures and practices to help protect your Personal Information from unauthorized or illegal access, destruction, use, modification, or disclosure. The Applications are designed with data security in mind to continuously protect your data and our systems. Our security measures are appropriate to the volume, scope, and nature of the Personal Information processed and designed to meet our duty of care with respect to your Personal Information. Vernier maintains internal policies to govern the collection, processing, and handling of data, and reserves data access only for those employees who require such access to perform their job functions. We educate our employees about the importance of confidentiality and privacy through standard operating procedures. We also ensure that our employees, contractors, and agents responsible for handling privacy inquiries are informed of applicable privacy law requirements and we restrict access to those who need that information to process it. Anyone with this access is subject to strict contractual confidentiality obligations and may be disciplined or terminated if they fail to meet these obligations.

Please note, however, that no transmission of data over the Internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee that unauthorized third parties will not defeat our security measures or use your Personal Information for improper purposes. We encourage you to take steps to protect against unauthorized access to your account and device by choosing a robust password and signing off after each session. Vernier is not responsible for any lost, stolen, or compromised passwords, or for any activity on your account via unauthorized activity.

Cross-Border Data Transfers

Vernier is a United States company using technical infrastructure in the United States and other countries to provide the Applications. You are solely responsible for determining whether your use of the Applications complies with applicable laws. If your School permits you to use the Applications from outside the United States, any Personal Information processed through the Application may be transferred to, processed, stored, and used in the United States or elsewhere. When your information is moved from your home country to another country, the laws and rules governing your Personal Information may be different from those of your home country. By using the Applications, you consent to the transfer and processing of your Personal Information as described in this section.

Third-Party Software and Websites

Software and services that Vernier distributes or promotes, but did not develop, are governed by the respective software developer’s privacy notice, and Vernier has no control over their privacy practices.

The Applications may contain links or access to websites or materials provided by a third party. Vernier includes this in the Applications as a convenience only. Vernier is not responsible for and has no ability to control the privacy and data collection, use, and disclosure practices of any third party. When you click on links that take you to external websites or third-party materials, you will be subject to their Privacy Notices and practices and not ours. You are encouraged to review and understand the Privacy Notices of such third parties.

Changes to this Privacy Notice

Vernier reserves the right to amend this Privacy Notice at any time by updating this posting without notice and revising the effective date. All changes are effective immediately when posted and apply to all access to and use of our Applications. Your continued use of our Applications following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.