This Privacy Notice explains how Vernier collects and treats information through vernier.com, vernier.science, and other websites and online channels we own or operate (the “Website”). By accessing the Website, you consent to our privacy practices described in this Privacy Notice. This Privacy Notice is governed by and part of our Website Terms of Use. Capitalized terms not defined herein have the meaning given them in the Terms of Use. If you do not agree with this Privacy Notice, do not access the Website.

Please note that this Privacy Notice applies to the Website only. Our Applications and Platform are governed by their own privacy notices, not this one.

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

Children’s Privacy

This Website is intended to market Vernier’s Applications, Platform, and other products, services, and solutions to school districts, schools, and other legal entities (in each case, a “School”) and educators. The Website is not meant for use by children. Vernier does not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under the age of 16. Please contact info@vernier.com if you believe we have received information from a child under 16 or any unauthorized information. 

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.” 

Collection and Use of Personal Information

Vernier collects Personal Information with your 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 the Website and the services you request through the Website or for other purposes that we disclose to you and are compatible with the context of how we collected your Personal Information. 

During the preceding 12 months, we have collected Personal Information through the Website in the categories of identifiers, employment-related information, commercial information, and internet or similar activity. Vernier collects this information as follows:

• When you use the Website, with your consent—On the Website, you may submit identifiers like your name, email, and phone number via our online form to request information about our Applications, Platform, or other products, services, or solutions (collectively, our “Solutions”), sign up for our mailing list, or request a demo of a Solution. If you are a School or educator with an account on the Website, we will collect commercial information like your order history and resources downloads, as well as any information you choose to submit to Vernier or our online forum. If you call Vernier for customer support, we will collect additional information as needed to answer your questions. We use this information to fill orders, provide customer support, and market our products and services to you according to your communication preferences. If you provide the name and address of your School, we will use this information to fill out electronic forms and notify you about workshops near your location. 

• Automatically from your Website visit, with a legitimate interest—Vernier uses Google Analytics™ to better understand how our Website is used. We collect technical information from your device like the date and time of your visit, browser type, and operating system, and aggregate information regarding Website pages and content accessed. Please read our Cookie Policy for more information about how we use cookies. We collect this information to achieve our legitimate interest in providing and improving the user experience on the Website. 
• From Software Publishers or other third parties, with a legitimate interest—Vernier collects professional contact information for educators and key personnel at Schools from other software publishers and other third parties like marketing companies, professional associations, and educational resource companies. These third parties collect this information according to their own privacy practices, over which Vernier has no control. We may combine this information with Personal Information we previously collected about the educator or the School. Vernier uses this information to offer customer support and to market our Solutions to Schools in accordance with applicable law. You have the right to opt out of Vernier’s marketing communications at any time as instructed under Controlling Your Personal Information.

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.

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. If you have an account on our Website, we will retain your Personal Information associated with your account as long as your account remains active. Vernier retains data collected via Google Analytics for 26 months to analyze Website usage trends. Our server maintains an activity log, including IP addresses, and stores that data for one year to protect against security incidents. Vernier regularly reviews and deletes or deidentifies unnecessary data.

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. In the preceding 12 months, Vernier has disclosed Personal Information in the categories of (a) identifiers; (b) employment-related information; (c) commercial information; and (d) internet and similar activity for a business purpose. We may disclose this information to the following recipients:

• Our Service Providers—Vernier’s third-party service providers may have access to your Personal Information to perform their contractual obligations to us. We use a variety of service providers such as data hosting companies, analytics services, fraud prevention vendors, and payment processors. The type of information that we disclose to a service provider will depend on the service that they provide to us. We prohibit 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 our assets); to comply with a legal requirement or a court order; when we 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.
• Aggregated and De-Identified Information—Vernier reserves the right to disclose aggregated, anonymized, or de-identified information about any individuals with non-affiliated entities for research, product development, marketing, or other purposes, without restriction.

Controlling Your Personal Information 

Vernier provides you with these options to directly control how we collect and use your Personal Information through the Website:  

• Your Account—You have the option to access, correct or update, or delete the Personal Information associated with your account on the Website at any time. If you require assistance, please contact privacy@vernier.com. 
• Device Settings—You can control the data we collect automatically by adjusting your device settings, such as blocking cookies or installing a third-party plugin to control how cookies interact with your device. 
• Texting Consent. If you provide Vernier with your wireless number, you consent to Vernier sending you text messages for informational or marketing purposes. The number of texts we send you will be based on your circumstances and requests. You can unsubscribe from text messages by replying STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE to any of these text messages. Messaging and data charges may apply to any text message you receive or send. Please contact your wireless carrier if you have questions about messaging or data charges.
• Marketing Communications—If you provide Vernier with your email address and inquire about our Solutions, we may send you marketing emails in compliance with applicable law. As part of our policy to provide you total privacy, you may opt out of receiving marketing communications from Vernier at any time by clicking the “Unsubscribe” button contained in any email or by sending a request to privacy@vernier.com.
• Do Not Track—Do Not Track signals are signals sent through a browser informing us that you do not want to be tracked. Currently, our systems do not recognize browser “do-not-track” requests. You may, however, disable certain tracking as discussed below.

Your Privacy Rights

This section provides informational notices pursuant to U.S. state consumer privacy laws that require companies to inform consumers about their privacy rights, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations and its counterpart in the United Kingdom, Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, and other consumer privacy laws applicable to those who visit our Website from their locations around the world. Some of these laws may not apply to you or your use of the Website, in which case these notices are offered as a courtesy.

Vernier’s obligations under these laws are limited to the extent we collect or process your Personal Information and are subject to statutory exceptions and limitations. Some or all the protections afforded under these laws may not apply to Vernier or your use of the Website. Please contact privacy@vernier.com if you have any questions.

Depending on where you live, your rights over your Personal Information may include some or all of the following:

• • Right to know how we collect and 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 reasonable expectations—You 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 we collect legally required consent at various stages of our interactions with you. 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 required by law. You may withdraw your consent at any time with reasonable notice by contacting privacy@vernier.com. 
  • Right to accuracy, and the right to correct your Personal Information—If you become aware that the Personal Information that we hold about you is incorrect, or if your situation changes (e.g., change of address), please inform us and we will update our records.
  • No selling or sharing Personal Information—Some jurisdictions entitle consumers to opt out of the sale or sharing of their Personal Information or targeted advertising practices. Vernier does not sell your 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. 
  • Right to not be subject to Automated Decision-Making (“ADM”) or the right to opt out of profiling—Vernier does not use automated decision-making or 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 exercise your privacy rights related to Personal Information processed using ADM or profiling.
  • 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. Certain laws may limit the scope or frequency of requests we must fulfill.   
  • Right to deletion or erasure (a.k.a. the “right to be forgotten”)—Upon your request and where we are required to do so by law, we will delete 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 data portability—In some cases, 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 restrict processing of your Personal Information—You may have the right to 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. Your right to restrict may be limited to Personal Information that is sensitive in nature, or that is sold or shared for certain purposes.
  • Right to object to certain processing of your Personal Information—You may have the right to request, under certain circumstances and where we are required to do so by law, that we limit our processing of your Personal Information as you request. 
  • 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.
  • Right to disclosure of certain information—You may have a right to request information about our collection and use of your Personal Information over the past 12 months, 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, using, disclosing, or selling that Personal Information, as applicable; and (d) the categories of third parties with whom we disclose that Personal Information. Vernier does not sell or share your Personal Information, but if we did you could request two separate lists stating: (i) sales, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient purchased; and (ii) sharing for a business purpose, identifying the Personal Information categories that each category of recipient obtained. Certain laws may limit the number or frequency of requests we must fulfill.    

• Health Data Rights—Vernier does not collect any health data through the Website. 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 health data and a method to contact those third parties, (b) a method to withdraw consent related to use of health data, and (c) the right to have their health data be deleted. 

• Right to disclosure of marketing information—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.

If you are a resident of the European Economic Area 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 of Switzerland, you have the right to complain to the Swiss data protection authorities. 

Consumer Privacy Requests

If you wish to exercise your rights under your applicable privacy laws, or if you want to express concerns, lodge a complaint, or request information, please submit a verifiable Consumer Privacy Request or email privacy@vernier.com. 

Vernier can fulfill a Consumer Privacy Request when we 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 request. We do not charge a fee to process or respond to a verifiable request unless we have legal grounds to do so. If we determine that the request warrants a fee, we will tell you why we made that decision and provide you with a cost estimate before completing your request. We endeavor to respond to Consumer Privacy Requests in accordance with the requirements of the law applicable to your jurisdiction. If we do not fulfill your request within the legally required timeline, please email privacy@vernier.com.

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 Website is 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. If you create an account on the Website, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your username and password. 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 Website. If you access the Website from outside the United States, please be aware that your Personal Information may be transferred to, processed, stored, and used in the United States or other jurisdictions. 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. For example, if your information is in the United States, it may be accessed by government authorities under United States law. 

Vernier is committed to transferring Personal Information using a lawful data transfer mechanism. However, you are solely responsible for determining whether your use of the Website complies with applicable laws. By allowing us to collect Personal Information about you, you consent to the transfer and processing of your Personal Information as described in this section.

Third-Party Platforms and Social Media

Software and services that Vernier distributes or promotes, but did not develop, is governed by the respective software developer’s privacy notice, and Vernier has no control over their privacy practices. We may provide links to third-party websites or platforms or allow you to link to our Solutions from social media. Vernier offers this as a convenience, but we are not responsible for and have 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 platforms, 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 websites or platforms before submitting any information.

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 Solutions. Your continued use of our Solutions following the posting of changes constitutes your acceptance of such changes.