Privacy Policy | Upswing

Upswing Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 29, 2024

Introduction

Thank you for taking the time to read our Privacy Policy. Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. Our business depends on the trust of thousands of institutions and millions of people. Violating that trust is simply not an option. We want you to be fully informed about the information we collect, how it is used, shared, and protected, and the choices you have with it.

The following explains privacy and data practices at Upswing International, Inc. ("Upswing"). After you read it, if you have any questions please contact Upswing at support@upswing.io. We'll be glad to help.

Our Privacy Policy will tell you about:

The Organization Which Collects Information
The Information We Collect and Use
Retention of Personal Information
Information Sharing and Disclosure
Communications From the Site
Choice/Opt-out
Security and Information Protection
Privacy Policy for Children
Changes to this Policy

Thank you for visiting our website and using our products and services.

The Organization Which Collects Information

The mission of Upswing and its subsidiary companies is to provide retention services to educational institutions that help more students graduate. We provide an online retention platform that allows Upswing's network of tutors as well as institution-specific team Members and Students to connect for communication, interaction, tutoring, ratings, and referrals via the Upswing Site, which may occur via instant messaging, video chat, voice calls, messaging, document sharing and collaboration, and whiteboard use.

Our products and services include the Upswing Virtual Learning Center. We operate the website (the "Site") located at:

https://www.upswing.io/

Through these sites, we not only provide key live instruction, but also impactful data and analytics that colleges and institutions can use to retain more students, and eventually pass out more graduation gowns.

The Information We Collect and Use

We refer to the above products and services, as well as any of our other current or future products and services, collectively as the "Service." Any personally-identifiable information provided to us through the Service will be retained and used solely for the purposes of fulfilling your request for information, fulfilling a request, either by you or (if you are a Student) your institution through a Site or Service feature, performing and carrying out the Terms of the Service, performing or improving our Service, developing a new Service or communicating with you as a user of Upswing's services.

Registration Information

Registration for the Service may not be required to simply view a Site. If you desire to be an Upswing Tutor and elect to register for a Service, Upswing asks you for information that enables us to provide the Service. If you are a Student at a participating Institution, your Institution may have already provided Upswing information on your behalf. Only information permissible via the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) has been supplied on your behalf.

Service Usage Information

Aggregate Information

From time to time, we may collect general, non-identifiable personal, statistical information from the use of the site and the Service. We collect this information through "Tutoring feedback surveys", "Student feedback surveys", and technologies such as "cookies" and "IP addresses", which are discussed in greater detail below. We may also group this information into aggregate data in order to provide member Institutions information that helps them craft better retention strategies, or in response to a government request. However, please be assured that this aggregate data will in no way personally identify you, other list members or any other visitors to the site.

We may store your personal information along with your files and data on a third party server through Google Cloud Platform or Amazon Web Services; or we may use a third party analytics tool to learn how you are using our site.

In cases where you use a mobile device to access our site, we may receive information about the location of your device. In some cases, even if you are not using a mobile device, information about your general location may be discernible from your device's IP address or the URLs we receive. If you access or use our site or Services with your mobile device, we may collect your telephone number.

Automatic Collection

To make your visits more convenient and to enable us to enhance our services, we may use cookies to customize your visit to our internet site and for other purposes.

"Cookies" are pieces of information that may be placed on your computer by a website for the purpose of facilitating and enhancing communication and interaction with that website. Many websites use cookies for these purposes.

In addition to cookies, we may also use clear gifs, web beacons and third party cookies to improve the performance of our Internet site, provide certain features or to anonymously track usage of our Internet site and track the online activity on our site. We also may use such devices in our html-based emails to track the usage of these emails.

You may stop or restrict the placement of cookies on your computer, including third party cookies, or flush them from your browser by adjusting your web browser preferences. In this case, you may still use our website, but it may interfere with some of its functionality.

Profile

We store information that we collect through cookies and clear gifs to create a "profile" of your preferences. We tie your personal information to information in the profile to provide tailored services or to improve the content of the site for you.

We do not share your personally identifiable profile with unapproved third parties. We undertake to ensure that your personally identifiable information is kept strictly confidential and is not disclosed to third parties without your permission. Details will be used only by our staff and/or approved agents to support the necessary terms and conditions for use of service such as service providers under contract who help with our business operations and technology services. Our contracts dictate that these service providers only use your information in connection with the services they perform for us and not for their own benefit.

Retention of Personal Information

We will retain your personal information for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Privacy Policy unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law. We will make good faith efforts to delete the data if you contact us by following the instructions at the beginning and at the end of this Privacy Policy, provided Upswing is not required to retain it by law or for legitimate business purposes. We may decline to process requests that are unreasonably repetitive, require disproportionate technical effort, jeopardize the privacy of others, are extremely impractical, or for which access is not otherwise required by local law. We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. If you wish to cancel your account or request that we no longer use your information to provide you services, contact us at support@upswing.io.

Information Sharing and Disclosure

Except for the limited situations listed here in this Privacy Policy, we will not share your identifiable personal information with unapproved third parties. To the extent we are legally permitted to do so, we will take reasonable steps to notify you in the event that we are required to provide your personal information to unapproved third parties as part of the legal process.

Agents and Third Party Service Providers

To provide the Service to you, we may sometimes use other approved third party businesses or affiliates to perform certain specialized services such as data processing or other technology services. Your information collected through the Upswing Service may be stored and processed in the United States or any other country in which Upswing, approved third party businesses, its affiliates or service providers maintain facilities. Upswing may transfer information that we collect about you, including Personal Data, to affiliated entities, or to other third parties across borders and from your country or jurisdiction to other countries or jurisdictions around the world. They are not permitted to retain or use your information for any other purposes other than what is defined as the service in our Terms of Use and this privacy policy. If you are located in the European Union, Switzerland or other regions with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law, please note that we may transfer information, including Personal Data, to a country and jurisdiction that does not have the same data protection laws as your jurisdiction, and you consent to the transfer of information to the U.S. or any other country in which Upswing or its parent, subsidiaries, affiliates or service providers maintain facilities and the use and disclosure of information about you as described in this Privacy Policy.

Change of Control/Asset Transfer

As the Company develops, we may buy other businesses or their assets or sell all or parts of our business assets. Customer information is generally one of the business assets involved in such transactions. Thus, in the event that the assets of the Company in whole or in parts are acquired by a third-party, customer information, including any visitor information collected through the site or the Service, would be one of the transferred assets. In the event of a corporate change in control or sale of all or parts of our business assets our users will be notified in accordance with the "Changes to this Policy" section of the policy if their personal information is provided to the new corporate entity or asset purchaser.

Legal Compliance

As we stated, Upswing values our relationships with our Users and are committed to respecting and protecting your Usage Information. Upswing can however disclose Users' Usage Information for legal or regulatory reasons, including in response to subpoenas and court orders. Upswing can also use Usage Information to investigate fraud and to prevent violation of our Terms of Service and unlawful use of our network, services and other Users.

Upswing also reserves the right to disclose member information in special cases when we have reason to believe that disclosing this information is necessary to identify, contact or bring legal action against someone who may be causing injury to or interference with (either intentionally or unintentionally) Upswing's rights or property, other visitors, list members, or anyone else that could be harmed by such activities. Upswing also reserves the right to disclose visitor or list member information when we believe in good faith that the law requires it.

Communications From the site

Service Email

As someone with an active Service account, we may send you service-related email messages, which are not promotional in nature, on occasions when it is necessary. Similarly, if you request assistance with a Site or one of our products or services, we will communicate with you through email until we have addressed your questions.

Customer Service

Based upon the information you provide us, we will communicate with you in response to your inquiries, to provide the services you request, and to manage your account. We may communicate with you by email or telephone.

Newsletters and Promotions

We may provide you the opportunity to opt-in to additional newsletters or promotional communications sent by email. If you have opted in or otherwise qualify to receive these forms of communication, we will use your name and email address to communicate with you. Out of respect for your privacy, we provide you a way to unsubscribe. Please see the "Unsubscribe" section.

Choice/Opt-out

We may provide you the opportunity to opt-in to additional newsletters or promotional communications sent by email. If you have opted in or otherwise qualify to receive these forms of communication, and no longer wish to receive our newsletter or other promotional communications by email, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each communication.

Correcting, Updating, or Removing Your Personal Information

Upswing will make commercially reasonable efforts to provide you reasonable access to any of your personally identifying information we maintain within 30 days of your access request. We provide this access so you can review it, make corrections or request deletion of your data. If we cannot honor your request within the 30-day period, we will tell you when we will provide access. In the unlikely event that we cannot provide you access to this information, we will explain why we cannot do so. To review and update your personal information to ensure it is accurate, contact us at support@upswing.io.

Deleting and deactivating your account: If you want to stop using your account, you can submit a request to support@upswing.io. Please reference our Terms and Conditions for more information.

Deactivate: Deactivating your account puts your account on hold. Other users will no longer see you, but we do not delete any of your information. Deactivating an account is the same as you telling us not to delete any information because you might want to reactivate your account at some point in the future.

Deletion: When you delete your account, it is permanently deleted from Upswing. You should only delete your account if you are sure you never want to reactivate it.

Security and Information Protection

The security of your information is important to us. When you enter sensitive information (such as your registration information, we encrypt that information using Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. We follow generally accepted industry standards to protect the information submitted to us, both during transmission and once we receive it. No method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure, however. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security. You should, therefore, always use caution when submitting personally identifying information online.

Users should be aware that any Identifiable Information which you voluntarily include and transmit through publicly accessible forums (i.e., such as the Upswing Virtual Learning Rooms, blogs, instant messages, listservs) may be viewed and used by anyone with access to such forums. Upswing is unable to control such uses of your Identifiable Information, and by using such services you assume the risk that the Identifiable Information provided by them may be viewed and used by third parties.

Links to Other Sites

Please be aware that when you are on the site, or when you receive an email message from us through the Service, you could be directed to other sites that are beyond our control. This Privacy Policy applies to our site or Service only. If you submit personally identifiable information to any of those sites, your information is subject to their privacy statements. We encourage you to carefully read the privacy statement of any Website you visit. Upswing encourages its Users to be aware when you leave Upswing's service or surf the Internet, and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site and service that you visit. Upswing does not endorse, screen or approve, and is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of, such as other websites and services.

Privacy Policy for Children

We do not knowingly collect information from children under the age of 13 through our site or Services. If you are under the age of 13, please do not provide any information to us. If we receive notice that we have collected information from a child under the age of 13, we will make commercially reasonable efforts to delete such information. Simply contact us at support@upswing.io.

Data Protection Statement for European Union Users

Description of Processing Activity

Upswing collects and stores personal information about its users to customize their learning and teaching experience. It shares minimal data with its service providers.

Purposes of Processing

Provide, test, promote, and improve the services
Gather usage statistics of services
Provide customized learning or teaching experience
Pay Upswing Tutors for online tutoring and paper reviews
Fight spam, fraud, and other abuse of services

Legal Bases

In order to provide the services, Upswing collects and stores personal data about its users on the legal basis of consent given when you create an account and agree to the Privacy Policy.

Upswing also pursues its legitimate interests by collecting minimal data of logged out users to provide the services, as outlined above.

Public Nature of Personal Data

Logged-in users may choose to interact directly with other users through direct messages, live sessions, paper uploads, and notetaking. If you do not agree to this public usage, do not create an account or use these features of Upswing's Services.

Categories of Personal Data Collected

Logged out users:

IP address
Browser Information

Logged in Students:

Username
First Name
Last Name
Email Address
Phone Number (optional)
School ID
Avatar Image (optional)
IP Address
Browser Information
Academic Session History

Logged in Upswing Tutors:

First Name
Last Name
Email Address
Phone Number (optional)
Linked Social Media Accounts
Avatar Image
Home Address
PayPal Email Address
IP Address
Browser information
Academic Session History

Logged in School Tutors/Advisors:

First Name
Last Name
Email Address
Phone Number (optional)
School ID (optional)
Avatar Image
IP Address
Browser Information
Academic Session History

Logged in School Admins:

First Name
Last Name
Email Address
Phone Number (optional)
School ID (optional)
Avatar Image
IP Address
Browser Information
Academic Session History

Categories of Recipients

Upswing shares minimal personal data with third-party processors in order to provide the Services. These processors offer at least the same level of data protection as that set out in this statement.

This includes the following categories of recipients:

Hosting, Storage, & Other Infrastructure
Security
Analytics
Communication & Support
Payment Processors

Payment Processors

Upswing provides Services in conjunction with Paypal through which Upswing tutors may receive payment for services rendered through Upswing. Paypal may collect and store personal data related to your billing information and history in order to provide their services, and may collect and store personal data and business data to prevent fraud and other abuse.

Existence of Automated Decision-making

Upswing collects and stores personal data about its users to customize search results of coaches. This includes ranking results based on information like subjects offered, feedback ranking, and responsiveness to requests.

Potential Consequences of Processing

By creating an account on Upswing, users may make certain personal data about themselves accessible to others on their profile and through network interactions. This may in some cases constitute special category protected data which is considered manifestly made public by the user.

Users are free to use their real name and information, or a pseudonym of their choosing, for their account. Users may also choose to use the service without posting data or engaging in network interactions. However, if you do not agree with and accept the risks of such usage, you may not use the services.

Cross-Border Transfers

Upswing is hosted in the United States. By using Upswing Services, you authorize Upswing to transfer, store, and use your information in the United States and any other country where we operate. Where your data is disclosed to our processors, it is subject by contract to at least the same level of data protection as that set out in this statement.

Retention

Upswing retains personal data associated with your account for the lifetime of your account. If you would like to delete your personal information, you can delete your account at any time by contacting an Upswing representative at support@upswing.io. Deleted account profile pages will become inaccessible from other accounts in our system upon deletion.

To delete your payment or billing information, you will need to do so with your payment provider, as Upswing only has minimal secure access to those records as needed to provide the services.

Rights of Data Subjects

If you sign up for an Upswing account, you may at any time request an export of your personal information from an Upswing representative.

You may withdraw consent by requesting your account be deleted at any time through, which will erase your personal information completely within 14 days (except to the extent Upswing is prevented by law from deleting your information).

You may at any time lodge a complaint regarding the processing of your personal data by Upswing with the Supervisory Authority of your EU member state.

Changes to This Policy

Upswing reserves the right, at its discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions from this policy at any time by posting such changes here. Users should review this policy regularly for changes, and can easily see if changes have been made by checking the Effective Date above. However, if at any time in the future Upswing plans to use Personally Identifiable Information in a way that differs from this policy, Upswing will post such changes here and provide you with the opportunity to opt-out of such differing uses. Your continued use following the posting of any changes to this policy means acceptance of such changes.

Contacting Us

We value your opinions. If you have comments or questions about our privacy policy, you may contact us at support@upswing.io.

Upswing International, Inc.
P.O. Box 926
Durham, NC 27702
Austin, TX 78704
Attn: Chief Operating Officer

Phone: 844-879-8779