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Qedoc:Privacy policy
From Qedoc
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Introduction
Qedoc and the Qedoc software provide interactive educational services to both educators and their students. These services involve both desktop and server software, and in order to provide the best kind of interactive "web 2.0" experience expected by our users, the desktop and server software work together ever increasingly. When desktop and server software work together, this means that data is exchanged between your computer and our server, and this data exchange in turn creates privacy issues.
To restate this: our software development is driven by the demands and expectations of people like you, and this development has led us in the direction of constantly increasing data exchange between desktop and server. This is what people like you expect of us for the best possible service. But this also raises privacy issues.
This article attempts to inform you in the plainest possible language what the privacy issues are and what we do to protect your information.
Privacy and the use of the Qedoc desktop software
Qedoc Quiz Player
Currently (January 2009), the Player shares very little information over the web, with the exception of results reporting.
Data which this application may send out over the web
The following things may be sent to our server (or elsewhere, depending):
- Requests for modules and information about modules. Modules can be loaded directly from our website, which means that the Player can ask for and call up a lot of live information from our server. In such a case the only private data stored at our end is the usual stuff in the server access log (e.g. IP and time of server contact).
- Bug reports, if the user confirms on each and every occasion that s/he wishes to send these.
- Upgrades. The software may check back with the server to see if an upgrade is available. In such a case the only private data stored at our end is the usual stuff in the server access log (e.g. IP and time of server contact).
- Test results.
- If an author wishes to have results emailed back to them, the user will be prompted at the end of a test whether s/he wishes to do this. This service is normally intended for teachers and their students. Sending results back in this way can reveal your name (if you typed this anywhere), your educational scores and anything else you typed into the Qedoc Quiz Player.
- Public communities. If the user chooses to participate in a public hall of fame, the only data communicated is their overall score. Answers and names are not sent, and scores are held under a fictitious and non-traceable name.
- Private communities. This kind of hall-of-fame allows groups of users to share a password giving them access to a protected hall-of-fame which uses real names. The data sent is the overall score (not answers) and the name of the user. Data is held in encrypted form and should only be visible to people with whom the user group has shared its password.
Data which is stored locally and may be an issue on public computers
This information is of relevance if you are using a computer which other people also use, such as a computer in a school classroom.
- Test results. All your scores (but not your actual answers) are stored on your local computer under an "account" in your name on that computer. The Qedoc Quiz Player is intended for use by multiple users, and so each user's results are held separately. You can only access these results from the desktop if you log in as that particular user. By default, all user accounts are public, but you can choose to password-protect them if you wish. The score data itself is encrypted, so if nobody else has your password, your test results should be safe from other people using the computer. The most common likely error is that you forget to log out, which means the next user can access all your scores. Remember to log out.
- Downloaded modules. Any module which you download from Qedoc or obtain from elsewhere will be stored locally and other users will be able to see that they have been downloaded, although they will not be able to see who has been using them unless they can access the test results.
Data which may be revealed in a commercial context
- Unlocking codes. Learners who buy modules from commercial users of our software may be provided with a 16-character authentication code (rather like a CD-ROM key). If you use such a code, our server handles the authorisation to unlock, and will record your IP address and time/method of access.
Privacy issues which may arise with near-future versions of the software
Generally Qedoc is under strong expectations to provide richer web-based services around its desktop software. This means that further privacy issues may arise as new versions of the software are released.
- Learning roaming. In order to allow learners to log in from different computers, their accounts and results may be stored on a central server rather than locally. Such storage would be subject to encryption. Permission must be obtained in such cases; users must be informed about where their data is located.
- Improved results reporting. The amount of information about test results may be increased. It is likely that we could only do this in commercial contexts for classes and institutions where this was specifically requested and paid for. For most casual users, there would be no central results storage.
- Module hit counter. In the future, it is likely that when a module is loaded on the desktop, a server hit counter for that module will be incremented. Personally identifying data would not be recorded. The hit counter would allow educators to judge the popularity of their modules.
Qedoc Quiz Maker
Use of the Quiz Maker involves greater privacy issues than the Quiz Player, mainly because it is a publication system whereby you deliberately place material outside the protection of any privacy rules. Publication must be done in a responsible, transparent and well-informed manner.
Privacy issues relating to contributor ID's
Names
The main purpose of the Qedoc Quiz Maker is for educators to prepare and publish interactive learning resources. Publication includes the attachment of a Creative Commons licence to the resource, which records and preserves some of your intellectual property rights as the author of the resource. For a resource to be licenced at all like this, or for your rights as an author to be identified, you must, of course, be identified and named. Books are normally identified by author-and-title, and likewise so are the learning resources you make available through Qedoc.
When you apply for a contributor ID from Qedoc, you therefore give permission to be named as the author of your resources. Your name, as an author, becomes a public piece of information. More than that, as with any book author, the process of making the learning resources available to a large international audience will mean that your name, in conjunction with your learning resources, is used frequently and prominently, and is shared with other websites and organisations which promote learning materials. As part of the process of normal publication, you run a small risk of becoming wildly famous.
The use of your name is restricted to the declaration of your authorship of your learning resources and reasonable connected purposes such as cataloguing. Your name should not be used for loosely derived or unassociated purposes.
Applying for a contributor ID also requires the provision of at least one email address. We regard this information as private, store the addresses in encrypted form and endeavour to ensure that email harvesters have no access. You can choose to provide learners with a contact method in your learning resources if you wish; most authors do not provide a direct contact method for learners. Similar to an author working for a publishing house, people who have reason to contact you about your work would normally do so via Qedoc.
Data which this application may send out over the web
The following things may be sent to our server:
- Requests for collection of contributor ID's. The IP and time/method of collection are recorded.
- Requests for modules and information about modules. Other people's modules can be loaded from our website for editing or copying, which means that the software can ask for and call up a lot of live information from our server. In such a case the only private data stored at our end is the usual stuff in the server access log (e.g. IP and time of server contact).
- Bug reports, if the user confirms on each and every occasion that s/he wishes to send these.
- Upgrades. The software may check back with the server to see if an upgrade is available. In such a case the only private data stored at our end is the usual stuff in the server access log (e.g. IP and time of server contact).
- Uploaded modules. As part of the process of publication, you can upload entire modules from the software to our website. This involves transferring a very large amount of data to us, which you are permitting to be published. Publication is subject to its own specific agreements - primarily the Creative Commons licence agreements and the licences for use of the Qedoc software. In short, as you are allowing us to publish this information, privacy does not apply here, but you should think carefully about what you write into your modules, particularly when it comes to private information about yourself or those you know. Qedoc modules are accessible worldwide, not just to you and your friends/family/class.
