Privacy Policy

Purpose and who we are

The purpose of this Privacy Notice is to describe how Web Coursera, Inc., our subsidiaries, and our international branches, ("Web Coursera," "us," "we," or "our") collects, uses, and shares information about you through our online interfaces (e.g., websites and mobile applications) owned and controlled by us, including but not limited to coursera.org and rhyme.com (collectively referred to herein as the "Site"). Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand what we do. If you do not understand any aspects of our Privacy Notice, please feel free to contact us at privacy@coursera.org. Your use of our Site is also governed by our Terms of Use..Terms used but not defined in this Privacy Notice can be found in our Terms of Use. Web Coursera, Inc. is a Delaware corporation with a principal place of business at 381 E. Evelyn Ave., Mountain View, CA 94041. If you reside or are located in the European Economic Area ("EEA") Web Coursera is the data controller of all Personal Data (as defined below) collected via the Site and of certain Personal Data collected from third parties, as set out in this Privacy Notice unless you are part of a degree, certain MasterTrack programs, or certain other circumstances as communicated to you, in which case Web Coursera is the data processor.

What Information this Privacy Notice Covers

This Privacy Notice covers information we collect from you through our Site. Some of our Site’s functionality can be used without revealing any Personal Data, but for features or Services related to the Content Offerings, Personal Data is required. In order to access certain features and benefits on our Site, you may need to submit, or we may collect, "Personal Data" (i.e., information that can be used to identify you and which may also be referred to as “personally identifiable information” or “personal information”). Personal Data can include information such as your name, email address, IP address, and device identifier, among other things. You are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the Personal Data you submit to Web Coursera. Inaccurate information may affect your ability to use the Site, the information you receive when using the Site, and our ability to contact you. For example, your email address should be kept current because that is one of the primary manners in which we communicate with you.

What You Agree to by Using Our Site

We consider that the legal bases for using your personal information as set out in this Privacy Notice are as follows:

• Our use of your personal information is necessary to perform our obligations under any contract with you (for example, to comply with the Terms of Use of our Site which you accept by browsing our website and/or to comply with our contract to provide Services to you, your academic institution, your employer, or other organization that may be providing you with access to our Services)
• Our use of your personal information is necessary for complying with our legal obligations
• Use of your personal information is necessary for our legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of others.
• Consent to send you certain communications or where you submit certain information to us, or where required to rely upon consent by local law.

Which legal basis applies to a specific activity will depend on the type of personal information used and the context in which it is being used.

What Information We Collect

We gather two types of information about users through the Site:

• When users come to our Site, we may track, collect, and aggregate information indicating, among other things, which pages of our Site were visited, the order in which they were visited, when they were visited, and which hyperlinks were clicked. We also collect information from the URLs from which you linked to our Site. Collecting such information may involve logging the IP address, operating system, and browser software used by each user of the Site. We may be able to determine from an IP address a user’s Internet Service Provider and the geographic location of their point of connectivity. Location data may be used to route your traffic to the nearest regional server to reduce latency and improve your experience. We may also use cookies and web beacons when you visit our Site. For more information on our use of cookies and web beacons, please refer to our Cookies Policy.
• We collect Personal Data that you provide to us when you register for an account, update or change information for your account, purchase products or Services, complete a survey, sign-up for email updates, participate in our public forums, send us email messages, and/or participate in Content Offerings or other Services on our Site. We may use the Personal Data that you provide to respond to your questions, provide you the specific Content Offering and/or Services you select, send you updates about Content Offerings or other Coursera events, and send you email messages about Site maintenance or updates.

If you participate in a Content Offering, we may collect certain user-generated content, such as assignments you submit, peer-graded assignments, and peer grading feedback. We also collect course data, such as responses to in-video quizzes, standalone quizzes, exams, and surveys. You should not include any Personal Data or other information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, on assignments, exams, or surveys, except for information required to participate in or submit such assignments, exams, or surveys.

How We Use the Information

• Information relating to your use of our Site. We use information relating to your use of the Site to build higher quality, more useful Services by performing statistical analyses of the collective characteristics and behavior of our users, and by measuring demographics and interests regarding specific areas of our Site. We may also use this information to ensure the security of our Services and the Site.
• Personally Identifiable Information provided directly by you or via third parties. Except as set forth in this Privacy Notice or as specifically agreed to by you, Coursera will not disclose any of your Personal Data. In addition to the other uses set forth in this Privacy Notice, we may disclose and otherwise use Personal Data as described below.
• Providing the Site and our Services. We use Personal Data which you provide to us in order to allow you to access and use the Site and in order to provide any information, products, or Services that you request from us.
• Technical support and security. We may use Personal Data to provide technical support to you, where required, and to ensure the security of our Services and the Site.
• Updates. We use Personal Data collected when you sign-up for our various email or update services to send you the messages in connection with the Site or Content Offerings. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you, where we are legally entitled to do so.
• Forums. You should not post any personally identifiable information or other information of a personal or sensitive nature, whether relating to you or another person, within a Forum post. If you choose to post personally identifiable information, such personally identifiable information may be collected during your use of the Forums. We may publish this information via extensions of our platform that use third-party services, like mobile applications. We reserve the right to reuse Forum posts that contain personally identifiable information in future versions of the Content Offerings, and to enhance future Content Offerings. We may archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you and/or your designee(s), and/or provide it to the Content Provider, business partners, or the instructor(s) associated with the courses you have taken. We may also use or publish posts submitted on the Forums without using personally identifiable information.
• Participation in Content Offerings. We use the Personal Data that we collect from you when you participate in a Content Offering through the Site for processing purposes, including but not limited to tracking attendance, progress, and completion of the Content Offerings. We may also share your Personal Data and your performance in a given Content Offering with the instructor or instructors who taught it, with teaching assistants or other individuals designated by the instructor or instructors to assist with the creation, modification, or operation of the Content Offering, and with the Content Provider(s) with which they are affiliated. We may also use the information generated when taking a Content Offering or using the Services for predictive analysis of your performance in the Content Offerings. Also, we may archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you, where we are legally entitled to do so.
• Identity Verification. For Services that require identity verification, we may use the Personal Data that we collect for verifying your identity, and for authenticating that submissions made on the Site were made by you. This service may be provided through a third-party identity verification vendor. Your photo identification document will be deleted after successful verification of your profile information.
• Communications with or from Coursera. When you send us an email message or otherwise contact us, we may use the information provided by you to respond to your communication and/or as described in this Privacy Notice. We may also archive this information and/or use it for future communications with you where we are legally entitled to do so. Where we send you emails, we may track the way that you interact with these emails (such as when you open an email or click on a link inside an email). We use this information for the purposes of optimizing and better tailoring our communications to you.

Confidentiality & Security of Personally Identifiable Information

We will use industry standard physical, technical, and administrative security measures to keep your Personal Data confidential and secure, and will not share it with third parties, except as otherwise provided in this Privacy Notice, or unless such disclosure is necessary in special cases, such as a physical threat to you or others, as permitted by applicable law. Because the Internet is not a 100% secure environment, we cannot guarantee the security of Personal Data, and there is some risk that an unauthorized third party may find a way to circumvent our security systems or that transmission of your information over the Internet will be intercepted. It is your responsibility to protect the security of your login information. Please note that e-mail communications are typically not encrypted and should not be considered secure.

Updating or Deleting Your Personal Data

You have certain rights in relation to your Personal Data. You can access your Personal Data and confirm that it remains correct and up-to-date, choose whether or not you wish to receive material from us or some of our partners, and request that we delete or provide you with a copy of your personal data by logging into the Site, selecting ‘Settings’ from the dropdown in the top right, and scrolling down to find the appropriate option. The ability to delete an account may be disabled for some users, particularly those who are enrolled in for-credit offerings such as degrees, MasterTrack certificate programs, and other similar offerings.

If you would like further information in relation to your rights or would like to exercise any of them, you may also contact us via privacy@coursera.org. If you reside or are located in the EEA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, or other region that offers similar protections, you have the right to request that we:

• provide access to any Personal Data we hold about you
• prevent the processing of your Personal Data for direct-marketing purposes
• update any Personal Data which is out of date or incorrect
• delete any Personal Data which we are holding about you
• restrict the way that we process your Personal Data
• provide your Personal Data to a third party provider of services
• provide you with a copy of any Personal Data which we hold about you.

We try to answer every request promptly where possible, and provide our response within the time period stated by applicable law. Keep in mind, however, that when deleting your Personal Data there may be residual information that will remain within our databases, access logs, and other records, which may or may not contain your Personal Data. Please also note that certain Personal Data may be exempt from such requests in certain circumstances, which may include if we need to retain your Personal Data to comply with a legal obligation. When you email us with a request, we may ask that you provide us with information necessary to confirm your identity.

Questions, Suggestions, and Complaints

If you have any privacy-related questions, suggestions, unresolved problems, or complaints, you may contact us via privacy@coursera.org. If you reside or are located in the EEA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, or other region that offers similar protections, our Data Protection Officer and Privacy Team may assist with all queries regarding our handling of Personal Data at security@coursera.org. If you reside or are located in the EEA, United Kingdom, Switzerland, or other region that offers similar protections, you may also make a complaint to our supervisory body for data protection matters (namely the UK Information Commissioner's Office or Dutch Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens) or seek a remedy through local courts if you believe that your rights have been breached.