TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR FORECASTING THE FUTURE

Last Updated September 27, 2024.

Terms of Use

PLEASE READ THESE TERMS OF USE (the “Agreement”) CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS WEBSITE OR THESE “Forecasting the Future” MOBILE APPLICATION(S) (the “Site”) OR ANY OF THE SERVICES OFFERED THROUGH THE SITE (the “Services”). This Site is controlled and operated by the Alliance for Decision Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (“The Alliance,” “us,” “we” and “our”). By accessing and using this Site and/or any of the Services, you are hereby agreeing to be legally bound by this Agreement. If you do not agree with all of the terms and conditions of this Agreement or are incapable of forming a binding contract with us, or are not at least 13 years old, and/or are not located in the United States, US Territories, or Canada, you are not authorized to use this Site or any of the Services, and must immediately discontinue your use of the Site and Services.

We reserve the right, at our sole discretion, to change, modify or otherwise alter the terms of this Agreement at any time. In the event of any such change, we will post a notice on the Site that we have changed this Agreement. We may (but are not required to) provide you with notice via the email address that we have on file for you that we have changed this Agreement. You and we both understand that sometimes there are issues with email communication. We are not responsible if any email notice gets caught by your SPAM filter and you do not see it, if you have given us the wrong email address (or failed to update your address) or if there are other communications issues that prevent our email from reaching you. Such changes and/or modifications shall become effective immediately upon the posting thereof. Please review this Agreement periodically. Your continued use of the Site and the Services following the posting of changes and/or modifications to this Agreement will constitute your acceptance of those changes and/or modifications.

I. SERVICES

The Alliance agrees to provide you with access to the Site and the Services.

The Alliance Services may include one or more competitions, which are subject to the policies set forth under “Competition Terms,” as may be updated from time to time and are incorporated herein.

II. AGE RESTRICTIONS

The Alliance wants to ensure that students have a safe online learning experience. Towards that end, this Site is solely for the use of students age 13 and older, parents, teachers, schools, and other users age 13 and older (collectively, “Users”). If you are under age 13, you may not use the Site. If you are at least 13 years of age, but under 18 years of age, you must have a parent’s or guardian’s consent to use the Site and Services. By using the Site and Services, you agree that you have received your parent or guardian’s consent to participate.

III. PRIVACY POLICY

The Site is a website on the internet where Users access tools, instruction, and strategies for decision-making through forecasting. The Alliance encourages students, their parents, teachers and schools to use and enjoy our website and to communicate with us. Students and parents should take care to safeguard their privacy when using the internet including on our Site. Our information collection practices are described in our Privacy Policy (our “Privacy Policy”), the terms of which are incorporated herein. Before entering information on any website including our Site, students and parents should discuss safe practices and restrictions regarding the online release of personal information to anyone they do not know.

IV. YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATION

It is your responsibility to maintain the confidentiality of your Site account information, and you are responsible for all use of the Site through your account information. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account or any other actual or suspected breach of Site security.

V. YOUR CONTENT

“Your Content” refers to all forecasts, rationales, and point estimates, including but not limited to text, and content you upload or provide to the Site. You are the sole owner of Your Content. You agree that we may use Your Content for the purposes of providing the Services to you, including, without limitation, to provide feedback. You represent to us that you have the right to provide us with Your Content and any other information you provide to us, and that Your Content is not illegal. If someone sues us or makes any other claim against us (or any of our employees, directors, independent contractors, agents or affiliates, or any other users of the Site or the services) because you have provided us with Your Content or other information that you are not authorized to provide, or if Your Content is illegal or causes injury to any person or company, you agree that you will pay any damages, losses or costs that we (or they) incur as a result of the suit or claim and, if we request it, you will defend us against the suit or claim. Your Content may not contain any software viruses, worms, Trojan horses or any other computer code, files or programs that interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of the Services, that may impact the ability of any user to access the services or that may cause harm to our or any users’ software or systems.

We are not responsible for storing or backing up Your Content. We encourage you to ensure Your Content is backed up at another location. We are not responsible if Your Content is lost for any reason.

VI. YOUR CONDUCT

Subject to the provisions of this Agreement, you may use the Site and the Services only in compliance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. Without limiting the foregoing, when using or uploading Your Content to the Site the following requirements and prohibitions apply:

1. If you choose to provide us with information, it must be accurate and up-to-date.

2. You are prohibited from impersonating another person while using this Site and/or the Services.

3. You may not upload, post, email or otherwise send to us, to the Site or to any other person via the Site, any material that:

   1. Contains viruses, bugs, or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;

   2. Infringes on the intellectual property rights or other rights, including privacy or publicity rights, of any person or entity;

   3. Unless you have our written permission, promotes or endorses any company or person, any product or service, or any charitable cause;

   4. Refers to a URL of a website that competes with the Site or that contains, depicts, or promotes illegal content, materials or activities;

   5. Contains or requests personally identifiable information; or

   6. Is abusive, illegal, libelous, defamatory, obscene, threatening or otherwise unacceptable to us, in our sole discretion.

VII. OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

All Site and Services software, design, text, images, photographs, illustrations, audio clips, video clips, artwork, graphic material, stories, exercises, or other copyrightable elements, and the selection and arrangements thereof, and trademarks, service marks and trade names (the “Material”) are the property of The Alliance and/or its subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns, licensors or other respective owners and are protected, without limitation, pursuant to U.S. and foreign intellectual property laws. The Alliance hereby grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-assignable and non-transferable license to use and display, for noncommercial and personal use only, one copy of any material and/or software that you may download from this Site or otherwise used in connection with the Services, including, without limitation, any files, codes, audio or images incorporated in or generated by the software provided that you maintain all copyright and other notices contained in such Material. You agree not to reproduce, modify, create derivative works from, display, perform, publish, distribute, disseminate, broadcast or circulate any Material to any third party (including, without limitation, the display and distribution of the Material via a third party website) without the express prior written consent of The Alliance. Use of The Alliance and/or its licensors’ Material is only permitted with our express written consent. You further agree that you will not disassemble, decompile, reverse engineer or otherwise modify the Material. Any unauthorized or prohibited use may subject the offender to civil liability and criminal prosecution under applicable federal and state laws. The Alliance operates and controls this Site from its offices at 1 Belmont Avenue, Suite 610, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania 19004. No software from this Site may be downloaded, exported or re-exported in violation of any law including, without limitation, to countries that are subject to U.S. export restrictions.

VIII. COPYRIGHT COMPLAINT POLICY

The Alliance takes protection of copyrights, both our own and that of others, very seriously. In connection with our Site, we have adopted and implemented a policy respecting copyright law that provides for the removal of any infringing materials or Postings and for the termination, in appropriate circumstances, of users of our Site and/or Services who are repeat infringers of intellectual property rights, including copyrights. If you believe that one of our users is, through the use of our Site, unlawfully infringing the copyright(s) in a work, and wish to have the allegedly infringing material removed, the following information in the form of a written notification (pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(c)) must be provided to our designated copyright agent: (a) your physical or electronic signature; (b) identification of the copyrighted work(s) that you claim to have been infringed; (c) identification of the materials or Postings on our Site that you claim are infringing and that you request us to remove; (d) sufficient information to permit us to locate such Postings or material; (e) your address, telephone number, and email address; (f) a statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the objectionable materials is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or under the law; and (g) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that you are either the owner of the copyright that has allegedly been infringed or that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. Please note that, pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 512(f), any misrepresentation of material fact (falsities) in a written notification automatically subjects the complaining party to liability for any damages, costs and attorney’s fees incurred by us in connection with the written notification and allegation of copyright infringement.

Our designated copyright agent can be contacted via email at forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org or via telephone at 610-668-1484.

IX. SECURITY OF SITE

The Alliance has implemented reasonable technical and organizational measures designed to deter unauthorized access to and use, destruction, modification, or disclosure of personally identifiable information we collect via the Site. Regardless of the precautions taken by us or by you, no data transmitted over the Internet or any other public network can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. We cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us and you provide all personally identifiable information via the Site and/or the Services at your own risk. You are responsible for maintaining the security of your user profile information, including your password and any and all activities that occur under your account. Do not share this information with anyone. We will never ask you to send your password or other sensitive information to us in an email, though we may ask you to enter this type of information on the Site. If you are sharing a computer with anyone you should always log out before leaving a site or service to protect access to your personally identifiable information from subsequent users.

X. LINKS TO THIRD PARTY SITES

The Alliance may from time to time provide links to other websites that may have their own information collection practices. These other websites are governed by their own privacy policies or information collection practices, which may be substantially different from ours. We encourage visitors to other websites to review the privacy policies and information collection practices of those websites. The appearance of external hyperlinks generated by third parties does not constitute endorsement by The Alliance, its subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns or licensors of the opinions or views expressed by these third party websites and The Alliance does not verify, endorse, or take responsibility for the accuracy, currency, completeness or quality of the content contained at these sites. Furthermore, The Alliance is not responsible for the quality or delivery of the products or services offered, accessed, obtained by or advertised at such sites. As such, neither The Alliance nor its subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns or licensors will be responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information contained in these sites. Finally, The Alliance will under no circumstances be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental or special loss or other damages, whether arising from negligence, breach of contract, defamation, infringement of copyright or other intellectual property rights, caused by the exhibition, distribution or exploitation of any information or content contained within these third party hyperlinked sites.

XI. ADS AND MALWARE

We take great care and pride in creating this Site. If we find technical glitches that effect how the Site works, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to fix them. We are not responsible or for or able to control any technical issues with the Site that are caused by your home computer or mobile or other device which may affect how you see our Site. If you experience any unusual behavior, content or ads on the Site, it may be the result of Malware on your computer. Malware--short for MALicious softWARE--is a term used to broadly classify a form of software which is installed in a computer system with malicious intentions, usually without the owner’s knowledge or permission. Malware includes computer viruses, key loggers, malicious active content, rogue programs and dialers, among others. While we work with our partners to ensure that everything on the Site is working properly, sometimes Malware programs on your personal computer may interfere with your experience on our Site and on other sites that you visit. Please note that we are not responsible for the effects of any third-party software including Malware on your computer system. If you do discover any Malware on your system, we suggest you speak with a qualified computer technician. If, after taking the above actions, you are still experiencing any problems, please feel free to contact us at forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org.

XII. DISCLAIMER AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

THIS SITE AND ALL MATERIALS CONTAINED ON IT ARE DISTRIBUTED AND TRANSMITTED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The Alliance IS NOT RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE FOR ANY INFECTIONS OR CONTAMINATION OF YOUR SYSTEM, OR DELAYS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS, OR OMISSIONS ARISING OUT OF YOUR USE OF THIS SITE AND/OR THE SERVICES, OR WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION AND MATERIAL CONTAINED ON THIS SITE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY, ACCURACY, ADEQUACY, COMPLETENESS, CORRECTNESS AND VALIDITY OF ANY MATERIAL RESTS WITH YOU. WITHOUT LIMITING THE GENERAL DISCLAIMER ABOVE, THE ALLIANCE HAS MADE AND MAKES NO REPRESENTATIONS AND/OR WARRANTIES REGARDING THE SUCCESS OR OUTCOME OF THE SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE ALLIANCE HEREUNDER. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, THE ALLIANCE, ITS AFFILIATES, AND THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, LICENSORS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND THIRD PARTY PROVIDERS TO THE SITE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, COMPENSATORY, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, DIRECT, SPECIAL OR SIMILAR DAMAGES, THAT MAY RESULT FROM THE USE OF, OR THE INABILITY TO USE, THE MATERIALS CONTAINED ON THIS SITE WHETHER THE MATERIAL IS PROVIDED OR OTHERWISE SUPPLIED BY THE ALLIANCE OR ANY THIRD PARTY.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, in no event shall The Alliance’s liability to you for any and all claims, damages, losses, and causes of action (whether in contract, tort or otherwise) exceed the amount paid by you, if any, for accessing this Site and receiving the Services.

XIII. INDEMNIFICATION

You agree to indemnify, defend and hold harmless, The Alliance, its subsidiaries, affiliates, assigns and licensors, and their respective officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, representatives, and third party providers to the Site from and against all losses, expenses, damages and costs, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting from either any Postings or other materials you upload or transmit to the Site, any use of the Site, and any violation of this Agreement by you. The Alliance reserves the right to assume, at its sole expense, the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification by you, in which event you will fully cooperate with The Alliance in asserting any available defenses.

XV. APPLICABLE LAW, VENUE, JURISDICTION

The Agreement and the relationship between you and The Alliance shall be governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania without regard to its conflict of law provisions. For any dispute arising under this Agreement, you agree to submit to the personal and exclusive jurisdiction of the federal and state courts located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. You further agree to accept service of process by mail, and hereby waive any and all jurisdictional and venue defenses otherwise available. You agree that regardless of any statute or law to the contrary, you must file any claim or cause of action arising out of or related to the use of the Site or the Agreement within one (1) year after such claim or cause of action arose or such claim or cause of action shall be forever barred.

XVI. NO ASSIGNMENT

None of your rights or obligations under this Agreement may be assigned, delegated or otherwise transferred, whether by agreement, operation of law or otherwise, without the express prior written consent of The Alliance. Any attempt to assign, delegate or otherwise transfer any of your rights or obligations hereunder without such consent shall be void.

XVII. CUSTOMER SERVICE

The Alliance customers may email us their questions, comments or concerns about this Agreement, our practices, or our Site and/or Services. Please email specific questions to forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org.

Competition Terms

These Competition Terms (the “Terms”) govern all participants in competitions provided via the Site. All capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the Terms of Use above, the terms and conditions of which are incorporated herein by reference.

The Alliance may amend the Terms at any time, and the amended Terms will become effective when published on the Terms page of the Forecasting the Future website and applications. Forecasting the Future and the Terms are subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations. Void where prohibited. The Alliance will be the sole arbiter of any disputes under the Terms and of interpretation of the Terms.

I. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY: NO PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE, PLEDGE, OR DONATION OF ANY KIND WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. No application is necessary.

II. REGISTRATION ELIGIBILITY: A User must be both: (1) a legal resident of the fifty (50) United States, U.S. Territories, the District of Columbia, and (2) at least thirteen (13) years of age at the time of registration. Limit one (1) registration per person.

III. PRIZE ELIGIBILITY: To be eligible for any of the prizes laid out under the Prizes section (“Prizes”), a User must be: (1) a legal resident of the fifty (50) United States, U.S. Territories, the District of Columbia, and (2) between thirteen (13) and nineteen (19) years of age at the time of registration. As detailed under the Prizes and Prize Notification, Verification, & Redemption section, certain Prizes require additional eligibility requirements and proof of age or other verification may be required before awarding any Prize. The Alliance employees, board members, and advisory council members and their immediate families are not eligible to win any Prizes.

IV. COMPETITION PERIODS: The competition begins on or about 12:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (“EDT”) on November 11, 2024, and ends at 11:59 p.m. ET on December 20, 2024. There will be a total of at least 11 questions that participants will be asked to forecast during this competition. Please note that additional prizes and competition periods may be added throughout the school year. The Alliance will be the final arbiter with respect to matters of time.

V. COMPETITION CRITERIA & WINNER SELECTION: All standings, rankings, and awarding of Prizes shall be based on Users’ “Relative Brier Score” on Forecast the Future as computed on the platform during the relevant competition period. A “Relative Brier Score” reflects both the accuracy and the timeliness of forecasts on a given event. A “Relative Brier Score” evaluates the performance of the individual user with respect to all users in the tournament. A “Relative Brier Score” closer to “0” reflects a more accurate and/or timely forecast whereas a “Relative Brier Score” closer to “2” reflects a more inaccurate and/or less timely forecast. In order to qualify for prizes, students must submit a forecast for each question asked during a question’s open forecasting window. Each question will have a defined open and end date. In the event of a tie within the top three positions, students will split the total amount of compensation equally. The competition criteria and any awarding of prizes are completely objective and nondiscriminatory; in administering Forecasting the Future, The Alliance will not discriminate in any manner including on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, gender, sex, or sexual orientation. Other factors such as financial need, grade point average, and other academic requirements are not considered as part of the competition. The Alliance is the final arbiter of all questions related to scoring, competition criteria, and winner selection.

VI. OVERALL LEADERBOARD: The overall leaderboard is intended to show a User’s performance in comparison to all participants. The Alliance will endeavor to maintain and accurately reflect the “Relative Brier Score” that Users have earned. However, The Alliance shall not be responsible for technical errors of any kind that may cause inaccurate or incomplete information to be reflected at any given time. Individual scores and leaderboards may be affected by updated information or changes in the status of given events. For example, if an unforeseen resolution to a given question occurs before the anticipated date of resolution, then that question will be closed and evaluated accordingly. The Alliance may update the leaderboard and correct erroneous listings on the leaderboard (including a User’s Brier Score) at any time in its sole discretion.

VII. PRIZES: The list below outlines the various Prizes for Forecasting the Future Users. Eligible Users may win multiple Prizes throughout the competition, and there is no limit to the number of Prizes a User can win. Prize winners are selected according to the Terms laid out in the Competition Criteria & Prize Winner Selection section. The First Place Grand Prize, The Second Place Prize, and the Third Place Prize will be in the form of a check made out to the participant. All other prizes will be gift cards or certificates; in no event will The Alliance provide Users or any individuals with cash or straight monetary payments. All references to dollars or “$” refer to United States dollars.

1. One (1) First Place Grand Prize: Tournament Grand Prize Winner will receive a $1,500 monetary award.

2. One (1) Second Place Prize: Tournament Second Place Prize Winner will receive a $1,000 monetary award.

3. One (1) Third Place Prize: Tournament Third Place Prize Winner will receive a $500 monetary award.

4. Seven (7) Top Ten Finisher Prizes: Tournament Fourth (4th) through Tenth (10th) Place Prize Winners will receive a $100 monetary award or gift card.

5. Seven (7) Top 40 Finisher Prizes: Tournament Eleventh (11th) through Fortieth (40th) Place Prize Winners will receive a $50 monetary award or gift card.

6. Eleven (11) “Closest to the Pin” Point Estimate Prizes: Eleven (11) prizes will be awarded to the user whose final Point Estimate is closest to the final result as determined via the source identified in the question. In the case of a tie, a winning user will be randomly selected among all tied users. Users can only win this prize once during the fall tournament. “Closest to the Pin” Point Estimate Prize Winners will receive a $50 monetary award or gift card.

7. Surprise Prizes: At its sole discretion, The Alliance may add Surprise Prizes at any time during the tournament.

VIII. PRIZE NOTIFICATION, VERIFICATION, & REDEMPTION: Winners for each “Closest to the Pin” Point Estimate Prizes will be notified via email (to the email address provided by the User) within approximately five (5) business days following the resolution of that question. Winners for the Tournament-long prizes will be notified via email (to the email address provided by User) within approximately fifteen (15) business days following the conclusion of the Tournament. With regard to any Prize, failure to respond via email to this notification email within seven (7) business days after notification or return of e-mail notification as undeliverable after three (3) attempts, may result in forfeiture of winner status and any Prize, at The Alliance’s sole discretion. The Alliance is not responsible for inaccurate contact information provided by the User.

Verification deemed acceptable to The Alliance of certain information may be required before The Alliance provides any Prize to the winner. This includes, but is not limited to: Users who win any of the Tournament-long prizes must provide proof of age within ten (10) days of notification.

Failure to return any of the required information within the specified time frames may result in disqualification. In the event of any dispute concerning the identity of an online User, the User will be deemed the individual who is the authorized holder of the transmitting e-mail account. “Authorized Account Holder” is defined as the natural person who is assigned to an e-mail address by an Internet access provider, online service provider, or other organization (e.g., business, educational institution, etc.) that is responsible for assigning e-mail addresses for the domain associated with the submitted e-mail address.

The Alliance plans to award all “Closest to the Pin” Point Estimate Prizes within one (1) month of the end of the Tournament. The Alliance reserves the right to award Prizes via other means determined by The Alliance in its sole discretion that are to be fair, appropriate and consistent with the spirit of the Terms.

IX. COMPLIANCE: Any User who tampers with the operation of the Site, uses the Site for abuse or harassment, attains or attempts to attain an unfair advantage in the competition, creates and/or operates multiple user accounts, knowingly provides incorrect personal information, or otherwise violates any Terms may be prohibited from winning any Prizes and may be disqualified and removed from the competition and any associated sites/applications at the sole discretion of The Alliance. The Site may be used for educational and entertainment purposes only and cannot be used for any type of betting or wagering.

Any attempt by any person to deliberately undermine the legitimate operation of the Site may be a violation of criminal and civil law, and, should such an attempt be made, The Alliance reserves the right to seek damages from any such person to the fullest extent permitted by law. This includes, but is not limited to, attempts to: knowingly damage or cause interruption of the Site, prevent others from participating in competitions, or damage the Site.

X. FORCE MAJEURE:  If for any reason, the competition (in whole or in part) is not capable of running as planned, including infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, fraud, technical failures, human error, fire, flood, storm or other natural cataclysm, riot, strike, civil commotion, governmental regulation or any other causes beyond The Alliance’s control that corrupt or affect the administration, security, fairness, integrity or proper conduct of the competition, The Alliance reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to terminate, modify, or suspend the competition (in whole or in part) and declare some or all previously announced Prizes null and void.

Privacy Policy

This is our Privacy Policy. Please read carefully before using this website.

The forecastingthefuture.org website and “Forecasting the Future” platform (the “Site”) are controlled and operated by the Alliance for Decision Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (“The Alliance”). This privacy policy (“Privacy Policy”) explains how we collect and use visitors’ and users’ information on the Site. As used herein, the terms “you”, “your” and “user” refer to all persons and entities accessing the Site on your behalf for any reason and the terms “we” and “us” refer to The Alliance.

The Alliance encourages users to use and enjoy our Site. Users should take care to safeguard their privacy when using the Internet including our Site. Our information collection practices are described below. Before entering information on any website including on our Site, users should develop safe practices and restrictions regarding the online release of personal information to anyone they don’t know. By accessing and using this Site, you are hereby agreeing to be legally bound by our Privacy Policy.

I. WHAT INFORMATION IS COLLECTED ON THE SITE

At the Alliance, it’s our policy to create website content that requires minimal collection of information from our visitors and registered users.

When you register as a user of our Site, we may ask that you provide certain information, including but not limited to your e-mail address, date of birth, school, and state of residence. This information is collected so you can participate in activities and so that The Alliance can communicate with you without giving unnecessary personal information.

When you visit our Site, we may collect from you and log data as described in the Cookies and Logs section below.

From time to time, we may request limited personally identifying information (e.g., your email address and/or email address of parent or third party), as explained below, in order to offer online activities, measure the success of our programs, and to improve your overall experience with The Alliance. The Alliance does not condition your participation in any of our online activities on the disclosure of more information than is reasonably necessary to participate in the activity.

Forecasting the Future sers may email us their questions about our services and our Site at forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org. We may ask for additional non-personal information to better help us respond to user service questions. Information you provide, including personally identifying information, when you contact us with a question, is used to respond to your question(s) regarding our products and services. We do not sell, transfer or share your email address or personal information with third parties.

We may also collect other data regarding your use of the Site, such as click-stream data, your IP address, access times and access duration (for additional information, see the section titled “Cookies and Log Data” below). 

II. USE AND DISCLOSURE OF YOUR INFORMATION COLLECTED ON THE SITE

1. How We May Use Your Information.

We may use the information we collect from and about you on the Site (collectively, “Information”), including but not limited to the following purposes:

To operate the Site;

To fulfill your requests for products and services;

To tailor the Site to our users’ needs; 

To contact you and communicate with you about your use of the Site, your user account, courses and services you have enrolled in and registered for;

To review Site and product usage and operations and to improve the content and functionality of the Site and our products and services;

To determine competition winners;

To evaluate instructional impact;

To address problems with the Site, our business, products or services; and

To protect the security or integrity of the Site, and our users and business.

1. How We May Share Your Information.

We may share Information with third-party service providers with whom we have contracted to provide aspects of the Site or our products and services offered via the Site or who otherwise perform functions on behalf of The Alliance to provide the Site or our products and services, such as hosting providers or advertisers.

We reserve the right to disclose Information that we believe is appropriate to cooperate in investigations of fraud or other illegal or inappropriate activity or in response to a subpoena or other legal process. If a subpoena seeks information about you, we’ll make reasonable business efforts to contact you before providing information to the party that requests it, but we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.

We may disclose information to your agent or legal representative (such as the holder of a power of attorney that you grant, or a guardian appointed for you).

As with any other business, it is possible that in the future we could merge with or be acquired by another company. If such an acquisition occurs, the successor company would have access to the information maintained by us, including user account information, but would continue to be bound by this Privacy Policy unless and until it is amended.

III. MODIFICATIONS AND CHANGES TO YOUR INFORMATION

If you are a registered user of our Site, we provide an easy way via your online account profile for you to access, correct, update or remove personal information that has previously been provided to us. You can review your personal information and make any necessary changes at any time, by logging in to your user account. If you are unable to edit your personal information by logging into your user account, please contact us for assistance at forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org.

IV. CHOICE AND OPT-OUT

By using the Site you “opt-in” to having your information used for purpose of receiving marketing material from us, our affiliates, and/or our third-party advertisers.

If you no longer wish to receive promotional communications from us, our affiliates, and/or our third-party advertisers, you may opt-out of receiving them by following the instructions included in each communication. Please understand that if you choose not to receive promotional correspondence from us, we may still contact you in connection with your relationship, activities, transactions and communications with us.

From time to time, we may provide you the opportunity to participate in Alliance surveys and other information gathering activities to obtain information regarding the use of and possible changes to our products, services and/or the Site and the attractiveness of additional service features or new products or services. Participation in these surveys and activities is completely voluntary and you will usually be provided a choice to participate anonymously. Information obtained from such activities may be used by us to consider enhancements or improvements to the Site and/or our products and services, for future product development or for other purposes pertaining to the Site or The Alliance’s business. 

V. COOKIES AND LOG DATA

Unique identifiers such as cookies (which are small text files stored locally on your computer that help store user preferences and may be html files, Flash files, or other technology), web beacons or clear gifs (which are small pieces of code placed on websites used to collect advertising metrics, such as counting page views, promotion views, or advertising responses , tags and scripts or similar technologies (collectively referred to as “Tracking Technologies”) may be used by The Alliance and our marketing, analytics, or other service providers to understand Site usage, help customize our content, offerings or advertisements on the Site, analyze trends, allow users to move between associated websites without logging into each site, and other purposes related to our management and administration of the Site.

We may also use cookies to personalize your experience on the Site (e.g., to recognize you by name when you return to the Site), save your password in password-protected areas, save your online settings, to help us offer you products, programs or services that may be of interest to you and to deliver relevant advertising. In many Internet browsers, you can choose to delete, disable, turn off or reject most Tracking Technologies through the “Internet Options” sub-option of the “Tools” menu option of your browser or otherwise as directed by your browser’s support feature. Additional information on deleting, disabling, rejecting or turning off Tracking Technologies may be available through your browser’s support feature. Please consult the “Help” section of your browser for more information.

Please know that certain areas and features of our Site can only be accessed in conjunction with cookies or similar devices and you should be aware that disabling cookies or similar devices might prevent you from accessing some of our content.

Log data collected on web servers supplies us with aggregate information about the number of visits to different pages on our Site. We use such aggregate information to improve access to our content based on our visitors’ browsers and operating system types to make our content available to as many users as possible. This Privacy Policy covers the use of cookies by The Alliance only and does not cover the use of cookies by any advertisers. We have no access to or control over these cookies. 

By agreeing to this Privacy Policy and using the Site, you are consenting to the use of Tracking Technologies as set forth in this Privacy Policy.

VI. CHILDREN UNDER 13

At The Alliance we want to ensure that students have a safe online learning experience. Towards that end this Site is solely for Users (as defined in the Terms of Use). The Site is not intended for children under 13 years of age and The Alliance does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without the consent of a parent or guardian. We request that all visitors under 13 to the Site not disclose or provide any personally identifiable information. Upon notification that a child under 13 has provided us with personally identifiable information, we will delete the child’s personally identifiable information from our records.

VII. CALIFORNIA USERS/VISITORS

California Civil Code Section 1798.83 permits users who are California residents and who have provided “personal information” (as that term is defined in Section 1798.83) to request certain information about the disclosure of that information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. In addition, if you are under 18 years old, and a California resident, you may submit an application to have any content or material you posted or submitted to our Site using the Social Media Features removed from our Site. Please note that an application to have your material removed does not ensure information you have posted in the past will be completely removed from our systems or our Site, or from other websites. If you are a California resident, you may contact us about your rights by writing to California@

IX. USERS/VISITORS OUTSIDE OF THE U.S.

You should be aware that the United States and other countries have not harmonized their privacy regulations. Because The Alliance and its servers are located in the United States and our services are directed primarily towards the United States market, we have written our Privacy Policy to satisfy United States regulations. By using our Site, you agree to the level of privacy protection set out in our Privacy Policy.

X. TESTIMONIALS

We may display personal testimonials of satisfied users and competition winners on our Site and related marketing and media efforts in addition to other endorsements. With your consent, we may post your testimonial and/or your name and other information. If you wish to update or delete your testimonial, you can contact us at forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org.

XI. EFFECTIVE DATE/CHANGES TO PRIVACY POLICY

Each time you use the Site, the current version of this Privacy Policy will apply. When you use the Site, you should check the date of this Privacy Policy (which appears at the top of this Privacy Policy) and review any changes since the last version. Users can always refuse to accept the change to our privacy policy by terminating their use of the Site and our services offered via the Site. Unless stated otherwise, our current Privacy Policy applies to all information that we have about you. Continuation of such use shall be considered acceptance of the change in the Privacy Policy. We will not materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of your privacy without the consent of affected users.

XII. QUESTIONS/CONCERNS

If you have any questions, comments or concerns regarding The Alliance’s Privacy Policy and/or information collection practices, please email us at forecasting@alliancefordecisioneducation.org.