Privacy Notice

UPDATED: JANUARY 27, 2023

This Privacy Notice (the “Privacy Notice”) governs the manner in which Smart Ed LLC DBA Physic.ly (“Physic.ly”) collects, uses, maintains, and discloses information collected from users (each, a “User”) of www.physic.ly and www.physicly.me website, applications, and technology platform, and any derivative or affiliated websites on which this Privacy Notice is posted, linked, or referenced (collectively, the “Site”). The Site is owned and operated by Physic.ly. Please note that this Privacy Notice covers Physicly’s practices regarding information collected from/through its Site. Please read this Privacy Notice carefully to understand how we handle your information. By using the Site, you agree to the terms of this Privacy Notice. You shouldn’t use the Site if you don’t agree with this Privacy Notice or any other agreement that governs your use of the Site.

1. The Information Physic.ly Collects and Receives

The categories of information will depend upon the nature of your interaction(s) with Physic.ly and the Site. Below are examples to help you better understand the data we collect.

Information you provide to us

We collect a variety of information that you provide directly to us in connection with your use of the Site. While parts of the Site may not require you to provide any information that can directly identify you (such as if you choose to browse the website without logging in), the specific types of information we collect will depend upon how you use the Site and the information you choose to provide. The types of data we collect directly from you include:

  • Contact information. When you submit an inquiry through the Site, we collect your name and email address if provided, along with general information about the nature of your inquiry. When you create an account through the Site, we will also collect your username, password, and other information related to providing you services through the Site.

  • Payment information. If you make a purchase with us, we (or our business partner(s) who process payment transactions for us) may collect your billing or other financial information in order to process the transaction(s). Please note that for security we do not store sensitive cardholder data, such as full credit or debit card numbers, card authentication data, or sensitive bank account information.

  • Personal, professional, and education-related information. A User may share personal, professional, and education-related information in connection with their requests for tutoring through the Site.

  • Information you submit or otherwise provide or authorize us to collect, which may include voice and likeness information. We collect the information you post or submit on/through the Site. This includes comments, reviews, documents, questions, chats, messages, assessments, videos, or photos. Such shared content may be publicly viewable by others depending on where it is posted, shared, or viewed. We also collect any other information you may provide to us or authorize us to collect, including any other identifier that permits the ability to contact you. If you communicate with Physic.ly or its affiliates by e-mail; post messages to forums; make telephone or cell phone calls or texts; communicate through electronic devices or other interactive devices; complete online forms, surveys, sweepstakes, or contest entries; or communicate with Physic.ly or its affiliates by any means, any information provided in such communication may be collected by Physic.ly.

  • Information about third parties that you provide to us. A User may also provide personally identifiable information about others, such as if you choose to refer a friend to our Site, then you may provide your referral’s name and email address. If you submit any personal information about another individual to us, then you are responsible for making sure that you have the authority to do so and to allow us to use their personal information in accordance with this Privacy Notice.

  • Information through surveys, testimonials, comments, reviews, and blogs. You may decide to participate in a survey, to provide a review, to provide a testimonial, to comment on a blog or social media post, etc. If you decide to participate or comment, then you may provide certain information that may include personal information. In addition, we may post customer testimonials/comments/reviews on our Site that may contain personally identifiable information; however, if/when that happens, we obtain the person's consent via email or other means prior to posting the testimonial, which authorizes us to post certain information along with their testimonial. We may invite you to complete a survey or participate in a promotion, either through the Site or through a third-party platform. If you participate, we will collect and store the data you provide as part of participating. That data is subject to this Privacy Notice unless otherwise stated in the official rules of the promotion or survey, including notifying winners and distributing rewards. Where we use a third-party platform to administer a survey or promotion, the third party’s privacy policy will apply.

Passively-collected information

We collect certain information as you visit or interact with our Site, such as the following:

  • Internet and electronic network activity information, such as device and usage information. We may collect information about your browser type, language preference, referring site, subsequent site, and date/time of each visitor request. The purpose in collecting non-personally identifying information is to better understand how Users use the Site. We may collect information about your operating system, Internet Service provider information and IP addresses and other device identifiers, such as mobile device information. In addition, we may collect information about your use of the Site, unique views, originating sites, etc., including through the use of tracking technologies. A User browsing the Site without registering an account or affirmatively providing personally identifiable information to Physic.ly does so anonymously.

  • Analytics information. We use certain third-party services to assist us in analysis, auditing, research, and reporting regarding the Site. These third parties may use web logs or web beacons, and they may set and access cookies on your computer or other device.

  • Demographic information and information about your interests. We may collect information such as your zip code, gender, age, income, household or lifestyle information, and information about your interests and preferences.

2. How We Use Information

Physic.ly may use personally identifiable information collected through the Site for the following reasons:

  • for the specific purposes for which the information was collected;

  • to fulfill a contractual obligation;

  • to contact Users regarding Physic.ly's platform;

  • to communicate to Users, including regarding products and services offered through Physic.ly and trusted affiliates;

  • to maintain and improve its products, services, and sites;

  • to provide support;

  • to enhance Users’ experiences with Physic.ly’s platform;

  • to inform Users of offerings that may be of interest;

  • to process payments;

  • for business planning, marketing, advertising and sales purposes;

  • for information security purposes;

  • to defend its legal rights;

  • to efficiently maintain its business; and

  • to comply with applicable law.

3. Information Sharing

We may share information that we collect about you in the following ways:

  • With our service providers and third-party vendors. We contract with select third party vendors to provide services on our behalf, for example, services such as email, hosting, cloud storage, maintenance, backup and analysis, communications software, marketing, business strategy, banking, payment processing, professional services, background checks, etc. We also share non-personal information (such as aggregate user statistics, de-identified information, demographic information, etc.) with third parties such as advertisers, content providers, and analytics providers.

  • Within Physic.ly. Physic.ly may disclose personally identifiable information collected from Users to its related companies, trusted affiliates, independent contractors and business partners who will use the information for the purposes outlined in this Privacy Notice, as necessary to provide the services offered by or through Physic.ly and to provide the Site itself, and for the specific purposes for which the information was collected. These companies are not permitted to use your personally identifiable information in any other way. We may also share information with third parties with which we have a commercial relationship, such as an affiliate marketing agreement.

  • With a Tutor related to a student. In conducting the matching process between a student and a tutor, we may share a student’s information with the tutor who may provide or will be providing tutoring or instruction to the student so that the tutor may evaluate the engagement and personalize and tailor the tutoring/instruction to the student. In each case, we collect such information only insofar as is necessary or appropriate to fulfill the purpose of the User’s interaction with Physic.ly.

  • To the extent required by law or to protect Physic.ly or others. Physic.ly may disclose personally identifiable information at the request of law enforcement or governmental agencies or in response to subpoenas, court orders, or other legal process, to establish, protect, or exercise Physic.ly’s legal or other rights or to defend against a legal claim or as otherwise required or allowed by law. Physic.ly may disclose personally identifiable information in order to protect the rights, property, or safety of a User or any other person. Physic.ly may disclose personally identifiable information to investigate or prevent a violation by the User of any contractual or other relationship with Physic.ly or the perpetration of any illegal or harmful activity.

  • In connection with any business acquisition, sale, or merger, or in connection with investor relations. Physic.ly may disclose or transfer personally identifiable information collected from Users in connection with or in contemplation of a sale of its assets or business or a merger, consolidation, or other reorganization of its business. Physic.ly may also disclose aggregate, anonymous data based on information collected from Users to investors and potential partners. Users may always refuse to supply personally-identifying information, with the caveat that it may prevent them from engaging in certain Site-related activities.

4. Cookies and Other Tracking Technologies/Analytics

Physic.ly and its analytics and marketing providers may use technologies such as cookies, beacons, tags, and scripts (collectively “cookies”), to analyze trends, administer the Site, track Users’ movements around the Site, and to gather demographic information about our User base as a whole. We may receive reports based on the use of these technologies by these companies on an individual and aggregated basis.We may use cookies for tracking page view/usage (log data), estimating audience size and usage patterns, services metadata, device information, location information, saving Users’ preferences and settings information, advertising new content that relate to your interests, keeping track of advertisements and search engine results, and for authentication. Each User can control the use of cookies at the individual browser level by adjusting your browser settings. Please see the links here for guidance on how to modify your web browser’s settings on several popular browsers: Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Internet Explorer, and Mozilla Firefox. If you choose to block all cookies (including essential cookies), you may still use our Site, but your ability to use some or all features or areas of our Site may be limited. As is true of most websites, we gather certain information automatically and store it in log files. This information may include Internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, operating system, date/time stamp, clickstream, and/or field input data. We may combine this automatically collected log information with other information we collect about you. We do this to improve services we offer you and to improve marketing, analytics, or site functionality.

5. Social Media Widgets

Our Site may include Social Media Features, such as the Facebook Like button and Widgets, such as the Share this button or interactive mini-programs that run on our Site. These Social Media Features may collect your IP address, which page you are visiting on our Site, and may set a cookie to enable the Social Media Feature to function properly. Social Media Features and Widgets are either hosted by a third party or hosted directly on our Site. Your interactions with these Features are governed by the privacy policy of Physic.ly providing it.

6. Your Choices Regarding Your Information

In addition to your choices outlined above related to cookies, browser, and analytics preferences, you also have choices regarding the following:

  • Updating your account information: If you have an account, you may be able to review the information you provided to us by logging into your account page and adjusting the settings under the “Account” tab.

  • Email communications: If you receive an unwanted email from us, you can update your preferences by accessing the email preferences in your account settings page, or you can use the unsubscribe link found at the bottom of the email to opt out of future emails; however, please note that you will continue to receive transaction-related emails regarding products or services you have requested.

  • Do Not Track and other similar signals: Some internet browsers incorporate a “Do Not Track” or other similar feature; however, given that there is not a uniform way for browsers to communicate this signal, the Site does not currently support these signals.

  • Cookies and Internet-based Advertising: You may stop, restrict, or remove the placement of cookies on your device by adjusting your preferences as your browser or device permits. The online advertising industry also provides websites from which you may opt out of receiving targeted ads from data partners and other advertising partners. These may be accessed at sites such as www.aboutads.info/choices, in addition to the links referenced within this Notice above.

  • Deletion or Other Request under Applicable privacy laws: In general, to request deletion of your information or for another request regarding your information, please email support@physicly.me. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe, or otherwise in accordance with applicable law. We will retain your information for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you services. We will retain and use your information as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. For jurisdiction-specific information or related rights, please see the jurisdiction-specific sections below.

7. Data Retention

We store the information collected as described in this Privacy Notice for as long as you are a User of the Site and/or as necessary to fulfill the purpose(s) for which the information was collected, to provide services through the Site, to resolve disputes, to pursue legitimate business purposes, to enforce our agreements, to establish legal defenses, to prevent fraud, and to comply with applicable laws. These needs can vary based upon the data type and the context of the services, and thus the retention will vary as well.

8. Security of Information

Physic.ly discloses potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information only to those of its employees, contractors, and affiliated organizations that (i) need to know that information in order to process transactions on our behalf or to provide tutoring services, and (ii) that have agreed not to disclose it to others. We take all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration, or destruction of potentially personally-identifying and personally-identifying information.

Information about each User that is maintained on Physic.ly’ systems is protected using industry standard security measures. We follow generally accepted standards to protect the personal information submitted to us, both during transmission and once it is received. If you have any questions about the security of your personal information, you can contact us by email at support@physicly.me. However, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable, and Physic.ly cannot guarantee that the information submitted to, maintained on, or transmitted from its systems will be completely secure. Physic.ly is not responsible for the circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures relating to the Site by any User or third parties. Your security is a priority and we strive to provide a safe and secure environment for our customers; however, please note that we cannot guarantee that the information submitted to, maintained on, or transmitted from our systems will be completely secure.

9. Links to 3rd Party Sites

Please note that the Site may contain links to other Sites. These linked sites may not be operated or controlled by Physic.ly. Physic.ly is not responsible for the privacy practices of these or any other Sites, and you access these Sites entirely at your own risk. Physic.ly recommends that you review the privacy practices of any other Sites that you choose to visit.

10. Children’s Privacy

Physic.ly’s products are specifically designed to function without third party access to a child’s personal information. Our Site does not collect or retain any personal information from children except as needed to facilitate tutoring for that student, who may be a minor. Physic.ly is committed to complying fully with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (“COPPA”) as well as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”). This Site assures the privacy of collected information in accordance with Physic.ly' Privacy Notice. Physic.ly is committed to safeguarding the information each User entrusts to Physic.ly and believes that every User should know how it utilizes the information collected from each User. Other than free information and materials that do not require any registrations or identifying information, the Site is not directed at children under 13 years of age, and Physic.ly does not knowingly collect personally identifiable information from children under 13 years of age online. For purposes of using the Site as a platform to connect with tutors, Parents may supply information such as name or age of their children in order for Physic.ly to assist facilitate the connection between student and tutor. Physic.ly may store this information in a secure digital format. Parents or guardians of children under 13 years of age may review or have deleted any personal information previously provided by the child, parent, or guardian that is ultimately collected by Physic.ly, if any, to connect the child with a tutor. If you seek to review or delete such information, contact us by email at support@physicly.me indicating what you would like to have done and Physic.ly will contact you for purposes of taking the requested action, including but not limited to refusing to permit the information’s further collection or use.

11. Refer-A-Friend

If you choose to refer a friend to our Site, we will ask you for your friend’s name and email address. We will automatically send your friend a one-time email inviting the referral to visit the Site. Physic.ly stores this information for the sole purpose of sending this one-time email and tracking the success of our referral program.

12. Privacy Rights Under Certain U.S. State Laws

Nevada Residents: Nevada Revised Statute Section 603A permits a User that resides in Nevada the right to submit a verified request that Physic.ly not sell such User’s covered information. Nevada law defines “sale” to mean the exchange of certain types of personal information for monetary consideration to a person for the person to license or sell the information to additional persons. We do not currently sell personal information as defined under Nevada Revised Statute Section 603A. However, if you are a Nevada resident, you may still submit a verified request by email to support@physicly.me to opt out of sales and we will record your instructions and incorporate them in the future if our policy changes. We will verify your request using information associated with your account, including email address, and may need to request additional information.


California and Virginia Residents: Subject to certain limitations, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the California Privacy Reform Act (CPRA) provides California consumers and employees the right to: request disclosure about what personal information we collect, use, disclose, and sell; request to delete, access, or modify their personal information; opt out of any “sale” of personal information; and not be discriminated against for exercising such rights. In addition, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA) provides Virginia consumers the right to request disclosure about what information we collect, use, disclose, and sell; request to delete, access, or modify their personal information; opt out of any “sale” of personal information; not be discriminated against for exercising such rights; and an ability to appeal the denial of any such request. California consumers/employees and Virginia consumers may make a request pursuant to their rights under the CCPA, CPRA, and/or the CDPA by submitting a request by email to support@physicly.me We will verify your request using information provided in the request form, as compared against information associated with your account, including verification of the email address that was listed in the request form. We may need to request additional information in order to verify your identity. Depending upon the type of request you make, we may require a signed declaration under penalty of perjury stating that you are the individual whose personal information is being requested. If you use an authorized agent to submit a request, we may require that the authorized agent provide proof of your written permission, and that you verify your identity directly with us.

We have explained our privacy practices in full in the foregoing sections of this Privacy Notice. Below we have provided a list of the categories of personal information that have been collected, disclosed for business purposes, or “sold” for commercial purposes (as defined by the CCPA) during the preceding 12 months, as well as certain other information. Please see the other sections of the Privacy Notice above for additional information and context related to the sharing of information. We do not consider the ways we share your personal information to comprise the sale of your information. Within the past 12 months, we may have disclosed the following categories of information about consumers for a business purpose:

  • Identifiers, such as your name, IP address, or email address. We use this information to respond to your questions, to communicate with you, for marketing purposes, to enable you to participate in our offerings, and for other business purposes.

  • Commercial information, such as purchase history. Records of purchases or other histories.

  • Internet and electronic network activity. We may use this information to improve our services, to better understand the visitors who come to our Site and what content is of interest to them.

  • Geographic location information. We may use this information to improve the quality, security, and relevance of our services and for other business purposes.

  • Other electronic information, such as information you post in a public space. We may use this information to provide the services, and for other business purposes.

  • Inferences drawn from the above. We use this information to personalize your experience with us, to understand other profile preferences, characteristics, trends, abilities, and aptitudes, and for other business purposes.

13. International Users, Transfers, and Rights

Physic.ly is based, and this Site is hosted, in the United States of America. If you are located outside of the United States, then you may be in a location with laws governing data collection and use that may differ from U.S. law. You understand that by being a User of the Site and/or by entering into an agreement with us as a customer, that you consent to the collection, storage, and processing of your data in the U.S. We rely on different lawful bases for collecting and processing personal data about you depending upon how you use the Site, including your consent, contractual necessity to provide the services and operate the Site and the business, to meet contractual and legal obligations, to protect the security of our systems and our Users, and/or to fulfill other legitimate interests. Please refer to the Your Choices Regarding Your Information section to review the rights you have regarding your data. Any user may make a request regarding applicable privacy rights by email to support@physicly.me In addition, your local laws (e.g., in the United Kingdom or Canada) may permit you to request that we: Provide access to and/or a copy of certain information that we hold about you; prevent the processing of your information for direct-marketing purposes; update information that is out of date or incorrect; delete certain information related to you; restrict processing; transfer your information; and/or revoke your consent for the processing of your information. We will consider all requests and will provide a response within the time period required by applicable laws. We may request that you provide us with additional information in order to confirm your identity before responding to your request.

14. Changes to this Privacy Notice

We may update this Privacy Notice to reflect changes to our information practices. If we make any material changes, then we may notify you by email (sent to the e-mail address specified in your account) or by means of a notice on this Site prior to the change becoming effective. Please review this Privacy Notice periodically. Your continued use of the Site after any such change(s) signifies your acceptance of any changes.

15. Contacting Physic.ly

If you have any questions or comments about this Privacy Notice, you may contact Physic.ly by email at support@physicly.me We are committed to ensuring this Privacy Notice is accessible to individuals with disabilities. If you wish to access this Privacy Notice in an alternative format, please contact us as described above.