Privacy and Student Data FAQs

Desmos Studio PBC’s (“Desmos”, “we”, “us”, and “our”) services are designed for use by higher-ed students, K-12 students, teachers, professors, parents, math enthusiasts, video game designers, data scientists, and more. The goal of this page is to respond to frequently asked questions about our policies regarding privacy, student work, advertising, and various laws and regulations like COPPA, FERPA and GDPR. Please note that this is just an overview, and that usage of our services is governed by our Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy, our Student Data Privacy Statement, and, if executed by your school and Desmos Studio PBC, our School Data Processing Addendum.

Click on the links below to jump to a question.

1. What are the “Desmos Tools” covered in this document?
2. How is your service free? Are you making money from advertising?
3. Can I use images created with the Desmos tools?
4. Do you comply with COPPA?
5. Do you comply with FERPA?
6. Do you comply with GDPR?
7. Can I ask Desmos to sign a Data Processing Agreement with my school located in Europe?
8. Does Desmos have a Student Data Privacy Agreement with my school in the United States?
9. Is Desmos compliant with NY State Education Law 2-D?
10. Is Desmos compliant with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?
11. Does Desmos use or collect Cookies?
12. How do you protect the privacy of student data you share with third parties?
13. How will I know if you update your policies?

Q. What are the “Desmos Tools” covered in this document?

A. “Desmos Tools” covers the math tools built and maintained by Desmos Studio PBC: the Graphing Calculator, Scientific Calculator, Four Function Calculator, Geometry Tool, Desmos Matrix Calculator and future standalone tools to come. This term also includes any apps associated with those tools, including (i) the Desmos Graphing Calculator Calculator application, available on Android and iOS; (ii) the Desmos Scientific Calculator application, available on Android and iOS; and (iii) the Desmos Test Mode application, available on iOS for iPads.

Note: Desmos Studio PBC does not own or operate the services collectively referred to as Desmos Classroom. Desmos Classroom is owned and operated by Amplify Education, Inc. (“Amplify”). You can learn more about Amplify’s acquisition of Desmos Classroom and related business here. “Desmos Classroom” includes all the services (i) on teacher.desmos.com (“teacher.desmos.com”) including those for creating and assigning activities (“Activities”) and the curriculum available at https://amplify.com/desmos-math (“Desmos Math 6-A1”), and (ii) on student.desmos.com (“student.desmos.com”), specifically, those for the use of activities or curricula as directed by an instructor on teacher.desmos.com. This FAQ does not govern use of Amplify’s Desmos Classroom. Please see Amplify’s documentation here for information about use of Desmos Classroom.

Q. How is your service free? Are you making money from advertising?

A. No! Desmos’s business model is built around paid partnerships with publishers, assessment companies, educational institutions and other commercial partners (Interested? Check out www.desmos.com/partners). We will never profit from third-party advertising to students or selling personal data about students. Specifically, we pledge that:

• We will never allow third-party advertising on our student-facing websites or apps.
• We will never sell personal data collected on our student-facing websites or apps, or authorize third parties to collect data to be used for targeted advertising on Desmos’s products.

These promises will live on, even in the case that we’re purchased or go bankrupt.

Q. Can I use images created with the Desmos tools?

A. Yes! You are always welcome to use images that you create with the Desmos Tools – even commercially – with no special permission needed, just attribution.

Images of our tools are governed by the Creative Commons “Attribution-ShareAlike” license (CC-BY-SA-4.0).

A few friendly reminders:

• Please do not create images that infringe the rights of others.
• Please do not imply official partnership or endorsement without our written consent.
• Please do not frame or mirror the tools without our written consent.
• Please follow our branding guidelines.

If you ever want to integrate more deeply with Desmos, including using our APIs, please reach out to us at partnerships@desmos.com.

Q. Do you comply with COPPA?

A. Yes. The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) is a United States federal law designed to protect the privacy of children under 13 years of age.

The web-based versions of the Desmos Four Function Calculator, and Desmos Scientific Calculator, Desmos Matrix Calculator (the “Simple Desmos Tools”) may be used by any person, including children under 13, because the Simple Desmos Tools do not collect personal information.

The Desmos Graphing Calculator, Desmos Geometry Tool, future standalone tools to come, and any apps associated with the Desmos Tools (together, the “Advanced Desmos Tools”) are not directed at children under 13. We do not intend for children under 13 (or other applicable age of digital consent in the child’s jurisdiction) to use the Advanced Desmos Tools unless we have directly received parental consent or the child’s teacher and/or school has received parental consent on our behalf. If you believe that we have accidentally collected personal information from a child under 13 (or other applicable age of digital consent in the child’s jurisdiction) without parental consent, let us know at privacy@desmos.com and we will remove that information as soon as possible.

Schools and/or teachers are expected to have appropriate permissions before directing any student to use Advanced Desmos Tools, including for students under 13. Please see our Student Data Privacy Statement for more details.

We intend for the web based versions of our Desmos Four Function and Desmos Scientific Calculators to be used by people and students of any age. The Desmos Four Function and Desmos Scientific Calculators do not collect personal data.

Q. Do you comply with FERPA?

A. The Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), is a federal law that protects the privacy of student educational records. Unlike COPPA, which applies to all online operators, FERPA regulates an educational institution’s use of student data. Here is how our product policies can help those institutions meet their obligations under FERPA.

If a school, district or other educational institution would like to use any Advanced Desmos Tools at the direction of a teacher as part of an assignment, we recommend entering into a data processing agreement with Desmos to aid with FERPA compliance. Please email us at privacy@desmos.com to for more information. We have data processing agreements with many schools, school districts and other educational institutions across several states and are happy to work with your school to get an agreement in place.

In addition to arranging a data processing agreement with Desmos, if a teacher would like to use Desmos Tools as part of an assignment, the teacher should instruct students to create Desmos accounts using email addresses from a domain owned by the school, district or education institution. This will allow the school, district or other educational institution to access and delete student data and/or accounts and to exercise FERPA rights in accordance with the data processing agreement. Parents and students may have rights under FERPA to access student work created in connection with school assignments.

Please see our Student Data Privacy Statement for more details.

Q. Do you comply with GDPR?

A. Yes. If you are a resident of the United Kingdom, Iceland, Liechtenstein, or Norway, or a member state of the European Union, you may have additional rights under the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR (the “GDPR”) with respect to your personal data.

Depending on how and which Desmos services you access, either Desmos or your district or other educational institution may be the “controller” of your Personal Data processed in connection with the services for purposes of the GDPR.

If you are using Desmos Tools in connection with a school, district or other educational institution assignment that has a Data Processing Addendum with Desmos, the school, district or other educational institution is the “controller” of personal data processed in connection with the services for purposes of the GDPR.

If you are using Desmos Tools, on an individual basis, then Desmos is the “controller” of personal data processed in connection with the services for purposes of the GDPR.

If your school is acting as the controller of your personal data, please first contact your school to exercise your rights under the GDPR with respect to such personal data.

If we are acting as the controller of your personal data, please feel free to contact us to exercise your rights with respect under the GDPR to your personal data.

In accordance with Article 27 of the GDPR, we have appointed EDPO as our representative. You can contact EDPO as follows:

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – European Representative

Pursuant to Article 27 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Desmos Studio PBC has appointed European Data Protection Office (EDPO) as its GDPR Representative in the EU. You can contact EDPO regarding matters pertaining to the GDPR:

• by using EDPO’s online request form: https://edpo.com/gdpr-data-request/
• by writing to EDPO at Avenue Huart Hamoir 71, 1030 Brussels, Belgium

UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - UK Representative

Pursuant to Article 27 of the UK GDPR, Desmos Studio PBC has appointed EDPO UK Ltd as its UK GDPR representative in the UK. You can contact EDPO UK regarding matters pertaining to the UK GDPR:

• by using EDPO’s online request form: https://edpo.com/uk-gdpr-data-request/
• by writing to EDPO UK at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London WC2N 5BY, United Kingdom

Additionally, as required by GDPR, Desmos has Standard Contractual Clauses (“SCCs”) with our subcontractors who process Personal Data.

Q. Can I ask Desmos to sign a Data Processing Agreement with my school located in Europe?

A. Yes. We offer data processing addendums (“DPAs”) with attached SCCs for schools that operate in the United Kingdom or European Economic Area.

Our DPA supplements our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and contains contractual terms that address the GDPR's requirements for data processing agreements between controllers and processors, including with respect to personal data transfer, and that reflect our data privacy and security commitments.

You can review our standard, template DPA with attached SCCs here. If you represent a school and would like to enter into that DPA (and attached SCCs) with us, please send an email to privacy-gdpr@desmos.com, with the following information about the school: (i) name, (ii) address, (iii) telephone number, (iv) signatory name, (v) signatory title, and (vi) signatory email address, and (vii) domain name for staff and student account email address usernames. We will then send the school’s signatory a copy of the DPA for electronic signatures.

Q. Does Desmos have a Student Data Privacy Agreement with my school in the United States?

A. We have data privacy agreements with many schools, districts and other educational institutions across several states and are happy to work with your educational institution to get an agreement in place. Please email us at privacy@desmos.com for more information.

Q. Is Desmos compliant with NY State Education Law 2-D?

A. Yes. Education Law 2-D is a New York state law designed to protect the personally identifiable information of students. We are happy to work with New York school districts to put Education Law 2-D compliance documents, such as data sharing agreements, into place. We reserve the right to request modifications to such compliance documents to clarify or reflect our internal compliance processes for certain requirements of Education Law 2-D, such as the return and/or the deletion of student data. Please email us at privacy@desmos.com for more information.

Q. Is Desmos compliant with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)?

A. Yes, you may review the details of Desmos’ compliance in our California Privacy Rights Statement.

Q. Does Desmos use or collect Cookies?

A. Yes, but we work incredibly hard to only collect what is necessary to maintain a consistent experience. For example, Desmos.com uses cookies to enable persistence when you are signed in. In addition, on subdomains help.desmos.com, third party service providers use cookies for functionality and for analytics. Where possible, we have minimized what cookies are collected by those third party service providers. For more information, please review the Desmos Cookie Policy.

Q. How do you protect the privacy of student data you share with third parties?

A. We work hard to protect your data while it’s in transit and once it’s stored. All of our sites, apps, and services use Secure Socket Layer Encryption (SSL) to transfer your data. We only share and store your data with trusted services that are also committed to security. We maintain a list of those services here:

https://github.com/desmosinc/policies/blob/main/third-party-services.md

We try our hardest to keep this list up to date, but we may add or subtract service providers at any time. Please contact us at privacy@desmos.com to confirm our most up to date list of service providers at any given time.

Q. How will I know if you update your policies?

A. We make it easy to see any changes we make to our policies. We host our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, Student Data Privacy Statement, Cookie Policy, and List of Third Party Services in a public github repository at https://github.com/desmosinc/policies. These FAQs are also hosted there.

As a result, you can see both the current version of each document and a complete history of changes. In addition, we will prominently post a notice on our websites if we make any major changes to any of these policy documents. We will not necessarily notify you for small changes (e.g. modifications to the list of Third Party Services). However, you can subscribe to notifications from the github repository if you’re interested in being updated on every change. (Instructions.)

These FAQs were last updated September 1, 2023.

Q. What if I have other questions?

A. If you have any questions about any of our policies, just send us an email at privacy@desmos.com.