Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

TutorBoost, LLC ("TutorBoost," "we," "our," or "us") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you use our website at tutorboost.org and our services (collectively, the "Service"). Please read this policy carefully. By using the Service, you consent to the data practices described herein.

2. Information We Collect

2.1 Personal Information You Provide

We collect information you voluntarily provide when using our Service:

• Account Information: Name, email address, account identifiers, role, and verification state. Clerk handles sign-in credentials; TutorBoost does not receive your password.
• Profile Information: Professional details including subject expertise, years of experience, certifications, biography, teaching style, and hourly rates
• Media Content: Profile photographs, video introductions, and certificate images
• Payment and Payout Information: Stripe customer, checkout, payment, refund, dispute, and Connect account identifiers; lesson charges, booking fees, credits, balances, ledger entries, and payout records. Stripe processes card and bank details; TutorBoost does not store full card or bank-account numbers.
• Booking and Learning Information: Student and tutor names, account identifiers, email addresses, lesson times, services, cancellation or reschedule requests, assignments, vocabulary, notes, materials, activity responses, and lesson history
• Optional Lesson Adaptation: When a tutor deliberately uses Adapt, we send the lesson title, subject, objectives, current activity, and the tutor's optional direction to our AI service provider to draft one editable activity. TutorBoost does not separately attach participant identity, classroom audio, chat, private notes, or student responses. Tutors are instructed not to place names, contact details, diagnoses, or private notes in lesson text or directions sent to Adapt.
• Classroom and Attendance Information: Lesson-room identifiers, participant role, join and leave events, connection state, and time spent in the room. TutorBoost does not record lesson audio or video.
• Messages and Safety Information: Messages, moderation results, blocked-message reasons, user reports, safety actions, and evidence needed to investigate abuse, fraud, or off-platform solicitation
• Support Communications: Requests, replies, status, and related account or lesson context you send to support

2.2 Information Collected Automatically

When you access our Service, we automatically collect:

• Device Information: Browser type, operating system, device identifiers
• Log Data: IP address, access times, pages viewed, referring URL
• Usage Data: Features used, actions taken, page performance, and errors
• Cookies and Storage: Session cookies, authentication tokens, security controls, and preferences needed to operate the Service

2.3 Information from Third Parties

• Authentication: Account and verification information from Clerk and any sign-in provider you choose through Clerk
• Payments and Payouts: Transaction, refund, dispute, identity-verification, and payout status from Stripe and Stripe Connect
• Lesson Rooms: Room and participant events from LiveKit
• Email and Reliability: Delivery events from Resend and error or performance events from Sentry and Vercel

3. How We Use Your Information

We use collected information for the following purposes:

• Marketplace and Learning: Operate tutor profiles, search, booking, scheduling, messages, classrooms, assignments, learning records, and reviews
• Payments and Payouts: Charge and hold lesson payments, apply fees or credits, keep financial ledger records, issue refunds, handle disputes, and pay eligible tutors
• Classroom Decisions: Use attendance events to support settlement, no-show, safety, and dispute decisions as described in our Terms
• Communications: Send booking, lesson, account, payout, safety, and support emails
• Customer Support: Respond to inquiries and provide technical assistance
• Reliability and Improvement: Monitor aggregate usage, errors, performance, and feature health
• Tutor-Reviewed Lesson Drafting: Draft optional lesson activities when a tutor requests them. Drafts are not automatically saved, shown to a student, graded, or used to decide payment, safety, or account status.
• Security: Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents
• Legal Compliance: Comply with applicable laws, regulations, and legal processes
• Marketing: With your consent, send promotional communications about new features

4. Information Sharing and Disclosure

We share your information in the following circumstances:

4.1 Service Providers

• Stripe, Inc.: To process lesson payments, refunds, disputes, identity checks, and eligible tutor payouts through Stripe Connect
• Clerk, Inc.: For user authentication and account management
• Supabase, Inc.: For database hosting and file storage
• LiveKit, Inc.: For browser-based lesson rooms and attendance events
• Resend: To send transactional emails
• Vercel, Inc.: For website hosting and deployment
• Sentry: To detect and investigate application errors and reliability problems
• Vercel Analytics: For aggregate site performance and usage measurement where configured
• Anthropic: To draft a lesson activity only when a tutor deliberately uses the gated Adapt feature. TutorBoost limits the lesson context sent and requires tutor review before use.

4.2 Advertising Partners

Only if you allow advertising measurement in our cookie banner. If you refuse, or have not answered, no data is sent to either of these and no advertising script is loaded.

• Meta Platforms, Inc.: To measure whether a Facebook or Instagram advertisement led to a visit, a sign-up, or a tutor application
• Reddit, Inc.: To measure whether a Reddit advertisement led to a visit, a sign-up, or a tutor application
• OpenAI, L.L.C.: To measure whether an advertisement shown in ChatGPT led to a visit, a sign-up, or a tutor application

This is cross-context behavioural advertising, which California law treats as “sharing” even though we receive no money for it. You can turn it off at any time using Cookie settings in the footer of any page.

4.3 Public Information

An approved tutor's public profile can include their name, subject, bio, photo, video, services, rates, availability, and reviews. Student profiles and learning records are not public. We share booking and lesson details with the tutor and student involved because each needs them to provide or receive the lesson.

4.3 Legal Requirements

We may disclose information when required by law, subpoena, court order, or government request, or when we believe disclosure is necessary to protect our rights, your safety, or the safety of others.

4.4 Business Transfers

In the event of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify you of any such change.

5. Data Security

We use technical and organisational safeguards intended to protect your data, including:

• SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit
• Secure authentication through Clerk
• Payment-card processing through Stripe so full card details do not pass through TutorBoost
• Error, access, and security monitoring
• Access controls and authentication requirements

Despite these measures, no method of transmission over the Internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security of your data.

6. Your Privacy Rights

6.1 General Rights

Depending on your location, you may have the following rights:

• Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
• Correction: Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Deletion: Request deletion of personal data, subject to records we must retain for legal, financial, fraud-prevention, safety, or dispute purposes
• Portability: Request your data in a portable, machine-readable format
• Objection: Object to certain processing of your data
• Restriction: Request restriction of processing in certain circumstances
• Withdrawal: Withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent

6.2 California Residents (CCPA)

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA: the right to know what personal information is collected, the right to delete it, the right to correct it, the right to opt out of its sale or sharing, and the right not to be discriminated against for exercising these rights.

We do not sell personal information.We do “share” it in the specific sense California law uses: if you allow advertising measurement, identifiers are sent to Meta and Reddit for cross-context behavioural advertising (see section 4.2). No money is received for this. To opt out, or to withdraw permission you have already given, use Cookie settings in the footer of any page. We treat a Global Privacy Control signal as a valid opt-out request.

6.3 European Residents (GDPR)

If you are in the European Economic Area (EEA), you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our legal basis for processing includes: performance of contract, legitimate interests, compliance with legal obligations, and consent where applicable.

You can download a complete account archive or submit an account-deletion request from Settings & Privacy while signed in. You may also contact us at privacy@tutorboost.org. Deletion requests are placed in a reviewed privacy queue so we can cover both tutor and student records, stop external billing, resolve active lessons or held money, and preserve only records we are legally required to retain. We respond within the period required by applicable law.

7. Data Retention

We retain personal data while an account is active and for as long as reasonably needed to provide the Service, resolve disputes, prevent fraud or abuse, and meet tax, accounting, payment, and other legal obligations. Deleting an account does not automatically erase records that must be preserved for those purposes.

• Financial Records: Retained for the period required for tax, accounting, payment disputes, and legal compliance
• Booking, Attendance, and Safety Evidence: Retained while needed to handle lessons, disputes, chargebacks, reports, fraud prevention, and legal claims
• Support Communications: Retained while the request is active and for a reasonable period afterwards for continuity and legal recordkeeping
• Operational Logs: Retained for a limited period based on security, reliability, and provider settings

8. Cookies and Tracking Technologies

We use the following types of cookies:

• Essential Cookies: Required for authentication and security
• Functional Cookies and Storage: Remember your preferences, drafts, language, session attribution, and settings
• Analytics: Help us understand aggregate site usage, performance, and reliability where configured
• Advertising: Set by Meta and Reddit to measure whether their advertisements led to a visit or a sign-up. These load only after you allow advertising measurement, and never before you answer.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Clearing or blocking essential cookies or local storage may sign you out or prevent parts of the Service from working.

9. Third-Party Links

Our Service may contain links to third-party websites. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. Review their privacy policies before providing personal information.

10. Children's Privacy

TutorBoost is for people aged 18 or older. We do not offer guardian accounts or lessons for people under 18. If you believe a person under 18 has provided personal information or is using the Service, contact privacy@tutorboost.org. We will investigate and restrict or delete the information as appropriate, subject to any legal or safety record we must preserve.

11. International Data Transfers

Your data may be transferred to and processed in the United States and other countries where TutorBoost or its service providers operate. Those countries may have different data-protection laws. We use transfer mechanisms required by applicable law where they apply.

12. Do Not Track Signals

Our Service does not currently respond to "Do Not Track" signals from browsers. However, you can control tracking through your browser settings and cookie preferences.

13. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or applicable laws. We will notify you of material changes by email and/or by posting a prominent notice on our Service prior to the change becoming effective. The "Last updated" date at the top indicates when this policy was last revised. Your continued use of the Service after any changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.

14. Contact Us

If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:

For GDPR-related inquiries, you may also contact your local data protection authority.