Data Usage Policy

Heliamarivo operates as an online education platform committed to delivering personalized learning experiences while respecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, store, and process information through various tracking technologies during your interactions with our educational services. We believe transparency matters when it comes to understanding what happens behind the scenes while you're exploring courses, watching video lectures, or engaging with fellow learners.

Our approach balances the technical requirements of running a sophisticated educational platform with your fundamental right to understand and control how your data gets handled. Throughout this document, we'll break down the different technologies we employ, why they're necessary for certain features, and what choices you have regarding their use. Think of this as your comprehensive guide to making informed decisions about your digital learning journey with us.

Purpose of Our Tracking Methods

When you visit our platform, several technologies work together to create a smooth, personalized educational experience. These mechanisms—commonly referred to as cookies and similar storage technologies—are essentially small pieces of data that get stored on your device or in your browser. They serve as communication tools between your device and our servers, allowing the platform to remember your preferences, track your learning progress, and deliver content that matches your educational goals. Some of these technologies expire when you close your browser, while others persist for weeks or months to maintain continuity across your learning sessions.

Essential technologies form the backbone of our platform's core functionality. Without these, you simply couldn't log into your account, access purchased courses, or complete assessments. For example, authentication mechanisms verify your identity each time you navigate between different sections of the platform, ensuring nobody else can access your personal learning dashboard. Session management tools keep track of your current activities—like maintaining your position in a video lecture when you pause to take notes or preserving your quiz answers if you accidentally close a tab. Payment processing also relies on these technologies to securely handle transactions when you enroll in new courses.

Analytics technologies help us understand how students interact with our educational content and where we can make improvements. We collect metrics about which course modules get completed most frequently, where learners tend to drop off, how long students spend on particular topics, and which instructional formats generate the best engagement. This aggregated data reveals patterns that wouldn't be visible from individual interactions—maybe we discover that video lectures under ten minutes maintain attention better than longer formats, or that interactive quizzes placed mid-lesson improve knowledge retention compared to end-of-module assessments. These insights directly influence how we design future courses and refine existing materials.

Functional technologies enhance your experience by remembering your preferences and customizing how the platform behaves for you specifically. These include settings like your preferred video playback speed, subtitle language choices, notification preferences, and interface display options. They also power features like saved bookmarks within lectures, personalized course recommendations based on your learning history, and customized dashboards that highlight your most relevant upcoming deadlines. When you return to the platform, these technologies ensure you don't have to reconfigure everything from scratch each time.

The ecosystem of technologies we deploy works synergistically rather than in isolation. Essential mechanisms authenticate your session, analytics tools measure your engagement with specific content, functional technologies apply your saved preferences to that content, and customization features adjust what content gets suggested next. This integrated approach creates what feels like a seamless, intelligent learning environment, though it's actually dozens of different systems coordinating behind the scenes based on the data these technologies collect and share with each other.

Restrictions

You maintain significant control over how these technologies operate on your device, though exercising that control involves tradeoffs between privacy and functionality. Modern privacy regulations—including the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe and various regional laws worldwide—recognize your fundamental rights to access, correct, and delete personal data, as well as to object to certain types of processing. In the context of tracking technologies specifically, you have the right to refuse or withdraw consent for non-essential data collection, though as we'll explain, this affects what features remain available to you.

Browser settings provide your primary tool for managing these technologies across all websites you visit. In Chrome, navigate to Settings, then Privacy and Security, followed by Cookies and Other Site Data, where you can block third-party mechanisms or clear existing data. Firefox users should select Settings, then Privacy & Security, and adjust the Enhanced Tracking Protection settings or manage exceptions under Cookies and Site Data. Safari offers controls under Preferences, then Privacy, where you can prevent cross-site tracking and manage website data. Edge users can access similar options through Settings, Privacy Search and Services, and the Cookies and Site Data section. Each browser also offers modes like Incognito or Private Browsing that automatically discard data when you close the window.

Heliamarivo provides first-party management tools directly within your account settings, accessible from your profile dashboard under Privacy Preferences. Here you'll find granular controls separated by category: essential technologies (which cannot be disabled without breaking core functionality), analytics mechanisms (which you can opt out of while still accessing all course content), functional enhancements (which you can selectively enable or disable based on which convenience features matter to you), and customization systems (which you can turn off if you prefer a more generic, non-personalized experience). Changes you make through this preference center apply only to your Heliamarivo account and don't affect other websites.

Rejecting different categories produces specific consequences worth understanding before making decisions. Blocking essential technologies prevents logging in, accessing course materials, submitting assignments, or completing purchases—essentially rendering the platform unusable for its intended educational purposes. Disabling analytics mechanisms doesn't affect your personal experience but means your usage patterns won't contribute to platform improvements, potentially resulting in a less optimized learning environment for everyone over time. Turning off functional technologies means manually resetting your preferences during each session, reconfiguring video settings repeatedly, and losing progress bookmarks—manageable but inconvenient. Refusing customization means seeing generic course recommendations instead of suggestions tailored to your interests and learning history, which might make discovering relevant content more time-consuming.

Alternative privacy protection measures exist that balance some data collection with enhanced anonymity. Browser extensions like Privacy Badger or uBlock Origin selectively block tracking mechanisms based on their behavior rather than blocking everything indiscriminately. Some browsers offer built-in features that strip tracking parameters from URLs or compartmentalize data between websites. Virtual private networks mask your IP address, though they don't prevent first-party data collection by the website you're actively using. Heliamarivo's platform remains fully functional with these tools active, as we design our systems to rely primarily on first-party data rather than cross-site tracking networks.

Making informed decisions requires weighing your privacy preferences against your educational goals. If you're casually browsing free preview content, you might reasonably choose maximum privacy restrictions. But if you've enrolled in a certification program where tracking progress and maintaining consistent access matter significantly, accepting functional and essential technologies makes practical sense. Consider what concerns you most—third-party advertising networks seeing your data (which Heliamarivo doesn't employ), companies building cross-site profiles (which we don't participate in), or simply the principle of minimal data collection—then adjust settings accordingly. You can always revisit these choices as your needs change.

Further Considerations

Understanding retention schedules helps contextualize how long different data persists within our systems. Essential session data typically expires within hours after you log out, though authentication tokens might last up to 30 days if you select "remember me" during login. Analytics information gets aggregated and anonymized within 90 days, after which individual session details are deleted while statistical patterns remain for platform improvement purposes. Functional preference data persists indefinitely unless you manually clear it or delete your account, since these settings need to remain available across all your future sessions. Marketing-related data, when applicable, follows a 24-month retention cycle before automatic deletion, though you can request immediate removal at any time through your privacy dashboard.

Security measures protecting this collected data span both technical and organizational domains. All information transmitted between your device and our servers travels through encrypted channels using industry-standard TLS protocols. Stored data resides in access-controlled databases with encryption at rest, role-based permissions limiting which staff members can view what information, and comprehensive audit logs tracking all access attempts. Regular security assessments, penetration testing, and vulnerability scanning help identify potential weaknesses before they're exploited. Staff members undergo privacy training and operate under strict confidentiality agreements, with violation consequences including immediate termination.

Data integration with other sources occasionally occurs to enhance educational services, though always within clearly defined boundaries. If you enroll through a corporate training program, your employer might receive completion certificates and assessment scores but not detailed activity logs showing exactly when you watched each video. Integration with payment processors shares transaction-necessary information like billing addresses but not your course browsing history. Third-party content providers whose materials appear in our courses receive anonymized analytics about how students interact with their content but cannot identify individual users. We don't sell, rent, or otherwise commercialize student data to advertisers or data brokers.

Regulatory compliance frameworks guide our technical implementations and policy decisions. Beyond GDPR for European users, we adhere to COPPA requirements when serving users under 13, FERPA standards for educational records where applicable, and various state-level privacy laws including California's CCPA. International students benefit from safeguards like Standard Contractual Clauses governing data transfers between regions, adequacy decisions recognizing equivalent protection levels, and localized data processing where legally required. Our compliance program includes regular audits, privacy impact assessments for new features, and designated data protection officers available to address concerns.

International users face additional considerations depending on their location. Students accessing Heliamarivo from the European Economic Area enjoy specific rights under GDPR, including data portability and the right to erasure under certain circumstances. California residents can exercise similar rights under CCPA, including requesting disclosure of what data we've collected about them over the past 12 months. For users in countries without comprehensive privacy legislation, we apply equivalent protections voluntarily to maintain consistent standards globally. Some regions require data localization, meaning your information gets stored on servers physically located within specific geographic boundaries—we accommodate these requirements through regional hosting arrangements where legally mandated.

Policy Revisions

This policy undergoes regular maintenance to reflect evolving technologies, regulatory changes, and platform developments. We conduct comprehensive reviews quarterly, with additional updates triggered by significant feature launches, regulatory requirement changes, or user feedback indicating confusion about specific sections. Minor clarifications or corrections happen as needed between scheduled reviews, though substantive changes follow a more deliberate process including legal review, stakeholder input, and impact assessment.

When meaningful policy changes occur, we notify users through multiple channels to ensure awareness. Email notifications go to all registered users at least 30 days before changes take effect, with subject lines clearly indicating policy updates rather than disguising them as routine correspondence. In-platform banners appear prominently on your dashboard highlighting what changed and why, with direct links to view the updated policy alongside the previous version for comparison. For particularly significant modifications—like adding new categories of data collection or substantially altering how existing data gets used—we require explicit acknowledgment before you can continue using the platform, ensuring changes don't go unnoticed.

Reviewing changes between versions is straightforward through our policy archive, accessible via a link at the bottom of this document. The archive maintains all previous versions with publication dates and change summaries highlighting key differences. Side-by-side comparison tools let you view current language alongside previous wording for any section that changed. We also publish plain-language summaries explaining what changed and what it means practically for students, instructors, and administrators using the platform.

Changes typically take effect 30 days after notification for non-essential modifications, giving you time to review updates, adjust your privacy settings accordingly, or discontinue using the service if you disagree with new terms. Essential changes required for legal compliance or security purposes might take effect immediately upon publication, though we make such immediate implementations only when absolutely necessary and explain the reasoning clearly. Your continued use of the platform after the effective date constitutes acceptance of updated terms, though you can always delete your account if you prefer not to accept new conditions.