Privacy Policy

This version has been superseded. Read the current Privacy Policy.

Effective date: October 22, 2026. The short version: we built Informatist so there would be almost nothing to have a privacy policy about.

What we collect

• Teacher beta application (voluntary). If a teacher applies for the classroom beta, we store what the form asks: name, role, work email, school, district or network, courses and grade levels, approximate class size, sections, devices, whether the school network needs an allowlist, when they want to run the first class, how they heard about Informatist, and — optionally — where exactly they heard about it, a school email or staff page, and a faculty advisor's name and email. We do not ask for student names, student emails, rosters, or grades. The older waitlist form stores only the email address and, optionally, the subject taught.
• Anonymous game sessions. Starting a game creates a random session key. It is not linked to a name, an email, an account, or anything else about you. The game decisions you submit (prices, production levels, and similar numbers) are processed under that key to run the simulation.
• Classroom game records. For each classroom game we keep a record of how it played: the team names the class typed, every round's decisions and results, the AI rivals' explanations, the coach's questions, and the teacher debrief. It holds no player keys or PINs. Team names are free text chosen in class and stored with the game records. Students are asked not to use real names. We use it to review and improve the game and to answer a teacher's questions about their class.
• Standard server logs. Like nearly every website, our web server records requests (IP address, time, and the page or endpoint requested) in routine operational logs. Logs rotate daily and are deleted after 14 days. We use them to keep the service running and to count things like "how many games were played" — never to profile people.

What we do not collect

• No student accounts or required contact details. We do not ask students for email addresses or rosters. The team name entered in class is free text and is stored with the game records. Students are asked not to use real names.
• No tracking. No advertising, no analytics scripts, no tracking pixels, no third-party cookies. We use no cookies at all. Browser storage holds only what a session needs: the demo's game id and seed (so you can resume), the classroom student and teacher credentials plus the teacher's recent-room list, the teacher access token used to create a class, session-only recap/identity/forecast flags, and — if you arrived from a link with a source tag — that tag, sent only if a teacher submits the beta application or the older signup form.
• No data sales. We do not sell or rent data, and we share it only with the two service providers listed below, which run the site and word the AI text. There are no advertisers, no data brokers, and no "partners".

Students and children

Students join without an account or email address. The classroom version asks for a team name and instructs students not to use a real full name. Team names are free text, so information entered there is stored with the game records. If you believe a child has submitted personal information to us anyway, email us and we will delete it. The application asks for the applicant's contact information and class details; it never asks for student names, student emails, rosters, or grades.

How long we keep things

• Single-player demo sessions expire and are deleted within 24 hours.
• Classroom game rooms are deleted after 7 days without activity for a single-period class, or 30 days for a multi-day unit (the longer window is what lets a class resume next lesson), and in any case no later than 14 or 60 days after the class was created.
• Classroom game records are kept for one year after the class's last activity, then deleted. A room being deleted does not delete its record; to have the record deleted sooner, email admin@informatist.net with the class join code.
• Server logs are deleted after 14 days.
• Daily backups of the server data are kept for up to 180 days, so a deleted item can remain in a backup until that backup expires.
• Teacher beta applications and waitlist entries are kept while the classroom beta and its communications are active, or until you ask us to remove yours — email admin@informatist.net and we will delete it, no questions asked.

Named regulations, in plain terms

• COPPA (children under 13). Students do not need an account or email address. Team names are chosen in class and stored with game records; the join form tells students not to use full real names.
• FERPA (education records). The product does not request student rosters or grades. Teacher applications collect professional and contact information. Classroom game records include the free-text team names entered by the class, along with decisions and results.
• California SOPIPA (K-12 online services). We show no advertising, build no student profiles, and do not sell data. Classroom game records contain the team names entered in class.

These are statements of how the product actually works, written for teachers and IT staff — not legal certifications.

Subprocessors

Two outside services support the site and its AI text. Their data flows are described below:

• DeepSeek (AI text generation). Receives anonymous game numbers — prices, production, market statistics — and refers to teams only by neutral labels ("Team 1", "Team 2"). The team name a class types in is replaced by its label before anything is sent and restored afterwards for display, so it stays on our server. DeepSeek never receives names, emails, or any other text a student typed. Teacher application data is not sent to DeepSeek.
• Amazon Web Services (hosting and email). The site and game run on AWS infrastructure; mail sent to admin@informatist.net is received via AWS SES, and new-application notifications are sent through AWS SES to the operator addresses.

This list will be updated here whenever it changes.

Changes and contact

If this policy changes, we will post the new version here with a new effective date. Questions, deletion requests, or a school district's security review: admin@informatist.net.

This is a plain-language policy written to be read by teachers, parents, and IT administrators — not to hide anything in clause 47(b). Informatist has run browser-based economic simulations since November 11, 2006.