Vanguard Directing Academy Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy describes how Vanguard Directing Academy ("we," "us," or "our") collects, uses, and shares personal information of users of our website, vanguarddirecting.edu (the "Site"), and individuals who enroll in our courses or otherwise interact with us. This policy is effective as of January 1, 2025.
Data Collection
We collect several types of information from and about users of our Site, including:
- Personal Information: This includes information that can be used to identify you, such as your name, email address, postal address, phone number, date of birth, and educational background. We collect this information when you register for an account, enroll in a course, subscribe to our newsletter, or contact us through the Site.
- Payment Information: When you enroll in a course, we collect payment information, such as your credit card number and billing address. This information is processed by our secure payment gateway and is not stored on our servers.
- Demographic Information: We may collect demographic information, such as your age, gender, and location. This information is used to improve our services and personalize your experience.
- Usage Information: We automatically collect certain information about your use of our Site, such as your IP address, browser type, operating system, referring URLs, pages visited, and the dates/times of your visits. We use this information to analyze trends, administer the Site, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
- Cookies and Similar Technologies: We use cookies, web beacons, and other tracking technologies to collect information about your browsing activity on our Site. Cookies are small data files stored on your device that allow us to recognize you when you return to our Site. You can disable cookies in your browser settings, but this may affect your ability to use certain features of our Site.
Data Usage
We use the information we collect for various purposes, including:
- Providing and Improving Services: We use your information to provide you with access to our courses, process your enrollment, and personalize your learning experience. We also use this information to improve our Site and services.
- Communicating with You: We use your information to communicate with you about your account, course updates, promotions, and other relevant information. We may also send you newsletters and marketing materials, which you can opt-out of at any time.
- Personalizing Your Experience: We use your information to personalize your experience on our Site, such as recommending courses that may be of interest to you.
- Analyzing Trends: We use usage information to analyze trends, administer the Site, and gather broad demographic information for aggregate use.
- Protecting Our Rights: We may use your information to protect our rights and interests, such as preventing fraud and enforcing our terms of service.
- Legal Compliance: We may use your information to comply with applicable laws and regulations.
Data Security
We take reasonable measures to protect your personal information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. These measures include:
- Encryption: We use encryption to protect sensitive information, such as your payment information, during transmission.
- Firewalls: We use firewalls to protect our servers from unauthorized access.
- Access Controls: We restrict access to your personal information to authorized personnel only.
- Regular Security Audits: We conduct regular security audits to identify and address vulnerabilities.
However, no method of transmission over the Internet, or method of electronic storage, is 100% secure. Therefore, while we strive to use commercially acceptable means to protect your personal information, we cannot guarantee its absolute security.
User Rights
You have certain rights regarding your personal information, including:
- Access: You have the right to access the personal information we hold about you.
- Correction: You have the right to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
- Deletion: You have the right to request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
- Objection: You have the right to object to the processing of your personal information for certain purposes, such as marketing.
- Restriction: You have the right to restrict the processing of your personal information in certain circumstances.
- Data Portability: You have the right to receive your personal information in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format and to transmit it to another controller.
To exercise these rights, please contact our Data Protection Officer at [email protected]. We will respond to your request within a reasonable timeframe.
Data Sharing
We may share your personal information with the following categories of recipients:
- Service Providers: We share your information with third-party service providers who help us operate our Site and provide our services, such as payment processors, hosting providers, and email marketing providers. These service providers are contractually obligated to protect your information and use it only for the purposes for which we disclose it to them.
- Business Partners: We may share your information with business partners who offer products or services that may be of interest to you.
- Legal Authorities: We may disclose your information to legal authorities if required by law or legal process.
Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including providing you with our services, complying with our legal obligations, resolving disputes, and enforcing our agreements.
Children's Privacy
Our Site and services are not directed to children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under the age of 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe that your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at [email protected].
Changes to this Privacy Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post any changes on our Site and update the effective date above. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically for any changes.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:
Vanguard Directing Academy
8500 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Phone: (323) 460-7700
Email: [email protected]
Our Data Protection Officer can be contacted at: [email protected]
California Privacy Rights
If you are a California resident, you have certain rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). These rights include:
- Right to Know: You have the right to request information about the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, the sources of the information, the purposes for collecting the information, and the categories of third parties with whom we share the information.
- Right to Delete: You have the right to request that we delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions.
- Right to Opt-Out of Sale: You have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information. We do not currently sell your personal information.
- Right to Non-Discrimination: We will not discriminate against you for exercising your CCPA rights.
To exercise your California privacy rights, please contact us at [email protected].
International Data Transfers
If you are accessing our Site or using our services from outside the United States, please be aware that your personal information may be transferred to, stored, and processed in the United States, where our servers are located and our central database is operated. The data protection laws of the United States may differ from those in your country. By using our Site and services, you consent to the transfer of your personal information to the United States.