Privacy Notice

Freedom or Safety? is a closed, invitation-based educational web application used within college courses. Students walk through a real Supreme Court case (Miranda v. Arizona) and write short responses at each stage; instructors review that work. Access is by invitation or instructor approval — the app is not open to the general public.

• Account information: your name and email address, and your role (student, professor, or administrator).
• Your coursework: the written responses ("decisions" and the capstone essay) you submit, including saved versions, and the automated feedback and scores associated with them.
• Class information: which class you belong to and who your instructor is.
• Basic usage analytics: aggregate, privacy-respecting web analytics (see "Analytics" below). We do not use advertising trackers.

We do not collect more than we need to run the course activity.

• Your instructor can see the work you submit in their class, along with feedback and scores, in order to review and grade it.
• You can see your own work and version history.
• The application owner/administrator sees only aggregate statistics — counts and completion rates (for example, how many students started or completed the activity) — and does not have access to the content of any individual student's written responses or scores through the analytics tools. Access controls in the database are designed to enforce this separation.
• Other students cannot see your work.

The app includes an AI guide ("Balance") that responds to your written decisions to prompt further thinking. Your written response is sent to an AI service to generate that feedback. Balance's feedback is formative — your instructor, not Balance, determines your grade.

We use Plausible, a privacy-respecting web-analytics service, to understand general site usage (such as page visits). Plausible is cookieless and does not collect personal profiles or sell data. We use it to improve the app, not to track individuals.

The app sends transactional emails (such as sign-in confirmations, password resets, class invitations, and account-status notifications) from noreply@criminaljustice.today. We do not send marketing email.

• We retain your account and coursework for as long as needed to support the course and, where applicable, the instructor's or institution's records.
• To request deletion of your account or data, email schmall@justicestudies.com. Note: Deletion of coursework may be subject to the instructor's or institution's academic-records requirements.

This app is intended for use within courses and may handle student education records. Where an educational institution uses this app, the institution's obligations under FERPA and applicable state student-privacy laws may apply, and student data is handled in support of the instructor's and institution's educational purpose.

We use access controls and database-level security rules intended to limit access to your data to you, your instructor, and — for aggregate statistics only — the application owner. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.

This app is designed for college-level courses and is not directed to children under 13.

We may update this notice; the effective date above will change when we do. Material changes will be communicated as appropriate.

Questions about this notice or your data: schmall@justicestudies.com.