Article 1 Purpose of Collecting Personal Information and its Uses

Study Mate Global collects and retains all the information entered and provided by its customers in connection with the Study Mate Global Service. The purpose of collecting a customer’s personal information is to set up the customer’s user account & profile for his or her interaction with other users, to make improvements on service contents, and to communicate with him or her regarding new service features & offerings. Depending on customer needs and requirements, Study Mate Global may utilize customers’ data in order to make some changes to the Study Mate Global Service, to research on the Study Mate Global network and service performance, and to develop new service tools.

Article 2 Personal Information Items and their Collection Method

When a customer signs up for the Study Mate Global Service for the first time, certain mandatory personal information of his or hers will be collected.

Such information gathering is as follows.

• 1) Customer’s nickname
• 2) Email address
• 6) Password

In addition to such information above, some other information, including but not limited to the following information, may be requested in order for Study Mate Global to provide certain special services.

• 2) Personal profile image

Furthermore, certain personal information may be requested and collected with the intention of performing collective statistical analysis for special occasions (e.g. surveys, promotional events, etc.) or handing out special gifts. In this case, any of such information requested and collected will never be used for any other purpose than originally intended purposes.

Article 3 Retaining and Discarding of Personal Information

Study Mate Global shall retain and utilize a customer’s personal information as long as the customer remains active using the Study Mate Global Service. However, Study Mate Global shall physically remove all of the customer’s personal information, and shall never inquire about or use such information under any circumstances for any of the following occasions: 1) If the customer requests for the withdrawal from the Study Mate Global Service in accordance with the provisions set forth in the ‘Article 7. Customer’s Inquiry, Modification and Deletion of his or her Personal Information’, 2) If the purpose of collecting such information is achieved. However, if specially stipulated under governing laws & regulations (e.g. Act on Consumer Protection in E-commerce, etc.), Study Mate Global shall retain a customers’ personal information for a certain period of time specified in such laws & regulations even if the customer withdraws from the Study Mate Global Service.

• 1) Data associated with promotional displaying and advertising: 6 months
• 2) Legal data (e.g. contracting, termination, etc.): 5 years
• 3) Financial data (e.g. payment, supply of goods, etc.): 5 years
• 4) Data associated with customer complaints or disputes: 3 years
• 5) Personal information to be retained for a certain period of time after a customer withdraws from the Study Mate Global Service
  • ① Items retained: Email address and employer information provided by the customer
  • ② Retention basis: Prevention of the reentry by misbehaving users, Cooperation with infringement disputes and investigations (e.g. defamation, etc.)
  • ③ Retention period: To be immediately discarded after a valid service period expires
• 6)Personal information to be retained in connection with commercial activities
  • ① Items retained: Data associated with commercial activities
  • ② Retention basis: Commercial Act, Act on Consumer Protection in E-commerce
  • ③ Retention period: Legal data (e.g. contracting, termination, etc.): 5 years
  • ④ Financial data (e.g. payment, supply of goods, etc.): 5 years
  • ⑤ Data associated with customer complaints or disputes: 3 years

Article 4 Providing and Sharing of Personal Information

In general, Study Mate Global does not share any of its customers’ personal information with any third party (e.g. external individual, external institution, etc.). However, this general rule will not apply if a customer agrees on such sharing, or if it is deemed reasonable to disclose the personal information of any customer falling under the following categories for certain legal actions: A customer who breaches the Study Mate Global’s Terms of Service, A customer who maliciously manipulates the Study Mate Global Service, A customer who does not comply with generally accepted social norms, and so forth. Even in these particular cases, Study Mate Global shall provide such personal information not to individuals but only to investigation agencies in accordance with certain procedures. Study Mate Global may share a customer’s personal information with its business partners for the purpose of providing better services (e.g. personalized services, customized services, etc.). Even in these particular cases, Study Mate Global shall notify the customer of certain matters (e.g. overview of business partner, type of information, reason for sharing, privacy protection measures, retention period, etc.) and obtain his or her agreement before collecting or providing any information. If the customer does not agree on such sharing, Study Mate Global shall never collect any additional information or share such information with any business partner. In addition, if it is essential to share customers’ data for proper reasons (e.g. statistical analysis, academic purpose, market research, etc.), such data shall be provided to third parties in such a way that individual customers would not be revealed.

Article 5 Management and Utilization of Cookies

In order to provide a variety of personalized and customized services, Study Mate Global does use 'cookies', which are designed to save and retrieve Study Mate Global customers’ data. A cookie is a small piece of data sent from a Study Mate Global’s web server to a user’s web browser and stored in the user’s hard disk. For more personalized services tailored for its customers, Study Mate Global does use cookies to extract customers’ ID information. By storing unique cookies in a user’s web browser, Study Mate Global can better analyze certain customer data (e.g. Study Mate Global site traffic by customers and non-customers, total number of users, etc.). In addition, cookies are used to authenticate any payment at the Study Mate Global site. Furthermore, Study Mate Global can provide more useful and convenient services to its customers by analyzing the Study Mate Global Service’s traffic data and customers’ service patterns with cookies. A customer can configure various options for cookies at his or her discretion. That is, the customer can choose one of the following options: 1) Allow all cookies, 2) Ask me every time a cookie is stored, or 3) Do not allow any cookie to be stored. However, if a customer does not allow any cookie to be stored, all Study Mate Global services requiring a login will not be available.

Article 6 Technical/Systematic Management of Personal Information for its Protection

A customer’s personal information is protected through his or her own password. A customer’s account password is only disclosed to the customer, and only the customer will be authorized to confirm or modify his or her personal information with the password. There are only a limited number of Study Mate Global representatives who handle customers’ data, and such representatives have been regularly trained with regard to this Privacy Policy. Moreover, the Audit Committee has performed periodic auditing on the compliance with this Privacy Policy and accordingly taken corrective measures whenever necessary.

Article 7 Customer’s Inquiry, Modification and Deletion of his or her Personal Information

A customer can always inquire about or modify his or her personal information registered, and request for the deletion of his or her account. Such inquiry and modification can be managed in the Study Mate Global’s personal information management menu. In addition, a customer can ask any question regarding account deletion and other personal information issues to a privacy officer via email (sungjun.app@gmail.com) and will be notified as quickly as possible.

Article 8 Protection of Children’s Personal Information

Any child under 14 years old shall not carelessly send his or her personal information to any stranger, and shall obtain permission for sending such information from his or her parents. In general, Study Mate Global does not allow any child under 14 to sign up for the Study Mate Global Service. Furthermore, even if a child under 14 was successfully signed up, he or she could be disqualified at any time.

Article 9 Settlement of Privacy Complaints and Disputes

• (1) Complaint handling division
  • 1) Study Mate Global Call Center (Email: sungjun.app@gmail.cm)
• (2) Dispute settling institution
  • 1) Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee (URL: www.kopico.or.kr / Phone: 82-2-1336)
  • 2) e-Privacy Certification Committee (URL: www.eprivacy.or.kr / Phone: 82-2-580-0533~4)

Article 10 Revision of the Privacy Policy

If Study Mate Global makes any revision to this Privacy Policy, Study Mate Global shall post up the following information on its main webpage from 7 days prior to actual enforcement date: Effective date, Reason for revision, Old/New policy, and so forth.

Article 11 Independent Contractor for Processing Personal Information

If Study Mate Global finds it impossible to handle certain customer complaints on its own, Study Mate Global may outsource such handling to an independent contractor. In this case, Study Mate Global shall notify its customers of such outsourcing arrangement and will share some personal information with the independent contractor in accordance with the corresponding contractual terms and conditions. In addition, when entering into an outsourcing agreement, Study Mate Global shall manifestly specify certain provisions (e.g. compliance with certain instructions on personal information protection, prohibition of any personal information leakage, indemnification, etc.) and shall retain all relevant documents in writing and electronically in order to protect the safety of each customer’s personal information. Furthermore, for any new independent contractor, its name shall be posted up on the Privacy Policy page.

Article 12 Protection of Teenagers

Study Mate Global has formulated its own Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and has discretionarily imposed strict restrictions on those contents harmful to teenagers. In line with such policies and restrictions, Study Mate Global has made its most efforts to ban any unethical, antisocial content or activity that could adversely affect teenagers.

Article 13 Governing Laws & Regulations related to the Protection of Teenagers

• - Review Regulations (Korea Communications Standards Commission)
• - Review Regulations on Harmful Contents for Teenagers (Teenager Protection Commission)

Sungjun Hong, Privacy officer | Study Mate Global Customer Services sungjun.app@gmail.com