Privacy Policy
Version 1 · in force since August 17, 2026 · d1f35cfdef36
Draft — requires attorney review before publication
We are publishing this rather than leaving you with nothing, because you are entitled to know what we do with your information. But be clear on its status: a lawyer has not yet reviewed this document. It describes our actual practice as accurately as we can state it, and it may change once counsel has been through it. If anything here matters to a decision you are making, email learn@makiniconsulting.com and ask.
1. Who we are
Makini Learning is an online tutoring service providing one-on-one tuition in mathematics and computer science. This notice explains what personal information we collect, why, who we share it with, how long we keep it, and what you can ask us to do about it.
Contact for any privacy question or request: learn@makiniconsulting.com
2. Children and this service
Our students are school-age. We take specific care with children's information.
- Children under 13. United States law (the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act) requires us to obtain verifiable consent from a parent or guardian before collecting personal information from a child under 13. We are not currently able to accept accounts for children under 13 while that consent process is being built. If you are under 13, please ask a parent or guardian to contact us rather than creating an account.
- Students aged 13 to 17. A parent or guardian should be the person who agrees to our terms and pays for tutoring. A student under 18 should not create an account without their parent or guardian's involvement.
- We never require a child to give us more personal information than is reasonably necessary to take part in tutoring.
Parents and guardians: you may ask us to show you the personal information we hold about your child, correct it, stop collecting or using it, or delete it. Email learn@makiniconsulting.com. We will take reasonable steps to confirm you are the child's parent or guardian before we act, so that we do not hand your child's information to anyone else.
3. What we collect
Information you give us when you create an account or apply to tutor:
| Information | Who it is about |
|---|---|
| First and last name | Students, parents, tutors |
| Email address | All |
| Phone number | All |
| Password (stored only as a cryptographic hash, never as text we can read) | All |
| School grade level | Students |
| Qualifications, institution, years of experience, subjects, application note | Tutors |
Information created by using the service: session bookings, attendance and completion records, messages you send through the platform, credit balances and payment history, reviews you submit, support and dispute correspondence, notifications, and a record of the agreements you have accepted.
Information collected automatically: if you allow analytics (see section 6), your IP address, browser and device type, and the pages you visit.
Payment information: payments are handled by Stripe. We never receive or store your full card number. We keep a record of the amount, date and status of each transaction.
4. Why we use it
- To create and run your account
- To match students with tutors and deliver tutoring sessions
- To take payment and pay tutors
- To contact you about your account and your sessions
- To provide support and resolve disputes
- To keep the service secure and investigate misuse
- To meet our legal obligations
5. Who we share it with
We share personal information only with organisations that help us run the service, and only as far as they need it:
| Who | What for | Necessary to deliver tutoring? |
|---|---|---|
| Your tutor | To teach your sessions | Yes |
| Hosting and database providers | To run the website and store data | Yes |
| Stripe | To take payment | Yes |
| Email delivery provider | To send account and session emails | Yes |
| Video conferencing provider | To hold sessions | Yes |
| Analytics providers (Google Analytics, Vercel Analytics) | To understand how the site is used | No — optional, and only with your consent |
We also disclose information where the law requires it, or where it is necessary to protect someone's safety.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not allow advertising networks to collect information from children through this service.
6. Analytics and cookies
We use cookies that are necessary to make the site work — for example to keep you signed in. These cannot be turned off without breaking the service.
Analytics are optional and off by default. We do not load Google Analytics or Vercel Analytics until you choose to allow them, and we do not load them at all on sign-up, sign-in, or any page inside your account. You can decline analytics and use the service normally. If you change your mind, clear your browser cookies for this site and you will be asked again.
7. How long we keep information — our data retention policy
We keep personal information only for as long as it is reasonably necessary for the purposes described above. We do not keep children's personal information indefinitely.
| Information | Why we keep it | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Account details (name, email, phone) | To operate your account | While the account is active, then up to 90 days after closure |
| Password hash | To let you sign in | Deleted when the account is closed |
| School grade level | To match tutor and level | While the account is active |
| Session records | Delivery, scheduling, and resolving later disputes | 24 months after the session |
| Messages between student and tutor | Communication, and investigating any safeguarding concern | 24 months |
| Payment and payout records | Billing, accounting and tax obligations | As long as tax and accounting law requires |
| Reviews you submit | To show on tutor profiles | Until you withdraw them |
| Notifications | To tell you about your account | 12 months |
| Support and dispute correspondence | To resolve the matter | 24 months after resolution |
| Records of agreements you accepted | To show what was agreed, and when | Kept as our record of the agreement |
| Identity-verification material (such as an image of an ID document, if we ever ask for one) | To confirm a parent's identity | Deleted promptly once the check is complete |
| Server and access logs | Security and fault diagnosis | 90 days |
When information is no longer needed we delete it using measures designed to prevent it being accessed or misused during deletion.
A note on records of agreements. If you withdraw a consent, we record the withdrawal as a new entry and stop relying on the consent from that point. We do not erase the original record, because it is what shows what was agreed during the period it applied. Withdrawing consent works going forward; it does not undo things already done while the consent was in place.
8. Security
We protect personal information with administrative and technical safeguards appropriate to how sensitive it is. Passwords are stored only as cryptographic hashes. Access to personal information inside our systems is limited by role and administrative actions are logged. No online service can promise perfect security, and we will not pretend otherwise.
9. Your choices
- See, correct or delete your information: email learn@makiniconsulting.com
- Withdraw a consent: email us. Withdrawal applies going forward.
- Decline analytics: use the choice offered on the site, or clear this site's cookies.
- Stop marketing email: use the unsubscribe link in any such email.
If you are a parent or guardian, section 2 sets out your additional rights over your child's information.
10. Changes to this notice
Each version of this notice is stored with its own version number, effective date, and a cryptographic fingerprint of its exact text, so it is always possible to establish which version applied on a given day.
If we make a material change to how we collect, use or share personal information, we will tell you. Where the law requires fresh consent — which it does for material changes affecting children's information — we will ask for it rather than assume the old consent still covers the new practice.
11. Contact
Privacy Policy · Terms of Service
Questions about either document: learn@makiniconsulting.com