Privacy Policy

Swiss Media Academy Online is committed to protecting the privacy of individuals who visit our site and use our online platform and services. This privacy policy outlines how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Data We Collect

We may collect various types of personal data from you, depending on how you interact with our site and services. This data may include:

• - Identification information: Your name, username, and other similar identifiers.
• - Contact information: Your mailing address.
• - Account information: Details you provide when registering for an account or enrolling in a course, such as your qualifications or interests.
• - Payment information: Details necessary to process payments for services, though we typically use third-party payment processors who handle payment card details directly.
• - Usage data: Information about how you use our site and online platform, including courses accessed, progress made, and interactions with course materials.
• - Technical data: Internet protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, time zone setting and location, browser plug-in types and versions, operating system and platform, and other technology on the devices you use to access our site.
• - Communication data: Information you provide when contacting us directly, such as inquiries or feedback.
• - Marketing and communications preferences: Your preferences in receiving marketing from us and your communication preferences.

How We Collect Your Data

We collect data through various methods:

• - Direct interactions: You may give us your identity, contact, and account data by filling in forms or by corresponding with us when you register for an account, enroll in courses, or contact us for support.
• - Automated technologies or interactions: As you interact with our site, we may automatically collect technical data about your equipment, browsing actions and patterns. We collect this personal data by using cookies, server logs, and other similar technologies.
• - Third parties: We may receive data about you from third parties, such as analytics providers, advertising networks, or payment service providers.

How We Use Your Data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

• - To provide our services and online platform to you, including managing your account, processing your enrollment, and delivering online learning resources.
• - To process and manage payments for services you purchase.
• - To communicate with you regarding your account, courses, updates, and support inquiries.
• - To improve our site, online platform, and services, including analyzing usage trends and developing new features or content.
• - To personalize your experience on our site and platform.
• - To manage our relationship with you, including notifying you about changes to our terms or policies.
• - To administer and protect our business and this service, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting, and hosting of data.
• - To recommend courses or services that may be of interest to you, based on your preferences where applicable.
• - To comply with legal and regulatory obligations.

Legal Basis for Processing

We will only use your personal data when the law allows us to. Our legal bases for processing your personal data include:

• - Performance of a contract: Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you, such as providing access to courses you have enrolled in.
• - Legitimate interests: Processing is necessary for our legitimate interests (or those of a third party), provided these interests do not override your fundamental rights and interests. This includes improving our services, managing our business, and ensuring network security.
• - Consent: We may rely on your consent to process your personal data for specific purposes, such as sending you marketing communications. You have the right to withdraw consent at any time.
• - Legal obligation: Processing is necessary for compliance with a legal obligation that we are subject to.

Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which we collected it, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data, and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

Data Security

We have put in place appropriate security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used or accessed in an unauthorized way, altered or disclosed. In addition, we limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality. We have procedures to deal with any suspected personal data breach and will notify you and any applicable regulator of a breach where we are legally required to do so.

Your Data Protection Rights

Under applicable data protection laws, you have rights regarding your personal data. These rights include:

• - The right to request access to your personal data.
• - The right to request correction of your personal data.
• - The right to request erasure of your personal data.
• - The right to object to processing of your personal data.
• - The right to request restriction of processing your personal data.
• - The right to request the transfer of your personal data to you or a third party (data portability).
• - The right to withdraw consent at any time where we are relying on consent to process your personal data.
• - The right to lodge a complaint with a supervisory authority.

If you wish to exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the information provided below.

Disclosure to Third Parties and International Transfers

We may share your personal data with third parties for the purposes set out in this privacy policy. These third parties may include service providers who perform functions on our behalf (such as IT services, payment processing, or analytics), or regulatory authorities. We require all third parties to respect the security of your personal data and to treat it in accordance with the law. We do not allow our third-party service providers to use your personal data for their own purposes and only permit them to process your personal data for specified purposes and in accordance with our instructions.

Some of our external third parties may be based outside the European Economic Area (EEA). Whenever we transfer your personal data out of the EEA, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by ensuring at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

• - We will only transfer your personal data to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for personal data by the European Commission.
• - Where we use certain service providers, we may use specific contracts approved by the European Commission which give personal data the same protection it has in Europe.
• - Where we use providers based in the US, we may transfer data to them if they are part of the Privacy Shield which requires them to provide similar protection to personal data shared between the Europe and the US.

Cookies and Tracking Technologies

Our site uses cookies and similar tracking technologies to distinguish you from other users. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our site and also allows us to improve our site.

Children's Privacy

Our services are not directed to individuals under the age of 16. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children under 16. If we become aware that a child under 16 has provided us with personal data, we will take steps to delete such information.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time. We will post the new privacy policy on this page. We encourage you to review this privacy policy periodically for any changes. Changes to this privacy policy are effective when they are posted on this page.

Contact Information

If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our data protection practices, please contact us at:

Swiss Media Academy Online
25 Brandschenkestrasse, 3rd Floor, Zurich, Canton of Zurich, 8002, Switzerland