Privacy Notice for California Residents

Effective Date: September 8, 2026
Last Updated: September 8, 2026

This Privacy Notice for California Residents (“California Notice”) supplements the Education Directory Privacy Policy and applies to California residents. EducationDirectory.net is operated by Ed Media LLC (“Education Directory,” “we,” “us,” or “our”).

This California Notice describes our collection, use, disclosure, sale and sharing of personal information and explains the rights available to California residents under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended (the “CCPA”). Terms defined by the CCPA have the same meaning when used in this California Notice.

1. Personal Information We Collect

During the preceding 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information:

Category	Examples	Sold	Shared for Cross-Context Behavioral Advertising
Identifiers	Name, address or ZIP code, email address, telephone number, IP address, device identifiers and cookie identifiers	Yes	Yes
Customer-records information	Contact, education and employment information submitted through the Services	Yes	No
Protected classifications	Age and military or veteran status	Yes	No
Commercial information	Education services, schools or programs requested, considered or of interest	Yes	No
Internet or other electronic-network activity	Website interactions, referring source, pages viewed, browser and device information, advertising information and attribution information	Yes	Yes
Geolocation data	Approximate location derived from IP address, ZIP code or general location provided by you	Yes	Yes
Professional or employment-related information	Employment, career interests and professional-license information	Yes	No
Education information	Educational history, degree level, field of study, graduation information, prior attendance, program interests and enrollment preferences	Yes	No
Inferences	Education interests, preferences, potential eligibility and other inferences used to identify potentially relevant schools, programs or content	Yes	No

We do not intentionally collect precise geolocation through the Services.

The “Sold” and “Shared” designations above describe our practices during the preceding 12 months. Under the CCPA, a “sale” does not necessarily involve the exchange of personal information for money and may include certain transfers for other valuable consideration. “Sharing” refers to disclosure of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising.

California Notice at Collection

We collect the categories of personal information described above for the purposes described in Section 3, including to process education-related requests, identify potentially relevant schools and programs, route requests, communicate with consumers, operate and improve the Services, measure advertising and attribution, verify submissions and consent, prevent fraud and comply with legal and contractual obligations.

As indicated in the table above, certain categories are sold to schools, education providers and education matching, aggregation or distribution partners, and certain categories are shared with advertising, marketing, analytics or attribution partners for cross-context behavioral advertising.

We retain each category of personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary and proportionate to the purposes for which it was collected or processed. In determining the applicable retention period for each category, we consider the duration of our relationship or interaction with the consumer; the time reasonably necessary to process and route education requests; consent and communication records; fraud-prevention, security and quality-control needs; contractual obligations; applicable statutes of limitation; regulatory and legal requirements; dispute and litigation requirements; and whether retention is reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

You may opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information through the Your Privacy Choices link on EducationDirectory.net.

Additional information about our practices and your rights appears below.

2. Sources of Personal Information

We collect personal information from:

You, including information you submit through forms or otherwise provide to us;
Your browser, device and interactions with the Services;
Advertising, marketing and referral partners;
Schools, education providers and education matching, aggregation or distribution partners;
Service providers and contractors that assist with analytics, attribution, consent verification, data validation, fraud prevention, security, hosting and operation of the Services; and
Other sources as permitted by applicable law.

3. Purposes for Collecting and Using Personal Information

We collect, use and process personal information to:

Process requests for education-related information;
Identify schools, programs and education providers that may match your interests or information;
Route requests and information to appropriate schools, education providers and other recipients;
Communicate with you and provide customer service;
Operate, maintain, analyze and improve the Services;
Personalize or improve content and education-related matching;
Measure advertising, attribution, referral and campaign performance;
Verify submissions, document consent and maintain consent records;
Detect and prevent fraud, abuse, invalid submissions, duplicate activity and security incidents;
Maintain the security and integrity of our Services;
Comply with contractual, legal, regulatory, audit and recordkeeping obligations;
Establish, exercise or defend legal rights and claims; and
Carry out a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets or similar business transaction.

We do not collect, use, retain or share personal information for purposes that are incompatible with the purposes disclosed at or before collection without providing any additional notice or consent required by applicable law.

4. Sale and Sharing of Personal Information

California law defines “sale” broadly and may treat certain transfers of personal information for monetary or other valuable consideration as sales.

California law separately defines “sharing” as disclosure of personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising, whether or not money is exchanged.

Personal Information Sold

During the preceding 12 months, we sold the following categories of personal information:

Identifiers;
Customer-records information;
Protected classifications;
Commercial information;
Internet or other electronic-network activity;
Geolocation data;
Professional or employment-related information;
Education information; and
Inferences.

We sold these categories to categories of third parties including schools and education providers, and education matching, aggregation or distribution partners.

The business and commercial purposes for these sales include processing and routing education inquiries, identifying schools or programs potentially relevant to a consumer’s interests or information, facilitating requested education-related connections, and operating education matching, referral and lead-distribution services.

Personal Information Shared

During the preceding 12 months, we shared the following categories of personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising:

Identifiers;
Internet or other electronic-network activity; and
Geolocation data.

We shared these categories with categories of third parties including advertising, marketing, analytics and attribution partners.

The business and commercial purposes for sharing include advertising, campaign measurement, attribution, audience measurement and related marketing activities.

Your Right to Opt Out

You have the right to direct us not to sell or share your personal information.

To exercise this right, use the Your Privacy Choices link on EducationDirectory.net.

An opt-out request does not require you to create an account, and we will not require identity verification merely to exercise the right to opt out. We may request information reasonably necessary to identify the browser, device, account, record or other information to which the request should apply.

We do not have actual knowledge that we sell or share the personal information of consumers under 16 years of age.

5. Disclosures for Business Purposes

During the preceding 12 months, we disclosed the categories of personal information described in Section 1 to service providers, contractors and other parties for business purposes as reasonably necessary to assist us with:

Website, database and cloud hosting;
Communications and customer support;
Analytics and attribution;
Consent verification and recordkeeping;
Data validation;
Fraud detection and prevention;
Information security;
Website and technology operations;
Professional, accounting, legal and compliance services;
Campaign and partner administration; and
Operation and administration of the Services.

We may also disclose personal information when reasonably necessary to comply with law, legal process or regulatory requirements; investigate or prevent fraud or security incidents; protect our rights or the rights of others; establish, exercise or defend legal claims; or complete a merger, acquisition, financing, reorganization, sale of assets or similar business transaction.

6. Retention of Personal Information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary and proportionate to accomplish the purposes for which the information was collected or processed, unless a longer period is required or permitted by law.

The criteria we use to determine retention periods for each category of personal information include:

The nature of the information and the purposes for which it was collected;
The length of our relationship or interaction with the consumer;
The period reasonably necessary to process and route an education inquiry;
The need to maintain records showing consent, disclosures, opt-outs, communications or other consumer choices;
Quality-control, attribution, duplicate-detection, fraud-prevention and security needs;
Contractual obligations to schools, education providers, partners, service providers or other parties;
Applicable statutes of limitation;
Regulatory, legal, tax, accounting or recordkeeping requirements;
Actual or reasonably anticipated complaints, disputes, investigations, audits, litigation or legal claims; and
Our obligation to maintain records necessary to honor privacy requests and prevent information that has been deleted or opted out from being improperly restored or reused.

When personal information is no longer reasonably necessary for these purposes, we delete, deidentify or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with our applicable processes and legal obligations.

7. Sensitive Personal Information

We do not currently use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that require us to provide California consumers with a separate right to limit its use or disclosure under the CCPA.

We also do not intentionally collect precise geolocation through the Services.

Accordingly, we do not currently provide a separate Limit the Use of My Sensitive Personal Information mechanism.

If our practices change in a manner that gives rise to the right to limit under California law, we will provide the required notice and method for exercising that right.

8. Your California Privacy Rights

Subject to applicable exceptions and limitations, California residents have the following rights.

Right to Know and Access. You may request information about the personal information we have collected about you, including the categories of personal information, categories of sources, business or commercial purposes for collection, sale or sharing, categories of recipients, and specific pieces of personal information we maintain about you.

Right to Delete. You may request deletion of personal information we collected from you, subject to exceptions provided by law.

Right to Correct. You may request that we correct inaccurate personal information we maintain about you.

Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing. You may direct us not to sell or share your personal information.

Right to Limit Use or Disclosure of Sensitive Personal Information. Where a business uses or discloses sensitive personal information in a manner that gives rise to this right under the CCPA, a consumer may direct the business to limit that use or disclosure. As described in Section 7, our current practices do not require us to provide a separate right-to-limit mechanism.

Right to Non-Retaliation and Non-Discrimination. We will not unlawfully discriminate or retaliate against you for exercising rights provided by the CCPA.

9. Exercising Your California Privacy Rights

Requests to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing

To opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, use the Your Privacy Choices link on EducationDirectory.net.

You are not required to create an account or verify your identity to submit an opt-out request. We may request information reasonably necessary to identify the information, browser, device or profile to which the request applies.

Requests to Know, Access, Delete or Correct

To submit a request to know, access, delete or correct your personal information, email:

[email protected]

Please identify the right you wish to exercise and provide enough information for us to reasonably locate the relevant records and process your request.

For requests to know, access, delete or correct, we may take reasonable steps to verify your identity and confirm that the information involved relates to you. The information required for verification may vary depending on the nature and sensitivity of the information and the nature of the request.

Information provided for verification will be used only as permitted by applicable law.

We will acknowledge and respond to requests within the periods required by applicable law. If we are unable to comply with a request in whole or in part, we will provide an explanation where required.

Authorized Agents

You may authorize another person or entity to submit a request on your behalf as permitted by California law.

We may require appropriate evidence that the authorized agent has permission to act on your behalf and, where permitted by law, may require you to verify your identity or directly confirm that you authorized the agent.

An authorized agent may submit a request using the same methods described above.

10. Opt-Out Preference Signals and Global Privacy Control

We process qualifying browser-based opt-out preference signals, including Global Privacy Control (“GPC”), as requests to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information.

When we receive a qualifying opt-out preference signal, we apply the request to the browser or device sending the signal and to consumer profiles, including pseudonymous profiles, that we associate with that browser or device.

If we can reasonably associate the signal with a known consumer, account or other information concerning the consumer, we will apply the opt-out more broadly to the extent required by applicable law.

You do not need to create an account or provide additional information for us to honor a qualifying signal as to the browser or device that sends it. You may voluntarily provide additional information if doing so will allow us to apply the request to additional records or offline information associated with you.

Information voluntarily supplied for that purpose will be used only as necessary to process the privacy request.

A qualifying opt-out preference signal will be honored even if it conflicts with a previously selected privacy setting permitting sale or sharing, subject to any subsequent consent you affirmatively provide as permitted by law.

You may also opt out directly through the Your Privacy Choices link on EducationDirectory.net.

California's current regulations expressly require a business that sells or shares personal information to treat a qualifying opt-out preference signal as a valid opt-out for the browser/device and associated profiles; the privacy policy must explain how those signals are applied. California Privacy Protection Agency

11. California Direct-Marketing Rights

California law may provide certain residents with rights concerning disclosures of personal information to third parties for those third parties’ own direct-marketing purposes.

We do not disclose personal information to third parties for their own direct-marketing purposes except as permitted by applicable law and consistent with applicable consumer choices, disclosures or authorization.

Questions or requests concerning California direct-marketing rights may be submitted to:

[email protected]

12. Accessibility

We are committed to making this California Notice and our privacy-choice mechanisms reasonably accessible.

If you need assistance accessing this California Notice or exercising a privacy right because of a disability, contact:

[email protected]

13. Changes to This California Notice

We may update this California Notice from time to time to reflect changes in our information practices, legal requirements or the Services.

When we update this California Notice, we will revise the Last Updated date above and provide any additional notice required by applicable law.

14. Contact Us

For questions about this California Notice, our privacy practices or your California privacy rights, contact:

Ed Media LLC
EducationDirectory.net
Email: [email protected]