For parents: What consent must parents give for their child to use Girls Who Code?

Parent permission is an integral part of using Girls Who Code. When you visit Girls Who Code and give parental consent, you are granting permission for the following:

Consent to use Girls Who Code if your child is under 13:

Girls Who Code voluntarily follows the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and its implementing regulations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Rule (collectively “COPPA”) rules for parental consent.  COPPA expressly states that the law applies to commercial websites and online services, and not to nonprofit entities that otherwise would be exempt from coverage under Section 5 of the FTC Act. Although nonprofit entities generally are not subject to COPPA, the FTC encourages such entities to post privacy policies online and to provide COPPA’s protections to their child visitors. Girls Who Code voluntarily follows COPPA as a non-profit, Girls Who Code is not actually subject to COPPA. For more information, please see the FTC’s FAQ Section B.

COPPA protects the online privacy of children under the age of 13 and requires Girls Who Code to obtain parental consent or notice (as appropriate) prior (with limited exceptions) to the collection, use, and disclosure of that child's Personal Information. Girls Who Code extends the U.S -based COPPA consent protections in all jurisdictions, even if not required. If we rely on other legally applicable grounds for processing children’s personal information (e.g., if we rely on legitimate interest in the European Union and the United Kingdom), we will still use the FTC COPPA consent methods described to provide further transparency for parents.  

School Use

Your child's Teacher Facilitator may wish for your child to use GWC Clubs HQ and the Club Services in connection with their classroom or school and may set up your child’s Club Student Account on their behalf in order to allow them to access their Club Student User account in school (or may give your child a unique code to set-up their own Club Student Account).  This school uses, a feature of Girls Who Code called GWC Clubs HQ that allows students to access learning materials on their own, message their Teacher Facilitators, and submit Projects to the Project Gallery.  

In some circumstances, you may set up your child’s account on Girls Who Code for their School Club. Due to the requirements of COPPA, Girls Who Code requires parents (if they are setting up their child’s account on Girls Who Code) to give consent before the child can then log in to their account and further access and use Girls Who Code (including to upload any content). Instructions on how to do this are found in the “When setting up your child's account” section below*.  

However, most often, your child's school or Teacher Facilitator will have elected to act as your agent and consented on your behalf directly; we rely on what is commonly referred to as "school consent," Under this type of consent, your child’s Teacher Facilitator may have created the student account on behalf of your child and your child will be able to access their student account in school. For more information on "school consent" under COPPA, please see the FTC's FAQ Section N regarding this as well as our FAQ for schools. Please contact your child's teacher if you have any additional questions. 

Any Club Student Account (or access to a Club Student Account) created for the Club Student Account, by the Teacher Facilitator, or, occasionally, by the parent, are linked together (these are not different accounts). 

Outside School Use 

If you are setting up your child’s Outside School Club Child Account, or otherwise allowing your child to use or access Girls Who Code outside of school, Girls Who Code obtains parental consent directly from the parent.  Additionally, we may ask for your consent if “school consent” was previously relied upon and we are now using Personal Information obtained from your child outside of the school context (e.g., for Direct Program Services or non-Educational Purpose).

Any Outside School Club Child Account may also be linked with the Club Student Account (if both exist), but only certain content will be viewable by the child’s Teacher Facilitator or Outside School Club Facilitator.

How does a parent consent? 

When setting up your child’s account

In order to set up your child’s account, you must first create a parent account on Girls Who Code, where you will provide limited Personal Information about your child.   After setting up your parent account, you can create your child’s Outside School Club Child Account for their Outside School Club. You can link your child’s Outside School Club Child Account with their Outside School Club by using the club code provided by the Outside School Club; you can also link your own account to the Outside School Club.

*In the rare instance where you are setting up your child’s Club Student Account, you will also be provided a club code for your child, which you will enter in the same way you would for an Outside School Club Child Account.

We will then ask you for your consent within your parent account in GWC Clubs HQ at the time you set up your child's accounts (e.g., Outside School Club Child Account). Your parent account will be connected to your child’s Outside School Club Child Account- you will not have to leave your account to consent. 

What you are consenting to

You are giving your consent for your child to use a Girls Who Code Outside School Club Child Account (depending on how your child is using Girls Who Code), including for Girls Who Code's collection, use, and disclosure of your child's Personal Information as set forth in the Notice or shown to you within your parent account on the GWC Clubs HQ at the time you set up your child’s account (as demonstrated above). 

Once we have obtained parental consent, the child’s account will be set up and accessible from the parent account.  Although not required under COPPA, we may choose to impose parental consent requirements on Club Student Accounts and Outside School Minor Accounts (for ages 13 and above) at our discretion.

What consent mechanism does Girls Who Code use? 

Outside School Club Child Account Creation 

When you are setting up your child’s Outside School Club Child Account your child won't be able to do anything, and you will have to log in and create a parent account to move forward. You'll need the club code. Girls Who Code will not allow Outside School Club Child Users to register themselves; they must ask for a parent's permission and be signed up through a parent account.

Resources for parents: 

• This Club Privacy Policy describes how Girls Who Code Club Products and Club Services collect and use information. As stated in this Club Privacy Policy, Girls Who Code does not use any student Personal Information (or any information associated with a student account) to serve Behaviorally-Targeted Advertising to students, and student’s Personal Information is never sold to anyone, including marketers and advertisers.  
• Please see this page, where we provide further transparency and an easy way for users to see the Personal Information we collect from each user type, including the sources from which the information was collected, the business purpose for which the information was collected, and the third parties with whom we disclose Personal Information for a business purpose.
• Answers to many top questions about privacy and security appear on the Girls Who Code Clubs Privacy Center.

For more information about COPPA and generally protecting children's online privacy, please visit OnGuard Online