Understanding Cookies
Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device when you visit a website. They serve various purposes, including remembering your preferences, keeping you logged in, and helping us understand how you use our platform. This Cookie Policy explains what cookies ClassCircles uses and why.
By using ClassCircles, you consent to the use of cookies in accordance with this policy. You can control and manage cookies through your browser settings, though disabling certain cookies may affect your ability to use some features of our platform.
Types of Cookies We Use
ClassCircles uses several categories of cookies, each serving different purposes. Essential cookies are necessary for our platform to function and cannot be disabled. These include session cookies that keep you logged in and cookies that remember your privacy preferences.
We also use analytical cookies to understand how users interact with our platform, which features are most popular, and where improvements are needed. These cookies help us make data-driven decisions to enhance your experience on ClassCircles.
Functional cookies remember your preferences, such as language settings, cohort view options, and notification preferences. These cookies make your experience more personalized and convenient by eliminating the need to reset preferences on each visit.
Essential and Operational Cookies
Essential cookies are critical for the basic functionality of ClassCircles. These include authentication cookies that verify your login status, security cookies that protect against fraudulent activity, and cookies that maintain your session as you navigate between different sections of our platform.
We use cookies to remember whether you've accepted our cookie banner, ensuring we don't display it repeatedly after you've made your choice. These operational cookies also help us balance server load, prevent abuse, and maintain the stability and security of our services.
Analytics and Performance Monitoring
We use analytics cookies to collect information about how visitors use ClassCircles, including which pages are viewed most frequently, how long users spend on different sections, and what paths users take through the platform. This data is aggregated and anonymized to protect your privacy.
Performance monitoring cookies help us identify technical issues, slow-loading pages, and errors that users encounter. By understanding these problems, we can quickly address issues and ensure our platform operates smoothly for all users.
The insights we gain from analytics cookies directly inform our development priorities and help us allocate resources to features that matter most to our alumni community. We never sell this analytical data to third parties.
Personalization and Preference Cookies
Personalization cookies remember your individual preferences and settings on ClassCircles. These include your preferred cohort view, notification settings, and any customizations you've made to your dashboard or profile display.
These cookies enhance your user experience by eliminating repetitive configuration tasks and ensuring the platform displays information in the way that's most useful to you. Without these cookies, you would need to reconfigure your preferences each time you visit ClassCircles.
Third-Party Cookies and Integrations
ClassCircles integrates with Facebook for authentication purposes, which may result in Facebook placing cookies on your device. These third-party cookies are governed by Facebook's own cookie and privacy policies, which you should review to understand how Facebook uses cookies.
When you interact with embedded content or external links on our platform, third-party services may set their own cookies. We do not control these third-party cookies and recommend reviewing the cookie policies of any external services you interact with through ClassCircles.
We carefully vet all third-party integrations to ensure they meet our privacy and security standards. We limit third-party cookies to only those necessary for providing the features and functionality our users expect.
Cookie Duration and Lifespan
Cookies used by ClassCircles have varying lifespans depending on their purpose. Session cookies are temporary and are deleted when you close your browser. These cookies are primarily used for authentication and maintaining your active session while navigating our platform.
Persistent cookies remain on your device for a set period, ranging from a few days to several years. Essential cookies may be set to last longer to keep you logged in across multiple sessions, while preference cookies persist to remember your settings over time.
You can view the specific duration of individual cookies through your browser's developer tools or cookie management settings. We regularly review cookie lifespans to ensure they're appropriate for their intended purpose.
Managing Your Cookie Preferences
You can manage your cookie preferences through the cookie banner that appears when you first visit ClassCircles or by accessing your browser's cookie settings. Most modern browsers allow you to block all cookies, accept only certain cookies, or receive notifications before cookies are stored.
Please note that disabling essential cookies will prevent you from using ClassCircles effectively, as these cookies are necessary for authentication, security, and basic platform functionality. Disabling analytical or functional cookies will not prevent platform access but may limit certain features.
Your cookie preferences are stored locally on your device. If you clear your browser data or use ClassCircles on a different device or browser, you will need to set your preferences again.
Browser-Level Cookie Controls
All major web browsers provide settings that allow you to control cookies. You can typically access these settings through your browser's privacy or security preferences. Common options include blocking all cookies, allowing only first-party cookies, or clearing cookies when you close your browser.
Each browser handles cookies differently. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge each have their own cookie management interfaces and capabilities. We recommend consulting your browser's help documentation for specific instructions on managing cookies in your preferred browser.
Keep in mind that cookie settings are browser-specific. If you use multiple browsers, you'll need to configure cookie preferences separately in each one. Similarly, cookie settings on mobile devices may differ from desktop browsers.
Mobile Application Cookie Equivalents
If ClassCircles offers mobile applications in the future, similar tracking technologies may be used in place of traditional cookies. These may include mobile advertising identifiers, local storage, and other technologies that serve purposes similar to cookies on web platforms.
Mobile operating systems provide their own controls for managing these identifiers and data collection. iOS users can manage tracking through Settings, while Android users can control ad personalization through Google Settings. These mobile controls operate independently of browser cookie settings.
Do Not Track Signals
Some browsers offer "Do Not Track" (DNT) signals that request websites not track users across sites. Currently, there is no universal standard for how websites should respond to DNT signals, and ClassCircles does not alter its data collection practices based on DNT signals.
We remain committed to privacy and transparency regardless of DNT settings. Our data collection practices are detailed in this Cookie Policy and our Privacy Policy, and we provide controls that allow you to manage your preferences directly through our platform.
Cookies and Email Communications
When we send you emails about platform updates, reunion events, or other relevant information, these emails may contain tracking pixels or similar technologies that tell us whether you opened the email and clicked on any links. This information helps us understand which communications are most valuable to our users.
You can opt out of email tracking by disabling image loading in your email client or by adjusting your notification preferences in your ClassCircles account settings. Opting out of email tracking does not affect your ability to receive important service-related communications.
Security and Cookie Protection
We implement security measures to protect the cookies used by ClassCircles from unauthorized access or manipulation. This includes using secure, encrypted connections (HTTPS) for transmitting cookie data and setting appropriate security flags on authentication cookies.
We regularly audit our cookie implementations to ensure they meet current security best practices. However, no system is entirely secure, and you should take precautions such as logging out of shared devices and keeping your browser and operating system updated.
Updates to Cookie Practices
As we enhance ClassCircles with new features and capabilities, our use of cookies may evolve. We will update this Cookie Policy to reflect any significant changes in our cookie practices and will notify users of material changes through platform announcements or email.
We encourage you to review this Cookie Policy periodically to stay informed about how we use cookies and what choices you have. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this policy indicates when it was most recently revised.
Legal Basis for Cookie Processing
Our use of essential cookies is based on our legitimate interest in providing you with a functional and secure platform. For non-essential cookies, we rely on your consent, which you provide through our cookie banner when you first visit ClassCircles or through your subsequent cookie management choices.
You have the right to withdraw your consent to non-essential cookies at any time by adjusting your cookie preferences. Withdrawing consent will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal and will not impact your ability to use essential platform features.
Questions and Contact Information
If you have questions about our use of cookies or would like more detailed information about specific cookies used by ClassCircles, please contact us at info@sarilake.com or call +81 6-6324-7702.
Our team is happy to provide additional clarification about our cookie practices and help you configure your preferences to match your privacy requirements. We are committed to transparency and will work with you to address any concerns about cookies or tracking technologies.