Makers Empire believes every child can make their world better. We also believe that all children deserve to create in an environment where they are safe and where teachers and parents can control how information is shared. This Terms of Service governs your use of this website at www.makersempire.com, and the Makers Empire 3D app (collectively “Makers Empire”, “Makers Empire app” or “Makers Empire 3D Learning Program”). By creating an account on Makers Empire, you agree to be bound by our Terms of Service (our “Terms”). If you don’t agree, please don’t use Makers Empire.
The below policies are separated into the following sections:
This privacy policy has been compiled to better serve those who are concerned with how their ‘Personally Identifiable Information’ (PII) is being used online. PII, as used in US privacy law and information security, is information that can be used on its own or with other information to identify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify an individual in context.
Please read our privacy policy carefully to get a clear understanding of how we collect, use, protect or otherwise handle your Personally Identifiable Information in accordance with our website.
We respect the privacy of children and do not collect any more personal information than reasonably necessary to enable them to use Makers Empire. Data is retained only for education purposes.
When registering an account (either as a teacher or student), you may be asked to enter your name, username, email address or other details to help you with your experience.
The Makers Empire 3D app is accessed by students using accounts with unique usernames. These usernames can be chosen by the school and designed to not identify the child. Teachers have the ability to associate usernames with students names, but are able to make these general (e.g. “Mark H”).
It is possible for anyone to use Makers Empire 3D app without entering any personally identifiable information. Email addresses can be added to accounts but are not necessary. If desired, teachers can use their own email address for all students in their class.
When registering an account as a school staff member, we require the information that is entered to be accurate and complete – without pseudonyms, de-identification or obfuscation.
Schools can choose privacy settings for their students. Student designs can be shared:
Any shared designs will also include the username of the designer.
All app users can choose to make their individual designs public or private from within the app by choosing ‘showing’ or ‘hidden’ when publishing their design.
All app users can decide who comments on their designs through the account settings – users can choose from allowing comments from everyone, people I follow or nobody. See more information about our commenting policy below under Acceptable Content Policy.
We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to a newsletter or enter information on our site.
We may use the information we collect from you when you register, make a purchase, sign up for our newsletter, respond to a survey or marketing communication, surf the website, or use certain other site features in the following ways:
We do not provide any student data to any third parties for marketing purposes. We do not share or sell children’s personal information with any third parties such as online advertisers, social media companies and search engines.
We use third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics to help us understand how our website and teacher dashboard are being used by visitors (website users). As such, these parties will have access to some of your personal information.
The Makers Empire company website is used by teachers and school administrators. We occasionally use third party advertising tools to collect information about website visitors’ device browser’s visits to the Makers Empire website to provide targeted advertisements to them on other websites or on other devices they may use, based on their browsing history (re-marketing). We do not sell this data onto third parties or re-market other people’s products.
We do not sell or trade your personally identifiable information to outside parties.
We do collect analytics and information about website visits in order to better improve the user experience. This information may run through 3rd party tools to help us view and understand it.
We use cookies to:
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser’s Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you disable cookies off, some features will be disabled. It will turn off some of the features that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.
We retain information of users of our app (i) for so long as reasonably necessary (ii) to permit the user to participate on the app, (iii) to ensure the security of our users and our services, or (iv) as required by law or contractual commitment.
User data is stored on our secure company servers hosted in Microsoft Azure’s Washington State (USA) data center. Data is backed up nightly to our office in Adelaide, Australia.
Schools are able to delete student data via the Teacher’s Dashboard.
If requested by a school, we will delete all information of the school’s users, including its teachers and students, as the school directs. Deleting this information will prevent the school user from engaging in some or all features of Makers Empire. Where required by local law, we will delete such information.
In order to remove or correct your child’s or student’s information please contact us via email to: info@makersempire.com.
Your personal information is contained behind secured networks and is only accessible by a limited number of persons who have special access rights to such systems, and are required to keep the information confidential. In addition, all sensitive/credit information you supply is encrypted via Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology.
We implement a variety of security measures when a user places an order enters, submits, or accesses their information to maintain the safety of your personal information.
All transactions are processed through a gateway provider and are not stored or processed on our servers.
Yes. Cookies are small files that a site or its service provider transfers to your computer’s hard drive through your Web browser (if you allow) that enables the site’s or service provider’s systems to recognize your browser and capture and remember certain information. For instance, we use cookies to help us remember and process the items in your shopping cart. They are also used to help us understand your preferences based on previous or current site activity, which enables us to provide you with improved services. We also use cookies to help us compile aggregate data about site traffic and site interaction so that we can offer better site experiences and tools in the future.
We use cookies to:
You can choose to have your computer warn you each time a cookie is being sent, or you can choose to turn off all cookies. You do this through your browser (like Internet Explorer) settings. Each browser is a little different, so look at your browser’s Help menu to learn the correct way to modify your cookies.
If you disable cookies off, some features will be disabled. It will turn off some of the features that make your site experience more efficient and some of our services will not function properly.
CalOPPA is the first state law in the nation to require commercial websites and online services to post a privacy policy. The law’s reach stretches well beyond California to require a person or company in the United States (and conceivably the world) that operates websites collecting personally identifiable information from California consumers to post a conspicuous privacy policy on its website stating exactly the information being collected and those individuals with whom it is being shared, and to comply with this policy. – See more here.
According to CalOPPA we agree to the following:
Please see more details at our COPPA page.
Yes! For school districts, enterprise customers, and corporate partners and trusts partnering with us on multi-school projects, we offer customised safety enhancements like:
Yes! Makers Empire has participated in the ST4S process and meets the minimum required ST4S standards for safety and security. The ST4S Assessment has been developed to enhance the security, privacy, interoperability and online safety of software applications and services commonly used by Australian schools. The goals and standards of ST4S are shared by all Australian education jurisdictions – including state, territory, Catholic and independent school sectors – for the benefit of the whole education community. Please see more details on our Safety & Privacy Page.
We honour do not track signals and do not track, plant cookies, or use advertising when a Do Not Track (DNT) browser mechanism is in place.
It’s also important to note that we do not allow third-party behavioural tracking.
When it comes to the collection of personal information from children under 13, the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) puts parents in control. The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, enforces the COPPA Rule, which spells out what operators of websites and online services must do to protect children’s privacy and safety online.
Please see our COPPA page.
In order to remove or correct your child’s or student’s information please contact us: info@makersempire.com
The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe.
Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal information.
In order to be in line with Fair Information Practices we will take the following responsive action, should a data breach occur.
Within 30 business days:
We also agree to the individual redress principle, which requires that individuals have a right to pursue legally enforceable rights against data collectors and processors who fail to adhere to the law. This principle requires not only that individuals have enforceable rights against data users, but also that individuals have recourse to courts or a government agency to investigate and/or prosecute non-compliance by data processors.
The CAN-SPAM Act is a law that sets the rules for commercial email, establishes requirements for commercial messages, gives recipients the right to have emails stopped from being sent to them, and spells out tough penalties for violations.
We collect your email address in order to:
To be in accordance with CANSPAM we agree to the following:
If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from receiving future emails, you can email us at info@makersempire.com OR follow the instructions at the bottom of each email and we will promptly remove you from ALL correspondence.
Makers Empire is an extension of the classroom. Students agree to use Makers Empire in a manner that is appropriate to the classroom. Students may not violate the policies of their school or school district in their use of Makers Empire.
Students and all users of Makers Empire must adhere to our Acceptable Content Policy below.
We respect the privacy of children and do not collect any more personal information than reasonably necessary to enable them to use Makers Empire.
When registering an account (either as a teacher or student), you may be asked to enter your name, username, email address or other details to help you with your experience.
The Makers Empire 3D app is accessed by students using accounts with unique usernames. These usernames can be chosen by the school and designed to not identify the child. Teachers have the ability to associate usernames with students names but are able to make these general (e.g. “Mark H”).
It is possible for anyone to use Makers Empire 3D app without entering any personally identifiable information. Email addresses can be added to accounts but are not necessary. If desired, teachers can use their own email address for all students in their class.
Schools can choose privacy settings for their students. Student designs can be shared:
Any shared designs will also include the username of the designer.
Students can individually choose to make their design public or private from within the app by choosing ‘showing’ or ‘hidden’.
As part of our commitment to online safety, as of April 25th 2021, Makers Empire users will need to become a Makers Empire member if they want to share content (designs and comments) with the Makers Empire community. It does not cost anything to become a Makers Empire member.
Students with a Makers Empire school account will automatically become Makers Empire Members.
If your child does not have a Makers Empire school account and they are (16 or under in EU countries), they must obtain parental/carer consent to become a Makers Empire Member. This is to help ensure a safe and positive online Makers Empire community.
Users who are not Makers Empire Members can still:
… but they cannot share designs, mazes or design missions publicly, or comment on other users’ designs.
See more information re Makers Empire members.
If a user chooses to ‘follow’ another user, they simply receive a notification via in-app messages when the user creates a new design. The user being followed receives no data from their followers other than being able to view their usernames and the date that they began following them.
At Makers Empire, we provide a safe environment for users to share their own designs and view designs created by other users in our global community.
To reduce the risk of users being exposed to offensive, inappropriate or sensitive material, we have developed an Acceptable Content policy.
Our Acceptable Content policy provides guidelines for appropriate user-generated content.
Makers Empire protects users from unacceptable content in the following ways:
If you have any questions or concerns please email info[at]makersempire.com and we will be in touch with you. Please replace [2] with the @ symbol.
If a member of the Makers Empire team comes across a design made using Makers Empire that does not meet our Acceptable Content Policy, the team member will flag that design as ‘sensitive’. This means that the design is now hidden from view from ALL users (except the original designer).
This ensures that no other users will accidentally stumble across a reported sensitive design. We maintain a list of all flagged sensitive designs so we can monitor patterns in inappropriate user behaviour.
Thank you for helping to keep Makers Empire a safe space for our users.
Please report the design by clicking on the ‘report design’ button on the individual design.
After a design has been reported, a member of the Makers Empire team reviews the design to see if it meets our Acceptable Content Policy. If it does not, the design is flagged as ‘sensitive’ and hidden from view from ALL users (except the original designer).
This ensures that no other users will accidentally stumble across a reported sensitive design. We maintain a list of all flagged sensitive designs so we can monitor patterns in inappropriate user behaviour.
This ensures that no other users will accidentally stumble across a reported sensitive design. We maintain a list of all flagged sensitive designs so we can monitor patterns in inappropriate user behaviour.
Comments within Makers Empire help to create a positive online community. Research shows that open and frequent commenting behaviour encourages community building and collaboration.
Comments provide opportunities for student communication and collaboration by giving students an authentic audience of peers and allowing students to receive positive and constructive feedback on their designs. Comments also enable students to learn from their peers by providing a space for questions to be asked and answered about the design process.
Comments unrelated to designs may seem unproductive, however, these are key in forming trust between users and helping to build a positive, collaborative community
All app users can decide who comments on their designs through the account settings – users can choose from allowing comments from everyone, people I follow or nobody.
If your student or child is using Makers Empire through a school account in a school or home setting, they can choose who can comment on their designs as outlined above. In addition, the school is able to disallow all comments and set sharing options (i.e. to all world, all schools, others in the same school or same class) through the privacy settings in our Teacher Dashboard. If a school chooses to allow comments, students can still choose to allow/disallow comments as per above.
The vast majority of comments left by users are positive and help contribute to an active and engaged design community. Very occasionally, a user will leave a negative, unkind or inappropriate comment. If this happens to your student/child, we recommend the following, in order from low to high severity:
Please report the user by clicking on their avatar profile, hitting the ‘report user’ button and explaining your concern. Makers Empire reviews all reported users and reserves the right to suspend or ban users from the app.
A Makers Empire moderator will then assess your report and take appropriate steps as per the below.
If you have strong concerns about a specific comment and/or user, please screenshot the negative comment before deleting it. Then please email us further details including your contact details, the user name, design name and the screenshots to info@makersempire.com.
We are currently working on new reporting tools and resources for users and will update this soon.
See above – Acceptable Content Policy.
If you have any questions or concerns please email info@makersempire.com and we will be in touch with you.
Makers Empire reserves the right to suspend or terminate accounts associated with users who engage in any of the prohibited user-generated content activities or other prohibited activities described above or in any manner that otherwise violates our Terms or other policies.
Users will be forewarned when Makers Empire plan to terminate an account.
If, for any reason, you are not completely satisfied with a purchase we invite you to review our below policy on refunds and returns.
The following terms are applicable for any products that you purchased with us.
For the purposes of this Return and Refund Policy:
Application means the software program provided by the Company downloaded by you on any electronic device, named Makers Empire 3D Learning Program
Company (referred to as either “the Company”, “We”, “Us” or “Our” in this Agreement) refers to Makers Empire.
Goods refer to the products and services offered for sale by Makers Empire.
Orders mean a request by you to purchase goods from us.
You means the school or individual accessing or using the goods, or the company, or other legal entity on behalf of which such individual is accessing or using the goods, as applicable.
You are entitled to cancel your order within 30 days without giving any reason for doing so.
The deadline for cancelling an order is 30 days from the date on which you purchased the Goods or on which a third party you have appointed, who is not the carrier, takes possession of the product delivered.
In order to exercise your right of cancellation, you must inform us of your decision by means of a clear statement. You can inform us of your decision by email to: finance@makersempire.com
We will reimburse you no later than 14 days from the day on which we receive the returned goods. We will use the same means of payment as you used for the order, and you will not incur any fees for such reimbursement.
In order for the Goods to be eligible for a return, please make sure that:
The following Goods cannot be returned:
We reserve the right to refuse returns of any merchandise that does not meet the above return conditions at our sole discretion.
Only regular-priced Goods may be refunded. Unfortunately, goods on sale cannot be refunded. This exclusion may not apply to you if it is not permitted by applicable law.
You are responsible for the cost and risk of returning the goods to us. You should send the Goods to Makers Empire at the following address:
Makers Empire
Suite 30, Start-Up Hub, Lot Fourteen
North Terrace
Adelaide SA 5000
AUSTRALIA
We cannot be held responsible for Goods damaged or lost in return shipment. Therefore, we recommend an insured and trackable mail service. We are unable to issue a refund without actual receipt of the Goods or proof of received return delivery.
If you have any questions about our Returns and Refunds Policy, please contact us at info@makersempire.com
If there are any questions regarding our Terms of Service or privacy policy please contact us using the information below.
Web: www.makersempire.com
Mail: 3rd Floor, Startup Hub, Marnirni-Apinthi Building, Lot Fourteen, North Terrace, SA, 5000, AUSTRALIA.
Email: info@makersempire.com
Phone: (415) 652 0206 (USA) or +61 8 8120 3150 (Australia)
Last updated: March 2023
