This privacy notice is meant to help you understand what data we collect, why we collect it, and how you can manage your information while using a Google Workspace for Education account.
Google Workspace for Education facilitates learning and collaboration among students (and parents), educators, and school admins. Google Workspace for Education includes two categories of services, both described in this privacy notice. The distinction is important because the scope of the services and how the data is processed in these services differs.
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Google Workspace for Education core services are listed in the Services Summary and include Gmail, Calendar, Classroom, Assignments, Contacts, Drive, Docs, Forms, Groups, Sheets, Sites, Slides, Chat, Meet, Vault, and Chrome Sync.
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Google Workspace for Education additional services include services we make generally available for all consumers, such as Google Search, Maps, and YouTube, which Workspace for Education users may have access to with their Workspace accounts.
This document provides the key information about both types of services. If you want to learn more, you can find additional information and examples in the following documents that also apply to Google Workspace for Education accounts. The Google Cloud Privacy Notice provides more information about data that we process while providing the core services, and the Google Privacy Policy provides more information about data that we process in additional services.
A Google Workspace for Education account is a Google Account created and managed by a school for use by students and educators. The account can be used for both core and additional services, and the information that we collect and store in your account is treated as personal information. Admins manage how students use core and additional services with their Google Workspace for Education accounts, including obtaining parental consent for the additional services that they choose to enable for students. Learn more about core and additional services for Google Workspace for Education users.
As students, educators, and admins use Workspace core services, we collect two types of data:
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Things that you provide or create through core services (customer data)
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Information we collect as you use core services (service data)
There are no ads shown in Google Workspace for Education core services. Also, none of the personal information collected in the core services is used for advertising purposes.
Things that you provide or create through core services
We receive customer data through the core services and process it according to the school’s (the customer’s) instructions. This customer data includes anything submitted, stored, sent or received through core services by you or your school.
When a Google Workspace for Education account is created, the school provides Google with certain personal information about its students and educators that includes the user’s name, email address, and password. Schools can also choose to share things like a user’s secondary email address, phone number, and address. And users can also add information to their account, such as an additional phone number and profile photo.
Things that you might create through the services include emails that you write and receive while using Gmail or documents that you draft and store in Drive.
Customer data is used to provide the core services, for example, Google processes your email address to send and deliver messages between teachers and students.
Information we collect as you use core services
As described fully in Google’s Cloud Privacy Notice, we also collect service data through the core services, including:
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Your account information, which includes things like name and email address.
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Your activity while using the core services, which includes things like viewing and interacting with content, people with whom you communicate or share content, and other details about your usage of the services.
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Your settings, apps, browsers & devices. We collect info about your settings and the apps, browsers, and devices you use to access our services. This information includes browser and device type, settings configuration, unique identifiers, operating system, mobile network information, and application version number. We also collect information about the interaction of your apps, browsers, and devices with our services, including IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date and time of your request.
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Your location information. We collect info about your location as determined by various technologies such as IP address and GPS.
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Your direct communications. We keep records of communications when you or your admin provide feedback, ask questions, or seek technical support.
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And for admins, we collect data about payments and transactions.
Service data is primarily used to deliver the services that schools and students use, but it’s also used to maintain and improve the services; make recommendations to optimize the use of the services; provide and improve other services you request; provide support; protect our users, customers, the public, and Google; and comply with legal obligations. See the Google Cloud Privacy Notice for more information.
As students, educators, and admins use additional services, we collect two types of data:
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Things that you provide or create through additional services
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Information we collect as you use additional services
Things that you provide or create through additional services
As described more fully in Google’s Privacy Policy, we collect information when students and educators use the additional services, including things that you provide to us, content that’s created or uploaded, and content that’s received from others. For example, if you sign in to an additional service with a Workspace account, we’ll use your Workspace name and profile information to identify your account. You can also choose to save your content with Google, things like photos and videos.
Information we collect as you use additional services
Google’s Privacy Policy also describes the information we collect as you use our additional services, which includes:
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Your activity while using additional services, which includes things like terms you search for, videos you watch, content and ads you view and interact with, voice and audio information when you use audio features, purchase activity, and activity on third-party sites and apps that use our services.
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Your apps, browsers & devices. We collect the info about your apps, browser, and devices described above in the core services section.
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Your location information. We collect info about your location as determined by various technologies including: GPS, IP address, sensor data from your device, and information about things near your device, such as Wi-Fi access points, cell towers, and Bluetooth-enabled devices. The types of location data we collect depend in part on your device and account settings.
Why we collect data
The data we collect in the additional services is used across our services to deliver, maintain, and improve our services; develop new services; provide personalized services; measure performance; communicate with you; and protect Google, our users, and the public. See the Google Privacy Policy for more details.
Some additional services show ads. But if you’re using your Google Workspace for Education account in primary and secondary schools (K-12), we don’t show you personalized ads, which means we don’t use information from your account or past activity to target ads. However, we may show ads based on general factors like your search query, the time of day, or the content of a page you’re reading.
When you share your information
Your school’s admin may allow students to access Google services, such as Google Docs and YouTube, that have features that allow users to share information with others or publicly. For example, if you leave a review in Google Play, your name and photo appear next to your activity. And if you share a photo with a friend who then makes a copy of it, or shares it again, then that photo may continue to appear in your friend’s Google Account even after you remove it from your Google Account. Remember, when you share information publicly, your content may become accessible through search engines, including Google Search.
When Google shares your information
As described fully in the Google Privacy Policy and the Google Cloud Privacy Notice, we do not share your personal information with companies, organizations, or individuals outside of Google except in the following cases:
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With your school’s admin: Your admin and resellers who manage your or your organization’s Workspace account will have access to your information. For example, they may be able to:
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View account information, activity and statistics;
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Change your account password;
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Suspend or terminate your account access;
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Access your account information in order to satisfy applicable law, regulation, legal process, or enforceable governmental request;
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Restrict your ability to delete or edit your information or your privacy settings.
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With your consent: We’ll share personal information outside of Google where we have you or your parent’s consent.
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For external processing: We share personal information with our affiliates and other trusted third party providers to process it for us as we instruct them and in compliance with our Privacy Policy, the Google Cloud Privacy Notice, and any other appropriate confidentiality and security measures.
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For legal reasons: We share personal information outside of Google if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary for legal reasons, including complying with enforceable governmental requests and protecting you and Google.
We provide a variety of controls that enable students and parents to make meaningful choices about how information is used in Google services. Depending on the settings enabled by your school’s admin, students can use settings like Google activity controls, to manage their privacy and information. We provide additional information for parents, students, and admins in the Google Workspace for Education Privacy Center.
School admins also have service controls that can allow you to manage personal information, including limiting its further collection or use. If you or your child has a Google Workspace for Education account, contact your admin to:
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access your personal information
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limit access to features or services
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delete personal information in services or delete your entire account
This Notice is intended to provide the key information about our collection and use of data for Google Workspace for Education users, and is consistent with the Google Privacy Policy and the Google Cloud Privacy Notice. In cases that specific commitments differ, this privacy notice takes precedence followed by the Google Cloud Privacy Notice and the Google Privacy Policy. For example, the Google Privacy Policy has a description of personalized ads that isn’t relevant to Google Workspace for Education users in primary and secondary schools (K-12), and this notice clarifies that we don’t show personalized ads to those students.
Please visit the Google Workspace for Education Privacy Center for answers to most questions. Also see our Privacy Help Center for questions about privacy and Google’s services.
If you’re a parent:
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Contact your school admin if you have questions regarding the management of Google Workspace for Education accounts or the use of information by your child’s school
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Or contact Google about the information in this notice
If you’re an admin, contact Google about the information in this Notice by submitting the contact form while signed in to your admin account.
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