Last updated: June 16, 2026
Privacy Notice
Effective Date: July 1, 2026
This Privacy Notice explains how Post-Quantum Institute, Inc., a Delaware corporation doing business as Quantum Academy (“PQI,” “we”), handles personal information when you visit quantumacademy.com, enroll in our programs, sit our exams, or communicate with us.
Contact for privacy matters: support@quantumacademy.com · Post-Quantum Institute, Inc., 1449 S Michigan Ave STE 13178, Chicago, IL 60605, United States.
1. What we collect
You provide: name and contact details; account credentials; professional details you choose to share (employer, role); order and enrollment details; exam registrations and, for proctored exams, identity-verification information; communications with us; newsletter sign-ups.
Collected automatically: device and browser information, IP address, pages viewed, and similar usage data via cookies and similar technologies (see our Cookie Notice); course-progress and exam-activity data on our learning platform; proctoring recordings for certification exams (video/audio/screen, as disclosed at exam scheduling).
From third parties: payment status from our payment provider (we do not receive or store full card numbers); enrollment and progress data from our learning platform.
2. Why we use it and our legal bases
| Purpose | Examples | Legal basis (GDPR) |
|---|---|---|
| Provide the Services | account creation, course access, exam delivery, credential issuance and verification, support | Contract (Art. 6(1)(b)) |
| Billing and records | order processing, receipts, renewal notices, tax and accounting records, consent records for subscriptions | Contract; legal obligation (Art. 6(1)(c)) |
| Exam integrity | identity verification, proctoring, investigation of suspected misconduct | Contract; legitimate interests (Art. 6(1)(f)) in credential integrity |
| Communications | service emails (transactional); newsletter and marketing only with your consent or as otherwise permitted, always with an unsubscribe link | Contract; consent (Art. 6(1)(a)); legitimate interests |
| Site analytics and improvement | aggregate usage statistics, debugging, security | Consent for non-essential cookies; legitimate interests for security |
| Legal | compliance with law, establishing or defending claims | Legal obligation; legitimate interests |
We do not use your personal information for automated decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects without human review. Exam scoring may be automated in part; results can be appealed under the Candidate Guide.
3. Credential verification
If you earn a credential, we may publish a verification record (your name, the credential, and validity dates) so employers can verify it. You may opt out of public verification at any time by emailing support@quantumacademy.com; your credential remains valid either way.
4. Who we share it with
We share personal information only with: service providers (processors) acting on our instructions — our learning platform (Thinkific), payment processing (Stripe), website hosting [EDITOR: name host], email delivery [EDITOR: name provider], proctoring services for exams, and analytics if enabled; Stripe as merchant of record, where it acts as the seller of record for your transaction (Stripe then processes your payment data as described in its own privacy policy); professional advisers and authorities where required by law; and a successor in a merger, acquisition, or asset sale, with notice to you. We do not sell personal information, and we do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising.
5. International transfers
We operate from the United States and use providers that may process data in the US and other countries. Where GDPR or UK GDPR applies, transfers rely on appropriate safeguards: the EU–US Data Privacy Framework where the provider is certified, and/or the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses (with the UK Addendum where relevant). You can request a copy of the relevant safeguards via support@quantumacademy.com.
6. Cookies
We use essential cookies to run the site and, with your consent where required, optional analytics cookies. Details, including how to withdraw consent, are in our Cookie Notice. We honor the Global Privacy Control signal where applicable law requires it.
7. Retention
We keep personal information only as long as needed: account and learning records for the life of your account and a reasonable period after closure; order, tax, and subscription-consent records for the periods required by law (subscription consent records at least three years); proctoring recordings for a limited integrity-review window stated at exam scheduling; marketing data until you unsubscribe. When data is no longer needed we delete or de-identify it.
8. Your rights
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, receive a copy of (portability), restrict or object to our processing of your personal information, and to withdraw consent at any time (without affecting prior processing). To exercise any right, email support@quantumacademy.com; we will verify your request and respond within the legally required time. You will not be discriminated against for exercising your rights.
If you are in the EU/EEA or UK, you may also lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
9. California residents
We provide this section to be transparent, although PQI does not currently meet the CCPA’s applicability thresholds. In the preceding 12 months we have collected the categories of information described in Section 1 (identifiers; commercial information; internet activity; professional information; audio/visual data for proctored exams) for the purposes in Section 2. We do not sell personal information and do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, and we do not use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes beyond those permitted by the CCPA. California residents may request access, deletion, or correction via admin@postquantum.org. [EDITOR: revisit this section if you later add advertising cookies or meet CCPA thresholds.]
10. EU/UK representatives
[EDITOR: GDPR Art. 27 / UK GDPR generally require non-EU/UK controllers offering services to EU/UK individuals to appoint a local representative. Either appoint and name them here, or delete after counsel confirms an exemption.]
EU representative: [Name, address, email]. UK representative: [Name, address, email].
11. Children
The Services are professional education for adults. They are not directed to children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 16 (or the higher age applicable in your jurisdiction). If you believe a child has provided us personal information, contact admin@postquantum.org and we will delete it.
12. Security
We use administrative, technical, and organizational measures appropriate to the risk — including encryption in transit (HTTPS), access controls, and reputable providers — to protect personal information. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affecting your rights occurs, we will notify you and the relevant authorities as required by law.
13. Changes
We will post any updates to this Notice with a new Effective Date and, for material changes, notify account holders by email. The current version always governs.
14. Contact
Post-Quantum Institute, Inc. (Quantum Academy)
1449 S Michigan Ave STE 13178, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
support@quantumacademy.com · (218) 376-7293