Privacy Policy

Atelier Coding School ("Atelier", "we", "us", or "our"), operated underSphere Hive Academy (Sphere Hive Lab at KVG College of Engineering, Sullia, Karnataka - 574327, India), respects your fundamental right to privacy.

This Privacy Policy describes how we collect, process, store, and protect your personal information when you access our website at atelier.spherehive.com, register for student dashboards, attend live video streams, submit code in our sandbox, take proctored assessments, or schedule 1-on-1 mentor callbacks.

We operate as a Data Fiduciary in strict compliance with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act), the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Reasonable Security Practices and Procedures and Sensitive Personal Data or Information) Rules, 2011, and international data transparency best practices.

We collect only the categories of personal data necessary to deliver high-quality technical education:

Card & Banking Details Exclusion: All online payments are handled directly by Razorpay, an RBI-authorized, PCI-DSS Level 1 certified payment aggregator. Atelier never captures, logs, or stores your credit card numbers, debit card PINs, CVV codes, or net banking passwords.

Under the DPDP Act 2023, we process personal data exclusively under legitimate educational uses and contract performance:

• Provisioning Learning Workspaces: Enabling your student dashboard, live stream embeds (Jitsi / WebRTC), reference material downloads, and Monaco-style code previews.
• Mentor Callback Scheduling: Permitting our faculty and mentors to reach out for booked 1:1 technical mentorship, portfolio reviews, and code debugging sessions.
• Verified Credentials: Generating cryptographically signed, permanent verifiable certificates of completion that you can link on LinkedIn and resume applications.
• Integrity & Anti-Cheating Enforcement: Detecting fraudulent multi-IP credential sharing and ensuring assessment scores reflect genuine individual technical ability.
• Transactional Communications: Sending fee receipts, lecture schedule updates, password resets, and critical academic notifications via email or SMS.

To provide our services, we share necessary data with trusted technical infrastructure providers under strict confidentiality and data processing agreements:

No Commercial Data Selling: Sphere Hive Academy does not participate in programmatic ad exchanges, cross-context behavioral targeting, or personal data sales. Your academic record and contact information are never monetized.

Unlike advertising-supported websites, Atelier does not deploy third-party advertising cookies or cross-domain tracking pixels. We utilize standard, secure client-side browser localStorage solely for application functionality:

You can clear your local storage at any time via your browser settings; doing so will simply log you out of the student dashboard.

We implement robust technical and organizational safeguards complying with Rule 8 of the Information Technology Rules, 2011:

• Encryption in Transit: All data exchanged between your browser and Atelier servers is encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS 1.3) with modern cipher suites.
• Password Security: Passwords are never stored in plaintext. They are salted and hashed using computationally intensive cryptographic functions (bcrypt) resistant to brute-force and rainbow table attacks.
• Role-Based Access Controls (RBAC): Only verified lecturers, mentors, and system administrators possess authorized credentials to review student submissions, mentor notes, and enrollment logs.
• Database Isolation: Production databases are secured behind private network firewalls with automated daily snapshot backups and point-in-time recovery capabilities.

As a student of Sphere Hive Academy, you possess clear statutory rights under Chapter III of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023:

• Right to Access & Summary: You can view and download all your profile data, enrolled cohorts, and learning analytics directly from your student dashboard settings.
• Right to Correction & Erasure: You can update inaccurate personal information (e.g. updated phone number, grad year, or college name) or request complete deletion of your account.
• Right of Grievance Redressal: You have the right to register formal privacy grievances with our designated Data Protection Officer, who will investigate and respond within statutory deadlines.
• Right to Nominate: You may nominate any individual who shall, in the event of death or incapacity, exercise student rights on your behalf.

To exercise any of these rights, email our Grievance Desk at spherehive@kvgce.ac.in using your registered student email address.

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary to fulfill the educational purposes for which it was collected:

• Active Account Records: Kept active for the duration of your cohort learning track and alumni network membership.
• Completion Certificates: Cryptographic certificate hashes and issuance metadata are archived indefinitely so future employers can reliably verify your graduation credentials.
• Financial & Tax Compliance: In accordance with Indian Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Income Tax statutory requirements, payment transaction logs, invoices, and refund records are preserved for a minimum of 7 years.

Upon receiving a verified account deletion request, non-statutory personal identifiers, submitted code snippets, and telemetry logs are permanently purged from active production servers within thirty (30) days.

Atelier is an advanced software engineering and systems architecture academy designed for undergraduate university students, early-career engineers, and mature learners. We do not knowingly solicit or enroll individuals under 16 years of age.

If we discover that a learner under 16 has submitted personal information without verifiable parental or guardian consent, we will promptly take steps to delete such data and terminate the account. Parents or guardians who believe their child has registered without authorization can reach us at spherehive@kvgce.ac.in.

If you have any questions, concerns, or grievances regarding this Privacy Policy or our data handling practices, please contact our designated Data Protection & Grievance Redressal Officer: