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Privacy Policy

The short version: Red Herrings runs on your computer, and the labs you build (evidence, rosters, student answers, grades) never leave it. We collect only what we need to sell and license the software.

Last updated: 30 September 2026

Red Herrings is a product of The Competence Collective, LLC ("we," "us," "our"). This policy explains what we collect through our website and licensing service, and how the desktop application handles your data. Questions? Email contact form.

On this page
The app runs locally What we collect How we use it Service providers License activation data Cookies & the website Retention Your rights Students & children Changes Contact

1. The application runs locally

The Red Herrings desktop application generates and grades labs entirely on your own machine. It does not send us the cases you generate, the evidence files, your class rosters, student names, submitted answers, grades, or any file you import or export. None of that touches our servers at any point.

The only time the application contacts us over the network is to activate, refresh, or deactivate a license key (see section 5). You can also activate offline, entirely by file exchange, on an air-gapped machine.

2. What we collect

We collect a limited set of information, only in these situations:

  • When you buy a license: your name, email address, billing country, and the details of your order. Payment card details are entered directly with our payment processor and are never seen or stored by us.
  • When you contact us: your email address and whatever you choose to put in your message.
  • When the app activates a license: your license key and a machine identifier, so we can enforce the number of seats on your plan (see section 5).
  • When you visit the website: standard server request logs kept by our hosting provider (see section 6).

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not use it for advertising.

3. How we use it

  • To deliver your license key and fulfill your order.
  • To provide licensing (activation, seat management, renewals) and customer support.
  • To send you transactional messages about your purchase, such as receipts, key delivery, and renewal or expiry notices. We do not send marketing email unless you ask to be added.
  • To keep the service secure and to comply with our legal and tax obligations.

4. Service providers

We rely on a small number of vetted providers to run the business. They process data only as needed to provide their service to us:

  • Payments: handled by Stripe. Your card details go to Stripe, not to us; we receive only confirmation of payment and the billing details needed for your receipt and license.
  • Website hosting: this site is served as static files by GitHub Pages, which keeps standard access logs.
  • Email: we use an email provider to deliver keys and reply to support requests.

5. License activation data

To stop one key being used on unlimited machines, activation sends our licensing server your license key and a machine identifier, a value derived from your device that lets us count and manage seats. We store this together with activation timestamps.

Activation deliberately carries no lab content and no student data: not the cases you build, not rosters, not answers, not evidence. Deactivating a seat removes that machine from your active list. Air-gapped machines can complete the same activation by exchanging a request and response file, with no direct connection.

6. Cookies & the website

This marketing site does not set advertising or tracking cookies. If we later add privacy-respecting, aggregate analytics to understand traffic, we will update this policy and, where required, ask for your consent first. Our hosting provider keeps standard, short-lived server logs (such as IP address and request time) to operate and secure the site.

7. Retention

We keep order and license records for as long as your license is active and thereafter as required for tax, accounting, and legal purposes. Support correspondence is kept only as long as needed to help you and to improve the product. Server logs are kept for a short period by our hosting provider.

8. Your rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to access, correct, export, or delete the personal information we hold about you, and to object to or restrict certain processing. To exercise any of these, email sales@redherrings.app and we will respond within a reasonable time. We will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. Because payments and receipts run through Stripe, some requests may need to be directed there as well.

9. Students and children

Red Herrings is sold to educators, institutions, and professionals, not to children. Because labs are generated and graded entirely on the instructor's machine, we never receive student information of any kind. Instructors remain the controllers of any student data they enter locally and are responsible for handling it under their own institution's policies (including FERPA, GDPR, or local law as applicable).

10. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the product and our practices evolve. We will change the "last updated" date above and, for material changes, provide a more prominent notice.

11. Contact

The Competence Collective, LLC: email contact form. See also our Terms of Service, End User License Agreement, and Refund Policy Accessibility.