Privacy Policy

1. The short version

Most people who use ERI are teenagers, so we collect only what we need to run each program. We use it only for that program. We never sell personal information, never share it for advertising, and never use it to build profiles. There are no accounts on this site. A parent or guardian can see, correct, or delete a student’s information at any time.

2. Competition registration

The registration form on the registration page collects:

• The student’s first and last name, date of birth, age, grade, school name, city, and state, home ZIP code, email address, and phone number.
• A parent or guardian’s first and last name, email address, and phone number.
• The event, an ERI chapter if there is one, and, if the student chooses, an accommodation request and how they heard about ERI.
• The agreements checked on the form, the time they were checked, and a registration ID.

We use this to check eligibility (age on February 22, 2027, grade, and U.S. residence), to match the entry to its payment, to send Regionals and Nationals access and competition notices to the student and the guardian, to arrange accommodations, to contact a guardian about the student’s participation, and to publish results as described below. We do not use it for anything else. We ask for a date of birth only to apply the age rule.

The entry fee is paid on a checkout page run by Stripe, our payment processor. Stripe collects the card details and the payer’s name and email under its own privacy policy. Card details never reach ERI. ERI sees the payer’s name and email, the amount, the date, and the registration ID.

3. Other forms

4. Children and teens

Competitive Events are for students who are at least 13 on February 22, 2027, or who are in high school. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13. The summer program (ages 9–13) is parent-first: only the parent or guardian fills in the form, and only the guardian’s information is collected. If we learn that we collected a child’s information without a parent’s consent, we delete it.

For every student under 18, a parent or guardian must consent before the student registers, and we collect the guardian’s contact information so we can reach them. We send the guardian copies of important notices, such as Regionals access, integrity findings, and results. A guardian can ask us to stop processing the student’s information and delete it.

The only student information we publish is in competition and research results: the student’s name, school, event, and placement. A student or guardian can ask us to leave the name off. We never publish a student’s age, date of birth, contact details, or ZIP code.

5. Where the data is stored and who handles it

Form answers go through an ERI Google Apps Script service into a Google Sheet and a backup file in Google Drive, and the team gets an email notice. These are stored in Google accounts controlled by ERI. We use these service providers, each only to run the service named:

• Google (Apps Script, Sheets, Drive, Gmail): storing form answers and emailing participants.
• Stripe: taking payments.
• Cloudflare: hosting this website.
• Google Analytics: counting page visits in aggregate. Form answers are never sent to Google Analytics.
• Google Fonts: loading the site’s fonts.

We do not use advertising trackers. Your browser cannot confirm that a form reached us; an on-screen notice is not a confirmation from ERI.

6. Who can see it

Only the ERI team members who run the program you signed up for. Research reviewers see papers without author identity. Judges see a competitor’s name and work, not their contact details. We share personal information outside ERI only with the service providers above, or when the law requires it or a person’s safety is at risk. We never sell it or share it for advertising.

7. How long we keep it

Registration records: through the end of the 2026–27 season and any appeals. Within six months after Nationals, we delete each student’s date of birth, phone number, ZIP code, email, and the guardian’s contact details. We keep the name, school, event, and result as the record behind published results. Stripe keeps payment records as financial law requires.

Interest-list and contact data: until you ask us to delete it or the purpose ends. Chapter records: for as long as the chapter is chartered, plus one renewal cycle.

8. Keeping it safe

Access to registration data is limited to the team members who need it, and the accounts that hold it are protected with two-step verification. No system is perfectly secure. If personal information is exposed, we will tell the affected students and guardians as the law requires.

9. Your rights

You, or your parent or guardian, can ask to see, correct, download, or delete your information, or withdraw consent, at any time. Email viyan@econstax.net or use the contact page (choose “Privacy or data request”). We may ask you to confirm who you are. We reply within 30 days and confirm by email when it is done. We give these rights to everyone, whatever state you live in. Deleting a student’s registration data before Regionals withdraws the entry, and the fee is not refunded.

10. Emails

We email registered students and guardians only about the competition they entered. We do not send marketing email unless you sign up for it.

11. Changes and contact

We update this policy when our forms or service providers change and note the date at the top. If a change affects how we use information we already have, we tell registered families by email first. Questions: viyan@econstax.net.