APEX ACADEMIC LAB collects only the personal information needed to run accounts, deliver digital learning materials and AI essay grading, and process payments. We do not sell personal information or use it for advertising.
1. Personal Information We Collect
| Category | Items | How collected |
|---|---|---|
| Account (required) | Email address, name, profile image, login provider identifier | Sign-up and sign-in |
| Payment | Name, email, phone number (if provided), country, payment ID, credit package, payment date and amount | Credit purchases |
| Service use | Credit balance and usage history; exam settings, prompts, passages, essays and uploaded files you submit | Using generation and grading features |
| Automatically collected | IP address, browser and device information, access logs, session cookies | Automatically while using the Service |
Card numbers and PayPal account credentials are entered directly with PayPal. Neither the Company nor PortOne receives or stores them.
2. How We Use Personal Information
- Creating and managing accounts, and verifying identity at sign-in
- Generating digital learning materials and essay grading results
- Processing credit purchases and refunds
- Managing credit balances and showing usage history
- Responding to inquiries and sending important service notices
- Preventing fraud and abuse, keeping the Service secure, and complying with legal obligations
3. Retention Period
Account information is kept until you delete your account and is destroyed without delay afterwards.
Essays, passages and files you submit are processed to produce results and are not stored in the Company's database after the result is returned. Generated materials are cached in your browser's local storage on your own device, and you can clear them at any time.
The following records are kept for the periods required by law:
| Record | Period | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|
| Contracts and withdrawal of offers | 5 years | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce |
| Payments and supply of goods | 5 years | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce |
| Consumer complaints and dispute handling | 3 years | Act on the Consumer Protection in Electronic Commerce |
| Website access logs | 3 months | Protection of Communications Secrets Act |
4. Provision to Third Parties
The Company does not provide personal information to third parties, except when you have given prior consent or when required by law (for example, a lawful request from an investigative agency).
5. Service Providers and International Transfers
To provide the Service, the Company entrusts the processing of personal information to the following providers. Some of them are located outside Korea, so personal information is transferred overseas.
| Provider | Country | Purpose | Items transferred |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clerk, Inc. | USA | Sign-in, account management, storage of credit balance and history | Email, name, profile image, login records, credit history |
| Vercel Inc. | USA | Website hosting and server operation | IP address, access logs, request data |
| Anthropic, PBC | USA | AI question generation and essay grading | Prompts, passages, essays and uploaded file contents |
| OpenAI, L.L.C. | USA | AI image generation for history source materials | Image descriptions generated by the Service (no account information) |
| PortOne Inc. | Republic of Korea | Payment gateway that connects checkout to PayPal and records payment results | Account ID, name, email, phone number, country, credit package, payment ID, amount and status |
| PayPal | USA and other PayPal processing locations | Payment processing (PayPal account payments) and fraud prevention for seller protection | Name, email, phone number, country, account ID and account creation date, billing address, payment details |
- When and how: transferred over encrypted connections (TLS) at the time you use the relevant feature.
- Retention by providers: until the purpose is fulfilled, your account is deleted, or the service contract ends, unless a longer period is required by law.
- Your choice: you may refuse the transfer by not using the Service or by deleting your account. Because these providers are essential, the Service cannot be provided without them.
- We do not use your essays or uploaded materials to train AI models. Our AI providers process requests under commercial API terms that do not use submitted content for model training by default.
6. Destruction of Personal Information
When the retention period ends or the purpose of processing is fulfilled, personal information is destroyed without delay. Electronic files are deleted using methods that prevent recovery, and paper records are shredded. Information that must be kept by law is stored separately and destroyed when the legal period ends.
7. Your Rights
You may request access to, correction or deletion of, or suspension of processing of your personal information, and you may withdraw your consent at any time by emailing apexacademylab@gmail.com. The Company will respond without delay, and within 10 days.
A legal guardian may exercise these rights on behalf of a child under 14. If you are located in the EEA or the UK, you may also request data portability and lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.
9. Security Measures
- Encryption of all data in transit (HTTPS/TLS)
- Access controls that limit personal information to the minimum personnel and systems needed
- No storage of full card numbers; payments are tokenized by the payment providers
- Secure management of API keys and credentials, and monitoring of access logs
10. Children's Privacy
Children under 14 may only use the Service with the consent of a legal guardian. If we learn that we have collected a child's personal information without such consent, we will delete it promptly.
11. Privacy Officer
For privacy questions, complaints or requests, please contact our Privacy Officer.
- Name: Stacey Park (CEO)
- Email: apexacademylab@gmail.com
- Phone: +82-10-3629-3950
12. Remedies for Privacy Infringement
You may also contact the following Korean agencies for help with privacy infringement:
- Personal Information Dispute Mediation Committee: 1833-6972 (www.kopico.go.kr)
- Personal Information Infringement Report Center (KISA): 118 (privacy.kisa.or.kr)
- Supreme Prosecutors' Office: 1301 (www.spo.go.kr)
- Korean National Police Agency, Cyber Bureau: 182 (ecrm.police.go.kr)
13. Changes to This Policy
If this Privacy Policy changes, the Company will announce the changes on the Service at least 7 days before they take effect, or at least 30 days before for significant changes that affect your rights.