Privacy Policy

1. About MarkMate

MarkMate (“we”, “us”, “our”) is an AI-powered assignment feedback tool for Australian students and teachers. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information in accordance with the Australian Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following types of information:

Account Information

• Name and email address (when you create an account)
• Authentication data managed by our authentication provider (Clerk)
• Account role (student or teacher)

Assignment and Submission Data

• Task notifications and rubrics uploaded by teachers
• Student work submitted for checking (text or uploaded files)
• AI-generated feedback, grades, and annotations
• AI detection analysis results (visible to teachers only)

Usage Data

• Number of assignments created and checks performed
• Subscription status and plan type

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

• Provide the MarkMate service — analysing student work against rubrics and generating feedback
• Manage your account and authentication
• Track usage against your plan limits
• Improve our service and AI feedback quality
• Communicate with you about your account or service updates
• Comply with legal obligations

4. Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services to operate MarkMate:

Important:Student work is sent to Anthropic's Claude API for analysis. Anthropic's data usage policy states that API inputs are not used to train their models. No student names or personal identifiers are included in the API request — only the submission text and rubric.

5. Data Security

We take the security of your data seriously. Our security measures include:

• All data transmitted via HTTPS (SSL/TLS encryption)
• Database encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption
• Authentication managed by Clerk (passwords are never stored on our servers)
• API keys and secrets stored in encrypted environment variables
• SQL injection protection through parameterised queries
• Row-level access control (users can only access their own data)

6. Data Retention

We retain your data for as long as your account is active. Assignment data and submissions are retained for 12 months from the date of creation. You may request deletion of your data at any time by contacting us at support@markmate.education.

7. Children's Privacy

MarkMate is designed for use by high school students (typically aged 12-18) and their teachers. For students under 13, we recommend that access is provided through a school plan where the school acts as the consenting authority. For individual student accounts, users must confirm they have parental or guardian consent if under 16 years of age.

8. Your Rights

Under the Australian Privacy Principles, you have the right to:

• Access — request a copy of the personal information we hold about you
• Correction — request correction of inaccurate or outdated information
• Deletion — request deletion of your account and all associated data
• Complaint — lodge a complaint with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) if you believe your privacy has been breached

9. Data Location

Our database is hosted in the Asia-Pacific region (Sydney, Australia) via Neon Postgres. Authentication data is managed by Clerk, which offers Australian data residency. Website hosting is provided by Vercel with global edge distribution. Student work sent to the Claude API is processed by Anthropic's servers (United States).

10. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify registered users of material changes via email. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was last revised.

11. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your rights, contact us at:
support@markmate.education