The short version
- You can use the lab without an account. Your progress then stays in your own browser.
- If you make an account, the lab keeps your e-mail, your name and your progress so it can follow you across devices. Your password is stored only as a secure hash.
- The lab counts visits to see which pages help people (device type, browser, operating system, the page, and the site you came from). It does not store your IP address with those counts.
- The public lesson, part, course and calculator pages show ads from Google AdSense. The bench, the courses inside the lab, accounts, classes and the teacher pages have no ads.
- Nothing about you is sold.
What is kept, and why
Without an account
Your lessons, saved circuits and settings are kept in your browser's own storage on your device. Clearing your browser's site data removes them.
With an account
Your e-mail address, the name you give, a secure hash of your password, your sign-up and last sign-in dates, and the progress your browser syncs (lessons done, saved circuits, certificates). The e-mail is used to sign you in and to reset your password. The lab only sends other e-mail if you turn it on.
Classes
If you join a teacher's class, the teacher sees your name in the class and your progress on what they assign. Students who join with only a class code have no e-mail on file. The teacher (or the lab's administrator) can set a new password for them.
Visit counts
The lab counts visits with an anonymous visit number kept in your browser. It records the kind of device, the browser and operating system, the screen width, the language, the page, the site that sent you there, and whether you are in the Philippines. This is used to see which pages help people and to keep the site working. IP addresses are not stored with these counts.
Donations and shop links
Donations go through PayPal, GCash or Maribank, under their own privacy terms. The lab only knows what you choose to tell it (for example a name for the supporters list). Some "Buy this part" links are affiliate links: the shop may set its own cookie to record that you came from the lab, and the lab may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Cookies
- bt_session: keeps you signed in. It is set only when you sign in, and removed when you sign out.
- Browser storage (not a cookie): your progress, saved circuits, settings and the anonymous visit number.
- Advertising cookies: on the public pages that show ads, Google and its partners use cookies to show ads, including ads based on your earlier visits to this and other sites. How Google uses information from sites that use its services.
Your choices about ads
You can turn off personalised ads in Google's Ad Settings, or opt out of many third-party ad networks at aboutads.info and youronlinechoices.eu. Visitors in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland are asked for consent before personalised ads are shown. A browser ad blocker also works: the lab itself never needs ads to run.
Fonts
The pages load their fonts from Google Fonts, so your browser asks Google's servers for them.
Seeing, correcting or removing your data
Signed in, you can change your name and password from your account. To get a copy of your data, or to have your account and everything in it deleted, send a message with the 馃挰 Feedback button in the lab (signed in, so it is clear the account is yours). The request is handled within 30 days. This follows the Philippines' Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act 10173), and it is open to visitors from any country.
Children
The lab is made for learners of all ages, including students. Teachers who bring a class should follow their school's rules on student accounts. A class-code account needs no e-mail.
Changes
If this page changes, the date at the top changes with it.