Privacy Policy

Last updated October 20, 2026

Youth Broadcast Network (YBN) is a student-run media program for New York City public schools. This page explains what the YBN website, Studios and student platform collect, why, and what families can ask us to do. We built them to collect as little as possible.

What we collect

• A first name and last initial (or nickname), an avatar, and the school and class a student belongs to. A teacher adds the names, and we ask students not to use full last names.
• A recovery code that lets a student sign in again. We keep only a scrambled form of it, never the code itself.
• Work a student chooses to submit: audio, video, drawings, graphics or writing, with the title and description they type.
• The parent or guardian permission that was given for each submission: that it was ticked, the date and the version of the wording.
• Points, badges and progress, saved to the student's account so they follow the student to any device.
• A sign-in cookie that keeps a student or teacher signed in. It is required for the platform to work. The platform and Studios use no advertising or tracking cookies.

We do not collect email addresses or passwords from students, home addresses, phone numbers, government IDs, payment details, precise location, or contact lists. We do not use advertising cookies, and we do not sell or share student information for marketing.

Website analytics

The public pages of this website (the home page, the school page, and these policy pages) use Google Analytics to count visits and see which pages are read. It may set cookies and sends page-view information to Google. We do not use Google Analytics or any other advertising or analytics tracking in the student platform or the Studios.

Cameras and microphones

The Studios use the camera and microphone only while a student is recording. A face check runs on the device to make sure a face is in the picture. It does not identify anyone, and no picture of a face is kept or sent. A second on-device check looks for pictures that are not right for school. Recordings stay on the student's device until the student sends them.

How work is reviewed and stored

• Nothing a student sends is public until a teacher has looked at or listened to it and approved it.
• Sent work is stored in a private Google Drive folder owned by YBN, and account details are kept in a protected database. Only YBN and the student's own teacher can see work that has not been approved.
• Approved work can be seen by signed-in students and teachers on the platform, including at other participating schools. It is not on the open internet.
• Automatic checks look for inappropriate words and pictures. Work that is flagged is held back and is not shown to other students.
• If we ever find content that puts a child at risk, we are required by law to report it to the proper authorities.

Students under 18

A parent or legal guardian must give permission before a student under 18 submits work. We follow the New York Child Data Protection Act, New York State Education Law 2-d and the NYC Public Schools Student Privacy Guidelines. The Parents' Bill of Rights for Data Privacy and Security describes your rights.

Google services

We use Google Drive to store submitted work. We ask Google only for permission to see and manage the files that the YBN app creates itself. We use that access only to store, show to reviewing teachers, and publish approved work, and we do not read anything else in the account. Our use of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including its Limited Use requirements.

Your choices

A parent, guardian or student can ask to see, correct or remove a student's work and information at any time. Removed work is deleted from our storage. Contact us using the form on the YBN home page and tell us the student's nickname and school.

Changes

If we change this policy we will update the date above. We will not use student information in a new way without first asking families.