Privacy Policy

1. General Provisions

1.1. This Privacy Policy (hereinafter — the Policy) defines the procedure for processing personal data and measures to ensure its security on the website «Ershov Computer» (ershovcomputer.ru).

1.2. The data operator is an individual: Dmitry Kalashnikov (email: support@ershovcomputer.ru).

2. What Data We Collect

2.1. Basic use of the simulator requires no registration: the operator does not collect or request full names, phone numbers, email addresses, or passport details. Direct personal data is processed only in three voluntary scenarios: school accounts (Section 5, including the teacher's email), the name voluntarily provided when issuing an engineer certificate (Section 5.9), and the voluntary submission of a result to the Transistor Run global leaderboard (Section 5.10).

2.2. The website collects anonymized user data automatically through the Yandex.Metrica web analytics service. In addition to regular action tracking, Metrica runs the Webvisor tool: it records screenshots of pages and cursor movements during a user session. A session recording may capture data displayed on screen — including the student's nickname and class in the simulator profile, and the name entered in the certificate form. Session recordings are not linked to any account and are not enriched with other personal data.

2.3. The technical data collected includes:

• IP address and location data (at city/region level);
• Browser and operating system information;
• Cookie files;
• User actions on the website (time spent, clicks);
• Anonymized game telemetry: level start and completion events, hint usage, failed circuit checks — without message contents and without personal data.

3. Purposes of Data Collection

3.1. Anonymized data collected via Yandex.Metrica and game telemetry is used exclusively for:

• Collecting website traffic statistics;
• Analyzing user experience to improve the educational simulator interface;
• Identifying difficult parts of the course (levels where learners get stuck);
• Ensuring stable operation of the web resource and protection against abuse.

4. Collection, Storage, and Transfer of Data

4.1. Data security is ensured through legal, organizational, and technical measures necessary to fully comply with the requirements of applicable data protection legislation.

4.2. Collection and processing of analytical data are carried out on servers physically located within the territory of the Russian Federation.

4.3. User data shall never, under any circumstances, be transferred to third parties, except in cases related to compliance with applicable law and the cases explicitly described in clause 4.4.

4.4. Using the AI tutor. The simulator and the library feature an AI tutor. The history of AI tutor requests (question and response) is stored in logs on the operator's server for no more than 90 days and is used to debug response quality. To generate a response, the request content is passed via the operator's server to external AI providers — RouterAI, Polza (Russian services; the request is handled by the first available provider). Together with the question, a textual description of the user's current circuit may be transmitted (circuit structure: node names and connections). The request content is processed by the selected provider under its own privacy policy. No cross-border transfer of personal data takes place. A user may also use the site without the AI tutor.

5. School and University Accounts

5.1. For the school and university programme, the website provides voluntary accounts: a student dashboard (sign-in with a class code and nickname, no email or password) and a teacher dashboard (email and password sign-in; accounts are created by the administrator upon a request from an educational organization).

5.2. When a student joins a class, the following data is processed:

• nickname in the class (2–24 characters, visible to the teacher);
• real name — optional, visible only to the class teacher;
• course progress (completed levels, number of hints, completion time, number of failed attempts);
• technical anonymous player identifier (cid) containing no personal data;
• date of joining the class and time of the last activity.

5.3. When registering a teacher dashboard, the following is processed: the email address, the teacher's name and password (only a cryptographic hash of the password is stored).

5.4. For a student to sign in again, a 6-character personal login code is used, shown to the student once when issued. Only a cryptographic hash of the code is stored on the server; the code cannot be recovered from the hash — if the code is lost, the teacher deletes the account and the student signs in again. Separately, on class activity: the results of completing teacher assignments (whether solved, the number of attempts and hint opens, circuit metrics — the element count and delay) are always recorded while the student is in the class, regardless of the progress-sync consent checkbox: this is part of the teacher managing the learning process, not syncing personal progress. The student's circuit itself is not sent to the server.

5.5. School account data is used exclusively for educational purposes: the teacher managing the class, tracking group performance and syncing the student's progress across their devices. The data is not passed to third parties, with the single exception described in clause 4.4 (a student addressing the AI tutor — the question and the circuit description are passed to the AI provider).

5.6. The student consents to data processing themselves when joining the class. School accounts are intended for users aged 14 and above; for younger students, consent is given by a parent or legal guardian offline via the educational organization.

5.7. A student can stop the processing of their data at any time on their own: leave the class or delete the account on the dashboard page — the nickname and synced progress are irretrievably erased from the server. The teacher can also remove a student from the class. Leaving a class and deleting an account are confirmed with the personal login code (see 5.4).

5.8. Account data is stored until the account is deleted by the student, the student is removed by the teacher, or the class is disbanded. Backups of the account database are stored for no more than 90 days (daily backups — 30 days, weekly backups — 84 days).

5.9. Engineer certificates. When voluntarily issuing a certificate, the user provides the name for the printable form; the request also includes anonymized course data (number of completed levels, statistics). Issued certificates have public verification by number: the verification page shows the name, course coverage and issue date. The name and certificate data are stored indefinitely — this is what keeps public verification by number working; the name can be deleted and the certificate revoked upon request to the operator's email.

5.10. Transistor Run global leaderboard. Upon an explicit user action ("Submit result"), the following is transmitted: a user-chosen nickname (2–24 characters, not checked for uniqueness), run metrics (transistors collected, per-level time records, death count, unlocked level) and an anonymous browser identifier (cid). Additionally, the server records the request's IP address. The nickname and metrics are shown publicly in the top-10 table; entries are stored indefinitely. The nickname can be changed by submitting the result again; an entry can be deleted upon request to the operator's email.

6. Premium subscription and cloud progress

6.1. The core course is free. The Premium subscription is an optional paid service: sign-in uses an email address that receives a one-time code; no password is stored. We process: email, consent date and version, offer version, payment details (amount, date, “My Tax” receipt number, status) and cloud progress (levels, statistics, chips, Verilog projects, modules and AI mentor conversation history for unfinished levels).

6.2. Premium account data and cloud progress are stored on servers in the Russian Federation until the account is deleted. The account can be deleted at /en/premium/: the email, progress and sessions are removed. Payment records are kept as tax and accounting records; on account deletion the email in the payment is replaced with an irreversible hash. The name on a personal certificate is never published: public verification shows the certificate without the name; on account deletion the name is removed from issued certificates, and the certificate itself remains verifiable by number.

6.3. Premium sign-in uses a separate technical session cookie (ec_account); it contains no personal data and does not overlap with the school account session (ec_session).

6.4. Detailed terms are in the public offer and the personal data consent.

6.5. For active Premium subscriptions, anonymized learning progress (numeric level and mini-check counters) may be processed automatically to personalize AI mentor hints: reminding weak topics and encouraging revision. This feature is enabled only by a separate technical flag; when the flag is off, no such processed data is used. AI mentor conversation content is not used for this processing.

7. Use of Cookies

7.1. The website uses cookies for the proper operation of the web analytics service and, in school and Premium accounts, technical session cookies (ec_session and ec_account) required for dashboard and personal account sign-in. Session cookies contain no personal data.

7.2. The User may at any time disable the storage of cookies by changing the corresponding settings in their web browser. Disabling cookies will not affect the ability to use the educational simulator, but will make school account sign-in impossible.

8. Final Provisions

8.1. The User may obtain any clarification on questions regarding the processing of their data by contacting the Operator via email: support@ershovcomputer.ru.

8.2. This Policy is valid indefinitely until replaced by a new version.