ALICE Privacy Policy

Effective date: September 25, 2026

The ALICE platform ("ALICE") is developed and operated by Attruvera Technologies, Inc. ("Attruvera", "we", "us"), 3463 Magic Dr, Suite T-19, San Antonio, Texas 78229, and delivered as a service to customer institutions -- universities, research programs and technology-transfer offices. Each institution is served as its own tenant. Your institution is the controller of the data that it and its members place in ALICE; Attruvera processes that data on the institution's behalf and under its instructions. Where your institution publishes its own privacy notice for its use of ALICE -- for example for a course offered under a sponsored research program -- that notice applies in addition to this policy.

This policy applies to every ALICE instance Attruvera operates and to every configuration of the platform: the education configuration (courses, lessons, submissions, tutoring) and Vela (invention disclosure and portfolio management). It explains what information ALICE collects, how it is used, how it is protected, and the choices you have.

Who We Are and Whose Data This Is
Information We Collect
How We Use Your Information
Artificial-Intelligence Features
SMS and Text Messaging
How We Share Information
Data Retention
Your Choices and Rights
Education Records (FERPA) and Confidential Institutional Records
Data Security
Changes to This Policy
Contact Us

1. Who We Are and Whose Data This Is

Attruvera Technologies, Inc. is a Delaware corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, and a research spinout of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Attruvera develops the ALICE platform and operates it for customer institutions. The institution that gave you access decides what ALICE is used for, who may see what, and how long records are kept; Attruvera acts on those decisions. When this policy says "your institution", it means the university, program or office through which you use ALICE.

2. Information We Collect

We collect only what is needed to provide the service to your institution:

Account information -- your name, e-mail address, institutional role (for example student, instructor, administrator, inventor or reviewer), and the institution, section or System you belong to.
Your work -- in the education configuration: typed responses, submissions, uploaded files, and photographs of handwritten work together with their automatically generated transcriptions; in Vela: invention disclosures, their attachments, and review notes.
Mobile phone number -- only if your institution enables text-message submission and you choose to add and verify a number (see Section 5). Your number is stored encrypted, and we keep a one-way lookup value to match your incoming texts; we do not store the number in plain text.
Usage information -- records of the pages you visit and the actions you take, with the network address they came from, used to operate, secure and improve the platform.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

deliver the service to your institution and record your work;
provide AI-assisted features where your institution enables them (Section 4);
support the instructors, reviewers and administrators at your institution in their roles;
operate, secure and improve the platform; and
where your institution uses ALICE within a sponsored research program, support that program's evaluation with aggregated or de-identified data, as the program's own notice describes.

We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not sell it.

4. Artificial-Intelligence Features

Large-language-model inference is not performed on the platform. Where AI features are enabled, ALICE sends prompts over encrypted connections to external model providers -- currently Anthropic, OpenAI and Gemini -- and stores only the returned text. Prompts carry your work and its context, not directory identifiers such as your name or e-mail address, and a redaction screen is applied before submission. Where your institution enables research tools, search queries composed during a session are sent to a web-search provider (Tavily). In the education configuration, AI-assisted feedback is reviewed by an instructor before release. AI conversations can be committed to a cryptographic record with external trusted timestamps, so that what was asked and answered can be independently verified afterwards.

5. SMS and Text Messaging

If your institution enables it and you choose to opt in, ALICE lets you submit a photo of handwritten coursework by text message.

Opt-in is optional. Adding and verifying a mobile number in your Communication settings is entirely voluntary and is not a condition of enrollment or access. You confirm your consent by entering a one-time code we text to you.
Program and content. Messages are transactional and educational -- they relate only to your coursework submissions (for example, confirming which lesson a photo attaches to, or that your submission was received). We do not send marketing or promotional messages.
Message frequency varies based on how often you submit work by text.
Message and data rates may apply. Please check with your mobile carrier.
Opt out at any time by replying STOP; reply HELP for help. You can also remove a number or turn off messaging at any time in your Communication settings.
We will not share your mobile phone number or your SMS opt-in consent with any third parties or affiliates for their own marketing purposes, and we do not sell your mobile information or your SMS consent.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share your mobile information or SMS opt-in consent with third parties or affiliates for marketing purposes. We share information only in these limited ways:

With your institution -- the instructors, reviewers and administrators whose roles require it, and the institution itself as the controller of its data.
With service providers that act on our instructions under contract: hosting (Amazon Web Services, United States), e-mail delivery (Amazon Simple Email Service), text messaging where enabled (Twilio, which transmits your messages and briefly stores the media you send so we can retrieve it), and the AI and search providers named in Section 4.
For research and program evaluation, where your institution uses ALICE within a sponsored research program, in aggregated or de-identified form, as that program's own notice describes.
When required by law, or to protect the rights, property or safety of users, institutions or the public.

7. Data Retention

We keep your account records and your work for as long as your institution uses ALICE for the purpose you were given access to, and afterwards for as long as your institution's records rules and applicable law require. Deletion and return of data at the end of an institution's use are governed by its agreement with Attruvera. A verified mobile number is retained until you remove it or opt out. Backups are kept on a rolling schedule and expire in turn.

8. Your Choices and Rights

You can:

access, correct or delete your account information and your work, subject to your institution's record-keeping obligations;
opt out of text messaging at any time by replying STOP or by removing the number in your Communication settings; and
contact us or your institution with any question or request using the details in Section 12.

Opting out of text messaging does not affect your access or your ability to submit work through the website.

9. Education Records (FERPA) and Confidential Institutional Records

In the education configuration, coursework you submit through ALICE -- including photographs of handwritten work and their transcriptions -- is an education record protected under the U.S. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Your institution controls those records; Attruvera handles them as a school official with a legitimate educational interest, on the institution's instructions and only for the purposes described above.

In Vela, invention disclosures and their attachments are confidential institutional records. Access is limited to the inventors who submitted them and to the office roles your institution assigns.

10. Data Security

Data in transit is protected with TLS. In the Attruvera multi-tenant environment, data at rest is stored on encrypted volumes, and sensitive fields -- including mobile phone numbers and stored credentials -- are additionally encrypted by the application. Access is role-based, and authorization is checked on the server for every request. Each institution's data is held in its own database, its own file storage and its own signing keys. No system can be guaranteed perfectly secure, but we design, operate and review ALICE to protect your information.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. If we make a material change, we will update the effective date above and, where appropriate, provide additional notice through your institution. Your continued use of ALICE after an update means you accept the updated policy.

12. Contact Us

For questions about this policy or your information, contact Attruvera Technologies, Inc. at contact@attruvera.com, or the ALICE administrator at your institution. For questions about your institution's use of ALICE within a specific program -- including a sponsored research program -- contact that program's principal investigator or office.