Bugle Prep — Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 20, 2026. This policy covers the Bugle Prep website (bugleprep.com) and course. "Bugle Prep", "we" and "us" mean the seller of the Bugle Prep course.

What we collect

Sign-up details: your first name and email when you ask for the free Chapter 1 or buy the course. These are stored in Kit, our email service.
Purchase details: handled by Stripe. We receive your name, email, the amount paid and the purchase status. We don't receive your full card number.
Course activity log (members area only): while you're signed in, we record:
each sign-in (time, IP address, browser/device type);
every course page and file you open (time, IP address, browser/device type);
active time on each page. This is counted only while the page is open in a visible browser tab, and stops after 5 minutes with no activity unless audio or video is playing;
how much of each video lecture and audio episode you played (which parts of the recording were played, in 1% slices);
the chapters and units you mark complete.
Profile: the first name, department/city, current rank and shift schedule you enter on the "Tailor your study plan" screen, and (optional) how you heard about Bugle Prep. You can edit it any time at /course/profile/.
Study tools: your quiz and practice exam answers and scores, flashcard review history, study planner settings, ECT&E Tracker entries (step status, dates, notes, confirmation numbers you choose to enter, document checklist status, calculator answers, and whether you asked for deadline reminders), and questions you send through "Ask Erik".
How you found us: when you arrive from a link or ad, we save the campaign tags in the link (utm_source, utm_medium, utm_campaign, utm_content, utm_term, fbclid), the page you landed on and the referring site. They're kept in a first-party cookie (bp_utm) and attached to your sign-up, checkout consent and buyer record.
Checkout consent record: when you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy before checkout, we record your email, the time, your IP address, your browser/device type, the terms version and a SHA-256 fingerprint of the exact terms text you agreed to.

Why we use it: to deliver the course and sign you in, to show you your own progress, to detect account sharing, to answer support requests, and to improve the course. We use your contact and profile information to provide and improve the course and our services, including advertising (e.g., matched-audience tools using hashed email). We send course and marketing emails through Kit. You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time.

Cookies: the members area uses one cookie, bp_session, to keep you signed in. It's HttpOnly, secure and lasts 30 days. Our public pages set one first-party cookie, bp_utm, to remember the campaign tags described above for 90 days, and a short-lived bp_lead cookie right after you sign up so we count each signup once. We don't use advertising cookies in the members area. Embedded YouTube or Vimeo players may set their own cookies under their own policies.

Meta Pixel: on our public pages (not the members area), we use the Meta Pixel (from Meta Platforms, the company behind Facebook and Instagram) to measure whether our ads lead to signups. It records page views (PageView). When you sign up or confirm your email, it sends Meta a "Lead" or "CompleteRegistration" event along with the page address and your browser/device information, and Meta may set its own cookies (such as _fbp) under its own privacy policy. We don't use the Meta Pixel in the members area. You can limit ad tracking in your Facebook/Instagram ad settings and your browser settings.

Where it's stored: Cloudflare (website, sign-in list, activity log), Kit (email list) and Stripe (payments). We don't sell your personal information.

How long we keep it: activity logs, profile and study-tool data, and consent records are kept until 12 months after official results for the April 12, 2027 exam are released, or longer if a refund or dispute is still open.

Your choices: reply to any Bugle Prep email to get a copy of your activity log (we can export it as a spreadsheet) or to ask us to delete your data.

Changes: we'll post updates here with a new date.