Effective Date: October 9, 2026 (also the date this policy was last updated)
This Privacy Policy explains what personal information Ikan Media Inc. collects through the Explore Top Colleges website (exploretopcolleges.com), how we use and disclose it, and the choices and rights you have. Section numbers are the same on every website that uses this form of policy; if a number is skipped, that Section does not apply to this Site. Our Terms of Use (https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/terms/) govern your use of the Site.
Explore Top Colleges (exploretopcolleges.com) is operated by Ikan Media Inc., a Florida corporation. Explore Top Colleges is a brand of Ikan Media Inc. Our principal address is 5207 Lake Overlook Ave, Bradenton, FL 34208; mail may be sent to 390 NE 191st St, STE 62202, Miami, FL 33179. “We,” “us” and “our” mean Ikan Media Inc.; “you” means anyone whose personal information we collect in connection with the Site; the “Site” means exploretopcolleges.com and its sub-domains; and the “Services” means the Site, any membership, our emails and everything we provide through them.
A “Partner” is an independent company whose study, survey, product test, clinical trial, listing, product, service or offer appears on the Services or in our emails, and an “Offer” is any opportunity, product, service, listing or promotion of a Partner. “Marketing Partners” means the companies listed at https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/marketing-partners/: for email advertising, the advertisers and advertiser categories listed there as we update that page; for sales of your information, only the companies on the dated version shown to you when you submitted a form. “Providers” means the schools, contractors and other providers listed on Explore Top Colleges.
This policy covers the Site, including sign-up and offer pages on its sub-domains and pages our sign-up platform hosts for us, our emails, and any other way we collect personal information in connection with Explore Top Colleges, online or offline. It does not cover the websites, forms or practices of Partners or other companies we link to or send information to; their own privacy policies apply (Section 18).
“Personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, or could reasonably be linked with you, your household or your device. It does not include information that is de-identified or aggregated so that it can no longer reasonably be linked to you. We keep de-identified information in de-identified form, do not try to re-identify it (except to test our methods), and, where the law requires, contractually require anyone we give it to do the same.
The Services are offered only in the United States. This policy describes our practices; our Terms of Use incorporate it only so that Section 20 of those Terms applies to disputes about privacy, and it creates no contractual promises beyond those the law imposes. You can print this page; if you have a disability and need this policy in another format, contact [email protected].
This Section is our notice at collection. Our sign-up and offer forms link to it. It describes the personal information we collect, where it comes from, why we use it, who receives it, whether we sell or share it, and how long we keep it. The table in Section 2.5 summarizes the same information by category. We will not collect additional categories of personal information, or use what we collect for materially different purposes, without first updating this notice.
When you sign up, answer questions, choose an Offer, enter a giveaway or contact us, we collect what you enter. Depending on the form, that can include:
When you submit a form we also keep records of the submission, such as the date and time, IP address, device and browser information, page address and the version of our Terms and consent language then in effect, together with any identifiers issued by our consent-verification providers. Those records show what you agreed to.
We collect this through cookies, pixels, scripts, tracked links and similar technologies (Section 7). Companies that collect personal information directly through the Site, some of which may also use it for their own purposes, include Cloudflare (security and visit counts). Their own privacy policies describe their practices.
We do not ask for Social Security numbers, driver’s license, state ID or passport numbers, financial account or card numbers, precise geolocation, genetic or biometric information, or the contents of your communications with others. If you send us sensitive information we did not ask for, we use it only to respond to you and delete it when it is no longer needed.
This table covers the 12 months before the Effective Date and our current practices. “Sold” and “shared” have the meanings in Section 5. Service providers and contractors use information only to provide services to us.
| Category and examples | Sources | Why we use it (Section 3) | Disclosed for a business purpose to | Sold or shared? | How long we keep it |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Identifiers and contact details (including categories in Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.80(e)): name, email address, ZIP code, city and state, telephone number or postal address where a form asks for it, IP address, cookie and device identifiers, ad click identifiers, member and lead identifiers, consent-certificate identifiers, and what you write to us. | You; your device; our service providers; affiliate networks and Partners. | Providing the Services; sending email; sending information to Partners you choose; advertising and measurement; consent records; security and fraud prevention; legal and business reasons. | Service providers and contractors; professional advisers; courts, regulators and law enforcement where required; a successor in a business transfer. | Sold to the Marketing Partners you choose. Sold to the Providers named on a request form you send. Identifiers carried in Offer links may reach the Partner or network behind the Offer (Section 4). No other sale or sharing. | While you are a member or subscriber and a reasonable period afterward; your email address stays on our suppression list as long as needed to honor your unsubscribe; in submission records as long as needed to prove consent and defend claims. |
| Commercial information: Offers, listings and emails you viewed, clicked, chose or completed; records that you joined or bought from a Partner after clicking our link, and what we earned; your preferences and requests. | You; your device; affiliate networks, tracking platforms and Partners. | Providing the Services; choosing emails and Offers; measurement and payment; accounting; legal. | Service providers and contractors (including affiliate tracking); professional advisers; legal recipients where required. | Not sold. | As long as needed for accounting, tax, partner reconciliation and audits; preferences while you are a member or subscriber. |
| Internet and other electronic network activity: pages viewed, links clicked, referring pages and ads, how you use our forms, browser and device information, and email opens and clicks. | Your device; our service providers and analytics and advertising partners. | Providing and improving the Services; choosing emails; advertising and measurement; security and fraud prevention. | Service providers and contractors (hosting, analytics, email and affiliate tracking); legal recipients where required. | Not sold. | For the periods set in our analytics, advertising and security tools; email activity while you are a subscriber and a reasonable time afterward. |
| Approximate location: city, state, ZIP code and country estimated from your IP address (not precise geolocation). | Your device; our service providers. | Filling in forms; showing relevant Offers; fraud prevention; analytics and advertising. | Service providers and contractors. | A ZIP code, city or state you confirm on a form is sold with that form as described above. No other sale or sharing. | As for internet activity, and in submission records. |
| Inferences: our predictions about your interests and the Offers, studies, programs or content likely to suit you, drawn from your answers and activity. | Created by us from the categories above. | Choosing emails, Offers and content; analytics. | Service providers and contractors. | Not sold or shared. | While you are a member or subscriber. |
We use personal information for the following business and commercial purposes. The categories we use for each purpose are in parentheses.
We use personal information only for these purposes or for others that are reasonably necessary and compatible with them, or that we tell you about and, where the law requires, ask your consent for. We use your answers and activity to predict which emails and Offers may interest you; this is profiling for marketing. We do not use personal information to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects about you, such as decisions about credit, housing, insurance, education, employment or health care; a Partner you choose makes its own decisions under its own policies.
We give personal information to companies that provide services to us, including, depending on the page or form, website hosting and security (such as Cloudflare and our website hosts), databases and data storage (such as Supabase), email delivery and list management (such as ActiveCampaign, Mailgun and Google Workspace), our sign-up and survey platform (UserEnroll, operated by Twyne), lead management and email validation (such as Waypoint Software), analytics, affiliate and conversion tracking (such as Everflow and RedTrack), consent verification, fraud prevention, prize fulfillment, customer support, and professional services such as lawyers and accountants. When a company may use the information only to provide services to us, we treat it as a service provider or contractor. When a company also uses information for its own purposes, we describe it below as a third party.
During sign-up and on offer pages we may show you Offers from Marketing Partners. Each Offer is optional and presented unselected, and declining it does not affect your membership. If you choose an Offer, we transmit the information you entered on that form to the Partner named for that Offer, which may pay us; some state laws call this a “sale.” The Marketing Partners who may receive your information are listed by category, legal name and brand name at https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/marketing-partners/; we add a Partner before sending it anything, and the version you saw when you submitted a form governs.
A Partner that receives your information contacts you under the consent you gave on the form that named it and under its own privacy policy. Partners are independent companies, not our agents; although we require them to honor opt-outs and obey the law, we do not control them. To stop hearing from a Partner, use its opt-out or contact it directly, or email [email protected] and we will forward your request to the Partners our records show received your information in the previous 12 months.
When you submit a request-for-information form, we send its contents to the Providers named on it, and a Provider may pay us for that introduction; some state laws call this a “sale.” Providers are independent businesses that contact you under the consent you gave on the form and their own privacy policies. You can opt out of future sales at any time (Section 5).
Links to Partners’ Offers in our emails and on our pages pass through tracking services that record the click and later report whether you joined or bought. These links can carry identifiers such as a click ID, a code for the email or page and, on some links, your email address or a code linked to it, so that we and the network that tracks the Offer can credit the click and any conversion to us. The tracking platforms we use (such as Everflow and RedTrack) process this for us; the Partner or network behind an Offer may also receive the identifiers its link is set up to receive. When you leave our Site for a Partner’s site, the Partner collects information under its own privacy policy.
Ikan Media Inc. operates other websites and brands, listed in the “Our sister brands” section of the Marketing Partners page. Because they are run by the same company, we may use information across our brands, for example to recognize you, avoid duplicate emails, keep do-not-email records and, where you agreed to it, promote a sister brand to you.
We disclose personal information when we believe in good faith it is required by law, subpoena, court order or other legal process; to respond to regulators; to establish, exercise or defend legal claims, including by providing records of consent to Partners, carriers, courts and regulators; to protect the rights, safety or property of anyone; to prevent fraud; and to a buyer, investor or successor in a merger, financing, sale of assets, bankruptcy or similar transaction, which may use it as this policy describes. We also disclose personal information to anyone you direct us to send it to, or with your consent.
Under California law, a “sale” is a disclosure of personal information to another company for money or other valuable consideration, and “sharing” is a disclosure for cross-context behavioral advertising, meaning ads based on your activity across other companies’ websites and apps. Other states use similar terms, including “targeted advertising.”
What we sell and share. We sell personal information: when you choose to send your information to a Partner or a Provider, the company that receives it may pay us. We do not sell personal information, or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, other than as described in this policy. In the past 12 months we sold or shared the categories marked in Section 2.5 to the recipients listed there.
Limits. We sell only information you gave us directly on our Site, never information we obtained about you from other sources. We do not sell or share sensitive personal information. We do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 18.
How to opt out. You may opt out of the sale and sharing of your personal information, and of its use for targeted advertising, at any time: (1) click “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” in the footer of every page (https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/privacy/#do-not-sell) and complete the short opt-out form there; (2) email [email protected] with “Do Not Sell or Share” in the subject line from the email address you gave us, or include that address in your message; or (3) turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser (Section 6). You do not need an account, and we do not ask you to verify your identity to opt out, although we may ask for details to find your records and may decline a request we reasonably believe is fraudulent. An authorized agent may opt out for you (Section 12.3).
What happens next. We act on opt-outs within 15 business days. From then on we stop sales and sharing tied to your browser or device and to the email address or other details you gave us, which means we stop sending your information to new Partners and Providers. If we sold or shared your information after you opted out but before we acted on your request, we notify those recipients and direct them to honor your opt-out, as the law requires. We will wait at least 12 months before asking you to allow sales or sharing again. An opt-out does not unsubscribe you from our emails (Section 9), does not recall information delivered before your request (to stop hearing from a Partner, see Section 4.2), and does not remove ads; you may still see ads, but not ads based on information we share for cross-context behavioral advertising.
We treat an opt-out preference signal such as Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) as a valid request to opt out of the sale and sharing of your personal information, and of targeted advertising, for that browser or device and for any profile or account we associate with it, including your membership if you are signed in or otherwise known to us. When we detect the signal, the page shows a message such as “Opt-Out Preference Signal Honored,” and we act on it within 15 business days. If the signal conflicts with a choice you made on our Site, such as a cookie-banner setting, we follow the signal for sales, sharing and targeted advertising. GPC works per browser, so turn it on in each browser and on each device you use. A GPC signal does not unsubscribe you from our emails.
Do Not Track. Some browsers send “Do Not Track” signals. Because there is no common standard for them, we do not promise any particular response to them; we honor GPC as described above.
Tracking across websites. Companies whose tools run on the Site, such as Cloudflare (security and visit counts), may collect information about your online activities over time and across different websites when you use the Site (Sections 4 and 7).
Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. Pixels (web beacons), scripts, local storage and tracked links do similar jobs. We and companies working with us use them:
On this Site, these include tools from Cloudflare (security and visit counts).
Your choices. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings; the Site will still work, although some features, and our records of where you came from, may not. You can turn on Global Privacy Control (Section 6), and where the Site shows a cookie or consent banner you can make choices there.
If one of our sign-up or offer forms is recorded as proof of what you agreed to, the form says so.
What we send. If you subscribe, we send commercial email: our own content and advertisements for our services, our sister brands and the schools, programs, products, services and offers of our Marketing Partners, as you agreed when you signed up (Terms of Use, Section 5). You may receive email daily and sometimes more than once a day. Our emails may be signed with a pen name used by our editorial team; the sender is always Explore Top Colleges, operated by Ikan Media Inc., 390 NE 191st St, STE 62202, Miami, FL 33179. Before we add an email address to our list, we or our providers may check that it is valid and can receive mail. We send email through providers such as ActiveCampaign, which process your email address, name, profile answers and email activity for us.
Email tracking. Our emails contain small images (pixels) and tracked links. They tell us whether and when an email was opened and which links were clicked, along with the IP address, device, email program and approximate location recorded at the time. Some email programs load images automatically, so an “open” does not always mean you read the email. We use this to measure our emails, choose what to send you, stop sending to inactive addresses, and credit clicks to advertisers. You can limit open tracking by turning off automatic image loading in your email program.
Unsubscribing. Every email contains an unsubscribe link, and https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/unsubscribe/ always lets you stop all marketing email from Explore Top Colleges; we honor requests within 10 business days. We keep your email address on a suppression list so that Explore Top Colleges does not email you again. Unsubscribing does not stop a Marketing Partner you separately asked to hear from. Unsubscribing and opting out of sales and sharing are separate: unsubscribing does not opt you out of sales or sharing (Section 5), and opting out does not unsubscribe you.
If a form asks for your telephone number, the form explains how it will be used. We use and disclose telephone numbers only as the form you completed and this policy describe.
Explore Top Colleges does not currently offer its own giveaways, referral rewards or other financial incentives in exchange for personal information. If it does, we will post a Notice of Financial Incentive here first. If one of our emails promotes a giveaway run by a sister brand, that brand’s official rules and privacy policy, including its Notice of Financial Incentive, apply.
We give the following rights to every U.S. resident, whether or not your state’s law requires them. Some rights have legal exceptions, which we will explain if they apply to your request.
Email [email protected] with the type of request in the subject line (for example, “Access,” “Copy,” “Correct,” “Delete” or “Appeal”), call (407) 374-9719 (you may leave a voicemail), or write to Ikan Media Inc., Attention: Privacy, 390 NE 191st St, STE 62202, Miami, FL 33179. To opt out of sales and sharing you can also use https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/privacy/#do-not-sell or Global Privacy Control. Tell us the email address and ZIP code you used with Explore Top Colleges so we can find your records. Requests are free. We may limit requests to know or for a copy to two in any 12-month period, and may refuse or charge a reasonable fee for requests that are manifestly unfounded or excessive, as the law allows; we will explain why.
To protect you, we verify requests to know, access, copy, correct or delete by matching information you give us with information we already have, usually by confirming the email address you used (for example, by asking you to reply from it or to click a link we send to it) and one or two more details, such as your ZIP code or date of birth. A request for specific pieces of information needs a higher degree of certainty, and we may ask you to sign a declaration under penalty of perjury. We do not require you to create an account, we use the information you give us for verification only for that purpose and to keep a record of your request, and we will tell you if we cannot verify you. Opt-out requests do not need verification.
You may use an authorized agent. We will ask the agent for your signed permission and may ask you to verify your identity directly with us or confirm that you gave the agent permission, unless the agent holds a valid power of attorney under state law. An agent with your written permission may opt out of sales and sharing for you.
We confirm receipt of a request to know, access, copy, correct or delete within 10 business days and respond within 45 calendar days. If we need more time, we may extend once by up to 45 more days and will tell you why. We act on opt-out requests within 15 business days. If we deny a request in whole or in part, we will explain why and how to appeal.
If we decline to act on your request, you may appeal within a reasonable time by replying to our decision or by emailing [email protected] with “Appeal” in the subject line. We will respond in writing within the time your state’s law requires (generally 45 or 60 days), explain our decision, and, if we deny your appeal, tell you how to contact your state Attorney General to submit a complaint.
Section 12 describes the rights we give everyone. This Section adds what particular states require.
This subsection supplements the rest of this policy for California residents under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended, and its regulations (together, the “CCPA”).
California Civil Code section 1798.83 lets California residents who have an established business relationship with us ask about our disclosure of personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes. Our policy is not to disclose your personal information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes after you opt out. You can opt out at any time, free of charge, as Section 5 describes or by emailing [email protected] with “Your California Privacy Rights” in the subject line. You may send requests and questions under section 1798.83 to the same address or by mail to 390 NE 191st St, STE 62202, Miami, FL 33179.
Nevada residents may direct us not to sell their covered information, as Nevada law defines it, by emailing [email protected] with “Nevada Opt-Out” in the subject line or by using https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/privacy/#do-not-sell. We respond within 60 days, which we may extend by up to 30 days with notice.
Residents of Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Montana, Iowa, Delaware, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Nebraska, Tennessee, Minnesota, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky and Rhode Island have privacy rights under their states’ laws, and laws in Oklahoma and Louisiana (from January 1, 2027), Alabama (from May 1, 2027) and Vermont (from January 1, 2028) add more. Section 12 gives you those rights, including the appeal process in Section 12.5. In addition:
The Site is for adults 18 and older in the United States and is not directed to children or teens. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, including children under 13. If we learn that we have, we delete it. If you believe someone under 18 gave us personal information, email [email protected] and we will delete it. We do not knowingly sell, share or use for targeted advertising the personal information of anyone under 18.
We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, and then delete or de-identify it. We do not keep information for a fixed period; we use these criteria:
We may keep information longer when the law requires it, to resolve disputes, or under a legal hold. Backup copies may persist for a limited time before they are overwritten.
We use administrative, technical and physical safeguards designed to protect personal information from loss, misuse and unauthorized access, appropriate to its sensitivity; for example, the Site uses encrypted (HTTPS) connections. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of your information. If a breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as the law requires. Please do not send us sensitive information, such as Social Security or account numbers, by email.
The Site and the Services are offered only in the United States and are not directed to anyone outside it. We process personal information in the United States, and some of our service providers may process it in other countries under their own safeguards. If you use the Site from outside the United States, your information is processed under U.S. law.
The Site and our emails may contain links to websites and services run by others, including Partners. Their practices are governed by their own privacy policies, not this one, and we are not responsible for them.
We may update this policy. We post each updated version on this page with a new Effective Date.
A change is material if it changes what personal information we collect, sell or share, the categories of companies we disclose it to, the purposes for which we use it, or your rights or choices. For a material change we give at least 30 days’ notice before it takes effect by emailing the address we have for you and posting the updated policy with a new Effective Date and a notice on the Site; other changes take effect when posted. A change applies only going forward: if it would let us use personal information we already hold in a materially different way, we will ask for your consent where the law requires it. Prior versions of this policy are available on request at [email protected].
Privacy questions and requests: [email protected]. General questions: [email protected] or https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/contact/. Telephone: (407) 374-9719. Mail: Ikan Media Inc., Attention: Privacy, 390 NE 191st St, STE 62202, Miami, FL 33179. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information: https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/privacy/#do-not-sell. Terms of Use: https://www.exploretopcolleges.com/terms/.
Explore Top Colleges Privacy Policy, effective October 9, 2026.