Terms, disclaimer and privacy notice

1. Independent student-run service

The Hub is an informal, independent project maintained by Luca Volpi (student number VLPLUC001). It is not an official University of Cape Town service and is not affiliated with, authorised, endorsed, sponsored, or operated by UCT or any faculty, department, lecturer, employee, or representative of UCT. References to UCT, courses, staff, or related names are descriptive only. UCT and other rights holders retain all rights in their names, marks, course material, and communications.

2. Verify all academic information

The Hub is a convenience tool, not an official academic record or notice channel. Dates, venues, times, summaries, emails, assessments, timetables, countdowns, and other information may be delayed, incomplete, outdated, incorrectly entered, incorrectly interpreted, or affected by a technical fault. You must independently check Amathuba, official UCT email, course handouts, announcements, lecturer or tutor instructions, and other official UCT channels. Never rely on the Hub as your only source of academic information.

3. Your responsibility

You remain solely responsible for tracking and completing your academic obligations, attending the correct sessions, confirming changes, and meeting every deadline. Personal sessions, assessments, completion marks, and importance labels are entered or controlled by users and should also be checked. You must provide accurate account details, keep your password confidential, and promptly report suspected unauthorised access.

4. No guarantee and limitation of liability

The Hub is provided in good faith on an "as is" and "as available" basis, without a guarantee that it will always be accurate, complete, secure, available, or error-free. To the fullest extent permitted by South African law, Luca Volpi is not responsible or liable for missed classes, tests, submissions, deadlines, announcements, academic penalties, marks, data loss, service interruption, or any other loss arising from use of or reliance on the Hub. Nothing in these terms excludes liability or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited.

5. Acceptable use

You may use the Hub only for lawful personal academic organisation. You must not impersonate another person, share access credentials, attempt to access another student's information, disrupt or probe the service, upload unlawful or harmful material, misuse course communications, or use the Hub in a way that infringes privacy, confidentiality, copyright, or other rights. Access may be suspended or removed where reasonably necessary to protect users, data, or the service.

6. Personal information and privacy

Luca Volpi (student number VLPLUC001) is the operator responsible for the personal information processed by the Hub. Creating an account is optional. The Hub collects only the full name and student number you enter, a one-way password hash, security and session records, your terms and privacy choices, and the personal timetable, assessment, importance, and completion data you choose to save. It does not request your UCT password, marks, financial information, identity number, home address, health information, or contact list.

This information is processed only to review and administer account access, authenticate and secure your account, sync your own dashboard data across devices, provide features you request, investigate faults or abuse, comply with law, and maintain an auditable record of your choices. It will not be sold, used for advertising or direct marketing, displayed to other students, or shared with UCT as if the Hub were an official UCT system.

Luca may access account records only when reasonably necessary to approve or support accounts, secure or troubleshoot the Hub, respond to a request, or comply with law. Necessary infrastructure providers, currently including the hosting and database services used by the Hub, process data to operate the service. Their infrastructure may process or store data outside South Africa. No provider is authorised by these terms to use student account data for Luca's advertising or to sell it. Disclosure may also occur where legally required or reasonably necessary to protect users, the service, or another person's rights.

Account information is retained while the account is active and deleted when the student permanently deletes the account, except for limited records that must reasonably be retained for legal compliance, security, dispute resolution, or a provider's protected backup cycle. Retained information will not be used for a new incompatible purpose. Data that is no longer authorised or needed will be deleted or de-identified as reasonably practicable.

You may download a copy of your personal Hub data and permanently delete your account from Account & privacy settings. You may also ask Luca through the normal class contact channel to correct inaccurate identity information, restrict or object to processing where applicable, or resolve a privacy concern. You may withdraw consent by deleting your account and stopping use of the Hub; withdrawal does not invalidate processing that was lawful before withdrawal, and the account cannot operate after the necessary processing is withdrawn.

Reasonable technical and organisational safeguards are used, including hashed passwords, private account sessions, access controls, and per-user storage, but no online service can promise absolute security. Students must use a unique password and must never reuse their UCT password. If there are reasonable grounds to believe personal information was accessed by an unauthorised person, Luca will take containment steps and make notifications required by applicable law.

The Hub is limited to people who confirm they are at least 18 years old. Privacy consent must be voluntary, specific, and informed. Agreeing to these terms does not waive any right that POPIA or another applicable law does not permit a person to waive. A student may lodge a POPIA complaint through the Information Regulator's official complaints service if a concern is not resolved.

7. Course communications and third-party services

Course-update summaries may be generated from forwarded communications and can omit context or contain errors. Always read and follow the original official communication where available. The Hub may depend on third-party hosting, database, email, and network services. Those services can change, fail, or become unavailable, and their own terms and privacy practices may apply.

8. Changes, availability and termination

Features and information may be corrected, changed, suspended, or discontinued. Material changes to these terms or privacy purposes require a new version and renewed on-site acceptance before account use continues. The current version remains available from the footer. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be limited only as much as necessary and the remaining provisions continue to apply. These terms are governed by the laws of South Africa.

9. Agreement

By separately ticking the terms, privacy-consent, and age confirmations, you confirm that you have read and understood this notice, agree to the contractual terms, voluntarily consent to the specific account processing described above, are at least 18 years old, and understand that official academic information must always be verified independently. The Hub records the accepted versions and time of acceptance.