Website & free waitlist
OCTO Terms of Service
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Welcome to OCTO. These terms cover octo-tool.com and our free waitlist for the study tool we are developing. Joining creates no purchase obligation. Before introducing product accounts, beta access, uploads, AI services or subscriptions, we will provide the applicable terms and privacy information.
1 Who we are
“OCTO” and “we” mean Axel Van Mechelen and Robbe Heynderickx, acting in their own names under the project name OCTO. “You” means a website visitor or waitlist participant. OCTO is currently a project, with no registered business or VAT number.
Contact: admin@octo-tool.com; Isabellakaai 60, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Business telephone: +32 472 97 43 23.
2 The website and waitlist
2.1 Registration and acceptance
You must be at least 16 and use an email address you control. If you are 16 or 17, you must have permission from your parent or guardian to join the waitlist. Provide accurate information; a university email is not necessary. Education level and how you found us are optional; we do not ask for your name. The age and guardian rules are OCTO participation requirements, not a statement of the general GDPR consent age.
When registration is available, you accept the displayed version by checking the Terms box and submitting the form. You can correct details before submission or contact us afterwards. A successful submission creates an active waitlist registration and queues a notification email. You do not need to receive the email or confirm a link to join. Signup is not proof of email ownership and does not subscribe you to the newsletter. Existing withdrawals and delivery suppressions are respected; an anonymous duplicate submission cannot reverse them. If you previously left, contact us. The versioned Terms link lets you save the text you accepted. Merely visiting the website does not constitute acceptance of a waitlist agreement.
2.2 What participation offers
We confirm your registration, manage the waitlist and send the availability notification you requested.
Joining does not guarantee access, a position, price, feature or invitation date. Invitations may be phased according to capacity and relevant launch needs; optional education information may help with this.
January 2027 is a target launch period, not a guarantee. Specific legally binding commitments remain effective.
The Vision, Community, Ocean, Investors, Students and Our Story pages describe the project, research, intentions and opportunities to contact us. Illustrations and planned features do not by themselves make those features available. Study-linked environmental contributions and impact examples depend on a future programme with published conditions, calculation methods and evidence; browsing or joining the waitlist does not generate a donation or certify an environmental result. Specific binding commitments and mandatory rules against misleading information remain unaffected.
Requesting a pitch deck, offering feedback or discussing a role does not by itself purchase securities, form an investment agreement, create employment or transfer intellectual-property rights. Any such arrangement requires its own applicable information and agreement. Do not send confidential proposals on the assumption that an ordinary email enquiry creates a confidentiality agreement.
2.3 Costs and future offers
The website and waitlist are free; we do not request payment card details. You pay any connection charges to your own provider. Any future paid product or trial requires a separate, clear offer and legally required agreement. Registration never automatically becomes a paid subscription. Your statutory consumer rights remain unaffected.
2.4 Duration and ending participation
You may leave at any time, free of charge, using a waitlist email link, email preferences or admin@octo-tool.com. The current waitlist ends at launch, earlier closure or at the end of 31 January 2027 in Brussels (23:00 UTC). The January launch target remains provisional; a changed target does not automatically extend your participation or permission to contact you. Continuing afterwards requires a new choice.
We may remove registrations for fraud, unauthorised use, serious breaches, security risks, duplication or persistent delivery problems. We act proportionately, explain and allow correction where appropriate, and let you challenge a decision. Urgent threats or abuse may require immediate action. If we close or pause the waitlist for project, capacity, legal or security reasons, we give reasonable notice where practicable.
Existing obligations remain effective.
2.5 Responsible use and content
Use the website lawfully. Do not disrupt systems, bypass access controls, harvest others’ personal data or send spam or unlawful material. Report security concerns to admin@octo-tool.com; this does not authorise testing systems without permission.
Website content belongs to the founders or their licensors. You may view it and keep copies for personal use. Further exploitation requires permission unless the law allows it. Do not use OCTO branding misleadingly. You retain your rights in feedback; we may use ordinary voluntary, non-confidential suggestions to improve OCTO, without an obligation to pay or implement them unless agreed otherwise.
2.6 Availability and liability
We take reasonable care with information, security and availability. Maintenance or failures may interrupt access. Planned features may change; we do not guarantee study outcomes or uninterrupted access.
External services have their own terms; we remain responsible for our own actions.
Our liability is determined by applicable law. These terms do not exclude liability for fraud, intentional misconduct, gross negligence or other liability that cannot lawfully be excluded. They impose no monetary liability cap or general indemnity obligation and do not limit mandatory consumer or privacy rights, including compensation rights.
2.7 Privacy and your choices
Our Privacy Policy explains data use, security, retention, providers and rights. Our GDPR page summarises it. It also identifies the outstanding provider, retention and email-tracking checks. Availability of the service does not establish that those checks are complete.
Accepting these Terms does not consent to email-open or click analytics and does not waive privacy rights. Our intended use of email technical records is limited to necessary security and delivery, subject to the conditions and remaining verification explained in Privacy Policy section 4.2. We do not make optional engagement tracking a condition of joining the waitlist. If a future purpose requires consent, we must obtain a valid separate choice before that processing; continued use or silence is not consent.
Waitlist messages, optional marketing and analytics have separate choices. Marketing requires a separate, confirmed subscription and includes an unsubscribe link. Leaving the waitlist does not automatically stop a separately confirmed newsletter; email preferences let you stop both. Unsubscribing is distinct from requesting complete erasure. Necessary participation, closure, legal or security notices contain no promotional material and are separate from newsletter marketing.
Cookiebot records your cookie choice; the Privacy Policy lists the current cookies, language storage and lifetimes. Google Analytics requires separate statistics consent. Rejecting or withdrawing through “Cookie settings” in the footer does not restrict access. Accepting these terms does not consent to marketing or analytics or create a data processing agreement between you and OCTO.
Privacy Policy sections 5 and 6 set out the supplier-location/transfer checks and the data-category schedule covering database, Brevo, mailbox, exports, logs and backups, with the applicable periods and Axel/Robbe responsibilities. They also require a complete test-registration deletion check, separate original-date backup-expiry verification, reapplication of newer deletions before a restore is used, and retention of only justified minimum evidence. These are requirements with explicitly recorded remaining verification, not a declaration that supplier erasure or a tracking exemption has been proved.
2.8 Changes
We may update these terms for reasonable legal, security or service reasons. We normally notify affected existing participants at their registered email address at least 15 days before material changes; legal or urgent security reasons may require shorter notice. The notice identifies the changes, proposed effective date and available choices, and links to a version you can save. If delivery cannot be completed, we do not treat silence or a later website visit as agreement to a change requiring acceptance. We seek agreement where required. You may leave free of charge. Without required agreement, we continue the existing arrangement or end participation with reasonable notice and respect for mandatory rights. Changes do not retrospectively remove acquired rights.
3 Governing law and complaints
Belgian law applies, preserving any mandatory consumer protection in your country of residence required by applicable law. You may use the legally competent courts, including courts in your country of residence where you have that right.
Complaints: admin@octo-tool.com or our postal address. For disputes within its remit, you may contact the Consumer Mediation Service. This does not restrict access to regulators or courts. Invalid provisions leave the remaining terms effective where the agreement can reasonably continue. Transfer to a new operator will not reduce mandatory rights and requires legally prescribed information and agreement. This release of the Terms and related legal documents is available in English and Dutch. Mandatory rules on clear information and interpretation remain applicable.