Updated Oct 2, 2025

Terms of Use

Terms of Use governing access to TeKanAid Marketing Site, Academy platform, consulting services, and educational programs.

Effective Date: October 2, 2025

Last Updated: October 2, 2025

Welcome to TeKanAid (“Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of our websites at https://tekanaid.com (the “Marketing Site”) and https://academy.tekanaid.com (the “Academy”), as well as our related services, including consulting services, blog content, and educational programs (collectively, the “Services”).

BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT USE THE SERVICES.

1. Acceptance of Terms

1.1 Binding Agreement

These Terms constitute a legally binding agreement between you and TeKanAid. By accessing or using the Services, you:

  • Acknowledge that you have read and understood these Terms
  • Agree to comply with all applicable laws and regulations
  • Affirm that all information you provide is accurate and current

1.2 Additional Policies

Your use of the Services is also governed by:

  • Our Privacy Policy
  • Subscription and payment terms (for Academy premium users)
  • Community guidelines and code of conduct (for Academy users)
  • Specific terms for enterprise/corporate accounts (if applicable)

1.3 Modifications

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. We will provide notice of material changes by:

  • Posting updated Terms on the Services
  • Sending email notification to your registered email address (if you have an account)
  • Displaying a prominent notice on the Services

Your continued use after modifications constitutes acceptance. If you disagree with changes, you must discontinue use and may close your account.

2. Description of Services

2.1 Marketing Site (tekanaid.com)

The Marketing Site provides:

  • Information about our company, services, and consulting offerings
  • Blog posts, articles, and educational resources
  • Contact forms for inquiries and newsletter subscriptions
  • Marketing information about the Academy

2.2 Academy (academy.tekanaid.com)

The Academy provides:

  • Online courses covering Platform Engineering technologies, Cloud, DevOps, and infrastructure
  • Interactive hands-on labs with cloud resource provisioning
  • Bootcamps and structured learning paths
  • Quizzes, assessments, and progress tracking
  • Community features (forums, study groups, gamification)
  • Certificates of completion

2.3 Consulting Services

We offer professional consulting services for:

  • Cloud architecture and infrastructure design
  • DevOps implementation and best practices
  • Training and knowledge transfer for teams
  • Project-specific technical guidance

3. Account Registration and Security (Academy)

3.1 Account Creation

To access the Academy, you must create an account by providing:

  • Valid email address
  • Display name
  • Authentication credentials (password or third-party OAuth provider such as Google)

3.2 Email Verification

Academy access requires email verification. You must verify your email address before accessing courses, labs, and premium content. You may:

  • Request up to 3 verification emails per hour
  • Contact support if you experience verification issues
  • Update your email address in account settings (requires re-verification)

3.3 Account Security

You are responsible for:

  • Maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials
  • All activities that occur under your account
  • Notifying us immediately of any unauthorized access
  • Using strong, unique passwords

We are not liable for losses caused by unauthorized use of your account.

3.4 Account Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that:

  • Violate these Terms or our policies
  • Engage in fraudulent or illegal activities
  • Abuse platform resources or exploit security vulnerabilities
  • Create multiple accounts to circumvent restrictions
  • Harass other users or post inappropriate content

You may delete your Academy account at any time through account settings. Upon deletion:

  • Your personal data will be removed within 30 days
  • Active subscriptions will be canceled (see refund policy in Section 4.6)
  • Community contributions may be retained in anonymized form
  • Access to courses and labs will be immediately revoked

4. Subscription Plans and Payments (Academy)

4.1 Free and Premium Tiers

The Academy offers:

Free Tier:

  • Access to select free courses and labs
  • Basic community features

Premium Tier:

  • Unlimited access to all courses, labs, and bootcamps
  • Full community and gamification features
  • Priority support
  • Downloadable resources and certificates

4.2 Subscription Plans

Premium subscriptions are available as:

  • Monthly Plan: Billed monthly, cancel anytime
  • Quarterly Plan: Billed every 3 months at a discounted rate

4.3 Payment Processing

  • All payments are processed securely through Stripe
  • We do not store your payment card information
  • Subscriptions auto-renew unless canceled
  • Prices are in USD unless otherwise stated
  • You authorize recurring charges to your payment method

4.4 Billing and Renewal

  • Billing Cycle: Subscriptions renew automatically on the same day each period
  • Payment Failure: If payment fails, we will retry and may suspend access
  • Price Changes: We will notify you at least 30 days before price increases
  • Cancellation: You can cancel anytime; access continues until the end of the current billing period

4.5 Promotional Codes and Discounts

  • Promotional codes may have specific terms and expiration dates
  • Discounts apply only to the specified subscription period
  • We reserve the right to modify or cancel promotions at any time
  • Only one promotional code may be used per transaction

4.6 Refund Policy

  • 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee: New subscribers may request a full refund within 30 days of their first subscription payment
  • No Partial Refunds: No refunds for partial subscription periods after the 30-day period
  • Technical Issues: We may provide pro-rated refunds at our discretion for significant technical issues
  • Fraudulent Charges: Report unauthorized charges immediately for investigation
  • Refund Process: Contact [email protected] with your refund request. Refunds are processed within 10 business days to your original payment method.

4.7 Enterprise and Corporate Accounts

Organizations may purchase bulk access through:

  • Email Permission System: Pre-authorized employee email addresses receive access
  • Corporate Contracts: Custom pricing and access levels
  • Contract Management: Companies control access duration and permissions
  • Metadata Tracking: Contract ID, company name, and access levels stored

Corporate access is governed by separate enterprise agreements.

5. Platform Use and Restrictions

5.1 Permitted Use

You may use the Services to:

  • Access educational courses, lessons, quizzes, and labs (Academy)
  • Read blog posts and educational content (Marketing Site)
  • Contact us for inquiries and consulting services
  • Complete hands-on labs using provisioned cloud resources (Academy)
  • Participate in community forums and study groups (Academy)
  • Track your learning progress and earn badges (Academy)

5.2 Prohibited Activities

You may NOT:

Content Misuse:

  • Copy, reproduce, or redistribute course content or blog posts without permission
  • Share your Academy account credentials with others
  • Circumvent access controls or subscription requirements
  • Create derivative works from our proprietary content
  • Use our content for commercial training purposes without written permission

System Abuse:

  • Use Academy labs for cryptocurrency mining, hacking, or malicious activities
  • Overload or disrupt platform infrastructure
  • Attempt unauthorized access to systems or data
  • Reverse engineer or decompile platform software
  • Use automation tools to scrape or harvest data from either site

Community Violations (Academy):

  • Post spam, advertisements, or solicitations
  • Harass, threaten, or abuse other users
  • Share illegal, offensive, or inappropriate content
  • Impersonate others or provide false information
  • Vote manipulation or gaming the reputation system

Cloud Resource Abuse (Academy Labs):

  • Use AWS accounts or VMs for purposes other than lab exercises
  • Store personal or production data in lab environments
  • Extend lab sessions beyond intended learning activities
  • Share lab credentials or cloud resources with others
  • Perform port scanning, penetration testing, or attacks on third parties

6. Intellectual Property

6.1 Our Intellectual Property

All content and materials on the Services are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws:

Our IP Includes:

  • Course content, lessons, quizzes, and lab configurations (Academy)
  • Blog posts, articles, and educational resources (Marketing Site)
  • Platform software, APIs, and user interfaces
  • TeKanAid brand, logos, and trademarks
  • Documentation, guides, and instructional materials
  • Design elements, graphics, and visual assets

6.2 Your License to Content

We grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license to:

  • Access and view content for personal educational purposes
  • Download materials explicitly marked as downloadable
  • Complete Academy labs and exercises using provided resources

This license does NOT permit you to:

  • Redistribute or resell content
  • Create competing educational products
  • Remove copyright or attribution notices
  • Use content for commercial training without permission
  • Modify or create derivative works

6.3 User-Generated Content (Academy)

Content You Create:

  • You retain ownership of content you create in labs (within license terms)
  • Community posts you create are yours, but you grant us a license to display them
  • Code you write in labs belongs to you (unless using proprietary templates)

License You Grant Us: By posting content in the Academy community, you grant us a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to:

  • Display, distribute, and promote your content
  • Use your content to improve our Services
  • Create derivative works for platform functionality

You represent and warrant that:

  • You have the right to share the content you post
  • Your content does not violate third-party intellectual property rights
  • Your content complies with our community guidelines

6.4 Third-Party Content

Some content may include:

  • Embedded YouTube videos (subject to YouTube’s Terms of Service)
  • Open-source software and tools (subject to their respective licenses)
  • Links to external resources (we are not responsible for external content)

If you believe content on our Services infringes your copyright, contact us at [email protected] with:

  • Description of the copyrighted work
  • Location of the infringing material
  • Your contact information
  • Statement of good faith belief
  • Statement of accuracy under penalty of perjury
  • Your physical or electronic signature

7. Interactive Labs and Cloud Resources (Academy)

7.1 Lab Functionality

The Academy provides hands-on labs using:

  • Virtual Machines: Hetzner Cloud servers provisioned per lab session
  • AWS Accounts: Temporary IAM users with limited permissions
  • Cloud Resources: S3 buckets, EC2 instances, and other AWS services as needed for labs

7.2 Lab Sessions

  • Labs automatically provision required infrastructure when you start a session
  • Sessions have time limits
  • Resources are automatically cleaned up after session ends
  • You are responsible for all actions taken within lab environments
  • Lab data is not persistent; always save your work externally

7.3 Acceptable Lab Use

Labs must only be used for:

  • Completing assigned lab tasks and exercises
  • Learning and practicing cloud technologies
  • Experimenting within defined lab objectives and scope

7.4 Prohibited Lab Activities

You may NOT use labs for:

  • Production workloads or hosting live services
  • Cryptocurrency mining or blockchain operations
  • Port scanning, penetration testing, or security research targeting third parties
  • Storing sensitive, personal, or confidential data
  • Generating malicious traffic or conducting attacks
  • Activities violating AWS or cloud provider acceptable use policies
  • Any activity that generates unexpected costs or violates resource limits

7.5 AWS Account Usage

  • Temporary AWS accounts are created specifically for lab exercises

  • Accounts have restricted IAM policies limiting permissible actions

  • Accounts are automatically cleaned up after session completion

  • You must not attempt to:

    • Escalate privileges beyond lab permissions
    • Create resources outside lab scope
    • Expose credentials or share access with others
    • Incur costs beyond allocated lab budget
    • Access AWS services not specified in lab instructions

7.6 Data Loss Disclaimer

WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DATA LOSS IN LAB ENVIRONMENTS. Labs are temporary learning environments. Do not store important data in labs. Always save your work to your local machine before ending a session.

8. Community Features (Academy)

8.1 Community Platform

The Academy includes community features:

  • Discussion Forums: Q&A posts, technical discussions, and resource sharing
  • Study Groups: Collaborative learning groups for courses and topics
  • Gamification: Points, badges, streaks, and leaderboards
  • User Profiles: Public profiles showing achievements and contributions

8.2 Community Conduct

You agree to:

  • Be respectful and professional in all interactions
  • Provide accurate and helpful information
  • Respect intellectual property in posts and responses
  • Report inappropriate content or behavior to moderators

8.3 Moderation

We reserve the right to:

  • Remove content that violates Terms or community guidelines
  • Suspend users who violate community standards
  • Edit or delete posts to maintain quality and safety
  • Use automated spam detection and content moderation

8.4 Gamification Rules

  • Points and badges are awarded based on legitimate platform activity
  • Gaming the system or artificial inflation of reputation is prohibited
  • Leaderboard rankings are based on genuine learning activity
  • We may reset points or revoke badges for violations

9. Disclaimers and Limitations of Liability

9.1 “AS-IS” Service

THE SERVICES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

  • Accuracy, reliability, or completeness of content
  • Uninterrupted or error-free operation
  • Fitness for a particular purpose
  • Non-infringement of third-party rights
  • Results or outcomes from using our Services

9.2 No Professional Certification

  • The Academy provides educational content, not professional certifications
  • Certificates of completion do not guarantee job placement or professional credentials
  • You are responsible for verifying whether our courses meet your professional or regulatory requirements

9.3 Consulting Services

  • Consulting services are provided based on our professional judgment and industry best practices
  • We do not guarantee specific results or outcomes from consulting engagements
  • You are responsible for implementing recommendations and assessing their suitability for your situation

9.4 Technical Limitations

We do not guarantee:

  • Compatibility with all devices, browsers, or operating systems
  • Continuous access during maintenance, outages, or force majeure events
  • Prevention of data loss or corruption in lab environments
  • Security against all cyber threats or vulnerabilities

9.5 Third-Party Services

We are not responsible for:

  • Stripe payment processing errors or disputes
  • AWS or cloud provider service interruptions
  • YouTube content availability or policy changes
  • Third-party integrations, tools, or links

9.6 Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW:

  • WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES

  • OUR TOTAL LIABILITY SHALL NOT EXCEED THE AMOUNT YOU PAID IN THE PAST 12 MONTHS

  • WE ARE NOT LIABLE FOR DAMAGES CAUSED BY:

    • Your misuse of the Services or violation of these Terms
    • Unauthorized access to your account
    • Data loss in Academy lab environments
    • Third-party actions or service failures
    • Force majeure events beyond our reasonable control
    • Reliance on content or information provided through the Services

9.7 User Responsibility

You acknowledge that:

  • You are responsible for verifying information accuracy before relying on it
  • You use labs and cloud resources at your own risk
  • You must comply with all applicable laws and cloud provider policies
  • You are liable for costs incurred by your violations or misuse

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless TeKanAid, its officers, directors, employees, contractors, and agents from any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from:

  • Your violation of these Terms
  • Your misuse of the Services or Academy cloud resources
  • Your violation of third-party rights, including intellectual property rights
  • Your fraudulent or illegal activities
  • Content you post in Academy community areas
  • Your consulting engagements or implementation of recommendations

11. Termination

11.1 Termination by You

You may terminate your account at any time by:

  • Using the account deletion feature in Academy settings
  • Contacting support at [email protected]

Upon termination:

  • Your access to the Academy ends immediately
  • Active subscriptions are canceled (see refund policy in Section 4.6)
  • Personal data is deleted within 30 days per our Privacy Policy
  • Community posts may be retained in anonymized form

11.2 Termination by Us

We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if:

  • You violate these Terms or our policies
  • You engage in fraudulent activity or payment disputes
  • You abuse cloud resources or platform systems
  • You create security risks or legal liabilities
  • Required by law or legal process
  • Your account is inactive for an extended period

11.3 Effect of Termination

Upon termination:

  • All licenses granted to you are revoked
  • You must cease all use of content from the Services
  • Provisions regarding IP, indemnification, and liability survive termination
  • Outstanding payments or refund claims are handled per Section 4.6

12. Dispute Resolution

12.1 Governing Law

These Terms are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to conflict of law principles.

12.2 Informal Resolution

Before initiating any legal proceedings, you agree to:

  • Contact us at [email protected] describing the dispute
  • Negotiate in good faith for 30 days
  • Provide evidence and documentation supporting your claim

12.3 Jurisdiction

Any legal action or proceeding arising from these Terms shall be brought exclusively in the courts located in Ontario, Canada. You consent to the jurisdiction of such courts.

12.4 Class Action Waiver

You agree that disputes will be resolved on an individual basis only. You waive the right to participate in class actions, class arbitrations, or representative proceedings.

13. General Provisions

13.1 Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and any additional agreements, constitute the entire agreement between you and TeKanAid regarding the Services.

13.2 Severability

If any provision is found unenforceable, it will be modified to reflect the parties’ intent, and the remaining provisions remain in full effect.

13.3 No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any right or provision does not constitute a waiver. Waivers must be in writing signed by an authorized representative.

13.4 Assignment

You may not assign or transfer these Terms or your rights hereunder. We may assign our rights to affiliates, successors, or acquirers without restriction.

13.5 Force Majeure

We are not liable for delays or failures due to events beyond our reasonable control, including natural disasters, strikes, war, pandemics, infrastructure failures, or government actions.

13.6 Notices

Legal notices will be sent to your registered email address (if you have an account) or posted on the Services. You must keep your contact information current.

Send notices to us at:

13.7 Relationship

These Terms do not create a partnership, joint venture, employment, or agency relationship between you and TeKanAid.

13.8 Survival

Sections regarding intellectual property, disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification, and dispute resolution survive termination of these Terms.

14. Contact Information

For questions about these Terms:

General Inquiries: [email protected] Legal Matters: [email protected] Technical Support: [email protected]

Business Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada

15. Accessibility

We strive to make our Services accessible to users with disabilities. If you experience accessibility barriers, please contact [email protected].

16. Acknowledgment

BY USING THE SERVICES, YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THESE TERMS, UNDERSTAND THEM, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THEM. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, DO NOT USE THE SERVICES.

TeKanAid Empowering cloud professionals through hands-on learning and expert consulting.