Data Retention and Deletion Policy

We keep personal data only for as long as there is a stated purpose for holding it.

Each category of data has a defined retention period, published in this policy.

Where a period expires, data is deleted or irreversibly anonymised.

Anonymised data cannot be re-associated with you and is not personal data.

We do not retain data indefinitely on the basis that it might one day be useful.

This policy forms part of the Privacy Policy.

Account record — while the account is open, then deleted or anonymised within thirty days of closure.

Password hash — deleted immediately on closure.

Email address — deleted within thirty days of closure, save where retained for a live legal matter.

Contributions — as chosen by you on closure; see the following section.

Saved items, download history and reading history — deleted on closure.

Server logs including IP addresses — ninety days.

Security and authentication logs — twelve months.

Moderation and enforcement records — five years.

Takedown notices and counter-notices — five years.

Correspondence with support — twenty-four months.

Records relating to a live legal claim or investigation — until the matter concludes, then five years.

Backups — a rolling cycle of no more than thirty-five days.

You may close your account at any time from the account deletion page.

Closure does not require you to email anybody, give a reason, or speak to anybody.

We ask you to confirm, because closure cannot be undone.

On confirmation, access is disabled immediately and the account is queued for deletion.

Deletion completes within thirty days.

We send a confirmation to your email address when deletion completes, and then delete the address.

There is no waiting period, cooling-off period or reactivation window. If you want the account back, you create a new one.

When you close your account you choose one of two outcomes for what you contributed.

Withdraw — your notes, answers and comments are removed from the Service within seven days.

Leave published — your notes remain available to students, attributed to your display name, and your account record is still deleted.

Leaving material published is a choice, never a default, and it is presented neutrally.

If you make no choice, your contributions are withdrawn.

Where you choose to leave material published, we may anonymise the attribution on later request.

Material quoted or built upon by other users is not automatically removed when yours is.

Copies already downloaded by other people are outside our control and cannot be recalled.

You may delete a single note, answer or comment at any time without closing your account.

Deletion removes it from public view immediately and from our systems within seven days.

Deletion is not reversible.

You may edit rather than delete, which preserves the item's address and any links to it.

Deleting a note does not delete comments other people made on it, which are their contributions.

We take backups so that a failure does not destroy the library.

Backups are encrypted and access to them is restricted and logged.

Backups roll off on a cycle of no more than thirty-five days.

Deleted data may persist in a backup until that backup expires.

Backups are never used to restore a deleted account or deleted content.

If a backup is restored after an incident, deletions requested before the incident are reapplied.

Where retention is required by law or by a lawful order.

Where the data relates to a live legal claim, investigation or regulatory matter.

Where the data is a moderation or enforcement record, for the published five-year period.

Where the data is necessary to prevent a closed account from being recreated to evade enforcement.

Where the data is necessary to protect a person from serious harm.

In each case we retain the minimum necessary, and only for the period stated.

Retained data is not published, is not used for any other purpose, and is access-restricted.

We tell you if we retain something you asked us to delete, and why, unless prohibited from doing so.

You may request a copy of everything we hold about you in a portable, machine-readable format.

We provide it within thirty days and we do not charge.

We may ask you to verify your identity first.

An export includes your account record, your contributions and your activity data.

An export excludes data that would disclose another person's personal information.

Requests should go to legal@lacspace.com.

If we cannot meet a request in full, we say which part and why.

We do not delete accounts merely for being inactive.

If we ever introduce an inactivity policy, we will give at least ninety days' notice by email before acting on it.

If the Service is discontinued, we will give at least thirty days' notice and provide an export route.

On discontinuation, personal data is deleted within ninety days of closure unless a retention exception applies.

Contributors will be told before their material stops being available.