Users of IT facilities must behave reasonably towards other users and the facilities and in public areas they must behave appropriately. Users who do not behave reasonably and appropriately may be subject to disciplinary action in accordance with relevant procedures. Examples showing reasonable and appropriate behaviour are given in guidelines issued by the university from time to time. Users are responsible for making themselves familiar with this guidance. The guidelines give examples of reasonable and appropriate behaviour but are not exhaustive.
Approved by Academic Board.
Guidelines for the use of IT facilities
Note These guidelines describe the reasonable and appropriate behaviour required by the Regulation for the use of IT facilities at Oxford Brookes University. Other relevant guidelines include those for specific areas such as email, the web, the Internet etc (see www.brookes.ac.uk/infosec ). If you do not follow these guidelines, you may be breaking the criminal or civil law. Applicable laws include Data Protection Act 1998, Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988, and Computer Misuse Act 1990. An infringement of these guidelines may be a disciplinary offence under either the Student Conduct Regulations or Staff Conditions of Service. Advice and further information can be obtained from the Head of IT Services.
Users should note in particular that it is illegal to store or publish obscene or unlicensed copyright material and that user ids and passwords are not transferable.
Prevent Duty
Users should note that the University takes its responsibility under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 extremely seriously including those requirements detailed in Section 29 of the Act and referred to as the "Prevent Duty". Users must not deliberately create, display, produce, store, circulate or transmit material related to terrorism or extremist ideology in any form or medium except where required for academic purposes and for which prior agreement has been obtained from the Chief Information Officer.
1. Do not use another user's user id and password, nor allow the password of any account issued to you to become known to any other person. If you allow another person to use your account, it must be in your presence, under your supervision and only for the purpose of assistance or collaboration. You remain responsible for that person's use of your account and must identify that person to the university authorities if any breach of university regulations is suspected in connection with that use. This guideline does not apply where another's account is used by a member of staff as part of their duties.
2. Do not use or adopt any name or alias or user reference whether real or fictitious other than your own.
3. Do not request resources or access rights that you do not need.
4. Do not, having logged in, leave IT facilities unattended in an unlocked room. You must log out at the end of each logged in session unless prevented by system failure. Failure to do so may leave the account open for others to use. The institution accepts no responsibility for any loss to a user consequent upon a failure to log out correctly at the end of a session.
5. Do not remove, borrow, connect or disconnect equipment without permission.
6. Do not deliberately introduce any virus, worm, Trojan horse or other harmful or nuisance program or file into any IT facility, nor take deliberate action to circumvent any precautions taken or prescribed by the institution to prevent this.
7. Do not in any way cause any form of damage to the institution's IT facilities, nor to any of the accommodation or services associated with them.
8. Do not hack, access, copy, delete or amend or attempt so to do the computer account, information or resources of another user or of a system administrator without that person's permission.
9. Do not initiate or perpetuate any chain email message. Do report immediately to 'postmaster' the receipt of chain email messages forwarding the email message wherever possible.
10. Do not deliberately create, display, produce, store, circulate or transmit defamatory or libellous material.
11. Do not transmit unsolicited commercial or advertising material.
12. Do not deliberately create, display, produce, store, circulate or transmit obscene material in any form or medium except where required for academic purposes and for which prior agreement has been obtained from the Head of IT Services.
13. Do not monitor network traffic unless authorised to do so.
14. Do not make deliberate unauthorised access to facilities or services accessible via the Joint Academic Network (JANET).
15. Do not waste staff effort or networked resources, including time on end systems accessible via JANET and the effort of staff involved in the support of those systems.
16. Do not deny service to other users including deliberately or recklessly overloading access links or switching equipment.
17. You must adhere to the terms and conditions of all licence agreements relating to IT facilities which you use including software, equipment, services, documentation and other goods. You are deemed to have agreed to the Copyright Acknowledgement included in the CHEST Code of Conduct for the Use of Software or Datasets
http://www.eduserv.org.uk/services/Chest-Agreements/about-our-licences/user-obligations
18. You must use the IT facilities only for academic, research and administrative purposes together with limited personal use. Such personal use is allowed as a privilege not a right, must conform to these guidelines, and should not incur unreasonable costs or have an adverse impact on resources or services.
19. You must obtain permission from your head of school or director or Head of IT Services as appropriate to use computers for commercial or outside work including the use of IT facilities to the substantial advantage of other bodies such as employers of placement students.
Student behaviour
20. Do not interfere with or change any hardware or software; if you do, you may be charged for having it put right.
21. Do not interfere with the legitimate use by others of the IT facilities; do not remove or interfere with output belonging to others.
22. Do not load games software onto, or play games software on, the IT facilities unless required for academic purposes.
23. Do not admit any other person to 24 hour computer facilities or other university premises when those facilities or premises are locked and do not yourself enter unless authorised to do so.
24. Do not smoke, eat or drink, and do ensure that consumable products including food and drink are stowed away at all times, in any computer room or near any public access IT facilities.
25. You must respect the rights of others and should conduct yourself in a quiet and orderly manner when using IT facilities.
26. You must immediately vacate any IT room when asked to do so by any person who has legitimately booked that room and must not leave processes running or files printing or otherwise interfere with the work of that person. Failure to cooperate gives that person the right to switch off the work station that you are using.