Learner Support Services
A Directorate of Corporate Services
This document sets out University policy on the use and privacy of electronic communication (in particular electronic mail, Web access and Web publishing). It is also an important policy statement on ownership of electronic information in general
Electronic Mail, access to Web material and Web publishing are all important current means of communication that underpin the academic and administrative work of the University.
The University provides electronic communication facilities for its students and staff for University academic or administrative purpose. They are not provided for personal use. Although an insignificant amount of personal use will be tolerated by the University, it must comply with University Regulations and the Law and must not conflict with the business needs of the University in any way. In particular, it must not compromise the University's right of access to material on its facilities or right to monitor Internet access through them.
The University reserves the right to monitor, view or use, as it deems appropriate, any data stored or transmitted using University facilities (see the University Code of Practice on Information Access and Security section 3.12).
In the case of staff or student absence, the University will retrieve information from a user account if necessary. When a member of staff leaves a post, data or email on University facilities may be transferred and email may be routed to any member of the University deemed to have assumed responsibility for all or part of their workload.
Under University Terms of Contract on Intellectual Property Rights, the University holds the Intellectual Property Rights to electronic mail or Web material produced using University facilities. This is not lost when a message is posted to a public list but please note that the message may be forwarded or quoted (in full or in part) by others or may be archived.
Electronic mail should never be used for confidential communication, e.g. for messages containing information covered by the Data Protection Act. There is no guarantee of privacy with electronic mail. It is openly transmitted through public networks and may be accessed deliberately or inadvertently by others.
The University cannot guarantee the delivery or timeliness of electronic mail. The speed of delivery cannot be guaranteed and is often dependent on networks beyond the University's control.
Users are advised to use the Uiversity network and IT facilities with discretion and have a clear objective in mind. Electronic communication is a powerful tool for allowing groups to discuss matters with a common goal or publicise opinion widely but it is easy to to annoy other users inadvertently or to waste a lot of time with information that is useless to the recipient.
Users should communicate electronically as they would in public. Users should be aware that if an issue addressed in an email becomes the subject of a legal dispute, then those emails would be discoverable: that is, the court and all parties to the dispute would be entitled to see them.
Users should exercise good judgement when using electronic mail, following rules of ethical and non-discriminatory behaviour. Messages should not be harassing, libellous, threatening, abusive or obscene. It may seem unnecessary to remind users to use appropriate language in their electronic mail messages when such a culture is the norm for written and verbal communication. However, people who would never become emotional or inflammatory in an open meeting will sometimes respond too hastily or express their thoughts and feelings with undue frankness or even aggression when using electronic communication. The University is not responsible for message content. Staff and students are liable personally for the content of their communication.
Avoid getting personal with electronic mail or in Web material. Remember you can't hear the tone of voice in an electronic message and you can be easily misunderstood.
All members of the University have a responsibility toward classified or sensitive information including but not limited to personal information covered by the Data Protection Act (see 1.6 above and the University Code of Practice on Information Access and Security for further information).
Avoid sending unnecessary messages or cluttering Newsgroups with idiosyncratic memos.
Avoid typing electronic mail in capitals. It is often be interpreted as THREATENING by the reader.
Do remember to check you electronic mail for bad grammar or spelling errors. Electronic mail typed in a hurry is particularly vulnerable to typos and errors.
Avoid using electronic mail or publishing material if you feel angry or frustrated. You are likely to regret it, particularly if you sending to a mailing list or conference group, whereby at one keystroke many people can receive your message. If in doubt, wait until the next day, or until you 'cool off'.
Never send unsolicited or promotional material, generate 'chain electronic mail' or participate in requests to forward 'chain electronic mail' messages to other people. Such material is in breach of University regulations and can generate traffic peaks and degrade the overall performance of the network.
Do report junk electronic mail through official channels (see section 4 below for appropriate action). Many users strongly object to repeated junk electronic mails by replying to the mailing, thus swamping the network further with their messages of protest.
Do check your mailbox frequently and make sure that it is managed properly, i.e. that messages are deleted when no longer required. A good guideline is to delete all messages that are more than 90 days old.
Do take care if you forward a message to other recipients, you are in breach of copyright law if you change any of the wording, quote material out of context or attribute the material to the wrong person.
When in doubt, don't send an electronic message. Think first.
The University Regulation on use of Computing Facilities and the Campus Network (referred to as the University Computing Regulations) is concerned with the use of computing resources on campus, and covers the availability of facilities, code of conduct and penalties.. This is available from the J B Priestley Reception or electronically via the world wide web. All staff and students are advised to read it before using the University's computing resources. If you infringe Regulations you are liable to disciplinary action by the University.
Section 3.8 of the Computing Regulation states
"The transmission, storage, promotion or display of offensive, defamatory, or harassing material is strictly forbidden unless authorised exceptionally for legal academic purpose. In such cases, the user must obtain prior written authority from the University and all appropriate external bodies and must comply with any conditions imposed".
Section 3.10 of Computing Regulation states
"Users must treat with respect equipment and services at other sites accessed through University facilities and are subject to regulations imposed by the respective service providers. All use of the academic network (JANET), direct or indirect, is bound by the JANET Acceptable Use Policy issued by UKERNA".
Section 3.10 of Computing Regulation states
"Users are not permitted to use facilities, in particular Electronic Mail, to propagate unsolicited materials, e.g. advertisements and promotions, unless authorised exceptionally by the University and appropriate manager.
Section 4.4 of Computing Regulations states
"Regulations regarding the transmission, storage, or display of obscene material are enforceable by law under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 which amends the Obscene Publications Act 1956, the Protection of Children Act 1978 and the Telecommunications Act 1984 to extend their provisions over a data communications network".
Copies of both the Computing Regulations and the JANET Acceptable Use Policy are available on the World-Wide-Web at:
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/lss/regulations/policy/
or in printed form from the J B Priestley Building Reception.
It is inevitable as an Internet user that you will receive unsolicited advertising material, spoof virus warnings or, worse, offensive messages or information via electronic mail. We appreciate that such messages cause offence or distress and that is just what the perpetrator wants. Messages are deliberately worded to incite a response. They want you to complain, to ask to be removed from a mailing list or to copy the message to many other recipients, thus increasing email traffic enormously.
Complaining replies only serve to confirm to a miscreant that your email ID is valid (they often want to validate lists of email IDs before they sell them to a third party).
The other common message is a form of chain email. Such messages often masquerade as virus warnings or are exceptionally offensive. They are deliberately intended to encourage the recipient to complain to others or to pass on spoof warnings to many of their friends. The number of messages quickly multiplies until systems or the infrastructure are overloaded.
The following advice from IT Services (backed by the national academic networking authority, UKERNA) will help to keep the traffic in check and ensure that we have sufficient evidence to allow us to take appropriate action:
In the case of offensive messages, IT Services will take formal action through appropriate national bodies to complain to the service provider to ensure that the miscreants account is suspended and, where appropriate, that legal action is taken.
In the case of virus or other warnings, IT Services will check with the necessary authorities whether they are genuine or not. If a warning is genuine, details will be disseminated and virus checkers updated as appropriate.
You can obtain further information from:
The Director of Learner Support Services
Telephone 3401 or email s.l.marsh@bradford.ac.uk
or
The Director of IT Services
Telephone 3115 or email g.c.r.hill@bradford.ac.uk
For the Information Strategy Committee