Acceptable Use Policy

 

This Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) refers to the computer network supplied by St. Wilfrid’s RC College for the use of staff, students and authorised visitors. This policy explains the behaviours, which are acceptable and unacceptable with regard to usage of the network service provided.

 

This AUP has been endorsed and approved by the governing body and the school’s Senior Management Team.

 

St. Wilfrid’s vision as a Specialist College in Mathematics and Computing is to creatively and safely utilise a wide range of innovative and captivating technologies. The establishment seeks to promote high standards of teaching and learning by supporting the effective use of ICT.

 

This policy applies to all users of the St. Wilfrid’s network whether in school or connecting externally. This includes local authority officers, head teachers, governors, teachers, students, classroom assistants, parent or voluntary helpers, school caretakers and other ancillary staff.

 

All users should note that the St. Wilfrid’s network is monitored on a regular basis. Any user who is found to deliberately infringe this policy may be subject to disciplinary procedures or legal action.

 

Unlawful and Illegal Use  

It is accepted that all material which depicts the abuse of children and young people is illegal. Other illegal material includes race hatred, incitement to violence and downloading copyright materials. These are not exclusive categories. There may be other information which is also deemed to be illegal. 

 

Accidental access to materials which may be classed as illegal should be reported promptly to the school. There is a page on the VLE which can be utilised to report information. Alternatively you can e-mail the details to abuse@st-wilfrids.org.

 

Our network may be used for lawful and educational purposes only.

 

If you receive images, which you believe could be illegal it is imperative that you make no attempt to investigate the content. You must report it to a member of the ICT technical team immediately. This report is to protect you from any suspicion for having potential illegal material in your possession. Under no circumstances forward the email, copy the image or show it to another person, as each of these actions constitutes an illegal offence.

 

As a user of this service you agree not to send or receive materials or data, which is: 

You are prohibited from storing, distributing, transmitting or permitting the storage distribution or transmission (whether intentionally or otherwise) of, any unlawful material.

 

You may not post, upload or otherwise distribute or permit the posting, uploading or distribution (whether intentionally or otherwise) of copyrighted material on our servers without the consent of the copyright holder. A copy of the consent must be passed to the ICT department to prevent your files from being removed from the network. 

 

In the event St. Wilfrid’s or Easynet (our broadband provider) become aware of any breach of this clause, action may be taken. The storage, distribution, or transmission of unlawful materials could also lead to UK authorities alleging criminal liability. 

 

Inappropriate use of the network includes accessing or having possession of material that is thought to be offensive such as, adult pornography of any level, content of an obscene, indecent and/or abusive nature. You should be aware that disciplinary and/or civil action might arise if users are found to be accessing material of this nature across the school, Local Authority or regional network.

 

Violations of system or network security  

Any violations of systems or network security are prohibited, and may result in the user facing banning, suspension, exclusion or criminal and civil action. St. Wilfrid’s will investigate incidents involving such violations and will inform and co-operate with the relevant law enforcement organisations if a criminal violation is suspected. Violations may include, but are not limited to, the following:

All machines connected to the St. Wilfrid’s network have full up to date and appropriate anti virus and anti spam protection to aid your protection against unwanted mail.

 

All users of the St. Wilfrid’s network are required to be individually identifiable. This means that every user of the network must have an individual username and password. This must be securely kept and not passed onto other users. In the event of an investigation into misuse, proper use of passwords will protect innocent users from the upset and embarrassment of suspicion for inappropriate or illegal misuse.

 

Those members of staff who have administration or higher access rights to their school network should take care to ensure that no unauthorised user obtains access to their password. This includes accidental or deliberate access by leaving machines active when not in use by authorised personnel. The logged on user could well be held responsible for access made through their logon details.

 

You should not send e-mail to any user who does not wish to receive it. St. Wilfrid’s recognises that e-mail is an informal medium. However, users must refrain from sending further e-mail to a user after receiving a request to stop. Chain letters are unsolicited by definition and may not be propagated using the network.

 

Flood emails will result in the site’s broadband connection being shutdown.

 

You may not send, distribute, or reply to mailbombs. Mailbombing is defined as either emailing copies of a single non work related message to many users, or sending large or multiple files or messages to a single user with malicious intent.

 

You may not use false email headers or alter the headers of e-mail messages to conceal their e-mail address or to prevent Internet users from responding to messages. You may not use any email address that you are not authorised to use. Private email addresses are not advised for formal educational business. This is to provide a level of protection and privacy for individual members of staff.

 

Violations of the AUP outlined in this document can sometimes result in massive numbers of e-mail responses. If a user receives so much e-mail that the network or any associated service is compromised, we will shut down that user's account.

 

Advertising to Unsolicited Email Recipients 

You may not operate, host, provide hosting facilities to or assist in any way whatsoever any web site, email address, email service, ftp service or any other online service, which is advertised or promoted by means of Unsolicited Bulk Email. Any account suspected of doing so will immediately be suspended pending an investigation.

 

All school machines, which are connected to the regional broadband network access the internet via the Cachepilot providing protection for accidentally viewing illegal sites. The regional broadband service complies with banned sites listed by the Internet Watch Foundation (www.iwf.org.uk). Attempts to access these banned sites may result in the user being banned from the internet and network, being suspended, excluded or being reported to the appropriate authorities resulting in legal or civil actions.

 

The laws of all nation states, regulating such diverse subjects as intellectual property, fraud, defamation, pornography, insurance, banking, financial services and tax, apply equally to on-line activities. However, the practical legal position regarding Internet usage is often uncertain.

 

Strictly, documents must not be published on the web which are defamatory or which may constitute intimidating, hostile or offensive material on the basis of sex, race, colour, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or disability under the sovereign law of the country in which the web server hosting the published material is sited.

 

Strictly, material must not be accessed from the web, which would be objectionable on the above grounds under the sovereign law of the countries in which the networks transporting the material are sited or which would violate the Acceptable Use Policies of those networks.

 

Given the impracticality of assessing the exact legal position with regard to the previous two paragraphs, St. Wilfrid’s acceptable use protocol governing material that could be objectionable on the above grounds, is grounded in English law.

 

Once information is published on the worldwide web anyone from anywhere in the world can access it. It is therefore critical that material of a proprietary or sensitive nature should not be published on unsecured public web sites. 

 

From time to time, internet usage is monitored and a log is kept of all sites visited. Any violations identified may result in further investigation and potential criminal / disciplinary action. Where authorised we will proactively monitor, log and investigate Internet access for an entire site or nominated users. Reporting on aggregate usage is performed on a regular basis.

 

Copyrights and licensing conditions must be observed when downloading software and fixes from the web sites of authorised software suppliers. Such files must never be transmitted or redistributed to third parties without the express permission of the copyright owner.

 

 

Chat rooms and Instant Messaging software (msn messenger, yahoo messenger) are deemed to be of little or no educational value whilst in school.

 

Access will remain blocked to all the above and sanctions will be taken against anybody attempting to access media of this type. 

 

Sanctions include but are not limited to; internet usage banning, computer system banning, suspension and exclusion.

 

The following are a list of Acts that apply to the use of St. Wilfrid’s Network and Services: 

St. Wilfrid’s do not prohibit the use of mobile devices on the network. However, users should note the following items. These examples are for clarification. They are not exclusive.

 

Mobile devices include but are not limited to ; Laptops, PDA’s, Blackberry’s, USB Pen Drives, Floppy Disks, CD’s, DVD’s, Digital tapes, Digital cards. 

 

Laptops provided for staff or students belong to St. Wilfrid’s.

 

All laptops must be returned upon ceasing to be employed or schooled by St. Wilfrid’s.

 

Software must not be installed without the permission of the network manager.

 

You remain responsible for your laptop at all times; this includes any use by members of your household.

 

Any mobile device must be checked for viruses and spam content before being attached to the network.

 

Mobile devices must not be used to take photographs or sound clips of any person who is unaware of the action and who has not given their permission.

 

Any use of mobile technology to intimidate, bully, harass or threaten others will be counted as an infringement of network use. This may result in disconnection from the network or legal or civil disciplinary action. Uploading images and sound is only permissible if the subject involved gives permission.

 

Any images that involve children must not identify children by name and permission must have been agreed by the relevant parent / carer before posting. A record should be made of who will be taking the photos, why the photos are being taken, when they are being taken and what they are to be used for. This should all be documented in the risk assessment carried out before a school trip or event. The photos should then be stored in a safe area within the school LAN and only used for legitimate educational purposes as directed by the Headteacher.

 

 

The virtual learning environment, also known as Frogserver or the VLE is a powerful learning tool which will give access to the network from any computer in the world. 

 

As such it is vital that password security is held at the forefront of your mind.

 

Any attempts to break into areas of this server, or damage it in any way will be met with severe punishments. 

 

All VLE access is tightly monitored so you should be aware that any illegal or questionable material uploaded can and will be checked by staff. 

 

Like any online service, it is impossible to guarantee that there will never be accidental access to inappropriate or offensive material.

 

Any user of the St. Wilfrid’s network who accidentally comes across inappropriate or offensive material should do the following:

Inform the schools technical team either by e-mail at abuse@st-wilfrids.org or via the AUP tab on the frogserver.

 

Ensure you log the web address, time and username.

 

We will then take the necessary steps to prevent repeat access to the URL again.

 

This should be reported immediately as in the methods above. Please do not perform any investigation yourselves as you may also be held responsible.

 

Anything deemed unacceptable by the abuse team will be escalated to senior management and may face strict sanctions.

 

Visiting pornographic sites (adult top shelf materials) 

Causing offence to religious groups

Inappropriate use of email

Deliberate sabotage of the network; i.e. hacking, mail bombing etc.

 

Examples of Illegal Acts: 

Accessing any child abuse images

Incitement to racial hatred

Incitement to violence

Software media counterfeiting or illegitimate distribution of copied software.

 

 

On the facts that are immediately available, a decision will be taken whether to refer the matter to the Police for criminal investigation. This does not preclude the matter being referred to the Police at any later stage when a formal investigation has been undertaken.

 

Where St. Wilfrid’s are approached by an officer in an LA or any public body and asked to provide evidence or monitoring of a suspected site the following rules will apply.

 

The Home Office states that:

“The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) provides for, and regulates the use of, a range of investigative powers, by a variety of public authorities. It updates the law on the interception of communications to take account of technological change such as the growth of the Internet. It also puts other intrusive investigative techniques on a statutory footing for the very first time; provides new powers to help combat the threat posed by rising criminal use of strong encryption; and ensures that there is independent judicial oversight of the powers in the Act.”

 

Each police force and most council’s including the governing body of St. Wilfrid’s are defined as a Public Authority to which RIPA applies. The forms of surveillance that the police and any council are entitled to authorise are covert directed surveillance and the use of covert human intelligence sources (informants). In any council only officers of the rank of deputy chief officer and above may be designated as Authorising Officers under RIPA. No covert directed surveillance or use of covert human intelligence sources may be undertaken without obtaining authority from such an Authorising Officer.

 

RIPA requires that third parties (St. Wilfrid’s) that are required to provide information about other people subject to surveillance and investigation should be approached in a highly controlled manner by means of standard forms published by the Home Office. St. Wilfrid’s will require that all such applications for information be made in the appropriate manner.

 

St. Wilfrid’s RC College and Easynet will endeavour, wherever possible, to provide a safe and secure environment for its users. However, users must be aware that we cannot guarantee complete safety from inappropriate or illegal material. Users should remain completely aware of the sites they access and report any inappropriate use immediately.