JANET Policy

Internet Provision

Our Internet Service is provided by JANET, the Joint Academic Network, in conjunction with the University of Leeds. As such we are bound by their terms and policies regarding Internet usage within our University. The policy is there to protect our institution, staff and our students as well as the interests of the Joint Academic Network.

It is essential that we make our staff and students aware of the Acceptable Use Policy, as anyone found in breach of the policy will be subject to the University's disciplinary procedure AND there is a risk that the University itself may lose its Internet connection.

Please make sure that you read and understand the following:

JANET Acceptable Use Policy

1. JANET may not be used by a User Organisation or its Members for any of the activities described below.

2. Creation or transmission, or causing the transmission, of any offensive, obscene or indecent images, data or other material, or any data capable of being resolved into obscene or indecent images or material.

3. Creation or transmission of material with the intent to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.

4. Creation or transmission of material with the intent to defraud.

5. Creation or transmission of defamatory material.

6. Creation or transmission of material such that this infringes the copyright of another person.

7. Creation or transmission of unsolicited bulk or marketing material to users of networked facilities or services, save where that material is embedded within, or is otherwise part of, a service to which the user or their User Organisation has chosen to subscribe.

8. Deliberate unauthorised access to networked facilities or services.

9. Deliberate activities having, with reasonable likelihood, any of the following characteristics:

  • wasting staff effort or networked resources, including time on end systems accessible and the effort of staff involved in the support of those systems;
  • corrupting or destroying other users' data;
  • violating the privacy of other users;
  • disrupting the work of other users;
  • denying service to other users (for example, by deliberate or reckless overloading of access links or of switching equipment);
  • continuing to use an item of networking software or hardware after JANET(UK) has requested that use cease because it is causing disruption to the correct functioning of JANET;
  • other misuse of JANET or networked resources, such as the introduction of "viruses" or other harmful software via JANET

Avoid  wasting time on the Internet, this can slow the connection down and prevent other people from using the service.

Examples of time-wasting on the Internet are :

  • Internet Chat Rooms
  • Online Games
  • Watching film clips/movies for entertainment purposes
  • Listening to music/sound clips for entertainment purposes

Anyone found doing any of the above is likely to be logged off the network immediately.

Data Protection and Traffic Logging

As part of our managed network services we do acquire certain amounts of data about each user. Please note, we are obliged to keep all data under the Data Protection Act 1988. Should you wish to read details of this Act of Parliament please visit Her Majesty's Government web site (www.open.gov.uk).

The University monitors web traffic and can produce logs of web sites visited by both staff and student users.

Certain sites are blocked by our software, these are sites which are classified as inappropriate.

We believe is important to make users aware of this as before they use our internet services.

Summary

Some key pointers from the document above:

  • It is forbidden to access any web sites containing offensive, obscene or indecent images or data - which includes pornographic and hate speech sites - for any reason. You should also not use the Internet for any illegal practices - such as hacking - nor to violate another user's privacy or data or engage in mass advertising such as 'spam' emails.
  • You should also be careful about engaging in activity which might be seen as wasting time or network resources. Internet Chat Rooms and Online Games are forbidden, as are large entertainment downloads and live music feeds of any kind.
  • It should be noted that this summary is only given to help you understand the Acceptable Use Policy given above, and is not a replacement for it.

View the full JANET Policy on the JISC website

Last updated April 2017