1. General Points:

1.1. The College has the right to monitor all aspects of its telephone and computer systems that are made available to you and to monitor, intercept and/or record any communications made by students, including telephone, e-mail, local-area-network or internet communications. To ensure compliance with this procedure or for any other purpose authorised under the Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 students are hereby required to expressly consent to the College doing so. This is done through the learners agreement form.

1.2. Computers and e-mail accounts are the property of the college and are designed to assist in the performance of your work. Therefore you should have no expectation of privacy in any e-mail sent or received whether it is of a business or personal nature.

1.3. It is inappropriate use of e-mail and the Internet for students of the college to access, download, or transmit any material which might reasonably be considered obscene, abusive, sexist, racist, or defamatory. You should be aware that such material might also be contained in "jokes" sent by e-mail. Such misuse of electronic systems will be misconduct. The College reserves the right to use the content of any students e-mail in any disciplinary process.

2. Examples of Unacceptable use:

2.1. Corrupting or destroying other users data

2.2. Violating the privacy of others

2.3. Disrupting the work of other users

2.4. Using the network in a way that denies service to others, e.g. deliberate overloading of printing facilities, deliberate overloading of access links (Internet link)

2.5. Deliberate or thoughtless introduction of a virus into the network environment

2.6. Installation of unauthorised software on College machines

2.7. Defamatory remarks in e-mails

3. Network Service Guidance, E-Mail and the Internet

3.1. E-mails should be drafted with care. Due to the informal nature of e-mail, it is easy to forget that it is a permanent form of written communication and that material can be recovered even when it is deleted from your computer.

3.2. Students should not make derogatory remarks in e-mails about other students, or any other persons. Any written derogatory remark may constitute libel.

3.3. Try not to cause e-mail congestion by sending trivial messages or unnecessarily copying e-mails. Students should regularly delete unnecessary e-mails to prevent over-burdening the system. You can save up to 20Mb of e-mails on the system. After this amount is reached, the system will issue you with warnings. You will need to delete some of your messages otherwise the system will eventually stop processing your mail.

3.4. Make hard copies of e-mails which you need to retain for record keeping purposes. File them as you would file any other hard copy.

3.5. You may want to obtain confirmation of receipt of important messages. You should be aware that this is not always possible and may depend on the external system receiving your message. If in doubt, telephone to confirm receipt of important messages.

3.6. Reasonable private use of e-mail is permitted, but should not interfere with your work. The contents of personal e-mails must comply with the restrictions set out in this document. Excessive use in certain circumstances may be treated by the College as gross misconduct.

3.7. By sending messages on the College's system you are consenting to the processing of personal data contained in that e-mail. If you do not wish, the College to process such data you should communicate it by other means.

3.8. The College blocks all potentially executable e-mail attachments since these types of files could constitute the most severe virus attack. Files with the following extensions are currently banned, *.exe, *.bat, *.vbs, *.com. This list is not exhaustive and the College reserves the right to block other types as and when necessary.

3.9. Reasonable private use of the Internet is permitted but should be kept to a minimum and should not interfere with your work. Excessive private access to the Internet during working hours may lead to disciplinary action and may in certain circumstances be treated by the College as gross-misconduct.

3.10. The College monitors all Internet access and blocks sites with unsuitable content. Students should not assume that just because a site is not blocked that the College does not consider it unsuitable. The sites accessed by you must comply with the restrictions set out in this document. Accessing inappropriate sites may lead to disciplinary action.

4. User Accounts

4.1. Users of the College network receive by default 50 Mb areas. If extra space is needed it can, in special circumstances, be allocated.

4.2. Your network area is primarily for storing items that relate to your work; it is not for personal use. Using this area to store personal items may lead to disciplinary action.

4.3. Password and account details must never be shared with other students or anyone else. Never allow any person other than yourself to use your account and storage area. It is you who will be held accountable for any misuse.

5. Copyright Infringement

5.1. Copyright applies to all text, pictures, video and sound, including those sent by e-mail or on the Internet. Files containing such copyright protected material may be downloaded, but not forwarded or transmitted to third parties without the permission of the author of the material or an acknowledgement of the original source of the material, as appropriate.

5.2. Copyrighted software must never be downloaded. Such copyrighted software will include screen savers.

5.3. The maximum file size you are permitted to download equals the allocated amount of network area specified above (User Accounts 4.1).

5.4. Users of the computing facilities should not import non-text files or unknown messages on to the College’s system without having them scanned for viruses. If you have not been properly trained to scan for viruses, do not import such items at all.

5.5. Users of the computing facilities must never engage in political discussions through outside newsgroups using the College’s e-mail system. Or any other system supported by the College.

5.6. Engaging in political discussions, abuse of others through electronic means is strictly forbidden this includes so called ‘flaming’. In severe cases this would be considered ‘Gross Misconduct’.

6. General Computer Usage

6.1. You are responsible for safeguarding your password for the system. For reasons of security, your individual password should not be written down, printed, stored on-line or given to others. User password rights given to Students should not give rise to an expectation of privacy.

6.2. Ideally passwords should comprise of six or more alpha-numeric characters Good passwords always:

• Avoid real names e.g. "charley", "aeroplane"
• Vary the length of the password e.g. from six to seven to eight characters randomly throughout the year
• Avoid names of Months or Seasons
• Avoid more than three consecutive characters on the keyboard e.g. "qwerty"
• Mix numbers and letters randomly
• Avoid your date of birth, pet’s name, house name or number or anything personal

REMEMBER: RADOMNESS IS WHAT MAKES A PASSWORD HARD TO GUESS/CRACK

6.3. Your ability to connect to other computer systems through the network does not imply a right to connect to those systems or to make use of those systems unless authorised to do so. You should not alter or copy a file belonging to another user without first obtaining permission from the creator of the file. 

6.4. Installation of Software should, under no circumstances, be undertaken by students. Only designated personnel may install software. Installing unauthorised software may lead to disciplinary action and may in some circumstances be treated as gross-misconduct.

6.5. If you choose to use the Internet facilities for personal use, such as purchasing goods with your credit card, you do so at your own risk. The College accepts no responsibility for any personal transactions carried out over the College network.

6.6. The use of 'peer to peer' software such as 'LimeWire', 'Kazza' or any other software that uses one to many connections is strictly forbidden.

6.7. Physical abuse of the computers and other computing resources is strictly forbidden and will be treated as mis-conduct.

7. I.T. Services Department

7.1. I.T.S. is there to assist you. If you require any information, help about the use, or set up of your computer you should contact any of the Section’s members of staff.

7.2. In any case where there is clear infringement of the Acceptable Use Procedure, ITS will be guided by the Learner Support Section in any action that needs to be taken against the infringer.

7.3. If there is any part of this document you do not fully understand contact any IT Services staff member who will be happy to explain the issue in greater detail.