Draft Institutional Code of Practice

2. Staff and students may only set up a Webserver on machinery owned by, or on the premises of, the [name of institution] with the written permission of [insert individual's name here]. They must be registered and have signed a declaration that they have read and understood both the Code of Practice and Guidelines for Users. All pages must include the name of their author (real name, not just username), and must be linked (by means of <a href="">) to the hypertext tree that has the staff member's or student's home page at its root.

2. Staff and students may not set up Webservers, or place Webpages on any University Computing equipment, other than that designated. All staff and students wishing to place Webpages on designated University Computing equipment must be registered and have signed a declaration that they have read and understood both Code of Practice and Guidelines. All pages must include the name of their author (real name, not just username), and must be linked (by means of <a href="">) to the hypertext tree that has the staff member's or student's home page at its root.

3. There must be a clear separation between institutional Webpages and personal Webpages, to this end, only official institutional Webpages may use University logos, or other copyrighted or trademarked University materials, and when users leave the official institutional pages, they should be informed of this fact by a notification and disclaimer. Authors of personal homepages have no authority to designate, represent or hold out such pages as being official institutional University webpages, to use such pages for official University business, or to use such pages to enter into contracts which purport to bind the University.

4. Institutional and personal webpages may not:

• contain, or be used to distribute, or have direct links to, material which is sexist, racist, homophobic, xenophobic, pornographic, or similarly discriminatory and/or offensive.
• contain, or be used to distribute, text or images to which a third party holds a intellectual property right, without the express written permission of the rightholder.
• contain, or be used to distribute, or have direct links to, defamatory material, that is, they may not contain material which falsely states or implies something about an identifiable individual that will result in that individual being held in lower esteem by others as a result.
• contain, or be used to distribute, or have direct links to, material that could be used in order to breach computer security, or to facilitate unauthorised entry into computer systems.
• contain, or be used to distribute, or have direct links to, material which is likely to prejudice or seriously impede the course of justice in criminal or civil proceedings.
• contain personal data (as defined by the Data Protection Act 1984) about third parties, unless their explicit permission has been given, or the information is properly registered with the Data Protection Registrar, or the information is covered by a relevant exemption under the Data Protection Act 1984.

In particular, institutional and personal webpages may not contain, or be used to distribute, or have direct links to, material which breaches, or is likely to likely to breach: The Obscene Publications Act 1959, The Sex Discrimination Act 1975, The Race Relations Act 1976, The Protection of Children Act 1978, The Contempt of Court Act 1981, The Data Protection Act 1984, The Telecommunications Act 1984, The Public Order Act 1986, The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, The Computer Misuse Act 1990, The Trademarks Act 1994.

5. Personal webpages may not be used for placing and distribution of commercial advertisements.

5. If advertisements are placed on personal homepages, they must comply with the Code of Practice for Advertisers issued by the Advertising Standards Authority which requires in summary that all advertisements should be `legal, decent, truthful and honest'.

6. The University has an internal structure of responsibility for the administration of institutional, departmental and personal Webpages. Complaints and comments should be directed to [insert individual's name or position here] who will ensure that, they are promptly dealt with by the relevant responsible individuals named below, and that any necessary disciplinary action against members of the University is taken. The following are responsible for dealing with queries and complaints about their respective areas. They have the authority to remove webpages within their respective areas of responsibility which infringe, or may infringe, the University Code of Practice, or University Regulations on use of Computer Services:
[insert individual's name or position here and area of responsibility]
[insert individual's name or position here and area of responsibility]

6. The University has an internal structure of responsibility for the administration of institutional, departmental and personal Webpages. Complaints and comments should be directed to [insert individual's name or position here] who will ensure that, they are promptly dealt with by the relevant responsible individuals named below, and that any necessary disciplinary action against members of the University is taken. The University's Institutional Webpages are administered by [insert individual's name or position]. He/She has the authority to remove webpages which infringe, or may infringe, the University Code of Practice, or University Regulations on use of Computer Services. Staff and student personal webpages are administered by [insert individual's name or position]. He/She has the authority to remove webpages which infringe, or may infringe, the University Code of Practice, or University Regulations on use of Computer Services.

7. The above sections notwithstanding, the University does not exercise direct editorial control over personal Webpages, and accepts no liability for material contained in them, or links which are made from them to other material either at, or outside, the University. However, in the event of a complaint, the University will act to ensure that the material or link in question is removed, as soon as practically possible, until the complaint is either substantiated or dismissed.

8. Failure to observe this code of practice by either students or staff will be considered a serious matter by the University. Where University regulations are breached the University will invoke the appropriate disciplinary procedures. For students this could involve fines, suspension of access to computing facilities or, in extreme cases, termination of their studies. Breaches of the criminal or civil law are beyond the remit of the University, but where criminal offences have been committed, the University will report these to the authorities. If the DPP decides upon a criminal prosecution this will be a matter for the department or individual concerned.. Similar considerations apply to any civil law cases.

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