Acceptable User Policy

Beaufort College is committed to providing computer resources, including e-mail and internet access, for staff and student use to promote the aims of the College and to facilitate education and administration.

To safeguard individual users and to ensure the integrity and reliability of the computer system, Beaufort College has the following usage policies. These are not intended to limit an individual's use of the school's computer resources; rather they are designed to ensure that the school can offer the widest possible range of services to its community. The school is committed to maintaining the privacy of its users and does not actively monitor computer usage (including e-mail and the internet). However users should be aware that records are kept of all usage and could be made available in specific circumstances.

In general, the computer resources of the school may not be used for illegal acts, for activities in breach of school policies or for personal commercial activity unless specifically authorised. Only staff of the school, registered students or other approved users may make use of the school computer resources. Unauthorised use may lead to disciplinary action or prosecution under the Criminal Damages Act (1991).

The following highlight a number of areas that you, as a user, must pay particular attention to:

· You must respect the laws of Ireland and specifically, but not exclusively, be aware of your responsibilities under:-

o Copyright Act (1963) and as amended

o Data Protection Act (1988)

o Prohibition of incitement to hatred Act (1989)

o Criminal Damage Act (1991)

o Freedom of Information Act (1997)

o Child Trafficking and Pornography Act (1998)

In addition, there are School policies in a variety of areas under which all users must operate. These include:-

o Student Disciplinary Code

o Policy on Dignity and Respect

· You may be provided with accounts and passwords to permit access to the school networks and other computer resources. You must take reasonable precautions to prevent unauthorised use of such accounts. In addition, if you are a staff member, you must ensure, in so far as practicable, that the computers in your office or under your control are not used for unauthorised purposes. Advice and practical help will be available to help safeguard data, systems and computer equipment.

· You must behave reasonably in your use of the school computer resources. You must not undertake or facilitate any activity that could jeopardise in any way, the integrity, reliability and performance of these resources.

· You must take reasonable care to ensure that you do not transmit viruses or other malicious computer code to other users. The college will provide guidelines and practical help to all users to protect their computers.

· It is not acceptable to view, download, transmit or store any offensive, indecent images or material. Nor is it acceptable to attempt to access any files, data or records for which you are not authorised. You may not use the school's computer systems to publish or transmit anything that is libelous or defamatory or is damaging to another computer system. Neither may you deliberately misrepresent your views as those of the school or any other person or organisation. Such action will be regarded as a serious disciplinary matter.

· All Software installed and used on the school's computer systems, including stand-alone computers, must be appropriately licensed.

· A failure to abide by these policies may result in being denied access to computer resources as well as other proceedings.

This policy on acceptable computer use supersedes all previous policies on acceptable computer use and will be amended from time to time as required. Any user of the school computer resources is deemed to have made him/herself aware of these policies.