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An ICT Acceptable Use Policy allows an organisation to tell users, including staff, volunteers or beneficiaries, how it expects them to use computers, the Internet and e–mail.

Why have an Acceptable Use Policy?

Although it is not a legal requirement for an organisation to have an ICT acceptable use policy, it is seen as good practise and is often a requirement for quality standard awards such as Investors in People.

In a community setting where computer equipment is often funded through public money or grants, there are conditions of use from the funder. These conditions need to be adhered to by all users and the easiest method of communicating is through an Acceptable Use Policy.

All projects funded through Communities @One have agreed in their terms and conditions for the equipment not to be used for the following:

• To directly support any political party or for activities that could reasonably be seen as promoting a political party;
• Campaigns whose primary purpose is to obtain changes in the law or related Government policies, or campaigns whose primary purpose is to persuade people to adopt a particular view on a question of law or public policy (although this does not affect the organisation’s right to raise awareness of issues or to run campaigns on issues of public policy directly related to the organisation’s work through other sources of funding); or
• Activities designed to promote religion, or where people must take part in religious activities in order to benefit.
  

If your organisation is offering ICT or internet facilities, you need to inform all staff, volunteers and beneficiaries of the restrictions, why they are there and if appropriate, what will happen if these restrictions are ignored.

What should be in an Acceptable Use Policy?

Although it is easy to find copies of other organisations Acceptable Use Policies to use as templates, such as the local libraries, , an organisation should sit down and think about what they believe is acceptable for them and their users. Getting users views on what is or is not appropriate is a good way to get their acceptance.

Key things for an organisation to consider are;

• Who is the policy for? Should there be a different policy for staff as opposed to clients?
• What legal requirements should there be? Copy Right Law and the downloading of offensive material should be included in the policy.
• Are there special requirements from the funder – such as those stated from Communities@One above?
• Security, both online and physically (read our Online Safety toolkit).
• What is the disciplinary procedure if someone breaks the guidelines set out in the policy?
  

The LASA Acceptable Use Policy Framework Document gives a comprehensive list than shown here of areas that can, if an organisation so wishes, be put in an Acceptable Use Policy.

How do you distribute your policy?

There are many ways that an organisation can pass their policy to its users, depending on the number of people who need to see it. These include;

• Add the policy to the Membership form users sign to use the IT equipment.
• The policy could be placed on the log–in screen of the computer so that people have to click that they agree to abide by it every time that they use the equipment.
• Going through the policy in an induction session for new users.
  

The important thing is that your users do see the policy and it is not kept in a file forgotten.

And Finally….

Technology is changing fast which means that your ICT Acceptable Use Policy needs to keep up with it. When new areas of technology are developed, update your policy to make sure that your organisation is covered.


Further Information on ICT Acceptable Use Policies can be found at;

www.icthubknowledgebase.org.uk/acceptableusepolicy

http://schools.becta.org.uk/index.php?section=is&catcode=ss_to_es_pp_aup_03&rid=11087

http://www.managementhelp.org/infomgnt/policies/policies.htm