2.9 Children's Use of PC, Internet, Email and Network

1.	Executive Summary
2.	Policy
	2.1	General use of PC and Network
	2.2	Security and Proprietary Information
	2.3	Unacceptable Use
3.	Anti Virus
4.	Internet Usage
	4.1	General Principles
	4.2	Unacceptable Use or behaviour
	4.3	Monitoring.
5.	Email
	5.1	General Principles
	5.2	Use of Email
	5.3	Monitoring

1. Executive Summary

This policy is for the use of the provided computer equipment for young persons to use to access the internet, school work, education and entertainment. Throughout the group the access to these computer resources vary from young persons not being able to gain on site access to a PC, to having access to their school server and filtered internet access. This policy will be written for those who have the most access and it is hoped in the near future that all young persons will have access to a PC and the internet.

It should be noted that the young persons will use the internet in a different way than most adults, as they will use a variety of internet services as opposed to adults who generally use it just for specific tasks.

There is guidance to the use of the PCs in Safe Computers Guidance this should be referred to in order to understand the different internet activities and how to ensure that the young person uses these activities safely. From this policy and Guidance, the Site manager may want to create their own policy for computer usage and tailor it to each young person. An agreement could be created with the young person and include it within their care plan. It is the responsibility of the site manager to decide on the level of monitoring/supervision whilst the young persons are on the computer. It should be noted that each young person has different levels of IT skills and this should be taken into account when deciding the amount of supervision/monitoring. It only takes one knowledgeable young person to pass on knowledge about bypassing security/protection measures before all young persons are using the PCs in an inappropriate way.

It should be emphasised to the young persons that all access to the PC and the internet can and will be monitored and any inappropriate use will be dealt with as seen fit by the site manager.

For sites that have access to the education domain, each region will have a nominated regional education network administrator who will be able to create/delete accounts and change passwords. They will also be able to access the student areas and email accounts when requested. These administrators should be used as first point of contact for any education network issues.

2. Policy

2.1 General use of PC and Network

While Continuum Group's network administration desires to provide a reasonable level of privacy. The young persons should be aware that the data they create on the computer systems remains the property of the Continuum Group. Because of the need to protect Continuum Group's network, management cannot guarantee the confidentiality of information stored on any network device belonging to Continuum Group.
The site manager or senior member of Staff at the time can withdraw the use of the PC if suspected of misuse.
For security and network maintenance purposes, authorised individuals within Continuum Group may monitor equipment, systems and network traffic at any time.
The Continuum Group reserves the right to audit networks and systems on a periodic basis to ensure compliance with this policy.

2.2 Security and Proprietary Information

No personal computer equipment is to be connected or attempted to be connected to the Groups networks.
Only Site managers or nominated Staff will have administrative access to the PCs. The IT department will have administrative access to all the PCs.
Each young person will have their own logon account where only they will know the password. Keep passwords secure and do not share accounts, please see the password policy.
If access is required to a young persons account the site manager can request that the password be changed so that he/she can gain access to the logon account. This can be done from either the IT Dept. or the regional education network administrator.
All PCs should be logged off when unattended. This will allow other users to logon, otherwise the screen will lock and only the site manager or the IT dept. will be able to unlock the PC.

2.3 Unacceptable Use

Under no circumstances is a young person authorised to engage in any activity that is illegal under local, national or international law while utilising Continuum Group-owned resources.

The following activities are strictly prohibited, with no exceptions:

General

Introduction of malicious programs into the PC, network or server (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojan horses, e-mail bombs, etc.).
Making fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from any Continuum Group account.
Interfering with or denying service to any user other than the employee's host (for example, denial of service attack).
Using any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, with the intent to interfere with, or disable, a user's terminal session, via any means, locally or via the Internet/Intranet/Extranet.
Providing information about other young persons, Staff or location to other parties.
Theft, damage or destruction of computer equipment, facilities, programs or data.

Security

Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by others. You will be held responsible for anyone using your account.
Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network communication. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the young person is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the employee is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, network sniffing, pinged floods, packet spoofing, denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious purposes.
Port scanning or security scanning is expressly prohibited unless prior notification to The IT Dept. is made.
Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not intended for the employee's host, unless this activity is a part of the employee's normal job/duty.
Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account.

Copyright

Unauthorised copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to, digitisation and distribution of photographs from magazines, books or other copyrighted sources, copyrighted music, and the installation of any copyrighted software for which the Continuum Group or the end user does not have an active license is strictly prohibited.
Exporting software, technical information, encryption software or technology, in violation of international or regional export control laws, is illegal. The appropriate management should be consulted prior to export of any material that is in question.
Violations of the rights of any person or company protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, or similar laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use by Continuum Group. Any software to be installed is to be authorised by the IT department who will then either carryout the install or authorise a person to carryout the install

Obscenities/Pornography

Using a Continuum Group computing asset to actively engage in procuring or transmitting material that is in violation of sexual harassment or hostile workplace laws in the user's local jurisdiction.

3. Anti Virus

All computers must have the standard, supported antivirus software installed with the real-time scanning feature enabled. In addition, the anti-virus software and the virus pattern files must be kept up to date. The IT dept. will install anti-virus software on all workstations. All users are responsible that their virus scanner is up to date and should report any virus warnings to the IT dept.

Any activities with the intention to create and/or distribute malicious programs into the Groups networks (e.g. viruses, worms, Trojan Horse, email bombs etc.) are prohibited.

4. Internet Usage

4.1 General Principles

It is unacceptable to;

Visit Internet sites that contain obscene, hateful or other objectionable materials.
Make or post indecent remarks, proposals or materials on the Internet including racist or sexist jokes and defamatory comments.
Upload, download or otherwise transmit commercial software or any copyrighted materials belonging to parties outside of the Company, or the Company itself unless this download is covered or permitted under a commercial agreement or other such licence.
Intentionally interfere with the normal operation of the network, including the propagation of computer viruses and sustained high volume network traffic that substantially hinders others in their use of the network
Access internet resources such as internet based email (hotmail etc.), peer to peer file sharing and on-line shopping.
Monitor Network Traffic Content or scan devices connected to the network.

4.2 Unacceptable use or Behaviour

Use of the Internet by young persons is permitted and encouraged where such use supports the goals and objectives of the young persons education and entertainment.
Use of Internet is monitored for security, protection and/network management reasons. young persons may also be subject to limitations on their use of such resources as deemed fit by the Site manager.
The site manager is to decide whether a young person can access the internet unsupervised taking into account whilst content filtering software is installed it does occasionally allow access to inappropriate sites
Safe Computers Guidance describes the different types of access that young people can use on the internet, these are to be reviewed by the site manager and decided what on-line activities can be used whilst also adhering to this policy. The notes should also be referred to for the safe use of the computer by the Young persons.
The distribution of any information through the network is subject to the scrutiny of the organisation. The Company reserves the right to determine the suitability of this information.
The use of computing resources is subject to UK law and any illegal use will be dealt with appropriately. For example the Police can have a right of access to recorded data in pursuit of a crime.

4.3 Monitoring

The Company accepts that the use of the internet is an extremely valuable entertainment, research and learning tool. However misuse of such a facility can have a detrimental effect on other users and potentially the Company’s public profile. As a result, the company monitors;

The volume of internet and network traffic.
The internet sites visited, by whom and time and date

The specific content of any transactions will not be monitored unless there is a suspicion of improper use.

We are obliged to monitor to fulfil our responsibilities with regard to UK law.

5. Email

5.1 General Principles

Where possible the company will be introducing a corporate style email solution. This will allow young persons access to an email solution accessible through their personal logon. It was decided to use a corporate email solution so that email could be controlled and supervised if required therefore the use of internet based email solutions can then be prohibited. The young persons email facility can be removed or suspended if the Site manager requests this.

5.2 Use of Email

Access to all email internet sites (e.g. Hotmail, Yahoo mail etc.) is not permitted due to the potential threat of viruses being spread and infecting the network.

The young person is to exercise due care when writing an email to avoid being rude or unnecessarily terse. Do not make any statements on your own behalf or anyone else, which do or may defame, liable or damage the reputation of any person.

The young person should not engage in any activity that is illegal, distasteful or likely to have negative repercussions, And must not upload, download, use, retain, distribute or disseminate any images, text, materials or software which:

Are or might be considered to be indecent, obscene, pornographic OR ILLEGAL
Are or might be offensive or abusive in that its context is or could be considered to be a personal attack, rude or personally critical, sexist, racist, or generally distasteful.
Encourage or promote activities which make unproductive use of the company time.
Involve activities outside of the scope of your responsibilities – for example, unauthorised selling/advertising of goods and services.
Might affect or have the potential to affect the performance of damage to overload the companies system. Network and/or external communications in any way.
Would be a breach of copyright or license provision with respect to both programs and data
They cannot or are not prepared to account for.

Forgery or attempts to read other users’ mail without their express permission.

Email messages that have been deleted from the system can be traced and retrieved. Therefore, all persons having a part in creating or forwarding any offending email can be identified. Emails, both in hard copy and in electronic form, are admissible in a Court of law.

5.3 Monitoring

All Continuum Group child care resources, including computers and email are provided exclusively for education purposes. At any time and without prior notice Continuum Group maintains the right and ability to examine any systems and inspect and review any and all data recorded in those systems. Any information stored on a computer, whether the information is contained on a hard drive, computer disk or in any other manner may be subject to scrutiny by the company. This examination helps ensure compliance with internal policies and the law. It supports the performance of internal investigations and assists the management of information systems.

In order to ensure compliance to this policy, the company may employ monitoring software to check on the use and content of email to ensure that there are no serious breaches of this policy. The company specifically reserves the right for authorised personnel to access, retrieve, read and delete any communication that is created on, received through or sent in the email system, to assure compliance with all company policies. Such monitoring will be used for legitimate purposes only.

End