Acceptable Use Policy

EC English

Please read these terms carefully. By accessing and using Microsoft TEAMS at EC you agree that you have read, understood and agreed to these terms. If you do not agree to these terms, you must cease using Microsoft TEAMS immediately.

ABOUT US

In these terms, references to "we", "us" or "our" are to EC English Language Centres.

PROHIBITED USES

You may use Microsoft TEAMS only for lawful purposes.  You may not use Microsoft TEAMS at EC:

In any way that breaches any applicable local, national or international law or regulation.

• In any way that is unlawful or fraudulent, or has any unlawful or fraudulent purpose or effect.

• For the purpose of harming or attempting to harm minors in any way.

• To conduct any research not relevant to any academic course or extra-curricular activity.

• To send, knowingly receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material which does not comply with our content standards

• To transmit, or procure the sending of, any unsolicited or unauthorised advertising or promotional material or any other form of similar solicitation (spam).

• To knowingly transmit any data, send or upload any material that contains viruses, Trojan horses, worms, time-bombs, keystroke loggers, spyware, adware or any other harmful programs or similar computer code designed to adversely affect the operation of any computer software or hardware.

You also agree:

• To only log on to Microsoft TEAMS at EC with your own user name and password provided by EC.

• Not to share account or password information with anyone, including other personnel, family, or friends.

• To join a lesson with your camera ON unless given permission not to do so by the teacher on that occasion

• Not to attempt to call, chat or set up private groups between each other on Microsoft Teams without authorisation from your teacher

• Not to attempt to record a meeting/lesson

• Not to share recorded videos/lessons made by teachers within or outside of the EC TEAMS Account.

CONTENT STANDARDS

These content standards apply to any and all material which you contribute to Microsoft TEAMS at EC, and to any interactive services associated with it.

You must comply with the spirit and the letter of the following standards. The standards apply to each part of any contribution as well as to its whole.

Contributions must:

• Be accurate (where they state facts).

• Be genuinely held (where they state opinions).

• Comply with applicable law in any country from which they are posted.

Contributions must not:

• Contain any material which is defamatory of any person.

• Contain any material which is obscene, offensive, hateful or inflammatory.

• Contain any material which may be linked to terrorism or counter-terrorism.

• Contain any unprotected sensitive or confidential information.

• Promote sexually explicit material.

• Promote violence.

• Promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.

• Infringe any copyright, database right, trade mark or intellectual property of any other person.

• Be likely to deceive any person.

• Be made in breach of any legal duty owed to a third party, such as a contractual duty or a duty of confidence.

• Promote any illegal activity.

• Be threatening, abuse or invade another’s privacy, or cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.

• Be likely to harass, upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.

• Be used to impersonate any person, or to misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person.

• Give the impression that they emanate from us, if this is not the case.

• Advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act such as (by way of example only) copyright infringement or computer misuse.

STUDENT CONTENT

Microsoft TEAMS may provide you with the ability to change profile pages, media and other content for social interaction, or certain information and materials for use within Microsoft TEAMS, e.g., written assignments, questions, social media names, etc. (collectively, “Student Content”).

We do not claim ownership of any Student Content you may submit or make available for inclusion on Microsoft TEAMS. You will be the sole and exclusive owner of any and all rights, title and interest in and to the Student Content.

With respect to any Student Content you submit to us or that is otherwise made available to us, you grant us an irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free and non-exclusive licence to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Student Content on  Microsoft TEAMS or otherwise exploit the Student Content, with the right to sublicense such rights (to multiple users), for any purpose associated with the provision of online learning at EC.  We reserve the right to remove any Student Content without prior notice at any time and for any reason.

To the extent that you provide any Student Content, you represent and warrant that:

  1.  you have all necessary rights, licences and/or clearances to provide such Student Content and permit us to use and publish such Student Content;
  2.  such Student Content is accurate and complete to the best of your knowledge and belief; and
  3.  such use and/or publication of your Student Content does not and will not infringe or misappropriate any third party rights or constitute a fraudulent statement or misrepresentation.

Microsoft TEAMS at EC may provide you with the ability to post notes and replies, take part in group discussions, submit assignments and share social information with other users.

EXTERNAL SOCIAL MEDIA INTERACTIONS

Microsoft TEAMS allows you to display and exchange your external social media handles with each other. You are subject to the terms of use of the respective social platforms.  We are not responsible whatsoever for any content posted on any external social platforms. 

If you find any content to be objectionable, you can unfriend/unfollow or otherwise sever your online connection to that party. Further, if you believe the content violates the acceptable use policies of these providers, you can report such violations through the means provided by the respective platform owners or operators.

SUSPENSION AND TERMINATION

We will determine, in our discretion, whether there has been a breach of this acceptable use policy through your use of Microsoft TEAMS at EC.  When a breach of this policy has occurred, we may take such action as we deem appropriate. 

Failure to comply with this acceptable use policy constitutes a material breach of the terms of use upon which you are permitted to use Microsoft TEAMS, and may result in our taking all or any of the following actions:

• Immediate, temporary or permanent withdrawal of your right to use Microsoft TEAMS at EC.

• Immediate, temporary or permanent removal of any posting or material uploaded by you to TEAMS.

• Issue of a warning to you.

• Legal proceedings against you for reimbursement of all costs on an indemnity basis (including, but not limited to, reasonable administrative and legal costs) resulting from the breach.

• Further legal action against you.

• Disclosure of such information to law enforcement authorities as we reasonably feel is necessary.

We exclude liability for actions taken in response to breaches of this acceptable use policy.  The responses described in this policy are not limited, and we may take any other action we reasonably deem appropriate.

MONITORING AND FILTERING

We reserve the right to undertake any system logging where appropriate, and investigations will be commenced where reasonable suspicion exists of a breach of this or any other policy. Under certain conditions, we may also monitor activity on the system, including internet and email use, in order to ensure systems security and effective operation, and to protect against misuse.

Any monitoring will be carried out in accordance with audited, controlled internal processes, and all applicable data protection and privacy legislation.

OTHER IMPORTANT TERMS

If any of these terms are found to be illegal, invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, the rest of these terms remain in full force and effect.

We may freely transfer or assign any portion of our rights or delegate our obligations under these terms. You are not entitled to transfer or assign, by operation of law or otherwise, any portion of your rights or delegate your obligations under these terms without our prior written consent.

CHANGES TO THE ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

We may revise this acceptable use policy at any time by amending this page. You are expected to check this page from time to time to take notice of any changes we make, as they are legally binding on you. Some of the provisions contained in this acceptable use policy may also be superseded by provisions or notices published elsewhere on TEAMS or other EC online websites.