Terms of Use

Terms of Use for the Student Union’s Internet Server at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences

Preamble

In cooperation with the management of Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the university’s student union operates a web server. The terms of use set out the conditions under which students may make use of this service provided by the student union.

§1 Scope

These Terms of Use apply to the Student Union’s internet server, which is operated by the Student Union (hereinafter referred to as the ‘System Operator’), and to all information and communication services provided through it.

§2 Eligibility for use

Only students enrolled at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts (hereinafter: users) are authorised to use the ICT services referred to in Section 1.

§3 Legal provisions

The services provided by the Students’ Union may only be used in a manner that complies with the law. It is expressly pointed out that the following acts are punishable under the Criminal Code:

  1. interception of data (§202a of the Criminal Code);
  2. unauthorised alteration, deletion, suppression or rendering unusable of data (§303a of the Criminal Code);
  3. computer sabotage (§303b StGB) and computer fraud (§263a StGB);
  4. the dissemination of propaganda material from unconstitutional organisations (§86 StGB) or racist ideology (§184(3) StGB);
  5. the dissemination of certain forms of pornography online (§184(3) StGB) ;
  6. accessing or possessing documents containing child pornography (§184(5) StGB);
  7. offences against honour such as insult or defamation (§185 et seq. StGB), and insulting beliefs, religions or world views (§166 StGB);
  8. Copyright infringements, e.g. through the unauthorised reproduction of software or the input of protected works into a computer system (§106 et seq. of the Copyright Act)

§4 Users’ rights and obligations

  1. The user is obliged to refrain from causing any disruption to operations,
    insofar as such disruption is foreseeable, and to do everything in their power
    to avoid causing damage to the ICT infrastructure or to
    other users. Any breach of this obligation may
    give rise to claims for damages (§7).
  2. The user must refrain from any form of misuse of the
    ICT infrastructure. In particular, the user is obliged to:
    1. to use only those user authorisations which
      he has been authorised to use; the disclosure of user credentials
      (username/password) is strictly prohibited;
    2. to protect access to ICT resources as far as possible,
      e.g. by means of a password that must be kept confidential or an equivalent
      procedure;
    3. Take steps to ensure that unauthorised third parties are denied access to
      ICT resources; this includes, in particular,
      avoiding simple, obvious passwords, changing passwords more frequently
      and remembering to log out;
    4. not to attempt to discover or use other people’s usernames and passwords;
    5. not to access other users’ information without authorisation
      and not to disclose, use for one’s own purposes or alter any information about other users that has come to one’s knowledge without
      permission.
  3. The user bears full responsibility for all actions
    carried out under their user ID, even if
    these actions are carried out by third parties to whom they have, at the very least
    through negligence, granted access. The user is also
    required to:
    1. to comply with the relevant legal provisions (copyright protection,
      copyright) when using software (source code, object code), documentation
      and other data;
    2. to familiarise themselves with the terms and conditions under which the software, documentation or data, some of which has been acquired under
      licence agreements, is made available, and to
      comply with these terms and conditions;
    3. in particular software, documentation and data, unless
      expressly permitted, must not be copied, disclosed or
      used for purposes other than those permitted, in particular not for commercial purposes.
      Any breach may give rise to claims for damages
      (§8).
  4. The user is obliged to notify the system operator of any plans to process
    personal data before commencing such processing, and to coordinate these plans
    with the relevant system operator. In doing so, the data security measures
    proposed by the system operator must be implemented.
  5. The user is obliged to,
    1. to comply with the guidelines provided by the system operator (e.g. the DVZ Terms of Use);
    2. when interacting with computers and networks operated by other providers, to comply with their
      usage and access policies (see also
      “DFN Terms of Use”);
    3. to provide the system administrator, upon request and in justified individual cases
      – in particular where there is reasonable suspicion of misuse and for the purpose of
      troubleshooting – with information regarding programmes and
      methods used, for monitoring purposes. This provision does not apply to
      user data protected by data confidentiality, e.g.
      personal files or personal data of third parties;
    4. Before installing any software, you should familiarise yourself with the relevant
      local and technical requirements and regulations
      and comply with them.
  6. The user as a provider of web information:
    1. is responsible for the content of its website;
    2. must display the legal notice on every web page.
  7. User liability
    1. The user shall be liable for any loss or damage caused to the student body and,
      consequently, to Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts through the improper or
      unlawful use of IT resources and user authorisation, or
      arising from the user’s culpable failure to fulfil their obligations under
      these Terms of Use.
    2. The user shall also be liable for any damage caused by third-party use
      within the scope of the access and usage rights made available to them,
      if they are responsible for such third-party use,
      in particular if they disclose their user ID to
      third parties.
    3. The user shall indemnify the Students’ Union against all claims
      should third parties bring a claim against the Students’ Union for
      damages, an injunction or any other remedy
      arising from the user’s improper or unlawful conduct.

§5 Responsibilities, rights and obligations of system operators

  1. The system operator may maintain a user file containing the personal data of users
    based on the user authorisations granted. An
    overview of the type of information stored must be available to
    each user. The application documents relating to the granting of
    user authorisations must be retained for at least
    two years after the authorisation has expired.
  2. The system operator shall designate the system administrators responsible for
    managing its systems. The system operator and the
    system administrators are bound by a duty of confidentiality.
  3. Where necessary for the purposes of troubleshooting, system administration and
    upgrades, or for reasons of system security and the protection of
    user data, the system operator may temporarily restrict the use
    of its resources or temporarily suspend individual
    user accounts. Where possible, the
    users concerned must be notified of this without delay.
  4. Where there are reasonable grounds to believe that a user is making
    illegal content available for use on
    the system operator’s servers, the system operator may prevent further use until
    the legal situation has been sufficiently clarified.
  5. The system operator is entitled to verify the security of
    user passwords and user data through regular manual or
    automated measures and to implement necessary protective measures,
    e.g. changing passwords that are easy to guess or have become obsolete,
    in order to protect IT resources and user data from unauthorised
    access by third parties. Where changes are required to
    user passwords, access authorisations for user files and
    other usage-related protective measures, the user must be
    notified immediately.
  6. The system operator is entitled to document and analyse
    the use of the data processing systems by individual
    users for the following purposes, but only to the extent that this
    is necessary:
    1. to ensure the system operates correctly,
    2. for resource planning and system administration,
    3. to protect the personal data of other users,
    4. for the detection and rectification of faults, as well as
    5. to investigate and prevent unlawful or abusive use.
  7. The system operator maintains a record of the data collected for these purposes, which is accessible to all users.
  8. For the purposes set out in paragraph 6, the system operator
    is also entitled to access user files, provided this
    is necessary to resolve current faults or to investigate and prevent
    breaches of the user regulations, and there are
    actual grounds for doing so. Data confidentiality and the
    dual-control principle must be observed in this regard. However, access to
    message and email inboxes is only permitted insofar as this
    is essential for rectifying current disruptions to the messaging service.
    In all cases, such access must be documented, and the affected
    user must be notified immediately once the purpose has been achieved. In the event of
    substantiated indications of criminal offences, the system operator shall act, following
    consultation with the university management and in coordination with the relevant
    authorities, and shall – if necessary – take measures to preserve evidence.
  9. System operators who offer users independent homepages for
    publication on the internet are entitled to automatically generate a
    legal notice on these pages containing the author’s full name and
    email address. The logging of
    connection data (e.g. access to the data on a web server)
    must not contain any personal data.
  10. The system operator does not act as a telecommunications provider within
    the meaning of the Telecommunications Act. In accordance with the relevant legal provisions, the
    system operator is obliged to safeguard data confidentiality.

§6 Liability of the system operator / Disclaimer

  1. The system operator does not guarantee that the system functions will meet the user’s specific requirements or that the system will operate without errors or interruptions. The system operator cannot guarantee the integrity (in terms of destruction or tampering) or confidentiality of the data stored with it.
  2. The system operator shall not be liable for any damage of any kind incurred by the user as a result of using the ICT resources referred to in §1, unless otherwise required by law.

§7 Consequences of improper or unlawful use

In the event of breaches of statutory provisions or of the provisions of these Terms of Use, in particular §4 (Rights and obligations of the user), the system operator may restrict the user’s access rights. It is irrelevant whether the breach resulted in material damage or not. Measures to withdraw or restrict the right of use, which are decided upon by the head of the facility, shall only be taken after a prior unsuccessful warning. The person concerned shall be given the opportunity to comment.

Allgemeiner Studierendenausschuss

Fachhochschule Dortmund

Emil-Figge-Straße 38b

44227 Dortmund

E-Mail: asta@asta.fh-dortmund.de