Monday, May 5, 2008

Re: Web site - terms of use (UNCLASSIFIED)

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED=20
Caveats: NONE

"Terms of Use" simply define what you expect of your sites users and
what they can expect from you. You would use violations of the terms of
use to terminate someone's use of your site. If you don't have forums,
wikis, or user accounts it nearly impossible to deny anyone access and
the terms of use have little value. I have increasingly been creating a
section called Policies to cover the range of things I want to
communicate about using the site, most of which go beyond terms of use.
These include:

--Copyright. Does the school retain copyright over some or all of the
content? Does the school own or have permission to publish user created
content? For example, you may want to use a creative commons license
for class web pages, but you probably want to retain copyright over the
school logo. Also, who should be contacted if someone believes your
site is violating their copyright.
http://www.simmons.edu/terms/

--Privacy. What information do you collect about visitors? How do you
track them? How will you use that info. Believe it or not I like the
military's version. =20
http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Pages/privacy.aspx

--Accessibility. What, if anything, do you do to make your site
accessible. This is more or less important depending on your
population.
http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/Pages/accessibility.aspx

--Terms of Use. There are lots of boiler plate terms around (I like the
one Matt suggested). But if you have any user generated content you
should define the terms so that they are consistent with your policies
(especially AUP). Example. If you give the students guidelines for
posting to discussion groups the terms and consequences must match.
While definition of indemnification is expected, pay close attention to
the "Expected Behavior" for users (so you define up front what will
cause their accounts to be terminated) and Copyright.

_Jason

___________________________________

Jason Johnson - Program Director
Web Services Branch - Walter Reed Army Medical Center Ingenium (ISO
9001:2000 certified)
Office: 202-782-1047
Cell: 202-262-0516
jason.johnson@ingenium.net
jason.p.johnson2@us.army.mil=20

-----Original Message-----
From: A forum for independent school educators
[mailto:ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU] On Behalf Of Emily S. Auerswald
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 8:43 AM
To: ISED-L@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Web site - terms of use

Does your school's web site include a "terms of use" section? If so,
what have you included in these terms?

Thanks!

__________________________________________
Emily S. Auerswald
Indian Creek School
1130 Anne Chambers Way
Crownsville, MD 21032
eauerswald@indiancreekschool.com

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Classification: UNCLASSIFIED=20
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