Acceptable use policy

StatsUserNetwork Acceptable Use Policy

 

Permission to use StatsUserNetwork

Your permission to use StatsUserNetwork is granted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The ONS provide this permission on the condition that you agree to the following terms. 

Account creation

  1. You must be age 16 or above.
  2. You must follow the acceptable use policy and content standards.
  3. You must stop using StatsUserNetwork if the ONS instructs you to.

Acceptable use boundaries

       Legal

  1. You must not break the law using StatsUserNetwork. If your account is used for any illegal activity, it will be disabled immediately and reported to the relevant authorities. 
  2. You may not submit content to the forum that is illegal, offensive, or otherwise harmful to others. This includes but is not limited to content that is inappropriate or intends to harass, abuse, or defame others.
  3. You must not submit content to StatsUserNetwork which violates the law, infringes anyone’s intellectual property rights, violates anyone’s privacy, or breaches agreements held with others.
  4. You must not use or attempt to use another’s account on the forum without their written permission.
  5. You must not falsely imply that you’re affiliated with or endorsed by ONS. 
  6. You must not buy, sell, or otherwise trade in usernames or other unique identifiers on StatsUserNetwork.
  7. You must think carefully about any data you share which could identify you or another individual. This includes but is not limited to personal, commercial, and sensitive data. You may wish to anonymise identifiers of contacts in posts, data sets and analysis shared. Please consider the appropriateness of adding identifiers.
  8. You must not share or refer to any data classified as official or official sensitive. This would constitute a data breach and would result in your account being disabled and the breach being reported to the relevant authorities. 
  9. You must not use StatsUserNetwork to gather personal data for commercial mailing lists or databases. For example, names, addresses, or contact details. 
  10. You must not disable, avoid, or bypass any security or access restrictions on StatsUserNetwork.

 

Etiquette

  1. You may not post advertisements, chain letters or similar marketing on StatsUserNetwork. You may post relevant notices on the noticeboards. If you are unsure whether your post infringes this term, please contact statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk
  2. You may not use StatsUserNetwork as a storage repository or knowledge bank. Content (specifically posts, events, comments) may be removed from the site after 3 years
  3. You may not use the forum to send emails to distribution lists, newsgroups, or group mail. 
  4. You may not use software to automate your access or monitor StatsUserNetwork. This includes but is not limited to using web crawlers, browser plug-ins, add-ons, and apps. You may index StatsUserNetwork by crawling if it is for a publicly available search engine in your control. 
  5.  You may not download and share content from StatsUserNetwork, for example: visualisations, comments or analysis to non-users. Interested parties should create an account to access content.
  6. You may not remove any proprietary ownership marks on materials you download from StatsUserNetwork.
  7. You may not overwhelm the infrastructure of StatsUserNetwork. For instance, you must be mindful of the number of posts you are submitting at one time. If you are unsure whether your intention infringes this term, please contact statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk.
  8.  You may not encourage or help anyone in violation of these terms. 

 Content standards 

  1. You must not submit content to StatsUserNetwork which contains malicious computer code. This includes but is not limited to computer viruses, spyware and tracking cookies.
  2. You may not submit content as a placeholder, for example to hold a particular address, username or other unique identifier on StatsUserNetwork.
  3. You must not use the forum to disclose information that you do not have the right to disclose. For example, others’ confidential or personal information or data.
  4. You may only post content which adds value and is relevant to the community.
  5. You must give others the right to reply. This means you should post content which encourages other users to reply. If the person you are discussing is not on StatsUserNetwork, you must reference their work instead of using their name.
  6. You must sufficiently reference any external sources you discuss. 

 

Personal data

You should not post the personal data of others on StatsUserNetwork and should carefully consider what information you post about yourself.

Personal data is information which can wholly or partially identify an individual, whether directly, with only the information supplied, or indirectly, by connecting it with other data which is available.  The Information Commissioner’s Office’s guide: What is personal information? is a useful read if you would like to learn more about what constitutes personal data.

You can find out about how the ONS handles personal data in the ONS Data Protection information and the StatsUserNetwork privacy policy.

If an individual’s information is published publicly, for example in a journal article or publication, it is considered publicly available data.  You should still carefully consider which information is essential to share on StatsUserNetwork, and you should link the source of your information for avoidance of doubt. 

You should never share the following data on StatsUserNetwork: full name, email address, location data; online identifiers such as IP addresses or cookie identifiers; phone numbers; birthdates; financial details; national security details, or the information of any personal contacts on StatsUserNetwork. If you decide to share this data, the way it is used is your responsibility.

Keeping your information safe: privacy settings on StatsUserNetwork

There are profile privacy settings available on StatsUserNetwork. Please read the StatsUserNet guidance on adjusting your StatsUserNetwork profile privacy settings and contact  statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk if you would like assistance. 

When you create an account on StatsUserNetwork, it will be a public account by default. If you would like to make your profile private, please edit your profile settings. 

If you enter your full name when you sign up to StatsUserNetwork, it will show up beside your username in the platform. If you would like to remove your surname, please edit your surname in the profile settings. You should ensure your email address is correct so that StatsUserNetwork administrators can still identify you for essential contact. Anonymous profiles are not permitted.

Content ownership

Nothing in these terms gives the ONS any ownership rights for the intellectual property you share on StatsUserNetwork. This includes your account information, posts, and other content submitted. 

Nothing in these terms gives you ownership rights to the ONS's intellectual property. 

You have full responsibility for any content you submit to StatsUserNetwork. You agree not to falsely imply that any content you submit has been sponsored or approved by the ONS.

Enforcement

The ONS reserves the right to change, redact, and delete content on the forum for  violation of these terms. In these circumstances, the ONS will contact the account holder to alert them and provide a reason for the moderation. 

If you find any content on the forum which you believe violates any of the terms in this policy, please contact us immediately at statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk.

Your account

You must only have one personal account. You may also have a shared account for your team or organisation. If you are unsure about what applies to you, please contact us at statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk for guidance. 

To create an account you must provide some information about yourself. This includes your name, email address and occupation type. Details about how your information is used and stored can be found in our privacy policy. You may close your account at any time by emailing statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk.

By creating a StatsUserNetwork account, you accept all responsibility for any action(s) on your account. This applies to action you did not authorise, until you report it to the ONS.  You agree to report any compromise of your account to the ONS as soon as you discover it.

You agree to select a secure password, to keep it confidential, and update it as necessary to ensure it remains secure or follow your organisation’s password security guidance. 

The ONS may restrict, suspend or close your account if they have justifiable reason to believe you have broken any rule in this policy.

These terms apply until you close your account. 

 

Your responsibility

You agree to indemnify ONS from all legal claims by others related to your breach of these terms, or breach of these terms by others using your account on the forum. Both you and ONS agree to notify the other side of any legal claims for which you might have to indemnify ONS as soon as possible.

Disclaimers

You accept all and any risk associated with using StatsUserNetwork, including all content. As far as the law allows, the ONS and its suppliers provide StatsUserNetwork as it is, without any warranty. 

StatsUserNetwork posts may hyperlink to and integrate forums and services run by others. The ONS does not provide any warranty for services run by others, or the content they may provide. Use of services run by others may be governed by other terms between you and those running that service.

 

Feedback

The ONS welcomes your feedback and suggestions for StatsUserNetwork. You may contact us at statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk.

You agree that the ONS will be free to act on any feedback and suggestions that you provide. The ONS does not have to notify you if your feedback is used. We will provide notification on the forum of any substantial updates. 

You agree that you will not submit any confidential or proprietary feedback or suggestions. This includes information which belongs to you and/or others.  

Termination

Either you or the ONS may end the agreement written out in these terms at any time by closing your account. Your permission to use StatsUserNetwork ends when your agreement with these terms ends.

Disputes

United Kingdom law will govern any dispute related to these terms or your use of StatsUserNetwork. 

Contact

You may contact the ONS about these terms or any other queries at statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk.

The ONS may contact you about these terms using the email address linked to your account. We may also contact you by posting a message to the StatsUserNetwork homepage or directly to your account. For full details about when we may contact you, please read our privacy policy.

Updates

We may update these terms again. Any changes will be announced via a post on StatsUserNetwork 

By continuing to use StatsUserNetwork, you agree to abide by the updated terms and conditions. You may opt-out at any time by deleting your account. To delete your account, please email statsusernetwork@ons.gov.uk with your registered email address and username.

Last updated 17 January 2025