Internet acceptable use policy

Access to the Internet is open to members of the public and is free. Users may use their own wireless Internet devices in the public areas. Users must abide by the rules and regulations as laid out in this policy.

We provide access to the Internet using the City of London’s Internet Service Provider and firewall. Access to some sites may be prohibited. The City of London operates an approved list of Internet websites. Users will only be allowed access to websites on this approved list. Users should be aware that no filtering mechanism is 100% reliable and may also block material that is perfectly acceptable. The City of London is willing to consider allowing access to any website that is not currently on the approved list after careful checking of its content, but we cannot guarantee to unblock restricted sites. All such requests should be made using the contact form on the contact LMA page. We will respond to your request as quickly as possible, though this may take up to ten working days.

Virus checking software will run on all our computers. For those using their own device, we cannot guarantee that equipment will not become infected with a virus. The City of London does not accept any liability for damage to equipment, software, loss or corruption of data, or the actions resulting from a virus infection.

The City of London will monitor and record all types of network activity including all search engine queries and all sites visited.

The City of London will refuse and remove Internet access to any individuals who break any of the rules and regulations as laid out in this policy. The City of London reserves the right to determine what is considered a breach of the rules. If deemed appropriate, further action, including reporting abuse to the police, may be undertaken.

Children under the age of 16 (where a parent/guardian is not in attendance) must have written parental permission to use any Internet workstation. We also ask that parents monitor their children when using our computers. The use of filtering does not guarantee that all harmful or undesirable information will be blocked. The City of London cannot take responsibility for any material accessed which a parent or guardian may consider unsuitable.

The City of London cannot guarantee the quality of information on any external website, or that all harmful, undesirable, or offensive material will be blocked by our filtering software. The City of London accepts no responsibility for the quality, accuracy, or availability of information accessed on the Internet. As an Internet user it is your personal responsibility to check the accuracy of information you find. The City of London assumes no liability for any loss, damage or injury, direct or indirect, suffered as a result of using the Internet on our premises. If you believe that any material found breaks any United Kingdom (UK) law, you should contact the Internet Watch Foundation.

Users must comply with UK copyright law at all times.

Users should be aware of the risks attached to some Internet usage. Broadcasting personal or private details over the Internet may lead to the receipt of unwanted mail and attention. Online financial transactions should be conducted over secure connections only. The City of London cannot be held liable for any losses resulting from sending confidential financial information via the Internet. For those using wireless access, there are measures in place to protect against other wireless users accessing your data. However, the City of London makes no guarantee that this will not happen and accepts no liability should this occur. The City accepts no liability for the loss of an individual’s data however this loss is caused.

If you accidentally access indecent or other material that could cause offence to others, or if you witness the accessing of such material by another user, please speak to a member of staff.

The use of web mail is allowed. The City of London reserves the right to monitor and record all types of network activity including webmail.

• Users must not access, store, transmit or publish any material which is obscene, racist, defamatory, sectarian, illegal, or which may cause gross offence to other users and which may be in breach of UK copyright law
• Users of webmail accounts must not send or store any abusive, offensive, obscene or indecent images, data or other material. Use of web based mail accounts for harassment, including sexual and racial harassment, is specifically prohibited
• Downloading any software from the Internet is prohibited (either to our public access terminals or to your own equipment)
• You are not allowed to connect any equipment to, or remove any equipment from, the public access terminals without permission of staff
• You are not allowed to send any junk or bulk email postings (spam)
• Watching TV streams is currently prohibited to protect bandwidth and ensure that all users can enjoy a responsive service

The City of London will monitor access to Internet websites and network activity, and anyone who breaches any of the above categories may be the subject of further action.

The City of London is bound by the regulations of the Data Protection Act 2018. We will not release information on the use of specific Internet resources by individuals except when required by law.