Terms of use of the Center for Information Technology and Media Management (ZIM)

of 17.02.2023

These terms of use are intended to ensure the trouble-free, unimpeded and secure use of the University of Potsdam’s communication and data processing infrastructure by ZIM. The terms of use are based on the legally defined tasks of the University of Potsdam, including its mandate to preserve academic freedom. These regulations establish basic rules for the proper operation of the information processing infrastructure and thus regulate the user relationship between authorized users and ZIM. In addition, these regulations clarify any measures to be taken in the event of violations and point out the rights of third parties that must be observed (for example, software licenses, network operator requirements, data protection aspects).

These terms of use apply to the use of the information processing infrastructure of the ZIM at the University of Potsdam, consisting of the data processing systems, communication systems and other facilities for computer-aided information processing that are subordinate to the ZIM.

(1) The following groups are authorized to use the services of ZIM, unless special regulations for individual services or data processing resources or contractual obligations of the university conflict with this:

1. Members, affiliates and institutions, including the administration of the University of Potsdam,

2. University representatives for the fulfilllment of their official duties,

3. Members and affiliates of other universities in the state of Brandenburg or universities outside the state of Brandenburg on the basis of special agreements,

4. Other state research and educational institutions, as well as authorities of the state of Brandenburg on the basis of special agreements, in particular the affiliated institutes of the University of Potsdam,

5. Student unions in the state of Brandenburg on the basis of special agreements.

The University of Potsdam expressly reserves the right to restrict the number of users in general or to individual services. This can occur in particular due to contractual obligations of the university when purchasing individual services, which make a restriction of the user circle necessary.

(2) Permission for use is granted exclusively for academic purposes in research, teaching and study, for library and university administration purposes, for education and further training, and for the fulfillment of other tasks of the University of Potsdam. Any use that deviates from this requires express permission, which can be granted if the deviating use is minor, does not run counter to any legal or contractual obligations of the university and the purpose of the ZIM, and the interests of other users are not impaired. Commercial application and use are not permitted.

(3) Admission to use the facilities and services of ZIM is granted by issuing a user permit. This is issued by ZIM upon enrollment, the start of employment, or upon application by the user. When using the facilities for the first time, the user must accept the terms of use.

(4) The written or electronic application must provide the following information on a written or electronic form issued by ZIM:

1. Name, address and signature of applicants as well as their status as student, employee, member of an institution or other use within the meaning of Section 2 subsection 1.

2. Description of the intended use or the planned project.

3. Desired data processing (DP) resources.

4. Declaration that applicants agree, by means of their signature, that ZIM will check the security of the system/user passwords and the usage data by regular manual or automated measures and will implement necessary protective measures, e.g. changing easily guessed passwords, in order to protect the DP resources and user data from unauthorized access by third parties. Declaration that the users concerned will be informed without delay of the necessary change of the user password, the access authorization to the user files, and other protective measures relevant to use.

5. Acceptance of these terms of use and the operating regulations issued in accordance with Section 2 subsection 10 as the basis of the usage relationship.

6. Reference to the possibilities of documentation of usage behavior and inspection of the usage/user files in accordance with these terms of use (see Section 5).

(5) The usage permission granted upon application is limited to the project applied for and can be limited in time. This includes the permission to use the central university account.

(6) To ensure proper and trouble-free operation, the usage permit may also be linked to a limitation of the computing and online time as well as to other usage-related conditions and requirements.

(7) If the capacities of the DP resources are not sufficient to accommodate all authorized users, the operating resources for the individual users may be limited in accordance with the order in Section 2 subsection 1, as admission can only be granted within the limits of the available capacities.

(8) The usage permit granted by application may be refused, revoked or subsequently restricted in whole or in part, in particular if:

1. no proper application has been made or the information in the application is not or is no longer correct,

2. the conditions for proper use of the information processing infrastructure are not or no longer met,

3. the person entitled to use the building has been excluded from use in accordance with Section 4,

4. the planned project of the person entitled to use is not compatible with the tasks of ZIM and the purposes stated in Section 2 subsection 2,

5. the existing DP resources are unsuitable for the requested use or are reserved for special purposes,

6. the capacity of the resources whose use is requested is not sufficient for the planned use due to an already existing utilization,

7. the data processing components to be used are connected to a network which must meet special data protection requirements and no objective reason for the planned use is apparent,

8. the use applied for is expected to unreasonably prejudice other legitimate projects.

(9) In order to ensure proper operation of the information and communication network as well as the data processing systems assigned to ZIM, the management of ZIM may issue further rules for the use of ZIM’s data processing facilities, such as terms of use for the use of individual services, the IT workplaces in the pools, technical-organizational specifications for the operation of the data network, or operating rules for publications on servers of ZIM.

(10) On the basis of the currently valid fee schedule, ZIM may charge users a fee for selected services that go beyond the free standard use.

(1) Users have the right to use the facilities, premises, data processing equipment and information and communication systems of ZIM within the scope of the authorization and in accordance with these terms of use and the rules issued pursuant to Section 2 subsection 9. Any use deviating from this shall require separate approval. This does not constitute a claim to uninterrupted and trouble-free access to the facilities, data processing equipment, and information and communication systems of ZIM, as well as to unchanged continuation of the services offered.

(2) Users are obliged

1. to observe the specifications of the terms of use and to comply with the limits of the usage permit, in particular to observe the purposes of use according to Section 2 subsection 2,

2. to refrain from anything that interferes with the proper operation of the information processing infrastructure of ZIM,

3. to treat all data processing equipment, information and communication systems and other facilities of ZIM with due care and consideration,

4. to work exclusively with the user IDs whose use was permitted within the scope of the authorization,

5. not to pass on user passwords to third parties and to ensure that no other persons gain knowledge of the user passwords, as well as to take precautions to prevent unauthorized persons from gaining access to the data processing resources of ZIM; this also includes protecting access by means of a password that must be kept secret and is effective, i.e. cannot be easily guessed,

6. not to determine or use third-party user IDs and passwords,

7. not to take unauthorized access to other users’ information and not to pass on, use or change other users’ information that has become known without permission,

8. when using software, documentation and other data, to comply with the legal requirements, in particular with regard to copyright protection, and to observe the license conditions under which software, documentation and data are made available by ZIM,

9. to protect the national and international copyrights, trademark rights, patent rights, name rights and labelling rights as well as other industrial property rights and personal rights of third parties when using the services. The retrieval, offering, uploading or dissemination of illegal content, in particular content that violates provisions of criminal law, data protection law, personal rights, licensing law or copyright law, is not permitted,

10. not to copy or pass on to third parties software provided by ZIM or the software used to operate the services, documentation and data, unless this is expressly permitted, nor to use them for purposes other than those permitted,

11. to follow the instructions of the staff in ZIM rooms and to observe the ZIM regulations,

12. to supply proof of use authorization upon request,

13. not to remedy malfunctions, damage and errors in the information processing infrastructure and data carriers of ZIM themselves, but to report them to ZIM staff without delay,

14. not to interfere with ZIM hardware installations and not to change the configuration of the operating systems, the system files, the system-relevant user files and the network without the express consent of ZIM;

15. to provide the ZIM management with information on programs and methods used for control purposes and to grant access to the programs used in justified individual cases - in particular in the event of justified suspicion of misuse and for troubleshooting purposes;

16. to comply with the legal and ZIM-internal regulations regarding data protection and information security precautions and to document any deviations.

(1) Users may be temporarily or permanently restricted or excluded from the use of DP resources if

1. they violate these terms of use, in particular the obligations listed in Section 3 (abusive behavior) or

2. they misuse the data processing resources of the ZIM for illegal acts or

3.  the university suffers disadvantages due to other illegal user behavior.

(2) Measures pursuant to paragraph 1 shall only be taken after a prior unsuccessful warning. This shall not apply in case of imminent danger or if information security is at risk.

(3) Temporary restrictions of use decided by ZIM management shall be lifted as soon as proper use is ensured again.

(4) A permanent restriction of use or the complete exclusion of users from further use can only be considered in the case of serious or repeated violations as defined in subsection 1, if proper behavior can no longer be expected in the future.

(1) ZIM keeps a user file with the necessary inventory data on the user authorizations granted, listing in particular the user and e-mail IDs as well as the name and address of the authorized users.

(2) Personal data is used to automatically issue a user ID and e-mail address and is stored and passed on as necessary to offer services.

(3) Insofar as this is necessary for troubleshooting, system administration and expansion or for reasons of system security and protection of user data, ZIM may temporarily restrict the use of its resources or temporarily block individual user IDs. If possible, the users concerned shall be informed of this in advance.

(4) If there are indications that a user has made illegal content available for use on the servers of ZIM, ZIM can temporarily prevent further use by involving the relevant Division.

(5) ZIM is entitled to check the security of the system and user passwords as well as the user data by means of regular manual or automated measures and to implement necessary protective measures, e.g. changes to easily guessed passwords, in order to protect the data processing resources and user data from unauthorized access by third parties. In the event of necessary changes to the user passwords, access authorizations to user files and other protective measures relevant to use, the user shall be informed thereof without delay.

(6) In accordance with the following provisions, ZIM is entitled to document and evaluate the use of the data processing systems by the individual users, but only to the extent necessary:

1. to ensure proper system operation,

2. for resource planning and system administration,

3. to protect the personal data of other users,

4. for accounting purposes,

5. for the detection and elimination of malfunctions, and

6. to clarify and prevent unlawful or improper use.

(7) Under the conditions of subsection 5, the ZIM is also entitled to inspect the user files, insofar as this is necessary to eliminate current malfunctions or to clarify or prevent misuse, insofar as there are indications for this. The inspection shall be documented and the persons concerned shall be notified immediately after the purpose has been achieved.

(8) Under the conditions of subsection 5, the traffic and usage data in message traffic (especially e-mail usage) may also be documented. The traffic and usage data of online activities on the Internet and other telemedia services which ZIM makes available for use or to which ZIM provides access for use shall be deleted as soon as possible, as soon as they are no longer needed to fulfill the purpose for which they were collected, unless they are billing data.

(9) In accordance with the statutory provisions, ZIM is obliged to maintain telecommunications and data secrecy.

The statutory and collective bargaining provisions on liability for damage caused by users shall remain unaffected.

(1) The University of Potsdam does not guarantee that the systems and the technology used to provide the service will run without error or interruption at any time. Possible data loss due to technical malfunctions as well as unauthorized access to confidential data by third parties cannot be ruled out.

(2) The University of Potsdam does not guarantee the accuracy of the programs and technology provided. The University of Potsdam is also not liable for the content, in particular for the accuracy, completeness and timeliness of the information to which it merely provides access for use.

(3) The University of Potsdam assumes no liability for damage to private systems that use the University of Potsdam’s communication network.

These terms of use come into force one day after their publication in the Official Announcements of the University of Potsdam. At the same time, the terms of use of the Central Office for Information Processing and Communication (ZEIK) of the University of Potsdam of April 16, 1998 (Official Announcements of the University of Potsdam, No. 6/1998, p. 111) shall cease to apply.