Acceptable Use Policy

Our Crop Diversity HPC Acceptable Use Policy is presented to each user when they register. By clicking “Confirm acceptance” at registration you are confirming your understanding and willingness to abide by the conditions of usage of this service. If you do not agree to these conditions, we will not be able to register you or allow you to use the cluster.

Important

This policy is subject to change, but we will always notify you of any changes via email at which point the latest version will then apply to you. The content in this policy is consistent with the JISC Acceptable Use Policy (by which we are bound) and the law.

You agree:

Only to use the HPC for the purposes for which you were given access, ie for research as an employee, student, or collaborator associated with one of our Supported Organisations.
Not to use the HPC for personal activities such as storing data or files, gaming, or for personal gain such as bitcoin mining, running trading software or other money making ventures.
Not to disrupt the working of the HPC, for example by knowingly introducing malicious software, or trying to breach its security or use resources which aren’t assigned to you.
Not to interfere with other users’ work, corrupt their data or invade their privacy.
Not to infringe copyright or other intellectual property rights.
Not to copy or use data from any database or dataset without the explicit or implied permission of its owner.
Not to use another person’s login credentials, nor to let other people use your login credentials.
To keep your access passwords, login keys or tokens confidential, and that you will Contact Us if someone else learns of your credentials or if you become aware that the security of the HPC is compromised in any way.
Not to leave computers or other equipment used to access the HPC facility unattended and unlocked if logged in.
Not to misuse the HPC, for example by sending spam or malicious software, pretending to be someone else or by doing anything that might hinder or prevent someone else from using it.
Not to use the HPC for illegal or immoral purposes, such as theft, fraud, drug-trafficking, money-laundering, terrorism, pornography, violence, cruelty, incitement to racial hatred, or for offensive, obscene, abusive, menacing, defamatory or insulting behaviour.
Not to use the HPC in any way which brings our Supported Organisations into disrepute.
To comply with any special conditions and licence conditions that may apply to particular software packages you choose to use.

We agree:

Where possible (see our Service Level Agreement) to provide 24-hour access to the HPC, it being understood that there will be times when the HPC is unavailable, for example as a result of maintenance work, upgrades, or unexpected failures.
To take reasonable steps to protect your data from being lost or corrupted.
To protect the security and privacy of the data we hold about you.
That we will acquire no intellectual property rights over your software and data.

You accept:

That this HPC resource is provided “as is” and we can’t guarantee 100% perfection. In legal terms, this means that we are excluding all warranties and conditions applying to the HPC, including those implied by law (ie we do not accept liability from use or inability to use the HPC which result in losses or damages as a result).
That we may make changes to the HPC services that we offer.
That we will use the personal details which you supply to us, together with records of your use of the HPC, to monitor usage and may share this information back with your host institution.
That we may suspend your access to the HPC if it seems to us that you are breaking this Acceptable Use Policy.
That if it is necessary to protect the HPC or other users’ work or data, we can halt the execution of any program which you start; and that we have the right to disable you from logging into the HPC.

Note

Minor breaches of this AUP will be dealt with by Crop Diversity HPC administrators, but your host organisation may be informed of the fact that a breach of policy has taken place. Where appropriate, breaches of the law will be reported to the police, or where the breach has occurred in a jurisdiction outside the UK, the breach may be reported to the relevant authorities within that jurisdiction.