Prevent and Internet filtering policies

The request was successful.

Dear Royal Agricultural University,

Can you please supply:

(1) your policy or policy guidance for duties under the Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 duties for the various local authorities listed in Schedule 6, known as “Prevent”;

(2) your policy relating to Internet filtering, blocking and prevention of access to material deemed inappropriate;

(3) the name of any providers of Internet filtering and blocking services that you use, or else a statement that you do not block or filter content at all;

(4) a list of agreements, arrangements or Memorandums of Understanding between yourselves and bodies such as the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), or Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the City of London Police, to receive lists of illegal or illicit content, for instance for the purposes of blocking.

Finally, can you:

(5) tell me if any filtering or blocking service that you use incorporates lists from the IWF, CTIRU or PIPCU, and which lists are incorporated; and

(6) provide to me any clauses within any contract or terms and conditions of service agreed with your filtering and blocking providers that relate to their use of information from the IWF, CTIRU or PIPCU.

Yours faithfully,

Jim Killock

FOI, Royal Agricultural University

Dear Mr Killock

Thank you for your request (copied below) received on the 14 May 2017. Your request will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and a response will be sent to you within the statutory 20 working day time frame.

Yours sincerely
Laura Butler
Royal Agricultural University FOI

show quoted sections

FOI, Royal Agricultural University

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Killock,

 

Your request for information regarding the Royal Agricultural University’s
Prevent and internet filtering policies has been considered under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  Our answers to your individual
questions are as follows:-

 

(1)    Can you please supply your policy or guidance for duties under the
Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 duties for the various local
authorities listed in Schedule 6, known as “Prevent”;

 

The policy is in draft format and under review and will be published on
the University website shortly.   According to section 22 of the FOIA we
are not obliged to provide information that is intended for future
publication.  Section 22 is a qualified exemption and subject to the
public interest test, which means that consideration must be given as to
whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption is greater than
the public interest in disclosing the information.  Although disclosure of
information is always the preferred course of action, because this
document is still in draft format and subject to some change, and because
publication of the final version is imminent, it is considered to be in
the public interest to withhold release until the final, approved version
is made publicly available at [1]www.rau.ac.uk in the next couple of
months.

 

 

(2)    Can you please supply your policy relating to internet filtering,
blocking and prevention of access to material deemed inappropriate;

 

Extract from IT acceptable use policy:

You must not create, download, store or transmit unlawful material, or
material that is indecent, offensive, defamatory, threatening,
discriminatory or extremist. The University reserves the right to block or
monitor access to such material. Where access to such material is deemed
necessary, permission must be sought from IT Services.

The University has a statutory duty, under the Counter Terrorism and
Security Act 2015, termed "PREVENT". The purpose of this duty is to aid
the process of preventing people being drawn into terrorism

 

 

(3)    Can you please supply the name of any providers of internet
filtering and blocking services that you use, or else a statement that you
do not block or filter content at all;

 

The Royal Agricultural University’s internet filtering is performed by a
company called 365it - [2]www.365itms.co.uk

 

 

(4)    Can you please supply a list of agreements of Memorandums of
Understanding between yourselves and bodies such as the Internet Watch
Foundation (IWF), the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) of
the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), or Police Intellectual Property
Crime Unit (PIPCU) of the City of London Police, to receive lists of
illegal or illicit content, for instance for the purposes of blocking;

 

No such agreements exist.

 

 

(5)    Can you tell me if any filtering or blocking service that you use
incorporates lists from the IWF, CTIRU or PIPCU, and which lists are
incorporated;

 

The filtering service provided by 365itms uses only the standard lists
supplied by Sonicwall, the makers of the RAU’s firewall.

 

 

(6)    Can you provide to me any clauses within any contract or terms and
conditions of service agreed with your filtering and blocking providers
that relate to their use of information from the IWF, CTIRU or PIPCU.

 

No such clauses exist.

 

 

I hope that this response is helpful to you.  If you are unhappy with the
way in which your request has been handled you may request an internal
review – details of our review procedure are attached.

 

Yours sincerely,

Laura Butler

Royal Agricultural University FOI

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.rau.ac.uk/
2. http://www.365itms.co.uk/