Microsoft 365 - Terms of Service

UBC is building a foundation to introduce a suite of Microsoft 365 (M365) apps into our technology environment.


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Terms of Service | Privacy Policy


Terms of Service – UBC Microsoft 365

1. Introduction

  1. Scope. The scope of these Terms of Service covers content generated while using UBC's instance of Microsoft 365 (the "Service"), which currently offers the following productivity and collaboration tools:
    • Teams
    • OneDrive
    • Word Online
    • Excel Online
    • PowerPoint Online
    • Planner
    • OneNote Online
    • Class Notebook (OneNote)
    • Staff Notebook (OneNote)
    • SharePoint Online
    • Delve
  2. Audience. These Terms of Service apply to all users of the Service. This includes any UBC member who uses the Service, including faculty, staff, and students, as well as external users (e.g. consultants and partners) that may have access to the Service.
  3. Acceptance. By logging into the Service you agree to these Terms of Service.
  4. Privacy Policy. The use of the Service is subject to the UBC Microsoft 365 Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference and forms part of these Terms of Service.
  5. Other Policies, Rules and Requirements. These Terms of Service supplement UBC's policies, rules and requirements. Please take particular note of Policy SC14, Acceptable Use and Security of UBC Electronic Information and Systems and the other policies and requirements referenced in these Terms of Service.
  6. Modification of Terms of Service. UBC may, in its sole discretion, modify these Terms of Service at any time. Any modifications will be effective upon them being posted to the Service. Your continued use of the Service following the posting of the modifications constitutes acceptance of such modifications. You should periodically review the most up-to-date version of these Terms of Service.

2. Your Account

  1. Access via Authorized Account. You may only access the Service via the account that UBC has assigned to you (your "Account"). You may not allow others to use your Account.
  2. Responsibility for Use of Account. You are responsible for the activity that occurs on the Service through your Account. Protect your Account by using a strong password and keeping it secret.

3. Access and Use of the Service and Content

  1. Grant of Permission to UBC. You retain your rights in the content you contribute to the Service ("Content"). However, subject to UBC's Policy LR12, Use of Teaching Materials in UBC Credit Courses, by submitting Content to the Service, you grant UBC a worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicenseable and transferable license (permission) to reproduce, distribute, display, and present the Content as required to operate the Service.
  2. Access to Content. The Service may permit you to restrict access to your Content in various ways. You are solely responsible for designating these restrictions (if you do not wish to utilize the default settings). Content will be displayed where contributed or as otherwise designated by you. Notwithstanding the restrictions placed on access to Content, IT support representatives may always access such Content where required to assist with a technical or functional system issue, or where otherwise required to comply with policy or legal requirements.
  3. Team Sites Administration. UBC will set up various Microsoft Teams sites ("Team Sites") on the Service and will designate or reassign the Administrator(s) for each Team Site from time to time at its sole discretion. The Administrator(s) will be responsible for assigning user permissions to the Team Site, removing user permissions from the Team Site when access is no longer needed or warranted, ensuring information stored in the Team Site conforms to UBC policies and these Terms of Service, and requesting deletion of the Team Site when it is no longer required.
  4. Retention Period for Chat Messages. Messages sent using the Teams Chat function will be automatically destroyed after 90 days without notice to you.

4. General Conditions of Use

  1. Use of the Service by Students. If you are a student, you may only access and use the Service and Content in support of your academic activities and related UBC extra-curricular activities, or for other purposes that are approved by UBC from time to time.
  2. Use of the Service by Other Users. If you are not a student, you may only access and use the Service and Content for the purpose of carrying out the administrative, academic, and research mandates of UBC, or for other purposes that are approved by UBC from time to time.
  3. Acceptable Use and Security. You must follow UBC's requirements related to acceptable use and security, including Policy SC14, Acceptable Use and Security of UBC Electronic Information and Systems and the associated Information Security Standards.
  4. Respectful Communications. You must follow UBC's requirements related to respectful communication, including Policy SC7 - Discrimination, the UBC Statement on Respectful Environment for Students, Faculty and Staff, and the UBC Student Code of Conduct. In addition, you must respect the particular rules established for each of the Sites you are using, including rules regarding private communications.
  5. Copyright. You must follow UBC's requirements related to copyright, including the Copyright Requirements for UBC Faculty and Staff; the Fair Dealing Requirements for Faculty and Staff; and the Copyright Guidelines for UBC Faculty, Staff and Students.
  6. Commercial Uses. Without limiting the foregoing and in addition to the prohibited uses set out in UBC Policy SC14, Acceptable Use and Security of UBC Electronic Information and Systems, you are not permitted to place commercial advertising or promotions on or within the Service, unless you have received prior permission from the Administrator of the Team in which this material is to appear.
  7. Respecting Privacy. You must not use any part of the Service to collect, use, or disclose personal information about another person (including contact details) without their express prior consent.

5. Suspension or Deletion of Accounts, Team Sites and Content

  1. Suspension or Deletion of Accounts. UBC may suspend or delete your Account if UBC determines that you are in violation of these Terms of Service, or after 12 months of inactivity.
  2. Suspension or Deletion of Team Sites. UBC may suspend or delete a Team Site if UBC determines that the Team Site is no longer required, or after 12 months of inactivity.
  3. Deletion of your Content. You may delete your own Content at any time. UBC may also delete or remove access permission from your Content where required to do so by law or policy. Notwithstanding the foregoing, UBC may, in its sole discretion, store the Content (even if you've designated it for deletion) in accordance with applicable policies and legal requirements.
  4. Recovery after Deletion. UBC may not be able to recover Content or other data after it has been deleted. Users and Team Administrators who request the recovery of Content or other data that they have deleted may be required to reimburse UBC for the costs incurred in recovering such data.

6. Liability and Indemnity

  1. Your Responsibility for Your Content. You are responsible for ensuring that the Content you contribute to the Service, including all Content contributed through your Account, does not violate applicable policies and legal requirements. For clarity, when a designate (usually an administrative assistant or teaching assistant) contributes Content on behalf of a faculty member, it is the faculty member, not the designate performing the task of uploading or inputting, who is responsible for the Content, who must ensure that the Content complies with these Terms of Service, and who must ensure that the license terms governing the use of the Content are appropriate. UBC neither takes responsibility for nor endorses any Content submitted to the Service by any user, or any opinion, recommendation, or advice expressed therein, and UBC expressly disclaims any and all liability in connection with all such Content.
  2. No Representations or Warranties. The Service and the Content is provided to you AS IS. UBC strives to provide a great Service. However, UBC makes no representations or warranties, either express or implied, about the Service, including as to the accuracy, completeness, quality or currency of the Service or that the Service will be free of errors or operate without disruption. In addition, UBC disclaims any warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title and non-infringement.
  3. Limitation of Liability. In no event shall UBC be liable for any loss or damages, whether direct or consequential, arising from your use of, or inability to use, the Service or any Content you contribute to the Service, including but not limited to for any loss of use, data, or profits or interruption in availability of data or your Content. This will be regardless of whether or not UBC has been warned of the possibility of such damages.
  4. Third Party Websites. In addition, the Service or Content may contain links to third party websites. UBC has no control over, and neither assumes nor accepts responsibility for, the content, privacy policies, or practices of any third party websites.
  5. Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless UBC and its board, agents, subcontractors, licensors, and licensees against any and all claims, losses or damages arising from or in any way relating to your use of the Service including, without limitation, the Content you contribute to the Service.

7. Trademarks

  1. Trademarks. Certain words, phrases, names, designs or logos used on the Service may constitute trademarks, service marks or trade names of UBC or other entities. The display of any such marks or names on the Service does not imply the grant of a license or authorization of any kind to use such marks or names. You may not use any of UBC or any other entity's trademarks, service marks or trade names without prior written permission.

8. Choice of Law

  1. Choice of Law. The laws of the Province of British Columbia and the laws of Canada applicable therein shall govern as to the interpretation, validity and effect of this document, and all claims arising from or in connection with this document, notwithstanding any conflict of laws provisions of your domicile, residence or physical location. You hereby consent and submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of British Columbia in any action or proceeding instituted under or related to your use of the Service.

 

Privacy Policy – UBC Microsoft 365

1. Privacy Statement

UBC is committed to protecting your privacy.

All personal information in the Service is collected by UBC under the authority of Section 26(c) of the British Columbia Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c.165. Personal information will be used for the purposes described in the Terms of Service of the Service, and this Privacy Policy. Any questions about the collection of your personal information should be sent to UBC IT.

2. Personal Information we Collect

Through your use of the Service, UBC collects your personal information in three ways:

  1. Personal information contained in your Content. This is information about yourself or other people that you include in the Content.
  2. Personal information that is automatically collected from you. When you use the Service, we may automatically collect and store certain personal information in server logs. This may include:
    1. your internet protocol address;
    2. device event information such as crashes, system activity, hardware settings, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request and referral URL; and
    3. on-page click events including, but not limited to login events, viewing content pages, launching tools, uploading files, posting to channels and discussions, authoring calendar items, submitting assignments.
  3. Personal information that is automatically transferred from other UBC systems. Personal information is transferred from UBC's Student Information System to the Service, including (as applicable) your name, student number, employee identification number (if applicable), email address and enrollment information.

3. Azure Active Directory

The Service uses a Microsoft directory called Azure Active Directory, which is available to all of the UBC users of the Service ("Directory"). This Directory is hosted on a secure server located outside Canada. To protect your privacy, only limited information is initially placed in the Directory, as follows:

  1. Student Users: By default, this Directory only contains your UBC email address.
  2. Faculty, Staff, and Other Users: By default, this Directory contains your UBC email address, first and last name, and business contact information.

You may add additional information to the Directory, but if you choose to do so, please keep in mind that this information will be shared with other UBC users and will be stored outside Canada.

4. Personal Information will be stored in Canada

With the exception of the Directory, the Service stores all of your personal information on secure servers located in Canada, unless you expressly authorize us to store it elsewhere.

5. Access and Use of Personal Information is Restricted

Any personal information collected through the Service may be accessed by UBC employees where necessary to operate the Service or to comply with policy or legal requirements.

UBC does not permit any personal information collected through the Service to be accessed, used or shared by companies, institutions, organizations and individuals outside of UBC unless one of the following circumstances applies:

  1. With the Service Provider and subcontractors. The Service is proprietary software operated by Microsoft Corp. (the "Service Provider"), and the Service Provider may enter into agreements with other parties for the provision of services that are necessary for the operation, maintenance, updating, configuration, testing and enhancement of the Service. Personal information may be shared with the Service Provider and these other parties but only when necessary for the operation, maintenance, updating, configuration, or testing of such software. The Service Provider and these other parties will not use your personal information for any other purpose, and will keep this information confidential. The Service Provider may use de-identified and aggregated data for its own internal business purposes.
  2. For legal reasons. UBC will share personal information if we have a good-faith belief that access, use, preservation or disclosure of the information is reasonably necessary to:
    1. meet any applicable law, regulation, legal process or enforceable governmental request;
    2. detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security or technical issues;
    3. protect against harm to the rights, property or safety of UBC, and the Service's users.
  3. For research and development. UBC may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable information publicly and with the academic community. For example, we may share information to show trends about the general use of the Service.
  4. Otherwise, only with your consent. Other than as set out above, UBC will share personal information only when UBC has your express consent to do so.

6. Microsoft's Privacy and Security Policies

Complete information on Microsoft's use, protection, and access to personal data can be found on its website: https://privacy.microsoft.com/en-ca