Specific rules of use regarding collaboration outside of the University

Background

Collaboration tools such as Sharepoint Online and ProjectPlace, are cloud services in which you, as an employee or otherwise working at Uppsala University, can administer, plan and monitor projects jointly with users at the University and other higher education institutions.

These tools must not be used for storing and processing sensitive personal data or sensitive documents. In addition, mission-critical information may be stored only in the form of copies in the tools.

In the tools it is possible to collaborate across organisational boundaries, sharing documents and other files. One particular point to remember when a file is made available to a person outside Uppsala University, a government agency, is that the file becomes an official or public document at the University. If the person gaining access to the file is located at another Swedish government agency, municipality or county council, the file also becomes an official or public document in the organisation concerned.

Definitions

Sensitive personal data are, as defined in the Swedish Personal Data Act (SFS 1998:204), those that reveal:

• race or ethnic origin
• political opinions
• religious or philosophical beliefs
• membership of a trade union or
• data that concern health or sex life.

An official or public document is one that drawn up or received by a public agency. The Swedish Freedom of the Press Act (1949:105) defines the term ‘document’ as ‘any written or pictorial matter or recording which may be read, listened to, or otherwise comprehended only using technical aids.’ Examples of official or public documents are notices of decisions, email and databases.

A sensitive document is a document for which disclosure must, under the Swedish Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (2009:400), undergo special consideration. Examples of sensitive documents are research data including data on patients or other sensitive personal data, procurement documentation, patent applications etc.

Mission-critical information is information that is critical for an individual researcher or research team, a department or corresponding unit, or the whole University. Examples may be contracts and agreements; research data or research information that has been collected over a long period and/or cannot be recreated; and information that has been compiled about valuable property.