SEEU Review vol. 6 Nr. 2 (pdf) - South East European University

Dennis J. Farrington, PhDuse which runs contrary to the regulations for academic networks.Monitoring is fraught with difficulty of legal challenge. While some form ofmonitoring is permitted by the operation of RIPA 101 under Codes of Practiceapproved by Parliament, 102 and the Telecommunications (Lawful BusinessPractice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 103 this shouldgenerally only be applied to individuals when there is reasonable suspicionof a breach of the law or other relevant rules and where permission has beengranted by a senior member of staff as there are also possible implicationsfor the general ECHR right of privacy, developed over time into the complexrules set out in DPA. To get over this, an employer might usefully provide aseparate and unmonitored payphone and perhaps an e-mail terminal for thepersonal and private use of employees. HEIs need to be particularly careful,more so since HEFCE has imposed reporting requirements as charityregulator, where there is even suspicion of activity carried out over theInternet which might be related to terrorism. 104ConclusionQuite clearly from the above discussion, it is very difficult to determinewhat exactly is the legal protection of academic freedom in the UnitedKingdom, and the author is drawn to agree with Sjur Bergan that the country(with the possible exception of Scotland) is the ‘sick man’ of Europe in thisrespect. In the current and potential state of higher education, where thesystem is gradually but inexorably moving along a business-oriented path toprivatisation, it seems unlikely that any government will have time orinclination to follow the Scottish Parliament and at least to ensure that HEIsrespect the academic freedom guaranteed in the various internationaldeclarations. However, even there, the problem is to define what is academicfreedom ‘within the law.’ In the next article, we shall see how in theory andin practice, academic freedom is guaranteed in a country with a constitutionand civil law system, the Republic of Macedonia.101 The police may also use RIPA to intercept e-mail at a server or ‘search’ a server and tooblige disclosure of any cryptographic key (as well as using the old-fashioned searchwarrant).102 There are many SIs relating to RIPA: the main Codes of Practice relevant to HEIs are TheRegulation of Investigatory Powers (Interception of Communications: Code of Practice)Order 2002, SI 2002/1693; and The Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Acquisition andDisclosure of Communications Data: Code of Practice) Order 2007, SI 2007/2197.103 SI 2000/2699.104 As noted above, English HEIs which are exempt charities are required to inform HEFCEof such suspicions; other English HEIs are required to inform the Charity Commission.34