## Your duties

Reading time
7 minutes

What you will learn
You will learn what duties you have when it comes to the protection of your own privacy and that of others.

Summary
Every law also involves a duty, such as the protection of others’ personal data if you use this during your studies, as well as the secure and professional handling of all of the education institution's data and facilities. While your education institution does assist you in performing your duties properly, it expects every student to adopt a pro-active attitude in this respect. The rule of thumb is: take others into consideration, as you would have others take you into consideration.

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## No mobile phone?

It's impossible to imagine these days. But there was a time, not so long ago, that no one had mobile phone. Look at these kids trying to make a call with a rotary phone...

Now we all carry a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a smartwatch and other smart equipment wherever we go. And as fun and useful as these devices are, they all create new responsibilities, or perhaps even duties. On this page, we cover which duties those are.

Consider for a moment: what would you miss the most if you suddenly no longer had a telephone, laptop or tablet?

## Photos and video clips

Of course it's super easy to just film your lecture for your housemate who is still in bed, sleeping off their hangover. Or to secretly snap a photo of the fellow student who flirts with you. And even if, during a tutorial, all you want to do is film the lecturer, for example, it will still be possible to hear your fellow students asking questions in the background, too.

Not everyone wants to be filmed or photographed, particularly not within the walls of your education institution. Before you start filming or taking photos, always ask yourself these four questions first:

1. is everyone who will appear in the photo/video clip aware of this?
2. is everyone who will appear in the photo/video clip happy about that?
3. does everyone know where I am going share/publish the images?
4. is there a way for people who do not want to be in the photo/video clip to not appear in the image/be heard in the recording?

If the answer to one or more of these four questions is ‘no’, you should seriously ask yourself whether or not taking photos or shooting a video clip is wise/desirable. Remember the rule of thumb mentioned at the beginning of this page:

Take others into consideration, as you would have others take you into consideration.

Consider for a moment: would you be pleased if someone from your education institution took a photo or shot a video clip of you?

## Data breach

During your studies you will from time to time have access to others people's personal data. This can include email addresses and telephone numbers of fellow students, research results, video clips of an interview, etc.

In the worst case scenario, you could lose this data. You might lose a USB stick on the train, email the attachment to the wrong email address or leave a document containing address details behind in the printer. In formal terms, this is referred to as a ‘data breach’; personal data has or may have been leaked to people who are not actually authorised to access to it. A situation in which you are no longer able to access certain data/personal data or in which the data is no longer correct, can also constitute a data breach.

What should you do then? If you suspect that you have lost others people's personal data/special personal data, always contact [contact details]. Together, you can decide what action may be necessary. Sending an email to the wrong person containing five other email addresses is not as serious as sending them medical information about those five people or accidentally sharing the email addresses of five hundred people.

Consider for a moment: which personal data have you shared with someone else in the last week?

## Working & studying securely

We expect all students to have a professional attitude during their studies. That means that you:

- properly protect other people's personal data, just as you would have others properly protect your privacy.
- use the software provided by the education institution (e.g. for saving files) as much as possible when doing assignments for your study programme.
- are aware of the consequences if sensitive information/sensitive personal information ends up in the wrong hands and are therefore always very cautious about sharing sensitive information.

If you follow these principles, you can proceed through your studies as securely as possible when it comes to your own privacy, and that of your fellow students!