Acceptable use terms

You may use the website and its tools only for your personal purposes and primarily for accessing information about the BMA and engaging with other BMA members and doctors about issues related to the profession.

You may use the website and tools only to post comments, messages and material that are in the BMA’s opinion proper and appropriate. Without limiting this, as a condition of your use of the website, you agree:

• not to use the website for any purpose that is unlawful under any applicable law or prohibited by these terms or our Terms and Conditions or to promote any unlawful activity;
• not to use the website to commit any act of fraud;
• not to use the website to distribute viruses or malware or other similar harmful software code or to gain unauthorised access to or use of computers, data, systems, accounts or networks;
• not to use the website to simulate communications from us or another service or entity in order to collect identity information, authentication credentials, or other information (‘phishing’);
• not to use the website for purposes of promoting unsolicited advertising or sending spam;
• not use the website to collect users’ content or information, including via automated means (e.g. bots, spiders or scrapers);
• not to use the website in any manner that disrupts the operation of our website or business or the website or business of any other entity;
• not to use the website to bully, intimidate or harass any other user;
• not to use the website in any manner that harms minors;
• not to attempt to circumvent password or user authentication methods; and
• to comply with the provisions relating to our intellectual property rights and software contained in our Terms and Conditions.

We may make bulletin boards, chat rooms or other communication services (‘Social Tools’) available on the website from time to time at our discretion.

These Social Tools may permit you to post content, including text, images, video, audio or other multimedia content, software or information (‘User Content’). You are responsible for all User Content you submit, or which is submitted using your log in details, and grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free worldwide licence to use any User Content you post on the website for the purposes of providing the Social Tools . You agree that we may (but are not obliged to) access, preserve, and disclose any content posted by you in order to: comply with any legal process; enforce these terms; respond to any disputes; or protect the rights, property, or personal safety of the BMA or others.

User Content is the responsibility of the user who posted it, and does not represent any advice or opinions of the BMA. We are not obliged to monitor or moderate User Content to our Social Tools. However, we reserve the right to both moderate User Content and respond where we become aware through any means that these terms have been breached.

Any User Content you post must comply with our content standards set out below.

Any User Content or communication to users of our website must conform to standards of accuracy, decency and lawfulness, which shall be applied in our discretion, acting reasonably. In particular, you warrant that any User Content or communication complies with the Restrictions on Use above and is:

• your own original work (not copied), not in breach of any intellectual property or confidentiality rights and lawfully submitted;
• factually accurate or your own genuinely held belief;
• provided with the necessary consent of any third party and including any appropriate legal notices or proprietary designations;
• not defamatory or likely to give rise to an allegation of defamation;
• not offensive, threatening, obscene, sexually explicit, discriminatory or deceptive;
• respectful of other people’s rights; and
• unlikely to cause offence, embarrassment or annoyance to others.

If you have any concerns about something you have posted, you are able to edit or delete your User Content at your discretion. Please note that the BMA may retain a copy of User Content for the purposes outlined above.

We shall apply these terms in our absolute discretion. In the event of your breach of these terms we may restrict, terminate or suspend your use of the website or tools, remove or edit your User Content, disclose User Content to law enforcement authorities or take any action we consider necessary to remedy the breach, all without notice and without incurring any liability.

If you are concerned about another user’s breach of these terms, please flag the offending post to report it to a moderator.

We will try to resolve any disputes with you quickly and efficiently. If you are unhappy with us please contact us as soon as possible at [email protected]

If you want to take court proceedings, the relevant courts of England and Wales will have exclusive jurisdiction, and English law will apply to these terms and any matter arising in connection with them.