School of Advanced Study, University of London
Staff Login Menu
Search
Advanced Search

Takedown Policy

If you believe that you are the copyright owner for any material on this website and do not consent to the use of your material in accordance with our terms and conditions, or if you believe material on the website to be obscene or defamatory, please contact us.

A complaint about the content of any item on SAS-Space should first be made by email to the SAS-Space Manager at sas-space.info@sas.ac.uk, providing the information detailed below:

  1. Your contact details;
  2. Details of the material, including the URL at which it was found;
  3. Proof, under the penalty of perjury, that you are the rights holder or an authorised representative OR explanation of why you deem the material to be obscene or defamatory;
  4. The reason for your request (e.g. copyright law, data protection, offensive material).

Upon receipt of a complaint, our Web Team will:

  1. Acknowledge receipt by email as soon as possible;
  2. Make an initial assessment within seven (7) days of acknowledging receipt.

If the complaint warrants further investigation we will:

  1. Temporarily hide the full-text file of the item from public access until the complaint is dealt with. The metadata record will not be altered at this stage. This removal should not be construed as having any bearing on the validity or otherwise of the complaint.
  2. Make an assessment of the validity of the complaint, requiring agreement from two members of staff (the SAS-Space Manager and a relevant senior staff member of the University of London). If agreement cannot be made, then the issue will be resolved by the Chief Operating Officer of the School of Advanced Study.  
  3. If necessary, seek further legal advice from the University of London legal team.
  4. In cases involving a SAS Dissertation or Thesis, the complaint will instead be assessed by the relevant Institute Manager and the Head of Registry Services, in the first instance.

If the complaint is deemed to be genuinely made, then one of the following will happen:

(a) the full-text file of the item will be hidden from public access, but the metadata record will remain visible. The metadata will be amended to reflect the fact of the removal from public access;

(b) the original full-text file will be hidden from public access, but a new amended full-text file will be uploaded in addition, as a publicly accessible replacement. The metadata will be amended to reflect this change.

(c) the full-text file and the metadata will be deleted from the repository. This option will only be used in extreme cases.

Once a decision has been made to the validity of the complaint, we will provide a written response containing confirmation of our decision and actions.

In the event that you need to make an appeal about decisions made, this should be made to the Dean of the School of Advanced study, Professor Jo Fox at jo.fox@sas.ac.uk