Join ForceNet

Definitions

In these Terms of Use, the following definitions apply:

Content means any content (including text, images or audio, visual or audio-visual recordings) on ForceNet.

Defence means the Commonwealth of Australia as represented by the Department of Defence.

Defence Personnel means a currently serving member of the Australian Defence Force or current member of the Defence Australian Public Service.

Defence User means a Defence member approved to access ForceNet.

Defence Family Member means a person 18 years or older who has a close personal relationship with a current Defence User. This includes partners, parents, siblings and adult children, but can also extend to other family members and close friends as determined by the Defence User.

Defence Sponsor means a Defence User who is sponsoring a Defence Family Member’s registration to access ForceNet.

ForceNet means the e-communication platform of that name, provided by Defence, for the use of Defence Personnel and their families, and which is accessible at https://www.forcenet.gov.au/

Inappropriate Content means content which is assessed by the impacted Group or Service Administrator or the ForceNet Capability Coordinator or their delegate to be, or likely to be,  offensive, illegal, insulting, discriminatory or capable of causing offence, distress or harm.

Your Content means any content (including text, images or audio, visual or audio-visual recordings) that you post on ForceNet.

Authorised User means any person approved by the ForceNet Capability Coordinator, or their delegate, to access and use ForceNet.

Operator

ForceNet is operated by Defence as a free-of-charge e-communication platform for Defence Personnel, Defence Families and other authorised users.

Authorised users are welcome to view and post Content on ForceNet, subject to these Terms of Use.

Conditions of Use

To use ForceNet you must:

1. be either Defence Personnel, a Defence Family Member sponsored by a Defence User, other Authorised Users;

2. have an active, registered ForceNet account; and

3. be at least 18 years of age (for other than Defence personnel).

Your Account

Once you have logged in, you will be able to access the ForceNet user guides. You can also access the FAQ section through the ‘Help’ section on the ForceNet landing page prior to logging in.

Each ForceNet user is required to register for an account. You must not use anyone else’s account or let anyone else use your account.

Users are responsible for the safekeeping of their ForceNet login and password details. You must never disclose your password to another person. 

If you are not Defence Personnel, then you must be sponsored by Defence Personnel to be able to access ForceNet. The sponsorship authorisation must be renewed every 12 months. For more information on this process, please refer to the heading, Information for Sponsors of Family Users’ below.

A user's account is locked if they attempt to login more than five times using incorrect login details. A user’s account will be deactivated if their Defence Sponsor's account is deactivated or the Sponsor chooses to no longer sponsor their account. There is no period of inactivity which would deactivate or lock a user account.

Posting Content

You may post Your Content on ForceNet; however, you must ensure that Your Content does not include:

1. Personal information of others (for example: names, photographs, email addresses, home addresses or phone numbers), unless you have permission from those persons (or, if they are children, from their parents or guardians) to post that Content;

2. Defence information, which is not in the public domain, any confidential information belonging to third parties or any information that gives rise to potential national security risks (for example: information about Defence operations);

3. Inappropriate Content; or

4. Content which was created by another person who has not given you permission to post that Content, including Content that infringes the intellectual property rights of others (for example: photographs taken by professional photographers, extracts of books or magazines, or images or text from other websites).

MOBILE APPLICATION

Any costs associated with downloading, installing, accessing and using the ForceNet Application (Application) remain your responsibility and are likely to depend on the service provider used. Defence will not charge you to download or use the Application. 

You must only use the Application for your personal, non-commercial, and official Defence use. Furthermore, you must not:

1. decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble, convert or authorise any third party to decompile, reverse engineer, disassemble or otherwise convert, the Application to a human perceivable form;

2. distribute or republish the Application in any way;

3. resell, rent, lease or lend the Application; or

4. transfer the Application, or any Content on the Application, to any third party. 

INFORMATION FOR SPONSORS OF FAMILY USERS

If you are Defence Personnel, you may choose to sponsor up to three (3) of your family members, or other persons with whom you have a significant relationship, who are at least 18 years of age, to become ForceNet users. This includes partners, parents, siblings and adult children, but can also extend to other family members and close friends as determined by the Defence User. Information on how to sponsor a family member is contained in the applicable user guide. 

You must not sponsor any person to join ForceNet unless they are:

• 18 years of age or older; and

• a member of your family or person who has a significant relationship with you.

Family User

Please be aware that once sponsored, your Family User will be automatically added to the following groups:

• Families Service (Navy, Army, Air Force or APS) Group;

• Defence Families of Australia;

• Defence Community Organisation; and

• The Families equivalent of your assigned Primary Unit.

Once sponsored, your Family User will also be permitted to search for and request to join any other Families Groups within the system, subject to Administrator approval.

You will receive an automatically-generated notice requiring you to review and renew your sponsorships every twelve (12) months.  Please note that the user accounts of Family Users will be deactivated if your ForceNet account is deactivated, or if you do not renew your sponsorships when you receive a notice to review them.  A user account of a Family User may also be deactivated, by Defence without notice, if that Family User fails to comply with the Terms of Use.

You must inform Family Users, who use ForceNet, that they are required to comply with these Terms of Use.

CONTENT LICENCES

The Content on ForceNet is subject to protection under copyright law. The copyright in particular material may be owned by Defence or ForceNet users. Persons may also have moral rights in material on this website within the meaning of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Copyright Act).

By posting Your Content, you grant Defence and other users of ForceNet, a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, free licence, including the right to sub-license, to use your Content in any existing or future media (within and outside ForceNet), for non-commercial purposes and for the period in which your Content is accessible on ForceNet.  Defence and other users may also make any other use of the Content as permitted by the Copyright Act. 

In addition, you grant Defence a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, perpetual free licence, including the right to sub-license, to use Your Content in managing and administering ForceNet, for reporting and auditing purposes, and for research and evaluation of ForceNet.

By posting Your Content, you warrant that you have all intellectual property rights, and have sought all required consents to the infringement of any moral rights, necessary to grant the licences set out above.

YOUR USE OF CONTENT

You must not use Content in a way which implies an endorsement from, or an association or affiliation with Defence, unless a Defence moderator posted the Content. 

Inappropriate Content or Other Breaches

ForceNet is a Defence approved IT platform. In line with current Defence policy, users must not make or attempt to make inappropriate use of Defence ICT resources. Inappropriate use involves the use of Defence ICT resources by a means or method, in a manner, location or situation, or for a purpose, that: 

1. breaches Australian law or Government policy;

2. involves dissemination of information that is likely to damage Australia’s reputation or the reputation of the Australian Government or Defence;

3. is likely to be of risk to the defence or national security of Australia or the conduct of a military activity;

4. is contrary to Defence Values, Service Values, or APS Values;

5. is wasteful of time or other Defence resources;

6. infringes intellectual property rights, copyright, non-consensual moral rights, or confidentiality;

7. breaches the privacy of another person; or

8. involves the unauthorised access to, unauthorised searching of, or unauthorised removal, modification or impairment of Content in, a Defence database, such as PMKeyS or Objective.

You must report any Inappropriate Content, or other breaches of these Terms of Use, to ForceNet@defence.gov.au.

Defence reserves the right to immediately remove any Inappropriate Content, or Content which otherwise breaches these Terms of Use, from ForceNet without notice. 

If you post Content in breach of these Terms of Use your account may be suspended or terminated by Defence at its sole discretion.

Behaviours

When using ForceNet, please ensure that you:

• are not abusive;

• do not harass or threaten others;

• do not make defamatory or libellous comments;

• do not use insulting, provocative or hateful language;

• do not use obscene or offensive language;

• do not use words or sentences in languages other than English without the permission of the group administrator;

• do not post material or comments that infringe the intellectual property rights of others;

• do not post multiple versions of the same view to the wall or make excessive postings on a particular issue;

• do not promote commercial interests in your posts or comments;

• do not make unproven or unsupported accusations against individuals or organisations;

• do not use any images or link to sites that may be considered abusive, offensive, indecent or obscene;

• do not encourage conduct that may constitute a criminal offence or give rise to civil liability, or that otherwise violates any local, provincial, national or international law or regulation anywhere in the world;

• do not incite hatred on the basis of any personal characteristic, including on the basis of race, gender, marital or domestic status, disability, sexuality or age;

• do not identify matters that are currently the subject of legal proceedings or would break a court’s non-publication order; and

• do not make comments that are irrelevant to the group topic.

Third Party Websites

ForceNet contains links to other websites that are external to Defence. Defence takes reasonable care in linking websites, but has no control over the content, as amended from time to time, of the linked websites

Users must make their own enquiries about:

1. the accuracy, currency, reliability, completeness and/or relevance of information contained in any linked, external websites; and

2. which organisation is hosting the website that they are visiting.

Furthermore, Defence does not endorse any material, products or services on those third party websites.

Moderation of Content by Defence

ForceNet is monitored by Defence moderators during normal business hours on business days in the Australian Capital Territory.  Defence will use reasonable endeavours to remove any Inappropriate Content, or Content which otherwise breaches these Terms of Use, from ForceNet as soon as it is identified.  However, you acknowledge that, because the ForceNet website is not subject to immediate or continuous moderation, ForceNet may contain such Content from time to time. 

Defence’s moderation approach is consistent with the Australian Government Information Office Web 2.1 Guidelines, which allows comments submitted to its social media accounts to appear online automatically, where they will be reviewed and removed if necessary.

Such Content is not subject to any pre-screening by Defence.

Defence does not endorse or support the comments, opinions or statements posted by users on ForceNet.  Content posted by users does not reflect the views of Defence.

General Disclaimer

Defence makes ForceNet available as a platform for the publication of information by others.  While Defence moderates ForceNet as described above, you acknowledge and agree that Defence is not responsible for any Content on ForceNet, other than Content which has been posted by an authorised Defence moderator. 

You agree that you will not rely upon any Content and you use ForceNet entirely at your own risk. You agree that, to the full extent permitted by law, Defence and its officers, employees and agents are not liable for any costs, losses or damages of any kind (whether direct, indirect, consequential or otherwise) which you may incur, from your use of ForceNet. 

This is the case even if Defence has been advised of the possibility of such loss. 

You acknowledge that Defence gives no warranty, guarantee or representation in relation to ForceNet and, to the full extent permitted by law, Defence disclaims any and all such warranties, guarantees and representations, express and implied, including that Defence does not warrant, guarantee or represent that:

1. any information contained or referenced on ForceNet or a linked site is true, accurate, current or complete;

2. ForceNet, or any product or service referenced on ForceNet or a linked site, is of merchantable quality or fit for any particular purpose;

3. ForceNet or a linked site is free of software viruses or harmful code;

4. ForceNet or a linked site will operate for any period of time, or uninterrupted or error-free; or

5. errors and defects in ForceNet or a linked site will be corrected.

The Department of Defence accepts no liability for any interference with or damage to a user's computer system, software or data occurring in connection with or relating to this website or its use. Users are encouraged to take appropriate and adequate precautions to ensure that whatever is selected from this site is free from viruses or other contamination that may interfere with or damage the user's computer system, software or data.

You should report any suspicious or unauthorised activity relating to your use of ForceNet by contacting us. This will help us make ForceNet as secure as we can.

Privacy

The Defence Privacy Policy is designed to inform individuals about the way Defence collects, stores, uses and discloses personal information (as defined in the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (Privacy Act). This policy also provides guidance about how you can access, or seek correction of, personal information held by Defence about you.

The Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) contained in Schedule 1 of the Privacy Act, regulate how Defence, as an APP entity, collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information.

Visiting our website

When you access this website, our server makes a record of your visit and logs the following information to assist with site administration and maintenance:

• the user's server address;

• the user's top level domain name (for example .com, .gov, .au, .uk etc);

• the date and time of visit to the site;

• the pages accessed and documents downloaded;

• the previous site visited (please note: this only applies when the user has accessed ForceNet by following a link to ForceNet from an external site, and only if that external site also does not have a Referrer-Policy which prevents it. There is no visual data captured from ForceNet or any previously visited website); and

• the type of browser used.

As mentioned above, this information is primarily used for administrative purposes. However, this information may also be disclosed to:

1. an Australian Federal, State or Territory investigative authority to support investigations; or

2. other Commonwealth agencies, where necessary, to perform their statutory obligations.

Sending us emails

When you send Defence an email, our email servers will collect and hold your email address and the content of that email, for the purpose of responding to, and assisting with, your enquiry. Your email address will not be added to a mailing list unless you supplied it to Defence for that reason. 

When emailing Defence, please also provide us with all information relevant to/in support of your query so that Defence may supply an informed response.

Further information

For further information about how:

1. Defence holds your personal information;

2. you can apply for access to, or seek a correction of, that personal information; or

3. to make a complaint about how Defence has managed your personal information,

kindly refer to the Defence Privacy Policy in the above link.

Questions regarding the Defence Privacy Policy may be emailed to the Defence Privacy Office, or sent via regular mail to:

Defence Privacy Office

BP35-1-065

PO Box 7927

CANBERRA BC ACT 2610

Warning: You should be aware that Defence cannot control how other users of ForceNet use your personal information.  Other users may not be subject to the Privacy Act or the Defence Privacy Policy.  Therefore, Defence recommends that you avoid posting any personal information in Your Content.  You agree that Defence will not be responsible for misuse of your personal information by a ForceNet user.

Freedom of Information

The Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) (FOI Act) provides various legal protections (sections 90-92 of the FOI Act) for:

1. the Commonwealth, a Minister, an agency or an officer of an agency in cases of certain civil liabilities (actions for defamation, breach of confidence or infringement of copyright); and

2. a Minister and officers of an agency in the case of criminal liability, where a document, was published or access was given to it, by a Minister or an officer of the agency, in good faith, in the belief that the document was either required or permitted to be given:

   1. under the Information Publication Scheme (Part II of the FOI Act);

   2. under Part 11C of the FOI Act;

   3. in response to a request; or

   4. otherwise than under the FOI Act.

Accessibility

Defence endeavours to make the ForceNet website Content as accessible as possible to the widest audience. This includes those users who use assistive technology or accessibility features.  By adhering to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 guidelines for accessible web design, Defence acknowledges the diversity of communication methods, available technologies and abilities of web-users in the community.

If you are having difficulties accessing anything on ForceNet, please contact ForceNet@defence.gov.au for assistance.

Indemnity

You indemnify Defence and its respective officers, employees and agents (‘those indemnified’) from and against any loss (including reasonable legal costs and expenses) or liability incurred by any of those indemnified arising from any claim, demand, suit, action or proceeding by any person against any of those indemnified where such loss or liability arose out of, in connection with or in respect of any breach by you of these Terms of Use.

Defence Rights

You agree that Defence has the right to, without notice:

1. discontinue ForceNet at any time;

2. suspend or terminate your access to ForceNet; or

3. remove Your Content from ForceNet or alter Your Content,

should Defence consider that this is in the interests of Defence or any other ForceNet user.

Defence has the right, regardless of personal notification settings, to forward to you via ForceNet, those messages deemed ‘important messages’, or any other communications deemed ‘essential’.  Refer to ForceNet Defence User Guide, Section 13 : Messages for further information on ‘important messages’.

Governing Law

These Terms of Use and all other terms which apply to your use of ForceNet will be governed by the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, Australia.

Changes to these Terms of Use

Defence may change these Terms of Use at any time. Your continued use of ForceNet following changes to these Terms of Use constitutes your acceptance of the changes.

Failure to comply with any aspect of these Terms of Use, may see your access to ForceNet withdrawn.