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• SUNY Canton Policies & Procedures Manual: Computer and Network Use Policy

SUNY CANTON
COMPUTER and NETWORK USE POLICY

I. Introduction

Access to modem information technology is essential to the state university mission of providing the students, faculty and staff of the State University of New York with educational services of the highest quality. The pursuit and achievement of the SUNY Canton mission of education, research, and public service require that the privilege of the use of computing systems and software, internal and external data networks, as well as access to the internet, be made available to all those of the SUNY community. The preservation of that privilege for the full community requires that each faculty member, staff member, student, and other authorized user comply with institutional and external standards for appropriate use.

To assist and ensure such compliance, SUNY Canton establishes the following policy which supplements all applicable SUNY Canton policies, including sexual harassment, patent and copyright, and student and employee disciplinary policies, as well as applicable federal and state laws.

II. General Principles

1. Authorized use of SUNY Canton-owned or operated computing and network resources shall be consistent with the education, research and public service mission of the State University of New York, SUNY Canton, and consistent with this policy.

2. Authorized users of SUNY Canton computing and network resources include faculty, staff, students, and other affiliated individuals or organizations. Use by non-affiliated institutions and organizations shall be in accordance with SUNY Administrative Procedures Manual Policy 007.1 : Use of Computer Equipment or Services by Non-affiliated Institutions and Organizations.

3. This policy applies to all SUNY Canton computing and network resources, including host computer systems, SUNY Canton-sponsored computers and workstations, software, data sets, and communications networks controlled, administered, or accessed directly or indirectly by SUNY Canton computer resources or services, employees, or students.

4. SUNY Canton reserves the right to limit access to its networks and to monitor and restrict content when applicable campus or university policies or codes, contractual obligations, or state or federal laws are violated, but does not monitor or generally restrict the content of material transported across those networks.

5. SUNY Canton reserves the right to monitor, remove, or limit access to material posted on university-owned computers when there is reason to believe that applicable campus or university policies or codes, contractual obligations, or state or federal laws are violated, but does not monitor the content of material posted on university-owned computers.

6. This policy may be supplemented with additional guidelines by campus units which operate their own computers or networks, provided such guidelines are consistent with this policy. Such policy supplements shall be reviewed by the Instructional Technology Committee for consistency with this policy.

III. User Responsibilities

Privacy: No user should view, copy, alter or destroy another's personal electronic files without permission (unless authorized or required to do so by law or regulation).

Copyright: SUNY Canton observes all copyright laws and fair use regulations. Written permission from the copyright holder is required to duplicate any copyrighted material. This includes duplication of audio tapes, videotapes, photographs, illustrations, computer software, and all other information for educational use or any other purpose. Most software that resides on SUNY Canton computing network( s) is owned by the State University system, SUNY Canton, or third parties, and is protected by copyright and other laws, together with licenses and other contractual agreements. Users are required to respect and abide by the terms and conditions of software use and redistribution licenses.

Such restrictions may include prohibitions against copying programs or data for use on SUNY Canton computing network( s) or for distribution outside the University; against the resale of data or programs, or the use of them for non-educational purposes or for financial gain; and against public disclosure of information about programs (e.g., source code) without the owner's authorization.

Harassment, Libel and Slander: No user may, under any circumstances, use SUNY Canton computers or networks to libel, slander, or harass any other person.

IV. Access to Computing Resources:

Accounts: Accounts created by a system administrator for an individual are for the personal use of that individual only.

Sharing of access: Computer accounts, passwords, and other types of authorization are assigned to individual users and should not be shared with others. Each user is responsible for any use of his/her account. If an account is shared or the password divulged, the holder of the account may lose all account privileges and be held personally responsible for any actions that arise from the misuse of the account.

Permitting unauthorized access: Users may not run or otherwise configure software or hardware to intentionally allow access by unauthorized persons.

Termination of access: When a user ceases being a member of the campus community (e.g., withdraw, graduate, or terminate employment, or otherwise leave the college), or if he or she is assigned a new position and/or responsibilities within the State University system, access authorization must be reviewed. A user must not use facilities, accounts, access codes, privileges or information for which he or she is not authorized in new circumstances.

Circumventing Security: Users are prohibited from attempting to circumvent or subvert any system's security measures. Users are prohibited from using any computer program or device to intercept or decode passwords or similar access control information.

Breaching Security: Deliberate attempts to degrade the performance of a computer system or network or to deprive authorized personnel of resources or access to any SUNY Canton computer or network is prohibited.

Abuse of Computer Resources: Abuse of SUNY Canton computer resources is prohibited and includes, but is not limited to:

Game Playing: Limited recreational game playing, which is not part of authorized and assigned research or instructional activity, is acceptable, but computing and network services are not to be used for extensive or competitive recreational game playing. Recreational game players occupying a seat in a public computing facility must give up the use of the terminal when others who need to use the facility for academic or research purposes are waiting.

Chain Letters: The propagation of chain letters is considered an unacceptable practice by SUNY and is prohibited.

Unauthorized Servers: The establishment of a background process that services incoming requests from anonymous users for purposes of gaming, chatting or browsing the Web is prohibited.

Unauthorized Monitoring: A user may not use computing resources for unauthorized monitoring of electronic communications.

Flooding: Posting a message to multiple list servers or news groups with the intention of reaching as many users as possible is prohibited.

Private Commercial Purposes: The computing resources of SUNY Canton shall not be used for personal or private commercial purposes or for financial gain.

Political Advertising or Campaigning: The use of SUNY Canton computers and networks shall be in accordance with University policy on use of University facilities for political purposes (SUNY Administrative Procedures Manual Policy 008, Attach. A).

Definitions of Inappropriate Use: Use is defined as "excessive" if it interferes with normal job functions, responsiveness, or the ability to perform daily job activities. Use of SUNY Canton computers, networks, and Internet access is a privilege granted by management and may be revoked at any time for inappropriate conduct including, but not limited to:

1. Processing, distributing, transmitting, storing or displaying electronic material which is obscene,  pornographic, profane, sexually explicit, libelous or defamatory; or
2. Infringing on copyrights or other intellectual property rights, license agreements or other contracts (such as illegally manipulating, installing or making available copyrighted software, music or other protected intellectual property); or
3. Causing congestion, disruption, disablement, alteration, or impairment of SUNY Canton networks or systems

V. Limitations on Users' Rights

1. The issuance of a password or other means of access is to assure appropriate confidentiality of SUNY Canton files and information and does not guarantee privacy for personal or improper use of university equipment or facilities.

2. SUNY Canton provides reasonable security against intrusion and damage to files stored on the central facilities. SUNY Canton also provides some facilities for archiving and retrieving files specified by users, and for recovering files after accidental loss of data. However, SUNY Canton is not responsible for unauthorized access by other users or for loss due to power failure, fire, floods, etc.

SUNY Canton makes no warranties with respect to Internet services, and it specifically assumes no responsibilities for the content of any advice or information received by a user through the use of Canton's computer network.

3. Users should be aware that the SUNY Canton computer systems and networks may be subject to unauthorized access or tampering. In addition, computer records, including e-mail, are considered "records" which may be accessible to the public under the provisions of the New York State Freedom of Information Law.

Unauthorized Network Infrastructure Alterations: Campus network services, equipment, wiring or jacks may not be altered, removed, or extended beyond the location of their intended use.

VI. Web Policy

The SUNY Canton World Wide Web site is an official publication of SUNY Canton. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials, including text and photographs, appearing on the campus web site or subsequent official web pages of specific departments are copyrighted and should not be reproduced without written permission from the Director of Public Relations. Web pages linked to SUNY Canton Home Page may be created by academic departments, programs, centers or institutes, administrative departments, or recognized student groups. Individual members of the faculty and staff may create their own, but must link them through the campus directory page.

VII. Sanctions

Violators of this policy will be subject to the existing student or employee disciplinary procedures of SUNY Canton. Sanctions may include the loss of computing privileges. Illegal acts involving SUNY Canton computing resources may also subject users to prosecution by state and federal authorities.