Information Systems Division: Conditions of use Policy

June 16, 1992

The Information Systems Division (IS) is responsible for the information technology activities and communication systems of Baker College. It develops and provides services to benefit other segments of the College and to facilitate the success of other information technology activities.

IS serves a large number and variety of users -- faculty, staff, students, and outside clients. As members of the Baker College community and in accordance with the overall policy in this area, "Policy on the Proper Use of Information Resources, Information Technology, and Networks at Baker College," all types of users have the responsibility to use IS's services in an effective, efficient, ethical, and legal manner.

Ethical and legal standards that apply to information technology resources derive directly from standards of common sense and common decency that apply to the use of any shared resource. IS depends first upon the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation that has been fostered at Baker College to resolve differences and ameliorate problems that arise from time to time.

This statement on conditions of use is published in that spirit. The purpose of the statement is to promote the responsible, ethical, legal, and secure use of IS resources for the protection of all users.

Authorized Use

You use services provided by IS whenever you use a college owned phone or phone circuit, computer, or terminal. When you use IS's services, you agree to the following conditions:

1. To respect the privacy of other users; for example, you shall not intentionally seek information on, obtain copies of, or modify files, tapes, or passwords belonging to other users or the College, or represent others, unless explicitly authorized to do so by those users.
2. To respect the legal protection provided by copyright and licensing of programs and data; for example, you shall not make copies of a licensed computer program to avoid paying additional license fees or to share with other users.
3. To respect the intended usage of accounts; for example, you shall use assigned accounts, transactions, data, and processes authorized by faculty, unit heads, or project directors for the purposes specified, and shall not access or use other accounts, transactions, data, or processes unless explicitly authorized to do so by the authorizing personnel.
4. To respect the integrity of the system or network; for example, you shall not intentionally develop or use programs, transactions, data, or processes that harass other users of infiltrate the system or damage or alter the software or data components of a system. Alterations to any system or network software or data component shall be made only under specific instructions from authorized faculty, unit heads, project directors, or management staff.
5. To respect the financial structure of a telephone, computing or networking system; for example, you shall not intentionally develop or use any unauthorized mechanisms to alter or avoid charges levied by the College or any of its providers for telephone, computing, network, or data processing services.
6. To respect the rights of other users; for example, you shall comply with all College policies regarding sexual, racial, and other forms of harassment, and you shall not divulge sensitive personal data concerning faculty, staff, or students to which you have access without explicit authorization to do so.
7. To adhere to all Published Policies and Procedures including, but not limited to, policies on proper use of telephones, information resources, information technology, and networks; acquisition, use, and disposal of College-owned or provided computer equipment; use of telecommunications equipment; ethical and legal use of software; and ethical and legal use of administrative data.

IS and other organizations may have established additional conditions of use statements that apply to specific services provided for the College computing community. Users must adhere to all policies that are specific to their Information Systems environment. In addition, other external networks to which Baker College maintains connections have established acceptable use standards. It is your responsibility to adhere to the standards of such networks. The College cannot and will not extend any protection to you should you violate the policies of an external network.

You should be aware that although IS provides and preserves security of files, account numbers, authorization codes, and passwords, security can be breached through actions or causes beyond the reasonable control of IS. You are urged, therefore, to safeguard your data, authorization codes, and passwords; to take full advantage of file security mechanisms built into the computing systems; to change your account password frequently; and to follow the security policies and procedures established to control access to and use of administrative data, such as never leaving an unattended terminal. Each user is responsible for activity that occurs under their user ID.

Violations of Conditions of Use

Violations of any of the above conditions are certainly unethical and may be violations of College policy or criminal offenses. You are expected to report to the IS Division information you may have concer5ning instances in which the above conditions have been or are being violated. When IS becomes aware of possible violations of these conditions, it will initiate an investigation. At the same time, in order to prevent further possible unauthorized activity, IS may suspend the authorization of computing services or telephone access to the individual or account in question. In accordance with established College practices, policies, and procedures, confirmation of unauthorized use of IS's resources may result in disciplinary action.

Appropriate and Responsible Use

Computing resources shall be used in a manner consistent with the instructional and administrative objectives of the College, in general, and consistent with the specific objectives of the project or task for which such use was authorized, in particular. All uses inconsistent with these objectives, even if authorized, are considered to be inappropriate use and may jeopardize further authorization. You are expected to use computing resources in a responsible and efficient manner. IS will provide guidance to help you use these resources efficiently and productively. If you use large amounts of computing and data processing resources, you are expected to refrain from engaging in deliberately wasteful practices -- for example, printing large amounts of unnecessary listings, performing unnecessary computations, using resources for playing games for recreational purposes, using storage media beyond reasonable good practices, or unnecessarily holding dial-up telephone lines for long periods of time when others are waiting for these devices.

While IS normally cannot and does not judge the value or appropriateness of the use of telephones or computing resources, the misuse of business telephones for personal use or the use of computers simply to use them does represent an example of questionable use of these resources. The pertinent consideration is the recognition that resources are finite. Therefore, you are expected to cooperate to the greatest extent possible in making these resources available to others.

IS's resources include systems for human interaction, such as telephones and electronic messaging. IS supports both freedom of expression in these media and the College's policies against racial, sexual, and other forms of harassment. While using various media for communications, you should abide by the standards of good citizenship and those described in College codes of conduct.

Use of administrative data carries with it particular responsibilities for the security of data, user Ids, and passwords made available to access such data. As an administrative data user, you are responsible for properly safeguarding any administrative data which may be accessed by a terminal, personal computer, or any other distributed workstation within the guidelines adopted for implementing this policy. You should store data on storage media, such as floppy disks, in a secure environment consistent with the security classification of the data.

Your administrative user ID defines the access authorization level appropriate for your job function, and you are considered responsible for all activity that occurs under your administrative user Ids and passwords. For this reason, you should not share your user IDs and passwords with others. You are also considered responsible for being aware of security policies and procedures relating to access and use of administrative data.

IS Responsibilities

IS has a responsibility to provide service in the most efficient manner while considering the needs of the total user community. At certain times, the process of carrying out these responsibilities may require special actions or intervention by the staff. At all other times, IS staff have no special rights above and beyond those of other users. IS shall make every effort to ensure that persons in positions of trust do not misuse computing resources or data or take advantage of their positions to access information not required in the performance of their duties.

IS prefers not to act as a disciplinary agency or to police activities. However, in cases of unauthorized, inappropriate, or irresponsible behavior, IS does reserve the right to take remedial action, commencing with an investigation of the possible abuse. In this connection, IS, with all due regard for the rights of privacy, shall have the authority to examine files, passwords, activity logs, accounting information, printouts, tapes, or other material that may aid the investigation. Examination of your files or activity logs must be authorized by the Vice President for Information Systems or designee. You, when requested, are expected to cooperate in such investigations. Failure to do so may be grounds for cancellation of access privileges.

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