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College of the Atlantic Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy
College of the Atlantic provides access to its computing and information resources as a service to students, faculty and staff to assist in learning and the exchange of knowledge. Every user is responsible for the integrity of these resources. All users must respect the rights of other users, respect the integrity of the physical facilities and controls, and respect all pertinent license and contractual agreements. It is the expectation of College of the Atlantic that all members of its community act in accordance with these responsibilities, relevant laws and contractual obligations, and the highest standard of ethics.
The following responsibilities apply to all users:
- Use of Electronic Mail is a privilege and not a right. Users are expected to promote an atmosphere conducive to work and study. All users have a right to privacy and freedom from libel and harassment. Users are expected to act responsibly, ethically and lawfully. "Spamming", and the sending of chain letters or similar "pass-along" email messages is explicitly prohibited. Non-academic community messages (lost/found, for sale, etc.) should be posted to the COA electronic bulletin board.
- Respect copyrights and intellectual property rights. Users must respect all copyright issues regarding software, information and attributions of authorship. Many programs, images, sounds, text and related materials are owned by individual users or third parties, and are protected by copyright and other laws, by licenses and other contractual agreements. Failure to abide by these restrictions is a crime. Software made available by the College is licensed for use, and is protected by copyright law. Users may not make copies of or install College software on computers not owned by the College, or place copies of unauthorized software on College computers.
Downloading or uploading of copyrighted material, or making copyrighted material available for uploading, using file-sharing programs (such as Kazaa, Limewire, BitTorrent) violates copyright law and College policy and is not permitted. Users found to be engaged in these activities will have their computer removed from the network, and may be subject to further disciplinary action.
- Respect the security of the network. User accounts and network connections are for individual use and may only be used by the person to whom they have been issued. Users must not impersonate others or misrepresent/conceal their identity in electronic messages and actions. Users are responsible for all actions originating from their account or network connection and for protecting their password. Passwords should be confidential and changed frequently. Any attempt to circumvent computer, network or file security is prohibited.
- Respect the shared nature of resources. Users may not do anything which may interfere with others' use of the College's computers, peripherals, or network. This includes but is not limited to the inadvertent or deliberate spreading of computer viruses; excessive bandwidth use; altering software, hardware or wiring; or actions that degrade or disrupt system or network performance. Examples of applications which may result in high-bandwidth usage that can seriously disrupt the community's network include file sharing, streaming media, VOIP (such as Skype.), video messaging, excessive gaming and use of widgets.
- Respect for Integrity of System and Network. The College network may not be used to gain unauthorized access, or attempt to gain unauthorized access to any computer system or account, whether College owned or not.
- Access to computer accounts & networks. College of the Atlantic will make reasonable efforts to have its computer systems and networks available at all times. However, as part of regular maintenance and other planned and unplanned activities, systems & networks may be unavailable at any particular time. The college reserves the right to restrict or terminate access to its computer & network resources as necessary. College of the Atlantic computer systems and networks are for non-commercial individual use related to the educational mission of the college by its faculty, staff and students, and for approved College business activities. Use of College technology to gather or transmit information for purposes such as theft is a crime.
Privacy: The electronic mail system and network resources are the property of the College of the Atlantic. Although privacy and security are important, there are some circumstances under which college administrators may access these resources. These include:
- To comply with a request under federal or state public information laws
- To maintain, repair, and troubleshoot the computer network
- To investigate the misuse of the network, such as theft, gambling, pornography, institutional security, fraud and harassment.
IT Responsibilities & Recommendations: Information Technology & Services is responsible for preserving the integrity of the campus network, and will use the guidelines of this policy in their effort. College of the Atlantic disclaims any responsibility and/or guarantees for data, information and materials residing on non-COA systems or obtained by way of the Internet. Although Information Technology & Services tries to provide a stable and reliable computer network, you may at times experience a system crash, network outage or power outage. This interruption may result in the loss of your data, files and/or software. In an effort to minimize risk, users should frequently back up their work.
Violations: Failure to abide by this policy may result in disciplinary action, including the loss of access to information technology resources. If you believe that a violation of this policy has occurred, you should contact the Network Administrator at mitchell@coa.edu or call 207-288-2944 ext.321.
rev. 9/2007
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