The college’s information technology resources are made available to students to further the educational mission of the college. The appropriate uses of information technology are primarily related to the academic assignments and coursework of students. To ensure availability and reasonable levels of service, the users must exercise responsible, ethical behavior. The misuse of information technology by a few can result in degraded performance for all users and interfere with legitimate academic endeavors.
Prohibited Activities:
While the policy attempts to enumerate activities that constitute misuse, the rapid changes in technology makes it impossible to list every possible misuse. Therefore, the general areas of misuse are identified with examples of each given and are not all inclusive.
Interfering with normal operations and other users:
§ The execution of any program or instructions with the intent of:
§ disrupting the normal operations of the network, software, or computers at the college;
§ obscuring the true identity of the user;
§ harassing of any individual or group;
§ use of college resources for non-college related activities that create an undue increase in the network load, e.g., file sharing, network games, spamming, chain mail;
§ scanning systems to find running services and vulnerabilities.
Commercial use:
§ Using any college technology equipment, including but not limited to computers, network equipment, or transmission lines, for any commercial use or gain not expressly approved by the college;
§ Using any college resource to support or benefit a private business
Unauthorized access and use:
§ Using college resources to gain unauthorized access and use to either the college’s resources, or other entities’ and individuals’ technology resources;
§ Use of network packet ‘sniffers’ or packet analyzers;
§ Providing access to student’s Ethernet port to other persons;
§ Installation of routers, switches, hubs, or wireless access points;
§
Making unauthorized copies of copyrighted material. The general assumption
should be that all software, music, graphic images and similar items are copyright
protected. Both copying and downloading
without authorization from the copyright holder is a violation of copyright
law and subject to prosecution. More information about copyright laws can
be found at the US Copyright Office, http://www.copyright.gov/.
Violation of city, state and federal laws:
§ Violation of any applicable state or federal law or city ordinance governing criminal activity, property, copyright, harassment or electronic commerce.
Damage or impairment of College resources:
§ Using or damaging any technology resource that results in the impairment or otherwise adversely affects the access of others. This includes the introduction of any virus, worm, Trojan horse or other software or instructions that attack or diminish access to resources, and disruption of transmission cables or transmission equipment.
Servers/Internet services:
§ Students are not permitted to run web, proxy or e-mail servers from their ResNet connected computers.
Failure to follow this acceptable use policy can result in suspension or termination of access to the college’s information technology resources (including the ResNet network on the Brenham campus) and/or other disciplinary actions by the college. Blinn College reserves the right to investigate any unauthorized or improper use of college information technology resources. Refunds for the access fee to ResNet will not be made to students who have had their access suspended or terminated.
Violations of the college’s information technology use policies by ResNet users will be reported to the Associate Dean Student Affairs. The appeal of any suspension or termination of access or other disciplinary actions shall be governed by the due process procedures outlined in Board Policy and the Student Handbook. Violations of local, state, and federal laws will be reported to appropriate authorities for investigation and prosecution.
Approved
by the Executive Council 8-15-02 (rev. 8-22-02)