Information Technology Services - SUNY
Cobleskill
For assistance contact the
Knowledge Base: last modified: 5 August 2004
(Computer Resources Policy)
Faculty,
staff and student body
Licensing
agreements for SUNY Cobleskill’s computing environment authorize members of the
faculty, staff and student body to use on-campus computing resources based on
their academic and/or employment association with the college. Access to
network resources, including but not limited to e-mail, data storage areas,
research databases and other protected areas of the network, is provided as a
convenience to facilitate access from residence halls, off-campus housing and
other remote locations for campus-related activities only. All users who access campus resources have
the responsibility to use them in accordance with the Campus Computer Resources
Policy. Effective, efficient, ethical
and legal use of any network account issued by SUNY Cobleskill is the
responsibility of the person in whose name it is issued. Unauthorized use of
computer services will be considered to be theft of services and will be dealt
with according to the "appropriate campus
disciplinary process" and/or Chapter 156 of the New York State
Penal Law.
The privilege of using
computing facilities at SUNY Cobleskill provides the campus community with
access to tremendous educational, communicational and administrative
resources. Network account holders are
expected to use those resources in a responsible and efficient manner,
consistent with the instructional, research, and administrative goals of the
College. Use of computers and/or network facilities in ways that can impede
computing access and activities for others is prohibited. Examples of such
practices include, but are not limited to:
Wasteful Practices:
· Overuse of interactive network utilities during peak use times to engage in activities not related to course work or administrative functions of the college
·
Tying
up network printers with high volume print jobs
·
Sending
“Electronic Chain Mail” or unauthorized “Global” messages (e-mail sent to the
entire campus)
·
Interactive game playing on network
resources during peak use times
·
"Crashing"
the system
·
Failure
to delete unnecessary files and e-mail messages to keep network accounts within
allotted disk quotas.
Misuse of Resources: Destruction of, unauthorized
removal of, or damage to equipment, software or data belonging to SUNY
Cobleskill or other users. Tampering, modification or installing unauthorized
programs to network software, hardware or wiring designed to disrupt or monitor
electronic communications.
Recreational Use: Priority use of network resources, including but not
limited to access to the Internet, e-mail, data storage areas and research
databases, is given to students to complete class assignments and
administrative offices to conduct college business. Recreational use for
non-competitive interactive game playing, casual "surfing on the Internet",
use of chat lines, downloading of sound/video files and access to e-mail for
personal use is allowable ONLY when it does not disrupt authorized campus
activities
Unauthorized Servers:
The campus has the responsibility to
protect the integrity of a very sophisticated and expensive computer
infrastructure. The
establishment of a background process that services incoming requests from
anonymous users to download and/or share files/programs where that sharing is
in violation of campus licensing agreements and/or copyright law is prohibited.
Examples
of such practices include, but are not limited to:
§ Running unauthorized FTP sites
§ Running unauthorized DHCP servers
§ Creating unauthorized web servers
§ Establishing shares on personal
computers to provide access to and/or unauthorized installation of programs not
licensed to do so.
Private Commercial Purposes: Computer users may access campus
resources for purposes related to academic or college business ONLY. The use of
computing resources for commercial or personal financial gain without prior
arrangements with the Director of Information Technology Services is
prohibited.
Quotas: Although our servers are able to store massive amounts of information, there is a limit. The campus reserves the right to protect network resources by restricting storage space and placing quotas on all e-mail and data storage accounts to ensure fair access to network resources for college related activity and to prevent corruption of network system files.
Maintaining security
relative to access to centralized computing facilities is every user's
responsibility. Users are expected to use ordinary precautions to protect their
files from access and misuse by others.
In general, information
stored in network accounts is considered private, unless the account owner
intentionally makes it available. The computing environment at SUNY Cobleskill
is designed to protect user privacy, however, the
College cannot and does not guarantee this result.
Copyright and Software Compliance
Because electronic
information is volatile and easily reproduced, users must exercise care in
acknowledging and respecting the work of others through strict compliance to
copyright laws and software licensing agreements. SUNY Cobleskill strictly
adheres to the intent, terms and conditions of Federal copyright law and
software licensing agreements with it vendors.
Digital
Millennium Copyright Act
On
·Designated the Director of ITS, as our representative agent to receive notices from copyright owners about infringements.
·The Cobleskill home page has been updated to provide easier access to links referencing the Computer Resources Policy. Academic Ethics and Student Conduct Codes reflect relevant changes in new legislation regarding computer use/abuse.
·To make sure we are in compliance with copyright law, we are inventorying all “non-standard” software loaded on the campus network and checking to make sure all licensing and copyright compliance agreements are in order. Programs in question have been removed until evidence of proper licensing has been submitted to the ITS department for additional information)
Web resources for the DMCA:
http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/osp.html
http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/onlinesp/
The ability to use
electronic mail at SUNY Cobleskill is an important campus-wide resource. It is
rapidly becoming an essential element in the college's day-to-day activities.
Access to the computing resources in general, and
electronic mail in particular is a privilege and must be treated as such by all
users.
As with the use of other
campus computing resources, abuse of these privileges can be a matter campus
disciplinary procedures or outside legal action. Depending on the seriousness
of an offense, violation of campus policy can result in penalties ranging from
reprimand to loss of access and referral to college authorities or beyond for
disciplinary action. In a case where unacceptable use severely impacts
performance or security, in order to sustain reasonable performance and secure
services for the rest of the campus users, the Supervisor of Network Services
is authorized to immediately suspend individual access privileges until an
investigation is completed.
Harassment: Sending threatening or unsolicited obnoxious
or sexually explicit messages to others by e-mail is a form of harassment, as
is continuing to mail someone after they have asked you to stop. You should
never send anyone an e-mail message containing things you wouldn't say to him
or her in person. Also, remember that what you consider humorous, others may
consider offensive or even frightening. E-mail harassment violates ethical
usage of your network account, and in some extreme cases may even provoke
victims to press criminal charges. Harassing
messages of a threatening nature will automatically be forwarded to University
Police for further investigation.
Sending Global or "Mass" Messages:
Although our e-mail client allows for the distribution of a single
message to all computer users, posting of these "mass" or
"global" e-mail messages, ties up valuable disk space, and greatly
reduces system response time (sometimes to the point of crashing it). More
importantly, many times these messages are perceived as harassment or
electronic "junk mail" by most users and are deleted before they're
read.
Posting
of messages to the entire campus, (Global or "Mass" e-mail messages)
without authorization constitutes irresponsible use of Campus Computing
Resources and will result in the immediate suspension of your network account
privileges.
Chain-mail: Chain-mail is another form of electronic junk
mail. A chain-mail message is generally sent to several people and includes
instructions that each person should forward the letter to several others.
These messages waste system resources and often grow quite large as senders
append their own additions. The issue here has more to do with the potential
for damage (wasted disk space, slowed network response time, etc.) than the
fact that the message is being sent to a limited number of people.
While
the intent of the originator is to send the message to just few people, it has
the potential of becoming a global message if one of those recipients takes the
message more seriously and decides to distribute it to everyone. Do not forward such messages. If you receive
such a message at SUNY Cobleskill and would like to report it, forward the
entire message to the Supervisor of
Network Services.
Electronic Messages of a Threatening Nature:
· Don't panic. Try to remain calm so that you can get as much information as possible from the computer screen. This information may be vital in order to save lives or possibly apprehend the message sender.
· Treat any bomb threat as legitimate! It is not your job to determine whether or not the message is a joke.
· Copy the entire message EXACTLY as it appear on the screen. DO NOT hit any other keys. (If possible, print the screen.) Try to keep the message on screen.
· Call University Police at 5666 and relay the message EXACTLY as written. Try to hold the message on-screen until an officer arrives. Give him/her whatever information you have and be guided by his/her instructions.
· Understand that only the President or his designee can order a building evacuated for a bomb threat.
Virus Alerts: These types of messages represent
one of the most common sources of globally distributed electronic chain mail.
Unfortunately, the information is usually a hoax. Before you panic
always consider the source. Do some research to verify whether or not
the alert is legitimate. This is especially true of
Internet sources since it is so easy for anyone to say anything, make up
credentials, etc.
Ask
yourself: Where does the information come from? Does this person have any
credentials? Are they stating facts, opinions, or hearsay? If the information
purports to be factual, what are the sources of the facts? Are they verifiable?
There are other things you do when evaluating sources, but any one of these
basic questions--which most careful readers review automatically--is sufficient
to show your message as unreliable.
Use the
Internet to search out information on the message's validity. Look for sites
that have names and e-mail addresses of people to contact for more information.
This makes it easy to contact them directly, or to verify their institutional
affiliation. One reliable source of information is the U.S. Department of
Energy Computer Incident Advisory Capability Site at:
http://www.ciac.org/ciac/ciac_virus_info.html
In
short, there is a great deal of information indicating that many of these
alerts are untrue. If you still have doubts begin by checking with the Computer
Center staff, before you cry "Wolf!" and risk losing your access
privileges. Additional information is
available on the Knowledge Base.
Policy on
Computer Viruses
It is the
policy of SUNY Cobleskill to maintain the integrity of computing facilities
against contamination from computer viruses by installing and regularly
upgrading virus detection software on every campus owned computer. However, this cannot guarantee that equipment
will not become contaminated in the future.
All who access
campus computing facilities need to understand that all student labs are open
to anyone with a valid account and as such access is "public" in
nature.
Users who transfer data from diskettes used in campus computers to personal and/or business equipment are responsible to protect their equipment against the possible spread of viruses through the use of commercially available virus protection software.
In the event a
major virus outbreak is identified/detected/suspected, the campus will be
notified as quickly as possible.
·
Warning notices will be posted in all Academic Computing
labs outlining protection procedures and announcements will be placed in the
Bulletin and What's Happening, and posted to Alerts Section of ITS's Web Page.
·
Regular updates will be issued until campus equipment is
totally disinfected.
Private, Commercial and Political Purposes
Computer
users may access campus resources for purposes related to academic or college
business ONLY. New York State Law prohibits use of campus computing resources
for commercial or personal financial gain or to promote political agendas.
Fraud and Misrepresentation
Dishonest
users sometimes attempt to forge mail messages to others to gain personal
information, such as their account password or even credit card information. Do
not ever divulge such personal data in a reply, even if the sender looks
"official"; instead, forward the suspicious mail to the postmaster at
the address where the message originated.
The
College prefers not to act as a disciplinary agency or to engage in policing
activities. However, in cases of unauthorized or irresponsible behavior, the
College reserves the right to take remedial action, commencing with an
investigation of the possible abuse, which may include temporary suspension of
access privileges. Users, when requested, are expected to cooperate in such
investigations. In cases of repeated abuse and severe violations to the
Responsible Use Policy, students will be referred to the Student Judicial Board
for further disciplinary action, which could result in the permanent loss of
user privileges.
Adopted Fall 1990