Acceptable Use Policy for Interactive Systems

Purpose

Community College of Philadelphia provides employees and students with access to certain aspects of the College's interactive systems, offering various services on the College's Mainframe, Network Servers, Internet, Intranet, E-mail and Web Server. Certain approved members of the College community will be able to develop Web pages and have access accounts through the College with the appropriate approvals.

The College's system is provided as an educational tool. Its purpose is to assist in preparing students for success in life and work in the 21st century by providing them with electronic access to a wide range of educational information and the ability to communicate with people throughout the world. Additionally, the system will be used to increase the College's intracommunications, enhance productivity, and assist College employees in upgrading their skills through greater exchange of information with their peers. The College system will also assist the College in sharing information with the local community, including students, potential students, parents, social service agencies, government agencies, and businesses.

The College system may not be used for commercial purposes, defined as offering or providing goods or services for sale or barter to others or purchasing goods or services for personal use or profit. The College acquisition policies will be followed for purchasing goods or services through the College system.

Users may not use the system for political lobbying. College employees and students may not use the system to communicate with their elected representatives or to express their opinion on political issues unless those communications are made in connection with an educational assignment.

Educational use includes use of the system for classroom activities and professional or career development.

Except as otherwise specifically stated, as and to the extent that the College makes any of its interactive services available to any other users, including without limitation to members of its Board of Trustees, alumni, and other volunteer groups, the following policies will also apply to such users.

College Responsibilities

The Vice President of Information Systems & Telecommunications will serve as the coordinator and oversee the College's system by working with the Vice President of Communications & Government Relations and other appropriate regional, state and national organizations as necessary.

Access to the System

The College's Acceptable Use Policy, set forth below, will govern all use of the College systems. Usage will also be governed by the College's Student Code of Conduct, the College's Affirmative Action Policy, and all standing College policies and procedures (see P&P132 - Policy Governing the Use and Duplication of Software and P&P133 - Policy for Responsible Computing), as well as collective bargaining agreements, where appropriate and applicable law. Violations of the Acceptable Use Policy will be governed by collective bargaining agreements for unit members, yearly contracts for administrators, and College Policies and Procedures Memorandum 82B - Community College of Philadelphia Appeals Procedure - for students, as well as other applicable College policies and procedures and applicable law.

Individual Responsibility

The College's Acceptable Use Policy, set forth below, contains restrictions on accessing inappropriate material. There is a wide range of material available on the Internet, some of which may not be fitting with the particular values of students and employees. It is not practically possible for the College to monitor and enforce a wide range of social values in student/employee Internet use. Furthermore, the College recognizes that individuals bear primary responsibility for transmitting their particular values.

Employees of the College have the right to request termination of their e-mail account at any time with a written approval from their supervisor. The College may suspend an e-mail account if messages are unread for thirty days.

The use of the College's interactive systems is a privilege, not a right, and inappropriate use can result in a termination or suspension of some or all of those privileges. Users will be expected to abide by generally accepted rules of network etiquette, including (but not limited to) the Acceptable Use Policy set forth below.

College Limitation of Liability

The College makes no guarantees of any kind, either express or implied, that the functions or the services provided by or through the College's system will be error-free or without defect. The College will not be responsible for any damage users may suffer, including, but not limited to, loss of data or interruptions of service. The College is not responsible for the accuracy or quality of the information obtained through or stored on the system. The College will not be responsible for financial obligations arising through the unauthorized use of the system.

Privacy of Information

While the College does not intend to routinely review the contents of files on the system, the college will engage in routine maintenance and monitoring of the system. Accordingly, system users should have no expectation of privacy in the contents of any file that they may maintain on the College's system, including but not limited to personal e-mail messages.

Routine maintenance and monitoring of the system may lead to the discovery that a particular user has or is violating the College's Acceptable Use Policy, or applicable law. The College will cooperate fully with local, state, and federal officials in any investigation concerning or relating to any illegal activities conducted through the College system.

An individual search will be conducted if there is reasonable suspicion that a user has violated the law or the College's Acceptable Use Policy. The nature of the investigation will be reasonable and in the context of the nature of the alleged violation.

College employees should be aware that their personal files (including personal e-mail messages) may be discoverable in court or agency proceedings and possibly elsewhere.

Copyright

College Policies and Procedures Memorandum numbers: 108 - College Policy on Proprietary Rights; 132 - Policy Governing the Use and Duplication of Software; 133 - Policy for Responsible Computing will govern the use of material accessed through the College system. Because the extent of copyright protection of certain works found on the Internet is unclear, employees will make a standard practice of requesting permission from the holder of the work if their use of the material has the potential of being considered an infringement. Teachers will instruct students to respect copyright and to request permission when appropriate.

Academic Freedom, Selection of Material & Student Rights to Free Speech

All College policies including Academic Freedom and Free Speech, as well as applicable law, will govern the use of the College's interactive systems.

Community College of Philadelphia Web Site "College's Home Page"

The College's Web Site "College's Home Page" will be established by the College and will present information about the College. The Vice President for Information Systems and Telecommunications and the Vice President for Community and Government Relations and/or his/her appointees will be designated responsible for maintaining the "College's Official Home Pages".

Web pages may be established by divisions, departments, programs and individuals as a vehicle to present information. Page Managers/Authors will be responsible for managing their Page(s).

Cocurricula/Extracurricular Organizations, Student Clubs, Vanguard, and Student Organization Pages With the approval of the appropriate administrator or faculty member, organizations may establish Pages. The appropriate administrator/faculty will establish a process and criteria for the establishment and posting of material, including pointers to other sites, on these Pages. Material presented on an organization's approved Page must relate specifically to organization activities and will include only student-produced material. Student Organization Pages must include the following notice: "This is a student organization Page. Opinions expressed on this Page shall not be attributed to the Community College of Philadelphia."

Personal Safety

It may be unwise to post personal contact information about yourself. Personal contact information includes home address, social security number, telephone number, etc.

It may be unwise to meet with someone you have met on-line. If you do choose to meet with someone you have met on-line, do so in a well-lit, public location, with numerous other people around.

Unacceptable Use

Illegal Activities

Under no circumstances will users attempt to gain unauthorized access to the College's interactive system or to any other computer system through the College's system, or to go beyond their authorized access. This includes attempting to log in through another person's account or accessing another person's files. These actions are illegal, even if only for the purposes of "browsing."

Under no circumstances will users make deliberate attempts to disrupt the College's computer system's performance or destroy data by introducing or spreading computer viruses or by any other means. These actions are illegal.

Under no circumstances will users use the College system to engage in any other illegal act.

System Security

Users are responsible for the use of their individual account and must take all reasonable precautions to prevent others from being able to access or use their account. Under no conditions should a user provide his/her password to another person.

Users must immediately notify the system administrator if they have identified a possible security problem. Users will not attempt to investigate or correct a security problem. Such activity may be construed as an illegal attempt to gain access.

Users must avoid the inadvertent spread of computer viruses by following the College virus protection procedures if they download software.

Inappropriate Language

Users must not use obscene, inflammatory, or threatening language on the College's system.

Restrictions against inappropriate language apply to public messages, private messages, and material posted on Web Pages.

Users must not post, transmit, re-post or re-transmit information on the College's system that, if acted upon, could cause damage or a danger of disruption.

Users must not engage in personal attacks on the College's system, including prejudicial or discriminatory attacks.

Users must not libel, slander or harass another person on the College's system. Harassment is defined as persistently acting in a manner that distresses or annoys another person. If a user is told by a person to stop sending messages, he/she must stop, otherwise that will be considered a form of harassment.

Users must not knowingly or recklessly post, transmit, re-post or re-transmit false or defamatory information about a person or organization on the College's system.

Respect for Privacy

Users must not post, transmit, re-post, or re-transmit a message on the College's system that was sent to them privately without first obtaining permission of the person who sent them the message.

Users must not post, transmit, re-post, or re-transmit private information about another person or organization on the College's system without first obtaining the permission of that person or organization.

Users must not look at, copy, alter or destroy anyone else's personal files without express permission. Simply being able to access a file or other information does not imply permission to do so.

Respecting Resource Limits

Users must use the system only for educational purpose and professional or career development activities.

Users must not download large files (thirty minute time limit) unless absolutely necessary. If necessary, users will download the file at a time when the system is not being heavily used and immediately remove the file from the system computer to their personal computer.

Users must not post chain letters or engage in "spamming." Spamming is defined as sending an annoying or unnecessary message to a large number of people.

Users must check their e-mail frequently. Messages unread for a period of thirty days will result in suspended e-mail privileges.

Users may participate in or subscribe only to discussion groups and mail lists that are relevant to their education or professional/career development.

Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement

Users must not plagiarize works that they find on the Internet. Plagiarism is defined as taking the ideas or writings of others and presenting them as if they were original to the user.

Users must respect the rights of copyright owners. Copyright infringement occurs when an individual inappropriately reproduces a work that is protected by copyright. If a work contains language that specifies acceptable use of that work, the user should follow the expressed requirements. If the user is unsure whether or not he/she can use a work, he/she should request permission from the copyright owner.

Inappropriate Access to Material

Users must not use the College system to access material that is profane or obscene (including pornography), that advocates illegal acts, or that advocates violence or discrimination towards other people. For students, a special exception may be made for potentially inappropriate material if the purpose of such access is to conduct research and access is approved by the instructor. College employees may access the above material only in the context of legitimate research.

Use of College Name, Logo or Seal

Users may not use the College's name, logo or seal in their Pages in any way that implies College endorsement of other organizations, products or services.

Users may not use College logos or trademarks, including the College seal, without first obtaining written permission from the Office of Communications.