CCSF COMPUTER USAGE POLICY
Copies of this CCSF Computer Usage Policy can be found in the college
catalogue and the employee's handbook. Each user who uses the CCSF
computing facilities and resources is bound by this policy. This policy
is displayed to users via Message of The Day (MOTD) in the first two weeks
of each semester at their logon to the CCSF HPUX computer system.
Violation of these policies will be dealt with in the same manner as
violations of other College policies and may result in disciplinary review. In
such a review the full range of disciplinary sanctions is available including
the loss of computer use privileges, dismissal from the College, and legal
action. Violations of some of the policies below may constitute a criminal
offense.
Rights and Responsibilities
CCSF is pleased to make computer accounts and resources available for student
use in the pursuit of their instructional goals, and to faculty and staff to
support the institution's instructional goals. In so far as the computing
resources are under the user's control, the user is fully responsible for their
proper and legal use.
The Computer Usage Policy applies to all members of the College community using
our computer resources. This includes administrators, faculty, staff and
students. This includes use of computer equipment at any CCSF facility including
in the various computer labs, classrooms, offices, libraries and the use of the
CCSF servers from any location.
Computer accounts and computer access are privileges, and require the
individual user to act responsibly. By using the CCSF accounts, users have
agreed to respect the rights of other users and accounts, to use the account
only for school-related purposes, and to safeguard the integrity of the system
and its related physical resources. Users have further agreed to observe all
relevant laws, regulations, policies and contractual obligations of the
College.
Other organizations operating computing and network facilities that are
reachable via the City College network may have their own policies governing
the use of those resources. When accessing remote resources from City College
facilities, users are responsible for obeying both the policies set forth in
this document and the policies of the other organizations. It is the user's
responsibility to be informed of the policies of other outside organizations
to which they establish a computer link.
Confidentiality
All user files, including e-mail files, are not to be relied upon as
confidential. CCSF explicitly does not guarantee or warrantee the
confidentiality of these files. It is the practice of Information Technology
Services (ITS) to respect the confidential nature of user files, but the ITS
Department reserves the right to view or alter user files when it is necessary.
Any ITS employee must have their manager's permission prior to investigating a
user file.
User files may also be subject to search under court order if such files are
suspected of containing information that could be used as evidence in a Court
of law. Student files as kept on ITS facilities are considered educational
records as covered by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974
(Title 20, Section 1232(g) of the United States Code, also referred to as the
Buckley Amendment).
In addition, a system administrator may access user files as required to
protect the integrity of the computer system. For example, system
administrators may access or examine files or accounts that are suspected of
unauthorized use or misuse, or that have been corrupted or damaged.
Existing Legal Context
All existing federal and state laws and College regulations apply, including
not only those laws and regulations that are specific to computers and
networks, but also those that may apply generally to personal conduct.
Misuse of computing, networking or information resources may result in the loss
of computing and/or network privileges without notice. This includes both those
that ITS administers, and those that may exist in other departments associated
with City College of San Francisco and connected to its network.
Deliberate violations of these policies will be dealt with in the same manner
as violations of other college policies and may result in disciplinary
sanctions including, but not limited to, loss of computer use privileges,
dismissal from the college, and/or appropriate legal action.
Additionally, misuse can be prosecuted under applicable statutes. Users may be
held accountable for their conduct under any applicable College or campus
policies, procedures, or collective bargaining agreements. Complaints alleging
misuse of the College's computing resources will be directed to those responsible
for taking appropriate disciplinary action as specified under Enforcement below.
Illegal reproduction of software protected by U.S. Copyright Law is subject to
civil damages and criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment
(See CCSF Policy Manual 8.10).
Copyright
All users must follow all relevant copyright laws. US Copyright law
governs reproduction and distribution of software and other material,
including text, fonts, graphics, sound, video and others. The End User
License Agreement (EULA) for a product specifies the conditions under
which a user may copy or install the product. The EULA purchased by a
department also controls the number of simultaneous users of the
product. Please review the EULA for complete information on your rights
as an end user of these products.
Nondiscrimination
Computer users need to follow the same non-discrimination policy including
those governing "sexual harassment" & "hostile education environment".
All computer users must follow the non-discrimination guidelines as stated
in the CCSF "Equal Opportunity Statement" listed in the catalog:
http://www.ccsf.org/Policy/nondiscrim.html
Any user who files a complaint or otherwise protests against discrimination has
the right to be free from any retaliatory action because of the complaint or
protest. The CCSF administrator who receives a complaint of discrimination
should inform the complainant of this right and that the complainant may file
an additional complaint if he or she experiences retaliatory
conduct.
Examples of misuse include, but are not limited to, the following activities:
Breaking into another person's account
- Using a computer account that you are not authorized to use by the ITS
Department. Knowingly or carelessly allowing someone else to use your account.
- Obtaining a password for a computer account that is not your own account.
- Using the Campus Network to gain unauthorized access to any computer
systems.
- Attempting to circumvent data protection schemes or uncover security
loopholes. This includes creating running and/or distributing programs that are
designed to identify security loopholes and/or decrypt intentionally secure data.
- Masking the identity of an account or machine. This includes, but is not
limited to, sending e-mail anonymously.
Harassment
- Using e-mail to harass others.
- Posting on Internet services information that may be slanderous or
defamatory in nature. This includes, but is not limited to, posting of said
type of material on Usenet News.
- Displaying sexually explicit, graphically disturbing, or sexually harassing
images or text in a public computer facility, or location that can potentially
be in view of other individuals.
Commercial use
- Using your account for any activity that is commercial in nature.
Commercial activities include, but are not limited to, consulting, typing
services, and developing software for sale.
Copyright
- Violating terms of applicable software licensing agreements or
copyright laws.
Changing files
- Attempting to monitor or tamper with another user's electronic
communications, or reading, copying, changing, or deleting another user's files
or software without the explicit agreement of the owner. Files owned by
individual users are to be considered private property, whether or not they are
accessible by other users.
- Modifying of another user's files, which is illegal under California Computer
Crime Laws.
System misuse
- Sending mass e-mail to a large number of people on the system. It is
acceptable, however, to use organization or department mailing lists,
listserves, to send e-mail to groups of people on the system.
- Knowingly or carelessly performing an act that will interfere with the
normal operation of computer systems, including running, or installing, or
giving to another user a program intended to damage or to place excessive
load on a computer system or network. This includes programs known as
computer viruses and worms.
- Deliberately wasting/overloading system resources, such as:
- Printing resources - This includes, but is
not limited to, printing multiple copies of a document or printing out large
documents that may be available on-line, or that might impact significantly on
other users printing resources.
- System file space - Storing or transferring of large files or using a large
amount of file space in the temporary file system area which degrades overall
system performance or preclude other users right of access to disk storage also
constitute misuse of resources. The ITS staff may remove or compress disk files
that are consuming large amounts of disk space, with or without prior notification.
Additional System Information
- Batch jobs or background tasks should be consistent with individual academic
goals or institutional academic goals. Jobs that do not appear to coincide
with the academic goals of the institution may be "killed" without warning.
- Any files stored in the temporary file systems are not backed up and are
subject to deletion at any time. Users' file names and directory names
starting with a period or another punctuation or special character will be
deleted immediately.
Enforcement
After the appropriate investigation and/or hearing procedures have been
followed, the penalties below may be imposed under one or more of the
following:
City College regulations, California law, the laws of the United States.
- Infractions of the CCSF Computer Policy may result in the temporary
or permanent loss or modification of computer account and resource access
privileges, and may be subject to further disciplinary action.
- Offenses which may be in violation of local, state or federal laws
will result in the immediate loss of all computer account and resource
privileges, and will be reported to the appropriate College or institution
involved and law enforcement authorities.
An individual's computer use privileges may be suspended immediately upon the
discovery of a possible violation of these policies. Such suspected violations
will be confidentially reported to the appropriate supervisors or
instructor and/or department chair.
This document is subject to revision. The Information Technology Policies
Committee approves changes to the guidelines, as needed.
Revised as of:Friday, February 06, 2004, at 10:59 AM PST