137 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
137 lines
7.7 KiB
Plaintext
MTU Policies
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Michigan Technological University (MTU) promotes the use of its computing
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facilities and seeks to improve the computer literacy of its students. All
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students are encouraged to make use of these facilities in pursuit of their
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academic goals, but are asked to remember that computing facilities are to
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be used for academic purposes only. MTU views the use of computer
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facilities as a privilege, not a right, and seeks to protect legitimate
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computer users by imposing sanctions on those who abuse the privilege.
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Eliminating computer abuse provides more computing resources for users with
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legitimate academic computing needs.
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MTU's computing policy is based on the laws of the State of Michigan and
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United States Copyright Law. In addition, MTU imposes certain restrictions
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which are not specifically covered by wither law. Besides setting
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guidelines for appropriate use of computers, MTU's policy outlines the
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disciplinary procedures that will be imposed on students who violate the
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policy. Such discipline may range from the revocation of computing
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privileges to expulsion from the University.
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The Law of the State of Michigan
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Act 53 of the Public Acts of 1979 of the State of Michigan is "AN ACT to
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prohibit access to computers, computing systems, and computer networks for
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certain fraudulent purposes; to prohibit intentional and unauthorized
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access, alteration, damage, and destruction of computers, computer systems,
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computer networks, computer software programs, and data; and to prescribe
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penalties."
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Examples of violations of Public Act 53 include:
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o Unauthorized attempts to access or use information.
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o Attempts to access the computer files belonging to another user without
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permission.
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o Attempts to interfere with the performance of computing systems.
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The penalties for violating this act are stated as follows:
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"A person who violates this act, if the violation involves $100.00 or
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less, is guilty of a misdemeanor. If the violation involved more than
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$100.00, the person is guilty of a felony, punishable by imprisonment for
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not more than ten (10) years, or a fine of not more than $5,000.00, or
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both."
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United States Copyright Law
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Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States
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(Title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of "original works of authorship."
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This includes computer programs (software). Therefore, the unauthorized
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copying of copyrighted software is in violation of U.S. copyright laws.
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Additional restrictions imposed by MTU
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o Permitting another person to use a computer user identification (userid)
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or access card.
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o Using another person's userid or access card.
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o Using computing facilities for personal profit.
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o Transmitting unsolicited or annoying messages.
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o Transmitting, executing, or storing malicious, threatening, or abusive
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programs or material.
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o Playing games.
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Discipline Procedure
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Misuses of computer resources are reported to the Director of Academic
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Computing Services. The Director of Academic Computing Services can impose
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restrictions on the offender's computer privileged, report the offender to
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the Dean of Students, or initiate criminal prosecution.
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----------- Cut here-----------
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Comments:
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______________________
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As I understand it, within the next month every current computer user of ACS
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machines (our IBM, our PCs, our SUNs, in fact nearly everything students CAN
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use) will have to sign and pledge to abide by this policy, or they will lose
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computing privileges. I personally can see many of the points in the
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document, though I have problems with it as well (part of my reason for
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posting it). For example, in sentence two, the policy states, 'computing
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facilities are to be used for academic purposes only.' Nowhere is there a
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definition of 'academic purposes' -- by one simple hypothesis, what I am
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doing now is in violation of the policy, since this does not involve my
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academic furthering at MTU (yes, I am a student, to graduate next year with
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luck and lots of cash). In the next sentence, 'legitimate computer users'
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and 'abuse the privilege' are more examples of empty wording, freely
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interpreted by Administration to whatever they choose. Under 'Additional
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Restrictions' we have 'Transmitting unsolicited or annoying messages' and
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'Transmitting, executing, or storing malicious, threatening, or abusive
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programs or material.' Define solicited. Since saying 'Hi' to someone is
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unsolicited, so is 'You can talk to me'. Therefore, by a restrictive
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viewpoint, messaging is illegal (so is this, again, and any other e-mail not
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specifically asked for, though how it can be asked for is beyond me).
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We also need definitions of malicious, threatening, or abusive, beyond the
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blatantly obvious. While I am considered fairly conservative by many, I am
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a flaming liberal by many standards. What I consider malicious,
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threatening, or abusive is probably far away from our Administration's view.
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Yet there is no definition, so (in theory) any Consultant here could grab
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some output of mine, read through it (I have been told it is their JOB to
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read our output) and decide since I don't hold his/her opinions, I should
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get nuked. I would then be ordered to see the Director, whereupon I would
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be lectured at great length about how bad and evil I am because I hold
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liberal views.
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Now, before y'all out there start sending letters to the staff here telling
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them how much of a rebel I am, and how I should be purged for not supporting
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their policies 1000%... I want to make it known that, in PRINCIPLE, I
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support the policy. My computing experience here has, for the most part,
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been a good one, even though I have been yelled at a few times (mistakenly,
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though the error was not one-sided). I make wide and good use of the
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facilities here, and those of BITNET. I like to think that I have made a
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positive impact on computing at MTU, through my public disk (linked to by
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over 230 people), through my programs (many of which are now used at sites
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across the Net), and through my continual efforts to encourage people here
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to use the system responsibly. But I have noticed a trend in computing
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here, one which I think may be taking place at other sites, as well.
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Students are getting more and more cocky, administrators are getting
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restrictive, and the state of computing is falling. It need not be this
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way. If computing centers would educate their users in responsibility --
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realize they make mistakes -- not treat every infraction, however minor, as
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if it were a first-degree homicide -- and try honestly to become
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user-friendly and user-accessible; if users would realize THEY are
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responsible for their acts -- try and make fewer, and smaller, mistakes --
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think before they compute -- realize what they do CAN get their
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administration in trouble -- get to know their computing center staff, then
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I think we might see a big leap forward in the world of computing.
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It _CAN_ happen.
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It starts with YOU and ME.
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*dust off* There. I'll put my soapbox away, now. Thanks for putting up
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with me, sorry if I clogged up your readers with 'non-essential' mail.
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Virtually,
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David B. O'Donnell <LUTHER@MTUS5>
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________________________________________________________________________
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DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this file are solely my own and are not
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intended to represent those of anyone else save where their stated views
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match mine. In particular these views are not meant to suggest agreement
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with the views of my employer or university.
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