283 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
283 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
In response to the request for site-specific policies and procedures,
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here is the first draft of a policy that we are putting in place here.
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This policy has not yet been approved by the dean, the head of academic
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computing, the provost, or the university lawyers, so I expect there will
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be a number of changes before it is actually enacted and distributed. It
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should be a useful starting point for others embarking on the same process.
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College of Engineering Computer Use Policy
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John Lees, Manager
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Systems and Network Software Services
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A. H. Case Center for CAE/M
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College of Engineering, Michigan State University
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112 Engineering Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1226
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lees@egr.msu.edu, lees@msuegr.bitnet, CompuServe 74106,1324
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ABSTRACT
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This DRAFT Computer Use Policy applies specifi-
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cally to the facilities in the College of Engineering
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operated by the Case Center for use by all College of
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Engineering students, faculty, and staff. Facilities
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within the College operated by individual departments
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or research groups may have more stringent use poli-
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cies. This policy was drafted by the Ethics Subcommit-
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tee of the Case Center Advisory Committee during the
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1989/90 academic year. The members of the Committee
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were: Dr. Erik Goodman, Dr. Robert Barr, John Lees,
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Fred Hall, Steve Southward, and William Su.
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A person in violation of this policy may be subject to adminis-
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trative action, with a penalty of a fine, restitution for ser-
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vices used, or loss of computer privileges. Some actions covered
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by this policy are also covered by University regulations or
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all-University policies, the violation of which could lead to
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academic judicial proceedings. Some actions covered by this pol-
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icy are also covered by City, State, or Federal law, the viola-
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tion of which could lead to civil or criminal prosecution.
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For the purposes of this policy, a user is any person consuming
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computer resources; a staff member is a person acting in an offi-
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cial capacity as a staff member. The same person may be a staff
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member during part of the day and a user during other parts of
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the day.
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The terminology used in this policy tends to reflect the UNIX
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operating system, which is used on the majority of computers in
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the College of Engineering, but is intended to apply to all
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operating systems in use in the College.
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1. User Responsibilities
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A user of College of Engineering computer facilities should obey
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the following general guidelines.
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1.1 Files owned by individual users or staff members are to be
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considered as private, whether or not they are accessible by
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other users.
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1.1.1 That you can read a file does not mean that you may
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read a file. Files belonging to individuals are to be
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considered private property.
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1.1.2 Under no circumstances should you alter a file that
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does not belong to you. The ability to alter a file
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does not give you the right to alter a file.
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1.1.3 The United States Government [citation needed]
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includes electronic mail (email) in the same category
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as messages delivered by the United States Postal Ser-
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vice. This means that tampering with email, interfer-
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ing with the delivery of email, and the use of email
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for criminal purposes may be felony offenses.
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1.2 Many resources, such as file space, CPU cycles, printer
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queues, batch queues, login sessions, and software licenses,
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are shared by all users. No user should monopolize these
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shared resources.
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1.2.1 Use as little file space as practical, making use of
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available means for compressing and archiving files.
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1.2.2 Terminate all "background" jobs before logging out.
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Long running, non-interactive jobs should be run in
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batch queues (if available).
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1.2.3 Read and follow the posted policies on printer use.
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1.2.4 Make appropriate use of batch queues and job priori-
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ties. Do not load the system in such a way that oth-
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ers cannot perform useful work.
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1.2.5 Do not tie up resources with multiple, unused login
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sessions.
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1.2.6 Relinquish licensed software, such as FrameMaker, when
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you no longer are using the license.
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1.2.7 Respect the resources of workstations located in pub-
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lic labs. Do not login to such a workstation and run
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jobs that would interfere with use of that workstation
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by a person sitting in the lab.
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1.3 Not all the computer facilities in the College of Engineer-
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ing are public resources (public to the College of Engineer-
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ing community). Users found using non-public facilities may
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be summarily logged-off those resources.
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1.3.1 Some machines are designated as "file servers", and
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carry login messages asking users to not use these
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machines for login purposes.
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1.3.2 Workstations on faculty and staff desks should not be
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used as login resources without the specific permis-
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sion of the faculty or staff who use those machines.
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1.3.3 Printers and other peripheral devices not located in
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public labs and advertised as available should not be
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used without specific permission.
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1.4 Because this is an educational environment, computer systems
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are generally open to perusal and investigation by users.
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This access must not be abused either by attempting to harm
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the systems, or by stealing copyrighted or licensed
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software.
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1.4.1 System-level files (not owned by individuals) may be
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used and viewed for educational purposes if their
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access permissions so allow.
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1.4.2 Most system-level files are part of copyrighted or
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licensed software, and therefore you should not make
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your own copies of these files, in whole or in part,
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except as needed as part of an educational exercise.
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Removing copies of copyrighted software from the sys-
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tem on which it is licensed may be a violation of the
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copyright or license.
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1.4.3 The same standards of intellectual honesty and pla-
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giarism apply to software as to other forms of pub-
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lished work. Treat system software is if it were a
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library you were browsing. Acknowledge borrowing
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code, algorithms, or data structures from the work of
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other people.
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1.4.4 Making your own copies of software having a restricted
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use license is theft. So is figuring out how to
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"beat" the license.
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1.4.5 Deliberate alteration of system files is vandalism or
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malicious destruction of University property.
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1.5 College of Engineering computing facilities are provided for
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academic uses (instruction and research) and some adminis-
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trative uses.
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1.5.1 The license agreements for some pieces of software may
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specifically restrict the software to instructional
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use. Please check with the Case Center before you use
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licensed software for research or administrative
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tasks.
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1.5.2 Do not make use of any University computing facilities
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for any activity that is commercial in nature without
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first obtaining written approval to do so. Commercial
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activities include: consulting, developing software
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for sale, and in general any activity for which you
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are paid from non-University funds.
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1.6 Facilities are often available on an unmonitored basis. It
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is the responsibility of every user to act in such a manner
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as to not cause damage to the physical equipment.
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Accidental damage, or damage caused by other parties, should
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be reported as soon as possible so that corrective action
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can be taken.
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College facilities are paid for and operated in part with
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student money. Please help take care of them! Please bring
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problems to staff attention!
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2. User Rights
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A user of College of Engineering computer facilities has the fol-
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lowing rights and privileges.
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2.1 You should not be denied access to facilities by someone who
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is not using the facilities for research or instructional
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purposes, or who is not a student, faculty, or staff member
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of the College of Engineering. You have the right to ask an
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appropriate staff member to remove such a person so you can
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use the facilities.
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2.2 You have the right to not be harassed while using College of
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Engineering facilities, whether it be physical, verbal,
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electronic, or any other form of abuse. You have the right
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to ask an appropriate staff member to take steps to end any
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abuse to which you are subjected.
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3. Staff Responsibilities
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In general, the staff of the College of Engineering computer
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facilities has the responsibility of enforcing the rights and
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responsibilities of the users of those facilities to the best of
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their ability. Several specific staff responsibilities are
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listed below.
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3.1 Staff should not make use of facilities intended for
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instructional purposes unless this is necessary to correct
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an urgent problem. Instructional facilities should never be
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used for day-to-day staff work unless these facilities are
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currently being under-utilized by students.
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3.2 Staff should at all times respect the privacy of user files,
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mail, and printer listings (but see Staff Rights below).
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4. Staff Rights
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The staff in general have the right to do whatever is necessary
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to carry out their responsibility to keep the College computing
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resources operating and available.
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4.1 The networked computer environment in the College of
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Engineering is a facility provided to faculty, staff, and
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students to enable them to accomplish certain tasks required
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by their roles within the College and the University. There
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is an acknowledged trade-off between the absolute right of
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privacy of a user, and the need of the staff to gather
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necessary information to insure the continued functioning of
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this College-wide resource.
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In the normal course of system administration, the staff may
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have to examine files, mail, and printer listings to gather
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sufficient information to diagnose and correct problems with
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system software, or to determine if a user is acting in vio-
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lation of the policies set forth in this document. The
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staff has the right to do this.
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As mentioned in Staff Responsibilities, above, the staff has
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an obligation to maintain the privacy of a user's files,
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mail, and printer listings.
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4.2 Because this is an educational institution, some behavior is
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tolerated, even encouraged, that would not be allowed at a
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"normal" commercial site. This, combined with the fact that
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there is relatively free and uncontrolled access to our sys-
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tems via network connections around the world, causes spe-
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cial problems for the staff.
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In general, the staff allows the users great freedom in use
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of the facilities. However, there are certain kinds of
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threatening or damaging behavior against which the staff
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will take action. For example: owning or using burglar's
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tools, worms, viruses, or trojan horses.
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Any such action will be taken carefully, because there may
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be legitimate reasons for people to have such objects in
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their possession. Staff will normally take action only if
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there is clear and convincing reason to believe that a user
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is violating the policies outlined in this document.
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A user who feels that s/he has legitimate reason to experi-
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ment with security-related aspects of the computer facili-
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ties should discuss the project with staff before embarking
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on the experiment. This will help prevent a perhaps embar-
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rassing intervention by the staff.
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5. Bibliography
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We will attach a bibliography of pertinent University publica-
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tions in which to find official rules and regulations.
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