This policy is subject to revision.  Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be sent to Neal Sturm, University Director of Information Systems and Technology, mailstop M140B, or sturm@fdu.edu.

This document is published at the beginning of the Fall and Spring semesters and is available both electronically and in printed form at each of the Campus Computing Centers. 

It is the user's responsibility to remain informed about the contents of this document. 
 

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY FOR COMPUTER USAGE

The computing resources at Fairleigh Dickinson University support the instructional, research, and administrative activities of the University.  Users of these facilities may have access to University resources, sensitive data, and external networks.  Consequently, it is imperative for all users to behave in a responsible, ethical, and legal manner.  This document presents specific guidelines to appropriate behavior and use of FDU computing equipment.

I. SCOPE

 Fairleigh Dickinson University is not responsible for the content of any material the user prepares, receives or transmits.  Thus, as a condition of using the University's computer system, the user represents that he/she is in compliance with all federal, state and international copyright and other intellectual property laws and agreements and other federal and state laws, nor in his/her use of the system will the user violate any federal or state civil or criminal laws.  Furthermore, the user will indemnify, exonerate and save the University (and its representatives) harmless from any claim, damage or cost related to the user's use, including any legal fees the University decides it is necessary to incur to defend itself.

II. ACCEPTABLE USE

 1. You are responsible for any computer account you have been given.  You shall set a password on the account that is not easily guessed and shall not share this password with other people.  If you discover that someone has made unauthorized use of your account, you should change your password immediately and immediately report the event to one of the individuals listed in appendix 1.  You also shall not use an account not belonging to you.

 2. You agree not to intentionally seek out information about, copy, or modify password files, other users' files, or disks and tapes belonging to other people, whether at FDU or other facilities.

 3. You should not attempt to decrypt material to which you are not entitled or attempt to gain rights you have not been specifically granted by the owner.  If you observe or discover a gap in system or network security, you agree to inform the Computer Center and not to exploit the gap.

 4. You agree to refrain from any activity that intentionally interferes with a computer's operating system or its logging and security systems, or that may cause such effects.

 5. You must be sensitive to the public nature of computer systems and refrain from transmitting, posting or otherwise displaying material that is threatening, obscene, harassing or defamatory.

 6. You agree not to make copies of or distribute software the University owns or uses under license, unless permission to copy has been specifically granted by the owner of the software or the owner of the license.  If in doubt as to whether you have permission to copy software, assume you don't.

 7. Messages, statements, and declarations sent as electronic mail or public postings should be treated as if they were tangible documents. From electronic identifiers used in the transmission of messages, addressees can see the University is the source of the message or its system is being used to  transmit it, similar to how letterhead or a return address on a  tangible document would identify the University. To make sure  that no addressee can infer that your personal opinions are  necessarily shared or authorized by the University, it is your obligation to clearly identify them as your opinions and not those of the University. 

 8. You agree not to create, alter, or delete any electronic information contained in any system associated with the Computer Centers that is not your own work.

 9. You agree not to create & send, or forward electronic chain mail letters.  You agree not to attempt to alter or forge the "From" line or any other attribution of origin contained in electronic mail or postings.

 10. You shall not use FDU computing equipment as a means of obtaining unauthorized access to any other computing systems.

 11. FDU's computing disk storage is a University resource with costs attached and should be used with care and discretion. It is not meant to be used for archiving programs and data not currently being used or for storage of files publicly available elsewhere.  It is meant for current class work, research and development projects, and temporary storage of other files.  Users shall attempt to keep their disk usage minimized and will refrain from maintaining duplicate copies of software already installed on the system.
 
 12. Network addresses such as TCP/IP addresses, machine addresses and DECNET addresses are assigned by the Academic Computing Center staff and may not be altered or otherwise assigned without the explicit permission of the Computer Center Staff. In addition, no equipment may be attached to the network without the explicit permission of the Computer Center Staff.

 13. The system is not to be used for the transmission of commercial or personal advertisements, solicitations, promotions or for extended reproduction of political, ideological or commercial material originated by a person or organization.

 14. In the quantity and frequency of their personal use, users should not create unreasonable demands on the system.  Users are reminded that for volume or frequency beyond what is reasonable for their free access to the University's network and systems, they should contract with private providers of network facilities.

III. SECURITY

 The Computer Center attempts to provide reasonable security against damage to files stored on FDU's computing equipment by making regular backups of systems.  In the event of lost or damaged files, a reasonable attempt will be made to recover the information; however, the University and the Computer Center staff cannot guarantee recovery of the data or loss of data due to media failure, floods, fires, etc.

 The Computer Center will make reasonable attempts to provide error-free hardware and software on our systems, however, it is not possible to guarantee this, and information provided by staff members is not guaranteed to be correct.

IV. PRIVACY

 Computer Center staff are expected to treat the contents of user files as private and confidential and shall not log into another user account or access user's files unless specifically granted permission by the owner of the file.  Student staff should avoid situations where helping another student or a faculty member would give them access to data relevant to a course that the student staff person is currently taking.

 Exceptions to this policy are made under certain circumstances.  These include: system backups, which access all files in a user's account; software upgrades which may require editing startup files in a user's account; diagnostic and trouble-shooting activities, which may, for example, require viewing the address headers of e-mail messages to determine the cause of problems; and keystroke monitoring of sessions to determine inappropriate use of the computing facilities.  Another situation is a suspected violation of the tenets in this policy, the Student Handbook, Faculty Handbook,  local, state or federal law.  If there is sufficient cause to suspect such a situation, a user's files may be duplicated and stored for later review by appropriate personnel without the user's permission. The consent of the user to give access to his or her stored electronic communications for these purposes is a condition precedent to the user's use of the system.

 In the event that user files need to be copied or viewed for reasons other than security, diagnostic, system backup or in compliance with law enforcement, the Computer Center staff will attempt to inform the user of this access.

V. POLICY VIOLATIONS

 Depending on the nature of the events, violations of this policy may be dealt with as described in the Student or Faculty Handbook, any relevant contracts, and possibly State and/or Federal law or regulations.
 
 
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