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Florida College Computer Use Policy The Information Technology department at Florida College seeks to glorify God by serving the information and technology needs of the Florida College community. We strive to provide reliable technology and quality services in order to enhance learning and enable faculty, staff, and student success.

Florida College provides students with access to network and computing resources as an integral part of the educational environment. Students using these resources should do so responsibly and consistently with the College's mission and objectives. The College reserves the right to define and to enforce appropriate regulations to ensure that the use of these resources is consistent with the College’s mission. Use of these resources is a privilege, not a right.

As a community who strives to follow Jesus Christ, Florida College expects responsible use of technology by both students and employees. The following policies help define our expectation of responsible use and they complement the values of Florida College. Users of the College’s accounts are acting as representatives of Florida College and, as such, should act accordingly to uphold the College's character and reputation.

Policy: Students are to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with legal and moral laws.

• Viewing, accessing, or linking to sites of pornographic or obscene material is strictly forbidden. This applies to any screen display or the transmission of images, sounds, or messages that could be reasonably considered pornographic or obscene. To help prevent inadvertent access to such material, your Internet access is filtered by use of a web proxy server that blocks web sites based upon selected categories such as pornography, sex, gambling, dating, hate speech, etc. No attempt should be made to circumvent the filtering software that is in place, nor download or install any software with the intent to circumvent the filtering software. Contact the Dean of Students at extension 6745 to appeal any site that you believe should not be blocked.

• Sexual and racial harassment are inappropriate behaviors that will not be tolerated. Displaying, printing, storing or transmitting this type of offensive material is strictly forbidden.

• The use of College-owned equipment must be in compliance with all local, state and national laws. Any observed violation of these laws will be turned over to the proper authorities. This includes, but is not limited to, death threats or threats of bodily harm.

• The use of the College provided Internet access requires respect for all licensing agreements. Florida College licenses use of its computer software from various vendors. FC and its members are bound by license agreements. Copyrighted music, movies, files, and software programs do not belong to the user unless he has paid the appropriate party for that right. Once purchased, it is not lawful to make a copy of the media and give it to someone else unless the license purchased with the media specifically grants that right to the user. Likewise, a user may not accept such media copies from anyone without documented proof that that right has been granted to the user by the copyright holder.

• Internet access should never be used for illegal downloading. Unless otherwise noted, all software on the Internet should be considered copyrighted work. Users are prohibited from downloading software files and/or modifying any such files without permission from the copyright holder or as granted in a license agreement or other contract defining use. Examples of this would be downloading pirated

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movies or pirated MP3 music files. According to U.S. copyright law, illegal reproduction of software may result in civil damages of $50,000 or more and criminal penalties including fines and imprisonment. Any infringing activity by a user may be the responsibility of the College. Therefore, Florida College may choose to hold the user liable for his or her actions and reserves the right to remove software from College-owed systems without the consent of the user.

• The development or intentional transmission of a virus, worm, or Trojan Horse is prohibited. Files that are downloaded from the Internet may contain a virus and should be scanned with virus detection software before installation or execution. This includes files attached to electronic mail messages. All appropriate precautions should be taken to detect a virus and prevent its spread. This includes installing anti-virus software on the PC in the dorm room for the protection of the PC and the College network that provides Internet and network services. All College-owned computers have anti-virus software already installed.

• Internet access requires care in order not to violate each individual’s right to privacy. Use of the College’s administrative systems by student workers should be for work-related matters only. Each individual’s records within these systems are subject to privacy laws, including FERPA. Release of these records for any reason, other than those approved by the College, could result in loss of employment and legal action.

• Internet access is a shared privilege and any activity that could result in the loss or disruption of another person’s work is prohibited. This includes tampering with or destroying equipment and related cables, software, programs, and files. Possession or use of any software or hardware designed to disrupt the security of the campus network or any device attached to the network is unacceptable. Any attempt to break another person’s password or to evade security measures is forbidden.

Policy: Students are to make prudent choices consistent with honesty and fair play.

• Students making use of the College provided Internet access should remember that the Internet is not a secure network. Information transmitted over the network is susceptible to intercept. Do not transmit any confidential or sensitive information over the Internet from any of the computers supplied by the College. There are secure sites available on the Internet which can be reached from a personal computer (PC) in the dorm room. But before using a site that says it is secure, please read the information available on that site that describes what its methods are for securing the information transmitted from the PC to the site, and vice versa. Some secure sites aren’t as secure as others, and there is always a risk associated with the interception of information even to/from secure web sites. The College is not responsible for any fraud or loss of privacy that may occur from use of the Internet, whether in the dorm room or using one of the College supplied PCs.

• The rules of academic honesty apply to Internet use as they do to all aspects of the student’s academic work. Any attempt to use computer systems, whether one’s own personal computer or College-owned, to plagiarize or cheat on an exam, paper or other assignment is forbidden. Do not use the computer to share materials and test results with other students unless specifically authorized by the Instructor.

• Students should make every effort to maintain the security of their Internet access. Computing and network resources owned by the College are to be used for College-related activities only. User accounts are NOT to be shared with anyone. Each user should maintain good password security. If another student learns a user’s password, that student can log in as the user and take control of the data stored on the network and send e-mails appearing to come from the user. If a student feels his password has been compromised, please contact the IT department at extension 0529. When using College-owned personal computers, the student should log out of the network session whenever he or she leaves the computer. Leaving the computer logged in allows the next person at that computer to continue the former user’s network session and appear as that user to others.

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• The College provided Internet access is intended to be used as it is without any modification. Do

not remove or tamper with any of the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems, hubs, and associated cables and power supplies that are located in an assigned dorm room. Procedures have been documented for the proper connection of the PC to these devices. Do not add any devices such as hubs or routers to the DSL connection, or attempt to extend that connection to another student in another room through purchasing network cables for that purpose. Dial-up devices, such as telephone modems, and wireless hubs or switches breach network security and therefore are prohibited in the dorm rooms.

• College provided Internet access is not to be used for SPAM. Students of Florida College are not to send out unsolicited electronic mail (SPAM) messages to large number of recipients (over 25) except as authorized by Dr. Doug Barlar , Dean of Students. Soliciting, selling and/or advertising are not allowed via e-mail unless authorized by Mr. Barlar on a case-by-case basis.

• Use of College-owned computing resources for commercial purposes unrelated to class assignments is prohibited. Incidental use of College computers and network resources for personal gain (e.g. posting a resume, mentioning consulting services on a personal web page, using e-mail to correspond with an employer) is allowed, but advertising of commercial products, services and businesses that are not related to Florida College is unacceptable. This includes using FC facilities to produce output such as a flier for business purposes or society and club events. Use of a personal computer in the dorm room for conducting a business will be examined and authorized on a case-by-case basis by Mr. Doug Barlar , Dean of Students.

Policy: Students are to make responsible choices consistent with good stewardship.

• No individual student should hog the bandwidth, which must be shared by all. Florida College’s computing assets are expensive resources that require careful management in order to maximize their contribution to the learning process and protect the College’s investment. Network bandwidth must be reserved for educational and administrative applications. Students are asked to limit bandwidth use in their dorm rooms by the responsible use of downloading files off the Internet. Students should restrict Internet access for non-educational related uses to after business hours ( 5pm - 8am ). Large download files running continuously for more than an hour are not considered a judicious use of these resources. Streaming takes up considerable bandwidth and students should limit its use. The College reserves the right to limit bandwidth of users, applications and protocols that do not serve these purposes.

• Off-campus access must be restricted. Because computing assets are expensive resources and bandwidth is limited, off-campus access to the Florida College network must be restricted. Students are not allowed to download and/or install any software on any College computer without either authorization from the Instructor related to a class assignment, or from Mr. Kenneth L. Kearley, Director of Information Technology. Students are not to allow off-campus access to bulletin board systems or web servers or other such services running on personal computers from their dorm rooms. File sharing software that is used on personal computers in the dorm room should either have the capability to deny off-campus access, or be able to restrict access to a select number of people that are known and trusted.

• Use copiers for multiple copies, not network printers. Student network printers should NOT be used to reproduce multiple copies of material. Copiers should be used for this purpose. The use of printers for making multiple copies reduces their durability and uses valuable supplies. Network printers for student use are not free. Students pay for printing use at a rate posted in the current students area of the website and/or in computer labs.

• Students should use the College Internet access judiciously. Time is one of our most valuable resources. While the Internet has useful and interesting information, there is a tendency to spend too much time surfing the Internet to the neglect of more important tasks, such as class work, studying for exams, and getting rest. A student’s time should be used as wisely on the computer as with any activity.

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Use of the network and computing facilities implies consent to these policies and monitoring activities. Enforcement of these policies may involve (at the College’s discretion) monitoring of network stored disk files and electronic transmissions (electronic mail, web site accesses, etc.).

Every administrator, faculty member, staff member, and student has the responsibility to report any violation of these policies to B.J. McKinney, Director of IT Infrastructure and Customer Support, extension 0529, or e-mail him at mckinneyb@floridacollege.edu. Disciplinary actions could include limitation of a user’s access, suspension, or other disciplinary action in accord with the Student Handbook.

These policies are designed to insure, as much as possible, that the College provided Internet access and computing resources are helpful to students in their career at Florida College. If we all cooperate and apply the same standards of morality and consideration for others in this area of our lives as we do in all others then it can be a useful tool for everyone.