Computer & Network User Policy

The following information is provided by Warren Wilson College (WWC) Information Technology Committee (ITC). These policies cover general use of WWC academic computing facilities, information access and user privacy, use of public facilities, use of private machines on the College network, sanctions for policy violations, creation and use of personal world-wide web sites, and use of computer games. As usage practices change, the ITC will propose modifications to this policy.

Users of WWC computing services are expected to abide by the following policies, which are intended to preserve the utility and flexibility of the system, to protect the privacy and work of students, faculty, and staff, and to preserve the right to access the international networks to which WWC systems are connected.




General Usage Policy
  1. Faculty, staff, students, and others authorized by the ITC may have e-mail accounts and may use College computing facilities, including transmissions over the College network, for scholarly purposes, for official College business, and for personal purposes so long as such use

    1. does not violate any law or College policy,
    2. does not involve significant use of College resources, direct costs, or substantial interference with the performance of College duties and work, and
    3. does not result in commercial gain or private profit.
  2. Users may not allow any other person to use their password or to share their account. It is the individual's responsibility to protect the assigned account from unauthorized use by periodically changing the account's password and using passwords that are not easily guessed.
  3. Any attempt to circumvent system security, guess other passwords, or in any way gain unauthorized access to local or network resources is forbidden.
  4. Transferring copyrighted materials to or from any system or via the College network without express consent of the owner may be a violation of Federal Law and is a felony under State Law.
  5. Use of electronic mail and other network communications facilities to harass, offend, or annoy other users of the network is forbidden. See the related policy below regarding chain letters and the attachment, Unlawful Expression on the Internet.

Information Access and User Privacy

Electronic mail, information passing over the College network, and information stored in user accounts are considered to be private and confidential. Although this type of information must be accessed by system personnel for the purpose of backups, network management, etc., the content of user files and network transmissions will not be viewed, monitored, or altered without the express permission of the user except in the following circumstances:

  1. the College has reason to believe that an account or system has been breached and is being used by someone other than the authorized user,
  2. the College has received a complaint that an account or system is being used to gain unauthorized access or to attempt to gain unauthorized access to another network site, or
  3. the College has reason to believe that an account or system is being used in violation of College Policy, Federal or State Law.

Under these circumstances the ITC may authorize system support personnel to monitor the activities of a specified account or computer system and to search electronic information stored in that account. The authority for this search must be requested on an account-by-account basis and monitoring will be restricted to the specified account. If this search provides evidence of violation the account will be disabled and action taken with appropriate authorities.

Private Machines Connected to the College Network

It is becoming increasingly possible for computer systems owned by students, staff, or faculty to be attached directly to the College Network via on-campus attachment or dial-in services. Of course, the owner of a personal machine may use that machine at his or her discretion; however, the use of the College network is subject to all of the policies stated in this document.

  1. The owner of a machine connected to the College network is responsible for the behavior of users of that machine and for all network traffic to and from the machine.
  2. A private machine connected to the College network may not be used to provide network access to individuals who would not have access through official College systems. The private machine may not be used as a router to other networks nor may it serve in any way as an electronic gateway to non-college affiliated systems.
  3. Private machines may not use the College network for commercial gain or profit.
  4. Private machines may be used to support anonymous ftp, http, or gopher services when these services fall within the definition of scholarly use. Provision of interactive login services to non-college affiliated users is forbidden. Should the College have reason to believe that a privately owned system is using the network inappropriately, network traffic to and from that system will be monitored and, if justified, the system will be disconnected and action taken with appropriate authorities.
  5. The College does not provide dial-up access to its computing facilities from off-campus. Thus, such access is prohibited. This prohibition does not apply, of course, to access from off campus via a user's Internet Service Provider.

Use of Public Facilities
  1. Each user is expected to take proper care of the equipment in all College computing facilities. Report any malfunction to staff on duty or to the Computing Services office immediately. No attempt should be made to move, repair, reconfigure, modify, or attach external devices to the systems. No food or drink is permitted in public computing facilities.
  2. Recreational use of workstations in College facilities during periods of light usage is permitted; however, users may not play games or engage in other recreational activities when others are waiting to use the workstations for academic purposes. Recreational use of dial-up lines and dial-up servers is prohibited altogether. In general, the use of public computing facilities for recreational purposes should be avoided. Playing games, web browsing, and the like, for non-academic purposes uses the limited resources of the College in a way that may prevent the legitimate use of the equipment.
  3. Individual Computing Laboratories and other College facilities may post additional operational rules and restrictions that are considered part of this policy. Users are responsible for reading and following these rules.
  4. The Network Systems Administrator will maintain various lists for general e-mailing purposes. Use of such lists for sending announcements is encouraged. However, so as not to tie up system resources, such mailings should be limited to short memoranda not to exceed 0.5 kilobytes (about two pages). Using general mailings to espouse personal and political agendas are discouraged as there are other means available for such purposes (such as personal Web pages).
  5. Use of electronic mail and other network communications facilities to harass, offend, or annoy other users of the network is forbidden.

Chain letters are against WWC Policy

Computing Services interprets the writing and forwarding of chain letters as a violation of the following policy (item five in the General Usage Policyfrom above)

Chain letters are clearly an annoyance to most users in addition to being a waste of technical resources and potentially illegal (see Ponzi Schemes below).

Ponzi Schemes are against the law.

A Ponzi scheme is a form of chain letter that requests recipients to send money to people on a list. The US Supreme Court has determined that Ponzi schemes are inherently fraudulent. The US Criminal Code, 18 USC 1341-1346, prohibits the use of mail or wire in any attempt to defraud. Note that under the wire fraud statutes, the attempt to defraud is a violation, and all who are involved in the attempt, whether intentionally or not, may also be in violation.

Unauthorized Copying or Use of Computer Software

Unauthorized copying or use of computer software is a violation of federal law, a likely breach of a license agreement, and an action that also may subject the perpetrator to discipline within the College.

The best position for students, faculty and staff to take is to ASSUME THAT COPYING OF SOFTWARE FOR USE ON AN ADDITIONAL MACHINE IS PROHIBITED UNLESS YOU ARE TOLD OTHERWISE BY AN INFORMED INDIVIDUAL WHO IS IN A POSITION TO KNOW.

Some agreements restrict the use of software to certain equipment. Unauthorized use of this software will be viewed the same as unauthorized copying. Copyright law also holds that multiple-loading from one disk to multiple machines is a violation unless allowed by a license.

Since the College does not require, request, or condone unauthorized copying or use of computer software, such action is not considered to be taken in the course of employment. As a result, the College will not provide legal defense for individuals who may be accused of making unauthorized copies of software even if these individuals maintain that such action was taken in the course of their employment. If the College is sued or fined because of unauthorized copying or use by students, faculty or staff, it may seek payment from the individuals as well as subject them to disciplinary action that may include dismissal.

College policy requires that all students, faculty, and staff abide by the law. All members of the college community are also obligated to comply with contractual obligations. In the final analysis we demean the integrity of the College and all it stands for when we engage in unauthorized copying or use of computer software.

Sanctions for Policy Violations

Violations of policy will be treated as misconduct, misdemeanor, or felony as appropriate. For non-criminal matters, a warning will be issued upon a user's first policy violation. The user will be asked to sign a copy of this policy statement to document that he or she understands and is willing to comply with these policies.

A second violation will result, at a minimum, in the suspension of the user's account for one week.

A third violation will result, at a minimum, in suspension of the user's account for the remainder of the semester.

A fourth violation will result in the permanent loss of privileges.

That a policy violation has occurred will be determined by the ITC when a suspected violation has been reported to it. The ITC will determine the appropriate sanctions. Appeals from the decision of the ITC may be made to the College Judicial Board.

Misdemeanor or felony violation charges may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and may result in the immediate and permanent loss of privileges. Student disciplinary proceedings may also be initiated against violators.

Unlawful Expression on the Internet

Unlawful expression on the Internet or elsewhere that may be punished (or result in civil liability) includes: