The computing and information technology resources of Confederation College serve to support and enhance the academic mission of the College and its community.  More specifically, IT resources are made available to employees in support of their teaching, research, and administrative activities and to students in support of their respective academic requirements.  For all College IT users, access to these resources is a privilege to be used in effective, ethical, secure, and lawful ways that support the values of Confederation College.  The College will endeavor to create an atmosphere that balances respect for individual users with that of the overall needs, security, standards, as well as values of the College community as a whole.

 

It is acceptable to use Confederation College IT resources:

·         For purposes directly related to the learning process.

·         In the case of employees and contractors, for the performance of necessary job-related tasks.

·         For limited amounts of personal use providing that such activity does not 1) interfere with the person’s work & responsibilities; 2) impose costs to the College; 3) degrades the performance of, or pose a security risk to the College IT infrastructure; or, 4) contravene the mission of the College.

Acceptable use of College IT resources also includes:

·         Respect for the rights, privacy, and property of others.

·         Consideration of other persons using shared systems, equipment, and facilities.

·         Use of resources and tools for the purpose of which they are intended.

·         Adherence to all applicable rules, policies, and laws including (but not limited to):

o   College Employee Human Rights Operating Practice (4-2-01)

o   College Human Rights policy (4-2-01B)

o   College (Student) Conduct and Discipline policy (5-5)

o   Applicable College Collective Agreements

o   The Ontario Human rights Code

o   The Criminal Code of Canada

Unacceptable use of College IT resources includes (but is not limited to):

·         Unauthorized access, alteration, destruction, removal and/or disclosure of data, information, equipment, software or systems.

·         Disclosure of confidential account passwords or access information.

·         Deliberate over-extension system resources or the interference with the normal operation/functioning of a system.

·         Attempts to access confidential information.

·         Uses which violate copyright law.

·         Uses for private business or for any form of direct personal financial gain.

·         Any form of illegal trade, negotiation, or conspiracy to conduct illegal acts.

·         Uses to build support for personal causes.

·         Any action or use of IT resources that contradicts the College’s ‘Potentially Offensive Material’ policy.

·         Uses for the creation, transmission, storage, access, or viewing of materials which are deemed in the sole discretion of the College to serve no useful academic or administrative purpose including (but not limited to):

§  On-line gaming such as multi-player Internet or local area games.

§  Downloading, copying, or transmitting of personal use software or any other form of electronic information and materials (i.e. copyrighted movies, music and games).

§  Electronic communications which denigrate or contravene the objectives and values of the College,

·         Issuance of Junk mail (unsolicited bulk e-mail).

·         Theft of resources.

·         Malicious or unethical use.

·         Interference with the work of others.  This includes any process that causes a user to be deprived of services or resources that they would normally expect to have available.

·         Creation, development, storage, transmittal, or replication of any program, code, subroutine, or other means intended to disrupt, interfere, damage, destroy, or corrupt the College’s IT infrastructure (i.e. viruses, hacking, spyware, network snooping utilities).

·         Uses that violates College policy or Provincial and Federal laws.

 

User Responsibilities

 

All College users are responsible for their use of the College’s IT resources and as such must:

·         Maintain secure passwords for all accounts assigned to them.

·         Ensure and safeguard against others obtaining unauthorized access to their accounts.

·         Not share account passwords or any other access control information for their accounts.

·         Not subvert the restrictions associated with their accounts.

·         Not attempt to gain access to systems/resources both inside and outside of the College for which they have no authorization.

·         Ensure responsibility for the confidentiality and security of any information or data they have been granted access to.

·         Ensure that confidential information is not observed by others while working at a computer.

·         Not leave their computers unattended while logged on to their accounts.

·         Exercise discretion when printing confidential information which may be viewed or observed by unauthorized persons.

·         Not copy, send, duplicate, or transmit by any means, confidential data from College systems for any purpose other than performance of College related business.

·         Have a general awareness of copyright/piracy laws, policies, rules, and regulations.  Further all users must:

o   Comply with all copyright, patents, intellectual property laws, license conditions, and contractual obligations associated with College computing systems.

o   Not move, copy, or transfer programs, files, or other forms of software from College computing systems to another without proper authorization to do so.

o   Not distribute, sell, or make available software to any person where prohibited by copyright or license.

o   Not access and/or use software owned by Confederation College without proper authorization and license rights.

·         Only use College computing resources for the purposes for which they are intended and authorized.

·         Not attempt to interfere, disrupt, damage, destroy, or corrupt the authorized use of data, computing equipment, or the normal operation of the College’s IT infrastructure.

·         Immediately report any suspected breach of security, abuse, loss of information, or other infraction (as outlined above) to the Computer Services department.

·         Respect the public nature of the College and conduct themselves in a professional and businesslike manner.  Employees are responsible and accountable for their actions and statements when using College IT resources.