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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 Colleges 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 Colleges 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 individuals right to privacy. Use of the
Colleges administrative systems by student workers should be for work-related matters only. Each
individuals 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 persons 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 persons 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 arent 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 students
academic work. Any attempt to use computer systems, whether ones 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 users 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 users
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 Colleges
computing assets are expensive resources that require careful management in order to maximize their
contribution to the learning process and protect the Colleges 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 students 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 Colleges 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 [email protected]. Disciplinary actions could include limitation of a users 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.