A20.01.05 Computer Use Policy
| Effective Date: November 13, 2007 | New: X |
| Replaces: | Revision: |
POLICY STATEMENT
Douglas College provides computing facilities and services to support the business of the College, including teaching, learning, research/scholarly/artistic work and administration.
The purpose of this Policy is to define acceptable use of the Douglas College computing facilities, services and related data.
SCOPE OF POLICY
1. This Policy governs the appropriate use of all computing facilities and services owned and operated by Douglas College, purchased through funds administered by the College, or acquired by the College through some contractual agreement. It covers all College-owned computing facilities and services regardless of where they are located or where they are being accessed from (on campus or off campus).
2. Other Related Policies
This Policy has been developed in the context of, and is designed to complement, existing Douglas College policies, particularly:
A02.01.01 Conflict of Interest
A02.05.01 Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act
A02.06.03 Occupational Health and Safety
A08.01.01 College Use of Copyrighted Works
A10.01.01 College Facilities Use
A10.02.02 Standards of Student User Conduct, and
A20.01.03 Use of College Resources,
as well as all applicable legislation and laws.
Administrative units may have supplemental policies that provide additional detail or introduce specific restrictions regarding appropriate use of computing facilities and services.
DEFINITIONS
1. Facility: includes, but is not limited to: computers, networks, software, systems, gateways for off-campus access and gateways used to access external networks and the Internet.
2. Services: includes: administrative, teaching and learning applications, e-mail, file storage, portals and other web services, web hosting and others.
PROCEDURES/RULES STATEMENTS
General
The College provides computing facilities and services to employees and students, to be used in conjunction with their duties or Douglas College activities. The College may also provide services to others with whom it does business, including but not limited to alumni, retirees, and visiting faculty.
Everyone who uses Douglas College computing facilities and services must comply with this policy. Access may be withheld or withdrawn with cause as described in the Consequences section of this Policy.
Privacy and Security
All employees and students have the right to use Douglas College computing facilities and services for which they have authorization. These facilities and services will be accessed using a computer account issued to each individual. No one is authorized to use any Douglas College computing facility or service without such an account. Computer accounts and authorization are not transferable. The person to whom authorization is granted is responsible for all use of that account and is expected to take reasonable steps to ensure the security of the account. Under exceptional circumstances, a shared account is permitted but special arrangements must be made through the Administrator responsible. Responsibility for the shared account is assigned to an individual.
As part of the normal operation of computing facilities and services, activity logs are kept and the use may be monitored for the purpose of gathering data for diagnosing service problems, capacity and services enhancement planning. A user?s reasonable expectation of privacy is subject to the Douglas College?s right to examine systems, directories, files or usage logs if there is sufficient evidence to believe that a violation of this policy, other Douglas College policies, or other regulations and laws has occurred. Douglas College reserves the right to access electronic records, including those which have been deleted by the account holder but which may not yet have been deleted centrally, where the appropriate Dean or other administrator has determined there to be a clear college business and/or educational need. Such need may include access in the absence of an employee, a request under the Local Authority Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, or to recover data while investigating allegations of misconduct and managing actual or potential criminal or civil litigation in which the Douglas College is or may become a party. Any such recovery of data will remain subject to a user's reasonable expectation of privacy. Whenever practical, employees will be notified when their records have been accessed.
Personal Use
Incidental personal use of Douglas College computing facilities and services is acceptable as long as such use does not interfere with their intended purposes nor their use by others, compromise the business of Douglas College, increase the costs of Douglas College, expose Douglas College to additional risk, damage the reputation of Douglas College, and is not part of an activity that the account holder does for personal profit.
The College does not guarantee preservation, security and privacy of data related to personal use that resides on and/or is transmitted over College?s computing facilities and services.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Account Holders
It is the responsibility of the Account holder to:
- Comply with all laws, Douglas College policies, regulations and guidelines regarding use of Douglas College computing facilities and services.
- Use Douglas College computing facilities and services in a responsible manner and only for the purpose for which use has been authorized. Resources are not to be wasted nor used in such a way as to deny or restrict access to others.
- Abide by the security measures and restrictions in place.
- Respect the policies of external networks and remote sites.
Douglas College
Administrators are considered custodians of computing facilities and services in their respective areas and must take reasonable steps to ensure that users in their areas are aware of applicable policies and abide by them.
Centre for Educational and Information Technology (CEIT)
It is the responsibility of CEIT to maintain any Douglas College computing facility and service. CEIT ensures that institutional standards for security, data backup, user authentication and access control are appropriately applied.
CEIT will communicate the existence of this policy to all computer account holders at Douglas College. New account holders will be informed at the time access to facilities is given.
CONSEQUENCES
If there is sufficient evidence to believe that laws or Douglas College policies have been, or are being violated, or that continued access poses a threat to a facility, other account holders, normal operations, or the reputation of Douglas College, access privileges of any individual may be withdrawn or restricted by the responsible Administrator. Douglas College may take one or more of the following actions against anyone whose activities are in violation of the law or this policy:
- Restrictions or loss of access to any or all of the computing facilities and services at the Douglas College.
- Legal action that could result in criminal or civil proceedings.
- In the case of students, disciplinary action under Academic Dishonesty and/or Standards of Students/User Conduct.
- In the case of employees, disciplinary action up to and including termination.