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- Computer Policies
-
- The computing facilities at Baylor are provided for the use of
- Baylor students, faculty and staff in support of the programs of
- the University. All students, faculty and staff are responsible
- for seeing that these computing facilities are used in an
- effective, efficient, ethical and lawful manner. The following
- policies relate to their use.
-
- 1. Computer facilities and accounts are owned by the University
- and are to be used for university-related activities only.
- All access to central computer systems, including the issuing
- of passwords, must be approved through the Computer Center.
- All access to departmental computer systems must be approved
- by the department chairman or an authorized representative.
-
- 2. Computer equipment and accounts are to be used only for the
- purpose for which they are assigned and are not to be used
- for commercial purposes or non-university related activities.
-
- 3. An account assigned to an individual, by the Computer Center
- or a department, must not be used by others without explicit
- permission from the instructor or administrator requesting
- the account and by the Computer Center or department
- assigning the account. The individual is responsible for the
- proper use of the account, including proper password
- protection.
-
- 4. Programs and files are confidential unless they have
- explicitly been made available to other authorized
- individuals. Computer Center personnel may access others'
- files when necessary for the maintenance of central computer
- systems. When performing maintenance, every effort is made
- to insure the privacy of a user's files. However, if
- violations are discovered, they will be reported immediately
- to the appropriate Vice President.
-
- 5. Electronic communications facilities (such as MAIL) are for
- university related activities only. Fraudulent, harassing or
- obscene messages and/or materials are not to be sent or
- stored.
-
- 6. No one should deliberately attempt to degrade the performance
- of a computer system or to deprive authorized personnel of
- resources or access to any university computer system.
-
- 7. Loopholes in computer security systems or knowledge of a
- special password should not be used to damage computer
- systems, obtain extra resources, take resources from another
- user, gain access to systems or use systems for which proper
- authorization has not been given. 8.Computer software
- protected by copyright is not to be copied from, into, or by
- using campus computing facilities, except as permitted by law
- or by the contract with the owner of the copyright. This
- means that such computer and microcomputer software may only
- be copied in order to make back-up copies, if permitted by
- the copyright owner. The number of copies and distribution
- of the copies may not be done in such a way that the number
- of simultaneous users in a department exceeds the number of
- original copies purchased by that department.
-
- An individual's computer use privileges may be suspended
- immediately upon the discovery of a possible violation of these
- policies. Such suspected violations will be confidentially
- reported to the appropriate faculty, supervisors, department
- chairmen, Computer Center staff, and Vice Presidents.
-
- The Computer Center administrative staff or supervising
- department chairman will judge an offense as either major or
- minor. A first minor offense will normally be dealt with by the
- Computer Center administrative staff or supervising department
- chairman after consultation with the instructor or administrator
- requesting the account. Additional offenses will be regarded as
- major offenses. Appeals relating to minor offenses may be made
- to the supervising Vice Presidents. Major offenses will be dealt
- with by the supervising Vice Presidents.
-
- Violations of these policies will be dealt with in the same
- manner as violations of other university policies and may result
- in disciplinary review. In such a review, the full range of
- disciplinary sanctions is available including the loss of
- computer use privileges, dismissal from the University, and legal
- action. Violations of some of the above policies may constitute
- a criminal offense. Individuals using campus computer facilities
- should be familiar with the Computer Crimes Bill passed by the
- 69th Session of the Texas Legislature. (Copies are available
- from the Computer Center).
-
-