Arcadia University Acceptable Use Policy

1.0 Overview

Arcadia University’s intention for publishing an Acceptable Use Policy is not to impose
restrictions that are contrary to Arcadia University established culture of openness, trust
and integrity. Arcadia University is committed to protecting its employees, students and
the University from illegal or damaging actions by individuals, either knowingly or
unknowingly.

Internet/Intranet/Extranet-related systems, including but not limited to computer

equipment, software, operating systems, storage media, network accounts providing
electronic mail, WWW browsing, and FTP, are the property of Arcadia University. These
systems are to be used for business/education purposes in serving the interests of the
university.

Effective security is a team effort involving the participation and support of every
Arcadia employee, student, and affiliate who deals with information and/or information
systems. It is the responsibility of every computer user to know these guidelines, and to
conduct their activities accordingly.

2.0 Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to outline the acceptable use of computer equipment at
Arcadia University. These rules are in place to protect the employee, student, and
Arcadia University. Inappropriate use exposes Arcadia University to risks including virus
attacks, compromise of network systems and services, and legal issues.

3.0 Scope

This policy applies to employees, students, contractors, consultants, temporaries, and

other workers at Arcadia University, including all personnel affiliated with third parties.
This policy applies to all equipment that is owned or leased by Arcadia University.

4.0 Policy

4.1 General Use and Ownership

• While Arcadia University's network administration desires to provide a

reasonable level of privacy, users should be aware that the data they create on
the university systems remains the property of Arcadia University. Because of
the need to protect the university network, management cannot guarantee the
confidentiality of information stored on any network device belonging to
Arcadia.
 • For security and network maintenance purposes, authorized individuals within
the university may monitor equipment, systems and network traffic at any
time.

• Arcadia University reserves the right to audit networks and systems on a

periodic basis to ensure compliance with this policy.

4.2 Security and Proprietary Information

• Keep passwords secure and do not share accounts. You’re responsible for the
security of your passwords and must be changed every 5 months.

• Employees must use extreme caution when opening e-mail attachments

received from unknown senders, which may contain viruses, e-mail bombs, or
Trojan horse code.

4.3 Unacceptable Use

The following activities are, in general, prohibited. Under no circumstances is an

employee of Arcadia University authorized to engage in any activity that is illegal
under local, state, federal or international law while utilizing the university’s
owned resources. The lists below are by no means exhaustive, but attempt to
provide a framework for activities which fall into the category of unacceptable
use.

4.3.1 Abuse of Computer and Network Systems

• Violations of the rights of any person or university protected by copyright,

trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, or similar laws or
regulations, including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of
"pirated" or other software products that are not appropriately licensed for use
by Arcadia University.

• Unauthorized copying of copyrighted material including, but not limited to,

digitization and distribution of photographs from magazines, books or other
copyrighted sources, copyrighted music, and the installation of any
copyrighted software for which Arcadia or the end user does not have an
active license is strictly prohibited.

• Exporting software, technical information, encryption software or technology,

in violation of international or regional export control laws, is illegal.

• Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses,

worms, Trojan horses, e-mail bombs, etc.)

• Tapping phone or network transmissions, including wireless transmissions.

• Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by
others. This includes family and other household members when work is
being done at home.

• Using Arcadia computing asset to actively engage in procuring or transmitting

material that is in violation of sexual harassment or hostile workplace laws in
the user's local jurisdiction.

• Making fraudulent offers of products, items, or services originating from any

Arcadia’s account.

• Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network communication.

Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the
employee is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that
the employee is not expressly authorized to access, unless these duties are
within the scope of regular duties. For purposes of this section, "disruption"
includes, but is not limited to, network sniffing, pinged floods, packet
spoofing, denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious
purposes.

• Executing any form of network monitoring which will intercept data not
intended for the employee's host, unless this activity is a part of the
employee's normal job/duty.

• Circumventing user authentication or security of any host, network or account.

• Using any program/script/command, or sending messages of any kind, with

the intent to interfere with, or disable, a user's terminal session, via any means,
locally or via the Internet/Intranet/Extranet.

• Providing information about, or lists of, Arcadia’s employees to parties

outside the University.

4.3.2 Abuse of Email and Internet Activities

• Sending unsolicited email messages, including the sending of "junk mail" or

other advertising material to individuals who did not specifically request such
material (email spam).

• Any form of harassment via email, telephone or paging, whether through

language, frequency, or size of messages.

• Promoting discrimination on the basis of race, gender, national origin, age,

marital status, sexual orientation, religion, or disability.
 • Offensive content of any kind, including pornographic material.

• Messages of a religious, political, or racial nature.

• Unauthorized use, or forging, of email header information.

• Solicitation of email for any other email address, other than that of the poster's
account, with the intent to harass or to collect replies.

• Creating or forwarding "chain letters", "Ponzi" or other "pyramid" schemes of

any type.

• Use of unsolicited email originating from within Arcadia's networks of other

Internet/Intranet/Extranet service providers on behalf of, or to advertise, any
service hosted by the university or connected via Arcadia's network.

• Posting the same or similar non-business-related messages to large numbers of

Usenet newsgroups (newsgroup spam).

• Exploring the Internet for profit

• Transmitting important, confidential, or proprietary information

• Accessing inappropriate web sites, data, pictures, jokes, files, and games

• Inappropriate chatting, e-mail, monitoring, or viewing

• Harassing, discriminating, or in any way making defamatory comments

• Gambling or any other activity that is illegal, violates university policy, or is

contrary to the university’s interests

4.4 Illegal under Local, State, and Federal Government

Illegal activity is a violation of Arcadia University’s policy. Violators and offenders

may be investigated and/or prosecuted by the appropriate local, state or federal
authorities.

• Child pornography
Child pornography is defined by law as the visual depiction of a person under
the age of 18 engaged in sexually explicit conduct. This means that any image
of a child engaged in sexually explicit conduct is illegal contraband. Notably,
the legal definition of sexually explicit conduct does not require that an image
depict a child engaging in sexual activity. A picture of a naked child may
constitute illegal child pornography if it is sufficiently sexually suggestive. In
addition, for purposes of the child pornography statutes, federal law considers
 a person under the age of 18 to be a child. It is irrelevant that the age of
consent for sexual activity in a given state might be lower than 18. A visual
depiction for purposes of the federal child pornography laws includes a
photograph or videotape, including undeveloped film or videotape, as well as
data stored electronically which can be converted into a visual image. For
example, images of children engaged in sexually explicit conduct stored on a
computer disk are considered visual depictions.
Please see the US Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity
website for more information.

• Copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (or copyright violation) is the unauthorized use of
material that is protected by intellectual property rights law particularly the
copyright in a manner that violates one of the original copyright owner's
exclusive rights, such as the right to reproduce or perform the copyrighted
work, or to make derivative works that built upon to it.
Sound recording and piracy another form of copyright infringement is the
unauthorized duplication and distribution of sound recordings. See Copyright
infringement law for more information.

• Software piracy
Software piracy is the illegal reproduction and distribution of software
applications whether for business or personal use.

• Bombs threats and hoaxes

It is illegal to send a message via e-mail that threatens other persons or
property. Such messages may be investigated by federal authorities with the
result that the senders end up with their names in the files of the FBI and/or
CIA. This is not an exaggeration.

5.0 Enforcement

Any employee found to have violated this policy may be subject to disciplinary action
such as removal of user’s account and network privileges, or termination of employment.

6.0 Term Definition

Intranet: private computer network that uses Internet protocols to securely share part of
an organization's information or operations with its employees

Extranet: part of a company's intranet that is extended to users outside the company

Spam: unauthorized and/or unsolicited electronic mass mailings.

Ponzi / Pyramid: fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high
returns ("profits") to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather
than from net revenues generated by any real business

Worms: computer program. It uses a network to send copies of itself to other systems
with the intent to harm the network.

Virus: computer program with the intent of destroying computer data.

Email bombs: sending huge volumes of e-mail to an address in an attempt to overflow the
mailbox or overwhelm the server.

Any questions regarding this policy should be directed to the VP for Information
Technology & CIO.