Policy on Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources

1. Summary

   This policy defines the boundaries of “acceptable use” of limited School electronic resources, including computers, networks, electronic mail services and electronic information sources, as detailed below. It includes by reference a self-contained compilation of specific rules that can be modified as the electronic information environment evolves. The policy is based on the principle that the electronic information environment is provided to support School business and its mission of education and service. All other uses are secondary. Uses that threaten the integrity of the system; the function of non-School equipment that can be accessed through the system; the privacy or actual or perceived safety of others; or that are otherwise illegal are forbidden. By using School electronic information systems you assume personal responsibility for their appropriate use and agree to comply with this policy and other applicable School policies, as well as city, state, and federal laws and regulations, as detailed below. Users of electronic information systems are urged in their own interest to review and understand the contents of this policy.

2. Purpose
   1. The technology resources at the Lawrenceville School (e.g., all networking, computer hardware and software, connection to the Internet, email, telephone equipment, and voice mail) are provided to enable students, faculty, and staff to communicate, share information, and support the educational mission of the School. The School’s Policy on Acceptable Use of Electronic Resources applies to all authorized users who access the School’s network or equipment using School-owned or personally owned equipment, including wireless devices. Lawrenceville’s Major School Rules, as outlined in the Student Handbook, are applicable to all uses of the computer network and related technologies. This policy is intended to clarify these rules as they apply specifically to network usage. Use of School technology resources is a privilege and not a right.
   2. Use should always be legal, ethical, and consistent with the same code of ethics that governs all aspects of life within the bounds of our learning community. Any actions performed or initiated through the network must reflect the honesty and integrity as set forth by the Lawrenceville Student and Faculty Handbooks and the Lawrenceville Employee Handbook.
   3. When demand for computing resources may exceed available capacity, priorities for their use will be established and enforced. Authorized faculty and staff may set and alter priorities for exclusively local computing/networking resources. The priorities for use of School-wide computing resources are:

      Highest: Uses that directly support the educational, business, and service missions of the School.

      Medium: Other uses that indirectly benefit the education, business, and service missions of the School, as well as and including reasonable and limited personal communications.

      Lowest: Recreation, including but not limited to game playing and digital media streaming.

   The School may enforce these priorities by restricting or limiting usages of lower priority in circumstances where their demand and limitations of capacity impact or threaten to impact usages of higher priority.

3. Authorized Use
   1. An authorized user is any person who has been granted authority by the School to access its computing, network, and telephone systems and whose usage complies with this policy. Unauthorized use is strictly prohibited.
   2. Faculty members and students are provided with email accounts, voice mail accounts, and Internet access. Staff members may be provided with email accounts, voice mail accounts, and Internet access upon approval of their supervisors.
   3. Whenever a user ceases being a member of the School community or if such user is assigned a new position and/or responsibilities, use of technology resources for which he/she is not authorized in his/her new position or circumstances shall cease.
   
   

4. Privacy Expectations
   1. The School’s network resources, including all telephone and data lines, are the property of the School. The School does not monitor the use of the network, the contents of email, or the contents of voice mail messages as a routine matter; however, such monitoring may occur when required to protect the integrity of the system or to comply with legal obligations. The School reserves the right to inspect the contents of email or voice mail messages in the course of an investigation of impropriety. In addition, the School reserves the right to conduct routine maintenance and track problems that might interfere with the function of the School network, the integrity of the email system, or the integrity of the voice mail system. In such cases, contents of email or voice mail messages may be revealed. Members of the ITS department are expressly prohibited from accessing the contents of email or voice mail except under circumstances as outlined herein.
   2. Users must recognize that there is no guarantee of privacy associated with their use of School technology resources. Users should not expect that email, voice mail, or other information created or maintained in the system (even those marked “personal” or “confidential”) are private, confidential, or secure.
   
   

5. Responsible Use
   1. All users must respect and value the privacy of others, behave ethically, and comply with all legal restrictions regarding the use of electronic data. All users must also recognize and honor the intellectual property rights of others.
   2. All users must maintain confidentiality of student information in compliance with federal and state law.
   3. All users must refrain from acts that waste School technology resources or prevent others from using them. Users will not tamper with others’ files or modify or delete system settings. Deliberate attempts to tamper with or actions which degrade the performance of a School computer system, telephone system, or network, or to deprive authorized users of access to or use of such resources are prohibited.
   4. Voice mail greetings or messages using threatening or obscene language are not permitted. Use of voice mail for commercial purposes or advertising, or tampering with a voice mailbox that belongs to someone else is not permitted.
   5. Users are responsible for both the content and possible effects of their messages on the network. Prohibited activity includes, but is not limited to: posting a single message, or messages similar in content, to more than five online forums or newsgroups; posting messages to online forums or newsgroups that violate the rules of the forums or newsgroups; collecting the responses from unsolicited email; sending any unsolicited email that could be expected; sending any chain mail related materials; sending unsolicited email without identifying in the email a clear and easy means to be excluded from receiving additional email from the originator of the email; sending email that does not accurately identify the sender, the sender’s return address, and the email address of origin.
   6. Users will abide by all copyright, trademark, and other laws governing intellectual property. No software may be installed, copied, or used on School equipment except as permitted by law. All software license provisions must be strictly adhered to.
   7. Any computer connected to the Lawrenceville School network must have current anti-virus and software operating system security patches installed. Computers not meeting these requirements may be restricted from the network by having their network jack deactivated without prior notification.
   8. Personal networking equipment such as servers, routers, switches, hubs, and wireless access points are not permitted on the Lawrenceville School network.
   9. Community members must not attempt to fix, re-configure, disconnect, or relocate any of the School's equipment, including data or voice jacks, printers, wireless access points, etc. Please contact the ITS Help Desk for assistance.
   
   

6. Inappropriate Materials
   1. Using the School’s network or equipment to create, access, download, store, send, or print materials that are illegal, offensive, harassing, intimidating, discriminatory, pornographic, or obscene is prohibited. These provisions are not intended to prohibit an authorized user from carrying out his/her assigned educational, employment, or administrative function.
   
   

7. Security
   1. Each user is responsible for the security and integrity of information stored on his/her computer or voice mail account. Computer accounts, passwords, security codes, and other types of authorization are assigned to individual users and must not be shared with or used by others. The Lawrenceville School, at its sole discretion, reserves the right to bypass such passwords and to access the system.
   2. Removing or relocating School-owned technology resources requires prior authorization of the ITS department.
   3. Students and faculty who live in residential housing are provided the opportunity to connect to the campus network. Student use of modems in campus housing is prohibited at all times.
   4. Users may not attempt to circumvent or subvert the security provisions of any other computer on the School network or on the Internet. Without authorization from the ITS department, no one may attach a server, switch, router, or wireless access point to the campus network.
   
   

8. The Internet at Lawrenceville
   
   1. There are risks involved with using the Internet. To protect personal safety, Internet users should not give out personal information to others on bulletin boards, chat lines, instant messaging, or other systems. The School cannot guarantee that users will not encounter text, pictures, or references that are objectionable. Responsible attitudes and appropriate behavior are essential in using this resource. As with email, information that a user places on the Internet is akin to sending a postcard rather than a sealed letter. Its contents may be accessed by system administrators on this campus and elsewhere.
   2. Users must be aware that some material circulating on the Internet is copyrighted and subject to all copyright laws. Materials taken from the Internet must be properly footnoted or cited. (See copyright policy.)
   3. Users must be aware that some material circulating on the Internet is illegally distributed. Users must never use the School’s system to download illegally distributed material.
   4. Web pages that reside on School owned equipment or use the School’s network and that are accessible via the Internet must be authorized by the Communications Department.
   5. Currently, the School does not block or otherwise restrict access to “social networking” sites on the Internet (such as Facebook, MySpace, Xanga, etc.). However, it does reserve right to do so in the future. Students choosing to participate in such sites must be vigilant about the information they decide to share on these sites. Students should consider all information, images, etc., that they post on such sites to be publicly accessible, and potentially permanent, even if they used some privacy settings provided by the site. Internet safety experts agree that students should not share personal information online, including pictures, names, addresses, cell or phone numbers, and many other less obvious items, such as school or sports team information, ethnic background, or even their favorite shopping locations. Photographs are of particular concern, as they can inadvertently reveal a great deal of personal information: street signs, license plates, school name on uniforms, and other items all provide clues to the physical location of the student.
   
   

9. Policy Enforcement and Sanctions
   1. All members of the community are expected to assist in the enforcement of this policy. Persons in violation of this policy are subject to a full range of sanctions, including, but not limited to, the loss of computer, telephone, or network access privileges; disciplinary action; and dismissal/termination from the School. Some violations may constitute criminal offenses, as defined by local, state, and federal laws, and the School may initiate or assist in the prosecution of any such violations to the full extent of the law. Violation of the rules pertaining to the computer network will be reported to the Director of Information Technology and the appropriate administrative staff as follows:
      
      Students: Dean of Students
      Faculty: Dean of Faculty
      Administration & Staff: Director of Human Resources and Chief Financial Officer
      
      

10. Applicable Laws

    Computer and network use is also subject to New Jersey and federal laws and regulations. Suspected violations of applicable law are subject to investigation by the School and law enforcement officials. Among the applicable laws are:

    • Federal Copyright Law: U.S. copyright law grants authors certain exclusive rights of reproduction, adaptation, distribution, performance, display, attribution, and integrity to their creations, including works of literature, photographs, music, software, film, and video. Violations of copyright laws include, but are not limited to, the making of unauthorized copies of any copyrighted material (such as commercial software, text, graphic images, audio, and video recordings) and distributing copyrighted materials over computer networks or through other means. (See copyright policy).
    • Federal Wire Fraud Law: Federal law prohibits the use of interstate communications systems (phone, wire, radio, or television transmissions) to further an illegal scheme or to defraud.
    • Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Law: Federal law prohibits unauthorized access to, or modification of information in computers containing national defense, banking, or financial information.
    • Federal and New Jersey Child Pornography Laws: Federal and state laws prohibit the creation, possession, or distribution of graphic depictions of minors engaged in sexual activity, including computer graphics. Computers storing such information can be seized as evidence.
    • Pyramid Schemes/Chain Letters: It is a violation of the Federal Postal Lottery Statute to send chain letters which request sending money or something of value through the U.S. mail. Solicitations through electronic messaging are also illegal, if they require use of U.S. mail for sending money/something of value.
    • Defamation: Someone may seek civil remedies if they can show that they were clearly identified as the subject of defamatory messages and suffered damages as a consequence. Truth is a defense against charges of defamation.
    • Common law actions for invasion of privacy: Someone may seek civil remedies for invasion of privacy on several grounds.
    • Public disclosure of private facts: The widespread disclosure of facts about a person, even when true, may be deemed harmful enough to justify a lawsuit.
    • False light: A person wrongfully attributes views or characteristics to another person in ways that damage that person's reputation.
    • Wrongful intrusion: The law often protects those areas of a person's life in which they can reasonably expect they will not be intrudedupon.

The Lawrenceville School’s Copyright Policy.