Responsible Use of College Computers and the Internet @ Saint Mary's College
Saint Mary's College has invested much in computing resources and encourages the College community to use these resources effectively in their work and studies.
The College encourages and supports freedom of expression and an open environment for the pursuit of scholarly inquiry. When using Saint Mary's College computer resources, everyone is held to the ethical standards established by principles commonly accepted as a guide to behavior in a community of scholars. The following serve only as examples of how those standards apply to specific areas of computer and network usage and are not meant to be a comprehensive list of what may or may not be done. This statement does not alter any existing College policy or procedure.
Copyright
Copyright is a form of protection provided by federal law to the authors of "original works of authorship." This protection applies to both published and unpublished works. It is the exclusive right of copyright owners to copy, distribute, perform, and display their work and make derivative works from the original. Copyright extends to literary, musical, dramatic, choreographic, pictorial/graphic, sculptural, motion picture, sound, and architectural works.
Those who do not hold the copyright to material are not authorized to distribute it without permission. In some cases, the doctrine of "fair use" can apply. Copyrights do expire, but the expiration dates vary based on when the work was originally created and published or registered. For works created after January 1, 1978, copyright extends from the moment it was created until 70 years after the author's death. For works made for hire and for anonymous and pseudonymous works, the duration of copyright is 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.
The Fair Use provision in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 permits legal reproduction of a copyrighted work for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, and research. Four factors are considered in determining whether use made of a work can be regarded as "fair use:"
- Purpose and character of use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature, or is for non-profit educational purposes.
- Nature of the copyrighted work.
- Amount and sustainability of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole.
- Effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
Copyright and the limitations of fair use also apply to the use of materials on Blackboard, electronic reserves, and other course content distribution methods.
The sharing of copyrighted music, film, or other media through file sharing programs (including, but not limited to, BitTorrent, Popcorn Time, Shareaza, Tribler, etc.) does not qualify as fair use. File sharing programs are not permitted on computers using the campus network (including BelleNet and DeviceNet). Many file sharing programs automatically turn on file sharing when the software is installed, and the software is active when the computer is on, even if it is not being used.
Saint Mary's College must take appropriate action under the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 if it receives notice of copyright infringement. A notice of infringement could be a notice from a record or film industry representative that a copyrighted work is being downloaded or distributed without the permission of the copyright owner. If the notice is in regard to a student, the College will immediately terminate her BelleNet/DeviceNet network access and Student Affairs will contact her for further action. If the notice is in regard to a faculty or staff member, the College will report violations to the appropriate department heads or senior officers.
Students visiting the ResNet Office for assistance with their personal computers that have file sharing software installed will have it removed before technical support is provided.
Passwords and Privacy
All Saint Mary's students, faculty, and staff are provided with usernames and passwords that give them access to e-mail, the public computers, individual office computers, network drives, PrintLimit, Blackboard, and other network resources.
The use of your Saint Mary's e-mail account is required for all e-mail correspondence with the College. Notices regarding College closings, severe weather, and other emergencies will be distributed only to Saint Mary's e-mail accounts.
Computer and network accounts provide access to personal, confidential material. Use only those computer usernames and passwords for which you are authorized, and use them only for the purposes for which they are intended. Do not share your passwords with others for any reason. Revealing your Saint Mary's password to any other individual is a serious breach of network security.
Information Technology at Saint Mary's College will not request your password, nor distribute passwords via e-mail.
Requests to obtain an initial account password or have a password reset must be made in person at the Helpdesk, and valid government-issued identification must be shown.
Students requesting that their password be reset should visit the ResNet Office. Password reset requests must be made in person, and valid government-issued identification must be shown.
Faculty and staff requesting that their password be reset should visit the Helpdesk. Password reset requests must be made in person, and valid government-issued identification must be shown.
Students registered for at least one class at Saint Mary's who primarily attend another institution (University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, Bethel College, Indiana University South Bend) are eligible for an account, which will be created automatically.
Guests at Saint Mary's College who are attending conferences or summer programs may request an account to access the computers in the clusters and classrooms. These requests are arranged through Campus and Community Events, as there are changes associated with having these accounts created.
Prism PINs can be reset online at http://www.saintmarys.edu/prismreset.
Identification and Access Cards
If a student needs a new Saint Mary's ID card because:
- the photo on the old card is no longer visible (a common problem after numerous swipes through the residence hall detex card readers and dining hall visits), the student may bring the old card to Student Involvement for a replacement at no charge.
- the mag stripe (for detex) on the card can no longer be read, the student may bring the old card to Student Involvement for a replacement at no charge.
- the old card has broken, the student may bring the old card pieces to Student Involvement for a replacement. The student must provide over 50% of the broken card, otherwise she will be charged a $20.00 replacement fee.
- the old card was lost or stolen, the student will need to pay a $20.00 replacement fee, charged to her student account. Students should bring government-issued identification to Student Involvement to have a new ID card made.
Faculty and staff do not have to pay for replacement ID cards.
Expiration of Network Accounts
- Saint Mary's College allows alumnae to access their e-mail accounts for six months after they complete their degree requirements and graduate. Accounts typically expire on December 1 following May graduation.
- Information Technology/ResNet recommends that students create a new personal e-mail account and begin providing that address as their contact information immediately upon graduation.
- The ResNet website (http://www.saintmarys.edu/resnet) will post information annually on recommended sources for personal e-mail accounts and how to transfer messages from a Saint Mary's account to a personal account.
- With the move to Google Apps for Education, Information Technology is examining ways to allow students to retain an e-mail account associated with Saint Mary's College. In the meantime, graduates beginning with the Class of 2013 will not have their Saint Mary's account deleted until we can transition it to an alumnae account. Details for alumnae accounts have not been set. An announcement will be sent to alumnae when specifics have been determined.
- Saint Mary's College terminates the accounts of staff and administrators immediately upon their leaving the College. This includes dismissal, resignation, and retirement.
- Information Technology will allow access to that account (e-mail, network drives, etc.) to another individual in the department for a period of up to 90 days upon a request from the head of that department.
- Information Technology will forward the e-mail sent to that account to another individual in the department for a period of up to one year upon a request from the head of the department.
- Saint Mary's College terminates the accounts of faculty immediately upon their leaving the College due to resignation or dismissal.
- Saint Mary's College allows faculty who retire from the College to retain their network account (e-mail, network drives, etc.).
- Retired faculty accounts that are inactive and/or not migrated to new systems when requested by Information Technology will not be restored after the deadlines for such projects have passed.
College Computers and Printers
Responsible use of the college computers, printers, and network resources requires that you:
Computer Clusters and Classrooms
Do not remove tables or other furniture from the clusters and classrooms.
Administrative login access to the cluster and classroom computers is not provided.
Food and drink are not permitted in the computer clusters and classrooms.
College Network Resources and the Internet
Free access to the network is a privilege that may be revoked at any time for abusive conduct.
Such conduct includes, but is not limited to:
Equipment Supported by Information Technology
- All personal computers connected to BelleNet are required to have up-to-date virus protection software installed. Saint Mary's College provides virus protection software to all students at no cost.
- All personal computers connected to BelleNet are required to be up-to-date with security patches and operating system updates. Students are required to configure Windows Update (for Windows) or Software Update (for macOS) to notify them when updates are available for their computers, and students are expected to install those updates in a timely fashion. All critical updates must be downloaded and installed immediately to protect your computer and Saint Mary's network from security threats.
- Students are strongly encouraged to use the faster wired network for all bandwidth-intensive activities (watching videos, video chat, listening to streaming music, downloading large files). The slower wireless network is better suited for checking e-mail and casual web browsing.
- Students may not install or enable personal wireless access points, routers, or similar network sharing devices (or computer software/settings designed to share network connections) in the residence halls. Students that connect such devices to BelleNet or DeviceNet may lose their network connection until the devices have been permanently disconnected. Wireless cards in personal computers and devices used to connect to wireless networks are perfectly acceptable. Saint Mary's College provides wireless networks (BelleNet, DeviceNet) in the residence halls. Saint Mary's College also provides a wireless network (BelleNet) in the academic and non-residential buildings for students, faculty, and staff to use. The 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and 802.11ac wireless networking standards are used on campus.
- Saint Mary's College allows webcams to be used within BelleNet and DeviceNet. For the security and privacy of all students, ResNet advises that students using webcams in their residence hall rooms tell their roommates and visitors when the webcam is in use. ResNet does not provide technical support for webcam and video chat issues.