(Issued
on December 16, 2002 by Chancellor Herzog)I. INTRODUCTION
II. GENERAL PROVISIONS
A. PURPOSE
B. SCOPE
C. DEFINITIONS
D.
RESPONSIBILITIES
E. VIOLATIONS OF
LAW AND POLICY
III. ALLOWABLE USERS
IV. ALLOWABLE USES
V. ACCESS RESTRICTIONS
VI. NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY
VII. ADMINISTRATION
A. SECURITY
B. RETENTION AND
ARCHIVING
VIII.
DISCLAIMER
IX. NOTICE TO USERS
I. INTRODUCTION
The
Connecticut Community Colleges
(CCC) encourages the use of electronic communications to share
information and knowledge in support of CCC mission and goals. To this
end, CCC provides and supports interactive, electronic communications
resources and services.
II. GENERAL
PROVISIONS
A. PURPOSE
The purpose of this Policy is to:
-
Ensure that CCC
electronic communications resources are used for purposes appropriate
to the CCC mission and goals;
-
Prevent disruptions
to and misuse of CCC electronic communications resources and services;
-
Ensure that the CCC
community is aware that use of CCC electronic communications
resources is subject to state and federal laws and the CCC policies;
and
-
Ensure that
electronic communications resources are used in compliance with those
laws and the CCC policies.
B. SCOPE
This Policy applies to:
- All electronic communications resources owned or managed by CCC
including the content of electronic communications, electronic
attachments and transactional information associated with such
communications;
- All electronic communications resources provided by CCC through
contracts and other agreements with CCC;
- All users and uses of CCC electronic communications resources;
and
- All CCC electronic communications records in the possession of
CCC employees or other users of electronic communications resources
provided by CCC.
C. DEFINITIONS
The following terms are used in this Policy. Knowledge of these
definitions is important to an understanding of this Policy:
Appropriate CCC Authority: Chancellor, College President or
designee.
Compelling Circumstances: Circumstances in which time is of
the essence or failure to act might result in property loss or damage,
adverse effects on electronic communications resources or services,
loss of evidence of one or more violations of law or of CCC policies
or liability to CCC or to members of the CCC community.
Electronic Communication: Any communication that is
broadcast, created, sent, forwarded, replied to, transmitted, stored,
held, copied, downloaded, displayed, viewed, read, or printed by one
or several electronic communications services, including, e.g., e-mail
and telephone.
Electronic Communications Records: Electronic transmissions
or messages created, sent, forwarded, replied to, transmitted,
distributed, broadcast, stored, held, copied, downloaded, displayed,
viewed, read, or printed by one or several electronic communications
services. This definition of electronic communications records applies
equally to the contents of such records, attachments to such records,
and transactional information associated with such records.
Electronic Communications Resources: Any combination
of telecommunications equipment, transmission devices, electronic
video and audio equipment, encoding or decoding equipment, computers
and computer time, data processing or storage systems, computer
systems, servers, networks, input/output and connecting devices, and
related computer records, programs, software, and documentation that
supports electronic communications services.
Electronic Communications Services: Any messaging,
collaboration, publishing, broadcast, or distribution system that
depends on electronic communications resources to create, send,
forward, reply to, transmit, store, hold, copy, download, display,
view, read, or print electronic records for purposes of communication
across electronic communications network systems between or among
individuals or groups, that is either explicitly denoted as a system
for electronic communications or is implicitly used for such purposes.
D. RESPONSIBILITIES
Policy. This Policy was issued by the Chancellor of the CCC
after consultation with appropriate councils, including the Council of
Presidents and the Information Technology Policy Committee.
Implementation. In support of this Policy, system standards
and procedures shall be developed, published and maintained. And
where CCC standards and procedures do not exist, each college is
responsible for policy implementation.
Informational Material. Each college shall ensure that users
of CCC electronic communications resources are aware of all
Information Technology policies, standards and procedures as
appropriate.
E. VIOLATIONS OF LAW AND POLICY
The CCC considers any violation of this electronic communications
policy and/or law to be a serious offense and reserves the right to
copy and examine any files or information resident on CCC electronic
communications resources to ensure compliance. Violations of this
policy should be reported to the appropriate CCC authority.
Sanctions of Law. Both federal and state law prohibit theft
or abuse of electronic communications resources. Abuses include (but
are not limited to) unauthorized entry, use, transfer, tampering with
the communications of others, and interference with the work of others
and with the operation of electronic communications resources. Any
form of harassing, defamatory, offensive, illegal, discriminatory,
obscene, or pornographic communication, at any time, to any person is
also prohibited by law. Violations of the law may result in criminal
penalties.
Disciplinary Actions. Violators of this Policy and/or law
may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including dismissal or
expulsion pursuant to applicable Board policies and collective
bargaining agreements.
III. ALLOWABLE USERS
CCC students, faculty, staff, and others affiliated with CCC
(including but not limited to those in program or contract
relationships with CCC) may be authorized to use CCC electronic
communications resources and services.
IV.
ALLOWABLE USES
CCC encourages the use of electronic communications resources for
legitimate and authorized academic and administrative purposes and
makes them widely available to the CCC community. To insure the
reliable operation of these resources, their use is subject to the
following:
- Contents of all electronic
communications shall conform to laws and CCC policies regarding
protection of intellectual property, copyright, patents and
trademarks.
- Using electronic communications
resources for any purpose restricted or prohibited by laws,
regulations or CCC policies is prohibited.
- Using electronic communications
resources for personal purposes, including monetary gain, or for
commercial purposes that are not directly related to CCC business or
otherwise authorized by appropriate CCC authority is
prohibited.
- Usage that directly or indirectly
causes strain on the electronic communications resources is
prohibited.
- Capturing, opening, intercepting or
obtaining access to electronic communications, except as otherwise
permitted by the appropriate CCC authority is prohibited.
- Using electronic communications to
harass or intimidate others or to interfere with the ability of
others to conduct CCC business is prohibited.
- Users of electronic communications
resources shall not give the impression that they are representing,
giving opinions or otherwise making statements on behalf of CCC
unless authorized to do so.
- Directly or by implication, employing a false identity (the name
or electronic identification of another), except under the following
circumstances, is prohibited:
A supervisor may direct an employee to use the supervisor's
identity to transact CCC business for which the supervisor is
responsible. In such cases, an employee's use of the supervisor's
electronic identity does not constitute a false identity.
A user of the CCC electronic communications services may not
use a pseudonym (an alternative name or electronic identification
for oneself) for privacy or other reasons, unless authorized by an
appropriate CCC authority for business reasons.
- Forging e-mail headers or content (i.e., constructing an e-mail
so it appears to be from someone else) is prohibited.
- Unauthorized access to electronic communications or breach any
security measure is prohibited.
- Interfering with the availability of electronic communications
resources is prohibited, including but not limited to the
following: (i) sending or forwarding e-mail chain letters or their
equivalents in other electronic communications services; (ii)
"spamming," i.e., sending electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup
postings; (iii) "letter-bombing," i.e., sending an extremely large
message or sending multiple messages to one or more recipients to
interfere with the recipient’s use of electronic communications
resources; or (iv) intentionally engaging in other practices such as
"denial of service attacks," i.e., flooding the network with
traffic.
V. ACCESS RESTRICTIONS
Use of CCC Electronic Communications resources or services may be
wholly or partially restricted or rescinded by CCC without prior
notice and without the consent of the user under conditions such as:
- when required by and consistent with law;
- when there is reason to believe that violations of law or the
CCC policies have taken or may take place; or
- when there are compelling circumstances.
Restriction of use under such conditions is subject to appropriate
procedures or approval of appropriate CCC authority.
VI. NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY
No Expectation of Privacy. Electronic communications are
not personal or private. Therefore, users should have no expectation
of privacy in the use of CCC electronic communications resources. CCC
reserves the right to inspect, monitor, and disclose all electronic
communications records without the consent of the holder of such
records.
Authorized Inspection.
During the performance of their duties, electronic communications
support personnel periodically need to monitor transmissions or
observe certain transactional information to ensure the proper
functioning and security of CCC electronic communications
resources and services. On these occasions, such personnel may see the
contents of electronic communications. Except as provided in this
Policy or allowed by law, electronic communications support personnel
are not permitted to seek out the contents of electronic
communications or of transactional information where not germane to
the foregoing purposes or to disclose or otherwise use what they have
seen.
VII. ADMINISTRATION
Electronic communications support personnel are required to follow
CCC standards and procedures when implementing and managing CCC
electronic communications resources or services.
A. SECURITY
CCC attempts to provide secure and reliable electronic
communications services. Managers of electronic communications
resources are expected to follow sound professional practices in
providing for the security of electronic communications records, data,
application programs and systems under their jurisdiction based on
existing policies, procedures and guidelines. However, users should
be aware that electronic communications systems may not be totally
secure.
B. RETENTION AND ARCHIVING
Electronic communications records are subject to laws, regulations
and CCC records management and archiving policies in administering the
retention, disposition, disclosure and storage of all records.
CCC does not maintain central or distributed electronic archives of
all electronic communications sent or received. Electronic
communications are normally backed up, if at all, only to assure
system integrity and reliability, not to provide for future retrieval,
although back-ups may at times serve the latter purpose incidentally.
Managers of electronic communications services are not required by
this Policy to routinely retrieve electronic communications from such
back-up facilities for individuals. Employees who have obligations to
retain records in accordance with retention schedules promulgated by
the State should know that electronic records are subject to the same
rules as paper records. See, "Electronic & Voice Mail Management and
Retention Guide for State and Municipal Government Agencies" for more
information.
VIII. DISCLAIMER
CCC disclaims any responsibility for and does not warranty information and
materials residing on non-CCC systems or available over publicly
accessible networks. Such materials do not necessarily reflect the
attitudes, opinions or values of CCC, its faculty, staff or students.
IX. NOTICE TO USERS
As laws
change from time to time, this Policy may be revised as necessary to
reflect such changes. It is the responsibility of users to ensure that
they have reference to the most current version of the CCC Electronic
Communications Policy.
Portions of this policy are based on language contained in the
University of California's Electronic Communications Policy dated
November 17, 2000. The CCC gratefully acknowledges the University of
California for permission to use its policy.
