COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT
Computer Science Major’s Handbook
STATEMENT ON
ETHICS
In producing the following statement on the ethical use of computing resources, similar statements from a number of other academic institutions were consulted. This statement was heavily influenced by the previous policy of this department and college, and policy statements from Baylor University, Boston University, Bentley College, Michigan State University (College of Engineering), Purdue University (Engineering Computer Network), and the University of Texas at Austin (Department of Computer Science). Some parts of this statement are taken from policies of the above named institutions.
This statement is not meant to be an exhaustive list of all acceptable and unacceptable actions. Rather, it is intended as a guide for students, staff, and faculty to determine the ethical and legal status of various actions. If any member of the Computer Science Department Community (students, staff, or faculty) is unsure of the status of an action to be taken, they should consult with the Department Chair (who may consult with department faculty) for a ruling.
This statement applies to Computer Science Department
facilities in
Respect for intellectual labor and/or creativity is vital to academic discourse and enterprise. This principle applies to works of all authors and publishers in all media. It encompasses respect for the right to acknowledgment, right to privacy, and right to determine the form, manner and terms of publication and distribution.
Because electronic information is so volatile and easily reproduced, respect for the work and personal expression of others is especially critical in computer environments. Violation of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community.
1. General Policies
1.1.
Computer facilities and accounts are owned by
1.2. Computer equipment and accounts are to be used for the purpose for which they are assigned. College equipment and accounts are not to be used for commercial or nonacademic related activities. This specifically prohibits students from using College equipment to run a consulting business, do word processing for others (e.g.: type term papers, resumes, or letters), to engage in illegal activities, or play games.
1.3. Access to external computer networks is granted to users by the College or Department. The privilege of using network computing resources provided by the College is not transferable or extendible by students or staff to any other person or group.
1.4. Academic dishonesty in a computer assignment will be suspected if an assignment that calls for independent work results in two or more solutions so similar that one can be converted to another by a mechanical transformation.
1.5. Academic dishonesty in a computer assignment will be suspected if a student who was to complete an assignment independently cannot explain both the intricacies of the solution and the techniques used to generate that solution.
1.6. Effort is made by the Computer Science Department staff to prevent loss of data in the event of hardware or software failure, or human error. This is done by making regular backup copies of data stored on the department equipment to magnetic tape or other media. It must be recognized, however, that in rare cases it may not be possible to restore the latest version of every data file from these backups, and some data loss may occur. Because these cases are outside of the department staff’s control, the staff cannot be held liable for any loss of data arising directly or indirectly from the failure of hardware, software, or from human error.
1.7. The United States Government includes electronic mail (e-mail) in the same category as messages delivered by the United States Postal Service. This means that tampering with e-mail, interfering with the delivery of e-mail, and the use of e-mail for criminal purposes may be felony offenses.
1.8. Because the goals of the Computer Science Department are primarily educational in nature, computer systems are generally open to perusal and investigation by users, and security controls may be less restrictive than they would be in other environments. Although an appropriate effort is made to maintain system security, unauthorized access to information is possible through malicious mischief. The Computer Science Department cannot guarantee against loss of privacy, theft of information, damage, or loss of data arising directly or indirectly from the absence or failure of system security protection mechanisms.
1.9. Programs and files are confidential unless they have explicitly been made available to other authorized individuals.
1.10. Computer software protected by copyright is not to be copied using campus computing facilities, except as permitted by law or by the contract with the owner of the copyright. In all instances, only the Computer Science Department or Information Technology Services are allowed to make copies of software, since they are purchasers of the licenses. No one can make copies in such a way that the number of simultaneous users of a piece of software exceeds the number of original copies purchased by that department.
1.11. No one should deliberately attempt to degrade the performance of a computer system or to deprive authorized personnel of resources or access to any college computer system.
2. Department Rights
2.1. Computer Science Department personnel may access others’ files when necessary for the maintenance of computer systems. When performing maintenance, every effort is made to insure the privacy of a user’s files.
2.2. In the normal course of system administration, the staff may have to examine files, mail, and printer listings to gather sufficient information to diagnose and correct problems with system software, or to determine if a user is acting in violation of the policies set forth in this document. The staff has the right to do this.
3. Department Responsibilities
3.1. You must respect the resources of workstations, located in public laboratories. The department is responsible for maintaining computing facilities for student, staff and faculty use. As part of its responsibility, the department can remove access from any individual who is judged to pose a risk to the department’s facilities.
3.2. The department is responsible for providing software on department computers that is necessary for the timely completion of course work.
3.3. The department is responsible for providing leadership and information to foster an atmosphere supportive of ethical and legal uses of computing technology.
4. User Rights
4.1. You should not be denied access to facilities by someone who is not using the facilities for research or instructional purposes, or who is not a student, faculty or staff member of the College. You have the right to ask an appropriate faculty or staff member to remove such a person so you can use the facilities.
4.2. You have the right to not be harassed while using College or Department facilities, whether it be physical, verbal, electronic, or any other form of abuse. You have the right to ask an appropriate faculty or staff member to take steps to end any abuse to which you are subjected.
4.3. You have the right to work in an environment that is comfortable. If the actions of others are disruptive whether through the playing of music or games or other more serious actions, you have the right to ask that such actions be stopped.
4.4. You have the right to ask faculty or staff questions about the provisions of this statement and copyrights. If you are unclear whether an action you are about to take is ethical, you have the right and responsibility to consult with an appropriate faculty or staff member about the situation.
5. User Responsibilities
5.1. Users of electronic mail and bulletin boards should not send messages that are libelous, patently offensive, or that intimidate, threaten, demean, or harass individuals or groups, or the would otherwise bring discredit to the College or Department.
5.2. You must not attempt to decrypt or translate encrypted material, or obtain system privileges to which you are not entitled. Attempts to do any of these will be considered serious transgressions.
5.3. If you encounter or observe a gap in system or network security, you must report the gap to the manager of the system in question (either the Information Technology Services or Computer Science Department). You must refrain from exploiting any such gaps in security.
5.4. You must be sensitive to the public nature of shared facilities, and take care not to display on screens in such locations images, sounds or messages which could create an atmosphere of discomfort or harassment for others. You must also refrain from transmitting to others in any location inappropriate images, sounds or messages which might reasonably be considered harassing.
5.5. You must avoid tying up computing resources for excessive game playing or other trivial applications. You must not send frivolous or excessive mail or messages locally or over an affiliated network. You must not print excessive copies of documents, files, images or data. You must refrain from using unwarranted or excessive amounts of storage. You must refrain from printing documents or files numerous times because you have not checked thoroughly for all errors and corrections. You must be sensitive to special need for software and services available in only one location, and let those whose work requires the special items to use them.
5.6. You must not prevent others from using shared resources by running unattended processes or placing signs on devices to “reserve” them with authorization. Your absence from a public computer or workstations should be no longer than warranted by a visit to the nearest restroom. A device left unattended for more than ten minutes may be assumed to be available for use, and any process running on that device terminated. You must not lock for an unreasonable length of time a workstation or computer that is in a public facility.
5.7. You must not create and send or forward electronic chain letters.
5.8. You must respect the resources of workstations located in public laboratories. Do not login to or run jobs that would interfere with the use of that workstation without the specific permission of the faculty or staff who uses that machine.
5.9. You must respect the resources of workstations located in public laboratories. Do not login to or run jobs that would interfere with the use of that workstation by a person sitting in the laboratory.
5.10. Printers and other peripheral devices not located in public laboratories and advertised as available should not be used without specific permission.
5.11. Individuals must not abuse the College’s computing resources so as to reduce its efficiency to the detriment of other users.
5.12. Individuals must not attempt to modify system facilities, utilities, and/or configurations, or change the restrictions associated with their accounts, or attempt to breach the College’s computer resources security system, whether with or without malicious intent.
5.13. Individuals
must not use any network access provided by the College to affect other
computers or the network in any of the above ways whether those resources are
at
5.14. If you use the network to access files or software, you are responsible for following all copyright rules. If a copyright notice appears as part of a file or source code, it is not to be altered or deleted. If you regularly use a piece of software labeled as “shareware” you are obligated to pay the fee requested by the author.
6. Penalties for Unethical or Illegal Use
6.1. An individual’s computer use privileges may be suspended immediately on the discovery of a possible violation of these policies. Such suspected violations will be confidentially reported to the appropriate faculty, department chair, or Information Technology Services staff.
6.2. The Information Technology Services administrative staff or Computer Science Department Chair will judge an offense as either major or minor. A first minor offense will normally be dealt with by the Information Technology Services administrative staff or Computer Science Department Chair after consultation with appropriate persons. Additional offenses will be regarded as major offenses. Appeals relating to offenses will follow procedures published in the College catalog for appeals of violation of Academic Misconduct.
6.3. A first minor offense will result in termination of accounts and access to Department facilities for a period of not less than one month and not greater than three consecutive months of one or more semesters. A minor offense absolves the department of its responsibilities to provide computing equipment and software to the student. Information Technology Services may choose to enforce additional penalties.
6.4. A subsequent minor offense or a major offense will be forwarded to the Dean of the student’s school (either the School of Arts & Science, or the Wehle School of Business) for resolution. In any case, these offenses will permanently terminate all access to Department facilities, and will prevent students from taking any future course offered by the Computer science department. Information Technology Services or the College may choose to enforce additional penalties, including possible expulsion from the College.
6.5. In an offense includes the violation of the copyright held by an individual or corporation outside the College, the Department reserves the right to forward any and all information on the offense to the copyright holder. This individual or organization has the right to pursue additional legal remedies over and above those enforced by the College or Department.
6.6. Violations of these policies will be dealt with in the same manner as violations of other College 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 College, and legal action. Violations of some of the above policies may constitute a criminal offense.