Johnson County Community College
Series 500: Information Services
Section 510: Use of Communication Systems

PURPOSE

This policy provides guidelines on the appropriate use of JCCC’s e-mail system, Internet, and associated hardware and software. Questions about the policy should be directed to Information Services (“IS”).

GUIDELINES

I. Property of JCCC

a. JCCC’s network, e-mail, and communication systems are the sole property of JCCC and are provided to employees and board members for the purpose of conducting business on behalf of JCCC.

b. JCCC will conduct physical and automated inventories of hardware and software to ensure equipment is maintained and JCCC is properly licensed for the software being used on college computers.

c. Any equipment or software provided by JCCC to an employee or board member remain the property of JCCC and must be returned upon demand. Employees or board members may be held personally responsible for JCCC property that is not returned.

d. Any software installed on a JCCC computer must either be licensed to JCCC or to the employee or board member (with the license in the employee’s JCCC office and produced for inspection during a software audit), except for software in the public domain. All other software is licensed to JCCC and is not to be copied for personal use. Employees or board members who load personally-owned software should recognize that unless otherwise indicated in the applicable license, owners may make one, and only one, backup copy of the software. Unless otherwise indicated in the applicable license, each copy of third-party software may be used on only one machine at a time. Many software companies permit multi-user, multi-copy, or network licenses, but it is the responsibility of the owner to know if those terms apply.

e. Personal network hardware, such as hubs, switches, routers, or wireless access points will not be attached to the JCCC network. Other personal computing hardware may be attached to the JCCC network or a JCCC computer but may not be supported by IS. A list of personal computing hardware that may be attached to the JCCC network or a JCCC computer is listed in Appendix 1.

f. Reasonable care must be exercised with all JCCC equipment. Employees or board members must not attempt unauthorized modification or repair to any equipment belonging to JCCC.

II. Appropriate Use of Computer Resources

a. All computer resources and facilities of JCCC are primarily used for legitimate and authorized college, academic, instructional, research, and public service purposes. It is recognized that some minimal and incidental personal use may be necessary.

b. JCCC and its authorized personnel reserve the right to set priorities on the use of computer facilities and resources such as bandwidth.

c. Employees or board members may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble or dispose of third-party software, unless prior permission and further guidelines are obtained regarding legal and contractual limitations. Unless otherwise indicated in the applicable license, third-party software may not be copied or modified. Employees or board members may not disclose or distribute any JCCC software to anyone outside JCCC. Unauthorized copying or distribution of software (including associated media, such as user manuals or diskettes) can be both a violation of applicable license agreements and a violation of federal law. Individual employees and board members, as well as JCCC, can be held liable for violations and can be required to pay substantial damages, depending on the circumstances.

d. Computer accounts and passwords will not be shared. Employees or board members will not attempt to gain access to another employee or board member account.

III. Privacy

a. JCCC respects the privacy of the individual employee and board members.

b. JCCC reserves the right to access employee or board member voicemail, data, and programs for appropriate management purposes, such as complaint investigations or other legal requirements. JCCC may also need to access employee or board member data and programs during a time when the individual is not reporting for duty and they cannot be contacted or after an employee’s employment with JCCC is terminated by JCCC or the employee or board member. These access rights will only be exercised when a written request is received specifying data to be accessed and an attempt to notify the individual has been made. Furthermore, prior to exercising these access rights, the supervisor for the area, JCCC’s Chief Information Officer, Human Resources, legal counsel, and President will agree access to the data or programs is required. There may be emergency situations where contacting each office and gaining consensus may not be feasible or safe. In those instances, reasonable efforts will be made to seek the consent of each office prior to access.

c. Employees or board members must not attempt to gain access to another employee's or board members data or programs without appropriate authorization. Employees and board members will protect their information files by not disclosing their password.

d. In order to perform their duties, IS staff has access to the JCCC network, resident data and other computer systems. The IS staff can, with an employee’s permission, also use a number of tools to remotely help employees or board members with their JCCC computers and software. The remote access tools will not be used on a JCCC computer without the employee or board member consent. Access to the data and systems by IS employees for other than the performance of IS duties is prohibited and will not be tolerated.

e. Care should be exercised when storing information or sending it via e-mail to ensure the sending employee complies with privacy laws and guidelines such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act.

IV. Violation of Policy

JCCC has the ability to monitor its phone system, network and computers. Any employee or board member who deliberately or continually violates the rules and regulations regarding the use of computer accounts, hardware, software, or the network, or violates state or federal statutes regarding computer systems or networks may have his/her account and/or user privileges revoked and such misuse may result in disciplinary and/or legal action. The severity of the violation will determine the type of action that JCCC and/or the State may take against the violator.

Appendix 1

List of personal hardware that may be attached to the network

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs) with or without telephone components
Laptops
Data storage devices (personal hard drives or “thumb” drives)
Digital cameras
Printers
iPods and MP3 storage devices
CD/DVD Drives

Date of Adoption: 1/18/07
Revised: