General Statement
The Academy of Notre Dame de Namur is committed to providing our community with knowledge, self-confidence, and the inspiration to translate their Christian ideals into actions. From this commitment follows the requirement that students be well-prepared to compete in a technology literate society. The Tech nology Program at Notre Dame is an ongoing process, integral to the development of curriculum, and the management and support of instruction. The acceptable use policy is a natural outgrowth of this evolving program and is designed to safeguard all users of technology in the school.

The Academy of Notre Dame de Namur Community (the Academy/NDA) provides information technology resources that include a high-speed local area network, shared network software and storage space, Internet access, and computing facilities.

Access to these resources is given to members of the Academy of Notre Dame community. These resources are provided to support the educational program and administrative operations of the Academy and they may not be used for private financial gain for any individual or organization.

NDA’s information technology resources may not be used for illegal activities, whether the activities are conducted on or off campus. Using computing resources in a way that violates the law, other NDA policies, and/or the rights of others, can be a serious matter that will be dealt with by the applicable administrative disciplinary procedures.

By sharing and using these resources, individuals accept full responsibility for their actions and agree that they will use these resources in a responsible manner, consistent with the policies of the Academy and compliant with local, state, federal and international laws and regulations governing the use of such resources. The fact that certain activities are technically feasible does not mean that they are necessarily acceptable. Users must abide by all applicable restrictions, whether or not they are built into the operating system or network and whether or not they can be circumvented by technical means. Users may not access any areas of the information technology resources of the Academy to which they do not have authorization and may not exceed any access for which they are authorized.

Ownership and Accountability
The Academy owns and maintains the resources which its students, faculty, and staff use to create and record information related to the educational program and to administrative operations. The Academy is committed to educating the community in responsible use of information technology resources and will respond as appropriate when notified of violations of this policy.

The Tech nology Department manages the Academy’s information technology resources and strives to provide a reliable and secure technology environment. Members of the Tech nology Department are expected to adhere to the highest ethical standards regarding confidentiality of data and individual privacy. Contents of data and voice systems may not be disclosed to unauthorized persons. However, system administrators may access and disclose such contents when they determine such access and disclosure are necessary to protect the integrity of information technology resources. In addition, the Academy has the right to access and disclose the contents of data and voice systems when it reasonably determines that such access and disclosure are necessary to respond to health and safety emergencies or to disciplinary processes related to violations of Academy policies.

Using the Information Tech nology Network
The Academy’s electronic information system (network) is a system of servers, computers, printers, and other network devices that allow community members to communicate across campus and access the Internet. The network is maintained and managed by the Tech nology department to ensure an effective and reliable system in support of the academic curriculum and administrative operations of the Academy. Connecting any electronic device to the network is strictly prohibited without the consent of the Tech nology Department. Such devices include laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), switches, hubs, routers, and other devices.

Social Networking Sites
Accessing Social Networking websites from the campus network is prohibited. Such websites include, but are not limited to, myspace, Xanga, webshots, youthink, studentcenter, Hi5, and friendster.

Network Protection and Content Filtering System
The Academy of Notre Dame uses Websense, a web filtering and desktop security application, which provides significant protection against accessing inappropriate websites from any computer on our campus network. Utilizing Websense also allows us to guide our users to educational websites and online databases that provide a wealth of information for academic scholarship and research.

Subscription Web Services provided by NDA
The Academy of Notre Dame subscribes to several Web-based services for the purposes of student research. See the librarian or a member of the Tech nology Department for the user id and password for each.

• SIRS Research is a full-text database, including magazine and journal articles.
• Electric Library\Big Chalk provides users with full-text access to magazines, newspapers, books, and encyclopedias, as well as television and radio transcripts.
• Facts On File: World News Digest (U.S. and World News: 1940 to present) is a searchable database that offers full-text searching; links to related content from other FACTS.COM services, groups to contact for further research; interviews with experts, photos, charts, and news maps.
  

Individual Responsibilities

Security
The Academy employs various measures to protect the security of its information technology resources and of users’ accounts. However, the Academy cannot guarantee such security. Individuals should engage in safe computing practices by establishing appropriate access restrictions for their accounts.

Passwords (e.g., NDA network, email, Citrix) should not be shared with others. For your own protection and for the security of computing resources, always remember to exit from any networked applications that require a password and logout before leaving a networked computer or your office computer.

Compromised machines present a risk to the community and the Tech nology Department has the right to disable access to the network immediately if a machine is found to be infected with a virus or operating in such a way that network security is at risk. Users are expected to assist in the performance of remediation steps in the event of a detected vulnerability and must do so before network access will be restored.

Identity
Anonymous messages and forged identities are not allowed in the Academy’s e-mail system. Any electronic message you transmit must include your actual username or, in appropriate cases, your organization and/or your department name. If the message is sent only with an organization or department name, individual contact information must be included. Hiding your identity or using someone else’s identity in electronic communications jeopardizes the integrity of the system and is prohibited. Your computer and electronic devices are registered with the Tech nology Department using an IP address. Misrepresenting your identity in the registration system is prohibited and will result in appropriate disciplinary action.

Privacy
Email is not necessarily a secure and confidential medium for communications. Intruders can obtain the contents and other information about an email at various points of access during the course of transmission. Privacy is also the responsibility of the recipient of an email or other electronic communication. A message sent to you is usually intended by the sender to be read only by you. While the Academy has no blanket policy that would prohibit forwarding messages or postings, respect for individual privacy and consideration for the rights of others should be taken into account before forwarding email to others. When in doubt, asking the author for consent before forwarding her/his message is the best way to protect the privacy of the sender. When you follow a link to a web site outside the NDA domain, any assurance of privacy will be beyond the Academy’s control.

Harassment and Hateful Incidents
No form of harassment or hateful incident will be tolerated. Incidents and practices of Cyber Bullying will not be tolerated. Cyberbullying involves the use of information and communication technologies such as e-mail, cell phone and pager text messages, instant messaging, and defamatory personal Web sites, to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group that is intended to harm others.

Resource Consumption
The Academy’s information technology resources are shared by the entire community. Consuming an unreasonable amount of these resources or interfering with the activity of other users is not allowed. Activities that may cause excessive demands on network resources include chain mail, spam e-mail, or downloading an excessive number of very large files.

Intellectual Property
Copyright law and licenses protect such things as software, photographs, icons, music, movies, computer games, and text against unauthorized copying (which includes lending such things to others with knowledge that they will copy them). A computer may enable you to copy programs and other intellectual property easily, but unless you are certain you are legally entitled to do so, don't. The legal penalties can be severe and outside the control of the Academy. If NDA officials receive notice from or on behalf of a copyright owner alleging that you have engaged in a copyright violation, your access to the network will be temporarily disabled. Tech nology Department staff will notify you to stop such activities immediately and assist you as needed in removing the infringing material. If you do not comply, or if you engage in repeated violations, your network connectivity will be terminated and you could be subject to other disciplinary actions. In addition, you could be liable for damages to the copyright holder or even for criminal penalties. If presented with a properly formed subpoena, the Academy will have no choice but to identify the user to the copyright holder.

Responsible Use

Users are prohibited from engaging in the following practices:

• Use of the network to disrupt the work of others
• Destruction, modification or abuse of hardware or software
• Illegal downloading of copyrighted software
• Use of the network for communications not related to the school curriculum and the educational program
• Use of the network to access social networking websites
• Use of the network for commercial or for-profit purposes
• Use of the network for product advertisement or political lobbying
• Use of the network to develop programs that harass other users
• Use of the network to infiltrate a computer computing system and/or damaging the software components of a computer or computing systems
• Use of the network to access obscene or pornographic materials
• Use of the network to transmit materials likely to be offensive or objectionable to recipients

All members of the Notre Dame community are expected to adhere to all guidelines listed in the Technology Acceptable Use Policy.

Revised June 2006