POLICY - Computer Policies Page #1 A.U.C.C. Public Documentation 06-Sep-88 Document Name: ... POLICY - Computer Policies Author: .......... Computer Services Policy Committee Source File: ..... Stored as POLRNO/UN=CSSRNOW Last Revision .... 06-Sep-88 (K.L.L.) Length: .......... 6 Pages COMPUTER POLICIES NOTE: these policies are currently being reviewed by the Computer Services Policy Committee. Please be advised that these policies may change - watch for system messages, posters, etc. Certain undesirable activities by users have been formally defined as abuse. Computer abusers are liable for monetary payment of their abuse, restriction or curtailment of computing privileges, and may be subject to further discipline by the University. In some cases, they may be liable for civil or criminal prosecution. These policies govern the use of all of Acadia's computing facilities which includes any terminals, microcomputers, mini- computers or mainframes which are the responsibility of the Computer Centre. Acadia currently has the following computer systems: Cyber, Sun, TurboDOS 1, 2, 4, and 5. The Cyber is used by all Acadia staff, faculty, and students. The Sun and TurboDOS 1 systems are owned by the School of Computer Science and are only used by Computer Science faculty and students. The TurboDOS 4 and 5 systems are strictly used by staff and faculty members for word processing needs. The TurboDOS 2 system is presently restricted to Arts and Science Graduate students and those Honours students in Arts and Science who are currently enrolled in a thesis course. Acadia also has two public microcomputer labs (an IBM-PC clone lab and a MacIntosh lab). The microcomputer labs are only for the use of staff and faculty members and those students who have been sponsored by a department. It is an offense not to follow any policies set by the Computer Centre, the School of Computer Science, and the Computer Services Policy Committee. AS WITH ALL MATTERS OF LAW AND ETHICS, IGNORANCE OF THE RULES DOES NOT EXCUSE VIOLATIONS. In the policies listed below, those marked with an "*" apply to students only; all other policies apply to all users. IT IS CONTRARY TO COMPUTER POLICIES TO: POLICY - Computer Policies POLICY POLICY - Computer Policies Page #2 A.U.C.C. Public Documentation 06-Sep-88 1. Use another person's account (even if you have permission) unless it is a special group account which has been authorized by the Computer Centre or the appropriate department or School. (*) NOTE: Faculty and staff can use another person's account if they have permission from the owner. 2. Attempt to discover another user's password. 3. Copy, disclose, or transfer any of the computer software provided by Acadia University without written permission from the Computer Centre or the appropriate department. 4. Copy any of the copyrighted software provided by Acadia University. NOTE: it is illegal to copy any software which has a copyright. The use of illegally copied software is considered a criminal offense and will be dealt with as such. 5. Use any Acadia University computer equipment or software to violate the terms of any Software Licence Agreement. 6. Attempt to bypass standard procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, unauthorized use of a password, accessing a file without permission, and reading an execute only file. Lack of file protection does not give you the right to do any of these things. 7. Copy, rename, change, examine, or delete files belonging to someone else without the owner's permission. 8. Deliberately use the computer to annoy others. For example, to send obscene, abusive, or threatening messages is against policy. 9. Use a university computer for non-university work. For example, using Acadia computers for profit making activities such as running a word processing service is NOT permitted. 10. Exceed the hour time limit on a terminal or microcomputer. NOTE: Computer Science Graduate students have a two hour time limit on the TurboDOS 1 and SUN systems ONLY if they are using the terminals which are the property of the School of Computer Science. (*) NOTE: TurboDOS 4 and 5 users are required to log off after two hours of use to enable those users who are queued to take their turn. 11. Use a computer for anything other than course related work or faculty supervised research work. For example, such things as doing work for other students, playing computer games, printing posters, etc. are against policies. NOTE: TurboDOS 1 and the Sun cannot be used for anything other than COMPUTER SCIENCE POLICY - Computer Policies POLICY POLICY - Computer Policies Page #3 A.U.C.C. Public Documentation 06-Sep-88 course related work or faculty supervised research work unless special written permission is obtained from the Director of the School of Computer Science. (*) 12. Maintain and use an account when you have withdrawn from the course for which that account was assigned. 13. Tamper with terminals, microcomputers, or any other associated equipment. PLEASE REPORT FAULTS TO THE COMPUTER CENTRE. 14. Use more than one terminal and/or microcomputer at a time. 15. Collect or discard output other than your own without the owner's permission. 16. Smoke, eat or drink around terminals, microcomputers, or any other computer equipment. 17. Use a charge number for work on the CYBER computer other than that for which the charge number was assigned. MICROCOMPUTER POLICIES All of the above policies apply to public microcomputers governed by the Computer Centre in addition to the following: 1. It is strictly prohibited to use microcomputers as terminals when others are waiting to use them as microcomputers. 2. Using the microcomputer in Carnegie 113 for purposes other than file transfer is prohibited if another user wishes to use the microcomputer for file transfer. 3. Lab users must store their files on their own floppy disks. They can temporarily store files on the network hard disk; however, files on the network will be subject to automatic purging and will not be backed up. 4. The microcomputer labs are not available for general use during the periods when the rooms have been reserved for teaching. Faculty and staff may reserve the labs ONLY during the first three weeks of classes on a first come first served basis, giving at least 48 hours notice to the Computer Centre secretary. 5. Users of the MacIntosh lab must purchase a boot disk from the Computer Centre at the beginning of a term as required. Using your own boot disk is strictly prohibited. POLICY - Computer Policies POLICY POLICY - Computer Policies Page #4 A.U.C.C. Public Documentation 06-Sep-88 6. Students cannot use their own copies of extraneous software in the microcomputer labs unless the Computer Centre has written permission from their professor AND the software is licensed to the user in question. 7. Software will be installed on the microcomputer networks ONLY if the Computer Centre holds a valid license. 8. Students who have been issued a key to a microcomputer lab are advised that their lab privileges can be suspended if they provide access to others. You should be aware that a violation of any of these policies is considered an abuse of the privilege granted to you, and may lead to the withdrawal of your account and/or other disciplinary action. It should be noted that abusers are normally identified by their usernames. Users who reveal or allow others to use their accounts may find themselves restricted if others abuse the system in their name. When in doubt, it is best to do only what you have been specifically permitted to do; e.g. if you have permission to use a program or file, do not make a copy (even on paper) unless you have been explicitly told you may do so. Time-Out Policy Any user who remains idle on a computer system (except for the Sun) for twenty minutes will be automatically logged off by the system after a warning message is issued. NEVER LEAVE YOUR TERMINAL UNATTENDED. Restoring Files The Computer Centre does a daily backup of files and in the event of a system crash, we restore lost files, free of charge. However, if a file is accidentally deleted, the Computer Centre charges $10 to restore it. Cyber Output Policy The page limit for student accounts is approximately 50 pages. Any output over 50 pages or any special form request (eg. narrow or blank) requires the signature of your professor. Output not conforming to this rule will be deleted after 24 hours. The lineprinter is NOT to be used as a printing press. Any user wishing to have multiple copies of a document should use an alternate printer if one is available (perhaps belonging to his/her department). Any user who does print multiple copies on the Cyber lineprinters will be charged at the current print shop rates for multiple copies. POLICY - Computer Policies POLICY POLICY - Computer Policies Page #5 A.U.C.C. Public Documentation 06-Sep-88 Generally speaking, users who route documents over 200 pages will also be charged at current print shop rates for each page over the 200 pages unless prior permission is obtained from the Computer Centre. Policy For TurboDOS 2, 4 and 5 Output All users of TurboDOS 2, 4 and 5 will be charged 2.5 cents per page for rough draft printing and 15 cents per page for letter- quality. On April 1 of each year, a credit of 1500 pages of rough draft printing will be given to each TurboDOS 4 and 5 user. TurboDOS 4 and 5 users will be sent a monthly bill for any printing charges incurred. On May 1 of each year, a credit of 900 pages of rough draft printing will be given to each TurboDOS 2 user. All TurboDOS 2 users will be required to prepay an amount at Student Accounts BEFORE any letter-quality printing will be allowed. Once the credit for rough draft printing runs out, students will be required to prepay for rough draft printing as well. Student Accounts require a minimum payment of $15 (this will allow the user to print 100 pages of letter-quality output). Every time a file is printed, the system will check to see how much money has been prepaid for every page that is printed. The charge for the printing of each page will be subtracted from the prepaid amount. Once the prepaid amount is zero, printing will be disabled. This means that if you run out of money in the middle of a printout, you will only receive that portion which is paid for. Printing will be enabled once you pay some more money to Student Accounts. Any money which is left over when the user has completed his thesis work and closed his/her account will be returned to the user. It is contrary to computer policies to route large outputs (over 100 pages) to the TurboDOS 2, 4 and 5 printers during the day (8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) unless it has been scheduled with the Computer Centre operator. The Computer Centre reserves the right to drop any non-scheduled large jobs. Floppy Disk Policy The Computer Centre can archive TurboDOS files on 8" floppy disks. Users who want this service must provide their own floppies. Such disks can be stored in the Computer Centre or kept by the user. This archiving service is provided free of charge. The Computer Centre can also read or write various formats of 5 1/4" floppy disks for a charge of $10 per floppy (this does not include the price of the floppy disk - users must provide their own). This charge applies to all faculty, staff, and students. Presently, the Computer Centre can handle most CP/M formats, as well as standard MS-DOS. Apple computer formats are not supported. Users wishing to have a floppy disk read or written should contact the Systems Analyst in Charge of Microcomputers 48 hours in advance. POLICY - Computer Policies POLICY POLICY - Computer Policies Page #6 A.U.C.C. Public Documentation 06-Sep-88 Magnetic Tape Policy Magnetic tapes will be registered in the Computer Centre's tape library after a release form has been signed. Tapes can only be mounted from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. (with the exception of noon hour), Monday through Friday. Consulting is provided to aid users in transferring data to and from magnetic tapes. However, if the user is unwilling to write the procedures to transfer the data himself, the Computer Centre will provide this service but may charge up to a maximum of $10. If the tape is coming from or going to a foreign site, the charge will be up to $15. Any users wishing to use this service should contact the Academic Consultant - 48 hours notice is required. POLICY - Computer Policies POLICY Note: A new procedure is now in place for dealing with students who violate Centre policies such as illegal copies of software on any Acadia equipment. A first offense will result in an account suspension for a period of one week, the end of which an account suspension form must be signed before account renewal. Punishment for other infractions depends on the nature of the offence and is often decided by the department head.