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Policy
On Use Of COM&PH Computer Resources & Internet
Access
POLICY:
The Ohio State University
College of Medicine and Public Health (COM&PH)
provides electronic information resources including
electronic mail (e-mail), network connections, and
intranet and Internet connections to its faculty,
staff, students and contract employees when needed
for the purpose of facilitating business related communications.
Faculty, staff and student employees may access the
Internet for personal business only during non-work
time and in strict compliance with all other terms
of this policy. Contract employees may not use COM&PH
resources to access the Internet for personal business.
All existing COM&PH policies apply to the use
of electronic resources, particularly those that deal
with confidentiality, misuse of college resources,
sexual harassment, and information security.
All information created,
sent or received via COM&PH electronic resources,
including the e-mail system, network, Internet or
intranet, is the property of COM&PH. There is
no right to privacy and faculty, staff, students and
contract employees should not have an expectation
of privacy regarding such information. COM&PH
reserves the right to, at any time and without notice,
access, read, review, monitor and copy all messages
and files on its computer systems, as it deems necessary.
COM&PH may, as it deems necessary, disclose information
from its computer system to law enforcement or other
third parties without the consent of the faculty,
staff, student and/or contract employee.
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Cyberspace is
not a separate legal jurisdiction and it is not
exempt from the normal requirements of legal and
ethical behavior. A good rule of thumb to keep
in mind is that conduct which is illegal or a
violation of COM&PH policy in the offline
world will still be illegal or a violation of
COM&PH policy when it occurs online.
The following specific
principles are applicable to COM&PH faculty, staff,
students, and contract employees when using the computer
and network systems of COM&PH:
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Comply with federal,
state, and other applicable laws, including policies
and protocols of The Ohio State University (examples:
copyright, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and the
university's sexual harassment policy).
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Respect the privacy
and rules governing the use of any information
accessible through the computer system or network.
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Respect all applicable
software licenses. Do not make unauthorized copies
of software even when the application is not physically
protected against copying.
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Respect the procedures
and guidelines established to manage the use of
the system. Non-platform software applications
should not be loaded on LAN workstations, nor
should hardware devices be connected without contacting
the IS Office first in order to avoid potential
conflicts with the existing setup. All files downloaded
from the Internet must be scanned for computer
viruses before they are used on a COM&PH computer.
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Users are responsible
for their computer accounts including e-mail and
Internet accounts. Persons other than those to
whom they have been assigned may not use accounts
and their passwords. Individuals are responsible
for the proper use of their accounts, including
proper password protection.
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Computer resources
are in place to support the overall mission of
COM&PH. They may not be used for commercial
or business purposes.
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Personal use
of university computing resources is permitted
when it does not consume a significant amount
of those resources, does not negatively impact
the user's job performance and other university
responsibilities, and is in compliance with all
applicable laws and policies. Individual units
within the COM&PH may impose further limits
as appropriate.
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Users are reminded
that many electronic communications are subject
to the Ohio Public Records Law.
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E-mail users
are to be familiar with the etiquette guidelines
of the COM&PH.
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E-mail messages
should be written carefully. Often e-mail messages
are written quickly and spontaneously and may
tend to be glib. Responses are often drafted without
reflection. Because e-mail message may be subject
to disclosure under the public records law, nothing
should be written that would make the writer feel
uncomfortable if they were to see it in the local
newspaper the next day.
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Users are specifically
reminded not to send confidential patient or student
information via e-mail unless it is encrypted
and to use the standard e-mail applications of
the College (GroupWise, or Eudora if the user
is not connected to the College's LAN). Encrypted
messages with confidential content must be transmitted
person to person for purposes related to patient
care or official COM&PH business and should
not be broadcast to a distribution list.
COM&PH’s
e-mail system, network, and internet/intranet access
are not to be used as follows:
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In a manner that
interferes with normal business activities.
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To conduct unauthorized
business such as for profit business activity
or to operate any outside business.
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To send, print,
request, display or store fraudulent, harassing
or obscene messages and/or materials, including
any messages or materials that disparage others
based on race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation,
age, disability or religious or political beliefs.
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Except to the
extent required in conjunction with a bona fide,
research project approved by the Ohio State University
Research Foundation or other COM&PH approved
undertaking, to send, solicit, print, request,
display or store sexually explicit or oriented
messages or images or other sexual content. Sexually
explicit or oriented messages or images include
(i) any description of or (ii) any picture, photograph,
drawing, motion picture film, digital image or
similar visual representation depicting the following
as defined in Ohio Revised Code Section 2907.01:
sexual conduct, sexual contact, sexual activity,
sexual excitement, and/or nudity. Sexually explicit
or orient message or images also include any material,
which is harmful to juveniles as defined in Ohio
Revised Code Section 2907.01.
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To engage in
any illegal activity or knowingly violate any
laws and regulations.
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To create websites
without the permission of the Information Systems
department.
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To acquire, disseminate
or print copyrighted materials, including software
and articles, in violation of copyright laws.
Software may not be copied or redistributed, unless
the applicable license or other agreement expressly
permits copy or redistribution. Software should
not be downloaded or installed onto a COM&PH
computer, or network server, without the assistance
of the Information Systems department.
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To disseminate
confidential information in violation of COM&PH
policy or confidentiality agreement.
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To intercept someone else’s private e-mail
message or look into someone else’s private
computer account without appropriate authorization.
Engaging in hacking, cracking or other such activities
is specifically prohibited by this policy. Under the
federal and state laws (Computer Fraud and Abuse Act,
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
(HIPAA)), it may be a crime to access or use a computer
without authorization, to alter data in a computer
without authorization, to transmit computer viruses
or worms over computer networks, to conduct e-mail
bombing and to engage in other such activities. The
fact that you may have the technical ability to do
any of these things, or that another computer owner
may not have properly safeguarded his or her computer,
does not mean that you have authorization.
ENFORCEMENT
Users who violate this policy may be denied access
to COM&PH’s computing resources and are
subject to other corrective action up to and including
termination.
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