Blacksburg Electronic Village: Digital Library

Digital Library

Acceptable Use of *YourTown CN* Information Systems

General Principles

Access to computer systems and networks owned or operated by *YourTown CN* or *YourTown CN* service providers imposes certain responsibilities and obligations and is granted subject to *YourTown CN* policies, and local, state, and federal laws. Acceptable use always is ethical, reflects personal honesty, and shows restraint in the consumption of shared resources. It demonstrates respect for intellectual property, ownership of data, system security mechanisms, and individuals' rights to privacy and to freedom from intimidation, harassment, and unwarranted annoyance.

Guidelines

In making acceptable use of resources you must:

Use resources only for authorized purposes.
Protect your userid and accounts from unauthorized use. You are responsible for all activities on your userid or that originate from *YourTown CN* account or service that you use.
Access only files and data that are your own, that are publicly available, or to which you have been given authorized access.
Use only legal versions of copyrighted software in compliance with vendor license requirements.
Be considerate in your use of shared resources. Refrain from monopolizing systems, overloading networks with excessive data, or wasting computer time, connect time, disk space, printer paper, manuals, or other resources.

In making acceptable use of resources you must NOT:

Use another person's system, userid, password, files, or data without permission.
Use computer programs to decode passwords or access control information.
Attempt to circumvent or subvert system or network security measures.
Engage in any activity that might be harmful to systems or to any information stored thereon, such as creating or propagating viruses, disrupting services, or damaging files.
Use *YourTown CN* systems for commercial or partisan political purposes, such as using electronic mail to circulate advertising for products (commonly known as "spam") or for political candidates.
Make or use illegal copies of copyrighted software, store such copies on *YourTown CN* systems, or transmit them over *YourTown CN* networks.
Use mail or messaging services to harass, intimidate, or otherwise annoy another person, for example, by broadcasting unsolicited messages or sending unwanted mail.
Waste computing resources, for example, by intentionally placing a program in an endless loop.
Use *YourTown CN*'s systems or networks for personal gain; for example, by selling access to your userid or to *YourTown CN* systems or networks, or by performing work for profit with *YourTown CN* resources in a manner not authorized by *YourTown CN*.
Engage in any other activity that does not comply with the General Principles presented above.

Enforcement

*YourTown CN* considers any violation of acceptable use principles or guidelines to be a serious offense and reserves the right to copy and examine any files or information resident on *YourTown CN* systems allegedly related to unacceptable use. Violators are subject to disciplinary action, including but not limited to:

Loss of account privileges temporarily
Loss of account privileges permanently

If *YourTown CN* believes illegal or improper behavior is taking place, or if your actions are affecting the reliability of *YourTown CN* services, *YourTown CN* reserves the right to suspend services and/or access privileges until you have been contacted and a full review of the situation takes place.

*YourTown CN* will NOT refund any fees paid by users who have lost privileges due to violations of the Acceptable Use Policy.

Offenders also may be prosecuted under laws including (but not limited to) the Privacy Protection Act of 1974, The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986, The Computer Virus Eradication Act of 1989, Interstate Transportation of Stolen Property, The Virginia Computer Crimes Act, and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act. Access to the text of these laws is available online.

Comments

This is the *YourTown CN* Acceptable Use Policy as adopted and endorsed by the *YourTown CN* Board of Directors, 2/1/2001.