Policies and Rules Governing Use of the Computer
Science Department's Computer Resources
The computer systems of the Computer Science Department are to be used
for purposes directly related to the instructional and research missions of the
University only.
All computer systems in this department and all files contained on them
are under the jurisdiction of the Computer Science Department at San Jose State University. Use of these computer systems
may be monitored, and by using the Department's systems, you consent to such
monitoring.
The Department considers any violation of these policies to be a serious offense and
reserves the right to copy and examine any files or information resident
on Department systems allegedly related to unacceptable use, and to protect its network
from systems and events that threaten or degrade operations. The Department further
reserves the right to secure its systems by using appropriate security testing and monitoring
software and procedures, including, but not limited to, network systems monitoring,
system vulnerability testing, and password security testing.
The department reserves the right to suspend or remove any account
for violations of stated policies or for violation of San Jose State
University's
Code of Student Conduct.
Ethics of Computer Use
All users of departmental computing systems are expected to abide by a standard of conduct consistent
with the University Code of Student Conduct. Conduct in violation of the letter and spirit of this code can
result in loss of the user's account and referral to the appropriate disciplinary body. Among the
types of behavior that are considered inconsistent with the code of ethics are:
- Attempts to violate another user's privacy by accessing his or her files without permission.
- Deliberate attempts to circumvent or subvert security mechanisms,
deny service to systems, or to cause to crash or 'hang' any computer system.
- Intentional introduction of a computer virus, worm, Trojan Horse or other malicious
software onto any system on the network.
- Deliberate consumption of system or network resources resulting in denial
of services to others wishing to use the system, network or other resources.
- Use of a computer system to harass another individual.
This list should not be considered as exhaustive, but merely representative of the types of behavior
deemed inconsistent with the expected ethical conduct of our users.
Lab Rules
- You may not bring food or drink in the labs.
- You may not share your account. You are responsible for all activities that
originate from your account and/or computer.
- You may not use more than one workstation at a time. Using multiple
workstations is considered excessive consumption of resources.
- You may not pirate licensed software from department systems. Commercial software
on the network is the property of the University and
cannot be copied. Violators of this rule may be turned over to University Police for investigation.
- You may not load or install commercial software, shareware, or freeware onto
any computer on the network.
- You may not modify or alter any hardware, software, or firmware settings on any
computers on the network.
- You may not be in instructional ("closed") labs unless accompanied by an instructor. The instructor
must be physically present in the lab.
- You must maintain your disk space utilization within the allocated quota for that system.
- You may not play computer games.
- All diskettes used in the lab must be scanned for viruses.
- All files downloaded to a computer must be scanned for viruses.
- For situations not explicitly listed previously,
you must abide by the spirit and letter of the Ethics Policy
posted above.
Departmental Rules and Policies
- The CRC Chair is the person responsible for the work done by the
technical staff. Consequently, all work assignments for the technical staff
should be made through the CRC Chair. Individual faculty may request service
via the Service Request Form (available in MH 208) or by e-mail to 'service-request'.
If the technicians have any concerns about how a suggested job fits into their current assignments,
then the faculty member should consult the CRC chair.
- The departmental System Administrators have the authority to terminate any program which
is seriously degrading system performance or causing loss of service(s).
- Faculty files on the UNIX workstations/servers are backed up weekly.
In the event of a disk failure, files will be restored
from the available backups. You may wish to backup your own particularly
important files.
- Any equipment assigned to any departmental lab is not available for checkout.
- When a new software package is implemented, a faculty member teaching a course that will use
the package should modify or create a handout providing the basic information needed to use the software.
Course committees are the parties responsible for keeping up-to-date
documentation on software. If no member of the course committee is teaching the course at the time
the new software is implemented, a volunteer among those currently teaching the course should be
recruited.
- Members of the departmental technical staff cannot
support any equipment (hardware or software) not owned by the department.
- Faculty volunteers are responsible for maintaining standard software packages installed
on computers in the Faculty lab. Only software owned by the department should be loaded
on these computers. Any software that is not owned by the department that is found on those
computers will be deleted.
- The Faculty lab is for faculty/staff use only.
- Microcomputers and workstations and their peripherals belonging
to the Department are available for use by students only during hours
the microcomputer labs are scheduled by the CRC to be open and competent
faculty or staff paid by the Department are on duty and present in the
rooms. The intent is to ensure security of the equipment by
presence of paid staff.
- Downtimes (blocktimes) may occur on the network or servers
without notice between 6 AM and 7 AM Monday - Friday and
8 AM - Noon Sunday. This schedule coincides with Central Computing's network
downtime schedule to minimize disruptions to teaching or research. Any other
non-emergency downtime will be announced in advance.
Last Updated: 21 June 2002
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