MONTGOMERY
COUNTY INTERMEDIATE UNIT
ACCEPTABLE
USE OF THE ELECTRONIC
COMMUNICATIONS
SYSTEMS AND NETWORK POLICY
As a subscriber to Internet Access through the
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit, MCLINC has agreed to abide by the following
MCIU Acceptable Use Policies for Internet access.
Purpose
Montgomery County Intermediate Unit
(“Intermediate Unit”) provides employees and students with access to the
Intermediate Unit’s electronic communication systems and network, which
includes Internet access, whether wired or wireless, or by any other means.
The electronic communications
systems and network provide vast, diverse and unique resources. The Board
will provide access to the Intermediate Unit’s networks and systems and to the
Internet for staff members, internet consortium members and for students in
order to access information, research, collaboration to facilitate learning and
teaching, and to foster the educational purpose and mission of the Intermediate
Unit.
For students and for staff, the
Intermediate Unit’s network and electronic communications systems are to be
used primarily for education-related purposes and performance of MCIU job
duties. Incidental personal use of school computers is permitted so long
as such use does not interfere with the employee’s job duties and performance,
with system operations, or with other system users. Personal use must comply
with this policy and all other applicable policies, procedures and rules, and
must not violate any of the rules contained in this policy, and must not damage
the school’s hardware, software, computer or electronic communication systems.
Definitions
2. Child Pornography
- Any visual depiction, including any photograph, film, video, picture, or
computer or computer-generated image or picture, whether made or produced by
electronic, mechanical, or other means, of sexually explicit conduct, where:
(a)
The production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in
sexually explicit conduct;
(b) Such visual
depiction is a digital image, computer image, or computer generated image that
is, or is indistinguishable from, that of a minor engaging in sexually explicit
conduct; or
(c)
Such visual depiction has been created, adapted, or modified to appear that an
identifiable minor is engaging in sexually explicit conduct. 18
U.S.C. § 2256(8).
2.
Computer - Includes any hardware, software, or other technology
attached or connected to, installed in, or otherwise used in connection with a
computer. 20 U.S.C. § 6777(e)(1). Computer
includes, but is not limited to: desktop, notebook, powerbook,
tablet PC or laptop computers; specialized electronic equipment used for
students’ special educational purposes; global position system (GPS) equipment;
personal digital assistants (PDAs); cell phones, with or without Internet
access and/or recording capabilities, mobile phones, or wireless devices;
beepers; and any other such technology developed.
3.
Electronic Communications Systems - Any messaging, collaboration, publishing, broadcast, or
distribution system that depends on electronic communications resources to create,
send, forward, reply to, transmit, store, hold, copy, download, display, view,
read, or print electronic records for purposes of communication across
electronic communications network systems between or among individuals or
groups, that is either explicitly denoted as a system for electronic
communications or is implicitly used for such purposes. Further, an
electronic communications system means any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photooptical or photoelectronic
facilities for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any
computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage
of such communications. Examples include, but are not limited to, the
Internet, intranet, electronic mail services, GPS systems, cell phones and
PDAs.
4.
Educational Purpose - Includes use of the network and electronic communications
systems for classroom activities, professional or career development, and to
support the Intermediate Unit’s curriculum, policy and mission statement.
6. Harmful to Minors
- Any picture, image, graphic image file or other visual depictions that:
a)
taken as a whole, with respect to minors, appeals to
the prurient interest in nudity, sex, or excretion;
b)
depicts, describes, or represents in
a patently offensive way with respect to what is suitable for minors, an actual
or simulated sexual act or sexual content, actual or simulated normal or
perverted sexual acts, or lewd exhibition of the genitals, and
c)
taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or
scientific value as to minors. 20 U.S.C. § 6801; 47
U.S.C. § 254(h).
7. Incidental
Personal Use - Use by an individual employee for occasional personal
communications. Personal use must comply with this policy and all other
policies, procedures and rules, and may not interfere with the employee’s job
duties and performance, with the system operations, or with other system
users. Under no circumstances should the employee believe their use is
private. The Intermediate Unit reserves the right to monitor access and
use of its network and electronic communications systems.
8.
The Intermediate Unit Network - All components necessary to effect its operation, including, but not limited to: computers,
copper and fiber cabling, wireless communications and links, equipment closets
and enclosures, network electronics, telephone lines, printers and other
peripherals, storage media, software, and other computers and/or networks to
which the Intermediate Unit network may be connected, such as the Internet or
those of other institutions.
9.
Minor - For purposes of compliance with the Children’s Internet
Protection Act (“CIPA”), an individual who has not yet attained the age of
seventeen. 20 U.S.C. § 6777(e); 47 U.S.C. § 254(h).
For other purposes, minor shall mean the age of minority as defined in the
relevant law.
10. Obscene
- Analysis of the material meets the following elements:
a)
whether the average person, applying contemporary community
standards, would find that the material, taken as a whole, appeals to the
prurient interest;
b)
whether the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way,
sexual conduct specifically designed by the applicable state or federal
law to be obscene; and
c)
whether the work taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic,
political, or scientific value. 18 U.S.C. § 1460.
11. Sexual
Act and Sexual Contact - As defined at 18 U.S.C. § 2246(2), and at 18
U.S.C. § 2246(3), 18 Pa.C.S.A. § 5903.
12.
Technology Protection Measure(s) - A specific technology that blocks or filters Internet
access to visual depictions that are obscene, child pornography or harmful to
minors. 20 U.S.C. § 6801; 47 U.S.C. § 254; 47 U.S.C. §
254(h).
13. Visual
Depictions - Undeveloped film and videotape and data stored on computer
disk or by electronic means which is capable of conversion into a visual image
but does not include mere words. 18 U.S.C. § 1460(b);
18 U.S.C. § 2256.
Authority
1.
Access to the Intermediate Unit’s
and school district’s electronic communications systems and networks through
school resources is a privilege, not a right. Inappropriate, unauthorized,
and illegal use may result in the revocation of those privileges and/or
appropriate disciplinary action.
2.
The electronic communications
systems and network and the user accounts are the property of the Intermediate
Unit, or school district, which reserves the right to deny access to prevent
further unauthorized, inappropriate or illegal activity. In some
instances Intermediate Unit employees and students use not only the
Intermediate Unit network and electronic communications systems, but also the
network and systems resources of a school district in which they are
located. The employees and students must comply with both this policy and
any policy that regulates their use of the network and systems in the school
district in which they are using the network and systems. The
Intermediate Unit will cooperate fully with school districts, Internet Service
Providers, local, state and federal officials in any investigation concerning
or related to the misuse of the network and communications electronic systems.
3.
It is often necessary to access user
accounts in order to perform routine maintenance and security tasks; system
administrators have the right to access by interception, and the stored
communication of user accounts for any reason in order to uphold this policy
and to maintain the system. Electronic communications systems and network
users have no privacy expectation in the contents of their personal files or
any of their use of the Intermediate Unit’s network or systems. The
Intermediate Unit reserves the right to track, log and monitor network and
system use and to monitor and allocate fileserver space.
4.
The Intermediate Unit reserves the
right to restrict access to any Internet sites or functions it may deem
inappropriate through software blocking or general policy. Specifically,
the Intermediate Unit operates and enforces technology protection measure(s)
that monitor and track online activities of minors on its computers used and
accessible to adults and students so as to filter or block inappropriate matter
on the Internet. Inappropriate matter includes, but is not limited to,
visual, graphic, text and any other form of obscene, child pornographic, or
other material that is harmful to minors,
hateful, illegal, defamatory, lewd, vulgar, profane, rude, inflammatory,
threatening, harassing, violent, bullying, and terroristic. Measures
designed to restrict adults’ and minors’ access to material harmful to minors
may be disabled to enable an adult to access bona fide research or for another
lawful purpose.
5.
The Intermediate Unit reserves the
right to restrict or limit usage of lower priority network, electronic
communications systems and computer uses when network and computing
requirements exceed available capacity according to the following priorities:
a)
Highest - uses that directly
supports the education of the students.
b)
Medium - uses that indirectly
benefit the education of the student.
c) Lowest -
uses that include reasonable and limited
educationally-related interpersonal
communications and incidental personnel communications.
d)
Forbidden - all activities in violation of this policy.
6.
The Intermediate Unit additionally
reserves the right to:
a)
Determine which network and
electronic communications systems services will be provided through
Intermediate Unit resources.
b)
View and monitor network traffic, file server space, processor, and system
utilization, and all applications provided through the network and
communications systems, including e-mail.
c) Remove
excess e-mail or files taking up an inordinate amount of fileserver disk space
after a reasonable time.
d) Log Internet,
network, and electronic communications systems use by students and staff.
e)
Revoke user privileges, remove user accounts, or refer to legal authorities
when violation of this and any other applicable Intermediate Unit policies
occurs or state or federal law is violated, including, but not limited to,
those governing network use, copyright, security, discipline and vandalism of
Intermediate Unit resources and equipment.
Responsibility
1.
Due to the nature of the Internet as
a global network connecting thousands of computers around the world,
inappropriate materials, including those which may be defamatory, inaccurate,
obscene, lewd, vulgar, rude, harassing, violent, inflammatory, threatening,
terroristic, hateful, bullying, profane, pornographic, offensive, and illegal,
can be accessed through the network and electronic communications
systems. Because of the nature of the technology that allows the Internet
to operate, the Intermediate Unit cannot completely block access to these
resources. Accessing these and similar types of resources may be
considered an unacceptable use of school resources and will result in
suspension of network and electronic communications systems privileges and
disciplinary action as outlined in appropriate Intermediate Unit policies.
Delegation
of Responsibilities
1. The TIS Director
and/or designee will serve as the coordinator to oversee the Intermediate
Unit network and electronic communications
systems and will work with other regional or state organizations as necessary.
2.
The TIS Director and/or designee
will approve activities, provide leadership for proper training of all staff in
the use of the network and electronic communications systems and the
requirements of this policy, establish a system to ensure adequate supervision
of the network and electronic communications systems, maintain executed user
agreements, and be responsible for interpreting the Intermediate Unit
Acceptable Use of the Electronic Communications Systems and Network Policy.
3.
The TIS Director and/or designee
will establish a process for setting-up individual accounts, set quotas for
disk usage on the system, establish a retention schedule, and establish the
Intermediate Unit virus protection process.
4.
Unless otherwise denied for cause,
student access to the Internet, e-mail, or other network and electronic
communications systems resources shall be through supervision by the
professional staff. Administrators, teachers and staff have the
responsibility to work together to help students develop the skills and
judgment required to make effective and appropriate use of these
resources. All users have the responsibility to respect the rights of all
other users within the Intermediate Unit and school district networks,
electronic communications systems, and throughout the Internet, and to abide by
the rules established by the Intermediate Unit, the internet consortium members,
and their Internet Service Providers.
5. The electronic
information available to students and staff does not imply endorsement of the
content by the Intermediate Unit, nor does the Intermediate Unit guarantee the
accuracy of information received via the Internet. The Intermediate Unit
shall not be responsible for any information that may be lost, damaged,
delayed, misdelivered, or unavailable when using the
network and electronic communications systems. Neither shall the
Intermediate
Unit be responsible for material
that is retrieved by the Internet, or the consequences that may result from
them. The Intermediate Unit shall not be responsible for any unauthorized
charges or fees resulting from access to the Internet, network, and electronic
communications systems. In no event shall the Intermediate Unit be liable
to the user for any damages whether direct, indirect, special or consequential,
arising out the use of the Internet, network and electronic communications
systems.
Guidelines
1.
Access to the Network and Electronic
Communications Systems
a)
Network and electronic
communications systems user accounts will be used only by authorized owners of
the accounts for authorized purposes.
b)
An account will be made available
according to a procedure developed by appropriate Intermediate Unit
authorities.
c)
Intermediate Unit System. The Intermediate Unit’s Acceptable Use of the
Electronic Communications Systems and Network Policy will govern all use of the
Intermediate Unit network and electronic communications systems. Student
and staff use of the network and electronic communications systems will also be
governed by the other relevant Intermediate Unit policies, and where applicable,
school district policies in which the computer, electronic communications
system, or network is located.
d)
Types of Services included, but not
limited to:
(1)
World Wide Web. Intermediate Unit employees and students and
consortium members will have access to the Web through the Intermediate Unit’s
networked computers and electronic communications systems as needed.
(2)
E-Mail. Intermediate Unit employees and consortium members will be
provided with an individual account as needed.
(3)
Guest Accounts. Guests may receive an individual account with the
approval of the IMS Director and/or designee if there is a
specific, Intermediate Unit-related purpose requiring such access. Use of the
electronic communications system by a guest must be specifically limited to the
Intermediate Unit-related purpose.
2.
Parental Notification and
Responsibility
The Intermediate Unit will notify the parents about the
Intermediate Unit network and electronic communications systems and the
policies governing their use through Intermediate Unit divisions. This
policy contains restrictions on accessing inappropriate material. There
is a wide range of material available on the Internet, some of which may not be
fitting with the particular values of the families of the students. It is
not practically possible for the Intermediate Unit to monitor and enforce a
wide range of social values in student use of the Internet.
Further, the Intermediate Unit recognizes that parents bear
primary responsibility for transmitting their particular set of family values
to their children. The Intermediate Unit will encourage parents to
specify to their child(ren)
what material is and is not acceptable for their child(ren)
to access through the Intermediate Unit system. Parents are responsible
for monitoring their children’s use of the Intermediate Unit’s networks when
they are accessing the system from home.
3.
Intermediate Unit Limitation of Liability
The Intermediate Unit makes no warranties of any kind,
either expressed or implied, that the functions or the services provided by or
through the Intermediate Unit network and communications systems will be
error-free or without defect. The Intermediate Unit will not be
responsible for any damage users may suffer, including but not limited to, loss
of data or interruptions of service. The Intermediate Unit is not
responsible for the accuracy or quality of the information obtained through or
stored on the network and electronic communications systems. The
Intermediate Unit will not be responsible for financial obligations arising
through the unauthorized use of the Intermediate Unit’s resources. See
also, Delegation of Responsibilities, Subsection 5, which should be interpreted
in conjunction with and as consistent with this subsection.
4.
Prohibitions
The use of the Internet computer network and electronic
communications systems for illegal, inappropriate, unacceptable, or unethical purposes
by students or employees is prohibited. Such activities engaged in by all
users are strictly prohibited and illustrated
below. The Intermediate Unit reserves the right to
determine if any activity not appearing in the list below constitutes an acceptable
or unacceptable use of the network and electronic communications systems.
These prohibitions are in effect any
time Intermediate Unit resources are accessed whether in school, directly from
home, or indirectly through another Internet service provider.
a)
General Prohibitions
It is prohibited to use the
network and electronic communications systems to/for:
(1)
Non-work or non-school related
communications unless the use comports with this policy’s definition of
incidental personal use.
(2)
Access material that is harmful to
minors, indecent, obscene, pornographic, child pornographic or terroristic.
(3)
Transmit material likely to be
offensive or objectionable to recipients including, but not limited to, that
which may be defamatory, inaccurate, obscene, lewd, hateful, harassing,
violent, vulgar, rude, inflammatory, threatening, profane, pornographic,
offensive, terroristic and/or illegal.
(4)
Cyberbullying another individual.
(5)
Access or transmit gambling, pools
for money, including but not limited to, basketball and football, or any other
betting or games of chance.
(6)
Participate in discussion or news
groups which cover inappropriate and/or objectionable topics or materials,
including those which conform to the definition of inappropriate matter in this
policy.
(7)
Send terroristic threats, hate mail,
harassing communications, discriminatory remarks, and offensive or inflammatory
communications.
(8)
Participate in unauthorized Internet
Relay Chats, instant messaging communications and Internet voice communications
(on-line; real time
conversations) that are not for school-related purposes or required for
staff members to perform their job duties.
(9)
Facilitate any illegal activity.
(10)
Communicate through e-mail for
non-educational purposes or activities, unless it is for an incidental personal
use as defined in this policy. The use of e-mail to mass mail
non-educational or non-work related information is expressly prohibited (i.e.,
the use of the “everyone” distribution list, building level distribution lists,
or other e-mail distributions lists to offer personal items for sale is
prohibited).
(11)
Commercial, for-profit, or business
purposes (except where such activities are otherwise permitted or authorized
under applicable Intermediate Unit policies), unauthorized fund raising or
advertising on behalf of the Intermediate Unit and non-school Intermediate Unit
organizations, reselling of Intermediate Unit computer resources to non-school
Intermediate Unit individuals or organizations, or unauthorized use of the
Intermediate Unit’s name. Commercial purposes is
defined as offering or providing goods or services or purchasing goods or
services for personal use. Intermediate Unit acquisition policies will be
followed for Intermediate Unit purchase of goods or supplies through the
Intermediate Unit system.
(12)
Political lobbying except with the
express approval of the Executive Director for MCIU job-related purposes.
(13)
Advertising of any kind,
unauthorized fundraising or unauthorized use of the Intermediate Unit’s name
will not be permitted on the Internet or e-mail, or any other online service.
(14)
Anything that results in a copyright
violation.
(15)
Install, distribute, reproduce or use of copyrighted software on Intermediate
Unit computers, or the copying of Intermediate Unit software to unauthorized
computer systems. The authority to install/download software on IU
computers is restricted to TIS Director, TIS Supervisor, IU Technicians and IU
Technical Support Specialists.
(16)
Install computer hardware, peripheral devices, network hardware or system
hardware. The authority to install hardware or devices on IU computers is
restricted to TIS Director; TIS Supervisor, IU Technicians and IU Technical
Support Specialists.
(17)
Intentionally infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others.
(18)
Use of the network and electronic communications systems to commit plagiarism.
(19) Making
available material or information the possession or distribution of which is
illegal.
(20)
Unauthorized access, interference, possession, or distribution of confidential
or private information including reposing messages sent to them privately
without permission of the person who sent the message.
(21)
Intentionally compromising the privacy or security of electronic information.
(22)
Using the systems to send any Intermediate Unit information to another party,
except in the ordinary course of business as necessary or appropriate for the
advancement of the Intermediate Unit’s business, or educational interest.
(23)
Sending unsolicited commercial electronic mail messages, also known as spam.
(24)
Posting personal and professional web pages without administrative approval.
b)
Access and Security Prohibitions