1. Intent
   The Board of Trustees shall allow and restrict use of information technology as outlined in the following sections labeled Acceptable Use and Prohibited Use. In cases requiring authorization or approval as required herein, such approval will come from the cabinet member in charge of the area requesting such authorization or approval and the vice president for Information Technology, or their appointed designees.
   
   

2. Scope
   The scope of this policy includes all students, employees, visitors, contractors, consultants, etc. using information technology resources at St. Petersburg College. Inappropriate use exposes St. Petersburg College to risks including virus attacks, compromise of network systems and services, and potential legal issues.
   
   

3. General
   While St. Petersburg College's network administration desires to provide a reasonable level of privacy, users should be aware that the College reserves the right to restrict access and protect its systems from misuse and damage.
   
   

4. Acceptable Use
   

1. Information technology use that supports and enables the effective and efficient completion of job description duties and assigned tasks is acceptable.
   
   

2. Information technology use by faculty (and students under the direction of faculty) that contributes to scholarly research and academic work within the boundaries of the approved curriculum is acceptable.
   
   

3. Occasional and infrequent personal use by employees that does not interfere with job duties, supersede work responsibilities, or add additional costs to the College is acceptable. The cost to the employee per page for printing shall be the same as the cost per page for a photo copy as set forth in Board of Trustees' Rules 6Hx23-5.17 and 6Hx23-5.28.
   
   

4. Occasional and infrequent personal use by students that does not interfere with teaching or add additional costs to the College is acceptable. The cost to the student per page for printing shall be the same as the cost per page for a photocopy as set forth in Board of Trustees' Rule 6Hx23-5.171.



5. Prohibited Use
   
   

1. Use of College information technology at any time, or use of personal non-College owned technology while connected to the College network, to break any international, federal, state or local law (or to aid in any crime) is prohibited.
   
   

2. Use of College information technology for creation, storage, display or transmission for a profit-oriented, commercial, political or business purpose is prohibited.
   
   

3. Consistent with the College's sexual harassment policy, creating, viewing, storing, transmitting or publicly displaying pornographic (as defined by the U.S. Supreme Court), obscene, defaming, slanderous, harassing, or offensive data (including sound, video, text, and graphics data) is prohibited.
   
   

4. Circumventing established College software security procedures or obtaining information system access and passwords to which one is not entitled is prohibited.
   
   

5. Violations of the rights of any person or company protected by copyright, trade secret, patent or other intellectual property, or similar laws or regulations, including, but not limited to, the installation or distribution of "pirated" or other software products that are not licensed for use by St. Petersburg College is prohibited.
   
   

6. Introduction of malicious programs into the network or server (e.g., viruses, worms, Trojan horses, e-mail bombs, etc.) is prohibited.
   
   

7. Revealing your account password to others or allowing use of your account by others is prohibited.
   
   

8. Effecting security breaches or disruptions of network communication is prohibited. Security breaches include, but are not limited to, accessing data of which the employee is not an intended recipient or logging into a server or account that the employee is not expressly authorized to access. For purposes of this section, "disruption" includes, but is not limited to, network sniffing, pinged floods, packet spoofing, denial of service, and forged routing information for malicious purposes.
   
   

9. Port scanning or security scanning is expressly prohibited unless prior notification to Information Systems-networks department is made.
   
   

10. Unauthorized alteration, modification or removal of College hardware security systems is prohibited.
    
    

11. Sending unsolicited email messages, including the sending of "junk mail" or other advertising material to individuals who did not specifically request such material (email spam) is prohibited.
    
    

12. Creating or forwarding "chain letters", "Ponzi" or other "pyramid" schemes of any type is prohibited.
    
    

13. Unauthorized use, or forging, of email header information is prohibited.
    
    

14. Unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction of another employee's data, programs, or electronic mail is prohibited.
    
    

15. Connecting or installing unauthorized personal or non-College owned information technology hardware or software to the College network without prior approval is prohibited.
    
    

16. Installing non-College owned software without prior approval and documented proof of legal licensure is prohibited.
     

6. Notification and Acceptance
   
   

   1. Electronic banners will be implemented wherever possible as a means of communicating the Information Technology Acceptance Use Policy Rule 6Hx23-6.900 to students, faculty and staff.
      
      

   2. Printed posters and other means of notification of the Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy Rule 6Hx23-6.900 will also be posted in common areas, computer labs and information commons where possible.
      
      

   3. Student handbooks shall include information regarding the College's Information Systems rules and procedures including the Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy Rule 6Hx23-6.900.
      
      

   4. Faculty and staff are required to participate in a security awareness training class or video streamed presentation. This shall be done at least once during employment or at time of employee orientation.
      
      

   5. Faculty and staff are required to sign an acceptance waiver acknowledging his/her understanding of the Information Technology Acceptable Use Policy Rule 6Hx23-6.900 and other applicable Information Technology security rules and procedures.
      
      

7. Inspection
   
   

   1. The Board reserves the right to review and inspect all data and materials on any computer, server, network or other information systems furnished by the College to any student or employee.
      
      

   2. St. Petersburg College reserves the right to audit or monitor networks and systems on a periodic basis to ensure compliance with this policy.
      
      

   3. For equipment not furnished by the College, permission to inspect must be granted by the owner, unless otherwise provided by law. In the event of suspected criminal activity local, state or federal law enforcement will be notified.
      
      

8. Consequences of Unacceptable Use
   
   

1. Unacceptable use may result in the revocation of access to College information technology.
   
   

2. Employees and students who violate this Rule shall be subject to discipline from reprimand to dismissal. The following disciplinary procedures shall apply:

1. Career Service Employees
   Career service employees may be subject to disciplinary action as provided in the Career Service Manual, Board of Trustees' Disciplinary Rules relating to career service employees and Section 120.57 of the Florida Statutes.

2. Administrative and Faculty Members
   Administrative staff and faculty members may be subject to disciplinary action as provided in the rules of the Department of Education, Florida Administrative Code and Board Procedure P6Hx23-2.2012.

3. Students
   Students may be subject to discipline as provided in Board of Trustees' Rules 6Hx23-4.33 and 6Hx23-4.35.
    

3. Remedial or disciplinary action will depend upon the nature of incident(s).

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Last revised May 29, 2008
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