Policies

Coastal Law’s Computer Policies

Florida Coastal School of Law maintains a private network of computers, printers, and other computing devices (“Network”). The complexity and sensitivity of the equipment within the Network requires that certain policies and procedures be implemented and enforced. All users who access the Network are bound by the rules set forth in this policy and subject to disciplinary action for violations of the policy.

User Accounts

Passwords

All members of the Coastal Law Community are issued a user account that enables varying degrees of access to the FCSL Network and its attached Systems. Users are responsible for all usage done under their username & password. Users should never disclose their username or password. Users should change their passwords frequently and refrain from using easily cracked password. Passwords that are easy to crack include: having your user name and password the same, pet names, spouse names, last names, etc. Passwords should have at least one (1) numerical character in them.

Privacy

Coastal Law Information Technology treats all transmissions across the Network as private; however, use of the Network and all other computing resources is done so by permission of the School and confidentiality is not guaranteed. While users may not assume absolute privacy, every effort is made to ensure it.

Network performance monitoring, server maintenance, lab cleanup, and other administrative duties may routinely compromise the supposed security of any or all data on the Network; however, such administrative duties are only performed by Coastal Law Network Engineers, and individual privacy is respected at all times. Network files, hard drives, and e-mail may also be accessed and routed by Information Technology Network Engineers in order to maintain the flow of business. No casual Network browsing or attempts to access another User’s data by any Student, Faulty, or Staff member will be tolerated. However, the network management cannot guarantee the confidentiality of any information stored on the network. Information that must remain confidential should therefore not be stored on the network. The School reserves the right to take whatever steps necessary to investigate irregular network activity, suspected violations of policy, and all other activity deemed destructive or inappropriate to the Network and its attached Systems. These steps may include direct monitoring of user account activity. Additionally, the School may access user files, including archived material of present and former employees without the user’s consent for any purpose related to maintaining the integrity of the network, or for any other reasonable business purpose.

Hacking

No User may at any time attempt to gain access to the e-mail account or files of other Users without such user’s consent. Information Technology reserves the right to monitor any file, file folder, or e-mail account suspected of being tampered with. It is entirely possible through security log files and audit logs to determine which users are accessing objects on the Network and its attached resources.

Any attempts to access data on the Network not found within a user’s personal e-mail/storage account is considered hacking. Port sniffers, packet traps, network monitoring tools, and other surveillance software and/or hardware are not permitted for use by any users other than Information Technology users.

Information Technology may use such tools in the event that Network performance needs monitoring or in the event of tracking suspected unlawful activity. Any attempts to compromise the Network and its Systems will be vigorously investigated by Coastal Law and civil/criminal charges may follow where applicable.

Electronic Mail

An e-mail account is created for each member of the Coastal Law Community. Student mailboxes are limited to 500 megabytes (MB) of data. Should your mailbox exceed 500 MB, an e-mail will automatically be sent to you informing you of the problem. Should you not reduce the size of your mailbox, you will be unable to send or receive mail until the size is below 500 MB. Make sure to delete your unwanted Sent Items and then delete your Deleted Items folder and check for large attachments – this is the main cause for bloated mailboxes.

Information Technology will not forward any Student Coastal Law mail to non-school accounts. We have made it quite easy to check mail from any computer worldwide that has Internet access via the Coastal Law web site. Missed assignments, announcements or other issues that arise from not checking your Coastal Law account are strictly the responsibility of the user.

Sending harassing, offensive, or “spam” mail is a violation of this policy. While we allow personal e-mail to be sent through the system, please remember that this account is for work/school purposes, and all mail (and other data) residing on the Network is the property of the School. Excessive incoming personal mail may be deleted to preserve optimal disk space levels.

We highly discourage subscribing to personal mailing lists and using your Coastal Law account for promotions, giveaways, sweepstakes, and other non-business related communications. Excessive amounts of mail received from such sources may be deleted without warning.

Any mail that is related to running a private business or involved in unsolicited advertising will be deleted and its sender’s e-mail privileges may be revoked. Similarly, Coastal Law does not permit the “relaying” of e-mail. Mail relaying is when mail is sent from an outside account through the school’s e-mail server for the purpose of masking who the original sender was. Coastal Law maintains Distribution Lists that enable authorized senders to send mail to a specific group of people.

Any student, Faculty, or Staff member that abuses these Distribution Lists will have their e-mail privileges revoked. This kind of solicitation unnecessarily clogs the e-mail system and frustrates users. Electronic mail is an efficient and convenient means of communication, but problems can arise when it is used without restraint and discipline.

Laptops and Personal Computers

It is recommended that incoming students purchase a suitable laptop. Many companies provide educational discounts, some common manufacturer sites are:

  • Dell
  • Apple
  • HP
  • Toshiba
  • Lenovo
  • Acer
  • Sony
  • Gateway

Information Technology will not work on personal, non-school owned computers. This policy is in effect for all Students, Faculty, and Staff. Computer Services has provided instructions for wireless, e-mail and printing only.

Due to the liability issues involved with working on personal machines, it is our policy to not to work on non-Coastal Law owned computers. This is not meant to place restrictions on members of the Community; however, factors that are not controlled by Information Technology such as: faulty phone lines, non-standard school software, out-of-date computers, pre-existing problems, sensitive data, warranty concerns, etc. make it impossible to devote the time needed to provide personal computer support.

Should your home computer be unable to access the School, you are welcome to report your difficulty to the Help Desk. Beyond performing a stability check on the network and servers, there is little else we can do to troubleshoot issues from remote locations.

Personal Property

Coastal Law employees are provided a business laptop or desktop system and access to a printer/fax/copy device. These devices are provided for all business functions and are supported and approved by Computer Services.

Personal computers or peripherals or any non-approved device shall not be allowed to be used within the business environment and/or on the Coastal Law computer network and will be removed. Departments should plan accordingly their needs and requirement and ensure those are communicated to Information Technology. Information Technology maintains an approved list of equipment allowed for purchase.

Network access for student laptops

Students wishing to access the Network via their personal laptops for use in study carrels and other Network Access Points must make an appointment via the Help Desk. Students are responsible for purchasing a card that must meet the following specifications:

  • Ethernet 10/100/1000 speed
  • PCMCIA or PC Card Type II or III (depending on your machine)
  • Built-in Wireless Standard 802.11 A/B/G/N

Not all cards are compatible with all laptops. You are responsible for contacting your manufacturer to make sure that the card you purchase will be compatible with your laptop. Once you set up an appointment with Information Technology via the Help Desk, a member of the Computer Services Team will install the Ethernet card and configure the laptop for access to the student printers and the Internet. IMPORTANT – Information Technology will not troubleshoot or repair student laptops. Should the Team member encounter unusual errors or other symptoms indicating a faulty computer, it is the responsibility of the student to have the issue repaired before attempting to make another installation appointment.

Responsibilities of Users

Computer Labs

Only current Coastal Law students and Community Access Program members are allowed to log on to the machines in the labs. Using your ID and password to log on to a computer for the sake of any person other than yourself (children, friends, etc.) will result in the revocation of your network access.

Due to the configuration of the computers, any files saved to the hard drives of these machines (the C: drive) will be PERMANENTLY ERASED upon logging off the computer. You may save your work to a personal USB storage device. E-mail storage space is intended to store your academic work and communication while enrolled. Stored items that are deemed to disrupt the Network and/or potentially cause copyright infringement will be removed. It is your responsibility to save your work often.

We recommend that you save your files after every few sentences (simply hit Ctrl+S). Also, we recommend that you save your work in two (2) places: USB storage device; Microsoft SkyDrive or a similar service.

These guideline are not meant to cause extra work for the User, rather, they may save the User from extra work should a computer emergency occur in which no backup copies of the data exist.

Please allow yourself enough time before your papers are due to compensate for any problems (either caused by you or any computer equipment) to be addressed. If you have a large paper due in the morning, it is recommended that you print it the previous day to avoid such unforeseen circumstances as long print queues, faulty disks or other time consuming emergencies.

The computer lab closes fifteen (15) minutes before the closing of the Library.

Software

Software on the network is owned by or licensed to the school and is protected by copyright and other laws, together with licenses and other contractual agreements. You agree not to make unauthorized copies of licensed software for your own use.

Coastal Law’s software policy is taken very seriously and violators of it, whether they are Faculty, Staff, or Student, will be punished. Software piracy and fraud is extremely costly to an institution’s finances and reputation.

Information Technology reserves the right to periodically run unannounced software audits of all computer systems attached to the Network. These procedures are necessary to stay within software piracy guidelines (see www.siia.net). NO PERSONAL SOFTWARE MAY BE INSTALLED ON ANY FLORIDA COASTAL SCHOOL OF LAW-OWNED COMPUTERS. All software must come through Information Technology. This includes software for which you may have extra licenses for from home computers, freeware, shareware, beta/test software and all other software not installed by a member of Computer Services. As these machines are owned by the school, Coastal Law must be the license holder. This policy is not meant to stifle productivity, rather, it is meant to respect the licensing guidelines of software manufacturers as well as reduce the burden of troubleshooting computers with non-Coastal Law standard software titles.

Financial and criminal penalties may be incurred by Coastal Law for pirated/non-licensed software. These penalties may be passed on to the offender.

Fair Use guidelines for Educational Multimedia:

The following are the high-points of how Educators may use Multimedia in the classroom and not violate copyright laws. You are encouraged to read the full text before using multimedia compilations in the classroom. The full text may be found here: http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/ccmcguid.htm

The high point sections are:

  • Preparation: 2.2 By Educators for Curriculum-Based Instruction: Educators may incorporate portions of lawfully acquired copyrighted works when producing their own educational multimedia programs for their own teaching tools in support of curriculum-based instructional activities at educational institutions.
  • Permitted Use… 3.2 Educator Use for Curriculum-Based Instruction: Educators may perform and display their own educational multimedia projects created under Section 2 for curriculum-based instruction to students in the following situations:
    • 3.2.1 for face-to-face instruction
    • 3.2.2 assigned to students for directed self-study
    • 3.2.3 for remote instruction to students enrolled in curriculum-based courses and located at remote sites, provided over the educational institution’s secure electronic network in real-time, or for after class review or directed self-study, provided there are technological limitations on access to the network and educational multimedia project (such as a password or PIN) and provided further that the technology prevents the making of copies of copyrighted material…
    • 4 Limitations—Time, Portion, Copying And Distribution The preparation of educational multimedia projects incorporating copyrighted works under Section 2, and the use of such projects under Section 3, are subject to the limitations noted below.
    • 4.1 Time Limitations Educators may use their educational multimedia projects created for educational purposes under Section 2 of these guidelines for teaching courses, for a period of up to two years after the first instructional use with a class. Use beyond that time period, even for educational purposes, requires permission for each copyrighted portion incorporated in the production. Students may use their educational multimedia projects as noted in Section 3.1.
    • 4.2 Portion Limitations Portion limitations mean the amount of a copyrighted work that can reasonably be used in educational multimedia projects under these guidelines regardless of the original medium from which the copyrighted works are taken. “In the aggregate” means the total amount of copyrighted material from a single copyrighted work that is permitted to be used in an educational multimedia project without permission under these guidelines. These limits apply cumulatively to each educator’s or student’s multimedia project(s) for the same academic semester, cycle or term. All students should be instructed about the reasons for copyright protection and the need to follow these guidelines. It is understood, however, that students in kindergarten through grade six may not be able to adhere rigidly to the portion limitations in this section in their independent development of educational multimedia projects. In any event, each such project retained under Sections 3.1 and 4.3 should comply with the portion limitations in this section.
    • 4.2.1 Motion Media Up to 10% or 3 minutes, whichever is less, in the aggregate of a copyrighted motion media work may be reproduced or otherwise incorporated as part of a multimedia project created under Section 2 of these guidelines. The low point is the definition of an Educational Institution: Educational institutions are defined as nonprofit organizations whose primary focus is supporting research and instructional activities of educators and students for noncommercial purposes. As an institution our primary focus is supporting research and instructional activities of educators and students for noncommercial purposes. We as an institution have obtained (purchased) the rights to certain motion pictures. Therefore compilations made may be used under Fair Use for two years without obtaining copyright permissions.