Network Acceptable Use Policy
The Allan and Maria Myers Academic Centre St Mary’s College and Newman College Network Acceptable Use Policy.
Network Acceptable Use Policy
Rationale:
The purpose of this policy is to encourage acceptable and beneficial use of IT infrastructure and resources by all members of the College community to uphold the values outlined below.
St Mary’s and Newman College’s recognise the importance of demonstrating respect for the dignity of each person and creating an environment where a sense of belonging for all is experienced. These aspirations are central to the wellbeing of members of our community.
Principles:
The following principles pertain to any member or guest of the community using the service.
1. Network Connection
1.1. You must ensure that every device is appropriately protected against use by anyone other than yourself and that its operation follows the principles of this policy.
1.2. Every computer or device connected to the Network must only use the configuration setting assigned to it by the St Mary’s Newman Academic Centre (“centre”) network. This includes a unique IP address and a network mask. These settings are provided automatically by the centre’s DHCP server. Under no circumstances must an IP address other than the one issued for that computer be used with that computer, not even for a brief test.
1.3. You must not configure your IP address manually. Every computer or device must be set to obtain an IP address automatically from the centre’s DHCP server.
2. Security and Duty of Care
2.1.You are prohibited from the transmission or re-transmission of copyright- infringing material, offensive or defamatory material, indecent images/videos and unsolicited advertising material. The centre also puts restrictions on any activity which wastes IT staff time or network resources, which corrupts or destroys other users’ work or data, or violates the privacy of others.
2.2. If you become aware that facilities are being used by any person to infringe the intellectual property rights of another person, or that the effect of any use of any facilities is to infringe such rights, you must notify your College head immediately.
2.3. If you become aware that facilities are being used by any person to infringe the privacy rights of another person, or that the effect of any use of any facilities is to
infringe such rights, you must notify your College head immediately.
2.4. You are prohibited from deliberately or recklessly creating, transmitting, storing, downloading, or displaying any offensive or menacing images, data or other material, or any data capable of being resolved into such images or material, except in the case of the appropriate use of facilities for properly supervised University work or study purposes.
2.5. You must take reasonable security measures to keep your computer or devices secure from network attacks. In particular, you must apply all security updates available for your operating system, hardware and application programs as soon as possible.
2.6. You should install and activate security software such as Antivirus, Antispyware, and a firewall software.
2.7. You are not permitted to install any software on your computer or a device which provides some form of service to other users on the network, for example
a web server or a music/video distribution service.
2.8. You must not activate any network service like a proxy-ARP function or DHCP server that offers IP addresses to other devices on the College
network.
2.9. You must not install or use any network-probing or port-scanning software.
3. Network Use and Violations
3.1. Excessive use of the network can cause network congestion, which affects others use of the network. You are therefore asked to keep network traffic to
reasonable levels. Downloading/streaming videos, playing games on the Internet and video calls are the most common examples network use which can
lead to excessive use.
3.2. If you consistently show excessive levels of bandwidth use, you will be alerted to this by your College head or their delegate and asked to explain your use. If the
explanation is deemed not satisfactory or if there is doubt about your ability or willingness to reduce your bandwidth use, the College head reserves the right to
block you from the network for a period to be determined by the College head.
3.3. The centre may also take measures to prevent network congestion which may involve readjusting the Internet access speed for all users.
4. The use of the Centre’s network infrastructure and internet service must also be in
accord with the Fair Treatment Policy & Procedures which as a student of your
college you have agreed to abide by and accept.
Your metadata is collected and may be used in the management of this policy. In the event of serious or repeated violations of this policy the matter will be referred to your College head for resolution. In such a case, a deactivated or reduced network connection will not be restored until the Head of College has decided that the matter
has been resolved.