Information Access and User Policy

Section 5.E – Information Access and User Policy

Electronic mail, information passing over the College network, and information stored in user accounts are considered to be private and confidential. Although this type of information must be accessed by system personnel for the purpose of backups, network management, etc., the content of user files and network transmissions will not be viewed, monitored, or altered without the express permission of the user except in the following circumstances:

1. The College has reason to believe that an account or system has been breached and is being used by someone other than the authorized user;
2. The College has received a complaint that an account or system is being used to gain unauthorized access or to attempt to gain unauthorized access to another network site, or;
3. The College has reason to believe that an account or system is being used in violation of College policy, State Law, or Federal law.
4. The Library Services staff has reason to believe that the patron in the Library Services is using the Internet inappropriately.

Under these circumstances, the President or the President’s designee may authorize staff to monitor the activities of a specified account or computer system, and to search electronic information stored in that account. The authority for this search must be requested on an account-by-account basis and monitoring will be restricted to the specified account. If this search provides evidence of violation, the account may be disabled, and action will be taken with appropriate authorities.

(approved July 16, 2018)