University computer users form a group whose members communicate and work with one another via open and accessible computer systems. You are about to become a member of that community. Like any social community, however, we must temper this openness and accessibility with good judgment and respect for others' rights and property. To preserve the rights of others, as well as protecting your own, we ask that you follow some rules, as outlined in this document.

The University of California is an educational, research, and service institution. This policy seeks to further University goals in that regard. The policy is consistent with Federal, State, local and University regulations, and should not be misconstrued to violate or override any higher law or statute. Users are expected to abide by the rules of all higher authorities.

We ask that you follow the spirit as well as the letter of these rules. Use your good judgment and restraint, and show respect for your fellow computer users.

This policy applies to you when you make use of any computer system, network system or other data pro cessing equipment or facilities owned by the College of Engineering. It also applies to you when you use a remote computer system or public information service via the College of Engineering infrastructure, or if you use College of Engineering systems by accessing them from a remote device.

We support academic integrity and intellectual property rights. Any use of our computers to commit an act of academic dishonesty, or to plagiarize or misrepresent another's intellectual property is a violation of this policy.

If data, computer programs or network transmissions are found to be in violation of these rules, then both the author and the instigator of the program, data or transmission are considered to be in violation of these rules. In essence, you are responsible for the behavior of any program you author or invoke, and any data you create, access, store or transmit.

At the system administrators' discretion, we may also enforce the policies of other organizations, when you access their computer systems via our infrastructure. Your actions reflect on the College of Engineering and your department, and so we ask that you respect other organizations' wishes while in their domain.

Unless otherwise stated, or governed by prior copyright, all data housed on our computers is copyright the University of California and/or its authoring members. You may not duplicate or redistribute this data with out explicit permission. College of Engineering members creating intellectual work on College of Engineering computers should refer to University policies when determining whether they or the University own the copyright to that material. Please note that, under most circumstances, intellectual work created by University faculty and staff is copyright and belongs to the University.

The College of Engineering does everything it can to protect its users and systems. However, computers are never completely secure or stable. We are not responsible for any loss of data or privacy, no matter the cause.

Within the bounds of Federal, State and University regulations, the faculty and staff are the final judges of whether a violation has occurred, and what kind of action, if any, will be taken.

Actions may include:

- reduction or deletion of account privileges

- a report to the Dean of Students and a mark on the student's record

- a report to the Personnel Office

- additional recourse as mandated by the department chair, including suspension or expulsion from the Department

- additional recourse as mandated by University officials, including suspension or expulsion from the University

- where appropriate, Federal and State prosecution.

In addition, a system administrator may temporarily revoke or suspend user privileges in order to preserve system security, whether or not the user was involved in a violation. Locking an intruder out of our system sometimes means locking out the account they "hijacked" or "hacked."

By California law, all data housed on University computers is a matter of public record, and therefore not private. Furthermore, the system administrators reserve the right to view, alter, copy, delete, or transfer files as necessary, to protect the system, our users' rights and privileges, perform our job duties, and further the mission of the University; should such actions be necessary, all materials will be kept private and undamaged to the greatest extent possible. Academic or professional work will not be obstructed without grave cause. We suggest that you not house private or sensitive materials on any University computer.

Your constitutional right to free speech is guaranteed no matter what medium you use for discourse. Please note that this right is abridged by harassment laws, community standards, and other regulations. Freedom of speech does not constitute freedom of resources, or free access to resources.

The College of Engineering designates as its members College of Engineering faculty and staff, students at major, pre-major or graduate status. Only members of the College of Engineering, other University members enrolled in College of Engineering classes, or specifically invited guests may have access to our computer systems, with the following exceptions:

o Any person may connect to our public World Wide Web server via the standard mechanism, and view files. Persons may not view files to which their access has been denied according to the server's configuration. They may not write or "put" files. Unless otherwise stated, all materials therein are copyright the University of California and its appropriate members. Unless otherwise stated, permission is granted to redistribute those materials without alteration and so long as the College of Engineering and appropriate members are credited with authorship.

o Any person may connect to our public FTP server via the standard mechanism, and view files. Persons may not view files to which their access has been denied according to the server's configuration. They may not write or "put" files unless given permission by a faculty member and cleared with a system administrator. Unless otherwise stated, all materials therein are copyright the College of Engineering and its appropriate members. Unless otherwise stated, permission is granted to redistribute those materials without alteration and so long as the College of Engineering and appropriate members are credited with authorship.

Any other access is unauthorized. Unauthorized access to computers is prohibited by California law. Additionally, departments within the College of Engineering may have their own access requirements for their computers.

Accounts may have their login privileges temporarily suspended if the account is deemed to be inactive. For example, many undergraduate accounts are inactive over the summer. Inactive accounts pose a security risk, in that the account's owner is not available on a regular basis to see if an intruder has altered his account.

When your status with the department changes unexpectedly, for example if you change your major, drop out of a College of Engineering course while majoring in another field, or cease your business as an invited guest, you must immediately inform the College of Engineering and your department. A change of status may remove your authorization for an account on College of Engineering computers.

By University policy, all student materials must be removed from storage facilities by the end of the quarter in which the student became ineligible to use the facility. This includes data, so please remove your files from your account before it is closed. We will not restore materials damaged or deleted after account expiration.

Your account must be used only for academic purposes, unless you have the written permission of a faculty or staff member of your department. The College of Engineering recognizes that exploration and recreation are part of the learning process. Nevertheless, we will not support excessive use of an account for storage of personal documents or software, single- or multi-player gaming, Internet exploration or personal correspondence, or any other activity not related to school work for the College of Engineering.

Use of an account for commercial purposes, for profit-making, for political campaigning for offices outside the College of Engineering, or lobbying is prohibited without exception.

You may not use the account of another person, nor allow them to use yours. You may log in only under your user name. You may not give your password to another person, or publish it in any manner. Causing another to gain unauthorized or fraudulent access to a computer is a violation of California law. Publicizing or trafficking in access keys is a violation of Federal and State law.

You may not repeatedly exceed your disk quota or print quota, even if electronic enforcement is not in place. On Unix systems, you can review your quota with the quota -v command. Except when they were running on personal or research laboratory workstations, you must terminate all your running processes when you logout, and must verify that they have ended properly, unless the system administrator has given you permission otherwise. On Unix systems, this means you must use the kill -9 command on any runaway processes, and you may not utilize the nohup command. In general, you may not monopolize network bandwidth, processor cycles, printer paper or other system resources. Preventing or degrading other users' access to computer resources is a violation of California law.

Restoration of files will be made at the system administrator's discretion, though we will seek to accommodate. Restoration is a tedious process, and we ask that you consider reconstructing the file yourself. Requests for data restoration should be sent to help@engineering.ucsb.edu, or to the appropriate address in your department if you are using a department facility. The College of Engineering is not responsible for damage or loss of data.

You may not view, copy, transfer, alter or make publicly available the files, printouts or computer processes of another user unless you have their oral or written permission. The fact that the system allows you to access a file does not necessarily mean that you have permission to access it. Unauthorized use or perusal of computer data is a violation of California law.

Tampering with system files and exploring, compromising, breeching or altering system security will not be tolerated. Unauthorized logins and altering of data is a violation of California law. Tampering with electronic mail is unacceptable, and may constitute a Federal or State offense.

Using computer resources to harass, assault, slander or libel another person, sexually or otherwise, is untenable, and may constitute a violation of University policy and State laws. Harassment may include correspond ing with another when you have no University business with them and they have asked you to cease, regardless of the nature of correspondence. Public display of offensive materials in any medium is considered harassment.

In the modern world, you needn't always sit down in front of a particular computer in order to use it. Computers can be accessed from many different points. For the remainder of this section we will refer to a com puter access point as a "seat." A "seat" may be a keyboard, a screen, a lab chair, a modem, a TCP/IP port, or any other method for gaining access to computer resources.

You may not bring food or drink into College of Engineering laboratories. You may not bring animals or park vehicles, including bicycles. You may not vandalize fixtures or computing equipment. You may not tamper with physical security systems, such as alarms or locks.

You must maintain an environment in the labs conducive to academic study. Distractions such as loud conversation, rough-housing or playing sound files are not appreciated.

Except when working on personal or research lab workstations, you may not leave a "seat" idle for more than 5 minutes. For example, you may not lock a screen or camp onto a modem while you go to lunch.

You must relinquish a "seat" to someone with an immediate academic purpose, if you yourself do not have one, and no other "seats" are available. For example, if you are exploring the Internet or reading mail from a friend, and another person has to finish a programming assignment, you must relinquish your "seat" to them.

You must follow the direction of a system administrator or lab monitor.

Harassment, assault, slander or libel of other lab users, sexual or otherwise, will not be tolerated.

This policy is copyright the University of California, and is in effect until users are otherwise notified. This policy may change without notice, and you are encouraged to look frequently for updates.

The computer support committee of the ECE department empowers the manager or authorized deputy of the ECE Information Technology Support group to take appropriate actions regarding network activity up to temporary disconnection of services to ensure fair use of the network resources by all members of the department. Notification of the associated PI or staff member should occur if possible before services are suspended to reduce the risk of damaged experiment as members of the department actively research in these areas. Beyond these temporary actions, the computer support committee must be notified of the problem so that new policy can be formulated in specific instances.

© Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering