It is the policy of Marietta College to maintain access for the campus community to local, national and international sources of information and to provide an atmosphere that encourages access to knowledge and sharing of information.

It is also the policy of the College that information resources will be used by members of the campus community with respect for the public trust which they have been provided and in accordance with policies and regulations established from time to time by the College, its operating units, and appropriate legal authorities. This includes the campus code and/or creed, the Sexual and Discriminatory Harassment policy, the law of intellectual property, including copyright, GLBA, FERPA, HIPAA, and all other policies which govern campus life. The CIO is responsible for coordination, implementation, and enforcement of security and use policies.

Employees may not use Marietta College Internet, email, or other electronic communications or devices to transmit, retrieve or store any communications or other content of a defamatory, discriminatory, harassing or pornographic nature. No messages with derogatory or inflammatory remarks about an individual’s race, age, disability, religion, national origin, physical attributes, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or preferences may be transmitted.

Investigations performed by the Marietta College Police Department or as the result of a Title IX complaint may require the transmission, retrieval or storage of communications that are of a sensitive nature and are permitted, only as necessary during this process. This information should be treated at confidential and stored appropriately.

Academic freedom can involve research of topics that could be controversial, including but not limited to war, crime and violence, human trafficking, the death penalty, child, domestic, and sexual abuse, and individuals who are infamous for their crimes; these and other subjects might include disturbing or adult images. Justifiable use of these materials is limited to teaching or research.

In accordance with the above policies, the following guidelines, which are not to be considered exhaustive, have been established for general Internet and e-mail usage.

1. Any member of the Marietta College community-student, faculty, and staff-may request and obtain an e-mail and network account while that person is an eligible member of the college community. "Eligible" is defined to mean that the person is a current student, or currently employed faculty or staff person, or retired staff or faculty. This status is reflected in the college's administrative database. Once a person ceases to be an eligible member of the Marietta College community that person's e-mail account will be disabled. In some cases, accounts may be continued as guest accounts.
2. By agreeing to hold an e-mail account at Marietta College, the user agrees to hold Marietta College harmless for any detriment that may accrue when that account is suspended and/or deleted. It is understood that account holders will use their Marietta College e-mail to further their educational objectives at Marietta College, and will not use their accounts to further commerce in any substantial fashion.
3. Access to the Internet through Marietta College is a privilege, not a right. Any user, who, without authorization, accesses, uses, destroys, alters, prevents rightful access to or otherwise interferes with the integrity of computer-based information or information resources obtained through the Internet has engaged in unethical and unacceptable conduct. The user is therefore open to forfeiture of the Internet account and/or disciplinary action by the College and/or appropriate legal authorities according to already established procedures.
4. It is the responsibility of all individuals to guard against abuses of the Internet. These include, but are not limited to, keeping your password confidential, changing your password regularly, respecting the privacy of others, complying with legal protection provided by copyright and licensing of programs, and complying with all state and federal laws governing information technology.
5. While Marietta College endeavors to respect the privacy of users of its computing and networking resources and does not routinely inspect or monitor use of these resources, there can be no guarantee of the security or privacy of your use of the same. By using these resources, users consent in advance to any monitoring, inspection, interception and retrieval of information stored or transmitted on them without prior notice in accordance with College policy and applicable law. Use may be monitored, inspected, intercepted and retrieved WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE PROVOST OR PRESIDENT when:
• Necessary to maintain or protect the College's computing or networking resources.
• Activity from an account prevents access to computing or networking resources by others.
• General usage patterns indicate that an account is responsible for activity that appears illegal or in violation of College policy.
• There are reports of violations of policy or law taking place.
• It appears necessary to do so to protect the College from liability.
• It is required or permitted by law.
6. The provisions of this paragraph do not apply to the day to day systems monitoring performed by authorized network administrators.
7. Marietta College encourages open and active participation on the Internet by individuals. This participation may take such forms as private consultations with colleagues, postings to lists or bulletin boards, and/or postings to personal home pages on the Internet. At no time may the user present him or herself as a representative of Marietta College unless given explicit written permission, nor does the College accept any responsibility for the contents of such communications.
8. Servers (or any network device that will be used by more than one user) must not be installed on the Marietta College Network without the individual first applying to the Chief Information Officer and obtaining written permission. Whenever such permission is given, the CIO must be provided with root access at all times and will specify in writing the constraints under which the server will operate. The decision of the CIO to grant or withhold permission is final. The CIO has the option of removing a device from the network without providing notice.

Marietta College maintains a campus network to support and enhance the academic and administrative needs of our students, faculty, staff and other campus users. The college is required by Federal Law - H.R. 4137, Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) - to make an annual disclosure informing students that illegal distribution of copyrighted materials may lead to civil and/or criminal penalties. Also, the HEOA requires institutions to take steps to detect and punish users who illegally distribute copyrighted materials. The college must certify to the Secretary of Education that a policy is in place. Finally, the HEOA requires the college to provide alternatives to illegal file sharing.

All users are encouraged to check the list of Alternatives to Illegal Downloading.

Although the HEOA makes reference only to students using Peer-to-Peer, this policy applies to all Marietta College network users. The College reserves the right to suspend or terminate network access to any campus user if the violation is deemed severe. Likewise, network access may be suspended if any use is impacting the operations of the network. Violations may be reported to appropriate authorities for criminal or civil prosecution.

First Violation

The first time a report of distributing or downloading copyrighted files is received, the person who was using the computer at the given time is notified by the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the violation via an email sent to their campus email address. The user must respond within two business days.

If the user does not respond within two business days the user's network access is suspended (the user's network connection is disabled) immediately and until the situation is resolved. E-mail and other accounts are not disabled. The user is required to submit a signed Technology Copyright Violation Certification Page that states that the user understands copyright issues and the ramifications of a subsequent offense or to demonstrate that the notification was unwarranted. Network access will be restored no sooner than two business days after receipt of the certification page. The CIO will send notifications via email of violations to the appropriate vice president, dean, supervisor, sponsor and/or other appropriate personnel. Users who receive notifications of copyright violations are strongly encouraged to review the educational materials located at the campus web-site.

If the user feels the warning is erroneous, he/she must show evidence to the CIO that the file(s) was used legally or was not copyrighted. Notifications of all violations will be maintained by Information Technology. If any notification is shown to be unwarranted, no record of the violation notification is retained.

Second Violation

If a second notification of violation is received, network access shall be suspended immediately. The user is again informed of the violation by email from the CIO. Second violations involving students are forwarded to the Student Conduct Board and those involving faculty or staff are referred to the Human Resources Office. Human Resources will notify the appropriate Cabinet officer of the violation. Network access is not restored, if at all, until the case is ruled on by Student Conduct Board, or reviewed and decided by the appropriate Cabinet officer and the Director of Human Resources. The Student Conduct Board or the Cabinet officer can impose whatever sanctions - including termination of network access; probation, suspension, expulsion (for students); or disciplinary action (for faculty and staff) - as deemed appropriate.

The existence and imposition of Marietta College sanctions do not protect members of the campus community from any legal action by external entities or the college itself.