Tech Ethics Essay, Research Paper

Technology Ethics Unless otherwise specified, the following regulation shall apply equally to students, employees, volunteers, and contractors employed by the District. Some employees, volunteers, and contractors may have additional obligations owing to the nature of their position and/or access privileges. Vancouver Public School District’s Network (VanNet) is a combination of local and wide area networks, linking computers in all district facilities together and providing access to public networks. A prerequisite for the use of VanNet is an authorization form completed by each person requested access to VanNet. Any use without authorization is prohibited. VanNet and the messages transmitted and documents created on it are property of the District. The District will supervise the use of such property. Ethical Use Requirements: The following are the VanNet Ethical Use requirements. A copy of the requirement will be distributed to each user of VanNet. A. Network:1. The purpose of Vancouver Public School District’s Network (VanNet) is to promote the exchange of information to further education and research and is consistent with the mission of Vancouver School District. Any use of VanNet that accesses outside resources must conform to Policy 4396 and Regulation 4396 and that outside resource’s “Acceptable Use Policy.” Subscriptions to Listservs, bulletin boards, and on-line services must be pre-approved by the District. 2. The following items are prohibited:a. Any use of VanNet for illegal activity.b. Use of VanNet to access obscene or pornographic material.c. Sending material likely to be offensive or objectionable to recipient.d. Using programs that harass VanNet users or infiltrate any computing system and/or damaged the software components.e. VanNet shall not be used for private or commercial offerings of products or services for sale or to solicit products or services. B. Security — The following security provisions are required:3. Users will respect the rights, property, and confidentiality of others and will not improperly access, misappropriate or misuse the files, data or information of others.4. Users may not share their account with anyone or leave the account open or unattended.5. Users will keep all accounts and passwords confidential and not accessible to others.6. Users will change passwords regularly. Using combinations of at least 8 letters and numbers and not using standard English words and names.7. Users are responsible for making back-up copies of documents critical to them. C. Software — The following precautions are required:8. Users are responsible to take precautions to prevent viruses on their own hardware and software and Vancouver Public School’s hardware and software.9. Users shall register software with their building’s system manager.10. The illegal installation of copyrighted software or files for use on district computers is prohibited. D. E-Mail:11. E-mail is provided for the purpose of exchanging information consistent with the mission of Vancouver Public Schools. The following uses are prohibited:a. VanNet’s E-mail shall not be used for private or commercial offerings of products or services for sale or to solicit products or services.b. E-mail shall not be used for political or religious purposes.c. E-mail messages are subject to District review and deletion at any time with or without notice.d. E-mail shall not be used to broadcast messages outside a school site without prior district approval.12. Mail should be deleted regularly from an E-mail directory to conserve file space.

Violation of any of the conditions of use described in this regulation may be cause for disciplinary action. Interpretation, application and modification of this Ethical Use regulation is within the sole discretion of Vancouver Public School District. Any questions or issues regarding this policy should be directed to Vancouver Public School District administration. Copyrighted Software: Users of software shall abide by the software licensing agreement provided by the software publisher. Without notice, any equipment on the District’s property may be audited for compliance. Software privacy is the illegal use or possession of copyrighted software and is strictly prohibited. Site Licensed Software: Site licensed software is that which can be used on any equipment at the site for which the software was purchased. This software can be copied legally to equipment at the site belonging to the licensee. Unless permitted by the license, it shall not be copied to equipment not owned by the licensee. Before equipment is moved from one site to another, any site licensed software shall be removed. Network Use Software: Network use software is purchased for use by a limited number of concurrent users. This software is launched from a server, and concurrent use is regulated by server software. unless permitted by the license, this software shall not be copied off the server to individual hard drives or storage devices. Single License Software: Single license software can be owned by a school, a department or sub- organization within the District. Such software shall not be copied to multiple machines or media in violation of the license agreement. Private Owned Software: Software owned by individuals in the district may be brought into the district under the following conditions:a. The user can prove ownership.b. The user adheres to the licensing agreement for that software.c. The user has registered the software with the Software Company.d. The user has registered the software with the building’s system manager and received permission to use the software. Property Rights: The District has the right to specify who sues its hardware and software and the information contained therein, under what circumstances, and to what purposes. Hardware and software purchased by the District belongs only to the District and neither employees, volunteers, nor students in the District have ownership rights to any hardware or software loaned to them by the District. Private or personal business use of District hardware and software is strictly prohibited and will subject the violator to disciplinary action. No person shall have exclusive use of District hardware and software unless authorize by the superintendent / designee. Data Security: The District assumes no responsibility or liability if documents stored on District hardware and software are lost or damaged, nor will the District be responsible for security violations beyond the discipline of violators. False Entry/Alteration: No students, volunteers, or District employee shall make any false entry or alternation of any document, either paper or electronic, used or intended to be used in connection with the operation of any school within the District nor shall any student open or alter official school document or private documents, either paper or electronic. Guidelines: The superintendent/designee shall publish guidelines to facilitate the implementation of this regulation and related policies. Enforcement: The District shall rigorously uphold laws pertaining to the use of technology, hardware, and software and the information contained in them or generated by their use. Anyone found to be violating such laws shall be subject to suit for civil damaged discipline by the District.