Electronic Mail, Internet, and Computer Usage Policy

ELECTRONIC MAIL, INTERNET AND COMPUTER USAGE POLICY

NLC has established this policy to ensure that NLC employees, students, and all others who use the electronic mail (“e-mail”) system, connections to the Internet and the computer systems in an efficient, ethical, and lawful manner. This policy applies to both internal and external e-mail, and it applies to all usages of the e-mail system, the Internet and the computer systems by employees, students, or others, whether on campus or at any remote location. NLC reserves the right to change this policy as circumstances and experience require. Employees, students, and other users will be notified promptly of any changes.

1. The primary purpose of the e-mail system, the Internet connections and the computer systems provided to employees, students, and other users by NLC is to facilitate NLC business. Limited personal use of the e-mail system, the Internet and computer systems is permitted, so long as it is kept to a minimum, complies with NLC policies, and does not delay or disrupt NLC. NLC reserves the right to revoke or limit the e-mail, Internet and computer privileges of any employee, student or other user for excessive personal use of these resources, or for any other infraction of these policies.

2. Access to the e-mail system, the Internet connections and the computer systems provided by NLC, by any person, other than employees and students, must be expressly authorized by the President or the Director of Human Resources.

3. If an employee, student, or other user is authorized to access NLC computer systems, including its e-mail system and Internet connections, from remote locations, the employee, student, or other user may not share his or her password or permit unauthorized persons, including fellow employees or students, to gain access to the NLC e-mail system, Internet connections or computer systems for any reason.

4. Employees, students, and other users are responsible for all activity attributable to their accounts. For example, all e-mail sent from an individual's account goes out under that individual's “signature”; and all sites visited on the Internet under an individual's address will bear that address. For this reason, employees, students, and other users should not share their system or e-mail passwords with anyone, including fellow employees, except to the extent directed by a supervisor. For the same reason, employees, students, and other users should log out of the system when they are not in active use.

5. A record is created each time an employee, student, or other user composes, sends, or receives an e-mail message. All users should be aware that an e-mail message may remain on the system even after it is sent, read, or deleted, and that it will be preserved on the backup tapes made routinely by NLC. If a user does not wish an e-mail message to be forwarded, he or she must write, “DO NOT FORWARD” at the beginning of the message. However, this notation does not guarantee confidentiality, as any message may be wrongly addressed, or inadvertently forwarded, copied, or printed. Users must therefore use the same care in drafting e-mail messages as they would in composing a memo, note, or other permanent writing.

6. Employees, students, and others using the NLC e-mail systems, Internet connections and computer systems do not have a personal privacy right in their use of these systems. No privacy or confidentiality can be expected in any e-mail message, even if the message is marked “personal” or “confidential.” Nor may users encrypt any e-mail message (allow it to be read only with the use of a special password). Similarly, use of the Internet is not private. For each user, the computer systems may track the date and time of the Internet connection, the sites visited, and the length of time spent at each site. The use of personal passwords or other security devices is not intended to convey any expectation of privacy; these devices are merely intended to protect the system against outside intruders.

7. NLC reserves the right to monitor usage of the e-mail systems (including the right to audit any messages composed, sent, or received), Internet connections and computer systems for compliance with these policies and for administrative, business, or legal reasons. Employees, students, and other users should be aware that computer files -- including e-mail and material downloaded from the Internet -- are, like all paper documents, subject to disclosure and review by outside parties during the course of a legal or other dispute or investigatory proceeding. Therefore, employees, students, and other users should use the same care in drafting e-mail or other computer communications as they would be in any written communication. For example, employees, students, and other users should not make statements in e-mails that would not reflect favorably on themselves or NLC if disclosed in litigation or another matter.

8. NLC will, on a regular basis, permanently erase all e-mail messages that have been marked for deletion. Except for those e-mail messages that, for business reasons, must be retained for extended periods, users of e-mail should, on a regular basis, delete stored messages and should dispose of hard copy in the same way they would dispose of other business papers. In addition, NLC regularly will erase all e-mail messages stored in a user’s general “mailbox” and “sent folder” for more than six months, whether they have been marked for deletion or not.

9. The NLC e-mail system, Internet connections and computer systems must not be used in an inappropriate manner or in a manner disruptive to the work of any employee or student. “Mass mailings” that are not related to NLC business require express authorization from the President or Director of Human Resources. Other examples of inappropriate or disruptive uses include, but are not limited to, use of these resources for any commercial ventures or for personal profit, or any excessive personal use.

10. The NLC e-mail system, Internet connections and computer systems must not be used in an offensive or unlawful manner. In general, material -- including language, pictures, video, and sound -- that would be offensive in person is equally offensive when depicted on a computer screen, contained in an e-mail message, or posted on an electronic bulletin board. Offensive uses of these resources include, but are not limited to, viewing or sending sexually explicit or obscene material, using these resources to threaten, defame, or harass any person, or to view or send material that disparages any person on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, age, religion, gender, or disability.

11. Employees, students, and other users must obtain permission from the Director of Human Resources before downloading any software from the Internet, to ensure that the software is compatible with the NLC system, and that the system remains operational, efficient, and free of viruses.

12. Under no circumstances may users install, download or otherwise transmit any copyrighted material through the NLC computer systems. This prohibition applies to graphics, text, or sound accessible through the Internet, and to “pirated” software (that is, software for which NLC does not own a license), regardless of its source. Software that users load onto the NLC computer systems is “pirated” even if the user personally owns a license for it.

13. Users may not transmit any NLC confidential or trade secret materials via e-mail or the Internet or post any such materials to any listserv news group, bulletin board, chat room or other interactive area of the Internet.

14. Users must not monitor or access messages not sent to or intended for them, or attempt to do so, without express permission from the intended recipient or the President or the Director of Human Resources. In addition, users are prohibited from using the system to access NLC files they are not authorized to access (e.g., personnel files, payroll records, etc.) and are prohibited from using the system to engage in so-called “hacking,” that is, gaining unauthorized access to any computer, server, file or any similar device not belonging to NLC.

15. NLC will not assume any liability for any claim, suit, criminal prosecution, or judgment against a user of e-mail or of the Internet because of any improper action by that user during the course of such use. If NLC is required to pay money damages in connection with any misuse of the system by any employee or other user, it reserves the right to recover such damages from the responsible employee or other user.

16. Any employee, student or other user who uses the e-mail system in an inappropriate, disruptive, offensive, or unlawful manner, or who otherwise violates this policy, shall be subject to discipline up to and including discharge or expulsion.

17. If any employee, student or other user has questions regarding the interpretation or application of this policy to a particular use of the system, he or she should seek authorization prior to so using the system, by speaking with the Director of Human Resources.

18. Any complaints about unlawful, improper, or inappropriate use of e-mail (including receipt of such material) should be reported promptly to the Director of Human Resources.

Revised: September 2005