File Sharing Policy
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) vigorously pursue infringements of copyrights owned by their individual members, as is their right under the U.S. Copyright Law.
Downloading
copyrighted
music and
movies from
the Internet
to your own
personal
computer
without
permission
of the
copyright
owner is
illegal and
a violation
of the law;
and strictly
forbidden on
Because of the illegality of sharing copyrighted material without permission, and the negative impact on network Peer-2-Peer programs such as Kazaa, Limewire, Morpheus, BearShare, etc is prohibited on the Columbia College network. If this type of activity is discovered, or reported by outside agencies such as the RIAA, the network connection to the suspected computer will be terminated immediately. The student will receive a letter indicating this is what happened. A copy of the letter will be sent to Judicial Services, who will follow the appropriate procedures, see Student Handbook.
It is the student's responsibility to remove the offending file share program and to prove this has been done, in order to regain access to the Columbia College Network. The student should contact Information Technology (IT) at 786-3007 to schedule an appointment to verify the removal of the offending program. This process could take several weeks, during which time the student will be without an internet connection in their residence hall room. In some cases this will affect all the students in that room. It is important for you to remove these programs and materials immediately from your computer in order to avoid consequences of having your network connection disabled, or worse to be sued by the RIAA or MPAA.
Email Policy
Columbia College Email
Email is considered an official method of communication at Columbia College. Columbia College email provides easy communication among students, faculty, and staff. It delivers information in a convenient, timely, and cost effective manner. The Columbia College email system is intended to meet academic and administrative needs of the campus community.
Assignment of Student Email accounts
Columbia College provides an email account to all enrolled students at the college. Students have access to their Columbia College email from both on and off campus. Accounts are created by the Columbia College Computer Services Department.
Email limits
Student email boxes are limited to 20 Megs of disk space. If that limit is reached incoming mail will be delivered but no outgoing messages will be allowed until old messages are deleted.
Expiration of Accounts
Accounts will expire 3 months from the day a student is no longer enrolled at Columbia College
Accessing Columbia College email
Students can access their Columbia College email via the internet at http://webmail.colacoll.edu.
Faculty/Staff Expectations and Educational use of Email
Email and distribution lists are communication tools for Columbia College Faculty and Staff to post news, activities and announcements related to the Columbia College Community. Faculty members will determine how email is used in their classes and may require students to use their email for example the class syllabus may be posted and/or assignments may be sent out via email.
Expectations Regarding Student Email
All students are required to check their Columbia College email on a frequent and consistent basis in order to stay current with college-related communications. Students have the responsibility to recognize that certain communications are time-critical and not checking their email is not an acceptable excuse for missing official college communications via email.
Authentication and confidential information
No one is to use email to impersonate a College office, faculty/staff member or student. To minimize the risk all email accounts are password protected. Passwords should be changed on a regular basis and kept confidential.
Appropriate use of Email
All use of email will be consistent to other Columbia College policies including Columbia Colleges Appropriate use of Information Technology resources.
All use of email will be consistent with local, state, and federal laws.
Prohibited use of Email
The Columbia College email system is not to be used for the following:
-
Personal gain
-
Chain letters
-
Solicitations for contributions for non-college sponsored entities
-
“Pyramid schemes”
-
Harassment of an individual or organization
-
Any illegal activity or unlawful purpose
*No one should intercept or receive, and/or view another individual’s email without that user’s consent.
The misuse of the Columbia College email system will be disciplined by the appropriate College oversight body. Penalties range from verbal or written denial to access campus computer resources, to suspension or dismissal from the College.
Columbia College distribution lists
Individual Students do not have access to send email messages to the College distribution lists. However, Students and Student Organizations can have messages sent via their advisor. The advisor must approve and send the requested messages. All messages sent to distribution lists must be associated with official College activities and programs.