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By Sally Hritz and Bob Kalal

The return to campus for autumn quarter presents an excellent opportunity to remind the entire community—students, faculty and staff—to use the university’s computing and technology resources in a safe and responsible manner. Safe and responsible use applies in many ways, some more obvious than others. Here are some helpful guidelines:

• Remember that while the rights of academic freedom and freedom of expression apply to the use of university computing resources, there are also responsibilities and limitations associated with those rights. The use of Ohio State’s computing resources, as with any other university-provided resource and university-related activity, is subject to the normal requirements of legal and ethical behavior within the university community. Get more information.
  


• Respect the intellectual property rights of others and observe copyright laws. Do not break these laws by sharing, copying or downloading copyrighted music, video files or software without the proper rights or permission. The industries that produce computer software, music and video media have begun taking serious legal action against offenders and are seeking harsh and costly penalties in some cases. If you engage in these activities, you may subject yourself, and perhaps your family and the university, to lawsuits, fines, and other penalities. In addition, since these activities violate university policy, you may also be subject to disciplinary action by Ohio State if any university resources such as lab computers or the campus network are used. Get more information.
  


• Use only your fair and equitable share of limited technology resources (e.g., network bandwidth, lab computers, and e-mail storage on central servers). Get more information.
  


• Take steps to protect yourself from unwanted commercial e-mail, usually called spam. Get more information.
  


• To protect yourself and the integrity of the campus network and resources, do not share any of your computer passwords and do change them regularly. Get tips here on creating a good password and changing the password associated with your OSU Internet Username.
  


• To help protect the university community against computer viruses and other malicious software, install antivirus software on your computer and regularly update it. Even with antivirus software installed, do not open unknown and unexpected e-mail attachments. To get more information and to download OSU's current antivirus software at no charge, go to Software Downloads.
  


• To protect your important computer disk files, make second copies on separate media such as CDs or Zip disks and store them in a cool place away from your primary computer location. Keep Zip disks away from magnets.
  


• To guard your privacy and physical safety, be very careful how you use your personal information such as username and password, social security and credit card numbers, home address and phone number in public online forums such as web sites, chat rooms, mailing lists and newsgroups. Remember that the note or information you post to a web site or newsgroup today may be permanently accessible by anyone anywhere in the world and may be easily found using a common search engine such as Google.
  


• Refrain from online harassment, slander and libel in e-mail, chat rooms, mailing lists and newsgroups. Such activity could result in penalities under state and federal laws as well as disciplinary action by the university. If you feel you are being harassed, report it to University Police. Call 911 in emergencies and 292-2121 in non-emergency situations or go to the University Police web site.
  

More information on many of these topics is available in Ohio State’s “Policy on Responsible Use of University Computing Resources.” This document covers the appropriate use of computing resources as well as rights, responsibilities, security, and privacy issues. The web version also includes links to information on related issues such as copyrights and intellectual property, libel, slander, electronic privacy, computer abuse laws, and a set of frequently asked questions.

If you have additional questions on any of these topics, contact the OIT Technical Support Center/Help Desk. Look up your problem any time on the Help Desk web site or send e-mail, or call 688-HELP (TDD: 688-8743) and talk to an agent during open hours from Mondays through Fridays 7 am to 10 pm, and Sundays 4 to 10 pm.

The university now has a new web site on safe computing practices at safecomputing.osu.edu.