Misuse of Technology

Some institutions are providing policy involving appropriate technology usage. According to the University of Central Florida Golden Rule,
“Users shall not use university computing resources to impersonate another individual. All e-mail messages must correctly identify the sender. Users shall not modify the original attribution of e-mail messages Users shall not send anonymous e-mail messages. Users shall not use the university’s computing resources or telecommunication networks to send e-mail "spam". For the purposes of this document e-mail shall include postings to newsgroups and listservs, point-to-point messages such as those generated by Internet pagers including ICQ, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Pager, etc., or any electronic messages involving computers and/or computer networks. ”
Appropriate use of technology may range from downloads, such as MP3’s or pornography, use of e-mail, and instant messenger services. The newest wave of disciplinary files in higher education deal with such misuse of technology. Institutions are able to monitor ports on campus and determine the source of illegal downloads. Some institutions are coping with this by installing a “firewall”- a program designed to keep people on particular computers or networks from illegal downloads.
Other disciplinary issues include a new form of harassment: cyber-stalking, harassing e-mails and instant messages, e-mail spams and bombs. Recent case law is being incorporated into federal and state law regarding this technologically enhanced form of harassment, and there are numerous resources on this available on the internet.
Colleges and universities must keep current on technology-based case law. The newest example is a case determining student e-mails to faculty and staff as official educational records, and therefore protected by the Family Education Right to Privacy Act (FERPA). The significance is in the fact that students may be assured that e-mails (absent of anything against policy such as threat or harassment) to faculty and administration are protected from public record.
A simple search on findlaw.com uncovered a wealth of information pertaining to online harassment and misuse of technology. As long as institutions maintain policy which parallels public law, and community standards are set for cyberspace, liability goes down, and administrators can focus their efforts on other issues.
Resources

http://www.ucf.edu/goldenrule/conduct.html

http://www.findlaw.com/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/frompost/nov98/email01.htm

http://www.e-lawconsultant.com/cybercrime/index.shtml

http://www.cyberangels.org/