Monitoring Of Electronic Communications

Purpose

 This purpose of this policy is to delineate the proper use and monitoring of electronic communications.

Policy Statement
Most information (including email and other communications and records of account usage) stored on college property legally constitutes public records and is accessible as such to any person at any time. 

Applies to
This policy applies to all members of the Bridgewater State College Community. This policy does not supersede any existing College policy.

Responsibilities
The College and its employees must treat information as confidential only if and to the extent that it does not constitute a public record, provided always that the College need not treat any information as confidential if the person whose confidential information it is (including any person to whom a communication has been transmitted) discloses it or otherwise disclaims its confidential nature.

The College shall not, in an arbitrary manner, selectively record or monitor the information transmitted or stored by its employees. Nothing in this undertaking shall:

  • constitute the College as the guarantor of the privacy of any such information;
  • prohibit the College from having access to such information in order, in accordance with its acceptable use policy, to (i) back up and maintain the functionality of its electronic communications systems, (ii) enforce any lawful prohibition against the use of such systems for personal or commercial purposes, (iii) prevent or investigate unauthorized access to such systems, (iv) enforce any requirements of law, and (v) enforce any software or other licensing agreements or copyrights;
  • prohibit the College from having access to such information in order to comply with a subpoena lawfully issued and enforceable, to comply with a request for public records under the Public Records Act, or to comply with any like order or requirement of law;
  • prohibit the College from installing "spam" filters, firewalls, virus detectors or any like software or equipment that limits the use of or a access to its electronic communications systems;
  • prohibit the College from monitoring and logging usage data on a routine basis, including network session connection times and end points, CPU and disk utilization for individual users, security audit trails, and network loading, pursuant to an acceptable use policy or as in incident of the troubleshooting, repair or maintenance of its electronic communications systems or the preservation or enhancement of their functionality;
  • prohibit any person who is the lawful recipient of any electronic transmission or communication from making such disclosure of it as he or she chooses; or
  • permit any employee to alter any College's electronic communications system (by altering, adding or deleting any software or equipment) or any College's website or its associated links without the College's prior written approval.

 

Title: Monitoring Of Electronic Communications
Approved By: Bill Davis, Chief Information Officer 
Approval Date: March 2002
Date of Last Revision: August 2005
Policy Category: Information Technology Division

Last Modified: August 30, 2005