As members of the Grand Valley State University community, you have the responsibility to use the university's Information Technology resources in an effective, ethical, and legal manner. Ethical and legal standards that apply to information technology resources derive directly from standards of common sense and decency that apply to the use of any shared resource. Grand Valley depends first upon the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation that has been fostered at the university to resolve differences and ameliorate problems. The purpose of the statement is to promote the responsible, ethical, legal, and secure use of Grand Valley's Information Technology resources, including access to the Internet, for the protection of all users.

The following guidelines will be applied to determine appropriate use of Services:

1. Accounts granted are intended solely for the use of the person the account was issued and shall not be shared.
2. To respect the privacy of other users. Users shall not intentionally seek information on, obtain copies of, or modify files, or passwords belonging to other users or the University, or represent others, unless explicitly authorized to do so by those users.
3. To respect the legal protection provided by copyright and licensing of programs, data, photographs, music, written documents and other material as provided by law.
4. To respect the intended usage of accounts and authorization for specified purposes only.
5. To respect the integrity of the system or network. One shall not intentionally develop or use programs, transactions, data, or processes that harass other users or infiltrate the system or damage or alter the software or data components of a system.
6. To adhere to all general university policies and procedures including, but not limited to, policies on proper use of information resources, information technology, and networks; acquisition, use, and disposal of University-owned computer equipment; use of telecommunications equipment; ethical and legal use of software; and ethical and legal use of administrative data.
7. Using university technology resources for commercial use is strictly prohibited. Such resources are to be solely used in conjunction with doing business for GVSU or purposes directly related to academic work.
8. To refrain from unauthorized use of network Services which significantly hampers other GVSU constituents network access.
9. Unauthorized use of GVSU networks and/or computers for non-academic purposes is prohibited, including revenue generating advertising and promotion of business not related to GVSU.
10. Network connections in Student Housing are intended strictly for client access to GVSU and Internet resources. Residents are not permitted to offer services to other computers, either external or internal, within the GVSU Housing Network. External requests for services destined to the GVSU Housing Network are not permitted. Information Technology reserves the right to disable network connections within the GVSU Housing Network if complaints are received and it is verified that a computer is offering an internal service.
11. The Computer Science and Engineering departments have dedicated networks that can be used for servers that need to offer services to other computers for educational purposes; in this case the department is responsible for monitoring and approving the services that are offered as well as verifying that the computers have been patched and secured against known Internet attacks. 
12. All users of Grand Valley's e-mail accounts are expected to adhere to the Electronic Mail Policy
13. All users of Grand Valley's external network connections (i.e., Merit and NSFNET) shall comply with the evolving "Acceptable Use" policies established by the external networks' governing bodies.

• Merit Acceptable Use Policy
• The NSFNET Backbone Services Acceptable Use Policy

The intent of this policy is to identify certain types of uses that are not appropriate. Using the guidelines given above, GVSU may at any time make a determination that a particular use is not appropriate.

GVSU will not monitor or judge the content of information transmitted via the Services, but will investigate complaints of possible inappropriate use. In the course of investigating complaints, GVSU staff will attempt to preserve the individual's privacy. GVSU is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and may be required to supply personal computing information.