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Draft Computer Ethics Statement
Ad Hoc Committee on Computer Literacy
James Madison University
Computer facilities operated by the University are available for
the use of students, faculty and staff without charge. Students,
faculty and staff are encouraged to use University computer
facilities for research and instruction. In order to facilitate
the ethical and responsible use of computers, the following
guidelines are established for students, faculty and staff.
Instructors or departments may impose additional requirements or
restrictions in connection with course or departmental work.
1. General Principles
Respect for intellectual labor and creativity is vital to
academic discourse and enterprise. This principle applies
to works of all authors and publishers in all media. It
encompasses respect for the right to acknowledgement, right
to privacy, and right to determine the form, manner and
terms of publication and distribution.
Because electronic information is so volatile and easily
reproduced, respect for the work and personal expression of
others is especially critical in computer environments.
Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism,
invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secrets
and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions
against members of the academic community.
2. Academic Dishonesty in a Computer Assignment
a. Academic dishonesty in a computer assignment will be
suspected if an assignment that calls for independent
work results in two or more solutions so similar that
one can be converted to another by a mechanical
transformation.
b. Academic dishonesty in a computer assignment will be
suspected if a student who was to complete an
assignment independently cannot explain both the
intricacies of the solution and the techniques used to
generate that solution.
c. The Honor Council will be notified of occurrences of
academic dishonesty.
3. Examples
a. The following are examples of academically honest
practices:
Turning in work done alone or with the help of the
course's staff.
Submission of one assignment for a group of students if
group work is explicitly permitted or required.
Getting or giving help on how to do something using the
VAX VMS operating system.
Getting or giving help on how to solve minor syntax
errors.
High-level discussion of course material for better
understanding.
Discussion of assignments to understand what is being
asked for.
b. The following are examples of academically dishonest
practices:
Turning in someone else's work as your own (with or
without his or her knowledge)
Allowing someone else to turn in your work as his or
her own.
Several people writing one program and turning in
multiple copies, all represented either implicitly or
explicitly as individual work.
Using any part of someone else's work without the
proper acknowledgement.
Stealing a solution from an instructor.
4. Ethical and Responsible Use of the Computer
a. The University provides computing facilities free of
charge to students and faculty for instruction and
research. It is a violation of University policy to
use University computers for commercial purposes
without proper approval.
b. Computer communications systems and networks promote
the free exchange of ideas and information, thus
enhancing teaching and research. Computer users should
not use electronic communications systems such as mail
or BITNET to harass others or interfere with their work
on the computer.
c. Students, faculty and staff who use the computer have
the right to privacy and security of their computer
programs and data. Computer users should not tamper
with files or information that belong to other users or
to the operating system.
d. United States copyright and patent laws protect the
interests of authors, inventors and software developers
in their products. Software license agreements serve
to increase compliance with copyright and patent laws,
and to help insure publishers, authors and developers
of return on their investments. It is against federal
law and University policy to violate the copyrights or
patents of computer software. It is against University
policy and may be a violation of state or federal law
to violate software license agreements. Students,
faculty or staff may not use programs obtained from
commercial sources or other computer installations
unless written authority to use them has been obtained
or the programs are within the public domain.
e. Security systems for computers exist to insure that
only authorized users have access to computer
resources. Computer users must not attempt to modify
system facilities or attempt to crash the system, nor
should they attempt to subvert the restrictions
associated with their computer accounts, the networks
of which the University is a member, or microcomputer
software protections.
f. Abuse of computing privileges will be subject to
disciplinary action. Violators will be subject to the
usual judicial procedures of the University; loss of
computing privileges may result. The University
reserves the right to examine all computer files.
Abuse of the networks or of computers at other sites
connected to the networks will be treated as abuse of
computing privileges at James Madison University.
5. Examples
a. The following are examples of ethical or responsible
use of the computer:
Using the computer for grant supported research
sponsored by a commercial firm with the approval of the
Vice President for Sponsored Programs.
Using the electronic mail system to correspond with
colleagues at other colleges or universities.
Sharing diskettes of files of programs or data with
team members working together on a research project.
Copying software placed in the public domain.
Reporting nonfunctional computer equipment to lab
assistants or Technical Services repair staff.
b. The following are examples of unethical or
irresponsible use of the computer:
Using computer facilities for work done on behalf of a
commercial firm.
Sending electronic mail messages containing material
offensive to the receiver.
Copying a file from another computer user's account or
floppy disk without permission.
Copying copyrighted computer software for use on
another computer.
Unplugging or reconfiguring computer equipment to make
it unusable or difficult to use.
6. Acknowledgements
This statement is based upon the following sources:
"The EDUCOM Code," Academic Computing 1 (Spring 1987):78.
"The Catholic University of America's Statement of Ethics in
the Use of Computers," ACM SIGUCCS Newsletter 19 (Spring
1989):14.
"Cheating Policy in a Computer Science Department," ACM
SIGSE Bulletin 12 (July 1980).