An applicable portion of the ITD Policy on Proper Use of Information Resources, Information Technology and Networks at the University of Michigan ( Standard Practice Guide 601.7) is printed below.
It is the policy of the University to maintain access for its community to local, national and international sources of information and to provide an atmosphere that encourages access to knowledge and sharing of information.
It is the policy of the University that information resources will be used by members of its community with respect for the public trust through which they have been provided and in accordance with policy and regulations established from time to time by the University and its operating units.
In accordance with the above policies, the University works to create an intellectual environment in which students, staff and faculty may feel free to create and to collaborate with colleagues both at the Univer-sity of Michigan and at other institutions without fear that the products of their intellectual efforts will be violated … by misrepresentation, tampering, destruction and/or theft.
Access to the information infrastructure both within the University and beyond the campus, sharing of information, and security of the intellectual products of the community, all require that each and every user accept responsibility to protect the rights of the community. Any member of the University community who, without authorization, accesses, uses, destroys, alters, dismantles or disfigures the University information technologies, properties or facilities, including those owned by third parties, thereby threatens the atmosphere of increased access and sharing of information, threatens the security within which members of the community may create intellectual products and maintain records, and in light of the University’s policy in this area, has engaged in unethical and unacceptable conduct. Access to the networks and to the information technology environment at the University of Michigan is a privilege and must be treated as such by all users of these systems.
