RoyalAir - Wireless Policy

Applies to :  Warner Southern College Students, Faculty, Staff, and Guests

Introduction :  Warner Southern College provides internet access in Spencer Hall, the new girls dorm and Williams Hall, and some public areas. The list of wireless access areas (hotspots) will be listed on the website and will be updated as more buildings come available.  The entire student network, including wireless and wired access, is referred to as the RoyalAir network.

College Authority :  By using the Warner Southern College wireless network, users acknowledge acceptance of and are granting permission for authorized network administrators to monitor and/or intercept electronic communications.  Access that is necessary to render services or to protect the property of the provider of the services (Warner Southern College) is allowed under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA).  Warner Southern College does not monitor personal communications on a regular basis, but may do so on occasion to ensure network performance and to ensure adherence to this Acceptable Use Policy (AUP).

Acquiring Wireless Network Access
To acquire access to the wireless network, users must register their computers with the ITS department. In doing so, each computer will be assessed based on our minimum standards for connecting computers: (these lists may change at any time):

*Acceptable Antivirus Software
AVAST
Computer Associates eTrust
Fortinet Fortclient
Grisoft AVG
Kaspersky Labs internet Security
McAfee VirusScan
Microsoft Windows Live One Care
Panda Software ClientShield
Sophos
Symantec Antivirus
TrendMicro PC-cillin Internet Security

* Antivirus not required on MACs.

Acceptable Operating Systems
Windows 2000 SP4
Windows XP SP2
Windows Vista
MAC OS (any version)

Privileges of Network Users

The primary purpose of the College's network is to support academic endeavors.  Beyond these primary functions, all users of the Warner Southern College network will generally be granted equitable access to as many network services as technology and network capacities allow. This service is available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. If there is a service outage, please contact Warner Southern ITS Department, or any Warner Southern staff member or faculty as they can contact us as well. If the service becomes unavailable after office hours, ITS will troubleshoot the following business day.

Student wireless activity is encrypted for their own protection. This prevents malicious users from viewing sensitive data being sent over the air (such as passwords, personal info, etc.). This is the purpose of having a user ID and password as this makes encryption possible. In the case of an organization being allowed wired access (cable connected to a network card) to the RoyalAir network, a user name and password may or may not be required, but MAC authentication is mandatory.

We also protect users from outside users by securing the wireless network by MAC address (a number that uniquely identifies your computer). However, we will give access to visitors to Warner Southern College for restricted time periods.

While these security precautions significantly protect end users, no wireless security measures are 100% effective against compromise.

Responsibilities of Network Users

• Access to the wireless network is through individual accounts with password protection.  All violations of this policy will be treated as the sole responsibility of the owner of the offending account.  Do NOT share your username and password with others.
• Users are responsible for ensuring they are running up-to-date antivirus software.
• Network users must respect all copyrights.  Commercial software licensed to Warner Southern College may only be installed on machines expressly covered by the licenses.  The downloading or sharing of copyrighted materials is illegal and prohibited.
• The running of programs, services, systems, processes or servers by a single user, or group of users, that may substantially degrade network performance or accessibility will not be allowed.  Electronic chain letters, mail bombs, and excessive recreational use of the network are prohibited.  Connecting to "Peer to Peer" file sharing networks or downloading large files, such as CD ISO images, is not allowed.
• Users must be aware that as they connect their machines through the wireless network, they expose their computers to:  worms, viruses, trojan horses, denial-of-service attacks, intrusions, packet-sniffing and other abuses by third-parties on and off campus.  Warner Southern College highly discourages the conducting of confidential transactions (such as online banking) over any wireless network, including our own.
• Users are responsible for all machines they connect to Warner Southern College's wireless network.
• Users are responsible for securing their own machines prior to making connections to the Warner Southern College wireless network.
• Users may not use their own wireless access points nor wired switches or hubs on the Warner Southern College network.

Limitations of Wireless Network Access

• The College is in no way liable for any damage, undesired resource usage or detrimental effects that may occur to the user's computer while the user has his/her computer connected to the wireless network.
• The user is responsible for any actions taken from his/her computer, whether intentional or unintentional, that causes damages or otherwise affects other computers or users, either on or off campus.
• The user hereby releases Warner Southern College from liability for any loss, damage, or injury which the user may sustain as a result of being allowed access to the wireless network.  The user agrees to be solely responsible for any such loss, damage, or injury.
• Any visitor requiring wireless access while on campus will be given one week of network access. At the end of this time period the user’s account will be deleted unless renewed by visiting the ITS department again before the end of that week.

Violations and Sanctions

Reporting Violations :  Users should report any knowledge or evidence of violations of the Acceptable Use Policy to ITS (located in Williams Hall).

Penalties :  Students who violate the Acceptable Use Policy may be subject to the range of sanctions as set forth in the Student Handbook, including, but not limited to, termination of network privileges.  Guests who violate this policy will have network privileges revoked immediately. Other users who violate this policy may be subject to sanctions as outlined in the Employee Handbook.  Warner Southern College has the authority to temporarily revoke network access or take other appropriate action in order to maintain network security or health.

Revisions :  Warner Southern College reserves the right to make revisions to this AUP at any time.  Continued usage of the wireless network indicates that you understand and agree to the terms and conditions listed herein.

To ACTIVATE your account, please bring your computer and this form to ITS. If you have a desktop computer, we will schedule someone to come to your computer for activation.

Expiration of account:  In an effort to minimize stale wireless accounts, all user accounts will expire one week after each spring semester ends and all users will need to sign up again for wireless access.  To maintain continued operation of your wireless access, you may submit your renewal request up to one month prior to this date.