All computer use must be consistent with University policies and codes of conduct, and must not violate international, federal, state, or local laws. The department's computer systems and operating software are the property of the department, and users must not, knowingly or unknowingly, take actions which compromise the integrity of the system or degrade its availability to others. Such actions include, but are not limited to, taking advantage of software weaknesses to gain superuser privilege, using more disk space than has been allotted or running software which causes serious degradation of system response times. User files and programs should be safe against unwanted reading or copying by other users. Users should learn how to protect their files and directories against access by others. Conversely, it is a violation of department policy, as well as a breach of good manners, to browse, read, or copy any material belonging to another without permission, even if that material is unprotected. department staff reserve the right to inspect user files without prior permission. In such cases department staff will maintain user confidentiality insofar as possible. The privilege of computer access is given only to persons whom the department knows to be entitled to such access, and is not transferable. Users must not give access to their accounts to any other users, by divulging user names and passwords, even for entirely innocent uses. It is a serious violation of the spirit of the University to use electronic mail, or any other means of communication, to insult, harass or threaten any other user. It is also a serious violation to pose as another user on the system. The department's computer systems must not be used for access to remote computer systems for any purpose which violates either department and University policies and standards, or the policies and standards established by the owners of the remote systems. Department staff will be advised of unauthorized use by the system administrators of remote systems, and will take appropriate action against such users.