Acceptable Use Policy

Purpose

The computing resources at Real Estate Training Institute support the educational, instructional, research, and administrative activities of the school and the use of these resources is a privilege that is extended to members of the RETI community. As a user of these services and facilities, you have access to valuable school resources, to sensitive data, and to internal and external networks. Consequently, it is important for you to behave in a responsible, ethical, and legal manner.

In general, acceptable use means respecting the rights of other computer users, the integrity of the physical facilities and all pertinent license and contractual agreements. If an individual is found to be in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy, the Real Estate Training Institute will take disciplinary action, including the restriction and possible loss of network privileges. A serious violation could result in more serious consequences, up to and including suspension or termination from the Real Estate Training Institute. Individuals are also subject to federal, state and local laws governing many interactions that occur on the Internet. These policies and laws are subject to change as state and federal laws develop and change.

This document establishes specific requirements for the use of all computing and network resources at Real Estate Training Institute.

Scope

This policy applies to all users of computing resources owned or managed by Real Estate Training Institute. Individuals covered by the policy include (but are not limited to faculty and visiting faculty, staff, students, alumni, guests or agents of the administration, external individuals and organizations accessing network services via RETI’s computing facilities.

Computing resources include all RETI owned, licensed, or managed hardware and software, and use of the school network via a physical or wireless connection, regardless of the ownership of the computer or device connected to the network.

These policies apply to technology administered in individual departments, the resources administered by central administrative departments, personally owned computers and devices connected by wire or wireless to the RETI network, and to off-campus computers that connect remotely to the Real Estate Training Institute network services.

Your Rights and Responsibilities

As a member of the Real Estate Training Institute community, the school provides you with the use of scholarly and/or work-related tools, including access to the Library, to certain computer systems, servers, software and databases, to the school telephone and voice mail systems, and to the Internet. You have a reasonable expectation of unobstructed use of these tools, of certain degrees of privacy and of protection from abuse and intrusion by others sharing these resources. You can expect your right to access information and to express your opinion to be protected as it is for paper and other forms of non-electronic communication.

In turn, you are responsible for knowing the regulations and policies of the Real Estate Training Institute that apply to appropriate use of the school’s technologies and resources. You are responsible for exercising good judgment in the use of the school’s technological and information resources. Just because an action is technically possible does not mean that it is appropriate to perform that action.

As a representative of the Real Estate Training Institute community, you are expected to respect the school’s good name in your electronic dealings with those outside the Real Estate Training Institute.

Policy

Acceptable Use

• You may use only the computers, computer accounts, and computer files for which you have authorization.
• You may not use another individual’s account, or attempt to capture or guess other users’ passwords.
• You are individually responsible for appropriate use of all resources assigned to you, including the computer, the network address or port, software and hardware. Therefore, you are accountable to the Real Estate Training Institute for all use of such resources. As an authorized user of resources, you may not enable unauthorized users to access the network by using a RETI computer or a personal computer that is connected to the RETI network.
• The Real Estate Training Institute is bound by its contractual and license agreements respecting certain third party resources; you are expected to comply with all such agreements when using such resources.
• You should make a reasonable effort to protect your passwords and to secure resources against unauthorized use or access. You must configure hardware and software in a way that reasonably prevents unauthorized users from accessing Real Estate Training Institute’s network and computing resources.
• You must not attempt to access restricted portions of the network, an operating system, security software or other administrative applications without appropriate authorization by the system owner or administrator.
• You must comply with the policies and guidelines for any specific set of resources to which you have been granted access. When other policies are more restrictive than this policy, the more restrictive policy takes precedence.
• You must not use the Real Estate Training Institute computing and/or network resources in conjunction with the execution of programs, software, processes, or automated transaction-based commands that are intended to disrupt (or that could reasonably be expected to disrupt) other computer or network users, or damage or degrade performance, software or hardware components of a system.
• On Real Estate Training Institute network and/or computing systems, do not use tools that are normally used to assess security or to attack computer systems or networks (e.g., password ‘crackers,’ vulnerability scanners, network sniffers, etc.).

Fair Share of Resources

Departments which operate and maintain computers, network systems and servers, expect to maintain an acceptable level of performance and must assure that frivolous, excessive, or inappropriate use of the resources by one person or a few people does not degrade performance for others. The school network, computer clusters, mail servers and other central computing resources are shared widely and are limited, requiring that resources be utilized with consideration for others who also use them. Therefore, the use of any automated processes to gain technical advantage over others in the Real Estate Training Institute community is explicitly forbidden.

The school may choose to set limits on an individual’s use of a resource through quotas, time limits, and other mechanisms to ensure that these resources can be used by anyone who needs them.

Adherence with Federal, State, and Local Laws

As a member of the Real Estate Training Institute community, you are expected to uphold local ordinances and state and federal law. Some RETI guidelines related to use of technologies derive from that concern, including laws regarding license and copyright, and the protection of intellectual property.

As a user of RETI computing and network resources you must:

• Abide by all federal, state, and local laws.
• Abide by all applicable copyright laws and licenses.
• Observe the copyright law as it applies to music, videos, games, images, texts and other media in both personal use and in production of electronic information. The ease with which electronic materials can be copied, modified and sent over the Internet makes electronic materials extremely vulnerable to unauthorized access, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.
• Do not use, copy, or distribute copyrighted works (including but not limited to Web page graphics, sound files, film clips, trademarks, software and logos) unless you have a legal right to use, copy, distribute, or otherwise exploit the copyrighted work. Doing so may provide the basis for disciplinary action, civil litigation and criminal prosecution.

Other Inappropriate Activities

Use Real Estate Training Institute’s computing facilities and services for those activities that are consistent with the educational, research and public service mission of the School.

Privacy and Personal Rights

• All users of the school’s network and computing resources are expected to respect the privacy and personal rights of others.
• Do not access or copy another user’s email, data, programs, or other files without the written permission of Real Estate Training Institute.
• Be professional and respectful when using computing systems to communicate with others; the use of computing resources to libel, slander, or harass any other person is not allowed and could lead to discipline as well as legal action by those who are the recipient of these actions.

While the school does not generally monitor or limit content of information transmitted on the RETI network, it reserves the right to access and review such information under certain conditions. These include: investigating performance deviations and system problems (with reasonable cause), determining if an individual is in violation of this policy, or, as may be necessary, to ensure that RETI is not subject to claims of institutional misconduct.

Privacy in Email

While every effort is made to insure the privacy of Real Estate Training Institute email users, this may not always be possible. In addition, since employees are granted use of electronic information systems and network services to conduct school business, there may be instances when the Real Estate Training Institute, based on approval from authorized officers, reserves and retains the right to access and inspect stored information without the consent of the user.

User Compliance

When you use Real Estate Training Institute computing services, and accept any school issued computing accounts, you agree to comply with this and all other computing related policies. You have the responsibility to keep up-to-date on changes in the computing environment.