Summary

This policy defines the boundaries of “acceptable use” of limited electronic resources, specifically computers, networks, electronic mail services, and electronic information resources of the Georgetown University Alumni Association (GUAA).

Founded in 1881, the alumni association strengthens alumni friendships and advances Georgetown’s interests by bringing together those who share its past, its present, and its future. Georgetown Alumni Online is an online service consisting of the electronic resources summarized above. It supports the mission of the alumni association and is available to Georgetown alumni, faculty, students, staff, and registered guests. The site’s unsecured home page is available to the general public.

Purpose

Through the alumni association, alumni participate in an established network, keep up with friends, communicate with each other about career and school experiences, and become part of a family that will help them for the rest of their lives.

Georgetown Alumni Online supports the mission of the alumni association by helping alumni to connect with one another. To remain eligible as users, alumni must use their Georgetown Alumni Online accounts in ways that are in support of and consistent with the objectives of the alumni association.

Mission

The alumni association provides Georgetown Alumni Online, an online community of electronic services, to alumni as a way for them to communicate with each other.

The mission of Georgetown Alumni Online and its services is to foster and promote alumni affinity with the university and with each other; bring alumni together to advance the interests of the university and alumni association; provide alumni with ongoing educational and intellectual opportunities; and promote alumni affinity by school, class year, club, or special interest.

Policy

It is the policy of the alumni association to maintain an environment that promotes ethical and responsible conduct in all online network activities. It shall be a violation of this policy for any user to engage in any activity that does not conform to the established purpose and general rules and policies of Georgetown Alumni Online.

By using alumni association computing resources, users assume personal responsibility for appropriate use of those resources and agree to comply with this and other applicable university policies, as well as city, state, and federal laws and regulations.

The Georgetown University Alumni Association Acceptable Use Policy defines penalties leading up to and including loss of system access. In addition, some activities may lead to risk of legal liability, both civil and criminal.

Users of Georgetown Alumni Online are strongly encouraged to review and understand the contents of this policy.

Alumni User Rights and Responsibilities

As an alumnus of Georgetown University and a user of Georgetown Alumni Online, you have certain rights and responsibilities regarding the service’s use. These responsibilities include:

  • Respecting the rights and privacy of other users
  • Respecting the legal protection provided by copyright and licensing of data and programs
  • Respecting the intended use of resources
  • Respecting the intended use of systems for electronic exchange, such as email
  • Respecting the security and integrity of the network
  • Adhering to all general university policies and procedures

The alumni association expects community members to exhibit the same level of respect for others in this forum as in any other alumni association venue (such as at a reunion event).

Electronic Privacy

The alumni association has the right to monitor and log any and all aspects of Georgetown Alumni Online. While the alumni association is not responsible for the content of bulletin boards, it does reserve the right to reorganize or delete any postings or message boards and may at its discretion reassign a topic’s ownership.

Services provided through Georgetown Alumni Online have security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under its control. While every effort is made to ensure the integrity and security of Georgetown Alumni Online, we are unable to guarantee that such security measures will prevent third-party hackers from illegally obtaining this information.

Users will be assigned account IDs and passwords for access to Georgetown Alumni Online. Accounts are provided for the specific individual to whom they have been assigned.

Acceptable Use

All use of Georgetown Alumni Online must be consistent with the mission of the alumni association, and Georgetown Alumni Online accounts are to be used only by the authorized owner of the account for the authorized purpose. The following constitutes acceptable use of the Georgetown Alumni Online system:

Contact with other users of Georgetown Alumni Online in connection with the objectives and mission of the alumni association
Any other administrative communications or activities that support and further alumni association goals and objectives
Announcements of events that are in line with the objectives and mission of Georgetown Alumni Online and the alumni association

Unacceptable Use

  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online for commercial or for-profit purposes
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online for activities considered illegal or fraudulent
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online to inaccurately imply endorsement, approval, or sponsorship by Georgetown University (or any individual officer of the university)
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online to send communications that can be confused with official communications of Georgetown University or its officers
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online to send communications that can be confused with official communications of the alumni association or its officers
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online for mass mailings or spamming
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online for hate mail, harassment, discriminatory remarks, or other anti-social activities
  • Dissemination or use of copyrighted material on Georgetown Alumni Online without permission.
  • The intentional seeking of information on other users; the copying or modifying of files, data, or passwords belonging to other users; or the misrepresentation of other users
  • Alteration of any computing or network components of Georgetown Alumni Online without authorization or beyond one’s level of authorization
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online in any way deemed inconsistent with the goals and mission of the alumni association
  • Use of Georgetown Alumni Online for political, lobbying, and/or campaign purposes

Applicable Laws/Liability

Personal Liability

Improper use of Georgetown Alumni Online may subject a user to personal civil and/or criminal liability. By way of example, but not limitation, users must be aware of the following:

Federal Copyright Law: U.S copyright law grants authors certain exclusive rights of reproduction, adaptation, distribution, performance, display, attribution, and integrity to their creations, including works of literature, photographs, music, software, film, and video. Violations of copyright laws include, but are not limited to, the making of unauthorized copies of any copyrighted material and the distributing of copyrighted materials over computer networks or by other means.

Defamation: Individuals may seek civil remedies if they can show that they were clearly identified as the subject of defamatory messages and suffered damage as a consequence.

Federal Wire Fraud Law: Federal law prohibits the use of interstate communications systems (phone, wire, radio, or television transmissions) to further an illegal scheme or to defraud.

Enforcement

The alumni association will review activity that is alleged not to be in accordance with the acceptable use policy for Georgetown Alumni Online. The alumni association will deny further access to the secure portion of its website to those who engage in practices judged to be in violation of the acceptable use policy. In addition, the alumni association may deny access to the secure portion of Georgetown Alumni Online to any individual at any time.

Where violations of this policy may be unlawful, the matter may be referred for appropriate legal action.

Guidelines

Content and Maintenance

Minimum Standards

The alumni association does not review the content of affinity-group and club web pages; this is the responsibility of the departments that publish them. However, the content of any alumni association web page contributes to users’ perceptions of the entire alumni website. For this reason:

  • Information published on alumni websites should be as accurate and up-to-date as possible.
  • Affinity-group and club leaders should publish only materials that they have the capacity to maintain. Maintenance includes keeping the information on each web page up to date and keeping the design and technology of a whole website up to date.
  • Each affinity group or club should have a clearly understood process by which designated individuals periodically review, maintain, and update the content of the website(s).
  • Each affinity-group or club website should have a contact to which users can send content corrections, updates, or questions. Contact information should be published on the main page of the website.

Use of Georgetown Name or Branded Slogans

It is the responsibility of the user to ensure proper use of Georgetown’s name in the conduct of each affinity group or club’s activities. The official Georgetown University Alumni Association title and the name of the university are to be used only in ways that do not state or imply the alumni association’s endorsement of a non-alumni association project or product.

Implied Consent

Individuals with access to Georgetown Alumni Online are responsible for the appropriate use of the site and by their use agree to comply with all applicable university and alumni association policies and regulations, and with all applicable city, state, and federal laws and regulations, as well as with the acceptable use policies of affiliated networks and systems.