MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Policy and Procedure Statement 3.4.3.1

Privacy Commitment by Libraries' Systems Staff
November 2004

Policy for Those with Administrative Privileges on Other Staff Computers

The purpose of this policy is to ensure the privacy rights granted to individual MSU system users under the University-wide Acceptable Use Policy and under the MSU Libraries Workplace Rules, while maintaining cost-effective support for these machines.

Library Systems Staff with administrative privileges on Library-owned computers that were provided to other staff for Library-related work are expected to restrict their use of and access to these machines to:

a)      collecting information about the computer, its operating system and its software, including scans for viruses, worms, spyware, adware, and other forms of intrusion;

b)      maintaining hardware and software including upgrades and migrations to new workstations;

c)       addressing problems either as requested or when an unattended machine becomes a danger to itself or others;
implementing Executive Council policies, workplace rules, and directives;

Library Systems Staff with administrative privileges are explicitly prohibited from searching for or examining the contents of files containing data not relevant to the tasks listed above, unless explicitly authorized by the user, or by the Vice Provost for Libraries, Computing and Technology.

Systems Staff with Network Management Privileges may:

a)      maintain logs of connections to Library servers. Information in these logs will only be used in aggregate for statistical purposes, except when necessary to stop a network attack or solve an access problem;

b)      analyze network traffic as necessary to understand traffic patterns and/or isolate and stop a network attack;

c)       restrict access to portions of the network as necessary for its protection. These restrictions may be based on network port, source or destination address, and/or file type.

They may not keep or create records of network sites outside the Library visited by Library staff members.