Violations of authorial integrity, including plagiarism, invasion of privacy, unauthorized access, and trade secret and copyright violations, may be grounds for sanctions against members of the academic community. The above statement provides a guide for the ethical use of computer facilities whether one is using a microcomputer, minicomputer, mainframe computer or supercomputer, or computer network, and whether the computer files, programs, or data are stored on floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or other storage media. Computer facilities and files owned by others should be used or accessed only with the owner's permission. Viewing or using another person's computer files, programs or data without authorized permission is unethical behavior and an invasion of that person's privacy. Such behavior, if used for personal gain, is plagiarism.
Ethical standards apply even when material appears to be legally unprotected.
Improper use of copyrighted material may be illegal. Use of computer facilities by an individual must be authorized by the owner or administrative unit. Prior permission to use another user's computer account or user-id must be acquired from the owner of the account, who is responsible for its use. Changing another person's password is considered a form of harassment and is unethical behavior. Users are responsible for their use of computer hardware, accounts and user-ids.