E-mail: Appropriate Use
University policy on Confidentiality
and Security of Information and Technology Resources and
guidelines on appropriate
use of information technology resources apply to the University's
e-mail system. In general, any abuse of technology resources
including harassment of others, non-university commercial use
of e-mail, destructive actions that interfere with others computer
access, the use of accounts that are not specifically assigned
by the university, including anonymous or fictitious account
names to send e-mail are specific examples of inappropriate use
of e-mail. Any occurrence of inappropriate use of e-mail should
be reported to the department supervisor, to the office of Instruction
and Research Technology, or to the office of Information Systems/Network
and Hardware Services.
In addition, there are a number of other key issues
that are directly related to the quality of e-mail services at
the university. These include:
Broadcasting e-mail messages:
Broadcasting e-mail is sending a message to every
account in the system. The intended purpose is to notify all employees,
or all students about some important information or issue. The
shortcoming is that not everyone reads the e-mail in a timely manner
and may diminish the value of the message. Furthermore, broadcasting
non-essential e-mail is often interpreted as "junk mail" and
discarded. When deemed appropriate, broadcasting e-mail within
the university to a distribution list must be done with departmental
approval and review. Approved distribution lists, such as department
heads, in the e-mail directory can assist departments in such distribution.
Unsolicited email or junk email:
The amount of unwanted or unsolicited email (junk
mail) has been increasing as more people join the Internet community.
You get things like this in the U.S. Postal mail on a regular basis
- catalogs, advertisements, solicitations, and political propaganda
are some examples. This form of speech is usually protected under
the first amendment, even though some people may find some of the
content objectionable. William Paterson University does not monitor
nor censors e-mail and therefore cannot prevent the flow of junk
mail. Caution: do not send replies.
Chain e-mail and virus hoaxes:
The most important thing to remember is if you get
chain email, do not help propagate it. Chain email usually contains
phrases like "pass this on", "forward - do not delete", "don't
break the chain", "this is safe, don't worry", etc. Often there
is some story about how lucky a person has been since they forwarded
the chain email, or how unlucky they were because they didn't.
Sometimes chain email is disguised as warnings about e-mail viruses
or Internet shutdowns. Don't fall for it. It's all chain mail and
it's designed to get you to forward it. Forwarding chain
e-mail IS inappropriate use of information technology resources
and should be reported.
