Privacy of Employee Electronic Files
All information on St. Olaf servers, desktop computers or on computer storage medias, including electronic mail, is considered college property. While Information and Instructional Technologies (IIT) makes every reasonable effort to ensure the security of electronic files, employees should be aware of the following:
- Any individual
using the St. Olaf College systems and networks from any computer
automatically consents to the monitoring of their activities
in the course of systems maintenance or security related investigations.
In addition, in order to conduct the College’s business
and assure compliance with College policies and the law, the
College many need to monitor or review electronically stored
information. If, in the course of such monitoring, systems personnel
reveal possible evidence of criminal activity or College policy
violations, systems personnel may provide the evidence of such
monitoring to the College or law enforcement officials.
- Select
employees of IIT have access to all information stored on the
St. Olaf servers. Those employees may include the managers of
the campus servers maintained by IIT and/or IIT student workers
whose responsibilities are associated with the servers. Such
access is necessary in order for IIT employees to perform their
duties, and is normally exercised upon the request of the account
owner, in cases of systems security and performance problems,
upon presentation of warrants, subpoenas, or court orders, or
upon the request of an individual’s supervisor.
Supervisors requesting access to an employee’s computer files
must first consult with the Human Resources Office and must present
a valid work-related issue or need or convincing evidence of probable
cause related to a violation of federal or state regulations or
College policies before IIT staff will access files.
- Every
electronic file and e-mail message stored on the St. Olaf servers
are backed up and, therefore, are reproducible and may be subpoenaed
in the event of a court case. Users should be aware of this when
creating files and e-mail messages intended for individuals both
on and off campus.
- E-mail correspondence should not
be considered private. The individual to whom one sends an e-mail
message may allow another person to access the mail message or
may forward it to others. In addition, while St. Olaf makes every
effort to ensure the security of e-mail messages routed on the
College network, e-mail messages sent via the Internet are not
guaranteed that same level of security and privacy.
- Personal
files and e-mail stored by employees on their college provided
desktop computer or on the St. Olaf servers should not be considered
private. In the course of routine maintenance, upon the request
of the immediate supervisor, or upon the presentation of warrants,
subpoenas, and court orders personal files may be accessed by
IIT staff.
- Information posted to the World Wide Web is not private and in most cases is readable by other individuals around the world. While it is possible to restrict direct access to on-campus users only, this does not preclude wider distribution of materials. Users should consider carefully the content and nature of materials posted to the Web in light of these realities.
Entering computer accounts or reading electronic files without proper authorization is considered misuse of computers. Individuals suspected of accessing others’ files without permission will be referred to the appropriate office for action. The College’s policy statement on the Misuse of Computers policy can be found at: www.stolaf.edu/services/iit/policies/misuse.html
