Green Party of California
IT Group Policy

Draft 2  1/31/06

The domain name cagreens.org is hosted on behalf of the GPCA. As such, the IT Group has implemented this policy to establish guidelines for behavior on cagreens.org lists, web sites, and for any other function for which our server could be employed by individual users.

If you have a user account here, you must comply with this policy. It is designed to protect the server, its network access, your fellow users, and the good reputation of the Greens. In general, you are expected to act in accordance with the Green Values espoused in our familiar documents and proclamations.

If you’re actions generate complaints, or you are found to be non-compliant with this policy, you will be contacted by an IT Group administrator. If problems persist, your account may be suspended or revoked.

We ask you to comply with these rules in order for the GPCA to operate a useful and efficient network:

1.      GPCA use only. Any web page that is accessible from www.cagreens.org is intended for party business. Content that is not party related or that expresses the personal views of individuals is not allowed. This does not apply to those users who have a personal directory on the cagreens server that is not linked to the GPCA page.

Email lists are intended to facilitate discussions of party business. Personal messages, advertisements and solicitations are not allowed. Discussion topics must be within the scope of the stated purpose of the list. Subscribing people to a list without their permission is not allowed. Email etiquette guidelines are on the IT Group web site, http://cagreens.org/it/.

2.      No Spamming. Electronic mail is not a medium suited for unsolicited advertising. It is designed for one-to-one, intentional, consensual communication.

3.      No sharing your password. Passwords are assigned to individuals. Sharing passwords creates a big potential for unauthorized (or even illegal) use of our server. Each person must use his or her own account only. If more than one person will need access to a file or directory, ‘group’ permission can be set up by IT.

The GPCA also uses a common password to protect those pages deemed to be internal business from search engines and the general public. The common password is generally available to all active Greens. Please read the common password policy on the IT Group web site and comply with the requirements for disseminating this password.

4.      No interfering with other people's use of the system or the services it supports. In particular, flooding a forum with offensive or nonsensical drivel, in an effort to make people unsubscribe, is not allowed. Freedom of speech implies not having your speech drowned out by others.

5.      No copyright violations. We must respect individuals' and corporations' rights to the intellectual property they lawfully own.

Do not distribute software for which you do not own the rights in any manner that is connected with cagreens.org. This includes computer software, music, poetry, literature, images, etc. However, ``fair use'' quotations are okay.

6.      No illegal activity. Do not use cagreens.org to conspire to break the law, except in the context of thoughtful, nonviolent civil disobedience.

7.      No “cracking.'' Attempting to defeat anybody's computer security measures using cagreens.org in any way is not allowed.

8.      Remain available. We must be able to contact you. You account may be disabled, and files removed, if we are unable to contact you in regards to comments or complaints received about any material under the control of your account.

9.      Keep your software current.
Security problems are found in popular software every day. If you install software on cagreens.org, you are responsible for obtaining security-related news and code revisions. If the package has a security newsletter or other mechanism, you must subscribe. You must remain able to revise or replace your software. When a security-related revision or patch is announced, you must update your installation right away. If your installed software is out of date or seems to be causing a security or abuse problem, or comes from a source with a history of security issues, it may removed or disabled it without notice.

This requirement applies to the client system you use to log in here, too. If your operating system, email software, Web browser, or libraries and utilities are out of date, your system can become vulnerable to spyware which can compromise the security of any server you log into. Make a reasonable effort to keep your system(s) current. Subscribe to your software vendor's update service and check for updates before you log in here or download email and active documents or visit untrustworthy Web sites. If you use Microsoft, install programs to search for viruses, trojans, spyware, and adware, and keep them current. (Beware that the most popular "antivirus" products do not remove spyware and adware.)

Please contact it-help@cagreens.org with any questions on this policy or for assistance in maintaining your account.