by Pat Falcon,
IT Security Policy & Communications Coordinator, CIS

Keeping the Lines of Communication Open

Brown's Electronic Mail Policy has recently undergone an extensive review by a cross-section of groups, from technical "Subject Matter Experts" to senior officers. (See "IT Policy Review Process at Brown University" for a detailed description of this process.)

The resulting document clarifies expectations regarding privacy and confidentiality of sensitive information. It also includes a list of non-acceptable uses as well as "best practices" for the responsible use of Brown email:

• avoiding viruses and spyware
• guarding against identity theft
• protecting your email with strong passwords
• proper forwarding of email
• using departmental email addresses
• reading official University communications such as urgent bulk email, course email, and Morning Mail on a regular basis

The Email Policy has two new supplemenatary documents with technical specifications: "Brown's Electronic Mail Standards", and "Procedures for Emergency Account and Information Access".

I urge you to familiarize yourself with these new and newly-revised documents, as well as Brown's other computing policies, located at http://brown.edu/cis/policy/.