Students and employees at colleges are required to sign an Internet use agreement when enrolling or starting work at the college. By signing the agreement, the individual agrees to use the Internet in accordance to the established rules and acknowledges that he has been informed of the consequences if he breaches the agreement.
Colleges have electronic monitoring systems and firewalls in place to keep an eye on Internet use on campus. Some sites can be blocked by the college's security and monitoring systems, preventing users from going to a site. Other sites may be flagged in the system if users visit them. Colleges are always concerned about students turning in plagiarized work, which is a problem made worse by sites selling term papers. These types of sites are often flagged by the monitoring system and an IP address is recorded for the computer that accessed the site.
Colleges make it clear that each user of the Internet is responsible for the security of his own account. College administration will hold the user of the account responsible for inappropriate activity on the college Internet access. It is important that all users of a college Internet system keep their log-in names and passwords secure. Failure to do so could result in disciplinary action for something that wasn't the fault of the account owner.
Colleges reserve the right to impose discipline on any student or teacher who is found to be abusing the Internet guidelines imposed at the college. The type of discipline depends on the policies of each college. But many colleges include a range in potential disciplinary actions that could result in the loss of Internet use to being expelled from the school if the offender is a student or being fired if it was employee that violated the regulations.