College students rely on email communication for both academic and social purposes. They may send and receive emails regarding class scheduling, assignments, club meetings and cancellations, group projects, safety alerts and other messages sent either personally or to mass listings. While this seems harmless, it depends entirely upon the stability of your university's network. A small or underpowered network can clog when faced with too much data, such as mass emailings, and your own email account can fill with spam and junk mail if you are not careful.
Sometimes the person who suffers most from Internet abuse is the abuser. Internet addiction is a problem for college students, particularly younger students that have never before been responsible for managing their own time. The newfound sense of freedom and independence, along with the varying social structures of universities, leaves some students living more and more of their lives on the Internet. This unmonitored behavior can lead them to ignore their studies, and in turn, their social lives and grades may suffer.
Since on-campus students connect to the Internet via their university, schools often have policies in place barring certain types of Internet activity. Illegal downloading, including illegally sharing files like movies and MP3s, is almost always strictly prohibited. Students must also respect personal privacy and copyright laws -- unauthorized use of or access to another person's Internet accounts and/or personal information are typical violations. The consequences of breaking rules like these depend both on the infraction and on the institution, and may include warnings, fines, the revoking of Internet privileges or legal action.
While using the Internet, college students may behave in ways that they could or would not in the real world, including harassing other students. Internet intimidation, threats and harassment may be considered punishable offenses in a university setting, and students who use the Internet as a tool for harassing others may consequently face punishment from the school. Students may even face legal repercussions, depending on the nature of online harassment, so they must be careful to monitor their own behavior.