Tompkins County Administrative Policy Manual

Effective: June 15, 1993 01-38

Objective: To establish County procedures for the use of computer software

Reference: Title 17 of the U. S. Code states that "it is illegal to make or distribute copies of copyrighted material without authorization" (Section 106). The only exception is the user's right to make a backup copy for archival purposes (Section 117).

Public Law 101-650, the Software Rental Amendments Act of 1990, prohibits the rental, leasing or lending of original copies of commercial software without the express permission of the copyright holder.

New York State Penal Law Article 156, 156.00, Offenses Involving Computers; definition of terms:

156.06 Unauthorized use of computers

156.10 Computer trespass

156.20 Computer tampering in the second degree

156.25 Computer tampering in the first degree

156.30 Unlawful duplication of computer related material

156.35 Criminal possession of computer related material

156.50 Offenses involving computers; defenses

Policy:

1. Tompkins County licenses the use of computer software from a variety of outside companies. Tompkins County does not own this software or its related documentation and, unless authorized by the software developer, does not have the right to reproduce it.

2. Tompkins County employees shall use software only in accordance with the license agreement.

Procedure:

1. It is the responsibility of the department head to assure that software installed on the computers within the department meets all legal requirements.

2. It is the responsibility of an employee wishing to install personal software on a County computer to adhere to the software license.

3. It is the responsibility of Information Technology Services to assist the department heads in:

a. performing a software audit;

b. determining the legality of software installed on County computers;

c. evaluating public domain software, shareware and employee-owned software for installation on County computers; and

d. determining whether to purchase a legal copy of software found to have been installed illegally, or to have the software removed from the computer.