Policies

Acceptable Use of Facilities & Equipment

The equipment and services of the Cyber Cafe are offered for the benefit of our community and its members. Staff, volunteers, and members can best serve and be served if we maintain a pleasant atmosphere and equipment in good working condition.  Our policies are designed to accomplish this.

Fragrance-Free & Safe Environment

The Cyber Café @ Malden Square has adopted a fragrance-free policy to accommodate the growing number of people with allergic reactions to perfumes, colognes, body sprays, etc.  As part of making this a community space for all, we request that you help us make the Cyber Café smoke free, fragrance free, gun/knife/weapon free, and violence free (actions & language).

Site Use Guidelines

Anyone may become a member of the Cyber Café @ Malden Square by completing the Intake Form and paying the annual Membership Fee. This membership data allows us to keep better statistics on the use of our resources, which is essential for obtaining the funds necessary to provide this valuable resource to you.

When you apply for and receive your membership, and each time you sign in, you agree to abide by the following:

1. Only members are allowed on the computers.
2. Members must sign in before using the computers.
3. Adults and youth have equal access rights to the computers.
4. Shirts and shoes are required.
5. Files created should be saved onto a personal disk (flash drive, thumb drive, etc.). 
   NOTE: Non-Center files are purged from the hard drive.
6. When people are waiting, time is limited to 1-hour blocks, with a minimum of ½ hour before signing in again. When we're very busy, patrons can only sign up for one additional session and then must wait at least 2 hours before signing up again. If business slows down (no waiting line), the patron can sign up again before 2 hours.
7. Installing software or changing system settings are prohibited.
8. Loud and/or abusive language will not be tolerated.
9. Staff and Volunteers reserve the right to ask anyone to leave at any time for any reason. 
   Note: To listen to music or videos while using the computers, please bring your own headphones.

Membership is a privilege that may be suspended at any time, for any reason, by any staff or volunteer. Upon appeal to the Cyber Café Policy Committee, a decision will be made and conveyed to the individual within 5 business days.

CAUSES FOR IMMEDIATE EXPULSION FROM THE CENTER AND CANCELLATION OF MEMBERSHIP PRIVILEGES INCLUDE (but are not limited to):

1. Unauthorized copying of software from any of the computers.
2. Intentionally altering or deleting the contents of the hard drive.
3. Tampering with the hardware.
4. Accessing obscene, libelous, or slanderous material or material containing physical threats.
5. Disruptive actions, either verbal or physical.
6. Threatening actions, either verbal or physical.
7. Failure to immediately cease any activity upon request of staff or volunteers.

Internet Access Policy

Welcome to the Cyber Café @ Malden Square. The Cyber Café is pleased to provide you with access to the Internet and its rich array of resources around the world.

All Internet resources available through the Cyber Café are provided equally to all public access participants. Parents or guardians, not the staff or volunteers of the Cyber Café, are responsible for the Internet information selected and/or accessed by children. Parents/guardians are advised to supervise their children's Internet sessions.

The Cyber Café @ Malden Square does not monitor and has no control over the information accessed by the public on the Internet and cannot be held responsible for its content. The Internet is a global entity with a highly diverse user population, and Cyber Café users access it at their own risk. There are information resources on the Internet which are inappropriate to a community computing center setting. Because the Cyber Café is a public place, staff and volunteers do have the authority to end an Internet session when such material displays on the screen. If, in their judgement, the user is intentionally displaying such content, staff and volunteers also have the right to require the offending individual to leave the premises.

Cyber Café users are prohibited from:

• actions against others, such as theft; violating others' privacy; harassing, threatening, or intimidating others; sending abusive or patently offensive or unwanted material to others;
• actions against the center, such as file theft; deliberately crashing the Cyber Café's computers; modifying data or files without authorization; introducing computer viruses, worms, or “Trojan horses,” or otherwise maliciously disrupting computer or network services; penetration or harm to the operating systems; reselling bandwidth; or any other illegal acts promulgated from or targeting the Cyber Café's computers or network.
• other disruptive or illegal actions, such violating copyright laws; using the Cyber Café to distribute computer viruses, worms, or “Trojan horses” to other computers/networks; concealing or misrepresenting their name or affiliation to mask irresponsible or offensive behavior; …

The Cyber Café @ Malden Square reserves the right to modify these policies at any time. 

Printing Policy

All print pages are now $.10/page, even mistakes. If you do not know how to print a "selection" in web pages, or aren't sure how to manage the number of pages you print, please ask our helpful staff at the front desk area. They will be glad to help you learn how to manage the # of print pages so we all can conserve paper, ink, and other precious resources.

Note: To enable staff to leave on time, the following policy is effective immediately:

Printer access will be turned off 15 minutes before close of business and Internet access will be turned off 10 minutes before close of business. 

Youth Member Policy

Youth members (youth/students between the ages of 12 - 18) are welcome to join the Cyber Café, but first must get parent/guardian permission to do so. We have a full information packet for the youth and his/her parent/guardian to review and sign.  Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by a parent/guardian to use the Cyber Café. 

No youth members are allowed into the Cyber Cafe during school hours unless it is part of a school project and the instructor/principal has approved, in writing, the youth's presence at the Cyber Café.

While we realize this may be an inconvenience to the youth member, we believe the parent/guardian should know about their child's involvement with the Cyber Café, especially since we do not monitor the content of web sites & other Internet access.

As with adult patrons, noisy, disruptive behavior by children is not allowed.  If the parent/guardian cannot control the child's noise or behavior, they will be asked to leave the Cyber Café with the child.

Sanctions

Some members have repeatedly violated policies of the Cyber Café. This limits our ability to maintain the Cyber Café for everyone else. We ask your help in keeping the Cyber Café an open and comfortable site for everyone, and ask your support as we implement the following policy:

Members agree to the policies and rules of conduct for the Cyber Café @ Malden Square. Repeat offenders of such policies and/or rules will be referred to Cafe Management who will impose the following levels of sanction:

• 1st sanction: 1-day suspension of privileges
• 2nd sanction: 1-week suspension of privileges
• 3rd sanction: 1-month suspension of privileges
• 4th sanction: 1-year suspension of privileges
• 5th sanction: Permanent revocation of membership

More serious violations may incur permanent revocation even without previous sanctions.

While we hope that no one would ever get to the 4th or 5th level of sanction, we feel that repeat offenders violate the community spirit of the Cyber Café and make it more difficult for us to maintain this service for the larger community. We appreciate your cooperation in this matter.