Public Wi-Fi Policy

Legislative Information Services is pleased to offer Free Wireless Internet Access in the Capitol and Legislative Services Building.

As of April 5, 2010, everyone with appropriately configured wireless devices will have access to free wireless internet while in the Colorado State Capitol. Please read the following document before using the service. Also, please note the Troubleshooting and Additional FAQ's link below, as well as the link to the acceptable use policy.

FAQ's

How can I use the wireless internet at the Colorado State Capitol?

Most users can simply bring their wireless-enabled laptop computer or other wireless device to the capitol and turn it on. The device will automatically recognize the wireless network, although you may need to select the network and click "Connect". If your laptop does not have wireless built-in, you can install a WiFi-compatible network card.

Will I need any special settings or passwords?

There are no passwords required. In many instances, your computer or PDA will automatically detect and connect to the Colorado General Assembly’s wireless network. If your device does not connect right away, make sure that your wireless utility is configured as follows:

• SSID or Network Name: COGAwifi
• WEP and all other encryption settings: disabled
• IP or Network Settings: DHCP enabled or obtain an IP address automatically
• DNS: obtain DNS address automatically
• Save your settings and restart computer if necessary.

NOTE - If your wireless device leaves the range of the wireless network, when you come back in range you may be required to agree to the Terms of Use again before you can continue to use the wireless network.

Can I request technical assistance with connecting my device to the wireless network? Unfortunately, no. Neither the Legislative Information Services staff nor any other General Assembly staff will be able to offer technical assistance with your personally owned equipment.

Colorado General Assembly Wireless Acceptable Use Policy

Legislative Information Services March 25, 2010

The Colorado General Assembly reserves the right to revise or terminate the Wireless Network Service (hereafter referred to as “COGAwifi”) and this Acceptable Use Policy at any time, for any reason, and without notice, without liability to any user or third party. Usage of COGAwifi wireless network indicates that you understand and agree to the terms and conditions listed herein as revised.

1. Purpose
   1. To provide users of wireless services provided by the Colorado General Assembly with a clear statement of rules and use restrictions that apply to the use of COGAwifi.
   2. To ensure that the utilization of technical support staff and facilities for support of legislative wireless technology is consistent with the business interests of the Colorado General Assembly.
   3. To standardize the level of technical support that Legislative Members, Legislative Staff, and the public can expect from the General Assembly in relation to COGAwifi.
   4. To make legislative member, Legislative Staff, and the public aware of rights and responsibilities as regards use of COGAwifi.
2. Scope
   1. This policy applies to use of the General Assembly COGAwifi.
   2. This policy applies to requests for Legislative Information Services (LIS) technical support made by Legislative Members of the Colorado General Assembly, Legislative Staff, and the public.
   3. Any hardware or software not owned by the Colorado General Assembly shall be referred to as “personal technology” for purposes of this policy.
   4. Any hardware or software owned by the Colorado General Assembly but being utilized by the member for partisan activities or other personal technology needs shall be considered “personal technology” for the purpose s of this policy.
3. General Provisions
   1. Technology
      1. The Colorado General Assembly is in no way liable for any property or data damage, undesired resource usage, or detrimental effect that may occur to personal technology while connected to the wireless network.
      2. While this is no more true on COGAwifi than in other public wireless systems, users must be aware that as they connect their devices though the wireless network they expose their personal technology devices to: worms, viruses, Trojan horses, denial‐of‐ service attacks, intrusions, packet‐sniffing, and other abuses by third‐parties. The Colorado General Assembly highly discourages the use of the wireless system for confidential transactions (such as online banking or credit card usage) and cannot be held responsible for the confidentiality of any data transmitted on the wireless system.
      3. On the direction of Legislative Leadership, access to Legislative Video has been blocked to prevent unnecessary bandwidth consumption.
      4. When viewing internet video, quality will vary depending on the amount of bandwidth available. Viewing video though the wireless network can also impact the performance of others who are using the same wireless access point.
      5. COGAwifi is a shared resource and therefore, speeds will be directly affected by the number of simultaneous users. Wireless internet connections are limited. If you experience reduced performance it could in dictate the maximum number of connections are being utilized.
      6. There is no guarantee of COGAwifi availability.
   2. Use
      1. It is the policy of the General Assembly to prevent state owned staff equipment from accessing the public wireless network. Each Legislative Staff agency shall enact a policy governing staff use of personally owned equipment for official state business.
      2. Users of the General Assembly wireless network may not use such access for any purpose that violates federal, state or local laws. Users must respect all copyright laws and licensing agreements pertaining to electronic files and other resources obtained via the internet. Examples of such activity include, but are not limited to:
         1. Use of the Services to harm or attempt to harm a minor; including, but not limited to: hosting, possessing, disseminating, or transmitting material that is unlawful, including child pornography or obscene material;
         2. Use of the Service to post, copy, transmit, or disseminate any content that infringes the patents, copyrights, trade secrets, trademark, or propriety rights of any party.
         3. Storing, posting, or transmitting materials that would give rise to liability under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act;
         4. Conducting, participating in, or otherwise facilitating pyramid or other illegal soliciting schemes;
         5. Taking part in any fraudulent activities, including impersonating any person or entity or forging anyone else's digital or manual signature;
         6. Invading another person's privacy, stalking, harassing, or otherwise violating the rights of others;
         7. Posting, transmitting, or disseminating content that is illegal, threatening, abusive, libelous, slanderous, defamatory or promotes violence;
         8. Restricting, inhibiting, or otherwise interfering with the ability of any other person to use or enjoy COGAwifi including, without limitation, by posting or transmitting any information or software which contains a virus, lock, key, bomb, worm, Trojan horse, or other harmful feature;
         9. Unlawfully collecting or storing personal data about other users;
         10. Storing, collecting, posting or transmitting credit card, debitcard, ETF numbers or any similar types of data for either a fraudulent or illegal purpose;
         11. Collecting, without adequate security and a legitimate purpose any of the following: (1) information from minors (under age 18) without consent from such user’s parents or legal guardians, (2) user personal health information or personal financial information without informed consent from such user, or (3) other personal information without advising the user.
      3. Using an IP address not assigned to you is prohibited.
      4. The use of any electronic device during a hearing or committee meeting is at the discretion of the chairperson. Please respect the decorum of any meeting and use earphones or mute the audio when in the presence of others.
      5. Reselling or redistributing COGAwifi to any third party is prohibited.
      6. Use of COGAwifi to breach or attempt to breach the security of another user or attempt to gain access to any organization or person's computer, software, or data or network without expressed permission to do so, is prohibited.
      7. Use of the wireless network is not a guaranteed service, and therefore, should not be used in “for‐profit” tasks.
      8. Use of COGAwifi to attempt to circumvent user authentication or the security of any host, network, or account is prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: accessing data not intended for you, logging into or making use of a server or account you are not expressly authorized to access, or probing the security of other networks or computers for any reason. Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security, such as password guessing programs, cracking tools, packet sniffers or network probing tools is also prohibited.
      9. Interference with computer networking or telecommunications services of any user, host, or the network, including, without limitation: flooding of a network, overloading a service, improper seizing and abuse of operator privileges or attempts to "crash" a host is prohibited. Conduct of this type includes disruptive transmissions, as well as transmissions containing other harmful or malicious features.
      10. Software or other content accessed using COGAwifi may contain viruses and the responsibility to take appropriate precautions to protect computers from damage to its software, files, and data belongs to the user and not the General Assembly.
      11. Electronic Mail. Use of the Service to send bulk, or unsolicited ("spam") email messages is prohibited.
4. Support
   1. Requests for technical support by Legislative Members shall concern official, non‐ political, legislative business only. Examples of technical issues which Legislative Members can expect technical support are:
      1. Software necessary for accessing the official legislative home page, or data provided by Legislative Staff.
      2. Software and hardware necessary for accessing email to/from Legislative Staff;
      3. Basic support for State provided software (operating system, word processing, spreadsheets, etc.); and
      4. Hardware owned by the Colorado General Assembly.
   2. Support for Personal Technology Legislative Members, Legislative Staff, and the public shall not request or receive technical assistance with personal technology as such term is defined in the “Scope” section of this document.
   3. The wireless system will be available during the days and hours that the Colorado State Capitol is open to the public.