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Guidelines for use of IT resources |
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What responsibilities do I bear…with regard to assuring equity of access for others? The technological resources centrally administered by the Office of Information Technology (OIT) or University Libraries, and the distributed resources provided by individual academic and administrative departments of the University are intended to be used for educational purposes and to carry out the legitimate business of the University. Such resources include campus-public and department-private computer clusters, the University's World Wide Web server, departmental Web and file servers, Blackboard course management system, access to research databases, local-area departmental networks, the campus broadband and optical fibre network and global and Intranet network access, the University telephone and voice mail systems, general University multi-user computer systems and servers, individual departmental systems and servers, the campus Fax gateway, Second Life, TigerTV, Dormnet and access to Dorm video, Princeton's central and departmental e-mail service, and other shared campus facilities and services. Appropriate use of such resources includes instruction, independent study, authorized research, independent research, and the official work of the offices, departments, recognized student and campus organizations, and agencies of the University. All of these activities rely on reasonable performance from the component units and the connections that allow interchange among them, and on the security and integrity of the resources. For these reasons, and because there often are times when some resources are in shorter supply than can easily meet the demand, certain performance-related or sharing guidelines pertain. OIT and other University departments that operate and maintain computer and/or network systems and/or servers are expected to sustain an acceptable level of performance and must assure that frivolous, excessive, or inappropriate use of the resources by one person or a few people does not degrade performance for the others who rely on such services. Users of shared resources should be careful to avoid making available via those resources items that are prone to excessive or other uses that may degrade or otherwise compromise performance. If a research project requires very large amounts of a resource, the researcher may need to make special arrangements in advance of conducting the research. Princeton account-holders who have their e-mail copied or forwarded to an outside account must take care to avoid marking any such copied or forwarded mail as spam. Major Internet service providers have barred all e-mail coming from the Princeton domain when the provider's customers have marked as spam what the provider perceives to be too many messages. Such incidents can interfere with the business of the University as well as impeding communication for members of the University community. Many of the databases, electronic periodicals and other publications that the University offers through its libraries are subject to license agreements with outside vendors that impose restrictions on your use of these resources. For example, such licenses often limit the number of documents that you may scan or the number of pages you may print. Violations of such restrictions can result in the termination of licenses and the loss of access to resources that are important to the University’s mission. Before using such licensed resources, you will be given notice of any relevant restrictions and are responsible for complying with them at all times. Researchers and students with network experiments should not plan to use the University's production network services for their research without authorization, and should understand that disruption of normal network service will not be permitted. There are national and international projects that rely on cooperation and collaboration of large numbers of computer systems to conduct research; one well-known example is SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. You may not use your account on central University shared servers to cooperate in such projects, though you may elect to use a personally-owned computer connected to the campus network so long as the quantity of data transmitted does not affect network performance adversely for the rest of the campus. Some departments may also give permission for their locally controlled computers to be used for such a purpose. Some cooperative projects, for example the TOR project, carry the risk of the Princeton participant's computer’s being in violation of University policy because of the nature or content of network traffic passing through the device. Those wishing to participate in such projects should be cautious for this reason and may be asked to withdraw from participation if violation of University policies occurs. Individual members of the campus community who elect to install wireless access points must assure that their operation will not disrupt University wireless network service. If the access point is installed and configured as a "bridge,” the people responsible for the systems using that device for network access will remain responsible for activity from their respective computers. If the wireless access point is configured as a "NAT" (Network Address Translator), the person responsible for the NAT will also be held accountable for all activity by those using the NAT. Wireless access points may not be installed by individuals in campus instructional, administrative, or service buildings, including buildings rented or owned by the University off campus without authorization from the department responsible for the area involved. If authorization is provided, the individual must comply with any rules regarding the wireless access point established by the department. Wireless access service is provided by the University in campus dormitories and some University-owned off-campus apartments. Some commonly used appliances, for example certain cordless telephones and most microwave ovens, operate at a frequency that could interfere with wireless network service. Personal wireless access points also can cause such interference. If a device interferes significantly with the University’s residential wireless network service, the owner may be required to relinquish use of the device in the residence. Malicious use of any such device to disrupt network service will be considered a serious violation of University regulations. Computers and network devices connected to the University's network must be registered for network use. Each will be assigned an Internet Protocol (IP) address or, if mobile, "leased" an address by the University's network management servers. Using other than the assigned IP address can disrupt normal network operation for others, so computer users and owners are expected to refrain from supplying some other IP address for use in any network transaction. Individuals may not operate their own network management servers (DHCP or BootP) on the campus network, as such rogue servers quickly can disrupt network service to others. Such a server may be connected to a private network within the Princeton.EDU domain, but only if the reply packets sent by the server are confined to the private network and do not enter the campus network at any time. At Princeton, very large mass electronic mailings or voice mail broadcasts are permitted only by authority of appropriate University offices. The same authority would govern e-mail to those constituencies, even if the sender does not use the official list, but creates multiple smaller groups to accomplish the same end. In general, the same authority approves the use of large e-mail lists as approves large paper mailings to the same audiences. You may not send large mass e-mailings or voice mailings without the appropriate University authorization. Appropriate authorization also must be obtained to conduct Web-based or e-mail surveys, whether among members of the campus community or of people outside the University. Surveys related to research and instruction must obtain approval from the University’s Institutional Review Panel on Human Subjects, and, in the case of undergraduate research, from Office of Dean of the College. Special approval is not needed for departments seeking feedback on their courses or services, nor for recognized organizations canvassing their members. Research involving network or resource usage data regarding on-line activity or communication by or between individuals should be considered as research involving human subjects. Proposals for research of this nature should be submitted for review and approval to the appropriate University authority or board. Typically, that authority or board also will insist that such data be adequately anonymized and otherwise protected. Network or resource usage data studied in the aggregate may not be subject to such review if analysis of the data will not reveal the identity of individual users of the network or resource. The Princeton Desktop Council (DeSC) has indicated that peer-to-peer file-sharing software may not be installed or used on Princeton's DeSC computers because such applications could expose to Internet access information that is sensitive, confidential, or University-private. Because the University's Internet connectivity is a limited resource, only servers and computers that must permit multiple concurrent uploads in support of instruction or other University business will be permitted to allow more than one upload at a time. Other computers on the University network that serve files to the Internet must limit uploads to only one file at a time. (Web pages normally need not be restricted in this way, provided they are not also acting as file servers.) Where the University has obtained very limited licenses for software, you must use only one share, not several concurrently. You must avoid tying up shared computing resources for excessive game playing or other trivial applications. "Spamming" is spreading electronic messages or postings widely and without good purpose. "Bombing," sometimes known as "spamming" as well, is bombarding an individual, group, or system with numerous repeated messages. Both actions interfere with system and network performance and may be harassing to the victims, which in the case of newsgroups can number in the thousands. Both are violations of University guidelines. Sometimes, people spam unintentionally. If e-mail is sent to a large list of people with all the addresses visible (rather than blind-copied or via a group list) and someone accidentally replies to "all," rather than just to the sender, the reply with irrelevant information is copied to everyone on the list. Deliberate replies of this nature will be considered a violation of University regulations. Unnecessary printing is wasteful in dollar and is in conflict with sustainability. Members of the University community should practice thrifty and judicious printing. When a work is in progress, editing should take place on-line whenever possible rather than on a printed draft. Information that can be shared effectively electronically should not be printed at all. When it is necessary to print notes or reference material, consideration should be given to placing multiple pages on each sheet of paper and using two-sided (duplex) printing whenever possible. If someone without appropriate authorization removes paper from departmental printers or copiers, or from computer clusters, to use for printing or copying elsewhere or for any other purpose, it will be considered a disciplinary matter. You must refrain from unwarranted or excessive amounts of storage on central or departmental computing systems and servers, and from running grossly inefficient programs when efficient ones are available unless the responsible departmental authority has directed or approved such use for specific instructional or research applications. You must refrain from running servers or daemons without prior permission on shared systems you do not administer. You must be sensitive to special need for software and services available in only one location, and cede place to those whose work requires the special items. You must not prevent others from using shared resources by running unattended processes or placing signs on devices to "reserve" them without authorization. Your absence from a public computer or workstation should be no longer than warranted by a visit to the nearest restroom. A device unattended for more than fifteen minutes may be assumed to be available for use, and any process running on that device terminated. You must not lock a workstation or computer that is in a public facility. You must also be sensitive to performance effects of remote login to shared workstations. When there is a conflict, priority for use of the device must go to the person seated at the keyboard rather than to someone logged on remotely. You must consider the shared nature of the campus network bandwidth, and be careful to avoid transmitting large amounts of data unnecessarily. Providing servers on personally owned computers connected to the campus network can have an adverse influence on general network performance if large files are delivered or if many hundreds of people attempt to obtain the files concurrently. If you use peer-to-peer sharing applications you must limit uploads to no more than one at a time (ideally, to zero), to prevent excessive use of Princeton's Internet bandwidth by others on the Internet, and you must comply with copyright regulations. Previous Section  |
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© 2009 by the Trustees of Princeton University. Last modified
9/9/09
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