NSFNET Acceptable Use Policy
Karen Starr
I am a relative newcomer to Internet, so please forgive me if this is
common knowledge. I see many references to "official Internet
policy"..., but I have never seen the Official Internet Policy
Document. Michael asked (1) would someone please post the Official
Internet Policy or instructions on how to obtain a copy of it; and
(2) would someone please list the Internet Officers (who ostensibly
determined and administer this Official Policy) and contact addresses
for them?
Recently the Idaho State Library funded a project to install Internet
nodes at two public libraries in Idaho and at the State Library. When
we installed the nodes, we joined Westnet which is a regional network
of the Internet. As part of the paperwork required to install an
Internet node all the libraries had to sign the following "Acceptable
Use Agreement":
"I have read and understand NSF's Interim Policy on the use of the
NSFNet backbone. My company will make a 'best effort' attempt to
comply with that policy. I acknowledge that abuse of this policy may
result in disconnection from the Internet."
The "Interim NSFNET Acceptable Use Policy" is as follows:
"The purpose of NSFNET is to support research and education in and
among academic institutions in the U.S. by providing access to unique
resources and the opportunity for collaborative work.
This statement represents a guide to the acceptable use of the NSFNET
backbone. It is only intended to address the issue of use of the
backbone. It is expected that the various middle level networks will
formulate their own use policies for traffic that will not traverse
the backbone.
(1) All use must be consistent with the purposes of NSFNET.
(2) The intent of the use policy is to make clear certain cases
which are consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, not to
exhaustively enumerate all such possible uses.
(3) The NSF NSFNET Project Office may at any time make determinations
that particular uses are or are not consistent with the purposes
of NSFNET. Such determinations will be reported to the NSFNET
Policy Advisory Committee and to the user community.
(4) If a use is consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, then
activities in direct support of that use will be considered
consistent with the purposes of NSFNET. For example,
administrative communications for the support infrastructure
needed for research and instruction are acceptable.
(5) Use in support of research or instruction at not-for-profit
institutions of research or instruction in the United States is
acceptable.
(6) Use for a project which is part of or supports a research or
instruction activity for a not-for-profit institution of research
or instruction in the United States is acceptable, even if any
or all parties to the use are located or employed elsewhere. For
example, communications directly between industrial affiliates
engaged in support of a project for such an institution is
acceptable.
(7) Use for commercial activities by for-profit institutions is
generally not acceptable unless it can be justified under (4)
above. These should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis by the
NSF Project Office.
(8) Use for research or instruction at for-profit institutions may or
may not be consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, and will be
reviewed by the NSF Project Office on a case-by-case basis."
I hope this information helps answer Michael Callahan's question.
On January 22, 1993, I gave a presentation to the Westnet Steering
Committee in Denver, CO, about the installation and use of Internet
in public libraries and, in particular, our project in Idaho. The
steering committee is made up of computer center directors and vice-
presidents of academic institutions in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, and southern Idaho. The committee also
represents national research laboratories like the Idaho National
Engineering Laboratory.
One of the expressed concerns of the steering committee was the use
of Internet by those individuals who promote the use of what some
call adult material. For those of you monitoring the COSNDIC forum
which deal with school networking issues, this has been a real issue
as more and more k-12 sites join the Internet. Posting of adult
information is not just a cdrom-l issue, but rather an Internet wide
issue and reflects the value systems of our society.
My comments to the steering committee were twofold.
* Installing technology is easy. Dealing with political and social
issues is not.
* As a librarian I support the American Library Association's Library
Bill of Rights and ALA's stance on intellectual freedom.
As a subscriber to cdrom-l for over a year, my personal response to
the posting of information about adult information is the following:
There is a time and place for all information. Just as in our
society at large, people who want adult information can find it in
places like adult bookstores and movie houses. Based on the kind of
information posted to cdrom-l over the last year, one could draw
the natural conclusion that cdrom-l is not an appropriate choice
for you as a distribution mechanism, unless the listowners have
decided to change the focus of the forum. That is a legitimate
choice on their part. Have you considered developing your own
forum and people who want access to adult information could then
subscribe to that forum...sort of an adult bookstore of the
Internet?
Since your information has to travel over the NSFNET backbone at
some point perhaps your kind of traffic is something that the NSF
Project Office should review. I would question whether your
traffic is a legitimate use of American taxpayers' money. Until
all routes of the Internet lie solely in the private sector this
will remain an issue. Actually even if Internet becomes totally
commercial it still remains an issue. We have regulations for what
is acceptable for transmission over the radio airwaves. We have
decided that as a society. What are you really asking the rest
of us to do with the information that you are posting to the cdrom-
l forum?
It has been my experience that listowners can reserve the right to
remove subscribers from the list at the listowners discretion.
Some listowners prefer to let the comments about heated issues die
down. Eventually everything tends to run its course. I would ask
if the posting of adult information is a stance that the cdrom-l
listowners should address within the mission of the forum. As
listowners, ultimately that is a judgement call they will have to
make.
My response to the questions raised regarding the use of cdrom-l for
distribtion of CD-ROM catalogs is the following:
As the Q&A columnist for the CD-ROM Professional magazine I provide
directory type information in the column for people. There is a
marked difference between providing such basic information and
publishing a catalog of products available for purchase.
Internet is not free. A significant portion of the infrastructure
is paid for by the American taxpayer. This catalog information has
to travel over the NSF backbone at some point. So to does the
information from organizations like the commercial online
information vendors, including Dialog, that allow access to their
systems over the Internet.
Any commercial site that joins Internet is suppose to pay a
higher membership fee than a tax supported institution and is
supposed to also adhere to the NSF acceptable use agreement. If
they do not adhere to that agreement, their site privileges can be
revoked. The question is a significant one and Internet wide. It
is also a society question and one being addressed in Washington
D.C. by the Clinton and Gore administration.
What are the real questions behind the posting of what constitutes
CD-ROM catalogs on the cdrom-l forum? Are these issues being
raised on the cdrom-l forum issues that should be reviewed by the
NSF Project Office. Is this an editorial decision to be made by
the listowners just as those who publish in the "paper" world
make editorial decisions? If all the CD-ROM publishers and
distributors out there want to get together and support a forum
where they can post their catalogs, can they not do that and then
let us know so we can join if we want? Is the cdrom-l forum an
easy "something for nothing" issue? Even members of the U.S.
Congress have to justify, occasionally, the mailing of information
to their constituents the cost of which is paid for by taxpayer
money.
__The above opinions and observations are my opinions
and observations, and are not intended to represent either the
Idaho State Library or the CD-ROM Professional magazine.__
==============================+=======================================
Karen J. Starr | Telephone: 208/334-2153
Networking Consultant |
Library Development Division | FAX: 208/334-4016
Idaho State Library |
325 West State Street | EMAIL: kst...@suitea.isl.lib.id.us
Boise, ID 83702 |
==============================+=======================================
Steve Cavrak
X-From: ka...@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
X-Subject: ANS Acceptable Use Policy
X-Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
X-Date: Fri, 30 Apr 1993 00:12:14 GMT
['ANS is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to the advancement of
research and education ("R&E") in the interest of improving
competitiveness and productivity in the global economic environment.
Accordingly, ANS's objectives are to expand access to and interchange
of information technology resources among academic, government and
industry users, provide state-of-the-art high speed data networks and
related services, engage in related research and development work, and
improve the ways that information is created and used for R&E
purposes. ANS aims to support the academic and research communities,
enhance R&E at all levels, and contribute to improving the quality of
R&E.' For more information "gopher malgudi.oar.net" - Carl]
===============start "ANS_AUP"===========================================
A Note on Acceptable Use Policies
The ANS Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) bears much in common with policies
of other organizations involved in internetworking. ANS adopted an AUP
for much the same reasons that led other networks to do so. We wish to
provide the best possible service to the research and education
community. The AUP will be administered on a case by case basis, taking
real not hypothetical cases one at a time, and with the help of the
community that we serve, respond appropriately to real instances. Both
formal and informal groups will be used by ANS in seeking guidance on
the AUP administration. Attaching institutions will have responsibility
for adherence to the AUP, and will give advice on its administration
and suggested changes. ANS expects the AUP to evolve over time as
experience is gathered. The AUP reads as follows:
ANS Acceptable Use Policy
Advanced Network & Services, Inc. (ANS) is a not-for-profit corporation
dedicated to the advancement of education and research in the interest
of improving competitiveness and productivity in the global economic
environment. Accordingly, ANS' objectives are to help expand access to
and interchange of information technology resources among academic,
government and industry users, provide state-of-the-art high speed data
networks and related services, engage in related research and develop-
ment work, and improve the ways that information is created and used
for education and research purposes. ANS aims to support the academic
and research communities, enhance education and research at all
levels, and contribute to improving the quality of education and
research.
Organizations using ANS services will directly benefit if ANS services
and facilities are used in ways which will build overall system
efficiencies, maximize the accessibility of the system, and minimize or
eliminate unimportant or improper traffic over the systems. ANS will
be able to provide better service for User Organizations if a
reasonable Acceptable Use Policy is adopted, promulgated and applied
by ANS and all User Organizations.
The Policy
1. All use of ANS network services are be intended to facilitate the
exchange of information in furtherance of education and research, and
otherwise be consistent with the broad objectives of ANS.
2. Users of ANS network services will promote efficient use of the
networks to minimize, and avoid if possible, congestion of the networks
and interference with the work of other users of the networks.
3. Users of ANS network services will not disrupt any of the ANS
networks as a whole or any equipment or system forming part of its
systems, or any services provided over, or in connection with, any of
the ANS networks.
4. ANS networks must not be used to transmit any communication where
the meaning of the message, or its transmission or distribution, would
violate any applicable law or regulation or would likely be highly
offensive to the recipient or recipients thereof.
5. ANS networks must not be used for commercial purposes. However, if
a use is consistent with the purposes and objectives of ANS, then
commercial activities in support of that use will be considered an
acceptable use of the network.
6. Advertising of commercial offerings is forbidden. Discussion of a
product's relative advantages and disadvantages by users of the
product is encouraged. Vendors may respond to questions about their
products as long as the responses are not in the nature of advertising.
7. Interpretation, application, and possible modification of this
Acceptable Use Policy will be within the sole discretion of ANS.
Questions about any issue arising under this Policy should be directed
to ANS by User Organizations when an issue first arises.
--
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
=ka...@eff.org, ka...@cs.uiuc.edu =
Steve Cavrak
X-Subject: CICNet Acceptable Use Policy
X-Date: 29 Apr 93 23:56:45 GMT
["CICNet, Inc. is a regional midlevel network serving a seven state
region of the midwestern United States, and includes the members of
the Big Ten plus the University of Chicago as its Charter Members.
CICNet provides DS-1 (1.544 mbps) connections between backbone nodes,
and incorporates Cisco Systems routers and Dowty CSUs. Interexchange
network services are provided by MCI. The Mission Statement of CICNet
is to provide its member organizations with the ability to share
advanced information systems-high speed data networking, computing,
video, and telecommunications-for the purpose of enhancing academic
advancement and scientific research within a seven state region of the
midwestern United States." - From CICNET Resource Guide. For more
information "gopher nic.cic.net" or ftp to "nic.cic.net". - Carl]
CICNet Acceptable Use Policy
General
CICNet was founded by the member universities of the Committee on
Institutional Cooperation to provide a high speed data communications
infrastructure for a seven state region of the upper Midwest.
CICNet's network exists for the primary purpose of transmitting and
sharing information between academic and research organizations. The
founders of CICNet encourage organizations from both the public and
private sectors to become members of CICNet. The use of CICNet
facilities by any member must be consistent with this CICNet
Acceptable Use Policy.
All CICNet members assume responsibility for providing reasonable
publicity for the CICNet Acceptable Use Policy at their sites and for
communicating this policy to an appropriate administrative authority
at all sites connected to theirs via connections that are not
supported by CICNet. Ultimate responsibility for traffic that does or
does not conform to this policy is with the individual end-user who
originates that traffic.
It is the policy of CICNet to provide access to the broadest possible
number of organizations connected to the Internet. This is
accomplished through connectivity to one or more national backbone
networks. Any traffic that exits CICNet to the numerous other
networks to which CICNet is connected must conform to the acceptable
use policies governing those networks. Acceptable Use Policies for
any and all backbone networks to which CICNet is connected are
attached to this document.
Acceptable Use
All traffic originating at a CICNet member site, or connected via a
CICNet member site, including state networks and other connections,
shall be for purposes of, or in support of:
research;
education;
state, local, or national government affairs;
economic development; or
public service.
Unacceptable Use
It is not acceptable to use CICNet for any purposes which violate U.S.
or state laws.
It is not acceptable to use CICNet so as to interfere with or disrupt
network users, services or equipment. Such interference or disruption
includes, but is not limited to: distribution of unsolicited
advertising; propagation of computer worms or viruses; and using the
network to make unauthorized entry to other computational,
information, or communications devices or resources.
Enforcement and Violations
The Board of Directors of CICNet, or their designee, will review
alleged violation of the CICNet Acceptable Use Policy on a case-by-
case basis. Clear violations of the policy which are not promptly
remedied by the relevant member organization may result in
disciplinary action by CICNet up to and including the expulsion of the
member from CICNet, termination of CICNet services, and forfeiture of
all dues paid to date.
Modifications to this policy
CICNet, Inc. reserves the right to modify this policy at any time.
Members will receive notification of all such modifications 30 days
prior to their effective date.
Information
Questions related to the CICNet acceptable use policy should be
addressed to:
President
CICNet, Inc.
2901 Hubbard
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
voice: 313-998-6103
fax: 313-998-6105
email: in...@cic.net
Approved by the CICNet Board of Directors, 12/11/91.