Legal and Policy Guidelines

Detailed below are Web related MIT Legal and Policy Guidelines. For complete MIT policy guidelines go to MIT's Policies and Procedures Guide for Faculty and Staff.

Copyrighted Materials

• You may not place any materials owned by others, i.e. copyrighted works, on your Web page without the expressed permission of the copyright owner. (Examples: cartoons, articles, photographs, songs, software, graphics scanned in from published works or other web pages).
• Assume materials you find on the Web are copyrighted unless a disclaimer or waiver is expressly stated. You may include quotations of a few words provided you identify the author and the work from which the quotation is taken.
• If you want to include something from another Web page in one of your Web pages, then link to it rather than copy it.

Licensed Materials

• Please take special care with materials licensed to MIT by their owner, for example, Encyclopedia Britannica entries, Dilbert cartoons, or articles from the Washington Post. These materials are restricted to use within MIT. No one has the right to place these materials on Web pages and/or redistribute the materials.

Pictures and Video

• Every person has a right of privacy which includes the right to restrict the use of his/her own image. In addition, the picture or video may be protected by copyright.

E-Commerce on the MIT Network

• Commercial activity on the MIT network is permitted for business done on behalf of MIT or its organizations, and must comply with MIT's Policies and Procedures Section 4.23:
  • "MIT's computing and telecommunications facilities and services are to be used for Institute purposes only and not for the benefit of private individuals or other organizations without authorization."
• Also see Sponsorship/Advertising Guidelines.

Sponsorship and Advertising

• Fundraising and advertising may be conducted on the MIT network only under the supervision of officially recognized campus organizations. It must meet the guidelines specified in Policies and Procedures, Section 12.6, "Fundraising on Campus", Section 12.3 "Use of Institute Name", and Section 12.7, "Political Action."
• Also see Sponsorship/Advertising Guidelines.

Private Business

• It is not permitted to run a private business on the MIT network. (Policies and Procedures Section 13.2.3).

Use of Institute Name

• From Policies and Procedures, Section 12.3:
  • "The Institute's name must not be used in ways that suggest or imply the endorsement of other organizations, their products, or services."
• Where publicity or advertising arising from personal, non-Institute research or consultation is concerned, faculty and staff members are advised to consult the Director of the News Office.

Reselling network IP services

• Reselling network IP services over MITnet to individuals or organizations not affiliated with MIT is not permitted.

Sponsoring a not-for-profit Web site

• A web site for a not-for-profit organization may be served by MIT's web server (web.mit.edu), provided that the web site is sponsored by an individual with a current MIT affiliation (student, faculty, or staff), stored in that individual's AFS locker, and any political activity complies with MIT's Policies and Procedures Section 12.7.

Web Accessibility

• MIT is committed to providing equal access to Web-based information in accordance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. This ensures that MIT Web pages will be readable by users with disabilities. All Web pages associated with administration and services, courses of instruction, departmental programs, and institute sponsored activities, must conform to the Web accessibility principles listed at http://web.mit.edu/atic/www/sw/developweb.html.