Athena Rules of Use (including MITnet)
Athena Rules of Use (including MITnet) MITnet, MIT's campus-wide computer network, connects thousands of computers on and off campus, including the Athena workstations, printers, and servers, many student machines in the dorms, and the campus dialup servers. Network connectivity has many advantages which you will discover as you explore Athena, MITnet, and the Internet beyond. But connectivity also requires that users of the network understand their responsibilities in order to protect the integrity of the system and the privacy of other users.
Similarly, the Athena-specific end-user facilities (clusters, workstations, printers, etc.) are provided as an Institute resource, and certain guidelines are necessary to help maintain this resource.
This section summarizes:
We expect you to follow these rules, and we hope you will help others follow them as well. If you need assistance in dealing with someone willfully violating the rules, send email to stopit@mit.edu.
We appreciate your cooperation.
The listing below provides only summaries of the rules. For the full text of each rule, please see the following pages.
Comply with Intended Use of the System
1. Don't violate the intended use of MITnet.
Assure Ethical Use of the System
2. Don't let anyone know your password(s).
3. Don't violate the privacy of other users.
4. Don't copy or misuse copyrighted material (including software).
5. Don't use MITnet to harass anyone in any way.
Assure Proper Use of System Resources
6. Don't overload the communication servers; in particular, don't abuse your electronic mail (email) or Zephyr privileges.
Comply with Intended Use of the System
A1. Don't violate the intended use of the Athena system.
Protect Athena Equipment
A2. Don't eat, drink, or bring food or liquids into the Athena clusters.
A3. Don't turn the power off on Athena equipment.
A4. Don't reconfigure the cluster, either hardware or software.
Assure Fair Access to Workstations in Athena Clusters
A5. Don't violate the official priorities for the use of workstations; in particular, don't play games or engage in other non-academic activity if the cluster is busy, and don't log on to more than one workstation at a time.
A6. Don't leave your workstation unattended for more than 20 minutes.
A7. Don't make a lot of noise in the Athena clusters.
Assure Fair Access to Athena Printers
A8. Don't violate the official priorities for the use of printers; in particular, don't be a printer hog or use the Athena printers as copy machines.
MITnet and other computing resources at MIT are shared among community members. The MITnet Rules of Use are intended to help members of the MIT community use MIT's computing and network facilities responsibly, safely, and efficiently, thereby maximizing the availability of these facilities to community members. Complying with them will help maximize access to these facilities, and assure that all use of them is responsibile, legal, and respectful of privacy. If you have questions or wish further information about any of the MITnet policies outlined below, send e-mail to itpolicy AT mit.edu.
All network users are expected to follow these rules. Violations of the rules can subject the offender to Institute disciplinary proceedings and, in some cases, to state or federal prosecution.
PLEASE NOTE: Laws that apply in "the real world" also apply in the "virtual" networked computer world (including MITnet). Laws about libel, harassment, privacy, copyright, stealing, threats, etc. are not suspended for computer users, but apply to all members of society whatever medium they happen to be using: face-to-face, phone, or computer. Furthermore, law-enforcement officials are more computer-savvy than ever, and violations of the law in "Cyberspace" are vigorously prosecuted.
Similarly, Institute policies (as described in MIT's Policies and Procedures, for example) also apply to MITnet users. Other rules may also apply to users of particular facilities connected to MITnet: users of MIT's academic computing resources are subject to the Additional Rules for Athena Facilities; providers of information to MIT's Campus-Wide Information System (via TechInfo, the World Wide Web, etc.) have specific guidelines (see http://web.mit.edu/cwis/www/faq/guidelines.html); other facilities may have their own constraints (check with your local system manager); and external networks to which MITnet provides access may have their own rules to which MITnet users may be subject.
It is important that you understand the purpose of MITnet so that your use of the system is in compliance with that purpose.
The purpose of MITnet is to support research, education, and MIT administrative activities, by providing access to computing resources and the opportunity for collaborative work. All use of the MIT network must be consistent with this purpose. For example:
Along with the many opportunities that Athena provides for members of the MIT community to share information comes the responsibility to use the system in accordance with MIT standards of honesty and personal conduct. Those standards, outlined in Section 13.2 of MIT's Policies and Procedures, call for all members of the community to act in a responsible, professional way.
Appropriate use of MITnet resources includes maintaining the security of the system, protecting privacy, and conforming to applicable laws, particularly copyright and harassment laws.
While you should feel free to let others know your username (this is the name by which you are known to the whole Internet user community), you should never let anyone know your account passwords. This includes even trusted friends, and computer system administrators (e.g., IS&T staff).
Giving someone else your password is like giving them a signed blank check, or your charge card. You should never do this, even to "lend" your account to them temporarily. Anyone who has your password can use your account, and whatever they do that affects the system will be traced back to your username -- if your username or account is used in an abusive or otherwise inappropriate manner, you can be held responsible.
In fact, there is never any reason to tell anyone your password: every MIT student, faculty member, or on-campus staff person who wants an account of his or her own can have one. And if your goal is permitting other users to read or write some of your files, there are always ways of doing this without giving away your password.
For information about how to manage the security of your account, including advice on how to choose a good password, how to change passwords, and how to share information on Athena without giving away your password, see the document Managing Your Athena Account.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (18 USC 2510 et seq., as amended) and other federal laws protect the privacy of users of wire and electronic communications.
The facilities of MITnet, and the operating systems used by Athena and other MITnet systems, encourage sharing of information. Security mechanisms for protecting information from unintended access, from within the system or from the outside, are minimal. These mechanisms, by themselves, are not sufficient for a large community in which protection of individual privacy is as important as sharing (see, for example, sections 11.2, 11.3, and 13.2 of MIT's Policies and Procedures). Users must therefore supplement the system's security mechanisms by using the system in a manner that preserves the privacy of themselves and others.
As Section 11.1 of MIT's Policies and Procedures notes, "Invasions of privacy can take many forms, often inadvertent or well-intended." All users of MITnet should make sure that their actions don't violate the privacy of other users, if even unintentionally.
Some specific areas to watch for include the following:
Many computer programs, and related materials such as documentation, are owned by individual users or third parties, and are protected by copyright and other laws, together with licenses and other contractual agreements. You must abide by these legal and contractual restrictions, because to do otherwise may subject you to civil or criminal prosecution.
Copyright-related restrictions may include (but are not necessarily limited to) prohibitions against:
For more information about the legal issues surrounding duplication of software, see the pamphlet "Is it okay to copy my colleague's software?" (To request a copy, send e-mail to sendpubs@mit.edu or call x3-5150.) Some software on Athena is subject to special licensing restrictions; see the document Summary of Available Athena Software. For all other software licensing questions, send email to contracts@mit.edu.
The above prohibitions focus on computer software, but copyright laws apply to all material on MITnet. For example, it is inappropriate to copy any material owned by others from any source (e.g., cartoons, photographs, articles, poems, graphics scanned from a magazine, etc.) without permission of the owner. You should assume that all materials are copyrighted unless a disclaimer or waiver is explicitly provided. (This is particularly true on the World Wide Web; to include information from some other source on a Web page, link to it, don't copy it. In some cases, even this action may violate copyright or licensing agreements by enabling illegal redistribution of programs or data. If you're unsure, ask the owner.)
"Harassment," according to MIT's Policies and Procedures (Section 9.5), is defined as:
any conduct, verbal or physical, on or off campus, which has the intent or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual or group's educational or work performance at MIT or that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive educational, work or living environment.... Harassment on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, religion, national origin, sexual orientation or age includes harassment of an individual in terms of a stereotyped group characteristic, or because of that person's identification with a particular group.
The Institute's harassment policy extends to the networked world. For example, sending email or other electronic messages which unreasonably interfere with anyone's education or work at MIT may constitute harassment and is in violation of the intended use of the system.
Any member of the MIT community who feels harassed is encouraged to seek assistance and resolution of the complaint. To report incidents of on-line harassment, send email to stopit@mit.edu. (If you believe you are in danger, call the Campus Police immediately at x3-1212.)
MITnet's resources, as well as the resources MITnet gives you access to (e.g., Athena, postal servers, bulletin boards, etc.), are powerful tools that can be easily misused. Your use of the system should be consistent with the intended uses of these resources. In particular, you should not overload the system or otherwise abuse the network.
Electronic mail is a fast, convenient form of communication. It is easy to send electronic mail to multiple recipients, and you can even send a message to many recipients simply by specifying a single list name (i.e., by using a mailing list). But this ability to send messages to many people also makes it easy to misuse the system. The general rule is: use email to communicate with other specific users, not to broadcast announcements to the user community at large.
For example, while it is appropriate to use email to have an interactive discussion with a set of people (even 20 or more users) or to use email to send a single copy of an announcement to some "bulletin board" facility with a wide readership (e.g., Network News, or a Discuss meeting), it is not appropriate to use email as a way to broadcast information directly to a very large number of people (e.g., an entire MIT class). This is true whether you include the recipient usernames individually or by using a mailing list: under no circumstance should you use the email system to get a general announcement out to some large subset of the MIT community.
These guidelines are not based on etiquette alone: the mail system simply does not have the capacity to process a very large number of email messages at once. When a user sends out an announcement to a huge list of recipients, the mail servers get overloaded, disks fill up, and staff intervention is required. The overall result is a degradation of service for all users.
These considerations apply to the Zephyr service as well. Zephyr is a central service involving thousands of transactions daily. Using Zephyr to transmit messages to a very large group of people degrades the system performance and is inappropriate.
Finally, the proliferation of electronic chain letters is especially abusive of the mail system and the network. Chain letters waste valuable computing resources, and may be considered harassing. Creating or forwarding chain letters may subject you to Institute disciplinary proceedings.
These Rules of Use for Athena Facilities are intended to help members of the MIT community protect the Athena equipment to assure all authorized users effective access to it. These rules supplement the MITnet Rules of Use, which all Athena users are also expected to follow.
These rules apply to all users of Athena facilities, including students, faculty, authorized guests, and even IS&T/Athena staff. (In certain private Athena clusters, some of these rules may be relaxed, or additional rules may be in effect; check with your cluster's system manager).
If you need assistance in dealing with someone willfully violating the Athena rules, feel free to contact the Athena Hardware Hotline (phone: x3-1410, email: hotline@mit.edu), or send email to stopit@mit.edu. (If you believe you are in danger, call the Campus Police immediately at x3-1212.)
While MITnet is a general-purpose Institute resource in support of all kinds of computing on campus, Athena is more specifically focused on academic computing -- the use of computers in fulfilling the Institute's educational goals. This special focus is echoed in a more specific intended use of the system.
Athena is an Institute resource for authorized MIT community members to use to fulfill educational goals. You should not take any action that violates that purpose. In particular:
Much of Athena's computer equipment is accessible to a large number of people and is consequently vulnerable to overuse and damage. The following guidelines are designed to help protect this equipment. In the event of any damage to the equipment, regardless of cause, please contact the Athena Hardware Hotline (at x3-1410) immediately.
Food crumbs and spilled drinks are the primary cause of equipment damage in the Athena clusters. This damage is produced not only in obvious ways (a spilled cup of coffee), but also in subtle ways (even the cumulative effect of sticky fingers or crumbs can ruin equipment -- keyboards have been damaged at the rate of one per day from food crumbs alone, and mice are equally vulnerable).
Turning the power off on Athena equipment (e.g., workstations, monitors, or printers) can permanently damage the hardware. However, if the equipment smells or looks like it is burning, do turn it off and contact the Athena Hardware Hotline.
Moving equipment will often cause damage, or may cause it to be reported as stolen. Permanent damage may result from even unplugging a keyboard.
Similarly, altering a workstation's filesystem in any way may render the machine unusable, or threaten its usability in other ways. For example, you should not reconfigure any workstation in an Athena cluster to allow remote connections unless you are actually sitting at that workstation. Even an apparently "harmless" change such as this (i.e., changing the access configuration of a workstation) may create major system security problems, and may actually jeopardize MIT's ability to license software for users in the future.
Also, do not remove Athena equipment -- or furniture! -- from any Athena facility. Doing so constitutes theft and will be dealt with accordingly.
If you believe the configuration of a cluster needs to be changed, you can contact the Athena Hardware Hotline.
Athena clusters are facilities provided for members of the MIT community to achieve their academic goals. As such, they are subject to principles of use that support those goals -- the chief considerations being fair access to the facilities for the widest possible set of users, and the maintenance of a comfortable working environment. The rules below reflect these considerations as they affect users of the Athena clusters.
These rules are easily summarized: please show consideration to other users.
In conformance with Athena's stated purpose, the priorities for use of the workstations in crowded Athena clusters are as follows (cf. Rule A1):
Note that games are the lowest priority software on the system -- you should not play games if there are only a few workstations free, or if people are waiting for workstations. If a user needs a workstation for higher priority work while you are playing games, that user can ask you to give up your workstation. (Low priority activities may actually be disallowed entirely during certain times of the year to assure that the use of the clusters is consistent with the academic purpose of Athena. At these times, you are expected to refrain completely from low-priority activities as defined above.)
Similarly, some clusters have workstations which are reserved for specific course use, or which have special features. If you are using such a workstation for other than its special purpose, and someone who needs its unique feature asks you to surrender it, please do so gracefully.
If you are using a workstation in one of the Athena clusters and intend to keep using it but must leave it briefly unattended, you must limit your absence to 20 minutes or less and signal your situation to other users by taking one of the following actions:
(If you choose to use a screen-based timer, note that it is a violation of the rules to tamper with the system such that your display never shows that more than 20 minutes have elapsed.)
If you are gone longer than twenty minutes or leave a workstation without a note or a valid countdown screensaver running, another user who needs a workstation is entitled to log you out or reboot the machine to make that machine available.
At certain times of the year, this rule may be adjusted downwards (e.g., the allowable "time away" may be reduced, possibly to 0) to assure that the clusters are being used effectively and that users will not be without a workstation while machines sit idle.
Athena clusters are similar to the MIT Libraries in that students who use these facilities have to be able to concentrate to do their work. Please don't play music, shout, or engage in loud conversation in the clusters.
Also, if you use a workstation that has sound capabilities, you are expected to use earphones rather than have the workstation audible to other users in the cluster.
Printing is a shared resource; restraint must still be exercised when using Athena printers to ensure fair access for everyone to this important service. This holds especially true when the clusters are busy. Violation of these rules can result in loss of printing privileges.
Comments and feedback to olh-suggest@mit.edu.
Last modified: 15 January 2004