This index.html was placed in your home directory when your account was created. Without this file, anyone accessing your home directory on the web would see a listing of your files, but would NOT be able to access their contents. If you choose to create a website on Athena, you'll need to put its contents in the "www" subdirectory in your account, and give out a URL including the "www" directory. For example, if your username is "joeuser", you should give out the following URL to anyone wishing to visit your website: http://web.mit.edu/joeuser/www/ Before creating a website or removing this file, we strongly encourage you to read up on AFS Permissions in our knowledge base at http://kb.mit.edu.