2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries

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Text File | 1994-06-10 | 10.9 KB | 265 lines

Following is the online policy document of PUCC, which is replicated in the PUCC official publication ZZ-MANUAL. ---- Statement of Policy on --------- -- ------ -- Use of Computing Center Facilities and Services --- -- --------- ------ ---------- --- -------- (section 1.7 Ethical Behavior in ZZ-Manual.) The Computing Center provides computing facilities and services for the legitimate instructional and research com- puting needs of the University. Proper use of those facili- ties and services supports the legitimate computing activi- ties of Purdue students, faculty and staff. Proper use respects intellectual property rights. Legitimate instructional computing is work done by an officially registered student in support of a recognized course of study. Legitimate research computing is work approved by an authorized official of a University depart- ment. Intellectual property rights begin with respect for intellectual labor and creativity. They include the right to acknowledgment, the right to privacy, and the right to determine the form, manner and terms of publication and dis- tribution. Proper computing use follows the same standards of com- mon sense and courtesy that govern use of other public facilities. Improper use violates those standards by preventing others from accessing public facilities or by violating their intellectual property rights. Therefore, the basic policy of the Computing Center on proper use is: o Any use of Computing Center facilities or services unrelated to legitimate instructional or research com- puting is improper if it interferes with another's leg- itimate instructional or research computing. o Any use of Computing Center facilities or services that violates another's intellectual property rights is improper. o Any use of Computing Center facilities or services that violates any local, state or federal law is improper. The following sections describe some known instances of improper use. They do not constitute a complete list. When new occasions of improper use arise, they will be judged and regulated by the basic policy stated above. Disruptive Conduct ---------- ------- Don't behave at any Computing center facility in a way that interferes with another's legitimate use of the facility. This includes noisy and over-exuberant con- duct. Damage ------ Don't damage Computing Center facilities, hardware or software. Enforcement ----------- When instances of improper use come to its attention, the Computer Center will investigate them. During those investigations the Computing Center reserves the right to access private information, including the contents of files and mailboxes. Investigations that discover improper use may cause the Computing Center to: o Limit the access of those found using facilities or services improperly; o Refer flagrant abuses to deans, department heads, the University Police, or other authorities for appropriate action; o Disclose private information to other University authorities. Access to Files ------ -- ----- Don't read or use others' files without their permis- sion. Proper usage standards require everyone to take prudent and reasonable steps to limit access to their files and accounts. Fraud and Forgery ----- --- ------- Don't send any form of electronic communication that bears a fraudulent origin or identification. This in- cludes the forging of another's identity on electronic mail or news postings. Harassment ---------- Don't use University computing facilities to harass anyone. This includes the use of insulting, obscene or suggestive electronic mail or news, tampering with oth- ers' files, and invasive access to others' equipment. Networks -------- Don't use local, national and international networks for things that are not legitimate instructional or research activities of the University. This includes, but is not limited to: purely personal electronic mail; articles for commercial gain posted on electronic news networks; and repeated attempts to access restricted resources. Unauthorized Use of Accounts ------------ --- -- -------- Don't access an account not specifically authorized to you, whether it is on a Computing Center system or one at another place. Don't use an account for a purpose not authorized when the account was established, in- cluding personal and commercial use. Don't engage in computing activities that are designed to invade the security of accounts at the Computing Center or any other place. Attempts to decipher passwords, to discover unprotected files, or to decode encrypted files are examples. Proper usage standards require everyone to take prudent and reasonable steps to prevent unauthorized access. Unauthorized Use of Software ------------ --- -- -------- Don't make unauthorized copies of licensed or copy- righted software. Don't violate the terms or restric- tions on the use of software defined in official agree- ments between the University and other parties. Examples include: the copying of software from personal computers unless it is clearly and specifically identi- fied as public domain software that may be freely redistributed; and the copying of restricted Unix source code. Read the policy topic "unix-licensing" for more information on Unix license restrictions. Rules for Access to UNIX Source Code ----- --- ------ -- ---- ------ ---- One of the big factors in the increasing popularity of the UNIX operating system at Purdue is how easily UNIX source code applications can be moved among different variations of the UNIX system. This process, commonly called porting, often requires nothing more than copying and compiling an application to move it from one UNIX platform to another. The porting process is so simple that it is easy to lose sight of the ownership of individual programs and the license agreement restrictions on their source code. 1. License Agreements -- ------- ---------- Source code for computer programs is usually owned by the organization that developed the programs. Since many of these organizations have an economic stake in their developmental investment, they don't just give it away. At a minimum, they usually declare their copyright on the programs. But legally, a more powerful means exists: a license agreement. Software license agreements are contracts in which the seller agrees to provide the program, and perhaps its source code, provided that the buyer agrees to abide by the rules of the license. Sellers can specify just about any rules they desire so long as the buyer agrees to those rules. And just to make life interesting, every seller of computer software seems to have its own special rules to follow. Some programs are distributed in source form without a license agreement. They may be totally unrestricted (called ``public domain'') or the owner may retain the copyright but allow free distribution. A lot of useful software designed to run on UNIX systems is distributed this way. As a user of one of Purdue's systems, you may find source code to such programs in various system directories. 2. Source Code at PUCC -- ------ ---- -- ---- Whenever possible, most UNIX system administrators at Purdue strive to obtain the source code for programs because it makes it easier to maintain systems and quickly fix problems. In order to obtain source code for commercial software systems, it is necessary to negotiate the ``Terms and Conditions'' of the software license agreement with each software vendor. Some of those agreements permit anyone at Purdue to have access to the source code while others stipulate restrictions. Therefore, you may find that you have access to source code which is restricted by a license agreement. Just because you have access does not mean you have the right to port a program to another system. When it comes to the UNIX operating system and its associated utilities and libraries, Purdue University adheres to license agreements with AT&T, the University of California at Berkeley, and other vendors who redistribute UNIX. These license agreements specify the rules under which we may have access to the source code in the first place. The primary UNIX license for Purdue is its educational software agreement with AT&T. The agreement, administered by the Engineering Computer Network (ECN), allows the use of the source code for AT&T's System V, Release 3.2 UNIX on systems at Purdue that have been registered with AT&T. Registration currently costs $400 per system and is the first step that every administrator of a Purdue UNIX system must take before gaining access to any AT&T System V source code or its derivatives. Purdue's agreement with the University of California at Berkeley for access to its Fourth Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), currently known as 4.3BSD or 4.3BSD-Tahoe, grants BSD source access to any system at Purdue that is registered with the AT&T agreement. A variety of other UNIX license agreements also have been signed by Purdue and UNIX resellers. All of these licenses require AT&T registration, including Digital Equipment Corporation's ULTRIX, Hewlett-Packard's HP-UX, Sequent's DYNIX, and Sun Corporation's SunOS among many others. Vendors usually place additional restrictions on the redistribution of their sources to protect the value they have added. If you have a UNIX system of any kind and want to obtain source access, please follow these rules: o Register your system under the Purdue AT&T agreement. Contact Mary Burwell at ECN (317) 494-3516 for more information. o Check with the source-code vendor to determine if an additional vendor license is required. Follow the vendor's restrictions on redistributing the vendor's source code. (PUCC cannot supply you with source code for ULTRIX or DYNIX, for example, because of the restrictions in its licenses with Digital Equipment Corporation and Sequent.) o Source code access for most Sun UNIX systems is provided under agreements between Purdue and the Sun Corporation. The system on which the sources are being used must also be registered with the AT&T agreement. o When in doubt, do not assume you have the right to copy sources from another UNIX system to your own; contact the AT&T license administrator at ECN or the administrator of the system from which you wish to copy the sources before doing so. Waste ----- Don't use Computing Center facilities wastefully. This includes squandering expendable resources, processor cycles or network bandwidth. Use expendable resources such as paper prudently, and recycle them if possible. Use a system whose capacity is appropriate to the size of the computing task.