Daily Bulletin

Draft statement on use of computing

The document is available on the web, and will be the subject of a public meeting to be held in the fall term, says the University Committee on Information Systems and Technology, which issued it last week. "Written comments are welcome," says UCIST; they should be directed to Trenny Canning in the university secretariat.

"UCIST believes," says an introductory memo, "that the revised Statement is both balanced and workable." It's also rather brief. Here's the full text:

Preamble

Computing and network resources are important components of the University infrastructure. This Statement provides guidelines that govern the appropriate and ethical use of these resources, informs users of expectations and responsibilities assumed in the use of UW computing and network resources, and clarifies the context.

Guiding Principles

1. The University encourages the use of computing and network resources to enhance the working and learning environment of its members.

2. These resources are provided primarily to support and further the mission of the University.

3. The University values and strives to provide its members with an environment of free inquiry and expression. Freedom of expression and academic freedom should be limited to no greater degree in electronic format than in printed or oral communication.

4. Members of the UW community are responsible and accountable for their actions and statements, which includes showing reasonable restraint in the consumption of shared resources. There is an expectation of appropriate and ethical behaviour (see Policy #33) in the use of computing and network resources. Users of computing and network resources are expected to obey all applicable provincial and federal laws, and pertinent University of Waterloo policies and procedures.

5. There is a presumption of privacy. The privacy of system users should be respected and reasonable safeguards in place to protect it.

Rights/Responsibilities

Contained within and following from the Guiding Principles are a variety of rights and responsibilities of both the user and the University. Some of these are presented below.

UW Rights and Responsibilities

* To allocate the use of and access to UW computing and network resources.
* To define access privileges of UW users and, where just cause is present, to revoke access privileges of any UW user.
* To inform UW users of their rights and responsibilities in the use of UW computing and network resources, and to communicate clearly the terms and conditions under which access to and use of such resources are provided.
* To ensure adequate safeguards to protect the privacy of UW users, including: the notification of collection, use and disclosure practices; and the obtaining of explicit, informed consent.
* To provide adequate security for UW computing and network resources.

User Rights and Responsibilities

* To a presumption of privacy in the use of the computing resources assigned to them.
* To use University computing and network resources in a manner which does not unduly interfere with the study, work or working environment of other users.
* To be accountable for the use of any computing and network resources assigned to the user.
* To seek permission from the appropriate University authority to use UW computing or network resources for fundamentally different purposes than those for which they were allocated.

Adjudication/Disciplinary Action

Misuse of the University's computing and network resources may result in disciplinary action within the University. Any disciplinary or grievance action undertaken will be governed by the relevant University of Waterloo policies and procedures.

Some examples for Do Bees

I'm okay, you're okay

• A user occasionally sends electronic mail to friends and/or relatives.
• A user designs a small personal web page about knitting that is housed on a UW server.
• A user offers personal items for sale through a newsgroup.
• The manager of a system notices that a program run by a user has "run away," causing the disk to become full, thereby impeding the computing access of others. He terminates the program and deletes some of the newly generated files in order to regain adequate space. He informs the user of his actions and the reasons for them.
• Local police are seeking evidence against a user and they serve the University with a valid search warrant. Only that information specified in the warrant is provided to the police and the owner of that information is advised of its disclosure.

Definitely not okay

• A user obtains, or tries to obtain, covert or illicit access to another person's account (e.g., stealing or attempting to crack another person's password).
• A system administrator uses his privileges to read electronic mail stored on a friend's account without permission.
• A user constructs a personal web page on a University computer in order to distribute a new web browser he has built. His page gets thousands of "hits" every hour, swamping the local network, and impeding the access of other University users.
• During a time when many students require workstation access to complete their projects, a student locks a public workstation, then leaves for an extended period of time, thereby making the workstation unavailable to others.
• A user distributes a chain letter or pyramid scheme through the campus network.
• A UW user sends death threats to another person via electronic mail.
• A professor buys one copy of copyrighted software, then makes 30 copies to distribute to students for use in her course, without payment to the copyright holder.
• After an argument, an individual uses e-mail to send repeatedly a very large file to the person with whom he argued. The effect on this person is that it restricts his ability to work on his system.
• Mary tells John she does not want to receive any further e-mail communication from him, but John persists in sending messages.
• A student in a public lab repeatedly displays images in full view of others in the lab. The student has been informed that some individuals in the lab find the images offensive and he is asked to stop displaying them. In spite of requests, the student continues to display the images.

And other complications

• A faculty member places an article criticizing the University on his personal web page, which is housed on a UW server. His chair orders him to remove the article.
• The student newspaper publishes both electronic and print versions. An article is published in both that many individuals find offensive. The electronic version is ordered removed from the campus network, but no restriction is placed on the print version.

• An individual no longer at the University has left data on a UW computer, and another UW researcher would like to use them. The researcher asks the administrator of the system to transfer the data to his account.
• A professor suspects plagiarism on the part of a student. The student insists he spent many hours preparing the paper. The administrator of the system is asked to check the computer logs and verify that the student was logged on during the time claimed.

Uncovered today: shorts and briefs

Sharon Adams of the psychology department sends word that colleague Nancy Gibson attended the annual Canadian Association for Laboratory Animal Science conference June 22-24, held in Calgary. "Nancy presented an innovative invention for filling cage bottles and at the conclusion of the conference, received the Les Read Memorial Award; in the profession of animal care technicians, Les Read was known for his creative ideas for improving the quality of animal care and the presentation of the award is quite an honour!"

Amit Dubey, president of the UW debating society, sends word of a tournament held on campus recently for teams from a number of Ontario and Québec universities and even a few from the United States. The top-ranking team was an alumni entry from York University, narrowly edging out a McGill team. "In addition to holding this tournament," Dubey notes, "our club's mandate is to travel to tournaments held by other schools." Anybody interested in arguing -- with rules -- can reach him at debate@watserv1 for more information.

Sharon Lamont has happy news from the Davis Centre library: "David Porreca recently was notified that he has received a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant to pursue his PhD studies in the history of ideas (medieval philosophy) at the Warburg Institute, University of London. He will be moving to London at the end of August for the next three years. David has been working in Davis User Services on a temporary contract since May of 1997. You may have seen him at noon today [June 17] as he helped organized the excellent barbecue. Another exciting event is taking place for Davis next Saturday: he is getting married to Rebecca Ferris!"

UW web site of the day

Researchers from Canada and five east African countries -- Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi -- are working together to study the animals, plants and waters of two great lakes and that are considered "world treasures" for the diversity of species there. On this web site, their smiling faces introduce information about some of the work they're doing, based at UW and the University of Manitoba.

The website is intended both for scientists and other researchers, and for a general audience, explains Linda Campbell, one of the graduate students involved in the project. She says the page "is for sharing information about some of the researchers in the department and to educate people about East African lakes. When I checked the Internet, I found very little information about the lakes themselves. Most websites either talked about tourism and personal trips or about the famous cichlid fish species. There were very few sites that discussed the environmental and ecological issues of the African Great Lakes which are vital to the countries surrounding the great lakes.

"The website is still developing, but we have had positive response, both from other scientists and the general public who happened upon the website. We hope to expand on it by including more information about the environment, social aspects, and the scientific aspects of the lakes as our research progresses."

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca | (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
| Yesterday's Bulletin
Copyright © 1998 University of Waterloo