Web Use Policy

A.

The world wide web has tons of resources that can facilitate your work and make you more productive. Unfortunately, there are also many websites containing material that are inappropriate, illegal, or even dangerous.

B.

For reasons stated above, content and application control mechanisms have been employed in the University network to ensure network security, employee productivity, bandwidth savings, and to help the institution avoid any possible legal liabilities.

C.

The following criteria are considered for the content and application control of online materials:

  1. Security concerns - Websites have become a vehicle for infecting users with malware that steal confidential information or hijack computers to distribute spyware or viruses. Sites which are classified as possible hosts of malware are tagged for blocking.
  2. Minimizing liability exposure - Websites which offer downloading of pirated content or viewing pornography (especially child pornography) have serious legal implications and are not allowed. Websites and services that provide resources for illegal activities such as crime, drugs, gambling, and illegal file sharing are blocked.
  3. Employee productivity - The computing resources of the University will facilitate work-related activities which include opening the Internet for research, communication, and collaboration tools. Websites which offer occasions of excessive non-productive Web surfing are included in the banned list. This includes sites dedicated to gaming and low productivity.
  4. Preserving network bandwidth - Preventing downloads of large video files and images unrelated to work helps preserve bandwidth and application performance.
  5. The following are allowed but restricted within a specified bandwidth limitation
    1. multimedia files: flv, mp3, mp4, mkv, 3gp, avi, mpeg, mpe, mpg, mov, wmv, ogg, rm, ova
    2. media streaming sites: YouTube, Vimeo, DailyMotion, etc.
    3. large files: exe, iso, zip, rar
    4. BitTorrent and Peer-to-peer file transfer are blocked.

D.

Penalties for violation of policies. The violation of the ICT policies may result in penalties ranging from suspension of the user’s account to outright termination, depending on the severity of the violation and its consequences for the university, its network, and other users [cf. UA&P Code of Discipline and UA&P Student Handbook]