Acceptable Use Policy

---

User Perspective

Acceptable Use Policy

The computing resources at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham support the educational, instructional, research, and administrative activities of the institution and the use of these resources is a privilege that is extended to members of the AU community. As a user of these services and facilities, you have access to valuable institution resources, to sensitive data, and to internal and external networks. Consequently, it is important for you to behave in a responsible, ethical, and legal manner.

In general, acceptable use means respecting the rights of other computer users, the integrity of the physical facilities and all pertinent license and contractual agreements. If an individual is found to be in violation of the Acceptable Use Policy, the institution will take disciplinary action, including the restriction and possible loss of network privileges. A serious violation could result in more serious consequences, up to and including suspension or termination from the institution.

This document establishes specific requirements for the use of all computing and network resources at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.

This policy applies to all users of computing resources owned or managed by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Individuals covered by the policy include (but are not limited to) AU faculty and visiting faculty, non-teaching staff, students and guests.

Computing resources include all institution owned, licensed, or managed hardware and software, and use of the institution network via a physical or wireless connection, regardless of the ownership of the computer or device connected to the network.

These policies apply to technology administered in individual departments, the resources administered by central administrative departments (such as the Institution Libraries and Computing and Information Services), personally owned laptops and devices connected by wire or wireless to the campus network, and to off-campus computers that connect remotely to the institution's network services.

Your Rights and Responsibilities

As a member of the institution community, the institution provides you with the use of work-related tools, including access to the Library, to certain computer systems, servers, software and databases, to the campus telephone and voice mail systems, and to the Internet. You have a reasonable expectation of unobstructed use of these tools, of certain degrees of privacy (which may vary depending on whether you are a staff or a student), and of protection from abuse and intrusion by others sharing these resources. You can expect your right to access information and to express your opinion to be protected as it is for paper and other forms of non-electronic communication.

You are responsible for knowing the regulations and policies of the institution that apply to appropriate use of the institution's technologies and resources. You are responsible for exercising good judgment in the use of the instituion's technological and information resources.

As a representative of the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham community, you are expected to respect the institution's good name in your electronic dealings with those outside the institution.

Acceptable Use

• You may use only the computers, computer accounts, and computer files for which you have access or authorization.
• You may not use another individual's account, or attempt to capture or guess other users' passwords. [Reference AU Password Policy]
• You are individually responsible for appropriate use of all resources assigned to you, including the computer, the network address or port, software and hardware. Therefore, you are accountable to the institution for all use of such resources. As an authorized Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham user of resources, you may not enable unauthorized users to access the network by using a AU computer or a personal computer that is connected to the AU network. [AU Network Connection Policy]
• The institution is bound by its contractual and license agreements respecting certain third party resources; you are expected to comply with all such agreements when using such resources.
• You should make a reasonable effort to protect your passwords and to secure resources against unauthorized use or access. You must configure hardware and software in a way that reasonably prevents unauthorized users from accessing AU's network and computing resources.
• You must not attempt to access restricted portions of the network, an operating system, security software or other administrative applications without appropriate authorization by the system owner or administrator.
• You must comply with the policies and guidelines for any specific set of resources to which you have been granted access. When other policies are more restrictive than this policy, the more restrictive policy takes precedence.
• You must not use AU computing and/or network resources in conjunction with the execution of programs, software, processes, or automated transaction-based commands that are intended to disrupt (or that could reasonably be expected to disrupt) other computer or network users, or damage or degrade performance, software or hardware components of a system.
• On AU network and/or computing systems, do not use tools that are normally used to assess security or to attack computer systems or networks (e.g., password 'crackers,' vulnerability scanners, network sniffers, etc.) unless you have been specifically authorized to do so by the CIS Information Security Group.

Fair Share of Resources

ICT Services, and other institution departments which operate and maintain computers, network systems and servers, expect to maintain an acceptable level of performance and must assure that frivolous, excessive, or inappropriate use of the resources by one person or a few people does not degrade performance for others. The campus network, computer clusters, mail servers and other central computing resources are shared widely and are limited, requiring that resources be utilized with consideration for others who also use them. Therefore, the use of any automated processes to gain technical advantage over others in the AU community is forbidden.

The institution may choose to set limits on an individual's use of a resource through quotas, time limits, and other mechanisms to ensure that these resources can be used by anyone who needs them. Please review the Fair Share of Resources section of the "Acceptable Use Examples" for further clarification.

Adherence with Local Laws

As a member of the Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham community, you are expected to uphold local ordinances. Some AU guidelines related to use of technologies derive from that concern, including laws regarding license and copyright, and the protection of intellectual property.

As a user of AU's computing and network resources you must:

• Abide by all local laws.
• Abide by all applicable copyright laws and licenses. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham has entered into legal agreements or contracts for many of our software and network resources which require each individual using them to comply with those agreements.
• Observe the copyright law as it applies to music, videos, games, images, texts and other media in both personal use and in production of electronic information. The ease with which electronic materials can be copied, modified and sent over the Internet makes electronic materials extremely vulnerable to unauthorized access, invasion of privacy and copyright infringement.
• Do not use, copy, or distribute copyrighted works (including but not limited to Web page graphics, sound files, film clips, trademarks, software and logos) unless you have a legal right to use, copy, distribute, or otherwise exploit the copyrighted work. Doing so may provide the basis for disciplinary action.

Other Inappropriate Activities

Use AU's computing facilities and services for those activities that are consistent with the educational, research and public service mission of the institution. Other prohibited activities include:

• Use of AU's computing services and facilities for political purposes
• Use of AU's computing services and facilities for personal economic gain

Privacy and Personal Rights

• All users of the institution's network and computing resources are expected to respect the privacy and personal rights of others.
• Do not access or copy another user's email, data, programs, or other files without the written permission of AU's ICTS Manager, who is bound to the procedures outlined at Emergency Access to Accounts and Information.
• Be professional and respectful when using computing systems to communicate with others; the use of computing resources to slander or harass any other person is not allowed and could lead to institution discipline.

The institution reserves the right to access and review personal data and information under certain conditions. These include: investigating performance deviations and system problems (with reasonable cause), determining if an individual is in violation of this policy, or, as may be necessary, to ensure that AU is not subject to claims of institutional misconduct.

Access to files on institution-owned equipment or information will only be approved by specific personnel when there is a valid reason to access those files. Authority to access user files can only come from the ICTS Manager in conjunction with requests and/or approvals from senior members of the institution, as found in the document Emergency Access to Accounts and Information

Privacy in Email

While every effort is made to insure the privacy of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham email users, this may not always be possible. In addition, since employees are granted use of electronic information systems and network services to conduct institution business, there may be instances when the institution, based on approval from authorized officers, reserves and retains the right to access and inspect stored information without the consent of the user. (Reference AU'sElectronic Mail Policy).

User Compliance

When you use institution computing services, and accept any institution issued computing accounts, you agree to comply with this and all other computing related policies. You have the responsibility to keep up-to-date on changes in the computing environment, as published, using institution electronic and print publication mechanisms, and to adapt to those changes as necessary.