Tutorial Home Sharing Accounts Email Guidelines Outside Purposes Copyright Issues Security Issues

Sharing Accounts Example 1: A Friend Wants To Use Your Account To Browse The Web An old friend is visiting and wants to browse the Web. Should you give her your account ID and password or should you log in (so she can't see your password) and then let her use your account? Do not let her use your account ID and password and do not log in for her. It is not a good idea to share your account with anyone. Example 2: Giving Your Password To Your Supervisor You are on the UW staff but you are home sick today. You get a call from your supervisor asking for some files you are working on. Should you give your password to your supervisor? No. Look for a solution that does not involve sharing your password. You could login from home and send the file as an email attachment to your supervisor, for example. Example 3: Sharing Your Dial-up Connection Your roommate does not have a computer but you do. You want to let her use your computer whenever she needs it. So, you set up the computer to dial up with your password. The password is hidden on the PC, so she cannot see it or use it for anything else. She has to use her own password to actually log on to her account on Dante. She is using yours just for the dial-up connection and only to do her school work. Is this okay? It would be best if you each used your own login name and password to connect. While her intention may be to only connect to Dante, the fact is that when she uses your identity to connect, she can run any of your network programs, including your browser, usenet reader, and your desktop email program, as you. Email Guidelines Example 1: Sending Unwanted Email You had a serious disagreement with a friend and you hope to patch things up using email. He sends you an email message telling you to stop sending email messages to him, but you want to reply with just one more note to explain your side of things. Should you reply? Sending unwanted email is a violation of university policy. Example 2: Forwarding Chain Letters Someone sends you a chain letter by email, stating that you will have bad luck if you don't forward it to at least 12 other people. It would be easy for you to forward it to a dozen friends in your address book. Is that OK? It is against UW Technology policy to send chain letters. Most people do not want to receive chain letters, they are a waste of university resources, and they often suggest illegal money raising schemes. Example 3: Replying To Unwanted Email A company from outside the UW keeps sending you unwanted email advertisements about their products. You replied back asking them to stop on several occasions but you continue to receive the advertisements. You decide to send them lots of messages, each one containing the entire dictionary. Is this OK? It is against policy to flood systems, networks, or user accounts with email. Such an action would be considered harrassment itself and invites retailiation. Outside Purposes Example 1: Helping Do Good Work You belong to a non-profit organization that does a lot of good work with a very small budget. You want to help improve its ability to pull in money by using a UW computer and printer to compose and print some donation request letters. Should you do it? It is against state law to use UW computers for outside work. Example 2: Games That Teach You want to build a Web page that allows anyone in the world to play a small game that shows them the parts of the arm. Is this OK? Games are OK as long as they are work or school related. Example 3: Using UW Staff And Student Directories Your parents run a small business and would like to attract more customers. You have access to the UW Staff Directory and know that it would be easy to print it off for your parents. Should you do this? No. Copying directory information for advertising is considered using UW computers and equipment for outside purposes. Copyright Example 1: Using Graphics From The Web You have found a great diagram on a Web site in France and want to use the diagram in a report you are writing. Copying the diagram into your word processor is easy to do. Is this OK? Using the diagram in your report is OK as long as you cite the source. Of course, copying someone else's material into your report without giving its source, so that it looks like your own original work, would be plagiarism. Example 2: Putting Your Music Collection On The Web You have a large collection of rock music CDs. Your plan is to pick your favorite songs and put them on your Web page so that your friends can listen to them. Is this OK? You may not put the sound files on the Web without permission from the copyright owner. It is university policy to respect federal copyright and commercial license protections. In the case of your music CDs, purchasing a CD gives you the right of personal use, but not of redistribution. To put the music files on your Web pages, you would need permission from whoever owns the copyright. Example 3: Sharing Software You have some software that your friend wants. Your friend doesn't have enough money to buy the software himself so he asks if he can make a copy of your software. Should you let him do it? Commercial software is protected by copyright law and commercial licensing agreements. It is university policy to respect such protections. Security Example 1: Looking At Other Peoples' Files You hear from an acquaintance about a security hole in a computer you both use that allows her to look at other peoples' files. Before you report the hole, you want to make sure it actually exists. Should you try to find it? I should just report the possible security hole to the system manager. The systems manager is in a much better position to identify and deal with the problem. If the computer is one of the general access systems managed by UW Technology, you could send email to help@cac.washington.edu Example 2: Someone Forgot To Logout You are at one of the computer labs on campus and sit down at a computer. You notice that the person before you has forgotten to log out of their account and computer. What should you do? Logout completely and log in again using your own login name and password. Starting a completely new session will avoid any possibility of modifying the other person's files or of appearing to use another person's account. Example 3: Poking Around In Other Computers You used to have an account on a computer at an outside agency but you don't know if it is still good, so you try to login. You cannot remember your password so you try several times, using different passwords. Nothing works, so you try to find out if the system administrator you knew there is still around. You cannot remember her name exactly, so you try several different names. Eventually you give up. Later that day, UW Technology gets a call from the agency's system administrator who thinks that they have a potential break-in coming from the UW. Are you in trouble? Unless you have made a continuing practice of probing other peoples' computers or you have disturbed the agency's computers in some significant way, everything will get straightened out. Such "probing" activities are often associated with "hacking" and therefore are a legitimate basis of concern about security. UW Technology or your system administrator may contact you asking about the incident.

UW Technology
help@u.washington.edu
Modified: January 24, 2008