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Net Ethics

The Internet is not a free service. Campus and every other site pays an Internet Provider in order to be connected to the Internet. The Internet is becoming increasingly more crowded and as a result many sites have become slow or simply can't be reached anymore. The Internet is not an unlimited free resource, so please do not treat it like one.

Activities such as sending unsolicited messages to a user, sending forged or anonymous mail, sending unsolicited mass mailings, sending or posting chain letters, and posting an article to every possible forum are considered unethical and anti-social behavior. Many of these activities are either illegal, or border on being illegal, and can land you in serious trouble.

All it takes is a little common sense to be a courteous user. For example, some people check to see who is logged onto a system and try to have an on-line talk session with any user they find on the system. You wouldn't, for example, call random phone numbers of people you don't know and try to have a conversation with them just because you have nothing better to do would you? So you should not do that on a computer either.

See the University's Policy for the Acceptable Use of Computing Resources for additional information.

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