Guidelines for Internet use

As a user of the Wolfson College Computer Network, you have access to a very powerful communications system. Great power comes with great responsibility. Without proper care and responsible behaviour, your computer may

• interfere with the work of others, who share the network with you,
• create additional cost for yourself, the College or the University,
• get you into trouble with the police.

To avoid such problems repeating, we have set up some rules for using the network. The most important ones boil down to

• DO keep your network-connected computer in a good and secure shape:
  • DO always apply the latest security updates for your operating system and other software, which are available from the manufacturers’ web pages.
  • DO use up-to-date anti-virus software under Microsoft Windows.
  • DO use strong passwords.
  • DO exercise caution with anything received unexpectedly by email, especially never start or install software from it.
• DO NOT transfer more than ten gigabytes (10 GB) of data to or from outside the Cambridge University Data Network per month, unless the College has individually agreed to a higher allowance.
• DO NOT run any server software, especially not any “peer-to-peer file-sharing” software for swapping music, videos or software.
• DO NOT download or offer illegal data, such as copyright-infringing files of music, videos or software.
• DO NOT change the IP address of your computer from the one that was assigned to you.

Before using the Wolfson College network, make sure that you are fully familiar with the Acceptable Use Policy that governs your use of this facility.

Background

Computers on the Wolfson network are connected via the Cambridge University Data Network and the UK Academic Network (JANET) to the world-wide Internet. This access is subject to the JANET Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits, among other things, the transfer of offensive or copyright-infringing material.

Wolfson College is charged by the University Computing Service for any data exchanged via JANET between a computer connected in Wolfson and the outside world (i.e., anything other than *.cam.ac.uk, *.ebi.ac.uk). The network charge is based on Wolfson’s quarterly share of the entire University of Cambridge traffic with the outside world. In the past, this has been of the order of £0.50 per gigabyte.

Limiting networking costs

To avoid excessive costs for the College, the amount of data you can transmit over the network is limited, depending on your subscription level. The following guidelines can help you to avoid exceeding your data traffic allowance:

• Do not run a server offering services to anyone outside the Cambridge University Data Network, unless you have received a written permission from the IT Officer. "Server" in this context refers to distributed games servers, ftp/web/mail/news servers, peer-to-peer file sharing software and other programs that might attract network traffic from outside the University network. Note that in most cases, such servers will not be reachable anyway, as incoming connections from outside the CUDN are normally blocked by the College firewall.
• Avoid in particular the installation or use of so-called peer-to-peer file-sharing programs, such as

  eDonkey, KaZaA, Aimster, Bearshare, Gnutella, Grokster, Hotline, LimeWire, Morpheus, ToadNode, Xolox, Direct Connect, BCDC, Swapper, Phex, AutoNap, Crapster, Duskter, WinMX, iMesh, etc.

  The above programs are of particular concern, as they are mostly used to download and redistribute copyright-infringing music and video material. Remember that any service that you provide to others from your copmputer must be both legal and in furtherance of the aims of the College and University.

  See also the CUDN Authorization for Use of the CUDN conditions.

• Avoid large regular data transfers (“mirroring”) from outside Cambridge, unless it is really necessary for your academic work.
• Remember that some large software packages are made available locally for download by the Computing Service. In particular, their Unix Support mirrorsmost Linux distributions. Downloading from there not only costs the College nothing, it is also much faster. (More tips on installing Linux ...)
• The use of streaming audio/video software, Internet telephony, Internet radio services, or the mbone should be kept in moderation.

Avoiding harm to the network

Some other rules are not related to network charging, but need to be observed to maintain the smooth running of the College network:

• Traffic between College computers and with other Cambridge University Data Network machines (*.cam.ac.uk, *.ebi.ac.uk) is normally not restricted, as long as this traffic does not interfere with the usability of the network.
• You must not run on your computer any network scanning software. Scanning software is anything that attempts to contact a very large number of other addresses, or a large number of different network ports on the same address. Such software quickly triggers an alarm at the Computing Service, who will then start to investigate whether your computer has caught a nasty infection (worms, hackers, spammers, etc.).
• Your computer should be configured to to respond to “pings”. This is a Computing Service requirement, which you may have to consider if you use firewall software that blocks certain “ICMP packets”. See also the Computing Service pages on:
  • CUDN-connected computers must support the ICMP Echo (ping) function
  • How can I enable ping with Windows Firewall?
• You must not run any DHCP server or similar infrastructure services on the Wolfson network, as these can severely disrupt the operation of some computers connected to it.

Network monitoring and enforcement

Use of the Wolfson College Computer Network is monitored by College staff and by the operators of connected larger networks. This is necessary to ensure the smooth and economic running of our network and complies with the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, The Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of Communications) Regulations 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998.

The College reserves the right to impose additional charges upon any individuals who cause significant network traffic costs by failing to observe the above guidelines. In extreme cases, disciplinary action may be taken.

External network traffic watch

There are locally recorded external network usage statistics for each Wolfson user. These statistics are updated every hour. The Computing Service also publishes a daily traffic ranking for the external network traffic caused by the top 20 Wolfson users.