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University of Florida
Department of Housing and Residence Education
DHNet Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

Overview

The Department of Housing and Residence Education (“DOHRE”) maintains a network (“DHNet”) for residents in our undergraduate residence halls and graduate and family housing facilities. Access to the Internet via DHNet is provided by an Ethernet receptacle in student rooms and by wireless signal where available.

DHNet is designed and intended to support student academic needs in relation to the purpose and mission of the University of Florida. However, as a residential network, DHNet may be used for recreational and personal purposes provided that this use does not interfere with other users or violates any portion of this Acceptable Use Policy.

The Department of Housing and Residence Education, as an Internet Service Provider (ISP), enforces its policies very aggressively. These policies have been incorporated into the UF Student Code of Conduct, which means that that a violation of these policies may also be a violation of the Student Code of Conduct.

While DHNet staff do not attempt to invade your privacy or attempt to “censor” what you do over the network, very active measures to control how the network is used are employed under the legal authority held by DOHRE to maintain DHNet. If you violate this policy, your DHNet access may be restricted to only UF campus access or your access may be completely terminated until the problem is resolved and/or proper judicial action has been taken.

All users of DHNet must abide by this AUP and by the rules contained in the UF Acceptable Use Policy found at: www.it.ufl.edu/policies/aupolicy.html. It is your responsibility to be familiar with these policies. If you do not agree by the terms of this AUP, you should immediately stop using DHNet and notify the Department of Housing and Residence Education that you wish for DHNet access to be removed from your account.

In the event that there is a conflict between this AUP and your housing contract, the housing contract terms shall prevail.

Prohibited Activities

Sharing of Gatorlink credentials and DHNet Resources and Network Infrastructure

You are wholly responsible for any activity conducted under your Gatorlink credentials while connected to DHNet, regardless of whether you personally participated in the activity or not. You should not permit others to use your Gatorlink credentials while connected to DHNet.

You are not permitted to connect more than one computer at the same time or devices that permit multiple network connections into the DHNet Ethernet receptacle. Therefore hubs, switches, wireless access points, routers, and other similar network equipment that, in the opinion of the DHNet staff, constitutes network infrastructure are not permitted.

Residents of Diamond Village are permitted to setup and deploy wireless access points provided that these wireless access points are secured using WPA or a better wireless security protocol.

Security

You are responsible for installing and maintaining the appropriate security software on devices you connect to DHNet. Any automated program installed on your computer that participates in activities banned under this AUP, with or without your explicit consent, will result in a revocation or restriction of your right to use DHNet. DHNet staff is not responsible for verifying whether activity coming from your computer or device is the result of your actions or the actions of malicious software.

The University of Florida provides McAfee Antivirus free to all students and this software is available for download at http://software.ufl.edu. DHNet does not support the use of any other third-party security software packages.

UF and DOHRE maintain automated scanning equipment on the network and will shut off your access if any virus, botnets, or malicious software activity is detected on your computer.

You are not permitted to use firewall or security applications that may block or interfere with our automated scanning software.

Commercial Use

Using DHNet for commercial purposes or for personal profit is strictly prohibited. The unauthorized use of DOHRE or DHNet resources (such as materials on the DOHRE and DHNet website) is strictly prohibited.

In addition, you may not use software designed solely for the purpose of providing you compensation in return for viewing advertisements. You may not sell or give away DHNet access to other users.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Software

The usage of peer-to-peer software is strictly prohibited on DHNet. Peer-to-peer applications and protocols that are not allowed include, but are not limited to: Ares, BitComet, BitTorrent, Direct Connect, Fasttrack, eDonkey, Gnutella, KaZaa, Limewire, uTorrent, and WinMX.

Peer-to-peer applications are defined under the purposes of this AUP as being software that connects your computer to another computer for the purposes of file-sharing (uploading, seeding, or downloading) or distributing bandwidth amongst many computers. This excludes the usage of instant messaging and email for sending files to another computer.

Servers

Devices connected to DHNet are not permitted to be servers (such as email, FTP, web, P2P, or game servers). Servers are defined as any program or device that has the primary purpose of waiting for connections from other devices or computers in order to provide services to those computers. This does not include programs such as web browsers or instant messengers, which are client programs.

Grid Applications

You are not permitted to run grid applications while connected to DHNet. A grid application is an application that distributes work across many different computers. Examples of this include Folding@home and SETI@home.

Encryption, Virtual Private Networks, and Remote Protocols

You are not permitted to use technologies that encrypt or hide traffic from your device to any other device, including certain remote access protocols. Examples of technologies prohibited under this policy include, but are not limited to, the usage of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), darknets, the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), the RFB (remote framebuffer or VNC) protocol, and proxy servers. You may not operate or access software that uses these protocols in either client or server modes.

This policy excludes accessing websites using the HTTPS protocol (such as accessing banking websites) unless otherwise prohibited (as in the case of proxy servers).

Copyright Infringement

Copyrighted files and software cannot be shared over DHNet unless you are the direct copyright holder doing so in the pursuit of a documentable academic need or you have written permission to do so from the copyright holder. While it is possible to obtain copyrighted materials without using peer-to-peer software, obtaining copyrighted materials without proper authorization is not permitted.

The University of Florida and DOHRE assume no responsibility for infringements of copyright or other laws committed by you during the usage of the service. You are responsible for determining whether material is legally obtained or not.

Connecting to Other Computers on DHNet

You are not permitted to network computers together on DHNet or connect to other users’ devices on DHNet. This includes sharing media devices, music libraries (such as the iTunes library), usage of the Hamachi VPN software or similar software, creating LANs, or creating workgroups. You may not set up ad-hoc networks using wireless adapters or any type of network appliance.

Using Scanning or Other Types of Security Applications

You are not permitted to use any application that scans or catalogs the network or devices connected to the network. You may not use any type of security tool while connected to DHNet to remotely scan or catalog devices connected outside of DHNet.

Bandwidth Usage

You may not excessively use bandwidth or DHNet resources in such a way that causes a disruption or denial of service (DoS) to other users of DHNet or the Internet. Whether or not a device is excessively using bandwidth is left up to the discretion and judgment of DHNet staff.

Hacking and other Illegal Activities

You may not, at any time, use DHNet, the University’s campus-wide network, or related resources for hacking or causing harm. You may not use DHNet in the commission of a crime under UF regulations or local, state, or federal law. You may not use DHNet to violate any UF regulation or policy.

You may not threaten, stalk, harass, or violate the rights of anyone else while using DHNet or collect personal data about other users. You may not use DHNet to transmit malicious software to others.

You may not forge or attempt to hide your identity while using DHNet. Manually changing the Media Access Control (MAC) address or IP (Internet Protocol) address of any device or equipment connected to DHNet is not allowed.

Connecting to other Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

You may not connect to other Internet Service Providers using the DHNet connection as a means of accessing the Internet. You may not use an IP address that is not assigned to you by DHNet.

Other Prohibited Activities

Any activity not specified under this AUP may be disallowed under the discretion of the Department of Housing and Residence Education if such an activity would 1) disrupt, damage, or cause harm to the operations of DHNet, 2) interfere with the mission and purpose of either the University of Florida or the Department of Housing and Residence Education, 3) circumvent or bypass in any way the monitoring capability of DHNet staff to enforce this AUP, or 4) be significantly maligned with the interests of the University community.

Exceptions

Exceptions to this Acceptable Use Policy may be granted by the Senior Network Administrator, Associate Director for Administrative Services, or Director of Housing and Residence Education under the following circumstances:

  • The user is a student of the University of Florida and has demonstrated a clear and obvious academic purpose for the exception. The user must provide supporting evidence and allow us to contact his/her faculty member for verification. In addition, the user must demonstrate that he/she cannot reasonably use a resource other than DHNet to complete his/her academic task. If the request would cause, in the opinion of the staff member giving the approval, considerable hardship to DHNet, the request may be denied despite sufficient evidence supporting the request.
  • The user is an employee of the University of Florida or the Department of Housing and Residence Education and has a clear work-related reason for the exception. The user must provide supporting evidence and allow us to contact his/her supervisor for verification. In addition, the user must demonstrate that he/she cannot reasonably use a resource other than DHNet to complete his/her work-related task. If the request would cause, in the opinion of the staff member giving the approval, considerable hardship to DHNet, the request may be denied despite sufficient evidence supporting the request.

Users with a history of violating the DHNet Acceptable Use Policy or providing false information to DHNet may be denied exceptions to this policy without explanation.

Violations

Any violation of this Acceptable Use Policy may result in one or more of the following sanctions:

  • Redirection of Internet access to DHNet servers for the purpose of acknowledging a violation of this Acceptable Use Policy
  • Judicial sanctions through the DOHRE Residential Judicial Programs office or University of Florida Office of Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution
  • Bandwidth throttling or reduction
  • Restriction of Internet access to the University of Florida domain (ufl.edu) only
  • Suspension of DHNet service for a set period of time
  • Termination of DHNet service

An overview of the DHNet restriction process is available at www.dhnet.ufl.edu/policies/restrictions.php. This process is subject to change.

The DHNet staff reserves the right to take any action necessary to preserve confidential data, the integrity of the network, and the availability of service under applicable UF regulations and state law.

In addition, the DHNet staff shall comply fully with any legally binding ”cease and desist“ order or court-ordered subpoena.