Computing and electronic communications at Mahindra United World College usage guidelines

Security & Privacy

The purpose of this document is to establish and promote the ethical, legal, and secure use of computing and electronic communications for all members of the College community.

The College cherishes freedom of expression, the diversity of values and perspectives inherent in an academic institution, the right to acknowledgment, and the value of privacy for all members of the MUWCI community. At the same time, the College may find it necessary to access and disclose information from computer and network users' accounts to the extent required by law, to uphold contractual obligations or other applicable College policies, or to diagnose and correct technical problems. For this reason, the ultimate privacy of messages and files cannot be ensured. In addition, system failures may lead to loss of data, so users should not assume that their messages and files are secure.

Neither the College nor its agents restrict the content of material transported across its networks. While the College does not position itself as a censor, it reserves the right to limit access to its networks or to remove material stored or posted on College computers when applicable College policies, contractual obligations, or Indian laws are violated. Alleged violations will receive the same academic due process as any other alleged violation of College policy, contractual obligations, or national laws.

In making acceptable use of resources you must:

  • Use resources only for authorized purposes.
  • Protect your UserID and system from unauthorized use. You are responsible for all activities on your UserID or that originate from your system. Your UserID and password act together as your electronic signature.
  • Access only information that is your own, that is publicly available, or to which you have been given authorized access.
  • Use only legal versions of copyrighted software in compliance with vendor license requirements.
  • Be considerate in your use of shared resources. Refrain from monopolizing systems, overloading networks with excessive data, degrading services, or wasting computer time, connection time, disk space, printer paper, manuals, or other resources.

In making acceptable use of resources you must NOT:

  • Use another person's system, files, or data without permission (note that permission from an individual user may not be sufficient - some systems may require additional authority).
  • Use any College resource for activity that would constitute an offence, result in criminal or civil liability, or otherwise violate any law, local, national or international.
  • Transmit/invite any material that is, in the College's sole discretion, unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, hateful, or encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offence, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, national or international law
  • Give your password to another person. Contact the IT staff if you need assistance with giving other people authority to access your files or e-mail.
  • Use computer programs to decode passwords or access-control information.
  • Attempt to circumvent or subvert system or network security measures.
  • Engage in any activity that might be purposefully harmful to systems or to any information stored thereon, such as creating or propagating viruses, worms, or "Trojan horse" programs; disrupting services; damaging files; or making unauthorized modifications to college data.
  • Make or use illegal copies of copyrighted software, store such copies on college systems, or transmit them over college networks.
  • Use mail or messaging services to harass or intimidate another person, for example, by broadcasting unsolicited messages, by repeatedly sending unwanted mail, or by using someone else's name or UserID.
  • Waste shared computing or network resources, for example, by intentionally placing a program in an endless loop, printing excessive amounts of paper, or by sending chain letters or unsolicited mass mailings.
  • Use the college's systems or networks for commercial purposes; for example, by selling access to your UserID or by performing work for profit with college resources in a manner not authorized by the college.

Bandwidth Limit

It is possible to determine the bandwidth used by a single computer over a set period of time. Based on this information, the following rules will be enforced:

  1. On a daily basis, the per computer bandwidth usage will be computed
  2. For computers where the utilization exceeds a daily threshold of 1 GB, e-mail the owner of the computer, noting:
    1. the bandwidth usage issues (e.g. shared resource, student's use as compared to the average, etc.)
    2. pointers to information on curbing outbound traffic usage
    3. consequences for continued over-use (include information about how many notices have been sent)
    4. d.information on how to request additional bandwidth if needed for academic or research projects
  3. After 5 such notices, the student's computer will have its bandwidth restricted to 64 kb/s (kilobits per second) for the remainder of the semester.