As employees of Tisch, we are charged with fulfilling the duties for which we were hired in a productive, expeditious manner; but we are also members of the Tisch and greater NYU communities and as such, we must have regard for the professional and personal needs of others in our community and to NYU as an institution.

The following are italicized excerpts from the document, “RESPONSIBILITIES OF ALL NYU COMPUTER & NETWORK USERS”, which can be found in full on the NYU ITS Website, interspersed with clarifications that specifically apply to employees at Tisch:

Each holder of an ITS account, or holder of any school or departmental account permitting network access, has the responsibility to use the resources referred to above in an ethical and legal manner and agrees to the following as a condition for use of the account:

• I understand that my access to NYU computing resources is for the sole purpose of facilitating my work as a University student, staff member or faculty member.
• I will respect the shared nature of network and computing resources and will refrain from activities which interfere with the ability of others to use those resources.

Use of NYU computer or network resources for personal business or entertainment falls outside NYU accepted use guidelines. Using an NYU email account, computer, website, or network to conduct commercial business or promote a commercial business is not allowed unless specifically approved by NYU authorities.  This includes creating links to commercial entities on NYU based WEB pages.

Playing Music CD’s or watching Video DVD’s for personal entertainment purposes, although not within guidelines for use, are not regulated except when interfering with the performance of job functions by the individual or others in the NYU community.  Downloading programs, images, music, video for installation on one’s NYU computer for personal entertainment or “enhancement” of the desktop are strongly discouraged at Tisch.  Screen Savers, chat programs, images, music sharing programs from uncertified or unrecognized sites or offered as email attachments frequently bring viruses, worms, hacking agents, incompatibilities with them that can compromise the security and operation of your computer, NYU-Net and NYU confidential data.  Using programs such as Spinner to play streaming music over the network is also a form of downloading large media files.  Each person listening to such music impedes the speed of the network a bit, but when multiplied by many simultaneous users can cause a significant slow down and impact others attempting to carry out job related duties, not to mention the impact on the individual’s own system. 

Using Peer-to-Peer file sharing programs such as Morpheus, Gnutella or Kazaa to share music files across the internet or allow others to share your files is not allowed under any circumstances at Tisch.  They may lead to a violation of US copyright law, they compromise your computer’s security by allowing others access to your computer (sometimes taking over operation of your computer), they violate the NYU rule against using your computer for commercial purposes, they violate the restriction on sharing NYU computer accounts and resources with outsiders, and most of all, the network traffic generated by the huge media files can severely hinder other authentic network traffic. 

Please refer to the ITS FAQ for a detailed explanation of peer to peer applications. 

• I will respect the integrity and security of the systems and network, and will exercise care to maintain their security.
• I understand that computer accounts are for sole use by the account owner, and I will not share my account with other individuals or use an account assigned to another individual.
• I will take precautions to safeguard passwords and other privileged information to which I have been given access. Any passwords, verification codes or electronic signature codes assigned to me are for my individual use only. I will regard them as personal identifiers of my computer use, similar to my signature on a document.
• I understand that I am responsible for all actions performed from my computer account.
• I will respect the privacy and reasonable preferences of other users (both at NYU and elsewhere on all connected networks), including the privacy of their accounts and data.

Email accounts and passwords, Computer System and Administrator accounts, HRIS accounts, Fame accounts, SIS, Ramis, Ereports or Brio accounts are given to individuals for their sole use, to be able to perform job related functions only.  Use of these accounts are not to be shared by others outside NYU or others within your department and certainly not with students. You are personally responsible for the use of any accounts in your name or assigned for your use. Not only are you responsible for your own account, NYU explicitly forbids you from revealing anyone else’s account information at NYU or trying to compromise anyone else’s account.

Be aware that the email password you reveal to someone, is the same password that verifies your identity for a wide variety of university services, such as dialup access, email direct, access to your web site, and other netid based accounts.  By sharing your netid password you are, in essence, allowing others to impersonate your NYU identity.

According to NYU policy, when sharing of departmental emails is necessary, it is accomplished via group aliases and forums. 

• I will not attempt to monitor other individuals' computer or network use, nor will I attempt to obtain their passwords or any other private information.
• I understand that, in the course of my work, I may be given, or otherwise gain, access to confidential or privileged information relating to this or other institutions, or to NYU students, employees, patients or other individuals or groups. I will respect the confidentiality of all information to which I have access, neither divulging confidential information without appropriate consent nor seeking to obtain access to confidential information to which I am not entitled.

In addition to safeguarding account passwords, you are responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of any NYU data that you encounter as a part of your job, or on your NYU computer systems.  This includes not storing confidential data on a computer that is open to the public, or in shared folders that don’t have adequate password protection.  Confidential data includes identifying information about specific students, faculty, or staff. It also includes any data that is designated as confidential by NYU authorities.

• I will not make unauthorized copies of software, or perform unauthorized installations of software or reconfigurations of systems.

This excerpt refers to using software in accordance with the license that you agree to when installing the software.  If you own 1 license to a particular software application, you can only install one copy; if you have a multiple license, you can only install as many copies as the license is for.  To do otherwise is illegal.

All persons accessing New York University computing resources will be held accountable for their conduct.

Any abuse or violation of the rules outlined here (or of other rules and practices governing the use of computer networks to which NYU is attached) will lead to account suspension and immediate review, with the possibility of account revocation, further disciplinary action in accordance with New York University rules and procedures, and referral to local, state and federal law enforcement authorities.

The following is an excerpt from the ITS document, “NYU-NET OPERATIONAL PRINCIPLES” which can be found in full at NYU ITS Security Website:

Network Infrastructure

Equipment:
The purchase and/or installation of data network and communications infrastructure equipment—such as hubs, switches, repeaters, wireless networking equipment, bridges and routers—must be done in consultation with the central NOC.

Firewalls:
Network firewall hardware or software may not be installed except in collaboration with the NOC.

Remote Connections to Outside Networks:
Remote connections to other networks or the Internet are not permitted on NYU-NET, except by special arrangement with the NOC. This includes "dual-homed" machines, with a network attachment to NYU-NET and a modem link to a remote network.

Tunnel Connections to Outside Networks:
Tunnels between an NYU-NET host and another host or network infrastructure component on another network are not permitted. Doing so exposes NYU-NET to security risks by circumventing access controls already in place to protect NYU-NET from attacks. Such tunnels include those used for carrying IPX, AppleTalk, NetBEUI, DVMRP/IP Multicast, IPv6 and VPNs (Virtual Private Networks).

The gist of all these technical regulations is that before calling in an outside consultant for installation of special network equipment, your department should consult with Tisch’s Computer Information Technology department who will communicate with NYU-ITS to obtain all proper authorizations and to certify that the equipment is compatible for use at NYU and is in compliance with NYU rules and regulations.

In conclusion, The TSOA Office of Computer Information Technology is available to assist any TSOA department with implementation and compliance with any of these guidelines.