Definition of acceptable-use policy

a policy established by the owner of a computer system, or by an Internet service provider, concerning acceptable use of the computer and network facilities. Acceptable-use policies should generally include the following points:

1. Users are accountable for what they do. Deliberate snooping, harassment, or interference with other users will not be tolerated, nor will any deliberate unauthorized activity.
2. The computer shall be used only for its intended purposes. For example, you generally can't use your employer's computer to run another business on the side; nor can you run private moneymaking schemes on a computer owned by a state university.Employees are accountable for how they use their time at work.
3. Passwords must be kept secret. See password.
4. The service provider has the right to suspend accounts that are being misused. People accused of misconduct have the right to a fair hearing.
5. Users must abide by the acceptable-use policies of newsgroups and other electronic discussion forums, which are mostly paid for by other people. On the Internet you are always someone's guest.
6. Chain letters and mass e-mailing are expensive, unwelcome, and generally not permitted. The correct way to reach a wide audience is to use an appropriate newsgroup.
7. Cyberspace is not above the law. Practices that are illegal in the real world, such as forgery, gambling, obscenity, and threatening or inciting violence, are still illegal when you do them on the computer.
8. Losing an account is not necessarily the only penalty for misconduct. The service provider cannot shield users from criminal or civil liability when they break laws or deliberately harm others. Really destructive computer abusers generally have several accounts and must be stopped by other means.