Acceptable Use of the IVC Facilities

If any policy has provisions with which you do not agree, please notify the administrators describing your concerns/suggestions. Absent such notice, it is assumed you have reviewed, understood, and fully agree to conform to, all prevailing published policies governing the use of this system.

General

The facilities provided by the Immersive Visualization Center (IVC) are for the use of Texas A&M faculty, staff, and students, for research and teaching purposes. The IVC is not to be used for non-academic purposes nor for personal gain (profit). It is expected that all users will make use of these computing resources in a manner which is ethical, legal, and not contrary to the interests of others.

The basic guidelines are that any use of these facilities must be legal and not such as to interfere with the use of other authorized users, nor compromise the integrity or security of the system's data.

Policies

Failure to abide by the policies described below and in related documents may result in denial of access to computing facilities, disciplinary action, or criminal prosecution.

• You may only use those facilities which have been authorized for your use. Your access is protected by a password. YOU ARE NOT TO MAKE THIS PASSWORD AVAILABLE TO ANYONE. You may not use any account set up for another user, nor may you attempt to find out the password of another user. We will turn over any and all account violations to University officials as well as the Brazos County District Attorney for prosecution. You have been warned.
• You must be aware of the law of copyright as it affects computer software. Software must not be copied except with the express permission of the copyright owner (which may be expressed in the copyright notice contained within the software). Note that a formal copyright need not be in evidence in order for copyright protection to be in force. All installed software in the IVC that is not under a GPL or BSD style license must have a copy of the license in posession of the system administrator.
• As owner of your files, you are responsible for setting the appropriate protections of those files. If you copy information from another user, it is expected that you inform the user of such a procedure.
• Backups will be performed of the system software only. User data must be copied to some other system for backups. You may not use your IVC account for storing backups of other computer accounts.
• You may not attempt to interfere with the operation of computing facilities.
• You may not attempt to subvert the security of any of the computing facilities.
• You may not use these computing facilities to send messages which are obscene or otherwise harassing in their intent.
• You may not use the computing facilities for non-academic activities. For example, running collaborative computing projects such as MD5 or SETI is strictly forbidden.
• You may not use the computing facilities for commercial purposes (i.e., for profit).
• The system administrators reserve the right to monitor all users activities for the purpose of system security, preventing academic dishonesty, and enforcing the policies contained in this document.
• The IVC is operated under the Texas A&M University System. Therefore, all regulations and laws set forth by the University, the State of Texas, and the United States Government apply to the use of these facilities.
• You may disagree with one or more of these policies, publicly or privately, in accordance with your First Amendment rights, but you may not violate any of these policies for any reason or purpose.