Campus Network Acceptable Use Policy

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The University campus network provides networking services to members of the University who access the network to support the academic, research and administrative activities of the University. The user must use these services responsibly. By connecting to the University campus network, the user agrees to the Campus Network Acceptable Use Policy, and related policies and regulations.

Failure to comply with the above rules is considered to be a violation of the University’s Statement of Ethics on Information Technology Use and will lead to suspension of access to the University’s IT system and network services and possibly disciplinary actions.

1. Do NOT assign your own IP address

An IP (Internet Protocol) address identifies a computer within the campus network. Do not attempt to assign your own IP address to your computer. The IP address of a computer must be unique. Assigning your own IP addresses can cause IP address conflict to other PCs.

2. Do NOT set up any servers including but not limited to

  • web servers
  • ftp servers
  • file servers
  • DHCP servers
  • DNS servers
  • NTP servers
  • LDAP servers
  • Memcached servers

You are not allowed to set up your own servers without permission from the Information Technology Services. These servers may cause excessive network traffic. Besides, any improper server configuration may lead to serious network problems. All approved servers must be registered under the Server Compliance Program

3. Do NOT set up peer-to-peer file sharing programs

Peer-to-peer file sharing programs (like KaZaA, Morpheus, BearShare, LimeWire, Grokster, Blubster, WinMX, BitTorrent (BT), eDonkey, etc.) can act like servers and generate a lot of network traffic, thus slowing down the network and affecting other users. Moreover, they may distribute copyrighted material without authorization from the copyright owner.

4. Do NOT connect private network equipment to the network

You must not connect your own network equipment, such as network switches and other network sharing devices to the network connection points under the HKU Network. Such an act is strictly prohibited as it may affect the functioning and performance of the entire campus network. Any improperly configured equipment connected to the network may cause the total collapse of the network.

5. Do NOT power off or reset or tamper with network devices

Various network devices are used to link up the whole network. Resetting any network device can cause interruptions of the network services to the users and may even permanently damage the network devices.

6. Do NOT perform scanning and hacking Activities

Do NOT use utility programs such as network scanning tools, network analyzer tools to scan other PCs on the network. Do NOT perform any hacking activities, e.g. trying to login other computers without authorization.

7. Use of Bandwidth

All use of the campus network should share the use of limited Internet and intranet bandwidth equitably. Users should not overwhelm the network by uploading or downloading large amount of data at a very short interval. This must be strictly abided in WiFi network, at which the air channel bandwidth is much limited. For large amount of data transfer through the network, users must divide the task into several low-volume subtasks and run at different time intervals to avoid interference to other network users.

8. Access to Campus WiFi Network

As the number of available WiFi air channels is limited, installation of unauthorized WiFi access points (or enabling WiFi sharing feature) is not allowed within campus. Private WiFi access points occupy some of the existing air channels and thus affect the overall performance and bandwidth of the campus WiFi services.

WiFi device of users should support WPA2 and 802.1x industrial standards in order to support secured WiFi communication which is the current industrial best practice.

9. HARNET Acceptable Use Policy

As HKU network is connected to the HARNET (Hong Kong Academic and Research Network), users should also comply with the HARNET Acceptable Use Policy.