Software is readily available from a variety of sources that permit you to turn your personal computer into a file server, web server, ftp server, or other similar public resource.

In general, IT recommends that you take advantage of the central College servers instead of creating your own personal server. If you choose to operate your own, you must remember that you are personally responsible for all activity that takes place on your system and abide by the following conditions:

Misrepresentation

You may not identify your server in any manner that misrepresents its status to others. For example, you may not suggest that your server is one of the College's official servers, nor can you associate it with a Skidmore club, department, or office without explicit permission.

Security

You are responsible for the security of your system. If you misconfigure the server software, others may be able to mess up your computer, even to the point of erasing your files. Similarly, you may not permit your server to become a base for assaulting (or "hacking") other campus systems.

Content

You are responsible for the content of files that you distrbute. For example, current laws permit you to be sued for libel, invasion of privacy, copyright violations (including music, images, software, and prose), pornography, and other such crimes. Similarly, you will not use your server to support or encourage plaigiarism, cheating, or other violations of campus ethics.

Money-Making Activities

You may not use College resources for money-making activities since these can jeopardize Skidmore's "nonprofit" status. For example, you cannot use College printers for commercial word processing, nor can you use the network to advertize commercial services.

Unauthorized access

You may not configure your server to permit others to access College resources from outside of Skidmore. For example, many of the educational licences for software and on-line library bibliographies limit their use to current students and employees. If you configure your server to make these available to outsiders, you can jeopardize the College's ability to provide these resources an an affordable price.

Network integrity

You may not install any hardware or software that threatens the integrity of the overall campus network. This includes unauthorized routers, name servers, IP address servers, or systems that flood the net with excessive traffic.

Violations

Violations of these rules will be reported to the appropriate campus judicial body. Any punishment will be determined by that body, but it can include disconnection from the campus network.

IT may disconnect a user from the network if his or her activities present an immanent danger. In these cases, the problem will be reported promptly to the appropriate judicial body and IT will abide by the judgement of that group.