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Web support & webmaster services: Web technology & search engine support
Yale University Web institutional server policiesUse of all information technology services is governed by the Yale University Information Technology Appropriate Use Policy (AUP). Please be sure that you have read and are familiar with all facets of the AUP before requesting an account on the Yale institutional Web servers. The following are ITS policies specific to the institutional Web servers: Contents of this page
Yale University institutional Web server privacy policyYale University's major institutional Web servers are intended exclusively for the service of Web pages on behalf of Yale University and its education, research, and community service programs. Web sites are managed by individual authors; any material served without password or other restriction is publicly available. Web authors may choose to shield their sites from general Internet search engines as well as Yale's local search services. ITS staff respect account authors' privacy and do not inspect the content of account files except in the course of a policy violation investigation. However, as part of normal maintenance it is occasionally necessary for staff to move directories to different disk partitions and to review directory and file permissions. The Webmaster Team reserves the right to close accounts for persistent problems of inappropriate use, inaccurate or untimely information, privacy, security or performance reasons, violations of University policy, or illegal activities. Scripting and database accessTo insure the security of major Yale University Web sites CGI scripting and MySQL database access is not available on the Central Campus Web server (www.yale.edu). The Medical Campus server (info.med.yale.edu) has integrated PHP/Perl scripting and MySQL database services. The Yale Webmaster Team is actively planning for new scripting and database alternatives for Yale Web publishers, however we will not have the new servers online before early 2007. Please contact the Yale University Webmaster if you have questions about scripting support for your Web site. Copyright and intellectual property rightsYale University encourages both the free expression of ideas, and respects the intellectual property rights of copyright owners. We strongly encourage Yale University Web authors to always verify the ownership of any form of media (text, graphics, audiovisuals) used in Yale Web sites, and to obtain the written permission of the content owner before posting the material on any Yale University Web server. The Yale University Library maintains an excellent discussion on copyright and Web materials. The Yale University Webmaster reserves the right to immediately remove materials that have been identified as potential copyright violations, and to immediately terminate accounts in major violations of this copyright policy. Please contact the Yale University Webmaster if you have questions about using copyrighted materials on your Web site. HIPAA security and privacy policiesYale University Web authors must comply with all HIPAA security and privacy regulations for Protected Health Information (PHI). No PHI may be posted on any Yale University institutional Web server. The Yale University Webmaster reserves the right to immediately remove materials that have been identified as potential PHI violations, and to immediately terminate accounts in violation of these Yale University HIPAA policies. 
Digital media or other types of large files and the institutional Web serversYale University’s institutional Web servers are designed to serve Web pages, and are not to be used as media servers for large media files, or as download areas for large files of any type. You may not place any large digital media file (MP3 audio, any type of video file, or any individual file over 2MB in size) without written authorization from the Yale University Webmaster. This is to insure the proper functioning of all Yale University Web sites and to protect Yale’s institutional Web servers from the extraordinary traffic volumes and storage requirements that digital media files sometimes impose. Please contact the Yale University Webmaster for further information or permissions. Media servers at YaleITS Media Services offers professional-quality, high-bandwidth media server space to the Yale community on a fee-for-service basis. Please contact ITS Media Services directly for additional information on the policies and availability of server space to meet your digital media needs. Typical URL forms on institutional Web server accountsTypical Yale URLs are extensions of the “root” URL of the Web server that hosts your site. Please see our detailed URL policy guidelines for typical and customized forms of URLs on Yale Web servers. In general, only URLs ending in “yale.edu” are hosted on Yale University Web servers. Some organizations using “custom” URLs use the “.org” form for their URLs. In very rare cases Yale has agreed to host the DNS pointer for a “.com” URL form (to prevent URL squatters from buying the “.com” form of a Yale URL), but in no cases will Yale University host a “.com” Web site on an Yale institutional Web server.
Requests for particular forms of URL are made on a “first-come, first served” basis, and certain URLs forms may not be available to you because they are already in use. The Yale University Webmaster also reserves the right to refuse requests for URL forms likely to be used in the future by Yale University departments and administrators (for example, URLs including words like “security” or “emergency” ). Please see our detailed policy on forming Yale University URLs, and contact the Yale University Webmaster if you have further questions about URL forms at Yale.
Constructing Web sites off the institutional serversWe recommend that the major Central Campus and Medical Campus not to be used directly for the construction of Web pages, and that you do your primary authoring on your own computer and upload files only when you are ready to do final quality checks and publishing. Active file authoring and file transfers place additional demands on the Web server, and we want to protect the Web servers from this unnecessary traffic to insure proper performance for all Yale community Web sites. Users found logging on for extended periods of time may face forfeiture of institutional Web server privileges. Abandoned or unmaintained Web sitesThe Yale University Webmaster reserves the right to archive and remove sites on institutional Web servers that have not been edited or updated in four or more years. We reserve the right to archive and remove Web sites where the official Contact Person for the site cannot be contacted or has left the University. The Webmaster Team will make reasonable efforts to contact the site owners in such cases, however these apparently abandoned Web sites may be removed without notice after four years of inactivity. Policy changes and policy enforcementWWW policy may change without notice, however we will always try to give Yale Web publishers notice well in advance of any major changes in Web polices or procedures. ITS also reserves the right to make any technical changes on Yale’s institutional Web servers, as necessary. The Yale University Webmaster Team will always try to give users prior warning of such changes, although such warnings may not always be possible. The Yale University Webmaster Team reserves the right to take immediate action to deactivate accounts, Web sites, or particular types of files or scripting that may endanger the normal operation or security of Yale’s institutional Web servers. If you have any questions concerning your account, these guidelines, or University Web policy in general, feel free to email the Yale University Webmaster at webmaster@yale.edu. |
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