Statistics Privacy Policy
The Department of Statistics ("Statistics") computing
system of networked computers ("Network") is administered
by a staff of computing professionals ("System Staff") who
seek to provide the best service for every user. The tasks of
the System Staff occasionally require them to intervene in
individual users ("User") accounts to assist the User or
to provide better service on the Network.
The System Staff recognizes the need for privacy when dealing with
User information and User accounts and attempts to follow an ethical
set of guidelines that governs their involvement when dealing User
privacy issues. Some of those guidelines are outlined in this document
for the benefit of the User.
Privacy
Statistics uses a policy of "informed consent" when using
your information. You should understand how Statistics
uses the information you provide, and your right to
approve the use of that information.
In order to obtain an account on the Network, you may be required to provide
various information (name, outside email address, departmental
affiliation, and other contact information). This
information will only be available to Statistics (a
department of the UF College of Liberal Arts & Sciences) for daily
administrative duties and to communicate with you. The
information will not be redistributed to other agencies
without your prior notice.
We want this policy to reduce uninvited use of your
personal information. If you do not want Statistics to use
this information, please contact system@stat.ufl.edu.
However, be aware that without such information,
you may be unable to comply with our account
agreements, which may result in the termination of your Statistics
account. We invite you to review and update your Statistics
information for accuracy.
Directory Permissions
Because Statistics is a collaborative, academic environment Users'
accounts are by default fairly open. When new accounts are created,
the email directory is made completely private, but other directories
are available for reading (not writing) by other users on the
system. If a User requires a place for files which are sensitive, the
Systems Staff recommends, and will assist the User in, creating a
sub-directory which has more limited permissions. Users may also
request that "groups" be created or modified to give access only to a
restricted number of other Users.
Network Traffic
Statistics does not monitor the contents of traffic
crossing the network. However, System Staff may monitor the
volume and type of traffic, in order to better provide
service to our users.
Statistics reserves the right to remove any machine or user
from the Network if we believe the user/machine is
negatively impacting the security or available bandwidth of
our other machines and/or users.
Electronic Mail
Statistics does not monitor the contents of incoming or
outgoing electronic messages. System Staff may monitor the
volume and type of messages in order to provide better
service to our departments. System Staff do not examine the
contents of any messages stored on the Statistics servers.
However, System Staff may monitor the size of the messages stored,
in order to prevent system DoS (Denial of Service)
attack and/or recognize a misconfigured client computer.
If a user contacts the System Staff noting a problem with email,
we may examine the message "headers" in order to trace
the problem. We will not examine the "contents" unless
explicitly requested by the user.
Disk Storage
Statistics does not monitor the contents of user files
stored on the Statistics servers. System Staff may monitor the
volume and type of files in order to provide better
service to our users, particularly if the user's home directory
server has a shortage of storage space.
In the event of a system intrusion (aka "break-in"), System Staff
may be required to examine files that meet the
attacker's modus operandi (ie, suspiciously named
files, files created immediately following the
intrusion, etc).
File Archival
Statistics programs will archive any and all files stored
on the Statistics servers as part of our regular backup and
disaster recovery programs. These archives may be stored
off-site, and are not available to anyone outside of
System Staff.
Account Termination
In the event that you close your account with
Statistics, all of your personal information and files will
be removed from the system.
If requested by the departmental administration, System Staff
may transfer explicitly non-personal files from an employee's
directory to another person(s), assuming you do not
object. If you object, it is your responsibility to
contact system@stat.ufl.edu
before the termination of your account.
Web Links
Parts of Statistics web site (www.stat.ufl.edu) may link to
other web sites, or to Statistics personal web sites
(www.stat.ufl.edu/~user/). Statistics does not have
any involvement or liability for the contents of
such sites, and does not necessarily endorse their
contents.
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Last modified: Mon Jun 5 08:52:37 EDT 2000