From: kadie@eff.org (Carl M. Kadie)
Subject: Rice U. - "System Administrator Statment of Ethics"
Originator: kadie@eff.org
Organization: The Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 02:13:54 GMT

This is repost of the Rice University System Administrator Statement
of Ethics - This statement was adopted in March by the system
administrators in Rice's Information Systems division (these sys
admins provide services to Owlnet).  It is a statement of how they
will approach user privacy and confidentiality. It is posted with Mr.
Watter's permission.

From jaw@rice.edu Sat Jun 27 12:45:29 1992
From: Joseph A. Watters <jaw@rice.edu>
Subject: Part 5 of 6: Rice U. computing policies
To: kadie@cs.uiuc.edu
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 92 17:06:04 CDT
X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.3 PL11]

Rice Information Systems statement of ethics.
-- 
Joseph A. Watters, Jr.		jaw@owlnet.rice.edu
Deputy Director, Owlnet		director@owlnet.rice.edu
Rice University


Statement of Ethics with Respect To User Data

Network and Systems Support
Office of Networking and Computing Systems
Information Systems
William Marsh Rice University
3 March 1992

The members of Network and Systems Support (NSS) recognize their
ethical responsibilities toward the information stored on or passing
through the computers and networks they maintain. This document is
intended to assist people in understanding those responsiblities by
giving previously oral traditions written form.


I. Value of confidentiality

The term "privacy" has a more restricted meaning than the term
"confidentiality". Privacy is often used to indicate the ability of a
single person to control access to information he or she creates,
stores or transmits.  Confidentiality implies that more than one person
may have access to that information, but that they recognize the
sensitive nature of that access and use their power of access
judiciously.

System or Network Administrators (sys-admins) understand that absolute
privacy of user data cannot be guaranteed for a number of technical,
legal and economic reasons. Among them are limitations in software and
hardware technology, limited personnel and financial resources, and
human error.  Sys-admins cannot, given these limitations, make any
legal promises about the privacy of user data.

Sys-admins cannot perform their function without having access to
sensitive information. Sys-admins cannot guarantee either privacy or
confidentiality, but they value both concepts. They attempt to maintain
systems and networks in a manner which reflects these concerns.


II. Informed Users

Sys-admins have a responsibility to inform the user community about the
degree of privacy and confidentiality enjoyed by their data.
Sys-admins should endeavor to educate users about the ways they can
increase the confidentiality of their data.

For example, users of all NSS-maintained systems should be informed
when they receive their accounts that privacy is not guaranteed, if for
no other reason than the fact that all known computer security
mechanisms can be compromised.  Therefore, if there is any information
that users absolutely do not want another person to see, then it should
not be stored on those systems. However, there are a number of
mechanisms and behaviors which aid in increasing the confidentiality of
their data, such as file encryption, protecting the security of their
account, etcetera.


III. Maximizing Confidentiality

Sys-admins have the technical ability to see almost all of the data on
the systems or networks they manage, including that which users have
attempted to protect from access by other users. Sys-admins attempt to
recognize data which has been treated this way and they handle it more
cautiously than other, unprotected information. Electronic mail is
considered extremely confidential material.

They should minimize their access to protected data to the extent
possible while allowing them to complete their duties as stewards of
systems and networks. The duties which typically require access to
protected data are: identifying and pursuing breaches of security
mechanisms, maintaining the integrity or operational state of a system
or network, fulfilling a specific management mandate (e.g. collecting
evidence for an Honor Council investigation), responding to a user
question, and collecting aggregate data (e.g. the number of users who
have used a certain package or logged in during some time period).


IV. Disclosure to others

Sys-admins may disclose the contents of protected files to others
without the user's prior permission when the sys-admin(s) believe that
policies or laws were violated. Limited disclosure of private data may
also occur while pursuing a question initiated by the user. Disclosure
of private data without the user's prior permission should be
minimized.


V.  Protection of data

Much of the preceding discussion is concerned with the accessibilty of
data by sys-admins.  The modification of users' data is a different
question. Modification of users' data without prior consent by the user
should be avoided if at all possible.  However, the maintenance of
normal system operation may at times require modification of user
data.

A sys-admin changing a user's file should attempt to:

	(a) minimize the changes made in order to protect the integrity
	of the user's data. Integrity includes both existence and
attributes such as location and access permissions.

	(b) unless a security incident is being investigated and
	notification would jeopardize the investigation, notify the
user of the changes made, including an explanation of the reasons which
made the changes necessary.

	(c) maintain enough records to be able to justify the action to
	management.



-- 
Carl Kadie -- I do not represent EFF; this is just me.
 =kadie@eff.org, kadie@cs.uiuc.edu =