Yet some don't think twice about propagating such materials on the network. People who never in their lives have harassed anyone by phone or letter will sometimes give it a try through e-mail. In these and other cases, most of us recognize behaviors that are no more acceptable on the network than anywhere else. A flame may be a crime if it contains threats, in which case the matter will be referred to the police. Electronic chain letters can propagate exponentially on the network in a very short time, clogging networks and computers, degrading e-mail service, and generally irritating all concerned.
Harassment is harassment, regardless of the mechanism.
Our novice networkers are often surprised to find that, in keeping with Internet policy, participating institutions do not allow truly anonymous access to the network. Logs are kept that allow network traffic to be traced to its source when necessary. All students and faculty and staff members are subject to the provisions of this policy and you may wish to take a few minutes to review it. The dramatic growth of network use in recent years has brought an increase in problems. Questions about acceptable use may be submitted through the Computing Center's 4HELP service which will refer them appropriately to those who can help.