MCLINC

ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY

As a subscriber to Internet Access through Netcarrier,  MCLINC has agreed to abide by our Internet Provider's Acceptable Use Policies for Internet access.

IN ACCORDANCE WITH SNIP TERMS OF SERVICE:

MCLINC agrees it will (i)  not use (or permit others to use) the Services for any unlawful or abusive purpose or in any way that damages Netcarrier’s property or interferes with or disrupts Netcarrier’s system or other users or that are in any way unlawful, fraudulent, or abusive, or harassing, including but not limited to obtaining or attempting to obtain Services by any fraudulent means or device or attempting to do so; or that infringes upon another’s intellectual property rights; or that otherwise constitutes network abuse and (ii) use the Services in accordance with , and abide by all applicable laws, regulations, and Netcarrier’s usage policies, other rules of general application, the terms of any software license agreement that may accompany any software provided by Netcarrier.  Any content (including Customer Content) material, message or data made available or transmitted through the Service , wherever it is sent from, viewed, received or retrieved, that is in violation of any local, state, federal or foreign or international law, regulation or treaty; the Policy or any community standard or accepted internet policy is prohibited. 

Last Revised: June 23, 2010

Montgomery County Library & Information Network Consortium

INTERNET ACCESS POLICY

Purpose

This policy explains how and why MCLINC restricts access from and to the Internet.  All inbound and outbound access to and from MCLINC is controlled at the perimeter gateway, also known as the firewall.

Policy

Due to the volume of business, number of users, and security concerns MCLINC policy restricts access from public workstations across non-standard HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) ports for the public.  Standard Internet ports are open to all users without restriction at the firewall.

The number of malicious attacks on networks from the Internet is escalating.  MCLINC is charged with protecting the network from such attacks.  A single attack has the potential to debilitate the software on 400 machines, and the potential to damage or destroy the library database that is the heart of MCLINC’s service to the public.

To safeguard against malicious attacks, or attempts, MCLINC has adopted a stringent security policy on its perimeter, which is managed at the MCLINC firewall. Attacks typically target network vulnerabilities associated with specific ports.   Since most Internet browsing can be accomplished across standard HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) ports (e.g. port 80), non-HTTP ports are closed on the firewall and not accessible to the public.

The Board of Directors recognizes that some library users will expect to access remote servers via ports that are not traditional HTTP ports, and that it may not be immediately apparent to the user why he or she is unable to connect.  To verify whether MCLINC has placed restrictions on particular ports, the public is invited to email Webmaster@mclinc.org for clarification.

Adopted July 16, 2004