Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a legal document that defines the activities and prohibited activities associated with a particular service or technology.

• Context:
  • It can (typically) establish the rules and expectations for users of Online Platforms and Network Services, ensuring that use is both ethical and compliant with Legal Standards.
  • It can (often) be found as part of the terms of service agreements or user contracts, helping protect the service provider and its users by setting clear guidelines.
  • It can range from being very general to very specific, depending on the nature of the service and the potential risks involved.
  • It can include provisions on Data Handling, User Conduct, and the use of Service-Specific Features.
  • It can have enforcement mechanisms that include account suspension, termination, and legal actions, thereby ensuring compliance.
  • ...
• Example(s):
  • an Email Service Provider Acceptable Use Policy (for an email service) that prohibits the sending of spam to protect users from unwanted content and maintain the service's reputation.
  • an Cloud Computing Service Acceptable Use Policy (for a Cloud Computing Service) that restricts the use of the platform for unlawful purposes, such as hosting or distributing malware.
  • ...
• Counter-Example(s):
  • Privacy Policys, which primarily focus on how personal information is collected, used, and protected rather than on how the service itself may be used.
  • Service Level Agreements, which primarily deal with the performance and availability metrics expected from the service provider rather than user behavior.
  • ...
• See: Data Privacy, Network Security, Terms of Service, Social Norm, Computer Network, Website, Corporations.

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References

2024

• (Wikipedia, 2024) ⇒ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptable_use_policy Retrieved:2024-4-16.
  • An acceptable use policy (AUP), acceptable usage policy or fair use policy (FUP) is a set of rules applied by the owner, creator, possessor or administrator of a computer network, website, or service that restricts the ways in which the network, website or system may be used and sets guidelines as to how it should be used. AUP documents are written for corporations, businesses, universities, schools, internet service providers (ISPs), and website owners, often to reduce the potential for legal action that may be taken by a user, and often with little prospect of enforcement. Acceptable use policies are an integral and critical part of the framework of information security policies; it is often common practice to ask new members of an organization to sign an AUP before they are given access to its information systems, just in case. For this reason, an AUP must be concise and clear. While at the same time covering the most important points about what users are, and are not allowed to do with the IT systems of an organization, it should refer users to the more comprehensive security policy where relevant. It should also, and very notably define what sanctions will be applied if a user breaks the AUP. Compliance with this policy should as usual, be measured by regular audits. In some cases a fair usage policy applied to a service allowing nominally unlimited use for a fixed fee simply sets a cap on what may be used. This is intended to allow normal usage but, prevent what is considered excessive. For example, users of an "unlimited" broadband Internet service may be subject to suspension, termination, or bandwidth limiting for usage which is continually excessive, unfair, affects other users enjoyment of the broadband service. Also, it is not consistent with the usage typically expected on a particular access package. The policy is enforced directly, without legal proceedings.

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