postel@VENERA.ISI.EDU (05/24/89)
Question about "advertising" etc. occasionally arise on this list. As I
mentioned a week or so ago, the "info-apple" (aka INFO-APP on BITNET)
portion of this feed is distributed from the Ballistic Researh Labs at
the Aberdeen (Army) Proving Grounds (in Maryland); hence, the following
policy is VERY MUCH in effect.
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Acceptable Use Policy for Intermail and CMR
The Internet is composed of many networks sponsored by many
organizations. However, all the long-haul networks are provided by US
government agencies. Each of these agencies limits the use of the
facilities it provides in some way. In general, the statement by an
agency about how its facilities may be used is called an "Acceptable Use
Policy".
The various agencies involved in the Internet are currently preparing
their Acceptable Use Policy statements. Most of these are in draft form
and have not been released as official agency statements as yet. None
of these policies is currently available as online documents.
In the least restrictive case, all bona fide researchers and scholars,
public and private, from the United States and foreign countries (unless
denied access by national policy) are allowed access.
The Intermail and Commercial Mail Relay (CMR) systems at the University
of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (ISI) are
resources provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) for computing and communication. Use of these resources must be
limited to DARPA sponsored work or other approved government business
(or otherwise meet the acceptable use policy of DARPA), only.
However, DARPA as a member of the Federal Research Internet Coordinating
Committee (FRICC) has agreed to the (draft) policy for communication
networks that provides (in part) that: "the member agencies of the FRICC
agree to carry all traffic that meets the acceptable use policy of the
originating member agency".
Thus, e-mail messages (i.e., "traffic") that meet the acceptable use
policy of an agency and pass through some facility of that agency (i.e.,
"the originating member") on the way to Intermail or CMR are allowed.
The current member agencies of the FRICC are DARPA, NSF, DOE, NASA, and
NIH.
BITNET and UUCP (and other) networks are interconnected to the Internet
via mail relays. It is the responsibility of the managers of these mail
relays to ensure that the e-mail messages ("traffic") that enters the
Internet via their mail relays meets the acceptable use policy of the
member agency providing the Internet access.