Things you should not do on the Student Residence Network

There are some things you should not do when you are connected to the Student Residence Network. This page shows some of the worst violations of the Rules for the use of IT services at the University of Oslo (hereinafter called IT regulations) and/or Guidelines for the use of the Student Halls of Residence Network at the University of Oslo (hereinafter called Guidelines), and what the consequences will be if these rules are violated (as mentioned in the IT regulations, ¡ì9.1 and ¡ì9.2, and Guidelines, point 8.1).

Any attempt to violate the rules below will be discovered, and may lead to permanent closure of your network connection.

• Rules for the use of IT services at the University of Oslo.
• Guidelines for the use of the Student Residence Network at the University of Oslo.

1. It is not allowed to share your password with your partner, friends, or family:

• As mentioned in the IT regulations, ¡ì3.3 and ¡ì3.5, and the Guidelines, point 2.1 and 6.1.
• A lot of people think it is OK to share their password with their partner, friends, or family. This is not allowed according to the IT regulations (which you should be familiar with). The password you were given is yours and yours only. You can not share it with anybody, not even user support at UiO or other people working at the IT department at UiO. If we discover that you have compromised security by giving your password to other people, your account will be closed immediately. This will not only affect your connection to the Student Residence Network, but all the other IT services at UiO as well.

2. Do not give out your own IP addresses via a DHCP server:

• As mentioned in the IT regulations, ¡ì3.1, and the Guidelines, point 3.1.
• A DHCP server distributes IP addresses dynamically to computers connected to a network. USIT provides this service for the whole Student Residence Network. If you try to establish your own DHCP server the network will stop working correctly, and a lot of residents may loose their network connection.
• If you are using a Linux system, you have to check if the default configuration includes a DHCP server. If it does, turn it off. You also need to disable bind (name service).
• In a lot of newer firewalls (hardware - not for example the one that is standard in Windows XP) DHCP is enabled pr. default. If you have a physical firewall, you need to disable the built-in DHCP server.

3. File sharing programs are not permitted:

• As mentioned in the IT regulations, ¡ì5.1, ¡ì5.2 and ¡ì6.1 and in addendum 2, point 4.2 in the Guidelines.
• It can be tempting to download/upload movies, games, books, music, etc. on a 10mbit network. You should therefore be aware that a lot of the material available on the internet is copyrighted, and unauthorized downloading/uploading of copyrighted material is prohibited at UiO. Several international (and national) organisations are active on the internet tracking down distributors of copyrighted material. UiO get several complaints every day from organisations such as RIAA and MPAA regarding students who share copyrighted material through file sharing software as for example Kazaa, DirectConnect (DC++), Bittorrent, Morpheus, eDonkey, etc. This is not allowed on the Student Residence Network. If you share copyrighted material through file sharing software or an FTP server, your connection to the Student Residence Network will be closed for a minimum of 10 weeks (this does not affect your access to the other IT services at UiO).

4. Try to avoid viruses on your computer:

• As mentioned in the IT regulations, ¡ì3.6.
• Viruses on the Student Residence Network is something we struggle against every day. If your computer is infected with a virus or a worm, you can be sure that your connection to the Student Residence Network will be closed until you have disinfected your computer. 

5. Do not set up your own wireless access point:

• As mentioned in the IT regulations, ¡ì3.5.
• Even though it is very convenient to be able to access the network anywhere in your room without having to drag cables around, a wireless access point is something we do not like. The range of a wireless access point may be up to several hundred meters, which makes it possible for anyone to connect to the UiO network (especially if encryption is disabled). Some wireless access points also have a built-in DHCP server (see point 2).

Try to avoid the following:

• As mentioned in point 2, it is not allowed to run your own DHCP server. In some physical routers/firewalls a DHCP server is enabled pr. default. If you need to connect two computers together, buy a mini switch.
• Please do not have more than two computers connected to the network at the same time.