Are these statements actually campus rules?

Short Answer

Statements on the news page are not hard rules, they are conventions agreed to by campus computing bodies (with representatives from across campus) and given endorsement by UCIST.

Why do we need these conventions?

In every case, the conventions are created to solve real problems. Very often, the issues involve compromises between freedom to do something and the unfortunate impact that the freedom has on everyone else using the network.

All the conventions are guided by campus computer-related policies and statements and directives which can be found at:

For example,

Freedom to install private WiFi base stations interferes with the bandwidth and reliability for everyone else using campus-consistent WiFi.
Freedom to run old and unsupported operating systems will greatly reduce campus external network bandwidth and campus security as those machines become infected.
Freedom to ignore spam checking and Email virus checking can lead to further spread of viruses, and to the university being blacklisted by other sites.
All of the above create unnecessary additional work for the IT people who are responsible for the campus computing and network systems.

Can I ignore the 'conventions'?

It is not recommended. There are multiple possible outcomes:

At any time, without warning, your systems may become disconnected from the network, or they may be blacklisted or otherwise unable to do function as you expect. This is not punishment, systems inconsisten with campus conventions can be a problem and the convention for dealing with them is defined in: http://www.ist.uwaterloo.ca/directives/secUW.html and http://www.adm.uwaterloo.ca/infocist/use98.htm.
As explained in http://www.ist.uwaterloo.ca/directives/secUW.html, there is an escalation procedure which may be taken.
If simple education cannot resolve certain practices, matters may escalate within your unit, your faculty, etc. until a resolution is found. That resolution may be an allowance to not meet the convention, or it may be a recommendation to follow the convention.

I don't feel I have a say here

Every convention listed has gone through an advisory committee consisting of IT staff from each faculty and IST, usually with several months of discussion (and discussion is supposed to filter out to other interested campus groups), and a proposal is created. That proposal is then reviewed by academics and others in UCIST, including the Associate Provost for Information Systems and Technology.

If you were not involved in the consultative process, and you didn't hear about the proprosals through other groups, you should contact the local representative and air your concerns. It is better to have concerns addressed within the conventions (even through later additions) than to operate outside the conventions.

Is this web page an official position?

Absolutely not. This page was written by Erick Engelke with some input from others, and it represents my understanding of the campus policies, campus statements, and accepted campus IT conventions. If you have any suggestions, please contact me at the UWuserid: erick.

Updated August 22, 2005

Erick Engelke