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    <NIS.NSF.NET> [NSFNET] NETUSE.TXT
   
    Interim                                              3 July 1990
    NSFNET
    Acceptable Use Policy
   
   The purpose of NSFNET is to support research and education in and
   among academic institutions in the U.S. by providing access to unique
   resources and the opportunity for collaborative work.
   
   This statement represents a guide to the acceptable use of the NSFNET
   backbone. It is only intended to address the issue of use of the
   backbone. It is expected that the various middle level networks will
   formulate their own use policies for traffic that will not traverse
   the backbone.
   
      (1) All use must be consistent with the purposes of NSFNET.
   
      (2) The intent of the use policy is to make clear certain cases
          which are consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, not to
          exhaustively enumerate all such possible uses.
   
      (3) The NSF NSFNET Project Office may at any time make
          determinations that particular uses are or are not
          consistent with the purposes of NSFNET. Such determinations
          will be reported to the NSFNET Policy Advisory Committee
          and to the user community.
   
      (4) If a use is consistent with the purposes of NSFNET, then
          activities in direct support of that use will be considered
          consistent with the purposes of NSFNET. For example,
          administrative communications for the support infrastructure
          needed for research and instruction are acceptable.
   
      (5) Use in support of research or instruction at not-for-profit
          institutions of research or instruction in the United States
          is acceptable.
   
      (6) Use for a project which is part of or supports a research or
          instruction activity for a not-for-profit institution of
          research or instruction in the United States is acceptable,
          even if any or all parties to the use are located or
          employed elsewhere. For example, communications directly
          between industrial affiliates engaged in support of a
          project for such an institution is acceptable.
   
      (7) Use for commercial activities by for-profit institutions is
          generally not acceptable unless it can be justified under
          (4) above. These should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis
          by the NSF Project Office.
   
      (8) Use for research or instruction at for-profit institutions
          may or may not be consistent with the purposes of NSFNET,
          and will be reviewed by the NSF Project Office on a
          case-by-case basis.