Behave yourself on Internet!

All things are lawful for me,
but all things are not helpful.
(Bible, 1 Cor 6,12)

Introduction

Anyone who wish to drive a car, must pass an exam. The examiner tests both the driving skill and the knowledge of traffic rules. We think who want to navigate on Internet, must pass a similar exam. He/she must have at least a few knowledge on computers and networks and behavior modes on Internet. We propose a short obligatory course for all beginners who come in touch with the Internet.

The curriculum of the course

• Introduction in the network problems
• Electronic mail
• Other Internet-services
• Network etiquette

Introduction in the network problems

Electronic mail

Other Internet-services

Network etiquette

Source of information

The referred materials are distributed as follows:

Introduction in the network problems: 1, 2, 5, 6, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 26, 27;
Electronic mail: 2, 22;
Other Internet-services: 2, 11, 15, 16, 20, 24, 27;
Network etiquette: 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25.

Why Netiquette?

The Internet has neither president nor board council. It is conducted ultimately by a voluntary membership organization named ISOC (Internet Society). The council of elders is a group of invited volunteers called the Internet Activities Board (IAB). Because of this construction the behavior of the users is very important.

The Internet Activities Board has stated in the "Ethics and the Internet" [12]:
"The reliable operation of the Internet and the responsible use of its resources is of common interest and concern for its users, operators and sponsors. Recent events involving the hosts on the Internet and in similar network infrastructures underscore the need to reiterate the professional responsibility every Internet user bears to colleagues and to the sponsors of the system. ... Irresponsible use of this critical resource poses an enormous threat to its continued availability to the technical community."

Everyone who uses the Internet must know that are considered unethical and unacceptable activities which purposely [12]:
"(a) seeks to gain unauthorized access to the resources of the Internet,
(b) disrupts the intended use of the Internet,
(c) wastes resources (people, capacity, computer) through such actions,
(d) destroys the integrity of computer-based information,
(e) compromises the privacy of users."

There are not malicious activities which have negative effects or at least are impolite. These are mainly because of ignorance. The main rule of thumb on the Internet must be: "Behave yourself and do not disturb the other people".

Let see the principal impolite activities:
-- sending or posting messages with control or non-ASCII characters,
-- including the entire original message in reply,
-- sending or posting very long messages,
-- posting advertisements to undigested lists in spite of prohibition,
-- sending a personal reply to all recipients,
-- sending or posting needless questions,
-- including long signature in messages,
-- sending unsolicited information to people,
-- asking questions existing in FAQs.

BYOI must emphasize why are these impolites and how can they be avoid. For efficiently using of the communication systems, must be encouraged the background activities. Anonymous file transfers can be made in background or by e-mail. For documents, programs, and any information first must to check locally, only if they do not exist try to search in another place.

Let us finish by listing the ten commandments for computer science from the Computer Ethics Institute [24]:

1. Thou shalt not use a computer to harm other people.
2. Thou shalt not interfere with other people's computer work.
3. Thou shalt not snoop around in other people's files.
4. Thou shalt not use a computer to steal.
5. Thou shalt not use a computer to bear false witness.
6. Thou shalt not use or copy software for which you have not paid.
7. Thou shalt not use other people's computer resources without authorization.
8. Thou shalt not appropriate other people's intellectual output.
9. Thou shalt think about the social consequences of the program you write.
10. Thou shalt use a computer in ways that show consideration and respect.

References

1. Anhang., C., Individual Network (IN) Netiquette http://www.infra.de/INFRA/IN-Netiquette.html
2. B. Crispen, Netiquette, http://www.newbie.net
3. Big Dummy's Guide to the Internet, ftp://ftp.eff.org/pub/Net_info/Big_Dummy
4. Bradford Internet Guide (aka Roadmap): Lesson 5 Netiquette Part One Lesson 5 Netiquette Part One. Linda Arbuckle http://manuel.brad.ac.uk/help/.xferfile/.bradmap/0004.html
5. Cerf, V., Guidelines for Conduct on and Use of Internet, http://www.isoc.org/policy/conduct/conduct.html
6. Copyright, Citing Web Sources, Netiquette http://sehplib.ucsd.edu/aboutnet/cr.html
7. Guidelines for Responsible Use of the Internet, from the US house of Representatives gopher, gopher://gopher.house.gov:70/OF-1%3a208%3aInternet%20Etiquette
8. Hambridge, S.: Netiquette Guidelines (RFC 1855) http://www.stanton.dtcc.edu/stanton/cs/rfc1855.html
9. Hambridge, S., and J. Sedayao, Horses and Barn Doors: Evolution of Corporate Guidelines for Internet Usage, LISA VII, Usenix, November 1-5, 1993, pp. 9-16. ftp://ftp.intel.com/pub/papers/horses.ps or horses.ascii
10. Horwitz, S., Internet Etiquette Tips, ftp://ftp.temple.edu/pub/info/help-net/netiquette.infohn
11. Internet -- Introduction, http://www.december.com/cmc/info
12. Internet Activities Board, Ethics and the Internet, RFC 1087, IAB, January 1989. ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1087.txt
13. Krol, E., Hoffman , E., What is the Internet, RFC 1462. ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1462.txt
14. Mandel, T., Surfing the Wild Internet, SRI International Business Intelligence Program, Scan No. 2109. March, 1993. gopher://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/00/Communications/surf-wild
15. Masinter, L., S. Putz, D. Robson, J. Ernst, An Overview of the Internet and World-Wide Web http://www.december.com/cmr/info
16. Martin, J., There's Gold in them thar Networks! or Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong Places, FYI 10, RFC 1402, January 1993. ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/rfc1402.txt
17. Menter, D. G., Netiquette_Netisode_Page http://carbon.concom.com/~dmenter/Netiquette/
18. Netiquette compliance policy http://www.ukshops.co.uk:8000/ukshops/p000029.html
19. Pioch, N., A Short IRC Primer, Text conversion by Owe Rasmussen. Edition 1.1b, February 28, 1993. http://www.kei.com/irc/IRCprimer1.1.txt
20. Polly, J. A., Surfing the Internet: an Introduction, Version 2.0.3. Revised May 15, 1993. ftp://ftp.nysernet.org/pub/resources/guides/surfing.2.0.3.txt
21. Quarterman, J, S., Smoot Carl-Mitchell, What is the Internet, Anyway? http://www.mids.org
22. Rankin, B. Accessing the Internet by E-mail, Doctor Bob's Guide to Offline Internet Access, E-mail: bobrankin@mhv.net Subject: send accmail.xx, where xx is the language code.
23. Rinaldi, A., The Net: User Guidelines and Netiquette, http://www.fau.edu/rinaldi/net/index.htm
24. RFC Documents, ftp://nis.nsf.net/documents/rfc/ ftp://ds.internic.net/rfc/
25. Shea, V., The Guide to Network Etiquette. http://www.netsurf.com/nsm/v01/01/albion/albion.html
26. Tenant, R., Internet Basics, ERIC Clearinghouse of Information Resources, EDO-IR-92-7. September, 1992. gopher://nic.merit.edu:7043/00/introducing.the.internet/ gopher://vega.lib.ncsu.edu:70/00/library/reference/guides/tennet
27. WWW.FAQ, http://siva.cshl.org/~boutell/www_faq.html

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                            Zoltán Kása 
       		 "Babes-Bolyai" University of Cluj-Napoca 
    
                 	  Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics 
    
                          Department of Computer Science 
    
      E-mail: kasa@null.net 
    
       
                     WWW: http://www.cs.ubbcluj.ro/~kasa