Terms of Use: Files@NYU

Statement of Terms of Use

Files@NYU (files.nyu.edu) is a file storage service provided by NYU Information Technology Services (ITS) to support scholarly, curricular, extra-curricular, and collaborative activities of eligible members of the University community. Files@NYU account holders are eligible individuals who have elected to activate a Files@NYU account and create what is called a home directory. Files@NYU is accessible via the Internet and permits account holders to share designated files and folders with specified individuals or groups or to make content public to the Internet community. A Files@NYU home directory is associated with an account holder's NetID and each account holder is responsible for the information within his/her associated home directory.

As a user of NYU's computing services, you must comply with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations; all NYU rules and policies, including the Policy on Responsible Use of NYU Computers & Data, the Responsibilities of All NYU Computer, Data, and Network Users, and the World Wide Web Policies and Procedures, found at http://www.nyu.edu/its/policies; all applicable contracts and licenses; and these Terms of Use which describe rules and settings specific to Files@NYU. NYU reserves the right at its sole discretion to change, at any time, the provisions of the service and these Terms of Use.

Personally identifiable information or other sensitive data should not be stored in or posted to Files@NYU. (See Data Classification Table) Examples of personally identifiable information are Social Security Numbers and credit card information.

Eligibility

Starting in summer 2008, any degree student or employee (including full- and part-time faculty) with an active NYUHome account is eligible to be a Files@NYU account holder. Files@NYU account holders may create a home directory and may access directories that other account holders have shared with them. Those who are Files@NYU-eligible may continue to use Files@NYU as long as they retain active NYUHome accounts. NYUHome termination rules apply. (For more information, see http://www.nyu.edu/its/faq/nyuhome/#eligible and http://www.nyu.edu/its/accounts/students/grad.html.) Files@NYU account holders who become ineligible to use the service will be given sufficient notice so that they may back up and retain their files, after which time, the directories associated with their account will be deleted.

Departments interested in using Files@NYU or Webspace@NYU should fill out the request form.

Responsibility for Content

Each account holder is solely responsible for the content available in his/her home directory. The account holder may share any file or folder with another Files@NYU account holder and thus designate additional eligible individuals to contribute content to that directory (referred to here as a "contributor"). The account holder is ultimately responsible for content contributed to his/her directory, although the contributor also may be held responsible for content he/she posted.

NYU Disclaimer

The following disclaimer will appear on the main Files@NYU homepage and applies to all content on Files@NYU:
"These pages do not constitute official New York University content. The views and opinions expressed in the pages are strictly those of the associated account holders. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by New York University. NYU makes no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the site's operation or the information, content or materials included on this site. To the full extent permissible by applicable law, NYU hereby disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for any particular purpose. NYU will not be liable for any damages of any kind arising from the use of or inability to use this site. Questions or concerns about page content should be directed to the associated account holder. For copyright inquiries, follow the procedure outlined on the NYU Copyright Communications page."

Monitoring

NYU does not pre-screen, monitor, or review posted Files@NYU content. However, NYU reserves the right to remove, at any time, at its sole discretion, any content that it considers to violate these Terms of Use or the terms of any other campus user agreements that may govern use of the campus networks, or that it deems in violation of University policy or federal, state and local law. Should the University receive a report that a directory contains inappropriate content or that such content has been shared via Files@NYU, NYU will investigate and contact the directory's associated account holder to discuss the issue. In exceptional cases, ITS will immediately remove the content, prior to contacting the associated account holder. Unacceptable content of this sort also may cause NYU to suspend a Files@NYU account holder's access to the service and may result in disciplinary proceedings against the associated account holder and/or contributors. Reports regarding inappropriate Files@NYU content may be sent to files.admin@nyu.edu.

Support and Availability

Unless otherwise posted, Files@NYU has 9AM-5PM Monday-Friday support for client issues. Access to Files@NYU may be unavailable during regular maintenance windows as outlined in the Scheduled Maintenance Guidelines: http://www.nyu.edu/its/policies/maintenance.html

Features and Defaults

The Files@NYU Service is characterized by a large number of features and defaults, notably:

Sharing and Tickets

By default, all Files@NYU files and folders are accessible only to their associated account holders. Account holders can share files and folders that they specify with other Files@NYU-eligible members of the NYU community, who then must authenticate with their NYU NetID and password to view and possibly edit the content depending on the level of permissions the account holder has granted them. The possible permissions that can be granted are:

• Read (default)
• Write
• Delete
• Administer

Files@NYU account holders also have the ability to create "tickets" for access to any of their content. These "tickets" provide special, unauthenticated access to the respective file or folder via an encoded URL link. The access the link provides to the content expires after a certain time period specified by the associated account holder (the default is 30 days). The link can enable the link recipient to view and possibly edit the content, depending on the level of permissions the account holder has granted. The possible permissions that can be granted are:

• Read (default)
• Write

The associated account holder has an option to set a password on this ticket access and ticket access also can be canceled at any time prior to the ticket's expiration by the associated account holder.

Public Sharing

All Files@NYU account holders have the option to create a "public" folder into which they can place any content that they wish to be available to the public. To do so, the associated account holder must acknowledge that they have read these Terms of Use. All content placed in this folder will be public, and account holders must move any content they no longer wish to make available to the public out of the public folder in order to remove public access.

By default, all public folders are accessible by commercial search engines for indexing. Account holders are provided with the ability to disable indexing for certain files. Note: the main NYU Search (based on Google technology) will NOT index sites on files.nyu.edu.

Versioning

Versioning is disabled by default on all files in Files@NYU. However, associated account holders and any account holder with Administer permission can turn versioning on for specific files. When a file is not versioned, the associated account holder or any account holder who has write permission on that file can upload a new version of that file and overwrite the old version. When a file is versioned, previous dated versions are retained in the Versions menu, and the newest version will be displayed in the file listing. This feature is especially useful when multiple people are working on the same file.

Commenting

The associated account holder of a file or folder, or any account holder with read permission to that file or folder, can leave a comment associated with that file or folder and read any comments that have been left.

Logging

Logging is disabled by default on all files in Files@NYU, but can be turned on by the associated account holder or any holder with Administer permissions on the file. When logging is activated for a file, the associated account holder or any account holder with administer permissions can see when certain actions were performed on the file (e.g., the file was downloaded, updated, or commented on) and who performed them, starting from the time when logging was enabled for the file.

Limits

Files@NYU enforces size quotas on all account directories. The default quota will be 2 GB. Quotas can be increased in response to individual need, and requests for increases should be made via AskITS in NYUHome.

Individual account holders also can set quotas on folders that they create and share with others in order to limit the amount of space that folder takes up as a portion of their overall allowed quota.

Subscriptions

Any Files@NYU account holders who has read permission can create a subscription for a file or folder. By subscribing to a file or folder, an account holder indicates that they would like to be notified, via email, of any changes and/or updates on that file or folder. Files@NYU account holders can indicate what kind of events they would like to be notified of, and how they would like to receive such emails. An account holder can cancel a subscription at any time.

Subscriptions also can take the form of an RSS (Real Simple Syndication) "feed" which the account holder can subscribe to via their Web Browser or a Desktop-based RSS "reader."

WebDAV

Files@NYU content also can be accessed via the secure web protocol WebDAV. This allows account holders to "mount" Webspace folders on their PC desktops by utilizing WebDAV clients built-in to most PC Operating Systems. Account holders should neither save their passwords when using this method of access nor use this method when connecting from a shared computer where they do not have a unique and personal account.

Effective Date: June 13, 2009
Amended: November 17, 2009