Introduction
FABRIC is a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded scientific infrastructure for open research. As a condition of using FABRIC for experimentation, you agree to the terms and conditions of usage below. This policy applies to everyone who uses FABRIC resources or data, whether physically located on a campus hosting FABRIC resources or remotely accessing them. Although users’ local information technology services may have supplemental policies regarding acceptable use and user privacy expectations, those policies cannot diminish the FABRIC policies as set forth below.The FABRIC project reserves the right to change these Terms of Use at any time. The Terms of Use are available online at: FABRIC Portal
I. Purpose
The FABRIC testbed is provided for research and education-related purposes only. The continuing ability to use FABRIC resources is contingent upon appropriate and responsible use by users. Members of the FABRIC community are expected to be good stewards of the testbed’s information resources and data, and use them in a collaborative, safe, responsible, ethical, and legal manner.
II. Applicable Laws and Policies
You agree not to use FABRIC in violation of any applicable law. The use of FABRIC is subject to all applicable laws, and to all applicable policies and regulations of the Universities and sites at which FABRIC operates infrastructure.
Applicable laws and regulations include, but are not limited to, export control laws and regulations and the regulations administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) with respect to sanctioned countries and regions. See Sanctions Programs and Country Information | Office of Foreign Assets Control .
III. Security
The FABRIC project, the National Science Foundation and FABRIC site partners are committed to maximizing the availability of FABRIC while protecting the security of users. To achieve this high level of security, user cooperation is required.
You agree to:
- not utilize FABRIC for any criminal activity;
- not attempt to disable or circumvent any FABRIC security controls:
- abide by all applicable intellectual property rights;
- protect access credentials and authentication devices for your use only;
- report lost or stolen FABRIC credentials or authentication devices;
- not enable other users to access FABRIC with your account and/or credentials;
- maintain up-to-date contact information with FABRIC;
- appropriately secure your computers that access FABRIC;
- not falsely assume another person’s or entity’s identity or role through deception or without proper authorization;
- not use FABRIC resources for personal commercial purposes or for personal financial gain;
- refrain from disproportionate uses that consume an unreasonable amount of resources. If such behavior is observed, the experimenter will be expected to investigate and address the issue if it appears to be related to their work. During this time, access to FABRIC may be suspended;
- not interfere intentionally with system operation or other system users; and
- report any suspected security breaches or misuses of FABRIC to security@fabric-testbed.net.
While you are also subject to your own site, University or Lab policies,the following clarifications are provided specifically with respect to using FABRIC:
- Logged information, including information provided by the users during registration processes, access to and use of FABRIC, shall be used for administrative, operational, accounting, and security monitoring purposes only. This information may be disclosed to other organizations for these purposes. Although efforts are made to maintain confidentiality of sensitive information, no guarantees are given. As a publicly funded, open system, usage information of FABRIC will be openly shared and reported as the project sees fit.
- FABRIC may retain all access logs and usage information for up to one year and possibly beyond.
- FABRIC is shared by many users and provides the standard file permission tools and virtual machines for users to protect their data from unauthorized access by other users and groups. It is the PI and his/her team’s responsibility to set appropriate permissions or use any extra tools (e.g. encryption tools) to protect their data. It is possible to expose confidential data through misconfiguration of permissions by the user. FABRIC uses many best practices to monitor and protect the system but proper data management is primarily the responsibility of the user.
- FABRIC offers no reliability guarantees. Systems and services may be rebooted, briefly taken off-line, and reinstalled without prior warning
IV. Data Responsibilities
The Principal Investigator (PI) of each project that uses FABRIC is responsible for all data associated with the PI’s project and for compliance with data management policies.
The following data is explicitly prohibited on FABRIC:
- FERPA
- PII
- HIPAA
All data associated with the project must be removed from the FABRIC system within 90 days of the project’s allocation being terminated.
V. Authorized Use
You are responsible for avoiding any use that interferes with others’ legitimate access to and use of FABRIC system resources. You agree to use FABRIC only for projects for which an active and approved project account exists, or for other purposes specifically authorized by FABRIC, and in accordance with the directions of the project’s PI or the PI’s delegate.
FABRIC maintains the authority to limit access to its resources and to partner resources and to remove material stored or posted on FABRIC provided resources when applicable policies, contractual obligations, or applicable laws are or likely have been violated.
Email communications sent to the email address associated with Your user account FABRIC is considered official communication to You as the user of the account. Reading and responding, as appropriate, to these communications is an obligation of using FABRIC.
Utilization of FABRIC for production use is not permitted. Flows from production traffic may be used for research purposes only.
VI. Rules of Behavior
FABRIC is a publicly-funded facility made freely available to users for the advancement of scientific research and education. Use of such facilities is a privilege, not a right, and users are expected to be courteous, professional, and to respect guidance of the facility operators. For users that do not follow such guidance, and/or behave and communicate with the operators without proper etiquette, FABRIC reserves the right to terminate their accounts and deny further account requests from such users.
VII. Enforcement
Non-compliance with this AUP will result in the suspension and/or termination of access to FABRIC and/or FAB resources and possible notification of violations to your Lab, Site, University and/or the National Science Foundation (NSF). If suspected violations occur, FABRIC will take action before reaching all parties if necessary.
Depending on the circumstances, applicable laws may permit civil or criminal litigation and/or restitution, fines, and/or penalties for action that would violate this policy.
Approved by FABRIC PI Ilya Baldin Aug 2023