Deron Perkins

Ms. Ballentine
EDU 2800.02
25 October 2015
Acceptable Use Policy
Acceptable use policies (AUP) are the foundations of internet etiquette and safety. In a
world where the power of technology seems to be limitless, there must be measures to insure the
safety of minors and mannerly guidelines. AUPs are documents stipulating constraints and
practices that a user must agree to for access to a corporate network or the Internet. Many
businesses and educational facilities require that employees or students sign an acceptable use
policy before being granted a network ID. This is to ensure that an individual can be held
accountable for any wrongdoings conducted within the host network. The 3 Ps that can usually
be found in an AUP are principles, prohibitions, and the purpose. Principles govern what is
deemed acceptable or not. By definition they describe the instructional values and approaches to
be sustained by internet users. Next are prohibitions, which describe the unacceptable actions
which can sometimes lead to being kicked out of said network. A list of prohibitions is usually
easily found with punishments explicitly being stated. Lastly is the purpose, which is essentially
a combination of the principles and prohibitions infused with the reasoning for developing the
AUP. Acceptable use policies are of paramount importance due to the implications of not having
them. If theyre no measures to ensure the safety and proper regulation of networks all sorts of
chaos could ensue. What makes it even more of a daunting task is that no one would be held
accountable, due to a lack of explicit guidelines regulating acceptable vs non-acceptable
actions. In closing AUPs are essential to an ever evolving digital society. It is vital that we

continue to ensure the safety of the internet for ourselves and especially our children. This can
only happen with support and regulation of adequate AUPs for all internet service providers.