I should probably let the university defend themselves on this one but it
seems reasonable to suppose that they are not asking us to go back to the
stone age, but rather wish to assist us in avoiding the age of the legal tar
pit, of which many abound.

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Rockwell [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 2:05 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MSUNAG] FAQ - Avoiding On-line Software Tools

Debbie,

The FAQ looks great and is important given the complexity of this "policy".

I have a question for whoever wishes to respond...

There is a statement in the policy, "The university would not agree to 
the indemnity provisions included in the terms of use, and furthermore 
faculty and staff do not have the institutional authority to accept the 
offered terms." It seems to me that this would apply to basically every 
commonly used commercial and open source software program. Do we go back 
to stone tablets because the software vendor indemnifies themselves in 
the license agreement? Isn't everybody routinely exceeding their 
"institutional authority" by accepting software terms of use?

-Tom


Debbra A. Malcangi wrote:
>
> The FAQ - Avoiding On-line Software Tools such as Google has been 
> posted to our knowledge base.
>
> Below is a link to that article.
>
> http://techbase.msu.edu/article.asp?id=9363&service=techbase 
> <http://techbase.msu.edu/article.asp?id=9363&service=techbase>
>
> Debbie
>
> ________________________
>
> Debbie Malcangi
>
> ACNS Communications & Training
>
> 324 Computer Center
>
> East Lansing, Michigan 48824
>
> 517-432-0456
>
> Fax: 517-432-8059
>
> http://computing.msu.edu
>
> http://train.msu.edu
>
>