The proliferation of home computer terminals and computer networks has changed materially the number of possible tourists, and their means of access. Furthermore the impersonality of telecommunication access has resulted in a perceived (if not an actual) diminution of the benefits tourists provide. The laboratories would like to take advantage of both the benefits of computer communication and the benefits afforded by personal contact between laboratory members and tourists. Realizing that we cannot turn back the clock and that the interpersonal relationship between sponsor and tourist will not likely be as close as it was in an earlier time, we nevertheless wish to make them closer than they are today. Therefore the laboratories are at this time setting up a more formal tourist policy which is as follows:
Unfortunately, we must reserve the right to terminate tourist accounts for any reason, although we hope this will not be necessary. The most likely reason would be if a tourist or tourists were to interfere with the laboratories' research objectives, i.e. do not interfere with other people who are using the system.
The ITS computers are not an infinite resource and we must establish priorities for their use. Their primary purpose is to support faculty, staff and students in their endeavor to carry out MIT's Sponsored Research. While tourists are expected to contribute to MIT's research objectives, they are unlikely to be in the mainstream of the on-going work and should therefore consider their role and use of the MIT ITS machine a privilege. A tourist should at all times conduct himself or herself with this in mind. The most important principle is that tourists should not interfere in any way with a laboratory member's use of the machine. This means that a tourist should not do anything which annoys other users, and also that he should not use the computer resources when a laboratory member needs them.