Conditions | Terms | Agreements | Content | Site & Domain Hosting | Hardware & Software | Editor Access

Principles of Understanding

In order for us to provide one of these services, it must be:

• For a non-profit organization, group, or service activity (but doesn't have to be legally registered as such).
• For "patient information services only" and not for personal profit or gain or for financial transactions (i.e. this does not preclude "fund raising"; just using our web systems for financial transactions).
• Limited to specified type of content which is decided by mutual agreement.

Definition of Terms (for this agreement):

• The "Host" = MGH/Harvard and the Neurosurgical Service at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School.
• The "Content Provider" is the "Individual, Group, Agency, or Service" that provides the information content and graphics that are "served."

Responsibility & Liability; The "Content Provider" agrees that:

• MGH/Harvard is not liable for content of info (i.e. Content Provider is).
• MGH/Harvard is not responsible for reliability of computers, hardware and software or the functionality of the network infrastructure (i.e. some times systems just go down).
• MGH/Harvard is not responsible to archive or maintain backup of site contents (we can do it, but can not guarantee it or it should be prearranged).
• MGH/Harvard can not guarantee the availability of hardware or software resources (i.e. if the Content Provider needs special hardware, software, scripts or programming resources, the Content Provider may be asked to provide those resources).
• This may be a limited time offer. No guarantee is made about the length of time of service to be provided; it could be a year or more or less (i.e. either party can decide to end this agreement).

Content; The "Content Provider" agrees:

• To frequently update and maintain informational content of pages (i.e. to keep all content & links current and as up-to-date as possible).
• To post a disclaimer about nature of the info on hosted pages (i.e. "Patient-to-Patient" information that does not constitute medical advice, etc.).
• To limit "Personal HomePage" to information about the content provider and or editors so that the reader of the hosted web pages may be better informed as to the source of the information. Links to extensive personal homepages on the owners own ISP are preferred.
• To post an acknowledgement that MGH Neurosurgery is the server host but that the content provider is not associated with Massachusetts General Hospital or Harvard Medical School. MGH Neurosurgery simply allowing the content provider the use of the server for the specific services.

Site & Domain Service Hosting:

MGH Neurosurgery can host services either as part of one of our existing services on one of our servers (under our domain name) or as a host for an InterNic registered domain (under your domain name). The simplest option is as a service under our domain.

If you choose to register your own domain name then:

• The InterNic registration fees for the domain name are paid for and maintained by the content provider (i.e. you or your group).
• Contact us before starting / changing domain name registration so that we can coordinate DNS registration and IP addressing.

Infrastructure; Hardware & Software:

Note: These services are provided as a "Patient-to-Patient" informational resource. They are provided within the limitations of the hardware, software and network infrastructure that we normally have available as part of our department. If there are requests for software, programming, or hardware resources that we do not currently have available, we will try to address those requests. If those requests exceed the ability of our serrvices, or they require special software and hardware, we may ask the Content Providers to assist us with donations of additional resources, i.e. donations of a hard drive, memory, software, etc.). We do not have a budget for these services. See Demo of Services Hosted

Some of the systems currently available to us to host services on include:

• Servers running Win NT 3.51, NT 4.0, NT 5.0 with multipe networked drives. We use the RAIC (redundant array of inexpensive computers) philosophy.
• Editing support including multiple 1/2/4 gigabyte drives, optical drives, zip drives, RCD systems, slide makers, tape drives and document/image scanners.
• Network connections via MGH IR through Harvard University; 8 redundant connections to LMA and the Internet
• PPP dial-up and PPTP virtual private networks.
• Web Servers via EMWAC HTTPS, Purveyor Encryption Server, MS IIS, NetScape Commerce Servers
• EMWAC IMS ListServers, POP Mail, etc.
• Perl 5 Scripts for GuestBooks, BBS Groups, etc.
• Indexing by WAIS and Excite Serach engines.
• Other software has bee run on request.

Editor Access to Hosted Service Content:

Editorial access to the services hosted may be setup by by a variety of methods. To address security concerns, control is maintained down to the server, directory/subdirectory, and file (read/write/delete) level. Editors are given access to the content within their area of responsibility as decided by the owners of the service/content.

• FTP ~ individual or group accounts for editor access.
• PPP ~ individual account access by dial-up connection.
• PPTP ~ individual or group editor accounts for "virtual private network" connections.