PaNOSC Node User Policies

1. Acceptable Use Policy (AUP)

1.1 Acceptable Use

Unless state otherwise the PaNOSC Services may be used for scientific research, education, training, software/data development, and related open-science activities. This includes the reuse of open data. All uses — in particular commercial use — need to respect the licences covering the data and any additional policies for specific Services.

1.2 Prohibited Use

It is prohibited to:

• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose or in violation of applicable law, export-control or sanctions regulations.
• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to accounts, data, sessions, or infrastructure; probe, scan, or test vulnerabilities without explicit written authorisation.
• Interfere with or disrupt the Service or connected services, degrade performance, or circumvent authentication, session limits, storage quotas, or access controls.
• Misrepresent identity, affiliation, or location to obtain access beyond entitlement.
• Upload, store, transmit, or distribute malicious software or content infringing third-party rights.
• Launch computational jobs unrelated to the intended use of the analysis environments; in particular no cryptocurrency mining, password cracking, or bulk scraping through VRE sessions.
• Place personal or confidential data in open or shared areas beyond what is necessary for the intended research.
• Share accounts or credentials, or use automated means to create accounts.

1.3 Fair Use of Compute and Storage

Analysis environments and storage are shared, finite resources. Usage limits (see UAP 2.4) are fair-use based. Systematically circumventing limits, occupying idle sessions or storage to reserve capacity (“Use It or Lose It”), or otherwise depriving other users of resources is prohibited.

1.4 Security Incident Reporting

Suspected or confirmed security incidents (unauthorised access, data breach, malware, vulnerabilities) must be reported immediately to the PaNOSC Node operators (panosc-helpdesk@scc.kit.edu).

1.5 Monitoring and Enforcement

Usage of the Service may be logged and audited for security, capacity planning, and compliance purposes, in accordance with the Privacy Statement. Violations may result in warning, restriction, suspension or termination of access, and notification of the user’s home organisation. Sanctions are proportionate; appeals are handled via the Helpdesk within a few hours or days.

2. User Access Policy (UAP)

2.1 Purpose

This UAP defines access groups, corresponding rights, and usage limits for users of PaNOSC Services where now dedicated UAP exists for a Service.

2.2 Access Groups

This table describes the different PaNOSC User Groups (PUG) and their access policy rights:

Group assignment relies on federated attributes (affiliation, entitlement). Users whose IdP does not release the required attributes must contact their home IdP first. No automatic transition between groups; changes via Helpdesk, case-by-case.

2.3 Data Access Tiers

• Open access: immediate discovery and download under the dataset licence.
• Restricted (gated): available to entitled facility users; authorisation is performed by the responsible facility.
• Metadata-only: discovery always open; access per dataset policy.

2.4 Service Limits

• API: 1000 requests/hour per token; bulk endpoints paginated.
• VRE/analysis sessions: is accordingly regulated by the provider of the relevant service and set out in its UAP.

2.5 Enforcement, Modification, Termination

Violation of this UAP may result in suspension or termination. The PaNOSC Operating Unit may modify this policy at any time; users are notified of significant changes and continued use implies acceptance. Upon termination, quota allocations expire without compensation; user data is deleted subject to legal retention requirements.