3. What are web access log files?

During your travel around the Internet, you will visit many different servers around the world and, unknowingly, leave a digital trail of your surfing. This is because web servers collect and log information about you and your web client system. There are valid reasons to keep such logs including:
  1. Help to track security breaches
  2. Counting how often documents are accessed
  3. Recording types of browsers being used

You can find out what information is available to web servers about you and your system by clicking on this link

Web Client Report

Information collected in web logs is purely for system related reasons. No specific details of an individual's use of computer systems are not made publically available. However, some server owners do allow third parties access to this information. OUCS has no control over this practice.

The OUCS servers

All the OUCS web servers record information on which files are accessed, when and by whom. This last item consists of the IP name and number of the computer you are using to access the web, together with your user name on that system (if available). IP naming schemes used for computers can allow an individual users identity to be determined.

Other Colleges and Departments of the University also maintain log files. The University IT Committee recommends that these log files are not made available in a form to identify individual users.

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