When you come across sethares.engr.wisc.edu, it's only natural to wonder whether it's safe to browse. The good news is that this isn't a commercial site — it's the personal homepage of a University of Wisconsin–Madison professor, William A. Sethares. That context changes what you should expect.
Most legitimate academic personal pages share a few common traits: they're hosted under their institution's domain, they have a long history, and they don't ask for payments or personal data. This site checks all those boxes. It's been around since at least 2011, the SSL certificate is valid, and there are no threats detected by Google. The lack of a privacy policy or contact form is normal here — universities provide official contact channels separately.
So is sethares.engr.wisc.edu a scam? No. It's exactly what it appears to be: a professor sharing his research and teaching interests. If you're looking for course materials or academic publications, you can browse with confidence. As always, for any site that asks for money or sensitive information, verify its purpose first — but this one doesn't.