Beware the Internet Police..........a Utah example

[David Vaughan]

I don't see the privacy breach here.  This is about an employer
exercising legitimate control over the activities of their employees.  I
expect that accessing a phone sex line from the employer's phone system
would also be an offense, as would sexually harassing a client or
co-worker.  The employer own the network, the PC, and has standards that
they expect their employees to adhere to when using them.  Any employees
who want to visit sex sites or send smutty email messages would be quite
free to do so on their home computer using their private Internet
provider.  If the employer tried to police what they do on their own
time on their computer, then there would be a case for privacy breach.
Termination may be overkill as a punishment, but I have no problem with
an employer trying to control how their facilities are used.


David

David S. Vaughan			Phone: 905-546-4126 x36
Wentworth Libraries			Fax: 905-522-9083
Hamilton, ON, Canada

Email: dsvaughan at wentworth.region.library.on.ca

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Ray Matthews [SMTP:asitmain.rmatthew at state.ut.us]
> Sent:	Thursday, January 29, 1998 1:56 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Beware the Internet Police..........a Utah example
> 
> Imagine being a librarian or government worker working for a regime
> that
> monitors everything. Every conversation you have is recorded,
> monitored, and
> reviewed. Everyone you have contact with is noted. Every place you
> visit,
> everywhere you go is observed and recorded. Every entry in your diary
> is read.
> Everything you buy or even consider buying is recorded. Every activity
> is noted
> and stored.....24 hours a day, seven days a week.
> 
> The regime has the ability to save this visual, auditory and written
> data in
> massive storage devices which can be searched . Data from differing
> databases
> can be combined to produce a complete record of all your activities.
> Anything
> that is even deemed "questionable" by the authorities is cause for
> termination,
> or worse.
> 
> Far fetched? Consider that in the global virtual community in which we
> now live
> more and more of our communications, buying, and personal activities
> take place
> on the information superhighway. The separations between our personal
> and
> professional, between our private and work lives are disappearing. The
> technology now exists for Big Brother to monitor nearly every facet of
> our
> lives. 
> 
> Have civil liberty protections kept pace with the ability of
> technology to
> invade privacy?
> 
> Does the First Amendment, rights of privacy, and federal wiretapping
> laws
> prevent government and businesses from invading privacy on the
> Internet?
> 
> Sadly, in less technologically advanced totalitarian regimes the
> privacy of
> personal communications is safeguarded to a greater degree than in the
> good ol'
> USA. 
> 
> Don't believe it?......READ ON
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -------------------------
>              
> Thursday, January 29, 1998
> Utah County Clamping Down on E-Mail Abuse
> 
> THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>       PROVO -- The Utah County Commission has adopted new restrictions
> governing
> employees' e-mail and Internet privileges. 
>       The panel voted Tuesday to update its Personnel Management Rules
> and
> Regulations to include language that makes sending derogatory e-mail
> or 
> deliberately accessing a questionable Internet site cause for
> termination. 
>       ``This is just as serious as a heart attack,'' Commissioner
> David Gardner
> said. ``I hope nobody loses their job over it. It's a good way to let
> your
> emotions go and get fired.'' 
>       Commissioner Jerry Grover, who has been serving as an unofficial
> county
> e-mail policeman, said employees need to understand there is no room
> for
> unprofessional conduct through e-mail transmissions. 
>       ``It's the same as yelling at somebody,'' he said. ``It's just
> in a
> different way.'' 
>       Grover said there has not been a large problem among county
> employees,
> ``just a few isolated incidents,'' but he believes a clearly worded
> policy was
> needed.  ``We're not responding to any big gigantic problem,'' Grover
> said. ``We
> just want to avoid problems.'' 
>       The official document says Utah County encourages work-related
> use of its
> computers, but bars their use to send, receive or store derogatory,
> pornographic, indecent or threatening transmissions, or to transmit
> any
> confidential or proprietary county information. 
>       Employees who incur any charges for personal use are responsible
> to pay
> those bills. Employees are also being told they can expect to be
> routinely and
> randomly monitored. 
>       ``No county employee should have any expectation of privacy as
> to his or
> her Internet usage,'' the text reads. 
>       ``The county's security systems are capable of recording (for
> each and
> every user) each World Wide Web site visit, each chat, news group, or
> e-mail
> message, and each file transfer'' into and out of the county's
> internal
> networks, and the county reserves the right to do so at any time.'' 
>       In addition, independent software is in place to identify and
> block
> inappropriate or sexually explicit Internet sites. An employee who
> accidentally
> becomes connected to an inappropriate site is expected to disconnect
> immediately.  Time limits can be imposed if county officials wish. 
> 
> 
>              
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>                                                
> 
> 
> Ray Matthews
> Reference Archivist
> Utah State Archives Research Center
> P.O. Box 141021
> Salt Lake City, UT 84114-1021
> Voice: (801) 538-3013; voicemail (801) 538-3341
> Fax: (801) 538-3354
> Email: rmatthew at state.ut.us
> Internet: www.archives.state.ut.us
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