Web Policies: Everyone needs to Know!

It is increasingly important for companies to effectively communicate their web at work policy to everyone in the organisation to ensure safe and productive browsing and to avoid confusion.

Firms have generally become more relaxed about the personal use of IT at work, as the costs of supplying internet and PCs have come down. They should be reasonable in setting rules and communicate them effectively to employees, Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker says.

“Many companies are saying, `Yes, you can use Trade Me, but only in your lunch break’.”

However, Sarah Trotman, managing director of business network Bizzone, says businesses have become stricter about employees using social networking sites at work.

Firms are often finding that employees are “twittering” or blogging on behalf of the business without their knowledge, and employees are often more clued up about social networking sites and the web than business owners.

“It has become more challenging to control the amount of information going out about their own business.”

Mr Cocker says surveys have shown small and medium-sized businesses often have incomplete IT policies and security.

This was highlighted by the Safe Air email controversy. An employee at the Woodbourne aviation engineering firm was dismissed for sending 425 lewd emails at work over a six-month period, but the Employment Relations Authority ordered Safe Air to reinstate the worker, since he was unclear about acceptable standards for IT use.  

Supermarket Chain Freezes Internet Access

Every company has their own way of dealing with internet abuse in the workplace and their own methodology to keep repeat offences low.

One Kansas City operator of 28 supermarkets and pharmacies, Balls Food, seem to have hit upon the ideal model for them.  Their stores are the very model of how a network – and its users – should behave. Not that the users really ever had a choice.

Balls Food’s remarkable network usage, documented in an audit performed recently by Networks Unlimited, is the product of restrictive policies that grant Internet access to employees on a case-by-case and site-by-site basis.

“I’m relieved at the audit results,” says CFO Mike Beal, who stands firmly behind the policy.

Harry Segal, president of Networks Unlimited and a veteran of dozens of usage audits was equally surprised. “These results are unusually good.”

Usage audits look for exposure in four areas: productivity loss, legal liability, bandwidth consumption and data security.

Balls Food did well in all four. Most users can’t get to shopping, auction or sports websites, so there’s little lost productivity. Likewise, the inability to access objectionable content minimises legal exposure. Unable to connect to Internet radio streams or download multimedia files, bandwidth is preserved. Finally, spyware, Trojans, viruses and keystroke loggers are kept out through aggressive e-mail filtering and web download prohibitions, assuring the security of sensitive data.

“If we had an open Internet policy, our problems would be much worse,” says Lance Fischer, Balls Food’s network systems manager. “Our policies and practices are well-established, known by every employee with a computer and strictly enforced”. 

 What internet policies work for you?

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Internet Surfing Restricted for British MP’s

An Internet filter on the Parliament IT system blocks access to websites that contain “offensive or illegal content or are sources of malicious software”.

The policy emerged after an MP was unable to access the Daily Sport site.

“Because of the things they are trying to censor they may have made an assumption about this particular website,” said Lembit Opik, MP.

Guidance issued to all MPs in December 2007 warns that they have a duty to ensure the Parliamentary network is used properly “by themselves and their staff” and to avoid actions that “threaten the integrity of the system or bring it into disrepute”.

The aim is to protect security but also to “help to prevent users of the network from being exposed to inappropriate material”.

The web filtering system also “collects data related to user activity, including user names and all websites visited whether blocked or not and will be retained for a period of 12 months”, it adds.

MPs who try to access sites deemed inappropriate are presented with a screen asking them to contact the Commons authorities for permission to view the material.

Those who break the rules face being disconnected from the system by the Serjeant-at-Arms.

Do you think MP’s should be allowed to browse freely?

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