There are lots of great reasons to let the folks in your organization have
access to the net. They can use it to be more informed, improve their communication, keep
up on the news and on the competition and gather ideas to improve things around your shop.With
all those benefits, though, there are still some dangers and downsides. Here are a few of
them.
Time wasting and lost productivity. This can be a biggie for some folks as they
get lost in the seductive ease and richness of the web. In my experience, though, you've
got to worry about two kinds of folks here.
Worry about the folks who are new to the web. My research indicates that it takes three
to six months for folks to start using the web productively for business. Before that they
may do a lot of random surfing. If you can, allow them the time to learn, while gently
urging them back to the tasks at hand.
Worry about the folks who are time wasters all the time. They'll find the web as a
great place to waste even more.
A good analogy is to telephone use. Use it productively, maybe even a little bit for
personal projects, but stay focused on the job you have to do.
Computer viruses. Network administrators live in fear of these. One nasty virus
can thoroughly screw up your network. Make it a rule that there will be no (that means
zero, not any) download onto your organization's machines.
What if you need your folks to download stuff? One of my network admin buddies suggest
having a separate computer used for downloads only. After stuff is downloaded, it's
scanned using the best available anti-virus software before it's allowed out of
quarantine.
Risk of liability for what they bring in. Files and pictures that are sexually
explicit or racist in nature can put you at risk against a discrimination or harassment
claim. Remember the language in the law about "climate of harassment." Make it
clear that just because it's digital doesn't make it more acceptable than it would be if
it were on paper and publicly posted.
Risk of liability for what they send out. If you allow folks to post messages to
newsgroups or mailing lists, make sure there's a clear disclaimer that any postings are
their own opinion and not the position of your organization. The obvious exception is if
their job is to speak for your organization.
So, OK. How do you control all this. You have two options. Software and policy.
Software
There are two basic types of software: blocking and monitoring.
Blocking software attempts to make it impossible for your folks to visit certain sites.
This can work just fine if you and the software maker know the sites you want blocked.
Monitoring software lets you check out where your folks have been. Doing any form of
monitoring gets you into privacy issues, so be careful here. Don't venture into these
waters without legal review and, if possible, participation of your people in setting up
your policy.
Should you use a software option? As with just about anything else in the world of the
net/web, the answer is an emphatic "It depends."
It seems to me that software is almost mandatory in large organizations. The more folks
you get in an organization, the higher the likelihood that at least one of them will go
off a-surfing sites that you don’t' want them to visit.
In smaller organizations whether to use software as part of the solution is more of a
culture decision. If routine monitoring is part of your daily work (as it is in many
places who monitor phone calls of certain types), then software solutions are likely to be
seen as an extension of what already exists.
On the other hand, if your culture is pretty much, "We're all adults here."
You may have problems instituting controls that are technological, rather than managerial.
Policy
Whether you use software or not, you must have an Acceptable Use
Policy and some general practice guidelines.
Your practice guidelines should include:
- Who can have net access
- When they can have access
- Why they have access
- How supervision will be handled.
Your Acceptable Use Policy should lay out specifics about your policy is similar to and
grows out of your other policies. You should outline what sort of behavior is acceptable
and what is not, along with what happens to folks who do the wrong thing.
There are sites on the web where you can find guidance and even policy templates.
Here is one. Elron Software makes blocking and monitoring software. They've also got an article on their site called the Internet Acceptable Use Policy Template. Check it out at
http://www.elronsoftware.com/template.html
