SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD PROCEDURES
Procedural Area:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Procedure Title:
USE OF INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Procedure #:
5820.P1
1.0 Procedure:
RESTRICTIONS: Unacceptable uses of electronic communication include, but are not limited to, the
following:
• Misrepresenting oneself or the Board;
• Excessive use which interferes with the user’s work performance or the work performance
of other employees;
• Participating in illegal contests, pyramid schemes, or participating in any way in the
creation or transmission of unsolicited commercial e-mail (“spam”) that is unrelated to
legitimate Board business;
•
Use for any non-approved commercial activity;
• Accessing networks, servers, drivers, folders, or files to which the employee has not been
granted access or authorization from someone with the right to make such a grant;
• Sending fraudulent, threatening, abusive, racist, sexist, intimidating, harassing, or
otherwise unlawful messages or images in either public or private messages;
•
Accessing, sending, receiving, downloading, or printing information with sexually
explicit content;
•
Making or sending unauthorized copies of company Board files or other company data;
• Destroying, deleting, erasing, or concealing Board files or other Board data, or otherwise
making such files or data unavailable or inaccessible to the Board or to other authorized users
of company systems;
•
Conducting unlawful or malicious activities;
• Deliberately transmitting any computer virus, worm, Trojan horse, trap-door program
code, or other code or file designed to disrupt, disable, impair, or otherwise harm either the
company’s networks or systems or those of any other individual or entity;
• Causing congestion, disruption, disablement, alteration or impairment of Board networks
or system;
•
Use for fund raising, political campaigning, or public relations activities not Board related;
• Maintaining, organizing, or participating in non-work related Web logs (“blogs”), Web
journals, or engaging in excessive private or personal business activities, including use of “chat
rooms” or private/personal/instant messaging; and/or
•
Issued:
Defeating or attempting to defeat security restrictions on Board systems and applications.
Revised:
1/2013
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SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD PROCEDURES
Procedural Area:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Procedure Title:
USE OF INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Procedure #:
5820.P1
MISUSE AND ABUSE OF THE ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
1. The Board’s electronic systems must not be used to harm others or to violate the laws and
regulations of the United States or any other nation or any state, city, province, or other local
jurisdiction in any way. Use of agency resources for illegal activity will be considered an
automatic Third Group III Offense, leading to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal
and criminal prosecution. The Board will comply with reasonable requests from law
enforcement and regulatory agencies for logs, diaries, archives, or files on individual Internet
activities, e-mail use, and/or computer use.
2. Using electronic communications resources to give the impression that you are
representing, giving opinions or otherwise making statements on behalf of SCSB, unless
without explicit authorization to do so.
3. No employee, including system administrators and supervisors, shall attempt to or access
electronic mail and computer systems files of another’s computer simply to satisfy curiosity
about the affairs of others, unless such access is directly related to that employee’s job duties.
D. OWNERSHIP
1. The Board has licensed the use of its commercial software systems for business purposes.
Third parties retain the ownership and distribution rights to such software. Employees may
not create, use, or distribute copies of such software that are not in compliance with the
licensing agreements. Any employee found guilty of violating this agreement will be
terminated.
2. The Board owns the rights to all data and files in any of its computer, network, or other
information systems used, and to all data and files sent or received using any agency system.
E. CONFIDENTIALITY
The Board reserves the right to monitor electronic mail messages (including
personal/private/instant messaging systems) and their content as well as any and all use by
employees of the Internet and of computer equipment used to create, view, or access e-mail and
Internet content and release specific information subject to applicable state and federal laws and
Board rules, policies and procedures on confidentiality. Existing rules, policies and procedures
governing the sharing of confidential information also apply to the sharing of information via
commercial software.
F. EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY
The Board does not routinely inspect or monitor any electronic communication without the
holder’s consent. However, no user should have any expectation of privacy in any message, file,
Issued:
Revised:
1/2013
Page 2 of 5
SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD PROCEDURES
Procedural Area:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Procedure Title:
USE OF INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Procedure #:
5820.P1
image or data created, sent, retrieved or received by use of the agency’s equipment. The Board
has the right to monitor any and all aspects of their computer system including, but not limited to,
sites, instant messaging systems, chat groups/social media sites, material downloaded or uploaded
by agency users, and e-mail sent or received by agency users. When there is reason to believe that
a violation of policy has occurred, the agency may monitor at any time, without notice, and
without the user’s permission.
G. PERSONAL ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
Employees should not bring personal computer or data storage devices such as disks, CD’s, DVD’s,
iPods, or other data storage media to the workplace or connect them to company electronic
systems . Any employee bringing any such personal device onto Board premises thereby gives
permission to the Board to inspect the personal device at any time with personnel of the Board’s
choosing and to analyze any files, other data, data storage devices or media that may be within or
connected to the personal computer or image-recording devices or media that may be within or
connectable to the personal computer.
H. USER RESPONSIBILITY
1. All Board policies and procedures apply to employees’ conduct on the Internet, especially,
but not exclusively, relating to: confidentiality, company information dissemination, standards
of conduct, misuse of company resources, anti-harassment, information and data security.
Employees are individually liable for any and all damages incurred as a result of violating
company security policy, copyright, and licensing agreements.
2. All users are responsible for exercising appropriate care to protect the agency’s computer
system against the introduction of viruses and for the safeguarding of their passwords for
security.
3. When engaging in computer use, whether for personal or official purposes, employees are
expected to do so in a responsible and professional manner. The use of the agency’s domain
address may be perceived as reflecting on the character and professionalism of the agency.
Users are responsible for retaining their own records, and therefore it is suggested to keep
back-up copies of important documents, etc. The Board is not responsible for any loss or
damage incurred by an individual as a result of personal use of its electronic communication
resources.
4. The Internet is to be used to further the Board’s mission to provide effective services of the
highest quality to the individuals served and its staff. Internet access is a Board resource and is
provided as a business tool for employees to use appropriately for research, professional and
career development, and work-related communications.
Issued:
Revised:
1/2013
Page 3 of 5
SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD PROCEDURES
Procedural Area:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Procedure Title:
USE OF INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Procedure #:
5820.P1
I. EMPLOYER RESPONSIBILITY
1. The Board reserves the right to suspend or terminate use of electronic communications
systems and services to any user who violates this policy. Abuse or misuse of the electronic
communication systems can result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination. The
use of company electronic resources implies an understanding of and agreement to this policy.
2. Violation of or failure to follow this policy, including failure to permit an inspection of any
device covered by this policy, shall result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination
of employment, depending upon the severity and repeat nature of the offense. In addition,
the employee may face both civil and criminal liability from the Board, from law enforcement,
or from individuals whose rights are harmed by the violation..
2.0 Definitions
Electronic Communication Systems: Any transfer of signals, writings, images, sounds, data, or
intelligence that is created, sent, forwarded, replied to, transmitted, distributed, stored, copied,
viewed, read or printed by any electronic communication system such as computer systems,
Internet, e-mail or voice mail.
Users: All employees of SCSB who use the agency’s Internet and/or electronic communication
systems.
Business Use: Agency-provided computer systems that allow access to the Internet and electronic
communication systems are the property of the Board and are provided to facilitate the effective
and efficient conduct of agency business. Users are permitted access to the Internet and
electronic communication systems to assist in the performance of their jobs.
Personal Use: Personal use means use that is not job-related. In general, incidental and
occasional personal use of the system are permitted; however, personal use is prohibited if it is
used in an excessive or unacceptable manner.
3.0 Associated Forms
None
4.0 Compliance
5.0 Governing Policy
Information Technology | Use of Internet and Electronic Communications Systems (5820)
Issued:
Revised:
1/2013
Page 4 of 5
SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY SERVICE BOARD PROCEDURES
Procedural Area:
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Procedure Title:
USE OF INTERNET AND ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS
Procedure #:
5820.P1
Sign-Off
Action/Status
Board Approval/Adoption
Staff review/coordination/approval
Issued:
Revised:
1/2013
Created by (initials):
Approved by (initials):
KS
ED (LT)
Date:
09/09/2003
01/08/2013
Page 5 of 5