Your absolutely right, the decision did not find internet use to be
completely informational and innocuous. It did find, however, that internet
use, in and of itself, is insufficient grounds for termination. Also the
courts have found that "at will" employment leaves plenty of grounds for
unlawful termination.
-----Original Message-----
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Todd Hofert
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 8:46 AM
To:
vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Spam RE: [Vantage] [OT] Web Usage Logging
That depends on what the employee is browsing. The article notes that the
employee was using it for News and Travel, both can be considered comparable
to 'a daily newspaper'. It also points out that the activity "does not
interfere with their overall work performance". It also refers to an
employee in a city government position. Private companies certainly do have
the right to block potentially 'offensive' material such as pornography.
Child Pornography is a violation of federal law.
You can't tell me you are going to get away with that. Browsing 'less
respectable' web sites such as gaming and gambling sites can result in a
malware infection of the users PC or the corporate network. For that reason
it is acceptable to restrict access to certain types of sites that may cause
harm to the corporate computing environment. We also consider ourselves an
"at will employer", short way of saying we can fire you whenever we want.
Pretty broad brush stroke to say 'courts have found it to be informational
and innocuous.
________________________________
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Michael Barry
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 11:34 AM
To:
vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] [OT] Web Usage Logging
Recent legal precedence would indicate that there may be a problem with
attempting to restrict internet access.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12462332
Although management may have a deleterious opinion of web use, the courts
have found it to be informational and innocuous.
Let the lawsuits begin.
mjb
-----Original Message-----
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
RICH WAGNER
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 7:50 AM
To:
vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Vantage] [OT] Web Usage Logging
We use Websense at our company. Our owner has only two rules, no porn and
no job searching on his dime. So we filter everyone on those categories.
Some of our Managers have asked me to put time restrictions on certain
employees who they feel are spending too much time goofing off on the net.
We also provide automated weekly reports to our HR that gives them summaries
of time on the internet. Seems to work well.
Rich
-----Original Message-----
From:
vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:
vantage@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
Rich Shafer
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2006 10:10 AM
To:
vantage@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Vantage] [OT] Web Usage Logging
I just needed to dump my 2 cents into this.
Check your individual state laws FIRST.
Monitoring employees web usage without their knowledge may be against the
law.
Does your state require a signed statement telling the employee they are
being monitored?
Does your state require a daily notice (perhaps their homepage) of the
monitoring?
Monitoring software is useful, but its presence can also turn ugly, very
quickly, for management if they don't pay attention to disclosures required
by the law.
Think of this a computer version of a sexual harassment law suit, waiting to
happen.
People can get very an_l about their privacy.
This software is not like installing Vantage, Office or CAD There are other
things to think about besides the license agreement.
I'm not saying don't do it.
Just do it right.
Regards,
Rich
Michael Barry wrote:
> If current events are any indicator, perhaps providing the company
> with a report of the president's activities would be equally
informative?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vantage@yahoogroups.com [mailto:vantage@yahoogroups.com] On
> Behalf Of Todd Anderson
> Sent: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 7:39 PM
> To: vantage@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [Vantage] [OT] Web Usage Logging
>
> Todd,
>
> I used SurfControl about 8 years ago because of the iffy web blocking
> and switched to eTrust thinking it would be better.
>
> Yeah, sure ...
>
> In the meantime, with a few more gray hairs on my head ... I'd settle
> for a product that simply logs activity and prints nice clean reports
> that I can staple to user's foreheads.
>
> When I had SurfControl I used to setup new PCs for users and give them
> access with no additional commentary. About a week later I would
> print off
> a list of every website they had visited and would give it to them
> privately with the msg that they get the first one, future printouts
> go to their boss.
>
> An interesting variation would be to print a company wide usage report
> and give it to the president of the company every few weeks.
>
> But in the end, it isn't that we can't track this stuff or try to
> block it.
> If you have to spy on your employees to get the behavior you desire
> ... what exactly does that say about trust and respect? How much
> productivity does a company loose once it goes down that road?
>
> Stack this right up there with random drug testing, surveillance
> cameras, barb wire fencing, and of course ... no SMOKING on the
> premises because YOU might get sick and it might cost THE company
> money ...
>
> Oh for the good old days when the goal was simply to make lots of
> money ...
>
> Todd Anderson
>
> _____
>
>
Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
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Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
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Yahoo! Groups Links
Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must
have already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder
and Crystal Reports and other 'goodies', please goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
(2) To search through old msg's goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/messages
(3) To view links to Vendors that provide Vantage services goto:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/links
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Useful links for the Yahoo!Groups Vantage Board are: ( Note: You must have
already linked your email address to a yahoo id to enable access. )
(1) To access the Files Section of our Yahoo!Group for Report Builder and
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vantage/files/.
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