October 22

Does Your Computer Usage Policy Address Blogs?

Updated your computer and e-mail policies lately? These policies are designed for all staff to review and agree to prior to using any of the information technology (IT) resources of the firm.

Most of the time, these policies come down to:

We, the company, own the resources.
We’re giving you the right to use them for work purposes.
We may log and analyze activities to ensure proper use of the resources.
If you abuse the resources, you’ll be put on notice, suspended, or dismissed.

The policies have varying degrees of legalese. "Abuse" is defined differently and follows a "would you talk to your mother that way" paradigm. Some also allow employees to use the IT resources for personal use — progressive firms — since they realize you probably need to pay your bills, check on your kids, etc online.

So, I got that call and a few days later, I’m reading Network Computing. It has a nice article out about using new media (wikis, blogs, podcasting, etc) and its associated risks. Part of the article deals with updating your computer use policies to address employees posting comments on the company on public blogs, in podcasts, and wikis.

This issue came up years ago when the personal web pages started to become popular. Now, its so easy to post your thoughts online, the risk is greater than in the 1990′s.

I suggest you read the article and start searching online for your company name and look for places where your domain name is used. You may be surprised by the results!