Remember this

• Corporate bodies are legally responsible for the data content on their networks
• Proactively invoke security and HR processes
• Fully compliant with EU and Human Rights Law
• Return on Investment in under 3 months
• Time for a Cultural Change

Actively promote appropriate behaviour of employees by detecting non-compliance and violations of your policies as they happen across all Windows based applications. Ideal for 'diversity' initiatives and cultural change programmes.

According to CSI and Information Security, browser related misuse is only 20% of the problem, and computer misuse at the desktop is estimated to be 80% of the total problem.

Reduces non-productivity, limit legal liability, reduce network congestion and manage risks associated computer usage.

Detect employee inappropriate computer use for entertainment and shopping activities, harassment and misuse of confidential data, per user, per department or overall organisation.

Some key facts:

• 27% of Fortune 500 companies have battled harassment claims across Email see Legal facts
• Employees earning higher salaries are more likely to download porn than those earning less (eMarketer)
• Internet pornography dismissals: Orange, Merrill Lynch, Royal Sun Alliance, Ford, Dell
• 70% of Internet porn traffic is downloaded between 9am and 5pm (SexTracker)
• 30% of personal emails contain attachments
• 75% of workers know their personal Internet use slows down the network.
• 30 to 40% of employee Internet activity is not business related
• 10 minutes per day of non-work related activity per 100 employees equals 2 man years of lost productivity per annum.

Remember - if you can't measure it - you can't manage it interested in more facts…?

• 70% of employees admit to viewing or sending adult-oriented personal e-mail at work. NFO Worldwide
• One research firm, International Data, estimates that 30 percent to 40 percent of employee Internet use is not work related. International Data Corp.
• 25 percent of employees said they spent 10 to 30 minutes a day surfing non-related work sites, 22 percent said they spent 30 minutes to an hour, 12 percent said they spent one to two hours online, while 13 percent admitted to spending more than two hours a day. Vault.com
• 37% of employee's report that they search for jobs, 45% make travel arrangements, and 11% play online games while at work. Vault.com
• 46 percent of online holiday shopping is happening at work. Nielsen/ NetRatings
• 70% of Internet porn traffic downloaded between 9am and 5pm. SexTracker
• Employees earning on higher salaries are more likely to download porn than those earning less. Emarketer
• 30 to 40% of employees Internet activity is not business related, costing employers millions of L in lost productivity. International Data Corp.
• 75% of workers with access know their personal use slows the network. Internet Use at Work
• Many workers at small and medium businesses are wasting time with e-mail messages and websites that have nothing to do with their jobs. bbc.co.uk
• 30% of the companies questioned in the survey were losing more a day's work per week to this time wasting.
• Any company that comprehensively tackled the time wasting could see profits jump by 15%. bbc.co.uk

Legal Facts and Relavent Court Cases

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (Thomas v Hillingdon London Borough Council)Sacking an employee on the ground of gross misconduct for using an office computer to access hard-core pornography during working hours was a reasonable response on the employers part, and it was wrong for an employment tribunal to substitute its own more lenient view of the employees activities.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (Ms Recorder Elizabeth Slade, QC, Mr Robert Thompson and Peter Wickens) so held on September 2002 when allowing an appeal by the employer, Hillingdon London Borough Council, and reversing the decision of a Watford employment tribunal on September 25th 2001,that the employee,Mr Paul Thomas, was unfairly dismissed from his post as lead personnel officer after 14 years service with the council.

The employment tribunal had reduced his compensation by 30 percent for contributory fault. The appeal tribunal substituted an order dismissing his complaint altogether. Ms Recorder Slade said that the employment tribunal posed the right question, under section 98(4) of the Employment Rights Act 1996, namely whether dismissal on the ground of gross misconduct was within the band of reasonable responses for an employer in the circumstances.

But it went on to express its own view as to the seriousness of the employees breach of contract, which is categorised as no more than misconduct. No reasonable tribunal could have concluded on the facts otherwise than that dismissal for gross misconduct was within the band of reasonable responses by an employer. For a properly directed tribunal to come to any other decision other than that the dismissal was fair was perverse.

City sacks four staff in office internet blitz - SAM HALSTEAD

FOUR city council staff have been sacked after being caught misusing the internet at work.Another 14 staff have received formal warnings after breaking the council's code of conduct on internet access. The local authority bans staff from spending too much time online on non-work related matters. Council rules also ban staff from downloading games, sending threatening or abusive e-mails, and looking at pornographic or other inappropriate websites. Action was taken against the staff after a series of investigations were ordered by council management.

The investigators used specialised Smart-filter software recently installed by the council to block access to restricted websites and record attempts by staff to enter them.

Council chiefs today refused to comment on the individual cases, but insiders said the offences included, but were not restricted to, viewing pornography online. The vast majority of the council's staff who have access to computers are warned about the rules governing internet access, a council spokeswoman said. Time browsing online should be council-related and not excessive, although personal use is allowed provided it is outside working hours.

The spokeswoman said: "Our guidelines state that employees must not knowingly access sites or obtain
material which is illegal or inappropriate in the workplace. Inappropriate in this context means sites or material that are pornographic, involve illegal activity or contravene the council's disciplinary codes or breach standards of conduct.

"This might mean downloading material or sending messages that may cause offence on the basis of race, religion, gender or which are abusive, threatening or provocative. There are further guidelines regarding copyright works, defamatory material, downloading entertainment and software and gambling."

Councillor Donald Wilson, who is in charge of modernising the council's working practices, said the authority launched the investigations when line managers raised suspicions, and had safeguards in place to ensure the finger was not pointed at staff who had inadvertently stumbled upon restricted websites.

"A total of 14 staff have been formally disciplined in relation to breaches of the code of conduct on electronic communications since its adoption. In addition, a total of four staff have had their employment terminated due to inappropriate use of the internet," he said. "Reports which enable departments to monitor the number of times staff try to access restricted sites can be requested by either a member of a department's senior management team or HR manager. "These reports are only prepared on request and an overall report is not produced. Managers may also request an investigatory report to be prepared on an individual member of staff should they have appropriate concerns."

But Councillor John Longstaff, who has raised the issue with Cllr Wilson, today criticised the performance of the council's new monitoring software. "We have had content monitoring software in for some time. The content filtering software has been replaced and I thought that would be an improvement, but that has not turned out not to be. There are so many anomalies and inconsistencies. You can access the National Front, for instance, but you can't access family planning associations."

However, Cllr Longstaff said the sackings and disciplinary action showed that the local authority had the issue under control."Given the size of the problem, it seems the vast majority of employees at Edinburgh City Council behave totally responsibly in their use of the internet," he said.