In my last column I wrote about computer privacy, a matter that is increasingly in the news. The issue deals with companies that wittingly or unwittingly release personal information that they've gathered from consumers. The matter became prominent when the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and Co. admitted that it had inadvertently released over the Internet the e-mail addresses of more than 600 people on Prozac. The release of this information made it possible to trace personal information about these customers, including their medical history.

The problem extends beyond health care. When Toysmart.com went out of business, it put its customer records up for sale, prompting the Federal Trade Commission to take legal action to stop the practice. There are currently about a dozen pieces of legislation before Congress designed to set hard rules regarding the use and abuse of personal information gathered via the Internet.

This and my next column examine privacy from the point of view of employees who use computers. What are their rights to privacy, either when they access the Internet or just use computers to send e-mail? Managers must be aware that employees often have immediate access to a vast amount of confidential information about their company and its customers, which they can copy or transmit cheaply and instantaneously to an extensive audience, with the company's name as their "address."

There are other unauthorized uses as well. A recent survey found that 20 to 40 percent of the time employees spend on the Internet is not work related. Many companies have developed ways to track extracurricular usage, but this action hasn't been well received by some workers. A case in point was the rebellion of government employees - they happened to be federal judges - who felt that the monitoring of their office computers was an invasion of privacy. Administrators had installed monitoring software to detect downloading of music, streaming video and pornography throughout the judicial branch.

It's clear that the new world of cyberspace has created the need for a new dedication to education and training on the part of managers. This includes formulating policies regarding Internet use and the monitoring of e-mail. A guiding principle in any policy is to understand that employees should be respected and that a policy that is too dictatorial can be demoralizing. On the other hand, a policy that's too liberal may lead to legal problems. Let's take Internet access.

Even if employees think that their browsing of Internet sites can be done discretely, they should be reminded that managers have the ability to scan and pull up a record of where and when an individual visited a particular site. This is done by "cookies" - the computer files automatically placed on a computer by a web site computer when anyone visits its web page. Thus, an employee's web viewing is automatically recorded and can be traced back to the company.

There are several other potential problems regarding Internet usage. Inappropriate images such as sexually explicit material left on a monitor or downloaded and observable by others may subject the company to allegations of a hostile workplace, even if the employee had done it without company permission. Furthermore, employees should be aware that when they download information or material from the Internet, they might introduce viruses that could destroy important company data.

If your company doesn't currently have a policy regarding employee access to the Internet, here is a suggested starting point:

"The company has Internet access to support the advancement of our business goals and objectives and we encourage the use of the Internet as a learning tool and for business uses. Occasional personal use is acceptable to facilitate the learning process. At all times, including after work, employees must avoid Internet sites that violate any sexual harassment or other policies or that are inconsistent with our business objectives. The company has the right to monitor and log Internet activity, and employees should consider their use public and conduct their activities accordingly."

In my next column, I'll look at the question of privacy as it relates to an employee's use of e-mail, an increasingly popular means of communication.

< Back to Small Business Technology Articles