March/April 2010
3 Basic Rules for Monitoring Internet Use
By T. Steel Rose
The mission of Abide Media, publisher of Collection Advisor and CPA Magazine, is to inform, advise and inspire technology-dependent professionals by providing technology reviews and useful operations advice. Technology dependence means that almost all employees have computers on their desks. Computer technology brings freedom. With that freedom, however, comes opportunities for abuse.
Indeed, 50% of companies ban visits to social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, during working hours. To reduce nonproductive time, many offices also ban the use of fantasy football teams. One estimate has as many as two working hours a day lost to fantasy sports on computer desktops. According to a survey released in February by the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute, 66% of companies monitor employee Internet activity. Almost a third of employers who monitor employees have fired someone for inappropriate Web surfing.
Employers of technology-dependent professionals also are faced with protecting the work environment and protecting company resources. An egregious abuse took place in this office a few years ago. A new employee was receiving pornographic pictures by e-mail from friends and opening them on his work computer. A coworker observed this activity and was offended. After a second offense within the same week, the new employee was terminated. Hence, Rule No. 1: Protect the office environment.
It would be terrific if employees never abused the Internet because of professional responsibility, but apparently, the temptation is too great. Thus, written policies are provided for all new employees to sign. The more cautionary step is to monitor computer usage and block sites. The most restrictive policy is to remove Internet browsers from operating systems. Monitoring software is the practical solution, and several applications are available.
I only need to watch how my children behave on computers to get an idea of the protection needed. My kids' ages range from 8 to 26. The kids at home, ages 8 to 15, have two computers they can use, which are located in the computer room. The kids are banned from the parents' computer because the parents' computer is virus-free. At least once a year, one of the kids' computers contracts some debilitating virus, which brings us to Rule No. 2: Protect the computers.
Many of the protection systems for monitoring children's computers have big brother versions for work, which monitor Web site visits and e-mail and track keystrokes. Keystroke tracking seems excessive until you find out a computer function has been protected with an unknown password.
Home versions of monitoring software include: IamBigBrother, $29.95, and PC Tattletale, $47. Business versions include: Spector Pro, $99.95, WebTracker, $97, and SpyTech's SpyAgent, $69.95. Per computer pricing. Discounts are available for multiple computers.
The business versions usually can be installed on computers remotely and provide e-mail reports on computer usage. Remotely monitoring employer-owned computers has become the legal norm. Reviewing e-mails and instant messages might invade personal privacy, so Connecticut and New Hampshire require that employees be notified that monitoring is taking place. This seems useful and polite. After all, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, which summarizes Rule No. 3: Act responsibly.