(A) Preamble.
(1) This policy describes the county’s guidelines with regard to internet access and disclosure of electronic mail messages sent or received by county employees with use of the county e-mail system.
(2) The county respects the individual privacy of its employees; however, employee privacy does not extend to the employees’ work-related conduct or to the use of county-provided equipment, services or supplies. County personnel and employees should be aware that the following guidelines may affect their privacy in the workplace.
(B) Provision of internet access. As a condition of providing internet access to its personnel and employees, the county places certain restrictions on workplace use of the internet. The county encourages appropriate employee use of the internet as follows:
(1) To communicate with fellow employees and clients regarding matters within an employee’s assigned duties;
(2) To acquire information related to, or design to facilitate the performance of regular assigned duties; and
(3) To facilitate performance of any task or project in a manner approved by an employee’s supervisor or department head.
(C) Compliance with applicable laws and licenses.
(1) Personnel and employees must comply with all software licenses, copyrights and all other laws governing intellectual property protection, privacy, sexual harassment, data security and on-line activity.
(2) Personnel and employees utilizing internet access provided by county are expressly prohibited from doing the following:
(a) Game playing;
(b) Distribution of destructive programs (i.e., viruses and/or self-replicating code);
(c) Hateful, harassing or other anti-social behavior;
(d) Intentional damage or interference with others (i.e., hacking and distributing viruses);
(e) Making publicly accessible obscene files;
(f) Solicitation;
(g) Commercial usage of non-county business;
(h) Dissemination or printing of copyrighted materials (including articles and software) in violation of copyright laws;
(i) Sending, receiving, printing or otherwise disseminating proprietary data, trade secrets or other confidential information of the county in violation of county policy or proprietary agreements;
(j) Offensive or harassing statements or language including, but not limited to, disparagement of others based on their race, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, disability, religious or political beliefs;
(k) Sending or soliciting sexually oriented messages or images;
(l) Operating a business, usurping business opportunities or soliciting for personal gain or searching for jobs outside of the county government; and/or
(m) Sending chain letters, gambling or engaging in any other activity in violation of the law.
(D) Violation of the county’s internet/ e-mail usage policy. Violation of the county’s internet/e-mail usage policy may result in disciplinary action. The measure of discipline will correspond to the gravity of the offense as weighed by its potential effect on county and fellow employees. When an employee connects to the internet planning method at any county location or uses any service provided by the county, it should be for county business related activity.
(E) Right to access information.
(1) The electronic mail system has been installed by the county to facilitate business communications.
(2) Although each employee has an individual password to access this system, it belongs to the county and the contents of e-mail communications are accessible at all times by the county management for any county purpose. The systems may be subject to periodic unannounced inspections and should be treated like other shared filing systems. All system password and encryption keys must be available to the county management, and your passwords or encryption keys must be available to your supervisor and department head. Failure, upon request of the employee’s supervisor or department head, to promptly make available system password and encryption keys shall subject the employee to discipline up to and including discharge.
(3) All e-mail messages are county records. The contents of e-mail, properly obtained for legitimate purposes, may be disclosed within the county without your permission. You should not assume that messages are confidential. Backup copies of e-mail may be maintained and referenced for business and legal reasons.
(F) Personal use of e-mail.
(1) Because the county provides the electronic mail system to assist personnel and employees in the performance of their job, the electronic mail system should be used only for official county business.
(2) Incidental and occasional personal use of e-mail is permitted by the county, but these messages will be treated the same as other messages.
(3) The county reserves the right to access and disclose, as necessary, all messages sent over its e-mail system, without regard to content.
(G) Password and encryption keys security and integrity. Employees are prohibited from the unauthorized use of the passwords and encryption keys of other employees to gain access to the other employee’s e-mail messages.
(H) Downloading of software. Due to risk of virus, copyright and license violation, downloading or installation of any materials or programs from the internet or any other sources other than the County Information Services Department is not permitted. If any applications or materials are desired to be installed onto any county computer system, it must be evaluated and installed by a member of the County Information Services Department.
(I) Waiver of privacy.
(1) The county has the right, but not the duty, to monitor any and all aspects of its computer system, including, but not limited to, monitoring sites employees visit on the internet, reviewing material downloaded or uploaded by employees and reviewing e-mails sent and received by employees.
(2) Employees waive any right to privacy in anything they create, store, send or receive on the computer or the internet.
(J) Amendments. This policy may be amended or revised from time to time. Employees will be provided with notice of all amendments and revisions to this policy.
(Res. 2001-01, passed 3-5-2001; Res. passed 12-28-2009)