This policy establishes guidelines for the appropriate use of computer equipment, software and networks owned or operated by the County Fiscal Court. Access to the Court’s information systems is granted to all court employees with the stipulation that they follow these guidelines and abide by local, state and federal laws.
(A) Using computer resources. The County Fiscal Court resources are provided to employees for the purpose of research, service and other work-related activities. All computer users are responsible for assuring that use of computer resources is related to the purposes established herein.
(1) Computer accounts, passwords and equipment should be used only for official county business.
(2) Computer accounts, passwords and equipment should be protected against unauthorized use. Employees should never share accounts. They are responsible for all activities initiated under their account. Under special circumstances, accounts may be shared with employees working on the same project. The employee’s direct supervisor or the information services specialist will determine such exceptions.
(3) Employees should not share accounts with friends or family.
(4) Computer users should not acquire extra accounts or other resources and should surrender any accounts or equipment when it no longer serves the purpose for which it was originally assigned.
(B) Protecting computer resources and county data. All computer users should assume the responsibility to keep the computing system running and its resources unaltered and protected from damage and illegal use.
(1) No employee should use knowledge of the computer system to destroy or alter accounts, files, software, hardware, obtain extra resources or deprive others of computer resources.
(2) All computer users who possess this sort of knowledge or knowledge of bugs or other flaws in the system have the responsibility to share that knowledge with the information services specialist.
(3) No employee should make copies of software for which permission to copy is not explicitly given. Employees who have been granted access to county data, reports, and data screens must maintain the appropriate confidentiality of the resulting information. Furthermore, the information should be obtained only for activities directly related to the individual’s job assignments.
(C) Restrictions on privacy. There are legitimate restrictions on the privacy of employee programs, data, text files and electronic mail. The following are some legitimate reasons for accessing computer accounts and computer equipment without the employee’s permission:
(1) Technical personnel may access accounts for the purpose of maintaining computer systems;
(2) Accounts may be monitored for the purpose of detecting violations of this chapter;
(3) Accounts may be monitored for the purpose of maintenance of the network;
(4) Some electronic documents and data may be required by the public record law to be accessible to the public;
(5) Other reasons as deemed appropriate by the information services specialist, his or her supervisor or the Judge Executive.
(D) Sharing information and communication through computers. Employees should not use the County Fiscal Court’s computer equipment or network to do the following:
(1) Decode passwords or access-controlled information;
(2) Engage in any activity that might be harmful to systems or to any information stored therein, such as creating or propagating viruses, disrupting services or damaging files;
(3) Use mail or message services to harass, intimidate or otherwise annoy another person;
(4) Use mail or message services to make racially or sexually harassing remarks to groups or individuals;
(5) Use the everyone group or any other public email group for socializing, personal comments, distributing chain letters and the like. Individual addresses should be used for personal message and communications; and/or
(6) Use email, message services or system resources to promote a commercial enterprise or product.
(E) Disclaimers. The County Fiscal Court reserves the right to limit, restrict or extend computing privileges and access to its information resources. It also reserves the right to examine files allegedly related to inappropriate use.
(F) Enforcement. Any violation of these guidelines may result in immediate loss of email, network and computer access privileges and possible disciplinary action as outlined herein. Reviews of usage patterns will be performed if violations of this policy are suspected.
(Ord. 21.230-1, passed 7-8-2021)