This text provides step-by-step guidelines for creating up-to-date, legally sound policies that explicitly define the rights and obligations of employees when using e-mail and the Internet.
How to Develop Computer, E-mail, and Internet Guidelines to Protect Your Company and Its Assets
Michael R. Overly
H. EARD THE LATEST OFF COLOR JOKE circulating around the office? If so, you prob ably got it via e-mail or on the Internet. And you're not the only one. One large U.S. company esti mates its e-mail messages at 1 million per day-obviously not all of them strictly business. In fact, productivity is plummeting and costs are climbing as employees squander hours online. Worse yet. trade secrets stored on computers are regularly stolen or compromised by employees and searches of business networks routinely turn up hundreds of megabytes of pornographic material and illegal software loaded by employees. In short, employee use and abuse of e-mail is running rampant-and it's costing businesses millions in litigation, settlement of lawsuits, theft, and wasted resources.