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New PC Use Policy

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by forvirg

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Has anyone out there had problems with workers when trying to institute a formal policy? My company has just moved to new facilities and expanded a lot. I have been moved into the Sys Admin position over a W2K network. A lot of the employees who moved from the "old" site are used to a very informal atmosphere and are balking at signing the PC policy (which I downloaded and tweaked from Tech Republic). The boss is really soft on these particular people, but so far is backing me. My stance of course is protecting the company's substantial investment in equipment and data (and covering myself legally as well).

Interestingly, the problem is also a good thing - they're taking the policy very seriously and are worried about its implications for their jobs (i.e., inappropriate internet use specifically!)

Anyone have any advice on the best way to get these people on board?

Thanks.

Virginia

19 replies

by radiic

This thread should me number one in no time at all.

I think you will find that all of us admins have faced and face this problem daily. I just started working for a bank about 6 months ago. Small but growing. I inherited a network put together by a consulting company, needless to say it is a nightmare, but am starting to get a hold on it. Every one had access to the I-net. No user policies or I-net poicies were in place. Of course it was one of the first things i implemented. I heard the grumbles immediately and responded. I simply say to people when the complain to me about it is that the policy is being put into place to protect you as well as the company. Imagine a coworker for some reason doesnt get along with you and they hack their way onto your computer and delete some of your work, or put some .jpg's of young females on your pc, or a host of other things. Wouldnt you like to know that that person can be punished for it. Without a policy in place you can't fire someone for doing that. They can use the I didn't know defense. The I-net user policy is a whole different can of worms...I always here from people, well what about if somehow i click on a link and it pops up some porn site...(internal chuckle)Side note...I have been surfing the net since its invention, and I have never been to a porn site by accident;) I always tell them well just make a note of what you clicked on that took you to that web site, and send it to me. That way when your boss looks at the log files and sees that you were www.hotslutwomen.com I can tell him that you were there by accident....(one more internal chuckle)...I think these users think we are stupid when it comes to sfuff like that. CONT>>>

by clearsmashdrop

Ive been surfing the net since 96 and Ive been to porn sites by accident. Ever wanna go to the White House website and accidently type www.whitehouse.com instead of .gov ?

One is for the USofA and the other is porn. Also, Ive clicked on adds for articles only to be redirected to a porn site. Doesnt happen very often, but its happened.
Just a week ago or so Webvan auctioned off their equipment. Guess what happend when we went to www.webvan.com to see if there was any info on the sale. Yup. Naked ladies!
I dont what the story was about that. I tried today and the page just errors.

How ever I agree that nobody accidently types in an address like www.hotlatinladies.com. :-) Nor do they accidently create a folder inside My Documents and fill it with JPG.

For me at least porn is the smallest worry in a PC user agreement. My greatest worry is someone downloaded a virus via Hotmail or Yahoo. We run a very relaxed environment for our users but Nimda finally made the uppermanagment types more open to locking some things down.

by radiic

I agree that there are redirectors and some bad names that are close to real ones. But> It is work. Thats why they call it work. If it were playtime, then they wouldnt call it work. I am sure that if one of my users was sitting at his desk and eating lunch and accidently went to a site, I would take that into consideration. But I do tell them that if they are worried about it, the best thing is to email me an tell me. I keep a private folder with encryption witht these emails in them. If there boss every looked at the logs and asked i could whip out the email and say, ohhh yea i know about that, he was surfing during lunch and accidently went to that site. Its a different story if the user stays at the site lets say for 40 minutes though, and activly searchs that site. I think that you would have to agree with that. You also missed the wink i gave when i made the statement "I have been surfing the net since its invention, and I have never been to a porn site by accident;) " I meant that yes i have but your users dont need to know that...

Just remember you are the leader of the user policy, and if anyone even thinks for a second that you are violating it, it will casue some great friction.

by admin

I had a user in a remote site calling me in an uproar about the pop-up porn windows Hotmail was using last week. Seems she used 2 "T's" on accident on investigation......

by radiic

I just make it known though that log files of their activity are kept and that only their boss will see it if he requests it. Make sure you emphasize that you do not go looking through the logs, even though you do...That scares people. Even though it is our job to figure out which users are sucking up the B/W with real audio downstreams and crap like that. They just dont think that we should know...But we always do...

Bottom Line is that its up to you to ease their worries...They are not only worried that you will know that they were at beastialliity.com but that they can get busted for it now...

Good Luck
In the bond of Sys Admins.
Rad

by radiic

Users should not be at warez sites. If they are they are probably up to something. The only one allowed to go to warez sites from my network is me ;) LOL...The point is that users should not be using their work computer for personal surfing. Nowwe allow them to have a little freedom, but if they abuse it, then i have the right to block them from internet access. If we didnt have a user policy in place then we wouldnt be able to do that.

by tomsal

I'm with you on all what you say, but let me offer one tidbit of info.

You state that you can't fire someone for reviewing inappropriate material unless there's a policy warning the employee about this.

This is completely false. And it will hold in a court of law (at least in the state of NJ it will).

Why? One slightly obsecure reason and one blatantly obivious reason.

The obvious reason is because any employer in the USA has the right to fire you with or without reason at any timethey feel like it. Now true you can sue on some cases when you are fired and you can win against the employer - but unless you have proof of the employer breaking laws (sexual harrassment, prejudice against your race, sex, color, religion,etc. or say breaking specific labor laws or the like on those lines) you will lose. Your case won't even see the inside of a courtroom in fact.

Secondly, the more obsecure fact depending on the state you live in - is the employer is specifically protected for this exact case. Most states, state that employers have the right to monitor all communication like phone and Internet with or without knowledge given to the employees.

So you may want to double check your state laws before someone gets one over on you. I verified my state laws by calling my state capital! ;)

by admin

Those "Right to Work" laws make this even more clear!

Still, we let everyone know that the company owns and can monitor all work produced with company equipment in our policies, including the e-mail I just wrote to mom. This is beyond monitoring,if you use work equipment to produce something, we own it.

by lordinfidel

But know when to back down.

It's all about conditioning.

Remember, it is much harder to take something away, then to never give it at all.

Some ways to get around installing software. Blame it on the network being unable to support the app. IE napster, gnutella not allowed thru firewall.

In a 2k enviroment, lock down their machines. Make them ask you to install things. It's a pain I know, but at least you will know what is happening on your network.

There is very little grey areas in administration. It's generally your a hard ass or your not.

On my network they refer to me as Satan.
I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to keep our network up and running 24/7/365.

Just my thoughts.

by forvirg

I love the moniker! I'm sure there's one or two here that call me that or worse. It's all the usual suspects, of course. Those with nothing to hide have no problems with things like a policy.

Good tips, all. I'm glad I've made clear to the President that I need her backing on this or the policy is useless.

Yes, I also have told her my job here is not to make lifelong pals with anyone, it's to protect the integrity of our vital systems and keep it all running.

Virginia

by admin

I wish my users would name me after a network security tool! Most of mine don't even know SATAN exists so I just get "computer guy" a lot......

:>

by tomsal

Call me Mephisto if its bad to be anal about what is running, installed, removed or otherwise tampered with on our network.

:>

by bman

The only people you need to get 100% on board is management since the policies are only as enforceable as those people want to make them (you can implement all the policies you want but without mgmt backing them you're dead meat). Let management explain why the policies were implemented, this is not your function and you should not have to take that kind of heat...your job is already tough enough.

by clearsmashdrop

" Just remember you are the leader of the user policy, and if anyone even thinks for a second that you are violating it, it will casue some great friction. "

I cant agree more with this statment. It looks terrible for IT to have a do as I saynot as I do attitude. And yes, I missed the wink wink part. :-)

This includes downloading trialware and never paying for the license. I cant expect a user to understand, sorry you cant have that software, when Im running bootleg stuff myself.

by joemaldonado39

on this issue you might want to use a multi-prong approach... based on legal(statute); company(policy); and ethical,(practical) use. the management teams usually have some means to apply a known rule to an unknown situation [for example, Mexico is about the size of 3 Texas 's.] state that there is a problem and it's best solved to avoid litigations. also say that some hands have been 'goofing off' and have summaries of surfing behaviour (web site lists) ask to head a task-force to solve this one...

by admin

for us all.

I would pick my battles and concessions personally by what hurts the network potentially (like lock down the ability to install programs to IT only and limit disk space available to each user) and let other uses slide until there is aproblem, then if it's a porn issue or whatever, it will come from the main office or whatever and you will be acting on their behalf with support.
Surfing on company time here isn't an issue though. Basically no one cares as long as you get your job done. If it interferes, then it's a performance issue. People here have noticed a bookmark to one site, and then we went to the person logged in when the site was visited and said something like: "Rebecca, Joanna finds it offensive when there are remnants of porn sites left in the browser and she views them, do you think someone is using your login or do you know what is happening?" This has only happened 3 times in 2 years here and it has taken care of itself. In fact, the last time one of our employees who is a devout Mormon and against porn was doing a reasearch project on it for school with permission and was so embarrassed that this happened that she didn't tell anyone that the browser was spewing pop-ups but lived with it -until sheforgot to log out one day and someone sat down and used her log-in....
Then the other one...... accidently went to hottmail.com ......hmmmmmmm

Our users need internet access a lot for research specifically for their job, if they stray a bit ofcourse on a link, that's ok, as long as they get their job done in reasonable time. I don't think you have to lock everything down to be safe, but you most certainly DO have to lock some things down.

by gldnugget

But I do find myself surfing...usually to sites like Tech Republic and reading articles, message boards, etc. I learn alot from these sites and because I work in IT, I consider it continuing education. Guess I must be a real nerd if I'm just readingcomputing articles. Missing out on the porn, mp3s, Real videos etc. I gotta get a life.

by miss informed

When we experienced a similar change, we just explained to everyone why it had to be done. Your boss being soft about it can be OK as long as he/she supports you in enforcing it. It takes time to adjust to change, especially when "freedoms" are at risk. Explaining why it was important to implement the policy often helps resistant co-workers adapt. Try to word your explanation so as to show them how it benefits them or protects them rather than the company or you. I Hope that helps.

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