Internet policies are a mainstay at most workplaces today.  The opportunity to misuse and abuse Internet access privileges at work make it necessary to have an Internet policy.  As an IT consultant you certainly don’t want to give legal advice to your clients, however, you can provide extra value by helping your clients devise an Internet policy.

With your expert help, by the time your clients approach their attorneys to review their proposed Internet policy, they will already know the basic behaviors that should be explicitly allowed and prohibited.

An Internet policy is an extremely important tool for communicating expectations of both proper and improper use of IT resources. While the following points do not substitute for sound legal advice, they will help you get your clients’ thoughts organized, so that they can develop a comprehensive and appropriate Internet policy for their business.  

Internet Policy Considerations

  • Monitoring/surveillance — List what kinds of activities will be monitored, how often the monitoring will take place, who is responsible for the monitoring and the procedures for how violations will be communicated to administrative officials.
  • Notification — To prevent invasion of privacy claims, regardless of their merit, discuss how employees and managers are initially notified of the Internet usage policy, how this notification is formalized or documented, and how users are subsequently reminded of the Internet usage policy.
  • Think about implementing a pop-up disclaimer that’s displayed during each user’s logon, which reinforces that usage is subject to the policy on acceptable Internet usage.
  • Expectation of no privacy – Detail how users should have no expectation of privacy, both internally and externally, and how activities are traceable. Compare e-mail to sending a postcard through postal mail.
  • Deleted e-mail retention – Describe how e-mail is archived and the length of time that deleted e-mail is retained.
  • Ownership – Inform users that the company, not the individual, owns both the physical Internet access assets (routers, bandwidth, firewalls, e-mail and proxy servers) and information stored in all systems.
  • Protection of intellectual property – Itemize any specific kinds of intellectual property, trade secrets, research lists, formulas or related data that cannot be sent out through company-owned Internet access resources.

Bottom Line on Internet Policies
While you and your clients certainly don’t want to give employees the eerie feeling that “Big Brother is watching”, it’s important to have a concise, clearly defined Internet usage policy that’s both free of technical and legal jargon. Give concrete examples of do’s and don’ts, in an effort to stave off any perception of ambiguity. Then consider following up this Internet policy with training sessions and reminders at related meetings.

In this article, you’ve been introduced to Internet Policies. To learn more about how you can improve your knowledge about Internet Policies, just click here now to get access to a free one-hour audio training program on 5 Easy Ways to Grow Your Computer Consulting Business.