Tattleware Might Be Right For You

03/05/07

Let’s face it: Most people with Internet access in the office surf the Web and use email for personal reasons.

You can react to this fact in at least two ways. First, you can take the view that because you expect a lot out of people, it’s only fair to let them take care of a little personal business on the job.

On the other hand, you can’t officially condone on-the-job game playing, Dow watching, or car pricing. The cost in productivity can be enormous. Worse, you can find yourself in scorching legal territory when anyone views pornography. Hostile environment harassment, anyone?

First: Create a Policy
Any business whose people have access to the Internet needs a policy on its acceptable use. What that policy says is up to you and your lawyer. It can be a short reminder that employees should, in general, keep to their tasks. Or it can be a flat-out prohibition on personal use that includes a provision for monitoring Internet usage.

Consider a policy that allows a little bit of personal use within bounds.

Why? If you take a hard stance, treating people like children who must be watched every second, you’ll inevitably lose some good people to competitors.

Having said that, I can imagine some situations in which a hard stance is required—when abuse of Internet access in a company is rampant, when a particular department has a history of harassment, when security is of prime importance, or maybe when you simply need to conserve Internet bandwidth.

Then it may be time to filter or monitor.

Filtering Software
Filtering software lets you block access to sites devoted to sex, entertainment, drugs, chat, and more.

I installed a modest single-user version of Surfwatch www.surf-watch.com on my computer. It did a fine job blocking the basic time wasting sites relating to sex, gambling, hate/violence, and drugs/alcohol. And it proved flexible, allowing me to block any particular site as well as “Patterns”—like game sites.

Surfwatch’s corporate/school versions, designed for network servers, are much more robust. They have built-in filters for things like travel, autos, real estate, and so on. Also, the program allows you to set different standards: restrict access until 5:00 p.m., for example, then allow access to news and sports sites.

And Surfwatch users can monitor access to non-blocked sites they’d still rather not have people look at—and get reports on who does.

Surfwatch says it tracks more than 100,000 sites and adds 400 sites to its database every day. As with virus programs, you need to download updated lists every so often.

And be aware that filtering software is hardly foolproof enterprising employees can still find sites in every category you hope to block.

Monitoring Programs
In the wrong hands, a program like WinWhatWhere Investigator could be dangerous. It tracks every screen and keystroke of any user you choose to watch. And its Stealth E-mail secretly sends a copy of email messages sent from company computers to a different email account. If you have legitimate use for such heavy-duty surveillance perhaps you suspect someone is running a side business from your office make sure you have a policy that informs people that you’ll be monitoring all aspects of computer usage. And make sure your lawyer agrees you can monitor legally to the extent you desire. Such programs are also dangerous in the hands of foolish, controlling managers or owners who invade the privacy of employees for no other reason than that they can. I can’t think of a better way to bleed good people.

Best bet if you’re not sure what to do: Before adopting a restrictive policy, assume employees want to do good work and that the Internet helps them do it.